Things I Love Thursday: My “Everyday” Jewelry

I have jewelry I wear pretty much everyday, without fail, and I love it. Most of it came from my husband (awww), he has good taste, or at least good sense in following hints.

I’ll share them in the order I got them. The ring below is my oldest piece, I got it before I was married and is not from the hubs. I found it at the Easttown Street Fair and the scrolling reminded me of the letter “S.” My maiden name starts with S so I thought it was a fitting ring for me to have, knowing that someday I wouldn’t have that last name and I wanted something to always have with me as a reminder to honor where I came from.

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My engagement ring and wedding band. The engagement ring was all my husband’s doing, he picked it out without any input from me – in fact, I thought we weren’t getting engaged until after I met his family in Australia but he proposed two months before our trip. Sneaky, sneaky. The wedding band was a joint collaboration, but it was one we both loved. The hubs got a stainless steel ring with no bling (so it could withstand the roughness he put it through at work but would be cutable in case his hand ever got stuck in something, unlike titanium) but as a consolation, he also got an XBox – that’s the traditional bride-to-groom gift, right?
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The watch below was a gift from my husband shortly after we got married, on the back it has the words “To My Wif” because after we got married we kept saying, it just doesn’t seem real so he called me “wif” and I called him “hubsand.” But when he went to get the engraving done, they verified multiple times that he actually wanted it mis-spelled.

The bracelet is actually the newest addition, it’s a Lucky Fin bracelet from the Lucky Fin Project. The mission of the Lucky Fin Project is to educate, celebrate, support and unite with regard to limb differences. Our youngest, Jack, was born without a fully developed left hand, called symbrachydactyly. Like Nemo and his small lucky fin, Jack doesn’t let anything keep him back and shows us every day that he certainly doesn’t need his missing four fingers. It’s important to education our children so they learn that things that are different aren’t wrong or bad, they are just different and how God made us. Some people have red hair, short legs, need a wheelchair or glasses; everyone has something that makes them different. My bracelet is a reminder of this, plus the money goes to support the mission of the Lucky Fin Project (they also have bumper stickers).
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My necklace is perhaps my favorite piece of jewelry. Oh how I love Lisa Leonard and her designs. I strongly hinted to Simon that I wanted the tag necklace with the boys’ names on it (read: I put everything in a shopping basket on her website and emailed it to Simon, but he bought it). But for our five-year anniversary, I was surprised with the ring engraved with our names on one side and our wedding date on the other. I love, love, love it.
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This post is linked up with Jill at Diaper Diaries.

What I got for ya…

It ain’t much – just a little stream of consciousness, bullet point post… with some other random photos I found on Simon’s computer and that my SIL sent me for my birthday.

  • We are having a true heat wave (and I hate it) – it is hot, hot, hot outside and super humid and this makes me a little cranky.
  • Despite the hot temps, whenever Liam is inside and our A/C is running, he walks around saying “Brrr…” Continue reading

Top Ten Childhood Memories

I’ve been thinking a lot lately of what things my kids will remember from their childhoods, often in relation to what I hope they won’t remember (we’ll let it at that, no need to go into specifics). But it got me thinking about the things I remember from growing up, the moments that had the most impact and the majority of them are happy memories or meaningful moments. Many are days or events that were captured on film, which I think helps reinforce the memory, or even shape it into something more than it was.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

  1. My dad reading to me before I went to bed. I don’t remember board books but I do remember Charlotte’s Web and other classics. We read every night and I think it helped cement my love of books – getting to visit a new world through my imagination was such a treat. Also, I can’t recall if my mom did the reading, too, or if it was just my dad – perhaps because she was home with me all day so that was our special time. Continue reading

Tips for Kicking the Week Off Right

It’s not a shocker to anyone that I don’t like Mondays (but then, who does? Probably restaurant workers who have Mondays off and people who are retired and have every day seem the same.). But there’s a right way and a wrong way to approach the dreaded day… here’s what works for me…

  • Make a list. Again, not a shocker, I like lists. But it makes me feel like I’m doing something productive, while not actually doing work, and I can see what I need to accomplish this week. Monday’s can seem overwhelming if you just keep thinking of what needs to be done but if you write it all down and start checking things off, it’s not so bad.
  • Reward yourself with a treat. For me this would be visiting the Starbuck’s drive-thru. Though today I had iced coffee at home and it was delicious.
  • Don’t stay up too late on Sunday night. I’m a night owl, so I’m not very good at this, but I’m learning that if I start the week off with a good night’s sleep, I don’t drag on Monday (yes, rocket science, I know).
  • Have plans lined up for mid-week. This gives you something to look forward to and Wednesday will be there/here before you know it.
  • Do not make plans for Monday night. My kids always need a detox from the weekend and if I take them anywhere on Monday evening, it’s bound to end badly with at least one of us crying.
  • Complain about Mondays on Facebook. You will get “likes” and sympathetic commenters and this will make you feel better.
  • Watch this video (thanks to my friend, Michelle, for sending this to me):

Five Question Friday

And once again we are at the end of the week. Phew… are we already at mid-July? Guess I’d better get my soon-to-be five year old’s birthday planned (I at least booked the venue – bowling, FTW!).

It’s been a strange week, one I’m glad to have over. Here are the highlights:

  • Work, work and more work
  • Oldest child freak out while going on normal walk – complete with crocodile tears and refusal to walk one more step [Resolution: He walked many more steps once he realized I was ignoring him and not stopping.]
  • Youngest child freak out while checking out at Costco – complete with alternating between limp body and flailing limbs resulting in smoothie being poured all over the floor and then no one would get behind us in line. Awesome.
  • Service Engine Soon light on in Explorer so it is next door at the mechanics getting checked out – this will be the sixth time it’s been in the shop since January (though more than half of those were to fix problems stemming from SIMON sliding on ice and running off the highway in into the overpass – he was fine so I can hold a grudge, it’s in our vows)
  • Finally decided that random, lingering nausea (NOT pregnant, not even in the least) was not normal so booked doctor’s appointment where she determined that best case scenario, I have an ulcer. Super. I find this amusing. Blood tests and other testing will commence and we will figure it out. I’ll keep you posted.
  • Did get to see a movie with two friends this week – that was such a nice treat. We saw Water For Elephants – it was better than the book and made me appreciate the fact that Robert Pattinson can act, it’s just that everyone in Twilight is brought down by Kristin Stewart.
  • Yesterday Jack did this, thankfully it was on Simon’s watch so I did not have to refold all those clothes. Also resisting the urge to rearrange his drawers after Simon put everything away (yes, I’m a control freak, why do you ask?)


And on to our regularly scheduled programming…

Five Question Friday
1. If you knew your best friend’s spouse was cheating on her or him, would you tell her (him)?
I had to think about it from my perspective and whether I’d want my best friend to tell me. And I’d say yes, because I’d want to know. But first I would let the cheater know that I knew what was going on and give them the chance to come clean on their own before I told my friend.

2. Soda in a can or a bottle?
Typically in a can since that’s what we have at home but if I’m on a road trip then a bottle will do. I really don’t have a preference, except that it’s Diet Coke (or the occasional Strawberry Crush).

3. What do you wash first, hair or body?
Hair first and then when I put my conditioner in, I wash the rest and then rinse the conditioner. I have thick hair, it needs some extra love.

4. What advice would you give to any new mama?
It’s funny because I was just talking about that this weekend… here are the pieces of advice that I received that I most used myself:
1. Don’t just stay home with your baby in the evenings and on the weekends – take them places and get them used to sleeping outside of their crib and falling asleep in strange places. They will be more adaptable and less constrained to a bedtime routine. Plus, then you can hang out with friends and put your kids to bed at their houses.
2. You will not have more than 10 bad nights with your child (not certain if this last until they are 18 or just for babyhood) so when you are having a bad night, remember it’s just one night and there are only 9 more to go. You can handle one bad night and really, 10 nights in the grand scheme of things is NOTHING. The person who told me this has five children and she said she never surpassed 10 nights.
3. Children go in phases and bad temperaments or habits typically last about two weeks, so give something two weeks and it will likely go away. When you are in the middle of a stretch of frequent nightly wakings or bad baby moods, know it won’t last forever and will likely change in two weeks (give or take a few days).
4. All kids are different, yes, but you are not the only one going through whatever it is that you are going through. Seek support with friends or online. Reading blogs and baby-related sites helped me see that I wasn’t alone.
5. Sleep whenever you can, everything else can wait (you know, aside from baby-related needs).

5. What is your best hangover remedy?
Taking ibuprofen and drinking a bunch of water before going to bed. Repeat when you wake up. Eat a carb-alicious breakfast. I’ve never thrown up after drinking and certainly not because I’ve not drank enough so perhaps my method works, I don’t know… at least it works for me.