Monthly Archives: July 2013

Wednesday Randoms

Posted on July 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

Since I just did a search term post but saw this referring search term, I have to share it here rather than wait to share it in six months when I do another post: “there are two things i would rather do in my life” [I am dying to know who the person is that can’t think of TWO things they would rather do in their life and instead had to Google the phrase with the hopes of stealing someone else’s idea. Also, rather do that WHAT? Breathe… shoplift… have children… eat watermelon]
Thank you to the person who commiserated with me this morning (when I dumped my newly-purchased coffee granita all over the counter) by telling me they did the same thing last week but unfortunately instead of dumping it on just the counter, their drink went all over a woman in a business suit. She was not pleased. Also, thank you to the kind barista who refilled my cup, clearly I needed the caffeine.
I returned a dress at Macy’s today and when the cashier commented on what I good deal I had gotten, I almost decided NOT to return it, even though I have no intention of ever wearing it or needing to wear it. This is the moment I will look back on and realize that I successfully avoided becoming a hoarder by making the choice to still return the dress.
I also got a free 10-day sample of Clinique’s face lotion, but as a requirement for getting it, the woman had me sign up for a consultation in two weeks to go back and tell her how the lotion worked. I have no intention of going back for this appointment. And I highly doubt the tiny tube she gave me will possibly last ten days… they must have used people with very tiny faces to determine the amount they should dole out.
I made sun pickles this past weekend – I could eat a whole jar in one sitting; they are practically a health food (aside from the sodium). They are also SUPER garlic-y… you’ve been warned if you see me.
I had to laugh when I went in our [shared] work bathroom today – no, I did not see someone from the gym changing their clothes – but in one of the stalls, there were three empty toilet paper rolls and a newly opened one sitting on the holder that was holding another empty roll. Along with the gym, we also share the building with a driving school and they are very busy in the summer so we have a multitude of teenagers coming through but in all the people it took to use four rolls of toilet paper, not one person thought to throw the empty rolls away or put a new roll ON the holder. Sigh. This is why other countries are ahead of us… their teens have common sense and the ability to do simple tasks for themselves.
I had to pick up a laptop from a client’s Help Desk this morning and when I introduced myself to the IT guy at the desk, he said, “So you’re the infamous Michelle Bennett from [my business]…” I simply replied, “Nice to meet you.” It would concern me more if I didn’t know there was a person in their department with the same name as me and people fairly regularly get us confused via email… I assume that’s what he was referring to and not some other reason for him to know my name, like, “Oh, you’re the person who can never remember what you need to do when you have to change your password and then need to re-log onto your laptop and it won’t take your new password.” That would just be petty on their part.
I feel like “Don’t hit or bite anyone” is a warning I shouldn’t have to say to my kids any more, and yet, that’s exactly what I told Jack today when I dropped him off at daycare. Last week he bit a kid and then immediately told the teachers that the kid bit himself… um, really?
When I answer the phone at work and there is a long pause before a recorded message starts, I always hang up. Does anyone listen to those messages and say, “Wow, that sounds like a great opportunity, I’m going to stay on the line and wait for a customer service representative to ~~exploit my stupidity~~ take all my information and get me to sign up for something I don’t need.”
I unpacked the rest of our bedroom boxes last night and in the process pulled a bunch of stuff out of a dresser drawer that I had put in there over a bunch of years and determined that I have too much jewelry (especially since I mostly wear my everyday jewelry at this point) but I can’t figure out what to get rid of (see: hoarder tendencies). So now it is all sitting on top my dresser and I am betting it is making Simon’s eye all twitchy when he looks at it.
Jack’s love for numbers continues to grow… almost every question he asks is related in some way to a number and he has started doing simple math, for example: “How many bags of Popchips are left?” “Six.” [we had 9 originally] “So we have eaten 3 of them?” I could like to claim responsibility for this new interest or intelligence, but like most parenting wins, this one came about by sheer luck and happenstance.
Liam turns seven next week… how does this happen? He’s also obsessed with potty talk and farting… sigh.
My brother and family from Texas are coming north next week – we cannot wait! My college-age nephew may be less excited when he learns the boys are hoping he will have a sleepover with them… they promise to go right to sleep.
We skipped out on the beach last weekend – it was only a high of 70 (as opposed to the 95-degree weather we’d had the week before).
I was walking out of the grocery store last week and a little girl was sitting in a cart next to my car while her mom unloaded groceries. As I approached her, she cheerfully shouted, “Hi!” and when I responded, she continued with, “My mommy is really angry.” Her poor mother looked up, shocked but I just smiled and said, “Oh, I understand, I’m a mommy, too!” We’re all in this together.
That’s all the news worth reporting.

Search term funnies

Posted on July 25, 2013 | 4 comments

Previous posts in this string can be found here.

My apologies to the people who found my site by searching for the following: “big toes,” “mountain villa” and “before having surgery what I need to bring to hospital”… I’m quite sure you did not find what you were looking for. [Side note: Anytime I write or say a phrase that includes “what you were looking for” I cannot help but think of the U2 song, “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” And now it is in your head, too – you are welcome.]

Other search terms that brought people here:

chop “my hair” and donate “my hair” | Those quote marks were necessary because why? The quote marks indicate you wanted to make sure the phrase “my hair” turned up together in the search results; does this mean without the quotes you were finding sites related to chopping your nose hair or donating your back hair?
songs for special moments | For some reason, this makes me giggle every time I see it. I wonder what special moments they were hoping to set to music… I hope they chose wisely because there is much potential for disaster if you were hoping to set the mood for a first kiss but picked “Butterfly Kisses” which would be better suited for a father-daughter dance (or, really, for never playing, ever) and probably killed the mood of that special moment. “Want to make out? Here, let’s listen to a song that will remind you of your dad.” Go for “Kiss Me” by Ed Sheeran – that’s a winner. Unless you are hoping for a father-daughter dance song and then it is not appropriate.
bungee attach kids to parents | This just seems like a bad idea, but amusing for others to witness. But I am the second listing on Google when you search for this exact phrase so I can understand why you might have clicked on my blog. I do love using bungee cords to making my parenting go more smoothly.
camping is our family tradition | Considering we have only been once (or twice according to Liam, since he counts the time we slept in a tent in Stef’s backyard), I think it safe to say camping is NOT our family tradition – should have used quotes with that phrase.
wait is very hard | Indeed. Also hard, proper grammar.
how can I longer a toe | Not sure why you would want to “longer” a toe? But then, you don’t seem that smart. I have no need for longer-ing my toes, they are plenty long all on their own.
braquidactilia severa | I had to Google this term myself as I had no idea what it was, but it appears it’s Spanish for severe brachydactyly (shortening of the fingers) which is related to symbrachydachtyly; love that the Internet connected that with my site (not amusing, just true).
suck up those tears | With a vacuum?
my second name is definitely not patience | Mine either (or would it be neither?). In fact, I doubt there are many people (if any) with a second name of Patience. But then, celebrities name their babies things like North (West) and Pilot Inspektor so really, nothing is impossible. Also, the phrase you are looking for is probably “patience is not my middle name.” Also, did you hear that the new prince of England is named after my miniature poodle, George?

4 Comments

Posted in Search Terms

Wednesday Randoms

Posted on July 24, 2013 | 3 comments

We have not been to the beach yet this summer… I’m hoping to remedy that this coming weekend, or at least in the month of August… then we’re going to make up for it by going ALL THE TIME
Simon has made our bed every day since we moved. I have not made my bed since I moved out of my parents’ house (which is only a slight exaggeration – bed-making is just not on my list of priorities, like ever)
We have yet to turn on the invisible fence for George and he has not yet tried to run away – though we do believe he has peed in the basement a couple times (I’m actually hoping it was George and not a relapse by the phantom pee-er)
I hosted my first get together at the new house last week… which was happy and sad because the get together was to bid farewell (or see you later) to my dear friend, Stef, who has now moved to Ohio. (I don’t want to talk about it. I am in denial and plan on staying there for a while.)
I also made sticky toffee pudding which I have always loved but never made because every recipe I found called for dates and I could not believe that something I loved so much actually included dates. I was wrong. It was delicious and something I will make again and if you come over to eat it, forget I told you there were/are dates in it because you will truly not notice – just ask my very picky husband who has eaten it multiple times (warmed up with vanilla ice cream).
Speaking of delicious, Sandy made a latte cheesecake for the party and oh my heck… freaking delicious. Like, inconspicuously try and lick the plate, delicious. And practically a health food since it was lower fat and made with Greek yogurt.
Summer has sort of killed my social life – people are always out of town on vacations or hosting visitors – they need to get back into the routine of school so I can have people to hang out with again. Come on people.
Our new satellite TV account allows us all the premium movie channels for three months so I’ve been getting caught up with/hooked on a bunch of new-to-me shows: Dexter, True Blood, The Veep and Newsroom. Newsroom is from Aaron Sorkin and it is fabulous – by far my favorite of these series options. It is brilliantly written, superbly acted and does for the news what The West Wing did for politics… if you can, you should watch it.
We are making new habits at the new house, for example… our mailbox is at the bottom of our driveway instead of up by our house so each afternoon, the boys run down and collect the mail; our yard also plays regular host to tiny little frogs that I feel like should not be in our yard if they are going to have a good shot at survival so when we find them, we “rescue” them and carry them across the street to the pond; and on Friday afternoons/evenings we go down to the river and the boys have a swim (if you ignore the highway overpass that goes right by us, it’s rather idyllic and honestly, the highway is just a constant noise – not like the stop and go/honking of regular street traffic – so it’s easy to ignore).
We’ve also gained some less favorable habits of NEVER letting mom sleep in and often trying to climb into bed with mom and dad in the middle of the night and standing on the coffee table (we had kept our coffee table in the basement of the old house since Liam was a baby). Not a fan.

3 Comments

Posted in Life in general

This Old House

Posted on July 23, 2013 | 1 comment

I still find it hard to believe that someone else is living in my old house. That it is someone else’s house now. I feel like once we left it, our house ceased to exist and in a way, it did because it’s NOT our house anymore, it’s their house.

I have not been back there since we drove away from it two weeks ago but I drove by my friend Sarah’s old house yesterday (she moved two days after us) and it made me wonder what was happening at the old house, almost enough to want to drive by, but instead I look up the new owners on Facebook, hoping they will post pictures of their new home.

I’m so glad we got to have one final meal there – well, the boys ate while I packed up the remaining items. I’ll miss the coved ceilings, the hickory wood floors and the lilies we planted over the years that come back to greet us every summer. But we took the most important things with us – the people that made the house a home – my boys (and George) are all I need to make me happy (and often frustrated as all get out).

We put so much into that house in the last ten years:

central air
new garage door
new roof
repainted the entire exterior
gutted and remodeled second floor, complete with addition of a full bath (and she ended up taking the clawfoot tub that has lived in our garage the last 4 years – you can see it in the picture below)
new appliances (all but the stove/range)
brought the grass back from the dead and added many plants around the yard

But the house also gave back so much more that cannot be quantified by money or time:

my first house – Simon was the second person to ever visit
our first home together – the place we exhaustedly (and happily) returned to after International trips, marathon road trips and weekends at the beach
a place to bring both our babies home to (Liam came home in the bright heat of summer, spending his first month swaddled up next to me in the one air conditioned room in the house; Jack came home a month earlier than expected, on an unseasonably warm day in February to a newly-remodeled upstairs that our friends moved us into while we were at the hospital having a baby)
location for a couple family holidays (I SO look forward to catching up on my hosting duties now that we have a house big enough for it)
play dates, birthday parties, backyard BBQs, girl’s nights with my friends, soccer-viewing on Saturday mornings
a home filled with much laughter, few tears, unforgettable memories and endless warmth (and not just before the AC was installed)

I have so many memories in each room, and despite the negatives that come with an old house, I remembered none of those as I took one last walk through the rooms. It served us well, just like the new place will do in the coming DECADES (because we’re not moving AGAIN if we can help it, have I mentioned that?), but we outgrew it long ago.

The new house is such a blessing to us, made possible by a sudden shift in the housing market and money left to us by Simon’s mom and dad – it will be their on-going gift to us for years to come and though they won’t see it physically, I know they are watching us and sharing in our joy. I cannot wait to share the new place with you – I just need to finish unpacking and my desire to unpack dwindled once I got the kitchen in order but we are nearly there – give me another week (or five) and I can share the final product with you… once we can actually park in our garage :). In the meantime, if you are local, please stop by for a visit and if you are not local – plan to visit soon! We’d love to have you and start adding to the memories of this new home.

1 Comment

Posted in House, Life in general

Anxiety and peace

Posted on July 22, 2013 | 1 comment

I forget to pray. More accurately, I forget to pray in every situation. I can easily pray for help and healing when I’m having a difficult time or when someone gets sick and I can give praise for new life or gifts received. The highs and lows in life easily lend themselves to prayer (for me). But life is made up of a lot of the in-between times – the every day life (which we will never call boring) or other days when I’m feeling kind of out of sorts, or sad but unable to voice my feelings, or having general anxiety about things in life… on those days, I forget to pray, or maybe I just don’t pray because I feel like I can’t adequately convey whatever it is that is weighing on me. But I don’t need the words; God does know my heart and He gets what’s going on in there and in my head. Words are not necessary but His peace is and as it washes over me, filling in the cracks and gaps… my spirit will find rest, my heart will find comfort and my mind will find quiet. God doesn’t want us to come to Him just for the big things, but all the little things (and the medium things) – He cares about all of it and offers us His peace through all of it.

Thank you, God, for this life you’ve given me and for the blessings you’ve bestowed. Give me your peace. Know my heart and mind, relieve them of their burdens. Amen.

1 Comment

Posted in Faith