Five Question Friday

It’s Friday and once again I am sooooo glad! Especially since all day yesterday I felt like it was Friday, which was rather a bummer. Just like everyone else in the world, I’ve discovered Downton Abbey and I am smitten (see also: I am a lemming, but far be it from me to avoid something just because everyone else likes it).

Also, my kids are going to drive me insane with the multiple getting-out-of-beds they attempt in an evening. They have been sharing a room now for 1.5 weeks and nothing seems to work aside from being drop-dead tired to keep them from getting up until they’ve worn themselves out and exhausted every excuse. And I can’t get them to drop-dead tired level EVERY night, so I need a new tactic. I’ve tried threats, pacifier removal, denying them the Wii and YouTube the next day, yelling, speaking calmly, ignoring (which doesn’t work when they are standing right next to you) and now I’m just plain complaining and asking for help. What to do? Clearly I do not have the upper hand, but I am not sure how to get it since all techniques have come up lacking.

1. What do you do when you are really upset to calm yourself down?
Give myself a timeout. Pray. Drink a Diet Coke.

2. Do you go all out for V-day or is it just another day?
We definitely do not go all out with Jack and Simon’s birthday the week before we have a little gift exchange, but nothing big. I’d rather save the money and go out for a nice dinner with the hubs without all the crowds.

3. Are you more or less productive when Hubs is away?
It depends. My husband is gone every weekday evening but at that point in the day, I’m also worn out so I often do the bare minimum and then veg out on the couch until bedtime. And it’s about 50/50 on Saturday mornings when we are all home. He usually watches soccer so I either a) feel free to sit and read blogs or b) take the opportunity to work out or do chores since he can be responsible for the boys. I guess it all depends on the day. But I do know we don’t work well together, I’m too bossy and he H-A-T-E-S to be told what to do.

4. What is your favorite time of day and why?
Any time but morning. Why – because it is not morning. I would love to be one of those people who just wakes up and pops out of bed but I am decidedly not one of those people. The ideal time would between 10 pm and 1 am *if* I do not have to be woken up the next day.

5. What is your go to karaoke song?
I have sung karaoke exactly one time, in someone’s living room during a small group get together when I lived in Chicago. I can’t say that I actually like karaoke because I prefer to hear good singers and karaoke can be hit or miss. And I am just too self-conscious to sing in front of people, or perform as is more the way with karaoke. Too inhibited.


Linking up with Mama M for Five Question Friday!

Missing something?

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The above photo was taken in our hotel room in Sydney, because we are nerds. Shown are the Coke bottles we collected during our time in Australia… sadly we were never able to find one with Jack’s name on it. But 3 out of 4 ain’t bad!
And maybe someday they will start selling bottles with names on them here in the States then I can Photoshop a “family” portrait together. Because who doesn’t want that? (Dear Coca-Cola, Could you send me a “Jack” bottle? I’d super appreciate it!)

I love…

Well, no mushy Valentine’s posts from me… I’m really ambivalent about Valentine’s, I love it for the sake of the kids, but I don’t really need to go above and beyond on a particular (slightly manufactured) day for my husband – though I did get him some of his favorite beer (Dirty Bastard – the name of the beer, not at all a description of my hubs) and he got me roses because I do appreciate flowers (ANY time).

But I’m going to take a page from Sandy (who took a page from the PW) and list the things I love, in no particular order (except the first five, because, duh).

Simon
Liam
Jack
George
My parents
Anything that comes in a box from Amazon
Sunshine, with no humidity
Honest to goodness rainbows
Family, near, far and everywhere
My First Rooks girls
My MOPS ladies
All other friends from everywhere else
Coffee
Dark chocolate
Books and Kindles
Water
Diet Coke
Monkey bread
Meijer Gold tomatillo salsa
Entertainment Weekly
Paper
Accents
My crazy long toes
Jack’s adorable little hand
Liam’s angry face
Laughing until I cry
Walking with Sandy (but of course)
Homemade chocolate chip scones
Coffee granita from Kava House
Pulled pork tacos (my own recipe)
Being crafty
Sleeping
My blankie
Candles
Painted toenails
The automatic sliding doors on my minivan
Sterling roses
The Time Traveler’s Wife (the book, not the movie)
Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version, not the book)
Traveling (without kids, someday I might like it with them)
Colorado
Lake Michigan
Going to camp at Camp Roger
Awesome praise music at the start of a church service
A handful of good-looking actors (not naming names, but here are a few)
Live music
Music on my iTunes
Blaring music in the car
Listening to either of my boys sing
Baking
Girl’s night out
Making lists
Being the youngest
Christmas Eve
Christmas lights
Pristine, untouched snow
Autumn
Making a client happy
Making people laugh
Vanilla java stout
Seeing the sunset from a plane
Watching the sun rise in the mountains
Puppies
Babies
Flower buds poking out of the ground
Texting
Facebook
Our DVR
Having insurance
Living in the US (not that it’s better than anywhere else, I do just love it)
West Michigan and Dutch bingo
Chicago at Christmastime
How excited Liam is to see me when I’m at his school
How Jack throws anything in his hands to the ground when I get to daycare
Community, doing life with others
Being understood
Being heard
Being loved

Music Monday: Grammy Recap

So the Grammy Awards were last night and I was a little disappointed by the performances but I had something thoughts that I’d love to share with you, this may or may not be interesting to anyone but me (and maybe Stef).

  • First: Adele = love. She’s got such a BIG voice that you forget she is so young (21 or 22) and I thought it was adorable when she finished singing “Rolling in the Deep” that she let out this cute little giggle/sigh and just reveled in the moment. That is someone who deserved every award she won last night (and some that other people won, whether she was nominated or not).
  • Did anyone else find it a little… wrongly worded when Springsteen, the opening number, shouted “Are you alive, America?” Slightly insensitive to the fact that a huge music icon had just died the day before and the ceremony would of course be impacted by that, I just thought it was a poor choice in words, but I’m not the biggest Springsteen fan (sorry, Lynn and anyone else I know who loves him)
  • I wonder if any other award show has ever been opened with prayer, including the Dove Awards – LL Cool J is cool in my book for doing that, I didn’t notice if anyone refused to shut their eyes and bow their heads
  • Not surprisingly, Foo Fighters won best rock song since they were the only nominees who were actually a ROCK band… as a bonus to them, they got to perform twice (though once would have been enough) as a non-bonus they were played off and had the lights turned down on them at the end of their acceptance speech.
  • Speaking of performing twice, I still think you are a tool, Chris Brown, and think it’s a crying shame you were there and actually won something. You suck.
  • They let that idiot perform twice but only let The Civil Wars do an excerpt from their song, for why?
  • I sure wish Taylor Swift would stop that stupid incredulous look when people cheer for her – it’s been a few years now, you should not be surprised that people like you.
  • Dear Katy Perry: Your performance was strange and uncomfortable, very sorry you are getting divorced.
  • Dear Rhianna: Leather shorts are NEVER a good look, even in Barbados but singing with Chris Martin from Coldplay is always good (as Simon said, I’d take a pitching, imperfect LIVE performance from Coldplay than an autotuned, lipsynced performance from anyone else)
  • Low lights in the performance category: Beach Boys, Paul McCartney (Sir is getting too old for this), any and all Chris Brown
  • High lights: Adele (obvs), Jennifer Hudson tribute to Whitney Houston, Coldplay, The Civil Wars, looking at Adam Levine, Lady Gaga only wearing one outfit.
  • Did anyone else catch the Chipotle commercial:

And that’s all I got for ya… any thoughts on the show?

A to Z of Me

Something a little fun because I actually love filling out questionnaires (like for real; and also, talking about myself, which is why I have a bloggity blog) via Jive Turkey and agirlandaboy.

A. Age: I will be 34 at my next birthday, which is something I absolutely cannot remember and then have to do math in my head when someone asks me how old I am and apparently I cannot do math fast enough because not only do I keep telling people I’m already 34, I’ve also said 32 and 33 recently. But not 35, I know I’m not that old 🙂

B. Bed size: Queen, but in my heart I want a king size, in our next house, we will have one! Darn it!

C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning the bathroom, and I know I will grow to hate it even more when I have three boys who [try to] put their pee in the potty

D. Dogs: George, the 9.2-pound miniature black poodle, he’s turning into even more of a barking little pill than he ever has been

E. Essential start to your day: Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. After my shower.

F. Favorite color: Sunsets

G. Gold or Silver: Silver

H. Height: 5′ 9″ – though for a while I shrunk because my neck was screwed up, I don’t look forward to osteoporosis

I. Instruments you play: I have taken lessons for violin, piano and guitar, currently I play none of these.

J. Job title: Business partner, mom, blogger

K. Kids: Two boys + one manchild of a husband (never grow up he says!)

L. Live: The best city ever

M. Mother’s name: Donna

N. Nicknames: My dad always called me pumpkin dunkin’ and my friends call me Chelle/Shell and when they want to annoy me, people call me Shelly (notable my brothers and my college friend, Matt)

O. Overnight hospital stays: When I had my babies and when Jack had RSV at 3 weeks old, I wasn’t the patient but I didn’t leave the hospital once in 3 days.

P. Pet peeves: People who are not problem solvers, who instead whine about what is happening to them but don’t do anything about it.

Q. Quote from a movie: [this one stumped me, which is odd because I LOVE movies] I’d love to say something that really touched me, but instead I’ll go with something from The Princess Bride because it’s the one I quote most often: “Wuv. Twu wuv.” (Love, True love…)

R. Right- or left-handed: Right.

S. Siblings: Two aforementioned brothers, Mike and Marty (or Michael and Martin if we’re being formal) my parents liked the “m” names though they do argue that they were going to name me Robin Renee until I was born (thankfully they came to their senses, I much prefer Michelle)

U. Underwear: Always.

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: lima beans, always have, always will. Vegetables I’ve hated but come to love: asparagus and brussel sprouts

W. What makes you run late: See aforementioned two boys and manchild (though, really, just the smaller children and even more honestly, we are seldom late, we are annoyingly early)

X. X-Rays you’ve had: sprained pinkie (pinky?) finger in middle school (injury gained while swimming – laughably possible); random knee pain in 20s; head CT when I had a five-day headache (to check for a brain bleed, you know, after I might have already had it for 5 days); and ultrasounds for children and gall bladder.

Y. Yummy food that you make: pulled pork tacos, chicken enchiladas, lentil barley stew (for Jesus), pesto, cheesecake bars, caramels, peppermint patties, cake balls

Z. Zoo animal: A swimming bear or a kangaroo that I can feed.

Want to play along?