Five Question Friday

Posted on August 26, 2011 | 5 comments

Another week of summer done and another week closer to school starting – it’s coming quickly, people! Are you ready, I’m not. And for those of you who have already started school – bless you!

We have some fun planned for the weekend. This afternoon the little boys and I are heading to a hotel to hang out with my parents and swim. And then tomorrow we’re all headed to the beach for the day – I can’t believe it’s the end of August and we haven’t even been once but at least we’re making it before it’s too cold! But I can’t wait to get a little more tan, play in the lake and have some ice cream on the way home. Hopefully Jack won’t try to drown himself more than once, I’m optimistic.

Here are my answers to 5QF:

1. Did you make any fun purchases this week?
I’d say fun is relative. I bought Liam a new lunchbox and thermos with a Star Wars Clone Wars theme. He is thrilled – he has carried that thermos wherever he goes since Wednesday – drinking water like a [something – I can’t think at the moment].

2. If you could go to any musical concert, what would it be?
Before this summer I would have said U2 but then I saw them and so now I guess I need a new one… it’s hard because I’ve seen most of the people I’d love to see. Perhaps I’ll go with a venue, I’d love to see someone at the Red Rocks Ampitheatre outside of Denver, Colorado. Beautiful.

3. What is your least fav/ most fav house chore?
Least favorite: dusting
Most favorite: emptying the dishwasher or folding laundry

4. Would you prefer new appliances or clothes?
New appliances – stove/oven and washer dryer. We just got a new fridge and dishwasher a couple years ago but the rest could use upgrading. I’d love, love, love the fancy red Electrolux front-loading washer and dryer set. I’d happily wash all my old clothes in them for years to come.

5. Miracle Whip or Mayo?
Mayo, Miracle Whip just tastes funny to me. I won’t notice if it’s in a sandwich but in a pasta or potato salad, mayo all the way. But what I really love is mustard (deli mustard is best, but I also enjoy plain, old yellow mustard).

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Posted in Five Question Friday, Life in general

Confessions of a Paper Junkie

Posted on August 25, 2011 | 5 comments

Source: etsy.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

I love paper. All kinds of paper. When I was little and my mom would take me grocery shopping with her (every Wednesday morning, the same day and time of day she still goes) I would get to explore the store by myself* while she shopped  and I would almost always end up in the paint department, squirreling away paint chips (pretty paper).

After that I developed an attraction to stationery – both sheets of paper and coordinating paper/envelope sets and if you wanted to get me a good gift, a pad of paper would do the trick. I still have a ton of sets in a box in the basement, plus I took up card-making for a while (I’m a starter) so I also have all those supplies. Someday I’m going to really get going on sending real mail and I’ll wear through that supply. Though I could probably send one real letter a day for a few years and maybe then I’d start to run out.

In college I started scrapbooking – the paper supplies for this were endless and beautiful. I find it funny that I have a collection of fancy scrapbooks with cool pages for my college years but all the photos since I’ve gotten married and have children are in sleeved photo albums (or are residing electronically on Facebook – last year I printed photos one time).

When I started getting into graphic design, I found out that paper companies created swatch books – bound books showing samples of all the different colors and stocks of paper they manufactured – so I started ordering them (for free) to collect I guess. Turns out the company I work for had a couple hundred such swatch books – it makes me heart beat a little faster when I eye those boxes – all the lovely paper possibilities once again.

These days my paper obsession has taken the form of paper plates and napkins, initially just napkins from IKEA and then branching out to the products created by a local company that has a bi-annual warehouse sale where you can walk down rows of tables and fill large bags with coordinating sets of napkins and plates (not to mention the gift bags and tissue paper). It’s so cheap and so pleasing to the eye. I may or may not have found a box I’d stored away in our basemen that contained a couple dozen packages of napkins and plates when I was cleaning the basement, ones that had been there since we packed up extra things a few years ago when we were thinking of putting our house on the market. It’s a sickness. And I guess I can admit I could have hoarding potential, but thankfully I have a husband who loves me despite my love of paper products and who would keep me from filling a room with paper and sleeping in it.**

*I was still in elementary school when this happened, she was way more trusting than I will ever be. Both of her child and other people.
**I would never do that, it would be uncomfortable and would wrinkle the poor paper.

This post is linked up with Jill at Diaper Diaries.

5 Comments

Posted in Confessions, Things I Love Thursday

Things I Think

Posted on August 24, 2011 | 2 comments
  • It’s always a bummer when the easy going-to-bed nights hit when a sitter gets to put the kids in bed. I also think I should get a discount when this happens.
  • It amazes me how much joy Liam can get out of a new pair of shin guards when he has no clue even how to play soccer.
  • I really have lucked out with the people God has put in my life. I will never stop being thankful for them.
  • Even though we know it’s for the best, it sucks to put our kids through something we know they’re not going to enjoy – like daycare drop off, surgery or vaccination shots.
  • You never stop being a parent, no matter how old you or your kids get – it is forever. This also means you never stop being someone’s child.
  • Pizza with green olives is delicious. Lemon bars are also delicious.
  • I truly enjoy the time I spend on the stationary bike in the basement and I totally don’t mind sweating if I don’t have anywhere to go afterward.
  • When in doubt, it never hurts to send a thank you note. It will always be appreciated.
  • This quote was in a book I read last week: “Life is difficult. God is merciful. Heaven is sure.” Philip Yancey’s father-in-law [The first time I typed that from memory, I wrote: Life is hard. God is good. Heaven is certain. Not sure which I prefer.] I can’t get it out of my head.

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Posted in Life in general

Top Ten Amusing Search Terms That Led to My Blog

Posted on August 23, 2011 | 17 comments

One of my favorite bloggers posts from time to time listing some amusing search terms that have led to her site. While I don’t have a ton of traffic rolling into my site (or even a few pounds of traffic), there have been a number of search terms that I find amusing in one way or another.

For your enjoyment:

  1. vomit queasy bowl | dear whoever used this search term, I’m so sorry.
  2. my teacher washed my hair in the sink | I hope it wasn’t because a bird pooped on your head, too, but I’m not sure there could be a good reason for that to happen.
  3. in love with chick fil a | I completely understand and I believe it’s one of the great tragedies of my life that there are not Chick Fil A’s in Michigan. But FYI, I hear that Chick Fil A is extremely non-committal so you might want to explore other options for love.
  4. that would be bad | indeed, it would be bad (also, I might use that phrase a little too much)
  5. secret regrets june | that’s awfully specific and P.S. you probably won’t have much luck if they are secret regrets
  6. met you at lollapalooza 2011 + shoulders | clearly this searcher was looking for their soul mate, it has all the makings of a timeless love story
  7. its friday | you had to google that?
  8. baby bungee cord/baby bungy cord/baby bungie cord (all three spellings) | someone certainly is persistent
  9. roll ’em ferndock (various spellings) | again with the multiple spellings, but this time for such an uncommon phrase – dad, is that you?
  10. cake | Of all the possibilities for this single, common word, someone came to my site by searching for cake; that makes my day. And now I want some cake.

Top Ten {Tuesday}This post is linked to Oh Amanda’s Top Ten Tuesday.

17 Comments

Posted in Search Terms, Top Ten Tuesday

Music Monday: Not Happening

Posted on August 22, 2011 | 1 comment

I woke up tired this morning. Well, more truthfully, I woke up 45 minutes before my alarm with that horrible feeling that I was going to oversleep and then couldn’t fall back asleep so I just got up – this is unheard of, even more so because Simon never woke up (usually he’s already awake and downstairs when I get up). Then Jack cried big tears when I left him at daycare, woefully saying, “Don’t leave me, mommy!” I hope this is not a preview for what the rest of the week will look like. Because if it is, I’m going to need more Diet Coke and Prilosec.

Because of that, this is all I have for you today:

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Posted in Music