I need the confession today. It's been a long, long week. Most of which has been unbloggable. When things clear up some, then I can share. For now let's confess:
Just exactly when did I get on the roller coaster again?
Life has been throwing curves at us this last week.
I keep having to remember our mantra--it all works out in the end.
I just wish that getting there wasn't so up and down.
So, are you feeling just a bit Irish? Doesn't everyone feel a bit Irish for the 17 of March? Nick has just a smidgen of Irish in his background, somewhere back in the mists. We don't do St. Patrick's Day huge, but we try to have Corned Beef and Cabbage, maybe, if I'm feeling all bakery, Irish Soda Bread. This meal was met with protests from the kiddos when they were little, but they are beginning to appreciate it.
Nick and I have had some memorable St. Patrick's Days. There was last year on Fremont St. in Las Vegas, where poor Bruiser tossed his cookies.
Pre Cookie tossing.
The one where we got to go out with friends. We got much bling that night. Budweiser bling, but getting free t shirts and beads is always fun. Green beer was consumed and adult fun was had.
I have on occasion produced green scrambled eggs. Turbo made a leprechaun trap one year.
This year, we are on Spring Break again. Nick and I took Monday off and will be home for St. Paddy's Day. We will be making our traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage, I'm going to make a stab at Soda Bread, We may get all crazy and make green eggs, the milk may get dyed green, Who knows, some luck may fall on the boys and something else fun may happen. We just don't know yet.
Do you have a more interesting St. Patrick's Day story? Spin it up and link it up with Gretchen and Ginny Marie, they would love to have you!
The prompt is the 10 favorite snacks you had growing up. Here goes:
1. Teddy Graham--I loved these in high school.I would have boxes to snack on in the back seat of my car. The back seat that was a sea of discarded things.
2.Slurpees from 7-Eleven--I could make these last forever--loved the spoon/straw (spraw? Stroon?) that came with them.
3. Whatchamacallit candy bars. My favorite as a kid--not so much now, they are really sweet.
3. Hostess Chocolate Donuts--a staple on bus trips for swimming or speech team. I loved the slightly waxy feel they left on the roof of my mouth.
4. But the above only went with Cheeto puffs. I had to have the salty to balance the sweet.
5. Sunflower seeds. Fisher brand. Later it was David, however once the kidney stone adventure was over, I had to give up my favorite reading snack. I started nibbling on these when I was about 13. They were the perfect snack to nibble on while reading.
6. Oreos. Who doesn't love Oreos?
7. Pickled Polish sausages. So bad for me, but oh, so tasty to nibble on. These would come in large jars and I could nibble on them and read. You didn't really want to take large bites.
Not exactly this brand, but closest I could find.
8.Fruit roll ups. My mom was a sort of granola crunchy type. She fed us as heathily as she could manage. We really didn't get a lot of junk food. Fruit roll ups were sweet, but still had fruit, so she would on occasion, get them for us.
9. Zingers. These were cakes with frosting that mom would get for us. I loved the chocolate ones the best. Didn't care for the coconut ones at all.
10.Pop Rocks of course--I was an 80s kid. Pop rocks were awesome and annoying.
So there, the sncaks I remember enjoying when I was a kid.
Survived Monday and all it threw at us--migraine, work, crazy kids, time change adjustments--and here we are at Tuesday and that means tie to get all random:
I have my second test today. I'm a bit nervous, but some last minute cramming and I should be able to manage just fine.
Our spring break is next week. We have nothing major planned. My mom is taking the boys out of town to see family. Nick and I are taking a couple days off to make long weekends. Nick has some archery stuff going on, but mostly it's pretty low key this year.
We have both boys in swim lessons after spring break. Yep, Bruiser finally can take swim lessons. I so love that his potty issues are resolving. The day is coming when I'm no longer invovled intimately in my kids bathroom habits. Hip, hip, hooray!
The general consensus is the time change stinks. Turbo was rather confused yesterday morning when I got him up. I had forgotten to change his clocks. He has an alarm clock and a wall clock. He was less than impressed when he thought I had gotten him up at 5:45, and was even less impressed when I told him I forgot to change his clocks and no, he really had to get up. My mom ran late yesterday, she's messed up by the time change. Time change sucks.
And, no it does not mean more sunshine. It means the sunshine is reallocated. The change of the seasons means more sun, not the stinking time change.
Bitter about the time change, no not me.
I colored my hair again.
Here I am straightened after my hair cut.
Here I am with the color.
I think my skin tone improves with the darker color. Nick likes the color too. So win!
My meal planning is going better. I just have to keep the motivation up.
Nick and I are planning on doing some exercising while the boys are in lessons. We are at the rec center anyway.
I need to start doing something. Summer is coming and it's not good to go full on coverup baggy clothes mode. Not only does it look strange, but the heat would kill me.
So what's your random? Link it up with the lovely Stacy--she's back!
This weekend went by so fast. It was a great weekend. We accomplished quite a bit, but it was over far to quickly.
Saturday I decided that our DVD situation needed to be addressed. Nick had taken down some shelves that had been holding most of our movies. The ended up in two packing boxes. It's hard to look for a movie to watch when digging through a box. So I Got some DVD crates and organized the lot of them.
The result:
Nick built a shelf to go on top and they are now accessible and look good to boot. Score one for mom.
Not to be outdone by my spurt of organization, Nick got the traditional bows organized too. He built a hanger and a shelf for the arrows.
Spring cleaning/organizing is happening. It's got to get lots warmer for lots longer before any outside stuff happens. We currently have a nasty glacier in our back yard. Makes for muddy paws when it gets warm enough to thaw a bit back there. Therefore the dogs got baths last night too.
Squeaky clean.
Nick and I did get a night out together sans kiddos. The overnight was a huge success. Nick and I even went to breakfast together. It was wonderful.
Now on to MMMM. This week's Theme is British invasion. These are some of the bands that I loved in high school. All British.
Eurythmics Sweet Dreams:
UB40 Red Red Wine:
Escape Club Wild Wild West:
Join in with your own favorite British invasion bands.
This week the Spin Cycle topic is women who inspire us. This one is tough, because it's hard for me to figure out a woman who really inspires me.
I went looking for current inspirational women and found that most of the admired women of today are public figures who are involved in charity activities. Actresses who have time to support charities, models who do much the same. Or they are admired for their work on stage and screen. There are a few who are admired for their business sense, or for politics. In most instances, it's for making inroads to traditionally male areas.
I find that I admire women from history more--their accomplishments are more tangible to me--Marie Curie for her work in science, any of the women who fought for the right to vote, and women who created professions--such as nursing.
Still, I think the women who do what they do well and take pride in it are more inspiring than the celebrities of today who do charity work. Charity work is well and good, but most of us don't have that kind of time and money.
Angelina Jolie is considered an inspiring woman. And I can admire her dedication to charity work. She is also the mother of six children, several of whom are adopted. Were she a normal person, not celebrity, I'm not sure she would be able to "do it all". She not exactly someone who I would feel comfortable modeling my life after.
Finding a woman that I find truly inspiring, some one I can point to and say I want to be like that is not so easy. One I can identify, after some thought, is a teacher of mine. She has been in the geological field for close to 50 years now. She was voted as AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) president. Randi Martinson was my first geology instructor. She is a strong woman and has toughed it out is a traditionally male world for a very long time. She is respected and a good teacher.
If I can have a career that I can look back on as successful and as having had a good contribution to the field I work in then I feel I have lived up to her example, at least somewhat.
What woman inspires you? Spin it up and link it up with Gretchen and Ginny Marie, they would love to have you!
I was poking around the internet and found a list on MSN Living that was about 20 Things You Should Do at Least Once. I looked it over and was surprised at the number of things I've already done and got a couple of good ideas for my bucket list.
Own your own business. I did this, or at least I was self employed. It didn't go well. I'm much happier letting someone else worry about paying Uncle Sam.
Live in a foreign country. This one holds no appeal for me. I will visit them, but living there? Not so much.
Buy a home. Done. Still paying the bank.
Drive coast to coast. This holds appeal as a bucket list idea. Nick and I like road trips and this could be fun.
Get your heart broken. I was a teenager. I dated, I had boy troubles, then I found Nick and the rest is history.
Be cheered by a crowd. I've performed in plays and had the applause. That counts.
Keep a journal. I did this in college. I do it now, but I call it a blog.
Take a leap of faith. Nick and I do this constantly. Isn't life a series of smaller and larger leaps of faith?
Give something back. We donate our unwanted clothing regularly, but we don't have time for other forms of volunteering.
Design and build a house. We have remodeled our house and designed most of those remodels. As for building a new house, it holds some appeal, but the process looks like a pain in the butt.
Make a meal with food you raised yourself. I have done this. The first and second summers we grew zucchini and summer squash, I made minestrone from the bounty, as well as zucchini bread. We have harvested wild game and we enjoy eating that too.
Buy a piece of art because you love it. I really need to do this, but we also have to be in a place to find said art.
Go wilderness camping. I did this when I was in geology school. The fall field trip had us camp in wilderness areas--no bathrooms, tents, sleeping on the ground. Hold absolutely no appeal now. The ground is hard on the body.
Take a sabbatical. Sounds lovely, but I just don't have that kind of job.
Make a piece of furniture. I'm not handy, but Nick is and I am a great helper.
Go snorkeling or scuba diving. I have been snorkeling, but I would love to go again and see more.
Adopt a pet. Have done this twice now--Guiness and Thullee are both adopted dogs.
Do something that really scares you. I gave a talk in front of people for work last year. That scared the bejeezus out of me. That's really enough.
Take a stand. I'm not sure I really believe in something this strongly, but I do know I take a stand with my boys daily--otherwise they would walk all over me.
Do work you really care about. I like my work and think it does make a difference. I also work for my family and I care deeply about them.
Have you done some of these? Do you think you should do some of these? Feel free to borrow.
And Monday is over for the week. Too bad it will be back for a repeat engagement next week. Anywho, let's get all random:
Nick and I finally get a kid free night and the kids aren't going to the grandparent's house. Bruiser has done so well with the potty stuff that he has gotten an overnight at the cousins' house. To say there is excitement on all sides is an understatement.
Our weather has been a bit nuts lately. We have a lot of ice around right now. Ice that has built up all winter. warm temps melt it during the day, but at night it freezes again. Makes walking interesting.
We should get more snow tonight--not much, but white stuff will fall from the sky. This will be normal until the end of April. Spring is a long way off.
Mardi Gras tonight. We don't do much for it, but we are going to try to take the boys swimming. Activity keeps us from biting each other's heads off.
Bruiser has been feeling better. He has also been more ornery. He truly is a more normal boy since we got his insides working right. The nonstop kid is even more nonstop now.
Well that covers random for now. Have a good week everyone!
Blinking, not recommended when you actually want to enjoy something. Cause I blinked and there went the weekend. It was good, just far too short.
After the long week Nick and had last week, we really wanted to relax on Friday night. I made green chicken enchiladas (a bit hotter than intended, I grabbed the hot version of the green chili enchilada sauce). There was minimal protest on dinner, after I scraped most of the sauce off the boys portion. A few TABs (Tasty Adult Beverages) and I got a start on the laundry. We really know how to rock a Friday night, huh?
Saturday dawned with snow and very slick roads. This killed our plans of going out of town, so we hung out at home, Nick took the boys swimming and I dealt with the laundry. Homemade Mac and cheese for dinner, still trying to have easy to chew foods for Turbo, who was still adjusting to his bottom braces.
We did do something else on Friday. We have been trying to reduce bills and AT&T, who we have our phones with, had a deal that would save us money. Turbo has also been lobbying for a cell phone of his own. He actually put together a very good argument for one as part of an assignment for school. We relented and got him a cell phone. Not a smart phone, but a flip phone that he can call and text with. He was over the moon excited about it.
Sunday we were able to escape our little town and get out on the road. We headed to the new Cabelas store south of us in Denver. We weren't that impressed, but it was a fun trip. The kids got to help feed the fish. We stopped at an archery shop to get Turbo some arrows for his new bow. We also got a late lunch at a brew pub/restaurant called Coopersmiths. Amazing thing, the boys were hungry enough that they ate their meals with a minimum of cajoling and urging from us. I love it when meals are eaten without tons of drama.
Once we got home, it was all about finishing the laundry, roasting a chicken, and getting ready for this next week. I could have used another day--to catch up on sleep, if nothing else. Although I probably would have read for most of it, given the choice.
MMMM is freebie this week. Wondering what I feel like this week...
So, since it has been 21 years since I met Nick--as of last Wednesday--let's go back to 1993 and what I was listening to then.
Ace of Base, All That She Wants:
Aerosmith, Livin' On the Edge:
Meatloaf, I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)
These are the songs I remember listening to back in college. Oh so long ago.
