Ten on Tuesday and about my weekend

I could be telling you about my fantastic weekend. Which really was fantastic – I daresay it matches or improves on LAST weekend, which also rather rocked. There was pool parties where Spencer decided to SWIM! With no PELICAN! With no attachment to ME! Like, I got out of the pool and he got back in because there were other people he wanted to play with. And he doggie paddled with his floogles all over the deep end. It was amazing. Truly, amazing.

I could be telling you about having my dear friend Autumn (who moved back down from NYC, Hallelujah!) over Sunday night and another friend Joy and her kids, and the fun that was. Gluten-free, casein-free was a success except for rice krispie treats which were made with real butter. But there was excellent wine (for us, not the kids, of COURSE) and fun conversation and the kids were on excellent behavior.

I could be telling you about how my mom spent the night Sunday night, and Monday I went to boot camp early in the morning which kicked my butt, and had Winghouse to use up any available calories for this weekend, and then did heavy yard work for four hours in the heat of the day. And the front yard is starting to look AWESOME except the one main flowerbed which neither I nor my husband have any interest in tackling. (We will though.) And the backyard is DONE except for painting the pergola. DONE. I should put honey-dos on my resolution list more often.

I could also tell you that I can barely move today because of boot camp and 4 hours of yardwork. Every muscle in my legs hurts. Arms, sore. Back muscles, sore. Butt, yep. Abs, yep. I shant be running today, I can tell you that. Cardiotrainer said that I burned about 1600 calories in my exploits yesterday. I’m sure Winghouse was about that, but oh, how good it was.

ANYHOW! Instead of telling you about my grand weekend (ha!), I’m going to answer some TOT questions. For more TOT, see Chelsea.

1. From your childhood, what do you miss most about summer vacation? I miss sleeping in (which I never do anyhow), watching movies over and over, and riding my bike to the next town to visit my friends. Mostly I miss HAVING a summer vacation. Just not enough to be a teacher.

2. Are you going anywhere on vacation this summer? I’m going to Delaware in August for four days. And my MIL is thinking about getting a beachfront condo so we might go to the beach for an extended weekend. I’m married to my cubicle, so I don’t go many places except the occasional day plane trip within the state for work.

3. What foods do you like to barbeque? I love to grill because it means less dishes. I’m on a zucchini kick (tossed with a little olive oil and sprinkled with Greek seasoning), and chicken, steak, shrimp, veggies, pizza … if it’s big enough not to fall through the cracks, it’s good to grill.

4. How do you celebrate the fourth of July? Nothing much. I’m not a big fan of fireworks, so it’s just whatever, really. This year we may have a party since we have the deck. I haven’t decided yet.

5. What’s your favorite beverage to drink in the summertime? Water, the occasional sweet tea, and new to the scene is this beer which I had on Saturday and fell in love with: Leinenkugel Summer Shandy.

Light, summery, and slightly too easy to drink.

6. What movie are you looking forward to seeing this summer? There are movies coming out this summer? X-Men looks good, and otherwise I might try to catch up on all the past movies I haven’t seen yet. There are a lot of them. Oh! And Harry Potter! That comes out this summer, right?

7. In the car: Windows or AC? If I have any sleeves at all, AC. If in a tank top and won’t be at too many stop lights, I’ll put the windows down.

8. Have you ever had a summer fling? Hmm. No.

9. Do you wear sunscreen? no, I usually don’t. I’m fastidious about getting the kids, but I’m so used to not changing color that I don’t ever worry about it. Due to the influx of tank tops and shorts I’ve been wearing, I’m starting to get a pretty dark base tan and it’s probably time to start slathering it on.

10. Do you have any favorite summertime activities? Playing in the sprinklers, enjoying a finished yard (one day, I swear), spending time outside in the shade with a big glass of water and a book, and swimming at my in-laws’ house. I would say swimming at my house, but there’s only the kiddie pool. This year maybe I can get in good with the other neighbor so I can borrow his pool when he’s not around.



And now, if you’ve stuck with it this long, I commend you. I hope your weekend was fabulous!

Some hodge with a dash of podge

1) The. Deck. Is. Done. Seriously! Well, not seriously. It really is like a third child, the work will never be actually done: the railings are up, cushions on all the seating and an umbrella is up. For all functionality, it's done. We still need to get and install our shutters for the windows, find a cute and inexpensive outdoor throw pillow (or two) for the chaise, and the pergola still needs to be painted but we are waiting on that to let the deck color wear. It's never ending, but I'm so happy with how it looks for right now. (The pillows on the chaise right now are my ikea pillows from the library. I wish they made them for outdoors)



2) I bought size 8 pants today. I'm still dumbfounded that I fit in size eight (although not in everything) ... I got these and I wouldn't have spent the money on them but they are half price for Memorial day and I still desperately needed some pants. They obviously don't fit like they do on the model, but they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I now have 2 pair of jeans, 3 crops, and 3 pair of dressy pants. Hopefully that's enough.

3) The cobbler told me my shoe is dead. I couldn't bear to throw them away so now they're in my back floorboard. I don't think wood glue would work because the crack is right along the ball of my foot. I'll part with them, but I just can't do it yet. I bought them on clearance at DSW years ago, but I still did some googling to see if I could replace them. Nada.

4) I'm really out of things, but I feel like a failure to not be able to come up with at least a couple extra things to say.

5) I want ice cream. I'm making due with bad wine.

6) You know what annoys me? When people (okay, on facebook) profess their love for someone in their status after one date. Especially when they're not 12. Every day is life or death, broken hearts or cloud nine. My life has never been so tumultuous, and I'm happy about that. I love my husband, but even when we were dating there wasn't a bunch of drama. Okay, so that's what I'm saying. I just don't get drama. We're in our thirties, people. We have kids. Let them have the drama.

7) I'm far too attached to Facebook.

8) We were supposed to have someone over tonight for dinner but plans fell through. Tomorrow we're driving to Altamonte Springs to a pool party. I love the people having the party, but 90 minutes to go seems like a bit too much. I'm the one who confirmed that we'd go, so obviously I can't complain. Sunday one of my closest friends and her childhood friend are coming over for dinner with kids and I've committed to cooking gluten-free, casein-free, no-red meat or pork. Hmmm. Grilled chicken, zucchini and potatoes it is! Do rice krispie treats count as GFCF?

It's my fault I'm boring

I feel bad that I have nothing to talk about these days, so I'm reducing myself to show you a picture of my poor favorite pair of wooden-soled madden girl shoes which cracked through this morning. It kept feeling like I had something in my shoe, and I took it off and figured out that it was broken. I'm now trying to figure out if they can be fixed, and if it's worth it to do so. I've had these shoes for 6 years or so, and I love them love them love them.

Book Club met last night at a hoity-toity wine bar which I wasn't too impressed with. The discussion was pretty good, and I was overturned on our next book, but that's okay. We're going to read The Passage by Justin Cronin. A "post-apocalyptic vampire tale." I have actually had it since before it was released and I tried to read it but couldn't get into it. So I guess I'm trying again!

AND! I needed new pants because none of my old ones fit, but I didn't want to spend much on them and Loft is having 50% off their clearance so I got two pairs of jeans for $15 each, and a cute pair of dressy goldish-tan slacks that are too short for heels but i could wear with snazzy flats for $7.45. Seriously. I'm so excited to have something that fits properly besides the one pair of black crops that my manager gave me.

The rails are going up on the deck today. How exciting is that? Otherwise, the only things in my discussion arsenal is "teething sucks" and "yay for upcoming 3-day weekends". Anything going on for you this weekend?

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Ten on Tuesday

1. Have you ever used Craigslist?
I have! I bought a china cabinet from a tiny old Asian man, and then also bought his table and chairs. I sold my old washer and dryer, bought a couch, and listed a dresser for free. I love Craigslist, but I never actively remember to check it when I'm in the market for something so I have a feeling everyone's getting a better deal than I am.

2. Can you sew?
Yes! I used to be quite good, especially at making tote bags and pajama bottoms, but my dog chewed the cord on my sewing machine and I never got my mojo back. My MIL got me a new sewing machine two years ago and the most action it's gotten was taking it out of the box. Nary a bobbin's been threaded.

3. Do you pour syrup on your pancakes or dip your pancakes in the syrup?
Holy revelations, Batman! I always pour, and I'm never happy with the outcome. It's always too much or too little. Dipping! That's totally the way to go from now on. (Please ignore the fact that I'm not a huge pancake fan and never ever order them except the occasional banana nut pancake or multigrain pancake.)

4. Rain storms: Love them or hate them?
Love 'em. I actually enjoy driving in them too, if you can believe it, as long as I'm not in a hurry and it's not raining so hard that I can't see. But my favorite way to enjoy them is snuggled in bed with no place to go.

5. Do you like swimming?
I do enjoy it, but I'm not great at it. I can doggie paddle and float and tread water. I know the mechanics of the other strokes, but I get frustrated because I don't go that fast and I end up flipping over and kick/floating my way to whereever I want to go, if I care to go anywhere.

6. What kind of drink do you order at Sonic?
I don't actually ever go to Sonic. The commercials are funny (I love how heartbroken that vampire looks), and I always say, "Oh, that looks good" but in the realm of fast food it's the last place I ever think to go when I think to go for fast food. Which is also close to never. So of the three times I've been to Sonic, it's been orange juice every time because I've gotten breakfast - that bacon and egg sandwich on Texas toast. Yum.

7. Are you funny?
Sometimes, but the funniest I ever am is while being sarcastic so it's generally at the expense at others. I'm sorry in advance. At least I can usually make you laugh about what I'm laughing about too.

8. At what age will your kids get cell phones?
I don't see the point of kids having cell phones when they are not old enough to be anywhere without parents. So ... 14 maybe? 15? I might have to get a land line again so.

9. What’s your favorite vegetable?
Wow, that's like picking a favorite kid, really. I love mushrooms, but I've recently been told that they're not a vegetable but a fungus. Curse you, Suz! Cucumbers, brussel sprouts, spinach, chard, tomatoes (I know, fruit), jicama, corn, lettuce (I'm weird, but iceberg is my favorite), squashes, asparagus. I'm sure there's more than I'm forgetting but I can't think of anything. Not a big fan of potatoes, but I'll eat them well seasoned or loaded with butter and sour cream (you know, not healthy).

10. Were you a Girl Scout?
I was a Brownie until they wanted me to do stuff to prepare to be a Girl Scout. I say that I didn't really want to do them and didn't want to stay a Brownie, but in retrospect I didn't really understand what they wanted me to do and my mom was not active in it so I dropped out. I'm a Brownie-school drop out. Take that, Frenchy.

Weekend wrap-up

I really needed that long weekend.

The best part? All of it.

Thursday I stopped at the butcher to use a Groupon on chicken and ground turkey, and was annoyed when I got home and found that the dude had given me bone-in chicken. Sunday I went to thaw one of the chicken bundles and realized that he actually gave me boneless chicken for bone-in price ... Score! $1.79 a pound vs 2.99 a pound. I wish I had bought way more now.

Friday we did some comparison shopping for more things we need for the deck, but didn't actually get anything. My list is an umbrella and umbrella stand, two throw pillows for the chaise, and cushions for the regular chairs. We've decided to keep our old furniture and refinish it the same color as the deck. It's good furniture, just old and we didn't take care of it as well as we should have. My father-in-law ordered the railings which should be in next week.

Friday night my neighbors came over for hamburgers and corn and roasted zucchini and lots and lots of sangria. Lots. Of. Sangria. It was a good time.

Saturday was a friend's daughter's first birthday party; dinner with family Saturday night for family birthdays, a longer run (2.5m). Late night watching The Kings Speech.

Sunday - bacon and brie quiche, lounging in the kiddie pool, watermelon, baseball in the backyard, sunning on the chaise, catching up on DVR, a short run (1.9m), Harry Potter movies. Good times.

Five more days of work, and then I'm graced with another 3-day weekend. Will it top this one? Only time will tell! Hope yours was good too!

Friday Hodge

-- I arbitrarily took today off, so as I type this I am sitting on my deck in my pjs and a cup of coffee while Hubs take the kids to daycare. Taking a random Friday off with nothing in particular to do is a great feeling. My weekends have been so full lately that I haven't had any time to just sit and relax. So that's what I'm doing.

-- For 10 minutes, anyhow. I'm terrible at relaxing, so once I do it I start thinking about all the things I should be doing. So in 10 minutes Hubs will be back home and I'll make breakfast.

-- I want to participate in this 30 day song challenge on Facebook, but the first day is "your favorite song". I can probably answer all the others, but my favorite? I don't know! Too much pressure! Help! What's your favorite song?

-- We've been trying something different with Spencer for dinner. He has to sit with us. I make him a plate, and he has to sit with us. If he doesn't want to eat, fine, but he has to sit until everyone (including Henry) is done eating. He generally has a few bites of food out of boredom. It's not a great fix (he still throws a fit about anything green on his plate) but at least he's eating a little, and I hope that he won't be a terrible influence on Henry by the time he's old enough to not eat everything in sight.

-- Henry ... is teething. Again. Now he's getting the teeth on either side of his bottom teeth. Top ones still not through yet. Have I mentioned how much I hate teething? Spencer was not like this while he was teething. I know he was fussy, but this is a whole new ballgame for me. I had a dream that Henry got all his bottom teeth in, in one day. And they were all molars. It was a tough dream.

-- When he's not fussy though, this kid is so much fun! Since he started crawling so early, now he's back to being content to sit so he'll crawl to where he wants to be and play with his toys (or Spencer's toys, more likely). And he gets so excited by everything! He smiles and his whole face just lights up. He's such a joy.

-- When he's not teething. Or getting the snot sucked out of his nose.

-- I keep getting distracted by the squirrels playing on my roof. And tree. And fence.

-- Now that I've successfully put veggies into waffles, bread, and muffins for my son to eat, I'm wondering if I can make homemade veggie pasta. Would that be difficult? Could I freeze it? Any ideas please?

TOT - photos

Photos! So I was looking forward to this TOT, and I was going to take all my pictures this weekend and make everything all pretty, but then I checked Chelsea for the “questions” a day too early and then I forgot after that. So I remembered this morning when people started posting, and by then it was all about scrambling. So … photos not pretty. Taken by phone, because I’m classy.



1) Favorite piece of furniture: If we’re talking inside of the house, it’s my bed (see photo of bed for bed). Outside, my new chaise lounge. Obviously I like to lay around and do nothing. It’s all about things I never have time to do.




2) Favorite thing on the wall: I like the cuckoo clock on the boys’ wall that used to be my husbands’. I had to hang the pendulums up so they wouldn’t yank it off the wall, but it’s pretty neat. Also, I love my mirror in my room (not pictured, heavy wood from Bombay Co).



3) Your bed as it looks right now: I wanted to take a picture this morning before I left for work, but Hubby was still asleep in it and I thought he’d kill me for posting a picture of him sleeping for the world to see. So I’m going to post how it looks when I get home. Fingers crossed, it will be made – I don’t do it. (ps - Score! My Hubby rocks.)


4) Your pantry: Nothing to say. Zattarans was on sale at Publix. So was the chicken broth. I keep cleaning it, and somehow it doesn’t stay that way. At least there are currently no plates of food that Spencer has hidden so he can say he’s done eating dinner.



5) Favorite jewelry: my wedding set.



6) Your favorite book: Here’s a stack of my favorites.



7) My most comfortable shirt: all my tank tops. I love my tank tops. Love (ps - I forgot to take this picture. Just go to Old Navy's website and search "tank tops" and insert into this spot right here. I have most of them, especially the bib style).


8) Your messiest room: I have parts of two rooms. The part of the living room with the kids’ toys and my side of the bedroom. Apparently May was unsuccessful on my resolution to keep my dresser cleaned up. Note to self – clean that up tonight. Yeah, sure.


(oh hey, the mirror I like so much is behind that giant mound of clothing! see, I did take a photo of it!)



9) Your house shoes: I posted these yesterday, but here’s another picture (next to two other pairs). The ones on my feet are my favorite. Hubby detests all three pairs.



10) Yourself: blurry, but I am not particularly capable of taking a picture of myself. This was taken today at my desk at work. Blurry or not, it was the most successful of the mini-shoot.

Progress

I feel like the deck is my third child lately, and all I want to do is blog about it. That is, when I'm not admiring it, and taking pictures of it, and dressing it up with pretty new furniture and flowers.


We're still waiting on the railings which will probably be ordered sometime this week and installed some time next week. We're waiting until the boards weather before we paint the pergola so we can color match. The bottom boards will probably be painted the same color at the same time, if I can persuade The Hubby that a clearcoat and raw wood look is not an option when the rest of the deck is finished.


I Planted some herbs that I will undoubtedly kill.



Marigolds everywhere, because I read somewhere that they repel mosquitos.


This would be a better picture without the potting soil bag in the background.


Conversation nook in the corner.



Spencer's flowers (sunflowers)


Lazing on the chaise with a good book (hey, it's not bad!)

Enjoying our first dinner out on the deck - The Boy Who Does Not Eat Dinner ate half my pork chop and three helpings of rice and beans. It was actually chilly tonight, so we zipped up and enjoyed it anyhow!

Anatomy of Race Morning (for me)

5:20 am alarm

5:22 am get up and turn off alarm so I don't have to hear it again

5:29 am dressed

5:35 am - most awesomist pre-run breakfast ever: whole grain toast with a chipolte Laughing Cow, half an avocado and a Pam-fried egg on top. Large glass of water. Excedrin Migraine for when the caffeine headache hits.

5:50 am Facebook, Googlereader, mail

5:56 am hair, teeth, makeup (yeah, I don't leave the house without SOMETHING ON. In this case, blush and lip gloss.)

6:01 am potty

6:05 am leave the house after finding my keys

6:06 am run back in for deodorant

6:10 am out the door for real

6:25 am meet my running buddy at the mall, and his girlfriend who came to be our cheering section

6:50 am arrive at the college campus. Marvel at how much nicer it looks than when I graduated seven years ago

6:51 am choke on the fact that it's been seven years since I graduated. Cry a little.

Wait around until 8pm to start running. Occasionally stretch so it looks like I know what I'm doing.

8:00 am start race

8:37 am finish race. Feel like throwing up because it's so hot. Decide that next year I'm running the 5-mile instead of the 5-k because it starts 30 minutes earlier.

10 am do some clearance shopping at Target.

A few Friday things

-- I was seriously pissed at Blogger yesterday and this morning, when it decided not to work so I was unable to post at the time that I'm able to type. Thankfully I'm going to be so busy this weekend that this post can just sit out there for a few days. I'm still pissed off that it appears it may have EATEN some comments, but at least all the posts are where I left them.

-- I really need that hourglass thing of Hermione's for Saturday. I have my Miles for Moffitt 5k in the morning (and I'd really like to sleep in but instead I'll be getting up at 5:30). Then I have two baby showers and my cousin's college graduation. I think I'm only going to the one baby shower which is actually a family gathering so I can take everyone, but I am being made to feel bad about missing the other shower (I can't tell if it's intentional or not), and I actually do feel bad about missing the graduation. Sunday we're going to a baseball game. One day also I need to finish my backyard to make it hospitable for Mommy's Night Tuesday night.

-- I'm so excited about Mommy's Night! Formerly girl's night, a few friends and I used to get together once a month or six weeks. Then we all had kids (within weeks of each other). Now we've picked it up again as a play date of sorts, and added a few more mommies. If everyone shows up there will be 7 women, 3 three-year olds, one 14-month old, 4 8/9-month olds, and 2 three-month olds. I don't actually have enough seating for all, but we'll work it out!

-- my husband has decided to institute Naked Time. After the kids go to bed, we sit around in our birthday suits and watch baseball. This is not hanky panky time, this is Naked Time (he wouldn't mind hanky panky time coinciding with NT, but it is not specifically the point). I'm really not comfortable with NT, but I'm humoring him.

-- I'm naked while I type this (this part was written Wednesday night).

-- This reminds me that when I was in college, I slept naked all the time. Somehow with the addition of two kids, I no longer can sleep naked. It's not that I'm worried about the naked body around my kids. I think it's actually because I'm worried that something will happen in the middle of the night and I will end up naked in the street among my neighbors, none of which I know well enough to be naked around them.

-- I have been in Stacie's archives, and I have several things to say: 1), why don't you paint anymore? and b) it's Tim Tebow, not Matt Tebow (Hubby piped up to tell me he thinks it was the Kentucky game when I confirmed there is no Matt Tebow) and 3) people other than Stacie should do yourselves a favor and check her out. She's hilarious, and she has a great dog. Who should be taught to stand on the Wii Fit all on his own.

-- I was naked when I went through her archives.

-- Miles for Moffitt tomorrow! Woohoo!

Writer's Workshop: Rusty

*

(img source: Google Images)

He was massive.

He was dependable.

When he hydroplaned around the bayou and drove into oncoming traffic hitting the jeep driven by the drunk janitor, there wasn't a dent.

When his owner forgot to have both feet on the brake while waiting for the senior parking lot to empty out and he rolled into a student's brand new Neon, he punched two holes in the bumper of said Neon but didn't have a scratch on his gleaming metal bumper.

When his owner was driving home at 4am on US19 from meeting up with a guy she would fall hard for, he may have caught a wheel on the inside edge of the road, fishtailed, spun several times across all lanes of traffic, the 5-foot median and stalled in oncoming traffic. But he still managed to putter back into the median before his owner ... died.

When he blew a tire going 90 mph over the Howard Franklin bridge he managed to slow to a stop while not letting his owner ... die.

Obviously his owner had a lot of lucky saves in her early driving career.

Bench seats sat 8 comfortably (the seatbelts didn't work, so it was safer to squish in). 3008 lbs (said so on the title). Best car I've ever owned, and the only one worth naming.

*I lost the gas cap and my best friend promised that he would get me one. We trolled the neighborhoods looking for one but I've never gotten my gas cap. Rusty's been gone for 10 years now, but I wish I had my 1976 Ford Maverick, or at least the gas cap for him.

The one where I am told I should be taking 1-900 calls

I've been telling people I sound like Estelle from Friends (Joey's agent), as I lost my voice at Relay for Life on Friday night and I STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN IT BACK. I spent a lot of time on the phone at work, and it's just not good that I can't really talk. Today I'm to the point where while I don't sound anything like myself, I can at least verbalize. It's exhausting trying to project though.

Couple this with the fact that I had some sort of allergic reaction to SOMETHING, and one of my eyes has swollen up and nearly closed. Ick. Better not be pink eye - I've got too much to do.

They worked on putting the floor of my deck down today, and this is where it's at:

Tomorrow they will finish the flooring and then we will evaluate ordering the railing which will go around the raised portion. Then we'll think about my bench along the left corner of the raised portion, and the pergola will be topped with 1x1 cross beams (and we need to paint it). We also will add shutters to the windows ... and will clean that greasy stain on the wall from the grill. It's coming together! And it doesn't really look it from this photo, but it's huge!

Ten on Tuesday - movies!

1. If you could watch only one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Newsies, no question. Although I have a number of other movies that I'm obsessed with, if there was a rotation.

2. Let’s say someone wrote a screenplay about you; what actor/actress would you choose to play you and why?
Christina Ricci

3. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in theaters?
Nuns on the Run, I was about nine. Don't judge.

4. Did you ever make out at the back of a movie theater in middle school/high school?
Not in middle school or high school, but I had some hardcore makeout sessions in college in the movie theater.

5. Are you a Netflix-er, Blockbuster-er or a Redbox-er? (Or none of the above?)
Netflix, all the way. I'd love to be a redbox-er, but I never think to do it when I have a chance.

6. Name one actor/actress who you would give anything to have a dinner date with.
With no time and space continuum, Jason Lee in the time of Mallrats. Rory Cochrane or Johnny Whitworth from Empire Records. Alan Ruck in the time of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Heath Ledger in the time of 10 Things I Hate About You. Obvs.

7. What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen?
My husband's answer to this is Jury Duty. Ted Mosby would say Manos, Hand of Fate. I ... crap, I have no idea.

8. Do you sneak snacks into the theater when you go?
Sometimes, but usually we've already eaten dinner by the time we go.

9. Movie theater popcorn: love or hate it?
Love it, but no I don't think I've had it in more than 5 years. There are better things to spend calories on - like a Mocha Coconut Frappachino, holy deliciousness.

10. What is the all-time best Disney movie in your opinion?
Hubby says Lion King. Second is Robin Hood. I don't think I have a favorite. Hmmm, The Little Mermaid. Love that movie. Love the music. Great stuff.

for more, visit Chelsea

I hope you know ...

I really have nothing you need to know, except that this sandwich that I just made for dinner was one of the most awesomist things ever.

I had a great weekend, I hope you did too. Somehow I stayed up for all of Relay for Life on Friday. Then I got a few (3) hours of sleep and spent the day with the family doing nothing. Lots of nothing. I think - honestly, I'm sitting here trying to remember what I did and I can't remember. Oh! trying to find a birthday gift for my MIL, eating Chick-fila at the mall, picking my car up from Relay, reading Sarah's Key, and going back to bed.

Mother's Day I woke up to a breakfast scramble and biscuits, a pretty bougainvillaea for the backyard and a funny card. I took a latte and potted tulips to my mom and later a couple potted flowers to my MIL. No time for rest here, but still for a good time.

Today I saw this post by Stacie with fantastically delicious avocado and this post on Foodlush with egg in a basket and this post from Molly with a lovely fried egg Benedict. All of these fantastic things put me in the mood for eggs ... for dinner tonight. This sandwich is toast, pepper jack cheese, a fried egg, leftover baked chicken and sliced avocado. If you have the parts, please do yourself a favor and make it today. Give yourself a mother's day gift - whether you're a mom of kids, or dogs, or cats or goldfish. Dooooo it. Yum.

Hodgepodge-isms

My lovely husband (no sarcasm) knows how much I’m struggling with the Easter chocolates in the house. Monday night he came home with some skinny cow ice cream bars and rounded up the rest of the Easter candy and said he would get rid of the whole lot. Skinny Cow=awesome. It probably would have been better if he would have done this two days after Easter, because by now all that’s left is a small packet of pastel m&ms, a chocolate bunny and a bunch of marshmallow things that I could easily leave alone. All the chocolate eggs … gone. But I do appreciate the sentiment.

It would also be awesome if he would actually get rid of it all. I'm still staring at it. Excuse me while I go get an ice cream bar so I stay away from the chocolates. I'm pretty sure that eating a whole box of Truffle bars defeats the purpose.

Yes, I know I could do it myself but I just can't bear to.

Also on Monday, I came home to an empty house and felt like doing something, so I went out back and gardened. Seriously, I spent 1.5 hours digging grass out of my main backyard flower bed. Is this a disease, and is it catching? This is the first time in my entire life that I voluntarily did gardening as something that occurred to me and I didn’t do just because I got annoyed at how things looked. I don’t see that flower bed while in my house (like I do the front beds). The backyard is shaded in the evening so it wasn’t overwhelmingly hot, but still. TV? Book? Nope! Let me yank grass out by the roots until my legs shake, and then let me keep going for a little while longer.

Now that I have an empty flower bed, I have a long stretch of emptiness that I feel obligated to fill up with something before remulching. I think I might want another rose, but what do you think? The left is my rose bush, and the right is my gardenia. What would you put between those?

Henry got sick early this week and went to the doctor and he had a bronchial infection. Like bronchitis. They gave us a nebulizer and capsules to give him breathing treatments several times a day. Let me tell you how fun that is. Let me also clue you in that we are ALL sick - Spencer still has a cough and Hubs and I both have head colds, terribly scratchy throats, and chest colds (yep, all together now). Thankfully that has been all it's been (so far) but we've missed all the sicknesses that have made the rounds at all our friends' houses and I'm worried that it's all going to come back to bite me in the ass.

I’m participating in Relay for Life tonight, and I’m so worried that I will not last the whole night. It’s all night! I go to bed at 10pm or thereabouts, sometimes earlier on Friday nights when I’m getting caught up on all the sleep I missed out on throughout the week. And I'm still sick!

I finished all the Truffle bars. What?? They were good for my throat!

Writing Prompts: Where is he now?

I've been following Mama Kat for a few weeks now (thanks, Suz) and I've wanted to join in on the Thursday writing prompts but I just haven't found something that speaks to me ... until now. You need to hear this story (although it will probably not be as amusing for you as it is to me).

So.

In sixth grade I fell in love ("love") with this boy name Jeff. His name was sequential to mine so we were in homeroom together, and every class we were in together, we sat next to each other. I thought he was hi-LAR-ious. I'm pretty sure I snorted with pleasure every single time he said anything. Everyone knew of my love. I did all the silly sixth-grade nonsense: I rode my bike passed his house constantly, called his house and hung up (ahem, I still remember his phone number and I'd recite it now to prove it except that I'm pretty sure his parents still live there). I wrote his name with little hearts all around it and my first name joined with his last name all over my Trapper Keeper. At school dances I shadowed him while friends tried in vain to get us to dance.

My love didn't falter through the rest of middle school either. Seventh grade = pure love (I had one boyfriend for a week but I didn't forget). Eighth grade = continued love. I went to a different school (I moved 10 miles away) and had boyfriends (two) but I rode my bike over on the weekends, ostensibly to see my friends but really truly to see if I could possibly see Jeff outside so we could catch up.

High school I wasn't nearly as Jeff-central. We again didn't go to the same school and I had real boyfriends then, but there was still that nagging yearning. A love unrequited. When I was in the area, I still drove by his house. Occasionally I stopped by. I no longer crank called his house, but I did call with nothing really to talk about, and we'd catch up in a few minutes and then sit on the phone in an awkward silence until one of us made up some excuse why we needed to get off the phone.

So where is he now? I lost track of him after he went off to college (yes, I know what college, he was outside his house one day when I drove by the summer after senior year), and every once in awhile even through my twenties I entered his name into the social networking sites until one day I struck gold ... there he was! Yes, I'm married (happily) and a mother (happily) but I still wanted to know what was going on with the boy that I never EVER got up the courage to ask out on a proper date (although I'm 99% sure that he knew how I felt - everyone in the tri-county area knew how I felt).

He's a bartender. And an entertainer. At a gar bar. And in a long-term relationship with a guy named Bob.

And yes, by entertainer I mean a drag queen.

And I still Facebook-stalk him. At least I'm not driving past his parents' house anymore. Anyone up for a trip to a gay bar? I'll totally buy you an appletini.

My poor baby

My sweet boy has a tooth (and two more that I can see right under the gum line), but he also has a bronchial infection and has to have breathing treatments with a nebulizer. Mr. Man hates the machine - he cries the whole time, which I'm sure doesn't make the treatments as effective as they could be. Here's to hoping he feels better soon, and also that Hubs and I don't feel any worse than we already do (both have scratchy throats).

Ten on Tuesday

1. What is the weather like in your city today?
beautifully cool in the mornings, extremely warm in the afternoons. It's beautifully, really. I wish it stayed like this all year, but unfortunately we are the brink of the unbearably hot.

2. Do you like the zoo?
I'm rather indifferent. I like animals, but checking them out in their unnatural habitat doesn't really appeal to me. I do like how kids react to animals though.

3. Do you eat coconut? I love coconut, but I don't seek it out. Macaroons, yummy, coconut ice cream - delightful. Coconut chicken curry - Mmmm. Okay, so maybe I just like food and coconut is a food and that's just happy time.

4. Have you ever hammered a nail? Are you good at it? Sure, hasn't everyone? I'm not particularly good at it but I think that's because I'm short and I don't take the time to get a stool so I am properly holding said nail, because I often bend the nail rather than pound the sucker in the wall.

5. Does your family have a vacation destination that you visit often? ha! vacation? no, not really. My husband and I used to frequent Charleston because it had great parks to camp in and we loved the city. I think we went 4 times in 2 years, but we haven't been in a good number of years.

6. How many pillows do you sleep with? There are 11 pillows on my bed, but I throw all of mine off the bed and sleep with a small tubular neck pillow only. Hubby uses two. The rest of them hit the floor.

7. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? If the alarm wakes me up, I get up, walk across the room to the alarm clock (there's a reason it's not within reaching distance) and hit the snooze. Rinse and repeat. If Spencer wakes me up I say, "Go to the bathroom" with my eyes closed still, and then I roll over and wait for my alarm to go off. So I can get up, cross the room and hit the snooze. Rinse and repeat.

8. Will you send your kids to summer camp? Eventually, maybe. I went to a daycamp every summer until I was 12 because my mom worked full time, and I loved it. Right now we're still in daycare so there's no point.

9. What do you put in your baked potatoes? In the rare event that I order them, butter and sour cream, but honestly I'd rather have broccoli.

10. Did you take swimming lessons as a kid? I did, but it didn't really help. I can tread water and float like a champ but I'm not that great at actually getting from Point A to Point B. I doggie paddle. No lie.

Ok, so I have a disturbing addiction.

It's Sunday night. I've caught up on DVR and could be watching Grey's or reading or really anything else, but instead I turned on the remake of the Parent Trap. You know, the one with Lindsay Lohan before she became a skank. How sick is that?

I know.

I also could retire to the bedroom to read a bit before sleeping, but Hubby is in there watching the hockey game and I really can't stand watching sports when they really mean anything ... he gets so worked up. He's yelling at the screen. Earlier I think there was a replay to decide if the puck was in or not, and I heard "It's in, yep, it's in. I said, it's in. I'm going to go ahead and clap now" and did that horrible slow clap. It's irritating and hilarious all in one.

Weekend: great. Well, a mixed bag really, but it turned out decent. Spencer woke up with a wretched barking cough and wheezing trouble breathing and ugh, it was horrible. I tend NOT to overreact with such things, but with an upcoming familial surgery and my mom's stuff and Henry's mood swings I was worried that ... well, I was just worried. I packed him up at 5am and dragged him to the Afterhours clinic only to find out that After Hours does not mean any hour, and they didn't open until 1pm. Back home we went and hit Walgreen's walk-in at 9:30 to find out that all his facilities were in order and if it was anything, it's too early to tell.

By then he said he was feeling fine, so we moved on with our day - finger painting, sprinklers, a NAP (that's what happens when he wakes up at 4:30am), a run (BTW, it's far too hot to run these days) and the realization that I've almost hit my one-year goal weight in four months. Once I technically hit it (my scale kept going up and down, but I think it's final decision was 2 lbs more to go), I'm going to set another 10lbs at a time until I get down to a happy weight. But I'm in the 150s now; I haven't been in the 150s since high school! I've never been a skinny minnie and I'm finally okay with that, but I do hope for healthy and strong and comfortable with myself.

Sunday was BOGO brunch at Ruby Tuesdays (they have this California breakfast quesadilla which is fantastic), $5 days at Mosi, 7-11 Icees and a fantastic salad for dinner (lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, whole wheat pasta, goat cheese and shrimp that was sauteed with a touch of bacon and brown sugar). Spencer fell asleep after MOSI and slept straight through the night from about 5pm on. Henry CUT HIS FIRST TOOTH and was a pill all night. Really, all weekend, but we finally were able to have something to show for it. A tooth! Excellent! But hopefully now maybe I'll be able to get him to do some sleeping.

Please Lord, let him sleep.