Tuesdays on the Tens

1. What’s the recipe for your favorite drink? (smoothie, alcoholic, coffee, whatever) I don’t really make any of my favorite drinks … Water: filter through Brita, drink. Coffee: grind, brew, add a touch of cream. Wine: open, pour, drink. Anything more complicated and I’d rather pay $3.99 for someone else to make it for me.

2. What kind of razor do you use? Venus. I’ve upgraded from the old blue one to a green one with a wall suction, but I usually run those blades into the ground.

3. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character? We yearned to keep Elmo out of the house and so we have Cookie monster everything around … and a couple Elmos and an Ernie. Personally, I’m a fan of Burt (doin’ the uh uh pigeon) or Snuffy.

4. What makes the perfect salad? I’m pretty sure I’ve mastered the perfect salad: lettuce (butter lettuce, preferably) spinach, avocado, grilled onions, a small handful of wheat macaroni, goat cheese, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes and grilled chicken that was marinated in Italian dressing. I personally don’t care much for dressings but hubby will put some extra Italian dressing on his.

5. What was your favorite subject in school? I was best at math but I hated it. Loved English but it was the only class I ever got a low grade in (D, in 10^th). In college I loved my reading and writing classes, and Ethnic Cleansing (not a how-to course, I swear).

6. What’s your favorite summer tradition? Don’t really have any summer traditions. I guess my favorite thing about summer is the nightly rain and grilling out.

7. Do you suffer from seasonal allergies? How do you combat them? I used to, but I’ve gotten a lot better about them. I think it’s because I keep my nose blown, but I don’t know – I may have just grown out of them. I do get bad headaches, but Excedrin Migraine usually helps.

8. How often do you have to charge your cell phone? ha. Twice a day. I’m always on that stupid thing.

9. Do you have a bucket list? Nope. There are things that I’d like to do, but nothing I think I have to do before I die or anything. Just vague yearnings for adventure.

10. Do you have any desire to go back to school? Yes, but I don’t want to do it +work +raise kiddos, so I’m not that interested in going back now. I do miss the culture and atmosphere of college though.

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A night

Orion was dropped off at half past five.


It started raining about about half past six, and we had to be inside. It rained pretty much all Saturday night and Sunday morning. After the little bit when he first got here, we weren't able to go back outside.


It's amazing how tired screeching toddlers makes you. By half past seven in the evening, I needed coffee. As in, Hubby actually had to make me coffee. I was afraid I wasn't going to make it.

Henry loved following the big boys around. I don't think he was appreciated, since O doesn't have any siblings.

Thankfully, O is a bit of a movie watcher, so we went through the Toy Story box set, and the kids laid down to watch movies while I caught by breath and widened my eyes a little.


I don't know how, but I got those two children to go to sleep at 9:30pm. I was asleep before 10. It's a good thing, because I wouldn't have lasted even with that mug of coffee.

Henry woke up at 5:30am (way early for him), Spencer at 7:30 (late for him), and Orion at 8:45. There was more Toy Story and some fort building. And there were squash waffles. and ham and cheese sandwiches. And grapes.


And when he went home at noon, we all waved goodbye, dropped in exhaustion and agreed that we are very satisfied with two children. Nice for more to visit, and even nicer for them to go home.

Bits

-- I had a wretched day today. Hubs is taking me out for burgers (with a Groupon, woohoo!) Thank the heavens that this day is over. It can only get better from here, right?

-- I was reminded that I turned on comment moderation a ways back, and I checked and had 10 comments waiting! I felt so loved. I hated that I felt I needed to turn on moderation, but it had come to that. It probably won’t stay – I really hate to be that type of blogger. I don’t mind disagreements, or even criticism. I do not tolerate constant intentional rudeness. Show the love, people.

-- I’m still bummed about Stacie not being able to comment these days, but look what I got from her Etsy store (oops, photo to follow)! I’ve gotten compliments on the pink danglies (earrings) and the bobby pins already this week.

-- Spencer is having a friend spend the night on Saturday because his mom needed a sitter. I made the mistake of mentioning it to him last night, and now it’s pretty much all he talks about. “Is Orion coming tonight?” “I’ll show Orion my train book” “Orion needs to see my new bed” etc etc ad nauseum. It’s super cute but bordering on annoying.

-- we may have bunk beds, but we also have a baby sleeping in the same room. I’m thinking toddlers might need to build a fort in the living room and sleep in their sleeping bags so I don’t have to deal with waking infant. Orion has a habit of staying up past my bedtime.

-- I’m semi-planning a bridal shower for a friend who lives in Delaware, and I really really need to get the invites printed and out. This weekend. At least I’ve designed them (so effing cute – picnic theme with ants and hearts), it’s just about getting to a store to get them copied and cut, and envelopes addressed and stamped and out. Oye. I think I don’t have a whole lot left to do for the party after that though, beyond planning emails. Not much I can do 1,115 miles away.

-- I’m wondering if I would run better to books on MP3. I’m getting a tad sick of the Pandora Glee station, and I’m already sick of the Pandora Gaga station, and I have no idea what else to listen to. Any suggestions?

-- by the way though, as much as I’m not a fan of Glee-the-show, their cover of Poker Face is brilliant. It took me about 20 seconds to confirm to myself that it was indeed Poker Face, and then I wanted to walk instead of run just so I could listen a little better. Way slowed down though, so not great for running.

-- I’m signing up for the Princess half marathon in February! I’m pretty sure I’m nuts, but at least I get to wear a tiara and tutu while I run!

The dreaded bed

Well, Saturday night the ‘sleep on the top bunk’ went just peachy. Evidently there was a nightmare around 12am that I slept through (have I mentioned that I'm dead as a log and all those mixed metaphors when I sleep?) but otherwise S slept awesome in his new top bunk. And he didn't want to sleep on the bottom because "that's Henry's bed", even though Henry won't be able to sleep in said bed for at least a year.

Last night he went to bed on the top bunk pretty well too. I was out on my evening run, but he was asleep when I got back, and Hubby said that he went to bed fairly easily and only got up to take his 5-minutes-after-he-gets-in-bed potty break. But then I went in to check on him before I went to bed and he was asleep on the bottom bunk! I thought that maybe he was just too tired to climb back up, but then I had this conversation with him Monday morning:

Me: So why did you sleep on the bottom bunk last night?
S: Because the top bunk is scary (he said this in Caillou's cadence, and I knew exactly what happened.)
M: But don't you like the top bunk? That's your big bed, and you're a big boy!
S: Yeah, I'm a big boy but I'll sleep on the bottom with Henry.

When we decided to get bunks, I told my husband this: I hope Spencer likes them and isn't scared, because Caillou was scared of the bunk beds and ended up sleeping on the bottom bed with Rosie (yes, I've seen too much of that dern show)

And whadaya know.

We installed a light up on the top so he can read in bed without disturbing Henry, and we tried again on Monday, and he slept fine up there Monday and Tuesday night. Honestly, I don't care if he sleeps on the bottom for now, but I don't want him to be scared. I want him to relish having his own space in a room that is very cramped while we wait out the time spent with a bed/crib both in the room. This morning when I was leaving for work he went “to go look at his bed” so obviously he likes it.

Stupid Caillou. I hate that animated child.

TOT - perfection

1. What’s the perfect meal? It really depends on my mood. Last weekend, the perfect meal was that salmon - I'm still dreaming of it. For my anniversary I had a blueberry blue cheese filet that was To. Die. For. Really good lamb saag and naan, the perfect Greek salad (no dressing, onions or peppers, extra feta). I can't think of one perfect meal - I like too much food.

2. What are the perfect pair of shoes? my red flats are pretty darn perfect. Cute, comfortable, and always commented on.

3. What is the perfect afternoon? Sunny and breezy without boiling, outside on the deck reading while the kids play and no one needs me to do anything.

4. What’s the perfect house? I'd like a little more space, a little more character (i.e. a 1900s wood-frame insurance nightmare), and an extra bedroom or two. A pool off the deck would be ideal. Maybe I'll find a photo of what my dream house would look like.

5. What is the perfect outfit? Something comfortable and that makes me feel confident. Great jeans (my favorite right now are Lucky), cute top and great shoes.

6. What’s the perfect wedding song? So subjective! Our song was by Sinatra, and I'm pretty sure everything from that time period works for every wedding. One that I hate? Marry Me, by Train (and I didn't know it was Train when I started hating it, and I generally like them). Sap. Sorry in advance if you like that.

7. What is the perfect job? My ideal would be to own a used bookstore and not care if I made a profit. So obviously in my dreams.

8. What’s the perfect hairstyle? My favorite these days is three little buns at the base of my neck like this. It even lasted through hot yoga last night when I forgot to bring a hairband.

9. What’s the perfect music festival? I don't know - all my favorites are dead, pretty much.

10. What’s the perfect day to yourself? I don't like to spend a ton of time to myself. I'd probably go shopping (which I shouldn't be doing), get a pedicure, read a bit, go for a run and watch tween movies that I wouldn't otherwise be able to watch with anyone else in the room. And spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook and my Google feed.

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Is this all I do?

It appears that my only posts these days are "weekend" on Monday, "TOT" on Tuesday (generally), and a Friday list. I definitely need to improve on that! Unfortunately, these days I do so much that if I blogged anymore it would be taking time away from my family and I do enough of that with my exercise. Blogging takes second fiddle most of the time, and I'm okay with that.

This weekend felt really short because we did so much. I knew that would happen! Friday night we went to Ikea to remedy the whole bunk bed situation. The kid needs to spread out. We decided on everything and then realized the actual bed frame wouldn't fit in the car so we got everything else and then had a picnic at the park for dinner. Ham and cheese sandwiches, chips and watermelon and warm water - who knew it would be so fun? the kids got to play on the playground (H: big fan of slides. S: big fan of sliding down with his arms around his brother).

Saturday Hubs went to get the bed frame (it fit in the car without any of us in it) and the rest of us hit Target to get sheets and odd and ends, and also Hubs' Father's Day gift (Napoleon Dynamite on BluRay... bah, but that's what gift giving is right? You get them what they would want, not what you would want). We spent the rest of the day putting the bed together (translation: Hubby did) and entertaining children (me) and making excellent food (me). Spencer summarily fell off the ladder of the bunk bed the first time he tried it. It was a little scary, and Hubby went to Home Depot and bought rubberized strips to put on the rungs but he got used to it and now he's in love with his bed.

Heard several times on Sunday: Momma, can we go home? I want to go see my bed.

Sunday, Father's day, was spent as we usually do on such holidays: running around visiting other people (not a complaint, just an observation). S and I made blueberry pancakes and sausage for daddy and S got a bit obsessed with the card we gave him ... it played the Superman theme, and he kept opening it "Dun da da dun, da da da da da dun!" We had lunch with my dad and his girlfriend, and then went to my in-laws' house for a few hours to watch the baseball game before heading home.

Where S asked if he could have quiet time so he could see his bed.

I told him he could take it in my bed because his brother was asleep.

He opted out of quiet time.

I ran 4.7 miles tonight. My neighbor opted out, so I just kept going and I did 4.7 in 53.50. I burned 550 miles. And then Hubby went out for BOGO Key Lime milkshakes from Steak N Shake. Ahhh.

Excuse me, he just got home and I need family time. With whipped cream and a cherry on top.

Friday Bits

-- I've been so good about my workouts this week! Sunday, 4.2 run. Monday, yoga. Tuesday, 4.7 mile run. Wednesday, weights on lunch and yoga after work. Thursday, 4.0 walk/run (not feeling it, still got out there). Ideally today I'm going to get in and do weights on lunch again, and then take the evening off from working out and do yoga Saturday morning. According to my stat counter, I've burned 4000 calories in the last 7 days working out. You'd think I'd have lost more than 2.2 lbs in the last two weeks, right? Oh well, inches. Inches.

-- The lady that runs the boot camp that I go to sometimes with Hubby's cousin contacted me on facebook, because my neighbor applied for a personal trainer position she had open. He didn't know I knew her, and I think she only found out that I knew him because she checked him out on FB and found I was a mutual friend. It was awkward, because I don't know anything about him professionally. He's very fit though, and nice. So that would be good for him.

-- My jewelry from SJL Original is due on Saturday. Color me excited, like daffodil excited! :) I was super pumped when I checked my paypal account and realized I had a balance ... it's like finding $20 in your virtual coat pocket! Or $9.47, at least.

-- We need to bite the bullet and get Spencer a new bed. I can't remember if I've recently talked about needing a new bed for him, so if so I apologize in advance. Anywho, he's still in a toddler bed, and he technically fits in it but he's a very restless sleeper so he wakes himself up hitting the wall and things like that. We eventually wanted to get the boys bunk beds, but I don't want to get a single bed now and then have to get bunks in a year when Henry outgrows his crib. So I think Saturday we will be checking out the local Rooms to Go outlet, Big Lots, and ultimately Ikea to get a bed set and be done with it. Now I just have to convince Spencer that he'll like it.

-- *this* is the funny thing you were looking for in this post. So I was looking on Etsy to see if there was anything to get for Hubby for Father's day, because I'm at a total loss for things to get him. There is a personalized suggestion section which pulls his interests from FB to search for good gifts. Hubby's interests as listed by FB are "Fallout", "Dexter" and "Fringe". The first is a video game, the other two television shows. Well, it was fairly accurate for Fallout and Dexter, but it matched "Fringe" with a flapper dress, two necklaces and a very large white leather purse.

That was some kind of awesome. No? Had to be there? Sorry.

-- I'm doing terribly on my reading this month. I've been trying to read The Passage by Justin Cronin, and I recognize that it's a well-written book, but I just long to be absorbed and I can't get into it. A friend who is in book club with me said that she likes it, but it reminds her a lot of Stephen King. I can see that - I'm not much of a fan of his books either although I like the subjects. I don't know what it is, just not a fan (except On Writing. That was good stuff).

-- Please let today go by quickly. Work has been trying this week. I need another one of my mini vacations.