Monthly Archives: September 2011

Favorite Finds – 09/04/11

Here are MY favorite finds from around the web
(sorry it’s been ages since I did one of these)

Crafts I’d like to try:

  • I guess this is a craft and recipe in one – individual cupcake stands topped with lemonade cupcakes
  • Wouldn’t this badminton heart be cute hanging on the wall of my non-existent cottage?
  • DIY Chalkboard Banner – I so want to be the kind of mom that has banners hanging up for special occasions (is that a kind of mom?)
  • I so wish I had a little girl’s room to hang one of these paper lanterns in… that Martha is so clever!
  • I don’t know that cross stitch could ever be cool, but I do love to do it (though I haven’t for ages) – the Princess Bride one is awesome!
  • What a great idea for a child’s bedroom – ABC wall art
  • Giant origami – combining my love of paper with cool decor – sounds like it’s right up my alley!
  • These pocket hearts seem small and relatively simple – my kind of craft
  • What a ingenious idea for if I ever get Jack to sleep in Liam’s bottom bunk – a crib converted into a craft station

        

Recipes I’d like to try:

         

Things I’d like to buy:

  • I’m a bit of a sucker for pretty glass like these Glassbaby votives (spied via Pioneer Woman)
  • I’m also a sucker for cool graphic design like this map of the USA
  • All this lovely paper in one spot… yes please! (You know how I feel about paper)
  • These prints are too cute… I especially love the family portrait
  • Anything at any one of the sweet shops
  • I posted about canvas prints before – but I love the stairway treatment Laura did (now to get her to Michigan to shoot our photos, thankfully I have many photographer friends in town)
  • Sweet mirrors with a message from Noosh (spied via Lil’ Magoolie)


 
   

Posts I liked and I’ll tell you why…

  • I Am… by Angella at Dutch Blitz – makes me what to post something like this of my own.
  • Crossroads by Emily at not that you asked – the part that resonated most was where she talks about how for the first time, there is no set plan in front of her – that’s sort of how I feel now that I think we’re done having kids (and I also saw the horrible Britney Spears movie in the theater).
  • Tales from the Accidental Asshole: The TV Critic by Pamie, who I’ve been reading since the beginning days of TWOP
  • The Post Office is My Nemesis by Naomi from Aiming Low because I feel her pain – I never mentioned this here but a month or so ago, I told off a rude, oblivious older woman at the post office (I still get an adrenaline rush just thinking about it)
  • You should watch this: Dark Girls Documentary

New to me blogs:


All images borrowed from the above-linked sites.

Looking for other favorite finds? Look no further, they are here.

Five Question Friday

Hope everyone has fun plans for the long weekend… I’ve got plenty, can’t wait to catch you up on the flip side! Until then, here’s some five question Friday answers for you…

1. Shoes in the house – yay or nay?
I really don’t care either way, we have hardwood floors which are easy to clean, but if we had carpeting, it would be a different story. But I do teach my kids to take their shoes off and put them where they belong (do as I say, not as I do… right?). And when I’m at other people’s homes, I always try to take my shoes off at the door.

2. What do you call them- flip flops, slippers, thongs, etc?
Flip flops and sometimes fippy flops or just flips. I can’t bring myself to call them thongs but I recall my mom used to call them that when I was a teenager, much to my great embarrassment. I find it funny that back then, the mere hint of impropriety around adults made me so very uncomfortable but I guess I’d rather be a prudish teenager than the opposite – so much less regret.

3. What song are you almost embarrassed to admit you know all the lyrics to?
A plethora of country songs maybe, but let’s be honest, knowing all the Wiggles songs I know, nothing else I could admit to would even come close. Simon and I could be quite the performing duo if we ever fell on hard times, I bet we’d make a killing at children’s festivals.

4. What is the best quality to have in a friend?
Honesty. Authenticity. Dependability. And someone who doesn’t hold grudges, at least not petty ones – not that I’m in the business of giving my friends something to hold grudges against.

5. Do you know what you want for Christmas?
A memorable holiday filled with family and happy times. The Christmas season is my favorite time of year and so many of my happy memories are from the holiday season so I hope the same thing for my boys. And this year I’d love for Liam to get the real reason for the season, for him to grasp the gift we, as Christians, believe we were given.


Thursday Thoughts

  • I really hate how commercials depict women who are pregnant with multiples and how they reveal this tidbit to their spouses. The men always seem comically overwhelmed and “aw shucks” about it all and the women are not at all freaked out. Really?
  • My hubby got to be home last night rather than at work (though boo, he has to work on Saturday night instead) and it was so nice to share the parenting load for the bedtime routine, plus we got to eat dinner together while the kids wound down to Olivia in the livingroom (someday we’ll all eat together but for today – we’re happy to get to spend the time with each other).
  • It was almost as nice to go for a walk in the neighborhood without the children; though I took George who seems to need more pit stops than the children.
  • Jack’s current favorite phrases are, “I want to talk to you, mommy” and “I have an idea…” though he uses them both as segues into whatever he’s saying regardless of whether or not he actually has an idea or something to tell me.
  • Liam is officially a kindergartener now that he’s gone to orientation and completed his last day of daycare (according to him). He’s wildly thrilled though you would never have known it for how subdued he was at the orientation. This out of character shyness will allow for a momentary lapse in his non-stop talking – giving his teacher a false impression that he is quiet and reserved (at least until lunchtime). He was happy to find out there were two boys in his class that he knew from daycare and preschool and three more boys in the other kindergarten class who he knew as well. I don’t think he even looked at the girls – at least I don’t have to start worrying about that until middle school.
  • Wesley was rock star NICU baby and came home this past weekend – he is the sweetest little peanut. And Sarah and Brian were rock star NICU parents – go team parents!
  • Out of the blue, Liam asked me why I told him he had five more minutes of playing the Wii (on SUNDAY, four days ago) and then let him play a lot longer. Thanks for remembering and pointing out my parenting flaws, kid.
  • My brother, Mike, is biking from Lansing to the Mackinaw Bridge (the DALMAC), on purpose, for fun – I am impressed because unlike myself, he’s no spring chicken (he’ll super appreciate that comment).
  • Jack was being awfully sweet this weekend when we were saying goodbye to my parents in their hotel room in Holland, telling them both, “I love you, Grandpa” and “I love you, Grandma” without any prodding and my dad said, “Oh, Jack, I’m going to miss you when you get older.” Because despite his pill-ishness, he is an unabashed sweetie and that will probably go away as he gets older as it does with most children (this is a key reason why people have more children – I decided a blog would be less time-consuming and nearly as satisfying).
  • Apparently, five is not too old for the sweetness to end – last night at bedtime I told Liam, “I love being your mom” and without skipping a beat, he responded with “I love being your son!” (Don’t moments like that make every difficult moment in parenting worth it?)
  • I cannot wait for the new tv season to start… it’s like a mini-Christmas, the anticipation I feel about returning favorites and new shows (sad, but true).
  • Looking forward to dinner and movie with a couple girlfriends this weekend – whoot! And it’s a long weekend – double whoot!
  • Oh, and it’s September – does this unsettle anyone else?