Hi Monday!

After a busyish weekend, it's not so bad to see this Monday.  However, A kidney stone is making it's presence known and I am most decidedly uncomfortable.  It's not a fold me in half pain, but it hurts.
Now on to other news. Bruiser had a great time at his friends birthday party on Saturday then it was off for frozen yogurt with other friends. 
We tried to go out for dinner, but the chinese restaurant was closed for a family emergency.  So off for grocery store fried chicken and such.  There was not another restaurant option as it was Valentine's Day and everywhere was packed.  AND we had 13 people that we needed to sit.  So yeah, eating at home with a minimum of fuss and dishes seemed the best option.
Sunday was quiet.  I accomplished all the laundry--even the towels are clean and put away!  It's the put away part that amazes me.
And we have winter again.  It is cold and snowy here and looks to be that way for the next week or so.  Go winter!


Now on to MMMM.  This week is top 40 TV theme songs.
The Moonlighting theme:

The Dukes of Hazzard theme:

And last the M*A*S*H Theme song.  Yes, for the TV show they only used and instrumental version, but I like the original.

Have a good week.

Friday Confessions

I haven't done a Friday confession for a while, so here goes:

• With tomorrow being Valentine's day, I'm kind of hoping that Nick does something for me.
• It won't be a romantic dinner out, we have friends coming to town and that means chinese out with about 12 people, counting the kids.
• But I still hope he does something nice for me.  
• I plan on having something for him.
• Nothing extravagant, but something.
• This weekend will be busy.
• Not only do we have friends in town, but Bruiser has a birthday party tomorrow.
• We did manage to get his school Valentines and party snack in his backpack today.
• I always feel good when I get all the ducks in a row.
• Laundry this weekend too, because the laundry elves are lost again.
• I think they went to party with the house cleaning fairies. 
• They certainly aren't hanging around my house.
• Personally, I would much rather chuck the household chores and read, but that's not really possible.
• If I don't do it, no one else will.
• But hey, wine makes all the chores easier to do right?
• And chocolate.
• Chocolate makes everything better.

Have a great weekend!

Spin Cycle--What You Love

This week, in honor of Valentine's Day, the Spin Cycle is what do you love.  There are many things I love.  My family, good friends, a good dark beer, a nice glass of Merlot, a wiggly dog all happy to see me...
So yeah lots of things I love.  I think a list is in order:

• Nick

• My boys, Turbo and Bruiser

• The pets we have: Guiness, our elder grumpy dog; Thullee, the over enthusiastic younger dog; Piper, the cat of all cats.  They light up our lives
• Our many good friends, that keep us from crawling into a cave and hiding.
• A great glass of dark beer (which Nick has a batch perking away in the basement right now!)
• Lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops, shellfish of most persuasions.
• A good steak.
• Smoked ribs.
• A good book.
• Family time.
• A road trip.
• Camping.
• The first shower when you get home from camping.
• Road hunting--looking for a road you have not been down and seeing where it goes, be it paved or unpaved.
• Four wheeling.
• Hugs from my guys--big and little.
• Random thoughtful moments from Nick.

Now, before I get maudlin, let's see what you love!
Link up with the Spin Cycle!

Hodgepodge Wednesday

Here we go:

1. Have you ever written a love letter? Have you written one recently? Had one written to you? Did you keep it? I wrote love letters to my husband back when we were first going out and lived 300 miles apart. That summer we saw each other rarely, but were able to send letters so we wrote each other a lot. I have not written one recently, unless love texts count.  I often send a quick love you text to Nick when he's out of town now.

2. What's a movie that ends in a way you especially love? It's cheesy, but I love the way Rock of Ages ends. I love a feel good ending with the implied happy ending.  I'm not one for an ambiguous ending.

3. Something that makes your heart sing? And for those of you who are parents, I mean something besides your children that makes your heart sing? Seeing a glorious sunrise or sun set makes my heart sing.

4. What's the last event you had to attend, phone call you had to make, routine task you needed to complete, or meal you had to prepare, that you did do, but only half-heartedly? Dinner last night was a half-hearted affair.  It was just warming up left overs but I was not really excited about it.

5. Tuna fish salad-yay or blech? If you said yay, how do you like your tuna salad prepared? Hey, this is the Hodgepodge, right?  I'm OK with tuna fish salad, but I like it with sweet relish, boiled eggs and plenty of garlic powder, onion powder, dill and lemon pepper for seasons.  mayo and mustard to round it out.  I especially love it with saltine crackers and I eat it almost as a dip.  Not one for tuna fish salad sandwiches.

6. What's something you 'know by heart'? How to make my version of Chicken Cordon Bleu.  I've made it often enough and it's simple enough that I can make it anywhere.

7. In the spirit of Valentine's Day, what two or three word phrase would you write on a conversation heart for someone you love? That someone could be a spouse, child, parent, cousin, bestie...anyone at all whom you love.  Together Always for my hubby.  Sweetie Pie for Bruiser.  Cool Dude for Turbo.

8.  Insert your own random thought here. We have hit the blah part of winter.  All my motivation has flown south.  The urge to snuggle in is strong.  However, I am still getting things done around the house.  Kind of.  Anyone want to lend me their motivation mojo?

Random Tuesday

Yeah, Tuesday.  You would have to masquerade as a Monday.  Yep this morning our furnace decided that blowing hot air was so yesterday and cold air was much better. Not exactly what you want to have happen when it's 33 degrees outside.  So yeah.
In other random news:

• Despite the cold in the mornings, yesterday afternoon was in the 50s.  Bruiser got out his bike and refreshed his biking skills.  He's got a bit to learn on the starting off side of bicycling, but he's not far away from getting it. Still, weather warm enough to bicycle in February.  That is crazy.
• I got a good night of sleep last night.  I truly hope for a repeat tonight.
• With how much video games have advanced, I remember this game:

• I have many days like this:

• So I get a girls night out tonight.  It may be needed depending on how the furnace repair goes.  Life and it's lemons can just go somewhere else and hope they can make the stupid lemonade.

How is you week going?
So what is your random looking like?  Have a great Tuesday and random it up with Stacy.

Monday Musing and MMMM

So, this last weekend was not as relaxed as I expected it to be.  Well, OK, it was relaxed, just busier than we originally planned.
Saturday started off with the weekly grocery run.  Nick and I accomplished that one in short order.  Then Nick headed out to the garage so he could take advantage of some decent weather and brew a batch of beer. I hung out inside and read.  It was nice.
Around 4 we headed over to some friends and had dinner.  Bruiser had a great time playing with his friend B.  We headed home so we could check on Turbo, who was still getting over Bronchitis.

Plenty of army/survivalist was played.

Sunday started out pretty quiet and I had visions of a nice quiet day reading.  But another friend of Bruiser's called and we ended up over there for a good chunk of the day.
Sunday evening was again quiet and the guys got to watch The Avengers and have some guy time. All in all it was a good weekend, but busier than I expected.

And now for MMMM.  It's a freebie week and since Valentine's day is this weekend, let's get mushy.
Thompson Square with If I Didn't Have You:

Trace Adkins with This Ain't No Love Song:

And Lady Antebellum with I Did With You:

Spin Cycle--Birthdays

This week the spin Cycle is about birthdays. This is an easy topic as we just had a birthday at our place for Bruiser.  He turned 6.  My baby is 6.  OK, deep breath.  Moving on, moving on...
Bruiser got to celebrate his birthday three times.  Once with family, once at school and once with his friends.

Passing out rice crispy treats at school.

Presents with the fam.

Junior Scrabble.  I guess I'll be playing scrabble...

Birthday dinner, chosen by Bruiser.  Chicken strips, green beans, and home fried potatoes

Art party finger painting

Arm painting...

Modelling clay

He had a fantastic birthday.  It was a good way to celebrate the passing of another year for him.
Link up with the Spin Cycle!

Wednesday Hodgepodge--February!

Questions!

1. Do you wear your heart on your sleeve, or keep your emotions tucked in tight? I'm more the keep my emotions close to me.  If I trust you then you will see more of them, but I don't tend to broadcast them.

2. How did you meet your closest friend? One of my closest friends is the sister of one of Nick's best friends.  I met her when she moved here and Nick's friend introduced her to me.  It took some time but we ended up going out for drinks regularly and found out we enjoy a lot of the same things--thrift store shopping, country music, reading, and fantasy shows on TV.  We have a great time when we get together.

3. Pink lemonade, grilled salmon, cotton candy, pink grapefruit, a strawberry milkshake, or raspberry sorbet...of the pink foods listed, which one is your favorite? Least favorite? Which one have you most recently consumed? My favorite would have to be a strawberry milkshake. Least favorite pink grapefruit. Most recently consumed would be grilled salmon.

4. When were you last 'tickled pink' over something? Explain. At Christmas. Nick was so
pleased with the guitar I got him, and so surprised. I was thrilled to be able to get him something he's wanted for ages.

5. Are you a fan of television talk shows? Daytime, nighttime, or both? What's your favorite? Not really a fan, but Nick really enjoys Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.  He has yet to miss an episode.  He records them and watches them at his leisure. I have enjoyed watching the occasional episode with him.

6. When was the last time you wanted to ask a question, but felt too foolish to do so?  Hmmm, I can't really think of a recent time. 

7. My favorite __________________right now is _________________.  My favorite pastime right now is reading.  Of course it always has been, but I'm really liking it now that it's the time of year to curl up and snuggle in due to weather.

8. Insert your own random thought here. My poor Turbo has bronchitis.  He has tons of meds and is coughing something awful.  Poor kid.  I wish I could make him all better.

Random Things

Yeah, so the sicks are not done with our house yet.  Turbo is down with the nasty cough.  I tell you it's been some fun around our place.  Now on to the random:

• I am so ready for more snow to fall.  See, we get far more snow in February and March than we get in December and January.  At least in town.  I like having it snow. And yes, I do get tired of it when it's still snowing in April.  And May.  And sometimes June.
• This:

• Insomnia has come to visit again.  I think the moon has something to do with it.  At least taht's what I'm gonna blame it on.
• I'm getting some urges to get creative in the kitchen.  Not sure what to make yet, but I think I want to try some new recipes and have some fun.
• I need to add this:

•  I think this next weekend will be pretty quiet.  We don't have much planned.  This is not a bad thing.

So what is your random looking like?  Have a great Tuesday and random it up with Stacy.

Of Busy Weekends and MMMM

We had a very fun, but very busy weekend.  Birthdays, Evenings out, Superbowl, yep.  Busy!
It all started with Bruiser's Birthday party Saturday afternoon.
As I had said, we went with an art theme.  We let the kids finger paint on poster board and them paint wooden dinosaurs and then they got to play with modeling clay. 

A little bit of hulk action with the green finger paint.

After getting all the paint mostly cleaned up, we moved on to cupcakes adn ice cream.  Bruiser then got to open his presents.  The party went so well that most of the kids didn't want to go home when the party was over.  We will call it a success.
Later that night, Nick and I got a date night.  We met up with friends and shot a bit of pool and had a really good time out of the house being adults.
Sunday I finished up laundry (the folding and putting away part mostly), then we got ready and headed over to our friends for the Superbowl.  We didn't really care who won, but we were hoping for a good game.  It wasn't a spectacular game really.  And the commercials were...less then interesting.  The half time show was pretty good though.

Now for MMMM:  Duets this week:
Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet with It's Five O'clock Somewhere:

Shania Twain and Billy Currington with Party for Two:

Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles with Who Says You Can't Go Home:

Enjoy!