Category Archives: Life in general

People Who Drive Me Crazy

Posted on December 5, 2012 | 8 comments

Source: someecards.com

Most of the parents in the school pickup line at Liam’s school, the worst offenders:
- Those who pull ahead and cut in front of the line of cars waiting and pull into an empty space just vacated by someone who just picked up their child. They must have temporary blindness to not see the line of cars WAITING THEIR TURN.
- Those who double park next to the cars who are waiting in line next to the curb, blocking the cars who are pulling through in the DRIVING lane.
- Those who PARK in the waiting lane (when there are plenty of actual PARKING spots available 10-20 feet away), get out of their cars, meander to go get their kids and are therefore unable to pull forward when the cars in front of them move and delay further the cars behind them who are waiting to get their kids. These people do not appear to be handicapped and unable to work the extra distance from a parking spot to get their kids.
- The school pickup situation makes me stabby, stabby, stabby mad is what I’m saying. Just follow the unspoken rules of common sense, politeness and social consideration.
Anyone who wakes me up who is not a) sick, b) bleeding, c) suffering from a broken bone or d) has not been asked to wake me up (though that last one is still a little iffy, because a morning person I am not.. [why yes, Jack did wake us up at 5:20 this morning, why do you ask?]
Cashiers who act like their could care less about moving at a reasonable speed when scanning your items. I get that they are there for their set number of hours and it makes little difference to them how many people they serve, but wouldn’t their day be so much nicer if the people they were helping didn’t want to hurt them because they were going SO BLOOMING SLOW [not that I would ever hurt someone for this reason, nope, I’ll just badmouth them on my bloggity blog – I slay with words].
Teachers and anyone in childcare who do not appear to actually like children.
People who drive a) too slow or b) too fast (i.e., recklessly, because, let’s face it, I drive faster than the speed limit a bulk of the time and I don’t drive myself crazy).
Door-to-door sales people – not a single one has ever come at a convenient time or convinced me to buy the product/service they were selling.
Anyone with a sense of entitlement that they have not earned.
Any parent who judges another parent when they are at the grocery store or a restaurant, as if their own children were always perfectly behaved.
The entire cast of Jersey Shore – I can’t see a “news” story about them and not sigh or roll my eyes.
Newscasters with gratingly annoying voice mannerisms.
Nickelback, Nikki Minaj and Kesha

People who do not drive me crazy: YOU. You are awesome and beautiful.

So, who drives you crazy?

8 Comments

Posted in Life in general, Random, who is ememby

Instagram 29

Posted on November 28, 2012 | 1 comment

Woah, Nelly, there are a whole lot of pics in this post but I’m playing catch up. Make yourself a little snack and scroll away.

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A post shared by Michelle Bennett (@ememby)

We have had a baby gate around our TV/entertainment center since we got it. For Liam we just had the six sections of the play yard stretched out in front of our TV and fireplace and he never tried to go behind it even though the ends were open. Jack went behind it almost as soon as he started crawling so we created a fence around the important things (the electronics) and this has worked for us for years until a couple weeks ago when I walked into the living room to find Jack as pictured above. In his defense, a piece of food had fallen onto the floor inside the gate and he had figured out a way over so he could retrieve it, not to cause havoc. And I know what you must be thinking, Michelle, your son is nearly 4, isn’t it time to take down the baby gate? And you would think that but one of the last times we were at my parent’s house, we found Jack in the living room feeding DVDs into the VCR. So, no, we are not yet taking down the baby gate and I have moved the chair he used to scale over the baby fence – after I had him reenact how he did it.

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A post shared by Michelle Bennett (@ememby)

These are Triple Chip Blondies – do yourself a favor and make them, or find someone to make them for you and don’t look at the recipe so you will never know how much butter and brown sugar is in them.

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A post shared by Michelle Bennett (@ememby)

Afghan from my childhood, now in my home. This makes me happy. And warm.

Jack has amped up his affection-showing lately, always wanting to hug everyone in our immediate family, including poor George (ironically, his increased affection for us has not translated to affection for others and when you ask him to smile for or hug others, he staunchly refuses, typically with a look of disgust on his face – a real charmer, that one). George in general tries to steer clear of close proximity to the children but on this occasion, Jack was eating some food and George was hoping to get some so he got too close to Jack and was rewarded with a tight squeeze.

Me and my littlest boy-o. I just love this picture.

I made a ball out of paper – gotta love the ideas you find on the Internet.

Cake batter muddy buddies are delicious – I’ll be honest and say I quickly get sick of the traditional muddy buddies but this cake batter version is addictive!

Simon and I at the fun. concert… not pictured the three girls who sat in front of us wearing coordinating outfits (everything was red, black and white) who were way done up for a concert in a field house and wearing 4-inch heels that made it comical to watch them walk up and down the bleachers.

Liam has been branching out more with his Lego creations, including the “people” he is putting together – this is one of my favorite combinations.

Liam’s also gotten into drawing comics – this is his redo of Captain Underpants. By Liam Bennett and Illustrated By Liam Bennett.

A collections of pics from my GWA (Girl’s Weekend Away)… clockwise from top, left: we made infinity scarves, painted our nails, ate yummy snacks and played Ticket to Ride (so fun!).

The view from our weekend house: Lake Pentwater (or is it Pentwater Lake?)

Liam likes to hang out with me and read. I love it.

The boys decided it was time for a new sticker chart so they created their own, all categories have to do with being good, either in general or to specific people in our family. Apparently that is it.

The boys are not wallflowers.

All sunset shots from the same night.

Thanksgiving Day, post-dinner, pre-pukefest. I love that Chris looks like he’s about to take flight. It’s a running joke as to how Chris is going to accidentally damage Liam when we get together – this time Jacob took over for his dad and unintentionally clotheslined Liam. Happy memories.

Jack from Thanksgiving Day – full of life over at Grandma and Grandpas house and then passed out on the hardwood floor in the entryway at Uncle Mike and Aunt Joan’s house.

But in less than 24 hours, Jack was back to his normal self, building towers bigger than a preschooler and glaring at the camera. This is the face I got when I asked for a smile.

You’d think they were facing an execution squad, but no, we were about to take them to get a slushie from the gas station – which was apparently the highlight of Liam’s trip to my parents’ house this summer, getting a 44-ounce slushie every day. When I asked him who he was the most thankful for, he said, “Grandpa, because he buys me slushies from Speedway.”

Friday night I got to cuddle my sweet godson, Ethan, what a little nugget. I’ve still got the magic mom arms to put the babies to sleep. Love him.

The boys wanted to play with Ethan, Ethan could not be bothered.

Liam sweetly told me that he wrote me a note, then passed me this piece of paper. Le sigh.

Left: photos from 2011. Right: photos from 2012. One of these things is not like the other. I’ve got a bit of catching up to do.

Call me crazy, but I love black licorice flavored anything but taffy is especially my favorite. Thank you, Horrocks for having this back in stock. I also love that Jack knows when he comes to my office, he can check the second drawer of my pedestal for candy.

Jack and I played cars. And by played, I mean, I sat there while he circled the cars up and told me not to touch anything.

1 Comment

Posted in Instagram, Life in general

What’s the what

Posted on November 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Someone is clearly not participating in NaBloPoMo (that’s national blog posting month where you post a new something EVERY DAY)… sorry, I know you were just dying for a little daily insight from me. Here, let me help you out: each day you can consider one of the following things and I’m sure one of them will have crossed my mind that day and we can both pretend I’m right there with you:

Adam Levine/Bradley Cooper/Ian Somerhalder are pretty foxy (and none are Australian so I am being true to my husband when I admit that to y’all)
Diet Coke/smoothies/liberally salted tortilla chips are perfect foods.
What has gotten into my children? Red dye? Sugar? Caffeine? Meth?
That person driving in front of you, totally the worst driver ever with the dumbest personalized license plate ever.
Christmas shopping is best done from the comfort of my office chair/couch. Amazon Lightning Deals, you rock!

So there you go, in case I leave you again for two weeks, you have something to keep you company. And yes, it’s been two weeks since I posted on this here bloggity blog, during that time I have done the following:

Gone to another concert on a college campus, still felt old but still very much enjoyed myself. fun. is awesome in concert – I actually prefer them live than any other way. And there was this moment, when they were singing “We Are Young” and we could see the in-sync movement of the crowd down on the main floor that I thought back to one of my first concert experiences (Nirvana) and how I felt in that moment when Kurt Cobain was singing “Come As You Are” and I thought, for them, this is their Nirvana moment and they don’t even realize it at that time. They were/are all young and singing along with perhaps one of their favorite bands and there will not be another moment exactly like that one, it is near perfection.
Posted what I am thankful for every day on FB – I have intentions of collecting them all and posting them here at the end of the month – so I can collect all that good thankfulness up in one place.
Had a 60-minute massage thanks to a Living Social deal – can now cross that one of my list – it was all in the name of the Life List that I had to take that one for the team.
Spent the weekend away with some of my favorite college friends, who are actually some of my favorite people. We stayed up too late, woke up too early (curse you, motherhood). Listened to happy music (yes, I made a mixed CD for the occasion), sewed, painted each others’ nails, ate all the good things and drank other good things, played games and talked, talked, talked. There is not a sentence or blog post that could do justice to the friendships I have with those lovely ladies, we all have those friends who just KNOW us and love us anyway.
Got my hairs cut, but not completely off yet – a few more months until I can make my donation to Locks of Love – the boys (Simon and George included) also all got their hairs cut, too. So handsome, the lot of them.
Caught vomit in my hand. On Thanksgiving Day (thankfully post-meal) at my brother’s house. It was as awesome as you’d imagine. The stomach flu then made its rounds through the family and took each of us out with no discrimination. Lovely, that. On the slightly positive side – I did sleep on and off for 20 hours straight.

And there you have it – my last two weeks in a nutshell. [The stupid humor part of me is dying to waste time creating an image of nutshell with the words “my last two weeks” inside of it so I can say, “No, this is my last two weeks in a nutshell.” If you get that reference, just pretend I did that and we can laugh together at our collective pop culture-addled senses of humor.]

Things I Would Buy*

Posted on November 13, 2012 | 3 comments

*If I had unlimited funds, was already giving half my money to charity and had my boys’ college education paid for [just so we’re clear, not trying to be frivolous here, just dreaming in a place way outside of reality.]

Starbucks Verismo Machine
Available here
The Starbucks version of a Keurig… so you can have hand-crafted Starbucks drinks at home… in theory this is wonderful. Latte at the touch of a button? Sign me up.

Qantas First Class Suite
Available here
This would be the way to travel to Australia, though I wonder how people with children do this since each seat is it’s own little pod [I believe the answer is that people who fly in the First Class Suite accommodations do not travel with children; it would be great if these suites also came with childcare – for the price you pay, you’d think this could be possible.]

Diet Coke Machine
Available somewhere
I’d give Simon and the kids a couple slots for Coke Zero and Sprite, but the rest would provide me with icy cold Diet Coke at the push of a button. (Obviously I would have a service that kept it stocked for me since I can’t keep my own fridge stocked – last week the kids got Happy Meals for dinner because I wanted a large Diet Coke from McDonald’s since we only have caffeine-free at home – admitting you have a problem is the first step.)

Luxury Mountain Villa in Colorado
Available in my dreams
It doesn’t have to be this particular “house,” any one that would hold our family and a handful of other people would be perfectly fine. And skiing lessons. And perhaps a private jet to get us all there.

Brookstone Massage Chair
Available here
Have always wanted one of these… sure a personal masseuse would perhaps be better, but this chair couldn’t hurt.

Motorcycle [for Simon]
Available at nevergonnahappen.haha
I’ve long told Simon that after we buy absolutely everything we could ever want to buy, then he can get a motorcycle. His dad rebuilt Harleys so it seems appropriate for Simon, but I’d let him get whatever one he wanted, you know, provided EVERY other thing was purchased.

Bose Wave Music System
Available here
Awesome sound quality, small intrusion on space – sounds good to me. We currently listen to music at home via our phones or tablets and while it does the job, actually haven’t it sound good would be nice.

Frye Veronica Slouch Boots
Available here
I have thick calves, tall boots are make for ladies with tiny little calves so these boots for wide calves (as recommended by Amber at My Aim is True) are ones I’d love to get.

3 Comments

Posted in Life in general

Instagram | 28

Posted on November 8, 2012 | 6 comments

This is one of those forever weeks – I am surprised today is not Friday but sadly, there is a whole day left to the remainder of this week! Weekends feel so short and weeks feel so long, wish it were the opposite. How does one get two-day work weeks and 5-day weekends? Now my dad will gloat that everyday is a weekend to him – someday I will be retired.

The sun was on fire one of our morning drives last week – times like that I wish I had more than my measly camera phone.

See, so pretty.

I’m a little in love with large velcro rollers. Minimal effort, big impact. Having long hair is fun while it lasts… Simon is counting the days until I can chop and donate it!

We took Jack to his very first movie [in the theater] – Ice Age: Continental Drift. These are the lovely photos we have to document the experience, but since we have none of Liam’s first movie, I’d call it a win! He was pretty good for the movie but asked a TON of questions – thankfully the theater was pretty empty on a Thursday morning.

Liam was Jango Fett for Halloween – after making costumes last year, I was all for buying one this year. He was all for being a Star Wars character, too bad I had to explain to everyone who Jango Fett is… Angry Birds were universally recognized last year.

Little brother loses out and has to rewear Liam’s old costume… in reality he was thrilled but doesn’t the little brother always get the short end of the stick?

Why does my hair always do cute things when I am home for the night? I did this fun, oh-so-shiny bun after the kids went to bed on Halloween night. At least I can share the fun with Instagram and my lovely blog visitors – you guys are so pretty.

Liam approves of Spoonlickers. I do not approve of his new face for photos. He thinks he’s pretty neato, clearly.

The boys on our way north last weekend. Liam was suitably excited, Jack did not want to smile for the camera. Too bad, buddy, still taking your picture.

We saw snow, then it went away, and then it came back again and then it went away. I am an excellent observationist and storyteller.

The boys were super excited to get new swim goggles. Did they actually where them in the water park? Nope.

Saturday, after dinner, we drove into town for some libations. Simon picked them well. The boys slept upstairs. We watched Juno downstairs. Everyone was happy.