Sensing Hodgepodge

1. Describe love using all five senses.

Love is the feeling of a warm hug, the taste of a home cooked meal, the smell of the pine in the mountains, the look in a child's eyes when you're being silly, and the sound of our excited dog when we come home.

2. February is Canned Food Month. What's your favorite food that comes straight from a can? 
Green beans. Not sure why, but I really like canned green beans.  It's nice now that they are making ones with less salt.

3. A principal in a UK school recently sent home a letter to parents requesting they (the parents!) dress appropriately when escorting their children to/from school (basically saying please don't wear your pajamas) You can read the letter here. It's gotten a lot of publicity, both positive and negative. Your thoughts? And do/did you ever make the school run (or hit Starbucks, Walmart, etc) in your pjs?
Not pajamas, but I have made the run in sweats.  Sweats are slightly more acceptable, but not by much.

4. Crew neck, V-neck, turtleneck, scoop neck...which is most prevalent in your wardrobe?
 It's a toss up between crew and scoop. 

5. I read here recently a list of four things to avoid so you wake up happier. They were late night snacks, hitting the snooze button, social media just before bed/upon waking, checking emails. 

Are you guilty of any of these behaviors? Which on that list do you need to work harder at avoiding?
I'm not really guilty of any of them.  I try to read before bed, it helps shut off my brain and get me in the mode for sleep.

6. Share something you remember about a house you lived in as a child? Of all the homes you lived in as a child, which did you love best? 
I remember three different houses that I lived in growing up. There was the one in California, small, but with a fabulous yard with an orange tree I could climb in.  There was the one in Buffalo, Wyoming that was in town.  we had a play room in the basement that we could do just about anything in and have a total disaster and it didn't matter. Then there was the one outside of Buffalo that was large and I had a balcony off my room.
I'm not sure I loved any of them, but I was happy with my mom in all of them.

7.Your favorite movie based on a true story? 
Would have to be Erin Brockovich. I like the story and really enjoy the way Julia Roberts protrayed Erin.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
I don't care if the groundhog saw it's shadow, winter will be here until the middle of April.  We have good chances for snow here until mid May.  Spring is always our shortest season.

Tuesday Stuff

OK, so this last weekend was crazy.  Bruiser had his 7 birthday party. We had 12 6 and 7 year olds running around our house.  The party was mostly successful, but loud.
Bruiser had a blast though having all his friends over. We really didn't do anything terribly fancy.  We let the kids play when they first got there and had Star Wars playing on the TV.  Then we gathered them sort of together and had them build small Lego City sets.  Then it was time for presents and Cake and ice cream.  Then they all had a Nerf war. Like I said, loud but fun for all.
Friday night we had Papa and Nana over for dinner and the family version of the birthday party.  Bruiser was thrilled with his presents.

We then had steak dinner green beans and tater tots.  Menu chosen by Bruiser of course.

Now on to the random:

• I am so not into the insomnia that has been plaguing me the last week or so. Not a fan of the migraines either.  So fun being me!
• The first movie Nick took me to see, 23 years ago, was Groundhog Day.  A movie that still works today.
• Evidently it's supposed to be an early spring this year.  We won't see spring like weather until mid April at least, so the groundhog doesn't matter to me one way or the other.
• Looking forward to the good food, hopefully fun commercials, and oh, yeah, football this weekend.

So have a great week all!
Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.

Tuesday Random Time

Hey, All!  Here we are at Tuesday.  Survived Monday and all that Monday brings with it. So, let's get on with the random for today:

• I was watching Turbo play video games this weekend and one of the voices of the character in his game sounded familiar to me.  I looked it up and sure enough I knew who the actor was.  I then gave Turbo a clue.  The character in the game was named the Prophet.  Michael Gambon, who portrayed, most famously, Dumbledore was the voice behind the Prophet.  I told Turbo to listen to who was speaking and he almost got it but wanted a clue.  I told him to think of Harry Potter adn he was immediately going "oh, oh, I know it was....Gandaldorf!" I lost it at that point.  Gandaldorf?! Gotta love that kid.
• Nick got hit by a cold bug.  He's been hibernating for the last two days.  Cause that's what he does when he gets sick--he sleeps, drinks tea and has chicken noodle soup. 
• For the smile:

And now some food for thought:

Sigh.  I'm still thinking about stopping the blinking thing...

Have a good week everyone!
Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.

Rocking Monday

One more week of January left.  Where exactly has this month gone?  Really, this year, this month has flashed passed.  It's hard to believe that Bruiser turns 7 on Friday.  7! I need to stop blinking, things keep blasting forward every time I do.
This weekend was pretty quiet around the old place.  Nick went ice fishing with some friends.  I hung out with the kiddos.  Nick let the kids play with his remote control cars on the icy streets--made for some awesome cookies in the slushy ice.
Then we watched the Bronco/Patriot game.  Mostly we wanted to see the Patriots lose.  Not wildly excited that the Broncos won, but quite pleased that the Patriots lost. We will just have to see what the Superbowl brings.  The food should be good anyway.
All in all a good weekend.  However, last night my insomnia reared it's ugly head and I really could use some more sleep. So not ready for Monday morning.

But maybe the MMMM will perk things up.  This week it's 80s rock and roll!

Def Leppard with Pour Some Sugar on Me:

Poison with Nothing but a Good Time:

And on of my favorites from high school, Alice Cooper with Poison:

Yeah, I was a bit of a rock and roll fan in high school then grunge came and killed rock for the 90s.
It is hard to hear this music described as classics now...

Tuesday Stuff

Yeah, yeah, it's Tuesday.  This one is masquerading as a Monday since we got a holiday yesterday. I really can't complain, I needed the extra day to get the laundry done. Hey, it was a busy Saturday.
Now for the random:

• Took Turbo thrift store shopping Saturday.  He's hovering at the awkward stage between boy's extra large and man's small sizes.  I did learn that he believes stripes to be the devil and refuses to wear anything striped.  Learn something new every day, I guess.
• Saturday afternoon we went and had lasagna with friends and watched a bit of football. Not huge fans of Football, but we always get a bit interested come Superbowl time.  Even if the snacks and commercials hold more appeal for me.
• So tempting:

•  Sunday was spent doing laundry and being mildly lazy.  I did get a pork roast made.  GOt lots of kudos from the kiddos--they like pork in any form.
• Monday I folded clothes and fought a mild stomach thing. Totally put me off eating.  So much fun.

• And finally a Winter poem for everyone:

Have a great week everyone!
Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.

Tuesday Random Time

So here we are at Tuesday.  Let's do a bit of random, shall we:

• Been keeping up with the exercising thing. Yes, we are only on week two, but a positive outlook is necessary, right?
• I'm really hating my internal body clock.  It decided that staying on Daylight savings time was a good idea.  I wake up at ungodly hours of the morning and can't go back to sleep. Regularly waking up between 4:30 and 5 is not my idea of a good time.
• I need chocolate.
• We get a three day weekend this weekend.  Looking forward to that.  Even if it is laundry weekend for me.
• I crashed on the ice Friday morning while walking to work. Spent the weekend sore and stiff. However, the coffee I was carrying at the time of the crash didn't spill, so win!
• Happy Tuesday!

Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.

Monday, Monday

Here we are back at Monday.

This last weekend was pretty good.  Cold but relaxing.  We really didn't do a whole lot. I did get to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  It was so much better than I thought it would be. Takes me back to the feel of, now let's see, I think it's No. 4, A New Hope?  The one where we meet Luke and Leia and Han and is just a grand adventure.
Not much else was accomplished this weekend, but I did exercise.  The Bike/elliptical we got is getting used by both Nick and I.  It's nice.

We get a three day weekend next weekend.  I am looking forward to it.

New Year Hodgepodge

Questions:
1. Are you ready for new? Is 2016 likely to be very different than 2015? Do you want it to be? 
I really am ready for the new year.  2015 had some very good times and some very bad times.  I am ready to move forward. With having lost my mother last year, 2016 has got to be better.

2. January 6th is National Technology Day. Currently, what is your single biggest struggle or frustration when it comes to technology?
The constant changing of it.  It's so hard to keep up with it. And if you don't you can get completely lost.

3. It's that time again...time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they'd like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, and general uselessness) in 2016. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's top vote getters are-

So (at the start of every single sentence), conversation (as in hotly debated topics where we're invited to 'join the conversation'), problematic, stakeholder, price point, secret sauce, break the Internet, walk it back, presser, manspreading (common in larger cities where some men take up the entire bus or train seat by sitting wide), vape, giving me life (refers to anything that may excite a person or make them laugh), and physicality

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you'd like to add?
I would have to go with Stakeholder, only because it's been bandied about work with increasing frequency of late. When a word can hit our little podunk part of the world it truly is over used.

4. Share one of your current health related goals.
I got an Exercise Bike/Elliptical for Christmas.  My goal is to use it regularly. As in 3 times a week. Come on motivation!

5. Let's talk fifty shades of gray. As in the color. Gray is currently a popular color in home decor, paint, wardrobes, hair, wedding party attire, and more. Are you a fan? Do you have the color in some variation in your home or wardrobe?  Gray hair, the old gray mare, gray matter, gray area...which gray idiom can you most relate to right now?
I have several gray sweaters.  I like wearing it but also like jazzing it up with splashes of color.



Gray Matter--I keep telling Turbo he needs to use his for more than video games--like putting it toward school work and such.

6. Certain foods are considered 'lucky' if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Cooked greens to bring economic fortune, black-eyed peas or lentils also symbolize money, pork which symbolizes progress, fish for good luck, and if you're in Spain 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. Did you eat any lucky foods on the first day of the year? Is that a tradition in your home? Of the foods listed, which most appeals to you?
We started a tradition for us the year I was pregnant with Bruiser.  We wanted to do a huge seafood feast, but I knew there was no way I would be able to eat that much food in one go, I was 8 months pregnant after all. So we spread out the bounty and had several courses through out the day.  It was so nice that we still do our New Years Eve feast that way. Although some times the feast spills into the next day.
We ate shrimp with our steaks New Years day, does that count toward the fish?

7. What's the single biggest time waster in your life and what, if anything, will you do about it this year?
I am addicted to reading.  I waste a lot of time reading, but find that I feel better and am happier if I have been reading. Maybe I need to get a bit better at getting what I have to get done finished before diving into my books. How about less using books to procrastinate.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.
Christmas was wonderful at our house this year.  Everyone got just what they wanted and then some.

Wearing the hat from the Christmas Popper

I got one too!

Bruiser loves Batman

Turbo likes his new hat

Santa hit our house!

Merry Christmas!

 Have a great week!

Tuesday Randoms

Well it's time for the first randoms of 2016.  Can't say today is doing much for me, migraines suck. On with the randoms:

• Bruiser has four missing teeth.  He lost the most recent one December 30.  Poor kid whistles when ever he talks now.  He does look sort of cute all toothless again.

• Naps are good things:

•  We got Bruiser's room finished up over the break.  NOw we jsut need to go through all the boxes of stuff we took out to work on the room.  He really doesn't need all of it back.  We did get rid of some stuff, but the rest we will have to manage with his input on what he wants to keep. Not an easy project.
• I have really been slacking on the house work stuff.  I wish it wasn't so never ending.
• Or that the fairies would come do it for me.  However, it seems they don't want to do it either.
• Maybe I need more motivation.  Nope, motivation is wasted on house cleaning. I suppose we could just have friends over.  That usually gets us to clean...

On that cheery note, have a good week all!
Join in on the random fun  with  Stacy.

Hiya 2016!

Well, I'm back at the routine--I hope.  The last two weeks have been a wonderful way to end 2015 and begin 2016.
We had a fabulous Christmas.  The boys got exactly what they wanted from Santa.  Maybe just a bit more.  I got exactly what I wanted for Christmas too.  An Exercise bike/elliptical trainer so I can exercise without impacting my knees and ankles and in the privacy and convenience of my own home. I used it Saturday and plan to use it tonight.  Exercising regularly is sort of one of my New Year Promises.  I do promises instead of resolutions because resolutions are usually big and grand and intimidating.  I like promises better.  I made 5 promises last year. Of those five I kept 3 of them and came close on the other two.  So let's try for 5 this year:

1. Use the Exercise bike/elliptical trainer with some regularity--trying for 3 times a week or more. It's right there, there is a TV to watch and I really have no excuse to not exercise.  So here's to keeping up with getting active.
2. Plan meals with more forethought. I've been winging it and I really need to plan it out better. However, organization is not my strong point.  Well, initial organization is, but follow through is lacking.  I will be working on that.  Maybe I should get the kiddos involved in making dinner.  Thursday night could be their night...
3. Continue getting my scrap room set up.  We have a good start in there, I can use it now to exercise in and we have a fairly good handle on what we want to do in there, we just need to get the materials and finish it.  Then I actually have to use it...
4. get out and enjoy the outdoors with my family--this includes cross country skiing, biking, four wheeling, camping, kayaking and hiking, all weather permitting.
5. Go on a semi epic road trip this year.  Either down to the national parks in Utah, or we go for broke and head to the west coast--namely Oregon and Washington. I think we have a couple people we can visit out that way (Stacy!). Of course if we head west, there will be quite a lot of research to do for interesting sights to see as I've never been that way before.  Sounds fun, Yes?!

So there you have it.  Promises for 2016.  I'm really hoping 2016 is nicer to us that 2015 was. Here's hoping yours is too!

Now for MMMM:  Freebie week so here's some I've been enjoying recently:
The Cadillac Three with The South:

Kristian Bush with Trailer Hitch:

Florida Georgia Line with Confession:

Have a good week everyone!