What’s for dinner?

What’s the most often asked question around my house… especially by the girl?  That’s right… what’s for dinner?!  Just three little words that can send shivers down my spine and drive me nuts all at the same time!

We have a long list of things we eat regularly.  Just about everybody does.  I’ve heard different people say most people buy the same hundred or so ingredients at the grocery store over and over again.  Aaaaand that would probably be because they eat combinations of the same foods over and over.

And the key word for us is combinations.

I have lots of cookbooks.  Granted most of the cookbooks I have, feature quick and easy meals, but face it, that’s what most of us eat every day, isn’t it?

I love magazines…..

but food magazines are my favorites…..

But here’s the deal… the actual low down on eating at my house.  Yes there are tons of fancy recipes in all the magazines I get the in mail (but…).  So yesterday I was reading my new Southern Living magazine, which is a feast for the eyes, if not the tummy. And I turned the page and look what I saw….

One of our very own… The Pioneer Woman and an article about her cookbook.  I’m sure every one of her recipes is is delicious.  But….

we can’t eat like that.  We each have our issues.  From cholesterol problems (hubs), to needing to lose weight (ME!), to problems eating certain foods (Boo Boo AND me!).

So strolling through the recipes provided in the magazine just brought that gnawing question back to my mind… what’s for dinner?  Granted, these recipes are lovely. But there is a lot of beef (which I can’t cook much of, because of Miss Boo) and a lot of dairy * (which Boo and I can’t tolerate) and fat… which hello… NONE of us need to eat a steady diet of that.  And I don’t mean to pick on PW here, it’s everywhere.  Decadence… butter, oil, cheese.

So what is one to do? 

How about convenience foods?  I told hubs the other day that it would be a lovely thing if just every once in a while, I could just pop open a box of something from the freezer, nuke it, or bake it and call it dinner.  But we can’t. Just about everything in the frozen section is forbidden to us for one reason or another.  (sigh)

So, I have my grocery list with the things we’ll eat this weekend… simple things.  I am always on the lookout for recipes, new combinations of the things we can eat, so we can have creative, delicious meals. Sometimes I succeed. 

And sometimes I don’t. 

* Regarding the dairy. I know there are alternatives.  Boo uses rice milk in her cereal (and takes calcium chewables also).  But it doesn’t work in recipes very well… like exchanging rice milk for regular milk in something like corn bread, for instance.  It ends up doughy and as Alton Brown would say, that’s not good eats! There is also soy milk, which she and I drank for a few years before it started to ahem.. not work out for us.  Even some of the ‘fake’ cheeses still have a milk base.  Believe me, my eyes are wide open to substitutions. And I am constantly strolling the health food store for other options.  It just seems like they usually don’t work out for us.

And now I’m off to buy a few things for the weekend, including the ground turkey for the chili we’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow.

Random Dozen # 9

1. Tell me something about your favorite teacher.  My English teacher in 7th grade (I think it was 7th) encouraged me to write and drew me out of my shell a little bit, since I was very shy.

2. Tell me about one pivotal moment in your life.  Well, coming to know Christ is one. Of course that changed my whole viewpoint on everything. And our son’s illness/death was definitely another. That took us into another world we never thought we’d enter. That also really changed our viewpoint on things.

3. About favorite colors--a lot of people will ask you what it is, but I want to know why it is. What feeling or memory does it evoke?  From when I was a little girl, I’ve always loved pink. It’s feminine and girlie, I guess.  I like to wear it, but I don’t have anything pink in my house. If I were choosing…say… an iPod Touch cover… I would want the hot pink! : )

4. What's a sure sign that you're getting older?  Gray hair. bifocals. Wanting to sit while I do my hair.  Forgetfulness.  Taking naps.  (Oh wait.. you said “A” sign… oops, sorry!)

5. Please don't sermonize, but Halloween--is it a yes or no for you?  It’s a no.

6. What's your favorite musical?  I don’t know very many musicals so maybe Mary Poppins.  Does that count? 

7. Are you more of a city mouse or country mouse?  Probably at heart, I would be a country mouse unless there are bugs.  And no Walmart.  (This answer provided by my hubby since he read over the questions while he was putting on his shoes. And he was correct, so I let him answer this one!)

8. Did you know that it is possible, for a small fee, to name a real star after someone? (It's true! Google it!) If someone were to name a star for you, would you appreciate it for its whimsy and romance, or would you say, "Are you kidding me? For $19.95 we could have gone to the movie and actually bought popcorn."  Would rather have the movie and the popcorn at this stage in life.

This question comes from Paula at His Ways Are Not Our Ways.
9. What's the craziest thing you've ever been doing and texted during it? I only thought of this b/c I was about to try to text during my walking video but I didn't.  I hardly ever text. And I stink at it.  Hey… maybe that’s another sure sign of age.  So I haven’t texted while doing anything else ever. It takes my full attention.  LOL

10. "It's not a party unless _______."  …there is food and laughter and friends.

11. When you're stuck in traffic or a waiting room, what do you do to pass the time? PS: There are no magazines available.  Bring my own book and read.  Or pray.  Or boring things like counting chairs and people watching.

12. If you weren't yourself, would you be friends with you? I think so. 

There ya go, y’all.  Another Random Dozen. To see how other people answered these questions, check out Linda at 2nd Cup.

distressed stool, a DIY

Since I’ve gotten, shall we say, a little more advanced in years, the idea of plopping my little butt tail end down while I blow dry my hair and put on make up is becoming more and more attractive.

Enter the plain ole little stool I bought recently when we make a trip over to Ikea.   There it is sitting under the test glass door for the other project I did recently.

I couldn’t decide how I wanted to paint it but then decided I’d kinda like to paint and distress it.  So I did.

I’m not original, but I know how to copy things I’ve seen tutorials of. So that’s what I did. I used the products the girls at Shanty 2 Chic recommend and checked several of their projects to kind of figure it all out. 

I painted it with Rust-oleum American Accents spray paint in a cream-ish color.  Then I sanded the edges a tad.  Then I used Ralph Lauren faux technique glaze in tobacco (in hindsight, I think I bought one shade too dark for me).  It seemed a bit heavy even after wiping the glaze back off, so I ragged some more of it off with a damp cloth and it came out perfect. 

When I was happy with the way the glaze looked, I decided to seal it with polycrylic.

This is old stuff I used for a project a few years ago. I didn’t know if it was any good or not, but I gave it a shot.  When I used it a few years ago, it seemed effortless to use.  So easy.  But maybe the stuff was a little old, because it was making bubbles when I used a cheap paintbrush. So!  I sanded some of that down, and put a couple more coats on using a lint free cloth and it did fine.

Turned out really cute, don’t you think?!

Just the right amount of color and distress.

Love it.  This was a nice practice piece to see if I liked the colors and technique. I have a bigger piece that may or may not get redone at some point. 

becoming more

I was in the bookstore the other day and came home with this.

I had been hearing about it and looking for it and was thrilled when I saw it sitting on the shelf at Mardel.

*squeal*

I have only read the first chapter. But I can already tell it’s going to be so good.  Really the whole idea behind this book is what my story was… wanting to be more than the girl that goes by the rules and tries to do the things she’s supposed to do.  I was like that and yet I was very empty inside.. I wanted to “become more than a good Bible study girl”.

I remember when I was very young, the church we went to sent home offering envelopes with my name already printed on them.  There was a place on the envelope for me to put check marks by:

• Present  That one is easy… yes I am here!
• Offering  Yes, I was always given a quarter to put in the envelope when I was young and gave my own money when I started working.
• Study lesson  Most of the time I did that. The lessons weren’t very long.
• Bible read daily.  I tried to… I remember making time to sit and read something so I could put a little check in the box every week.
• I’m sure there is something I’m forgetting.  It seems like there were always five boxes.  Well, whatever it was, I tried to check it.

I can remember feeling particularly good about myself when I had done what I thought I could to fulfill the requirements laid out before me.  And yet,  I was just going through the motions of doing a lot of things trying to make myself right.  And it was a futile struggle because I couldn’t  make myself right.  I could do a million things and yet still be in the same struggle wondering why I couldn’t feel Him at all.  I have so been there.  And then I realized that  “they must be done with the greatest expectation and heart cry for God to lead us into a deeper and more life-changing connection with Him”.*

*quote from chapter one.  There were so many things I could have quoted from chapter one, but just stuck with that one thought since it is such a key statement.

I’m excited to see what Lysa has to say in the rest of the book.  : )  

lazy day cat

Today has just been a lazy day. 

Except for the part where I make the bed and do laundry.

As usual.  

Typically there is just this one spot on the bed that the cat favors.

This one. Riiiiiight up next to the pillow.

But I was doing laundry. So…

You can forget about the pillow business when there’s LAUNDRY around.  Zzzzzzzzzz

Don’t let me bother ya, cat.

last night’s dinner

So last night I made this little breakfast casserole thingy. It’s good. It has bell pepper, onion, potato, (turkey) bacon and egg (beaters, in my case).  Of course, you have to mix all of that stuff together in order for it to, ya know… taste good.

Everybody in my family claims to like it so every once in a while when I’m feeling lazy, we’ll have it since it’s so easy to throw together.  Nice little breakfast casserole and a bowl of fruit really isn’t a bad dinner.

The only problem is… my husband doesn’t like green peppers.  So his plate ends up looking a little bit like this when he is finished.

And Miss Boo can’t stand potatoes, so her plate ends up looking a little bit like this when she is finished.

And then there’s my plate.

At least *I* liked all of it.

here we go again

I wrote this Tuesday, but I’m just now getting around to posting it.

We knew today was coming and we’ve tried to make light of it with Miss Boo. But we found out recently that she has a vitamin deficiency and would be in need of some injectables to get herself back in line. Not a big thing, so no worries. It sounds much worse than it is. That’s not even really what this post is about, though.

It’s more about the ugly flashback that came along with it. I can’t believe I’m giving another child shots now! I can’t believe I’m talking it all up to her about how it’s not a big deal and all that jazz. And I’m having to remember how to give a little arm a shot. (She’s a very petite little thang.) I can’t believe I’m moving things in the frig for shots again. It just feels all too familiar and it makes me a little sick. But as I said, this isn’t a big deal and I’m just going to stay with that thought and we’ll all move forward.

I gave her first shot right after we opened the box…at her request… to just get it over with. And this is what we’ll be doing every other day for sixty days. One down, 29 more to go…..

Whether we like it or not!

Random Dozen #8

Here we go… it’s Random Dozen time again! : )

1. Candy corn: Your thoughts?  We loooove candy corn! We look forward to Halloween so we can buy it!  For a while, our grocery store carried it all year long and sometimes when hubby ran to the store for me, some of it would “mysteriously” hop into the cart.  We only like Brach’s brand.. none of that weird Target brand junk!  : p

2. Briefly, what was the first conversation you ever had with your spouse? (or best friend, if you're not married.) (Or someone significant, like your librarian.) Well that is a tricky question because we knew each other from singles group at church.  So we had talked to each other before we were going out or whatever.  We talked some on a singles retreat… but we barely knew each other then.  Mostly it was retreat stuff. Although I was glad he chose to sit by me. 

3. Could you ever become a vegetarian?  Yes!  I did that for a while years ago and liked it. In my mind I could do it all over again, although I don’t think my bod would cooperate with me at this age, if you know what I mean.

4. Have you ever dressed up your pet in a costume?  We had a real laid back dog when I was a kid and we used to put clothes and glasses and what-not on him.  We have not dressed our current pet, a cat.  We like our fingers all attached, thankyouverymuch!

 5. Name something about childhood that you miss (like Clark Bars, Teaberry Gum, Malibu Barbie, cracking fake eggs on people's heads with your fist and "It's the Great Pumpkin" airing only once a year). Cloves gum… my grandmother used to chew it and the smell of it reminds me of her.  Eating raw dough… cookie dough, before we thought raw eggs could kill us.. and pie crust dough too.  YUM! On a more serious note…is that allowed???… would be just the carefree nature of not knowing much about life yet. As you get older, life gets ‘heavier’ and sometimes I miss the days of not really realizing that yet.

6. Have you ever won a trophy? If not, what do you deserve a trophy for?  Nope.  But I am always saying things about my “Mom of the Year” trophy…mostly that it’s getting bigger and bigger every time I do something stupid silly as a parent!  As of right now, we should build on an addition to our house so it can have it’s own room.  With a vaulted ceiling.  Ahem.  : )

7. When do you think is the appropriate time to begin playing Christmas music each year?  Well a lot of radio stations here probably start playing it before Thanksgiving. I would say after Thanksgiving. Although I totally cheated this year and listened to a new Chris Tomlin Christmas cd I found on sale at Mardel the other day.  I love it… big shout out to a Christian artist that doesn’t feel like he has to sing Jingle Bells or White Christmas on their cd.  Thank you!

 8. What's your favorite board game? I had a game called Payday when I was a kid. If you landed on certain spots on the board, you got to draw ‘mail’ and they were really cleverly written.  We always laughed when we read those aloud. I liked spinning the spinner on Life… more than playing the game itself.  I bought my daughter the newer version of it and it totally doesn’t have the same spinner. What a rip!

9. How do you feel about surprises (receiving, not giving)? Depends.

10. Is it easy for you to say, "I'm sorry?"  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

11. What is your favorite candle scent? Back when ‘craft malls’ were all the rage…at least in this part of the country… there was a craft mall near us that had a booth that sold homemade candles and there was a ‘flavor’ called FRESH CAKE.  Oh my word!  The most delicious smelling candle ever. I always compare other candles to that one… oh sorry, that doesn’t smell as good as fresh cake.

12. October is traditionally "open house" time in public schools. If you had a literal open house in your home (like a reception) what light snacks would you serve visitors and what would you show them (as in art projects, graded papers) that would uniquely represent you?  I have no idea what I’d serve. I haven’t had a ‘party’ in forevah!  I dunno.. maybe something on toast points… you can pick it up and carry it around and gobble it down in one bite.  I have no idea what you mean about showing them stuff… do you mean the things around my house that are me?  Well I guess I would show them my scrapbooks, pics of both my kids, different things I’ve made etc.  I don’t know of much of anything I’d be dragging people around to see, to be honest. 

Well there’s another Random Dozen.  Hope you had fun. For more random stuff, go visit Linda at 2nd Cup.

there has to be a better way

There is a lot of buzz about fancy coffees of late. "You Know Who" seems to be all the rave right now. I look at this and I just don’t get it. For one thing, I’m not even a coffee drinker. But even if I were, it’s expensive. Does this little fact escape people or what? Are we unable to brew our own pot at home and flavor it any way we wish? Or is it more about the status of the to-go cup it comes in, which seems to almost be a fashion accessory these days?

And I’m not just saying that because my drink of choice (other than water, of course) is tea. Cold tea. And hot tea. I love me a little healthy sweetener too! I just can’t figure out what the fascination is with Fancy Coffee when there are hundreds of products on the shelves at the grocery store that will give you a yummy, custom made cup of flavored drink. And at a fraction of the price. There has to be a better way!

Today was grocery day and so I did a little price comparative… not of coffee because I don’t even know where to begin. But of the hot tea I drank for breakfast this morning. I wondered how much it cost per cup, since I’ve never sat down to figure that out.

The cinnamon tea I had this morning runs $2.28 per box and there are 20 tea bags in each box. That brings the total for one serving to 11 cents.

The wonderful Sun Crystals that sweeten my tea run $4.97 per box and there are 100 sugar packets in each box. I put one in my hot tea and that is a total of 5 cents.

So 11+5= 16. Are you still with me? My morning cup of deliciousness runs me a grand total of….. sixteen cents.

Tell me again how much a grande frappy whappy whatever costs at the Fancy Place? A lot more than 16 cents! But they don’t give the fancy, nostalgic Chili’s kid cup to-go cups there, do they?

I am just so cool.

old lady candy

No offense to ‘old ladies’, but that is what I think every day when I chew up one of these after taking a nasty tasting vitamin. The candy! Old lady candy.

at the sink

I look at this every time I stand at the kitchen sink.  I’ve had this little spiral book thing for many years and it has many favorite verses in it.  This is my newest.  It reminds me that I really am nothing. But God, in His great kindness, is willing to live in one so sinful and unworthy. 

Anything that I do or say or write that is of any good or value is Him.  He is the Great Treasure…the Light shining in my heart. 

I’m the fragile clay jar. 

frosted glass, a DIY

I’ve had a bee in my bonnet about a few things at my house, so I decided to get busy and do some DIY projects today. I haven’t been motivated in forever to do these little things until I read a new blog, Shanty 2 Chic, and boy have I ever been inspired!

When we redid our kitchen a few years ago, the contractor told me that I just had to have some cabinet doors with glass in them, so I could put pretty things behind it. Well, that is all fine and good, but over the years, I’ve realized I needed that area for storage more than for pretty things. And looking through that glass has been quite an eyesore for a while now. See…

All the pretty stuff had been moved out of the way in favor of practical things. Well I certainly don’t mind practicality,but it bothered me every time I looked through the glass of that one cabinet. (there is glass on the other side as well as this cabinet hangs over the bar peninsula area)

I knew I wanted to change things, but couldn’t decide exactly how. I thought about lining the glass with fabric leftover from when I made the curtains, but then I couldn’t decide the easiest best way to go about that. Velcro? no. Mounting it onto foam core and wedging it in place? no. Nothing sounded easy or practical enough for me. And also the fabrics are pretty dark and I didn’t want to make those doors seem dark and heavy.

I was stuck.

Until I went to Home Depot and Lowes and Walmart this morning in search of some spray paint for a couple more projects. That’s when I found IT.

So I bought some! In the garage I had some old entertainment center doors from a hundred years ago, so I practiced on one of those to see if I could do it to my satisfaction. And thankfully, YES I CAN! Here is the practice door.

I forgot to take pics of the door with painters tape and sale flyers around the edges to protect the wood. But it worked great! It looks better in person than it does in this photo. So, since I figured I could do it without totally messing up my nice cabinet doors or the glass, I had hubby take down both the cabinet doors and I got busy prepping them.

I didn’t want to take the doors out until they were ready to spray. I needed to get the edges protected and then clean the glass very well. So I did all of this on the kitchen table with a thick throw under the door, to protect the door and the table. It also slid around easily while I was working on it. Bonus!

Here is one of them drying (on the recycle bin) after I took the sale flyers and paint tape off. We don’t even get the paper, so I had to rummage through the mail today to find something to cover the wood with. (I think it’s a bit funny that I used Lowe’s sale flyers but bought my spray stuff at Home Depot! LOL)

Here it is all finished! The glass isn’t completely obscured, but you can’t read the labels either. And light can still travel through, which was important to me. I think it turned out great. And it was pretty easy too. Even *I* could do it!

**small note** This product doesn't etch the glass. It just adds a frosted film to the glass. I can use the proper solvent and restore it's original look.

don’t just sing it

Sometimes I think about verses that sound beautiful… I might even sing a song with that verse in it…and yet sometimes I don’t stop and think much about what the words mean.

I read a post about this verse today and it got me to thinking.

Ps 24:3-4.  Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
         And who may stand in His holy place?
⁴He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
         Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood…”

One of the points about this post was the idea that we like the idea of confession and repentance more than the practice of confession and repentance.  And it hit me like a ton of bricks just how true that is.

I know He wants to forgive… and that He is forgiving… but very often I don’t do anything about it.  I’ll think about my sin and think that is enough.  Or be sorry for my sin and not confess it.  Or even pray around the sin and still not confess it.  Many times around this point I feel better because I feel like I’ve acknowledged the offense in my own heart and yet I haven’t truly confessed it.  And there are so many ways I am a repeat offender…and I still don’t stop and realize I didn’t “just make a mistake” or something.  I sinned. 

It’s hard to confess sin, even to someone close to me, even when I know they’re going to give me a hug and tell me they love me anyway.  But sometimes it’s also hard to confess things to God. Why?  After all, He’s going to do more than hug me and tell me it’s ok (which hello, sin isn’t ‘ok’ anyway). He is going to forgive my sin. I think that’s something I can get a little umm.. casual about.  The fact that I need actual forgiveness.  But the difficult thing is… the more I need forgiveness, the more my flesh tells me I’m ok.  And that darkens my heart to the life that God wants to be in me.  And hardens me to His calling out and wooing to bring me back to Himself.  

But in those times, I just can’t see it (sometimes).  Or I can’t see Him, would be more accurate. Why??? Because my heart is not pure! 

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

I feel like I’ve been flipping and flopping around for a little while and neglecting a fundamental and yet all important aspect of my walk with Him… confession. 

It’s beautiful to sing it and let it’s words flow through my mind, but more difficult to pray it and let it break my heart and change me and be the death of me, so to speak.  But it’s so good when it does.

some of you have asked

I made a small scrapbook a few years ago. I had the empty book on hand and stumbled upon some pics of the little mister in happy, healthier days. I think I had gotten these pics ready for something for church… Toddler of the Week maybe. But anyway, they already had borders on them and were screaming to be placed somewhere, so I made a little book. And since some of you have asked to see pics of him, here are a few of them. And yes, I’m lame so I just took the pages out of the protective sleeves and took pics of them, since I have no idea how to do the scan thing start to finish without help. Anyway, where were we? Oh yes.. the pics!

Here he is a just a few days old. (this pic has always done weird things to his coloring, but it’s so peaceful and sweet. one of my all time faves)

Showing he can sleep just about anywhere… but of course, that phase is short lived. Look at those chubby cheeks… well those chubby everything!

At the park as a toddler. We had a great park that had plenty of room for moms and dads to climb and walk along with their little ones. Both kids loved it there when they were small!

Smiling on the couch in sister’s hot pink sunglasses. What a mouth full of teeth he seemed to have overnight!

Cute as… a button of course! We got him this little chewy thing one weekend on a trip and he clearly loved it! Kinda reminded us of a dog toy, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. LOL

Chowing on some birthday cake. YUM! I’m thinking that was his first birthday.

Another birthday… dad holding his hands so he didn’t touch the candles! When we’d tell him to ‘blow’, he would put his lower lip out and end up blowing right up his nose! Not so great for blowing out candles!

I love this picture! I can see his pretty face and his chubby little legs and feet. He didn’t like to go barefooted, so I don’t have many pics of his feet. So cute!

Playing outside with big sister, Boo the summer before he got sick.

Oh how I wish we had of been ‘digital’ during those years!

stating the obvious

I was sitting on the floor in the living room the other day,  watching the cat.  She wasn’t doing much, so I thought she might like to play.  I had just vacuumed and all her toys were gathered and dumped on top of the hearth… which I just so happened to be leaning on. How convenient! So I thought I’d toss her a few pompoms to see if she might like to play. 

I’m thinkin’ maybe she ain’t in the mood! 

Oh…she’s getting up.. maybe she’s going to play a little now.

Nope. It’s not looking good.

Random Dozen # 5

So here are this week’s Random  Dozen questions from Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee. I did it week before last, but skipped last week.  I’d say it was a combination of being too busy to sit and blog and not having a clue how to answer most of the questions. But for the sake of me not sounding lame, let’s just stick with the busy thing, k?

 

 

1. On an average, how often do you splurge and buy something for yourself?  It depends. If you mean big stuff… I have to think about it forever and then fiiinally one or both of us will take the plunge. I want to have a ring made from one I found, but cha-ching, so it will probably be a while on that.  But there are little things, like buy a book on clearance or something that I’ll do just for funzies.

2. What is the last creative project you began/finished?  I made myself a skirt the other day.

3. OK, Goldie Locks, do you consider your house too big, too little or juuuust right? We live in a pretty small house, so never too big.  Most of the time I think it is just right, but when it comes to storage, very often, I think it is too small!

4. What is your favorite outdoor chore? Coming in the house.  I’m not a very outdoor’y kinda girl.

5. If you knew that cigarette smoking was not bad for your health but would be a weight loss tool, would you use it? Why or why not? No. Because it smells and makes you have bad breath.  (don’t mean to offend… just callin’ it like I see it) Having asthma wouldn’t help that situation either.

6. On a road trip, would you rather drive or ride? I like to ride. In all the years we’ve been married, I have never taken a turn.  I love to talk and watch and sleep and play wireless network Nintendo DS with the kid in the back seat. : )  Also hubs gets motion sick if he’s not behind the wheel.  That’s my excuse and I”m stickin’ with it! : )

7. What do you consider a trivial pursuit?  Hmm, I dunno what you mean by that, really.

8. This weekend, we downloaded the movie "Duplicity" with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Within 5 minutes, I was bored and annoyed, but I kept watching 5-10 minutes at a time hoping it would get better between small chores. I finally gave up and Jorge watched it alone, and then regretted wasting that time because he disliked it intensely, too. So ... how long do you watch a movie or read a book before giving up on it? It depends. If the movie/show is violent or gross or otherwise ‘nasty’, I’m a goner pretty quick.  I’m pretty choosey about books anyway and don’t read that many, so I usually stick with whatever I’ve picked out to read. But I can’t say that I read for just pleasure anyway.. there has to be a purpose in what I”m reading, so that is also a reason I will stick it out.

 
9. Is there a song that you really love but are embarrassed to admit because it's not cool or it's racy or because it's by Hall and Oates?  Crud, I don’t even know who Hall and Oates are! But I like a bunch of old John Denver stuff.  So! To answer your question, no. 

10. On a scale of 1-10 (10 = extremely) how spontaneous are you?  5

11. Are you a food and/or beverage snob? YES.  I will only drink bottled water. We get RO (reverse osmosis) water from ‘the water store’ in town and I have 3 five gallon jugs to fill every time I go.  To me, tap water tastes like dirt. Literally. And I can’t stand those little pitcher filter thingies either… I can taste that charcoal flavor and it just isn’t pleasant!

12. Who/What are you trying to control in your life? My mouth! LOL Which includes what I say and what I eat.

To see how random others are being or to play along click the links at the top of this post. Happy Random-ness to you all! : )

Buzz Lifeyear

We’ve been seeing the ads for Toy Story One AND Two in 3D. We loved TS 1. So much so that we bought it when it came out on video… not dvd….yes girls, that was back in the olden days. And when TS 2 came out, we took one or both of the kids to see it. I can’t even remember at this point. I want to say it was both, but he would have been pretty young at that point.

But whether he saw it at the theater or not, he would become very very familiar with it! It was one of the movies they played constantly on hospital tv. Over and over. Did I mention it played a lot?!

We have many stories about watching this movie. My hubby reminded me of one of them last night. One weekend we were inpatient for chemo and I had gone home for something and they brought him some lunch. It was spaghetti. And he ate it all. That is the only meal he EVER ate at the hospital. And he did it while he watched TS 2.

Another time we were in clinic and it was playing. I was watching this sweet, beautiful, vibrant, teenaged young lady and her mother watching the movie together. It came to the line that says something like “we know who you are, Wooooood-EEEEE” and the mother and daughter were lip syncing that line to each other and giggling. I giggled at/with them and we chatted a bit about watching the movie all. the. time. at the hospital. (This amazing girl lost her battle too. I found out about it on the news and it broke my heart into a million little pieces. I hardly knew them.. just their faces… but that’s just it.. I couldn’t forget her mom’s face.)

And strangely enough, we also chose to watch the movie at home…even when no one was twisting our arm. We just liked it! And Bub especially loved watching it at home because he liked to act out the Buzz Lightyear intro thing near the start of the movie. We tried to get it on video, but were never able to capture it. He would do these little runs up and down the hall and these little body rolls and it was just hilarious! And what made it even funnier was that he called him Buzz LIFEYEAR instead of Lightyear. Cracked us up… in that cute little toddler/preschooler way. I so wish we had that on video now.

To infinity eternity and beyond, sweet boy.

don’t save the date

I’ve been out and about today and goodness gracious! People are in a fowl mood everywhere. I guess I didn’t get the memo that it was National I’m mad as heck and I’m not gonna take it any more Day. Wowwy!

I went out with the hubby to get a flu shot and another lady in line was raking the pharmacy tech over the coals because something had been overlooked. She was NOT happy and she went on and on and on.. while we waited and waited and waited.

And then I went to the grocery store and a man in there was fussing out a young man working there about some sort of pricing issue he was having on a CLEARANCE table and demanding to see the manager and going on and on. Pu-leeeze!

There is just so much stress in the world right now. So many are jobless or feel the threat of joblessness looming. People are trying to live on less. People are worried about this H1N1 flu that’s beginning to run rampant. There is just a lot goin’ on.

I have been feeling the stress myself, especially regarding this flu stuff. I’ve read every report about it and have been mentally counting down the days until hopefully the vaccine becomes available. And those with asthma, like moi, have been pushed a tad further down the list.

A part of me just wants to stock up the freezer, roll up the sidewalks and not go anywhere until I/we can get vaccinated. Home school wouldn’t be so bad, would it? I don’t think we’d become stir crazy after a day or two month and a half, would we? We could just think like a snow day for about six weeks. Sounds pretty unappealing, huh?!

I dunno though. I still might cut back to just one grocery store visit per week instead of the two or more I do right now. And since I’m not much of a ‘shopper’, cutting out that sort of thing isn’t that hard. Hmmm maybe I could survive a time of being ‘out’ less. What about you?

**Guess I should add here that YES, I am quite the hand sanitizer girl. A squirt here, a squirt there, everywhere a squirt squirt!