Random Wednesday-ness

I'm still having technical difficulties....my work's IT guy has been in my house more than he's been in the office the past 2 days. 

I'm currently working off my old cpu....and now have only one screen (as opposed to 2, which I'm used too).

Hopefully, he will come back later today with a permanent solution.

Fingers crossed.

On other notes:

- I'm crafting again.  I made one card last night and a poster.  I need to make more cards.  I've got the crafty bug.

-  We're having breakfast for dinner tonight.  Only because I don't want to cook....or I don't want to think about cooking.....and I'm in the mood for some maple syrup.

-  I have a birthday coming soon.  I'm not hung up on my age....I don't dread turning one year older.  My thoughts on this are:  It beats NOT growing older.

-  Yesterday was my brother's wedding anniversary, today is my sister-in-law's birthday, and Friday is my dad's birthday.  Not to mention my niece's birthday later this month.  October is a busy month in our family.

-  My best friend starts back to work full time today.  This is her first since her kids were born.  I'm thinking of her a lot today.

-  I think I need a haircut.  I'm in need of a change.

-  That's all I've got.

Phrases that I have uttered in the past 72 hours.

-  Please don't eat my hair.

-  I found a marshmallow.  In my pocket.

- We pee in the toilet, not on your brothers feet.

-  This is going to be an expensive month.

-  I really want to eat a Tootsie Roll, but I'm going to eat a carrot.

-  Mmmmm.  This carrot is much better than any tootsie roll could have tasted.

-  Now that I've eaten the carrot, can I skip my workout?

-  Honey, you're tho thmart.

-  I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up.

-  All right, stop.  Collaborate and listen.

-  Can I redecorate the bedroom?

-  Mmmmm, I make good applesauce.

5QF and a bit of technical difficulty

We had a 45 second storm last night - which crashed out power our for about 3-4 hours.  And since it went out unexpectedly, my computer was shut down with out proper channels.  Which means, when I went to start it back up this morning, it was running at a snail's pace.  It's a crappy computer anyway...  matter of fact, snail's pace would be an improvement right about now. 

So, let's start with the 5QF and see how far we get and how long it takes me.  The time is currently 10:46am.

1. Do you apologize to your kids if you're wrong?



If I didn't, that would make me an authortarian parent, wouldn't it?   The honest answer, is that Yes, I do apologize to them- IF the situation warrants it. 

Like years and years ago, when I first started working from home, A. came up behind me at my computer desk and I didn't know he was there.  I brought my arm back really fast and elbowed him right in the cheek.  Whoa did I feel horrible for that one!  I apologized to him- because even though it was an accident, his little face had been wronged. 

Personally, I believe that we, as parents, need to model good behavior- including the humility that goes with an apology.



2. Do you have a class ring, Letterman's jacket, or similar obscenely priced high school "must have"?


I have a class ring.  I loved it at the time, and I didn't know that my life would go on without it!  (brings hand to forehead). 

Oh, the wisdom of being far far faaaaaaarrrrrr away from high school years.  Why can 't we start old and go younger.  Then, the crap in high school would seem so insignificant....
3. If you could be one age for the rest of your life, what age would you choose?


I'd pick 30.  I really enojoyed 30.  I enjoyed 25 too, but I was soooo selfish and stupid then.   It was just D. and I, and other than a skeevy boss, I had no cares.  But, I also didn't care or wasn't as passionate about things as I was at 30.  I'll take the extra 5 years of maturity.

4. What is your favorite (unused) baby name?


We had one name for a girl with both pregnancies:  Reagan.

My unused boy names were:  Seth, Brady, and Trevor.  Thank goodness two of my friends named their little boys two of them!  I love those cute little boys.  Anyone up for a Seth?


5. If you could make your child like something what would it be?


VEGETABLES!!!!!  Actually, food of any texture.  Which includes ALL food.

I.am.so.sick.of.the.breakfast/lunch/dinner table battles.
 (insert Howard Dean Scream here)
 
 
HAPPY WEEKEND!!!
 



By the way, the time is now 8:04pm.  While I also had an entire day tha thappened in there....holy cow, is my computer slow.

Random Post where I drop a rediculous amount of friend's names.

- Yesterday, I spent over an hour on the phone talking to my friend Mandi.  She was calling to check up on me after I gave my small group a prayer request.  Since the incident already passed, she was calling to see the outcome.  In my world, I'm texting all the time.  It was nice to reconnect on the phone with conversation.  Thanks for the prayers, friends!  I could really feel it!

-  Today I'm carpooling with my friend Sarah.  This won't last much longer- since they are moving to an inconvenient location, but its nice to not have to get up early every morning to drive.  My adrenals are so thankful.

- Tomorrow, I'm walking with Michelle.  She's currently one of my favorite people.  The past month, I've struggled with exercise motivation, but I still really look forward to our walking dates.  Her friendship is so unassuming and supportive...and funny.  And she has the most absolute cutest little boys.

-  Saturday, I'm applesaucing with my mom.  That is, if she finds a replacement for that bolt she shredded while saucing without me. 

- Saturday, after saucing (is that a word?!?!)  I'm making a birthday treat for a friend of A's.  Because every child deserves to be celebrated on their birthday.

-  Saturday afternoon, I'm hoping to make it to my friend's house for a little Catan action.  Girl's afternoon in.  Catan style.  Yes, I'm a gamer.

-  Sunday, I'm spending it with my best friend, Dave and our boys whom I hope turn out to be friends some day.

-  Next week, I'm crafting with my friend Lesley.  We haven't crafted in a very long time, and I really looking forward to reconnecting (over a Cricut machine)!

-  Next week Thursday ( a special day for ME), I'm celebrating the morning with 72 of my closest mommy friends at MOPS.

- Next week Friday, I'm going to experience my first gluten free fondue dinner with Melody.  I'm very excited to see her and to fondue.

-  Sometime in the near future, I need to see Erika who is sewing me a purse to celebrate my 50 pound weight loss (2 pounds to go!).

-  I need to schedule a game night with my fellow gaming friends.

-  I need to go to a movie by myself (another friend).

-  I need to call Gina back.

-  I need to call Jeanie for a GNO.

- Yesterday, today, all the time.  I love my friends.

Wednesday.....wednesday....wed.....w....

After I purchased my new camera,

I started cleaning out my old camera bag.

I found a few old SD cards.

Oh my, these things a an emotional gold mine!

I found the card from the first day I purchased my old camera.

It was Labor Day weekend, 2008.

Here's the pictures I took that afternoon.

A. was 4, C had just turned 1.

Taking a rest from running through the sprinklers.

D. taking a rest from working on the house.

A. was "trying" to pull them in the wagon.

D. went back to working on the house.

(oh my, we've come a long way, baby!)

My sweet munchkin waddling through the sprinklers.

The Frankenstein walk

A few days later, A. started 4 year old preschool.

Excuse me, my ovaries are hyper-ventilating.  My heart is weeping, and I need a sedative.

Just kidding....kind of.  :)

So glad these days are documented.

I'll admit it: I'm a gamer

Yep...you read that right.  I'm a gamer.  I love playing board games.  The logic, the togetherness. the fun, the victory!  (well, if you play it right).  Here's a list of my favorites.


1. Settlers of Catan. 

Right now my ultimate favorite.  First introduced to it by the Hassenrik's.  There's a few different versions, but we haven't played the Traders and Barbarians yet.  3/4 of our small group gets together to play, and its a blast.  Certainly my favorite right now.

2.  Life.

I've always loved this game since I was little.  If I saw it in my friend's game closets, I always grabbed it first.  I loved the imagination of the different routes you can take in Life.  I have a lot of great memories with childhood friends and this game.

3.  Balderdash.

The only game where it's ok to lie.    Tons of fun to make up words too.  Love it.  My favorite made-up defination  from this game was for "Bodkin."  He said it was a "midge corpse."  Made up by a member of our small group - everyone knew it was the false defination, but he won based solely on "style points."

4.  Phase 10.

This is my one of my favorite games because my sister-in-law loves to play it. I still remember learning to play it at their kitchen table in Germany.  It's a relatively easy game to learn.  If you can do Uno, you can do Plase 10.  Speaking of Uno....

5.  Uno

This reminds me of playing while we were camping.  The kids didn't know how to play euchre yet, so we played Uno.  Uno Attack is also a favorite of mine.  You can get really nasty while playing that game.

6.  Hugger Mugger.

Book worms unite!  If you can unscramble words, and put like words together, you are golden in this game.  I'm not sure this game is even on the market anymore.  My aunt has it...one more reason to go back to Kentucky.

7.  Euchre.

If you're from Michigan, you are familiar with this game.  Euchre parties, Euchre tournaments, you name it.  I love Euchre.

8.  Battle of the Sexes.

This pits sexes against each other.  How much do you know about the world of the opposite sex?  I love this game because my not-being-a-girly-girl has come in handy more than once in this game.

9.  Scattergories.

Yet another word game.  Can you tell I'm a book worm?

10.  Monopoly.

Yep, I like that game.  Capitalism at its finest.

All photos courteousy of google search.

What we did on dat dere tinniversary alternately titled: My First Trip to the Big House

The night of our tenth anniversary was rather uneventful.

I made the World's Best Vegetable Soup.

Dave brought me a beautiful flower arrangement.

I gave him a silly card.

We ate dinner with the family.

The boys did homework.

I did some audits.

We went to sleep.

Other than the fact the my husband hasn't brought me flowers since....

(thinking.....)

um.....

Valentine's Day!

(He's really a good guy, just doesn't do the whole flower-thing)

Anyway, the flowers were/are beautiful.

They smell fantastic.

Perhaps I"ll take a picture and share them.

Or, perhaps I'll just hoard them and enjoy them for myself.

Anyway, a dear friend of mine has season tickets to the Big House.

(for those of you who don't know...that's U of M's stadium)

We're big Michigan fans.

She and her husband gifted them to us.

It was AWESOME to surprise D with these tickets.

(turns out he was going to surprise me with a dinner and had already coordinated babysitting!- I figure he can do that another weekend, I wanted to go see some Michigan football)

So, I went out and treated myself to a new Michigan shirt (my old one was too big!)

And I grabbed some ribbons to french braid into my hair.

Here's my crappy attempt to show you the blue ribbon in the braid.

You can see a wee-little bit:

Since D. doesn't drink, we decided to have a little picnic by our car before the game.

G-rated tail gating, I guess.

We walked about a mile to get into the Big House.

Here's our self-portrait. 

We were in row 32.

It was awesome.

I don't know what the heck I'm doing with my smile here.

Nerd alert:

Go marching band!!!

They even did a little "Thriller" Dance.

I found myself a little jealous of the color guard.

There were three ladies in front of us.  One mother, two daughters.

Every time the Big House Cam was on, the mom held up this itty bitty sign hoping to be noticed.

Only she wouldn't hold it high, and it was written in yellow.

Apparently, she needs a lesson in signage.

It read:  "Hi Uncle  Mikey!  We know you're watching.  We finally made it to the Big House!"

Uncle Mikey, I hope you're reading this blog...

...because that's the only way you're going to see the itty bitty sign.



The stadium...the bright maize is the student section.

We were in the 234th game with more than 100,000 fans in attendance.

There were a total of 110,707 people there.

Approximately 45 of them were San Diego State fans.

Another self portrait

I'm looking a little less dorky (question mark)

At the end of the night- another view of the braid...

Again, you can barely see the ribbon.

So glad I spent so much effort on it.

Sheesh

All in all, it was a fantastic way to celebrate our anniversary!