Sunday Morning

 Life, Love & Everything Else  1 Response »
Jan 232011
 

Normally, we’d have gone to church this weekend but both boys have sore throats and stuffy noses.  Neither of them has been eating much.  Neither of them has been moving much. Believe me, that is weird.  Since they won’t eat much, I just try to keep them well-hydrated.  Since they didn’t want to do much yesterday, I let them watch the Boomerang channel for way too many hours. At the moment, I’m listening to their whistling noses as they sleep. (My office is between their bedrooms.)

I thought I’d kick the tires on this ol’ blog again.  Obviously, I haven’t done much with it in the past several months. I want to change that.  I miss hopping on here and spilling my heart, my thoughts, my plans.  Sharing blessings, sharing joys, ups and downs – life.  Doing all of those things so that I can look back and remember them.

Silly little things like how I noticed I made yesterday’s coffee incorrectly- but I didn’t notice it until I went to clean the machine.  Hubby was out of town last week, so I adjusted the brew strength to make a small pot just for me daily, instead of the full pot for the two of us.  When I set the coffee maker up after Hubby returned, I forgot to flip the switch back.  Ooops.  In my defense, I thought it tasted a little odd, but I didn’t think much about it.  At least I had a good excuse to make another pot yesterday afternoon!

Funny little things like how I shared a “Simple Joy of the Day” on Facebook.  The joy was hearing Tigger sing the Oompa-Loompa song while he was playing in his room.  It is so funny to listen to him sing “oopma loompa, doompadee doo, I’ve got another puzzle for you”. Then just a few moments later, he changed his tune.  He started singing “I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy”. I laughed when I realized he was singing it while he held his Buzz Lightyear toy. Poor Sheriff Woody.

Laugh-out-loud things like the events that unfolded during a road trip last week.  When we stopped for lunch, Hubby bought some candy for the boys to share in the car.  After being on the road for about thirty minutes, I noticed there was a frantic search occurring in the back seat. When I questioned them, Woody said “Tigger dropped a Mike….(1.5 second pause)…..or an Ike….I don’t know which.”  I’m so glad I wasn’t driving.  One, I got to see the serious expression on sweet Woody’s face as he proclaimed their emergency. It was priceless. And two, I laughed so hard that I would have had a hard time staying on the road.

Well, the noses have stopped whistling, so I better go fix breakfast.

See you soon!

The Top 50 Toys (Or How to De-clutter Your Kid’s Room)

 Life, Love & Everything Else  2 Responses »
Dec 092010
 

If you’re looking for the Top 50 Toys of 2010, I’ll warn you that this is not the post you are looking for.  If you are looking for a way to pare down the toys that are taking over your child’s bedroom, you might be interested.

Last week, I was reading through a dated issue of  The Old Schoolhouse Holiday Supplement.   One of the articles had some ideas about clearing out clutter.  The gist of the article was to reward the family if they could get rid of X number of items.   If the family could gather 100 items to get rid of/donate, the family could have dessert with lunch.  If they could find 200 items, they could go out for ice cream. 300 items, out for dinner. 400 items, out for dinner and dessert. So on and so forth…

Clearing clutter has been a top priority for me as of late.  I had come to recognize that we were outgrowing our house, and we hadn’t added any family members.  The stuff we own was beginning to take over.

While I have done lots of de-cluttering and donating in just about every room of the house, I was afraid to even think about the boys’ rooms.  I liked the idea of a reward, but I knew that “X number for a certain reward” would not work for my guys.  They’d pick the smallest of the smallest items (or they’d pick their brother’s toys), and we wouldn’t really make much progress.  So – I decided to turn it around ~ instead of deciding on items to get rid of, they had to decide on items to keep.

First, I had each boy clean their room and make their bed.

Next, I had them pick their top 10 favorite toys.  It was really interesting to see what items were considered the most valuable.  I had them put the toys onto their bed in a row, that way they could easily see the items they picked. We turned it into a bit of a game in that the bed became an island, and if the toy made it to the island it was safe.

A side note, “one toy” for our purposes here were deemed by how it was packaged when it was purchased.  The bucket of Army guys was considered one toy – because we didn’t buy each individual Army guy we bought one bucket.   The three stuffed elephants that Tigger had did not come together, so they were considered three separate items.

Then I had them pick another 10 toys.  This is where some of the Happy Meal toys made their debut.  When the boys would select a gimmicky/freebie toy, I would ask them questions. “Are you sure you would rather play with this Kung Fu Panda Happy Meal toy instead of the bucket of Army men?”  “Are you sure you would rather play with this XYZ toy instead of the Shake ‘n Go Speedway?” Almost always, they would pick the item other than the McD’s toy.

We continued this routine until we had five rows and had reached the Top 50.  Then I had them look around their room to see if there were any toys that they thought they really wanted to keep.  Of course, there were several items, so I had them negotiate.  They had to select an item from the bed and exchange it for the item they wanted to save.

Our reward came at the end of the (very long) day when we all went to the local frozen yogurt shop.  The other reward was that now that space had been cleared, they could move their Legos to their rooms.  (Legos had previously been in the dining room because there was no space to use them and keep them organized in the bedrooms.) The rooms look so much better, and I know they actually enjoy spending time in their rooms now.

Over the past couple of days, both boys have thanked me several times for helping them clean out their rooms.  They’ve also chosen to spend a lot more time playing in there, too ~ that’s been another great reward for this Mom!

An Interview, Part II

 Life, Love & Everything Else  2 Responses »
Sep 262010
 

About 18 months ago, I did an “Interview” post in which I asked the boys a few questions about me.   Today, in honor of Hubby’s birthday I thought it would be fun to change “Mommy” to “Daddy” and ask the boys the same questions about him.

I learned so much seeing the man I married through their eyes. :)

Woody, age 8
Tigger, age 6

1. What is something Daddy always says to you?
Woody. I love you.
Tigger. That he loves me a lot.

2. What makes Daddy happy?
Woody. Me telling the truth.
Tigger. When we both fart.

3. What makes Daddy sad?
Woody. Me lying.
Tigger. When he has to spank us when we don’t listen and obey.

4. What does Daddy do to make you laugh?
Woody. Tickles me.
Tigger. He farts.

5. What was your Daddy like as a child?
Woody. Almost like me because he used to have the same hair as me.
Tigger. He kinda looked like my brother.

6. How old is your Daddy?
Woody. 42 or 43.
Tigger. 26

7. How tall is your Daddy?
Woody. almost 8 feet.
Tigger. 10 ft

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
Woody. Shooting
Tigger. Go shooting

9. What does your Daddy do when you’re not around?
Woody.  Watch grown up shows like “Swamp People” and “Swamp Loggers”.
Tigger. Goes to the gun range

10. If your Daddy becomes famous, what will it be for?
Woody. Shooting in competitions.
Tigger. Shooting fast.

11. What is your Daddy really good at?
Woody. He’s really good at shooting.
Tigger. He’s really good at shooting. (Anyone seeing a pattern here?)

12. What is your Daddy not very good at?
Woody. He’s not good at archery.
Tigger. He’s not very good at being quiet. (Bwahhahaha! Boy! Does this kid KNOW his dad or what?!? :) )

13. What does your Daddy do for his job?
Woody. Sit on his chair and type in words. He really doesn’t do much. (HA! HA! HA!)
Tigger. He works on his computer and uses a pencil.

14. What is your Daddy’s favorite food?
Woody. Brownies, cookies.
Tigger. Goatmeal with no dinosaurs in it. (Goatmeal is how Daddy says oatmeal.)

15. What makes you proud of your Daddy?
Woody. He lets me play on the computer.
Tigger. That he hugs me a lot.

16. If your Daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Woody. Droop A-long.
Tigger. Quick Draw McGraw because he shoots a gun.

17. What do you and your Daddy do together?
Woody. Sometimes paint my model, and sometimes watch tv.
Tigger. Watch TV

18. How are you and your Daddy the same?
Woody. Sometimes we both forget manners.
Tigger. We both like guns.

19. How are you and your Daddy different?
Woody. I like archery and he likes guns.
Tigger. Dad’s bigger than me.

20. How do you know your Daddy loves you?
Woody. Because he likes to do stuff with me.
Tigger. Because he tells me that everyday.

21. Where is your Dad’s favorite place to go?
Woody. To do stuff, the gun range. To eat snacks, 7-11. To eat food, Central Market because it has a giant salad bar and good service and good food.
Tigger. The Blue Mint (a local restaurant)

Happy birthday, Honey.  I love you and I hope your day is fantastic (even if we are in Wisconsin today.)

What Gives You Hope?

 Life, Love & Everything Else  4 Responses »
Sep 162010
 

Someone recently asked “What gives you hope?”  Of course it was a rhetorical question, but I mulled it over anyway.  I decided my answer is, “It depends.”

What gives me hope for my soul?  My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What gives me hope for the future?  My children, they are the light in my life and I am so happy that God has given them to me.

What gives me hope for a good laugh?  My dogs, they are my court jesters.

What gives me hope for my mind?  A good book.

What gives me hope for my body?  The time I spend at the gym.

What gives me hope on Monday morning?  Coffee, especially Pirate Coffee Company’s Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, I’m an addict.

What gives me hope on Tuesday mornings?  Two and a-half hours, ALL ALONE!

What gives me hope for my marriage?  Love, a sense of humor, and a healthy dose of forgiveness.

What gives me hope in the tough times?  My faith.

What gives me hope as a parent? Prayer. Lots and lots of prayer.

What gives me hope for my photography skills?  Sticking with the 365 project, taking a picture everyday even if it’s 11:55pm.

What gives me hope for my sewing skills?  Nothing, absolutely nothing.  But, hey, at least my husband knows how to operate the sewing machine.

What gives me hope for a clean house?  Training my children to do chores.

What gives me hope for my grocery budget?  Making a two-week menu, and sticking to it.

What gives me hope for a tasty meal? America’s Test Kitchen and Alton Brown.

What gives me hope on a stressful day?  A long, hot bubble bath and a glass of wine.

What gives me hope for a good nights sleep?  Putting the dog in her kennel instead of letting her sleep in the bed.

What gives me hope that I can teach math?  Math-U-See Curriculum, thank goodness.

What gives me hope for the upcoming trip to see the in-laws?  The fact that we’ll only be there two days.

What gives me hope for my country?  The Constitution of the United States.  That and Election Day.

Secretariat Movie Review

 Life, Love & Everything Else  No Responses »
Sep 152010
 

The Disney film, Secretariat, tells the story of a horse we all recognize.  We’ve all heard about Secretariat.  He was one of those legends that we grow up with – the horse that won the U.S. Triple Crown (when I was just a baby).  The film tells his story from birth through the glory days of his Triple Crown win.

But, as much as the film is about Secretariat, it is more so about Penny Chenery, his owner.  She is a wife and mother in the early 1970′s, who takes over her father’s stable when he becomes ill.  She is portrayed as a woman in a “man’s world” – strong and determined.  Through her tenacity and persistence, she saves the family business from the brink of financial insolvency.  Her understanding and relationship with Secretariat, as well as, the trainer and jockey, spur him on to victory.

Like many historical-fiction movies (think Seabiscuit or Titanic,) we already know how the story ends.  But, the writers have done a wonderful job telling Secretariat and Penny Chenery’s story.  They keep the audience on the edge of their seats during the races, and cheering for the characters when they win.

This truly is a  fantastic family movie.  I enjoyed it, my husband enjoyed it, and my boys enjoyed it.  I don’t remember an inappropriate word spoken on film.  Everybody on screen behaved morally (and dressed modestly.)  I can’t think of a single thing that would be objectionable.  This film was pure entertainment.  I hope abundant theater audiences will send a message to studio executives that we want more of this – true family entertainment.

If you have the opportunity, I hope you will go support this kind of film.

PS: Thank you, BlogHer!  My family appreciated the press passes we received to go see this movie.  Many, many thanks!

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