Random, Not Necessarily Deep, Thoughts

In no particular order:

Blogger isn't letting me do bullets. What's up with that?

I am in love with Craisins, especially the cherry-flavored ones. Where have you been all my life???

I'm not so much in love with the Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks. (I know that probably makes me a heathen to some of you.) I've been reading about how much people like this drink, so I decided to give it a whirl. Not seeing what all of the fuss was about. I'll take a Pumpkin Spice Latte with whipped cream any day.

What is up with my wrist??? I noticed a couple of weeks ago that I had a weird dent in the area where it usually hurts. (I will get occasional carpal tunnel symptoms that flare up when I overwork my wrist. Since I always hold Livers on my left side, this doesn't bode well for lefty.) Now I have pain to go with my wrist. It sucks, and when I had an x-ray a week ago they found squat.



Project Griswold is in full swing. I've only fallen off of my ladder once. When someone was driving by. It happened because I waved. Then they had to stop to see if I was OK. My body was fine; my ego was a bit bruised. (It was only a two foot drop anyway.)

I hate furniture shopping.

Never pick lettuce off of a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich from Great Steak and Potato. You WILL smell like onions for the rest of the day, and it will make you want to gag. Bonus when your CAR smells like them 12 hours later.

"Gnocchi" is a funny word to say and a yummy thing to eat. Livers disagrees.

It needs to rain more here. Bad.

My dogs do an amazing job at cleaning off Livers' high chair tray. It is not, however, a sanitary substitute for good old soap and water. Bonus when you realize your mistake after two meals have been eaten off of it. (I know, I'm a great parent.)

Ocarina rocks. Some of the best 99 cents I've spent in awhile.

In the right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) light, Livers looks like Philip Seymour Hoffman. I'd be OK with it if she were a boy.

I can't wait to have my Christmas tree put up. Not to brag, but I rock at tree trimming. I can, however, wait to actually do it. That part sucks. At least Livers will think it's pretty.

I miss weekly date nights out of the house.

I can't wait to learn digital scrapbooking.

I love a clean kitchen but officially hate doing dishes.

You could built another dog out of the hair I vacuum up weekly.

Rainy days with dogs sucks. For them and me.

Why do Krispy Kreme doughnuts have to be bad for you? Why can't you just eat a dozen without worry?

I didn't realize how much better Blu Ray is over a regular DVD.

I love it when my husband's bangs get really long, but it drives him crazy. On the converse, I don't like it when his beard gets too long, but he loves it.

Speaking of hair, mine needs a trim.

And Livers is almost 23 months and hasn't seen a pair of scissors yet. No complaints here!

Livers just "tuck timed" (put to bed) her bear, blankets and all. Now she says he needs his diaper changed. Precious!

I'd love to wear fleece blanket sleepers like Livers, only I would get annoyed having to take it off to go to the bathroom 18 times at night.

If I could decorate my house completely in Pottery Barn and rainbows I'd be happy.

Enough randomness. I leave you with a pretty picture. That I actually took.

How Soon Is Too Soon to Watch Christmas Movies?

John Deere Mom has completely inspired me! She has made a list of her favorite Christmas movies, and she wisely placed the classic to beat all classics at the top of her list:


Seriously, I can't go a Christmas season without watching this movie. I've been watching it for as long as I remember, and it just gets funnier as I get older. Maybe it's that I'm starting to relate to it more and more ;) One of my favorite things to do is sit around with the rest of my family, who also has a GREAT appreciation for Chevy Chase's finest, and basically recite the entire movie. It's particularly fun when my brother is there, because he actually CAN recite the entire movie.

I think one of the great things about it is that it is so easy to relate to. Who doesn't have a cousin Eddie or an Aunt Bethany (or two) in their family? I sure know I do. I like to play my part of relating by Griswolding up my house every year with Christmas lights. Last year's creation took almost 12 hours. By myself, I must add with pride. Yes, I was THAT redneck house in the neighborhood (and for many around).

So when is too soon? I think maybe Thanksgiving. I'll have all of my family over, and what better way to officially kick off the holiday season than viewing #1 (of 30) of this timeless holiday classic?

To make this post a thousand times more fun, leave some of your favorite Christmas Vacation quotes from the movie in the comment section. I'm getting a smile on my face just thinking about them! To get you started:


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P.S. Other holiday favorites well worth mentioning:

It's a Wonderful Life

A Christmas Carol, but it HAS to be the George C. Scott version. I get chills watching it.

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Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

WordFUL Wednesday - It's a Beautiful Thing

What is a beautiful thing, you might ask?

THIS:

A mere two months ago gas here was double this price or higher. It reached a peak of $4.619/gallon when Hurricane Ike shut down the refineries that give us our gas supply and caused shortages for weeks. I have been anal-retentive for years about recording how much I spend on gas for my car, and I was approaching $55 to fill up my little Chevy Malibu before the price drops. In my car's short little life it has NEVER been filled up for this price.

Ever.

In a world where the economic situation is daunting to say the least, downright depressing to be conservative, and enough to make anyone a psychotic lunatic if you really want to get extreme, filling up my car this very cold morning after my bi-annual allergist appointment and seeing this when the pump stopped was very exciting. I don't know how long this is going to last, but hopefully for a long, long time.

Give thanks, everyone, because at least one thing in our world right now doesn't economically suck.

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Wanna be WordFUL? Go HERE now!

Needs: We All Have 'em

I need a topic starter. It's been a pretty blah blah boring and typical week for me (for the most part), so I've not had a whole lot of things worth saying the past few days. I've also preferred cuddling up on the couch and vegging out to actual brain work. We all need our veggies from time to time!

Thankfully, Mommy Mo' was feeling the same way and created a little "game" to play to get our minds working. I hope you don't mind me stealing a few, Mommy Mo'! We have a few of the same...

Without further adieu...

I NEED:

1. A brow wax. I hate having to pluck eyebrows, and unfortunately (for now) they are nice and thick, which means mildly werewolfish.
2. The world's best hand lotion. Something that will withstand the elements and frequent handwashing that comes with having a toddler. Now that it is officially fall my hands are officially sandpaperish. Seriously, you could smooth out freshly chopped wood with these puppies. AFTER I put on lotion. Once it's winter I wouldn't be surprised if they start to crack and bleed. What an image...
3. To start working on one of my New Year's resolutions for this year. Bad. I've actually managed to do OK with a few, but I have a particular one--make a mixed media painting/collage--that I've wanted to accomplish for sometime. All I really need is the canvas and some sort of primer/gesso/putty to make the paint not look boring and some glue as a backup if the paint won't hold some of the things I'm using. This probably is confusing to you--it is to me too--but one day when it's finished you'll understand (because I'll post pictures).
4. To find a new place to buy fat quarters for a quilt I'll one day be making. Because I've just about exhausted my options unless I start to use batik fabric, which I don't want to do. Online, here I come!
5. To Christmas shop. I know what I want to get (except for a couple of people). It's just a matter of getting it done.
6. To start putting up Christmas lights outside. Yes, I said "start". I like to do it big, and that means I need the time. Hopefully J will let me do a little of it tomorrow.
7. To see more movies in theaters. That was one of our huge weekend passions before Livers, and it makes me sad some weekends to have to stay at home instead of having a leisurely night on the town.
8. To couple #7 with a Barnes and Noble coffee and magazine date. We used to do this all.the.time before Livers, and I looked forward to reading my People over a chai every weekend. Since I will not be renewing my People subscription (gasp!!!) due to lack of time to read it (and a little disenchantment with celebrities) I'll need to make up for lost gossip.
9. To go on a vacation with J without Livers. Don't get me wrong, love the girl to pieces, but sometimes an adults-only trip is needed.
10. A Roomba. I get sick of keeping up with the crumbs and dog fur (which means I sometimes....don't). It'd be like a $200 maid!
    
11. To read my Bible more.
12. Read more in general. I love to do it, but sometimes the TV and computer is so much easier. I smell a New Year's resolution for 2009!
    
13. To scrapbook more. I'm in the hole so far I'm starting to cover myself up with dirt.
14. A new pair of shoes. I love a pair of athletic-style shoes you can just slip on.
15. Not to be tired by the time I have "me" time. Nothing sucks like having tons of things you want to do for yourself and being too tired, either mentally or physically, to actually do it when you have the chance.
    

To cap off #15, I'm going to make a very appropriate and ironic statement: I have much I'd like to do, but I'm off to watch some TV now. Good night!

Cutie-ness

A few things to add to Livers' Vault of Cutie.

For posterity's sake (because I'll forget to write it down in her journal later).

Yeah, I'm one of those crazy Mamas who has kept a baby journal for their child since birth.

In random order:

Livers ADORES watching Alton Brown on the Food Network show Good Eats. (Who doesn't?) She gets very excited when he comes on TV, and one of the things she likes to do is ask, "Do you lika da Alton Brown, too?"

She also likes to watch Rachael Ray and Paula Dean (we watch a little too much Food Network over here), and as a result will tell you, when asked, that Rachael Ray says, "E.V.O.O." and Paula Dean says, "Hey, y'all!" What a good Southern baby I have!

When putting her to bed tonight I was giving Livers kisses, and as I would try to leave the room she would yell at me, with a smile, "Kisses!" so I'd come back and give her more.

I call Livers "Peanut" all the time, and today she picked up her "Stuffed Animal of the Week", her kitty, hugged it, and said, "My Peanut!"

She likes to pretend to talk on the phone, and apparently I must laugh a lot when I talk on it, because she'll always pick up hers and say, "Hi (insert name here), HAHAHAHA!!!!" in the goofiest little laugh. Note to self: MUST videotape this!

Another thing I must videotape is Livers singing. She LOVES music (particularly the Beatles) and does a really good job of singing words. It's really funny when she sings "All My Loving", because she'll start off singing it really quiet, going, "Close ye eyes and I kiss you...", and then at the TOP of her lungs, "toMORROW I MISS YOU!!"

My personal favorite:

She's known all her big letters since she was 18-19 months old, so I decided to start working on her little letters. I was sitting with her last night writing them on her Magna Doodle, and I wrote the small "t" on it. I asked her what letter it was, and she looked at it and said, "Jesus!"

My sick little girl. You wouldn't know it if it weren't for the rosy red (and very chapped) cheeks covered in her new favorite "beauty" product: Vaseline.

Sniffs, Sleeps, and Socks. Pink Need Only Apply.

It's a sick, sick, sick, sick world over here. No, we don't have bad minds. But we are in bad health. Everyone (minus the dogs) is in some stage of a cold right now. J is getting over one, and Livers and I are in the beginning throws of the one he gave to us. Our snot runneth over, so to speak. (Lovely imagery, I know.)

On a less disgusting and more humorous note is Livers. She is fairly typical of a 22-month-old in that she has to have certain "comfort" items to sleep with. However, her crib at night is starting to border on the ridiculous. She has with her, at this moment:

• A blue teddy bear
• A penguin (named Rainbow Rob. All penguins are named Rainbow Rob, thanks to a book she loves by the same title.)
• A doggie
• A large baby with a button up outfit that HAS to be snapped up (I got away with it tonight)
• A small baby
• "Workout Ducky" (it used to have a night cap, but she pulled it off, and the remaining part of the cap looks like a headband used to keep sweat out of your eyes)
• Small blankie
• "Other" blankie (a large one)
• Another blankie
• Juicy (for a doll)
• Milkie (for a doll)
• "Little Milkie" (for a doll; this we just started requesting)
• Ice-cube water (to drink; and it HAS to have ice cubes or fits will be pitched)
• And a pink sock

Is this the most random list of things or what?

I'm sure I'm to blame for this. I always liked having a bagillion things to sleep with at night as a child, and I probably impressed this upon her. However, I stuck to more typical fare like stuffed animals. The need for a sock is kinda weird (and comical). I'm sure she wouldn't mind the absence of some of these things, but I've never tried it. That's definitely my weirdness at play, I'm sure.

She wouldn't be my beautiful daughter if it weren't for her delightful quirks! I sure them, socks and all :)

To the Kids at the Mexican Restaurant: You May Be Young, But I'm Cooler Than You

These past couple of weeks I've been cursed with a bit of writer's block. It happens to the best of us, I do suppose. Luckily for everyone a brief trip to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants provided my brain with a little kick start this evening. Let's hope the mojo hasn't left me in the last couple of hours.

(P.S. This restaurant is the real deal. If a Mexican restaurant doesn't have the standard 1-400 menu items that ALL Mexican restaurants have, combined with a complete lack of explanation for any of their menu items, then it's a real Mexican restaurant. Their pico de gallo is only rivaled by the P de G that I had in Mexico on my honeymoon, if that's any indication.)

Back to the issue at hand.

I walk in to get a couple of orders of chips and super awesome salsa and a couple o' tacos, and in front of me are three, I would assume, college-age kids. Having nothing better to do while I wait to order, I decide to put on one of my favorite faces: look like you're daydreaming but you're really eavesdropping. Luckily this wasn't hard to do, because the people in the neighboring Dollar General could have heard their conversation. While nonchalantly listening, a thought struck me that came as a bit of a surprise:

There's nothing uncool about getting older.

Now there are some aspects of aging really don't bother me.

Gray hairs? Bring 'em. I think a little salt n' peppa makes a person look distinguished, especially if that person is a man. Clooney, anyone? I'll probably end up dying my hair a bit when the gray ones come rolling in, but I don't see myself being 60 and putting on the Nice and Easy.

Wrinkles? They're a sign of wisdom, and I'm not going to inject $600 of botulism in my face every few weeks to get rid of the evidence of a lifetime of knowledge. It's a losing battle, and you can buy some really cool stuff with $600.

Bad wardrobe? (You know, pants to your boobs and the resurgence of shoulder pads.) Not going to happen. High waisted pants pinch my belly button and I've never liked shoulder pads, and yoga pants will never go out of style. Mark my words.

But I'll be the first to say that some aspects of aging DO bother me.

Weight gain. For most of my life I've pretty much had the same figure. (Small boobs, no hips--even after one kid. I thought I'd get at least one of them changed from the experience.) I'm going to go with genes on this one, but I think I may have inherited my dad's metabolism. The one where you, for the most part, don't have to worry that much about your weight. If I start to notice a slight weight increase, I cut back on my Oreo habit for a bit and eat a little healthier, and that usually does the trick. What scares me is what will happen to my weight as I get older.

I didn't have this mentality until I was a sophomore in high school, my hormones did weird things, and I gained twenty pounds in three months for absolutely no reason. I was just as active, ate the exact same, but gained weight. I eventually lost the weight (like, after a stomach flu in college things went back to normal again), but I've always had this fear in the back of my mind that I'm going to get to a point where I'll be back in that position.

Losing my "cool". I'm no Frank Sinatra by any means, but I'm not a complete lost cause socially, either. I like good movies, I listen to good music, I'm in the know. But I fear that as I get older some sort of switch is going to be turned on and I'm going to become this Lawrence Welk watching, Kenny G listening, what's up with the cost of brussel sprouts, anyway, kind of social nerd. And it just.can't.happen.

Anyway, back to the point: There's nothing uncool about getting older.

Listening to these, essentially, kids talking, I was struck by a couple things. Not necessarily about what they said but how they said it.

Younger people way over-pepper their conversation with verbal diarrhea. Of the unnecessary curse word kind. I don't think I've heard as many motherf*****r, f**k this, f**k that, s**t, d**n, s***ty f**k s**ts since watching Goodfellas over 10 years ago as I did in the roughly 10 minutes I was subjected to their conversation. And I remember me at that age. I was a little heavy on the pepperage. It made me feel cool, like I was saying something really important. Listening to these kids tonight, though, made me realize something. It's not so cool. It makes you sound stupid. Sure, there are definitely times where I can see a little pepperage being appropriate. Say, when you accidentally run over your neighbor's cat, or you cut your finger slicing an onion, or your twenty-two month-old is about to throw a toy phone at your flat screen (this is hypothetical, but a valid concern). But every.other.word? It's excessive. Buy a dictionary or thesaurus, pick up a new read, and expand your vocab beyond your usual four-letter standbys.

Also striking: younger people have a tone of speaking they often employ that is intended to make them sound more important than they actually are. They talk louder. They over-inflect their voice. They often over-gesticulate while talking. All so they can sound like they know what they're saying and what they're saying is cool. Hate to break it to you, but it probably isn't. Case and point: I don't even remember what kind of boring stuff you were talking about, kids. I just remember how ridiculous you looked and sounded when you did it. I've seen myself slipping into this pattern in my old(er) age, but it happens in only two occasions: A) I'm nervous and trying to feel better about myself, and B) I'm drunk. And I can guarantee I'm not cool in either situation. Lesson I've learned: who cares how important I sound. If people care about you, it will only matter that you're trying your best.

As annoyed as I was at listening to these kids talking, I'm glad that I was forced to listen. It made me realize how far I've come from being a trash-mouthed, loud, flailing kid to the mild-mannered, decently-collected, reserved adult that I am today. Sure, I'm actually still pretty loud (it's a Southern thing), I'll occasionally throw out an f-bomb here and there (note point B above), and I've been known to flail wildly when excitedly talking about things that I'm really excited about, but I know when to turn it off and when to let 'er rip. To some that might make me sound boring, but it makes me feel mature. And in my own way, pretty cool.

The Obligatory Cute Halloween Pictures

I can't believe that Halloween has come and gone! It's already November 4th, and we're barreling towards Thanksgiving and my personal favorite holiday and time of year: Christmas! I had hoped to start working on my Griswold Christmas lights display this weekend, but busyness, me-time (thanks J!), and poor J being sick put a damper on it. There's always next weekend!

I thought I'd post a few pictures from Halloween. It was very fun, but VERY tiring. Livers and I went with my parents to the mountains, and for some reason she didn't nap all that much in the car. This led to some very trying times on Halloween night (and hence very few pictures).

I had had great aspirations of dressing Livers up as a box of Mac-N-Cheese, but the spray paint I used on her box ended up bubbling, so I had to go look for her a costume the day before Halloween. The first place I tried was one of those Halloween outlet stores that come around, but I found them to be WAAAAAAY too expensive. I could get her multiple outfits from Target for the $30 for costumes the place was charging. I was about to pull out the sewing machine and some cheap Wal-Mart fabric to make her a costume when I saw the most adorable costume at Children's Place: a penguin! Mama LOVES her some penguins (and so does Livers), and sweetening the deal was the fact that it was half off. So for a meager $12 I got her a cute costume she loved for no effort. Way to go procrastination!

A quick shot before we left for the Halloween party. Note the look of extreme excitement in Livers' face.

Some neighbor friends of ours like to do a Halloween get-together for kids and family, so we decided to do that and then stop by my parents so they could see Livers. It was a lot of fun, but there was so much action going on that Livers' poor brain was on overdrive and she wouldn't sit still. She was bouncing from one thing to the other up until trick-or-treating. She didn't even want to stop for one of her favorite dinners: hot dogs.

Livers stopping to look at the neighbor starting his 4-wheeler for the hay ride. She had been trying to break into the bag of marshmallows. About two seconds later she rolled out her lip and looked at me in fear of the 4-wheeler, saying "Mama!"

Trick-or-treating was no fun for me at all. I had this image in my head of the two of us happily walking from door to door and her being a cute little angel, but that was shot with the first house. I couldn't get the stroller to the front door, so I had to take her out for her candy. Livers was nervous about seeing new people, so she clung to me, and when I tried to put her back into her stroller she had a gigantic meltdown, so much so that the lady at the first house came out and asked if I needed any help. (She's a new mom, so she understood.) I told her no, and threw Livers on my shoulders and walked away.

I knew the stroller wasn't going to work, so I rolled it back to the party and took off with Livers on my shoulders. It was a constant from hip-to-shoulders walk all night, and I thought my arms were going to give out. Every time I tried to get her to walk she would do one of those "go limp and melt to the ground" routines toddlers are famous for. She also kept reaching into her candy bucket for candy, and I finally gave in and gave her a Twix to keep her quiet. Should've done it a long time ago, because she was an angel once she had a little candy to munch on.

By the time J and I got her strapped into her car seat to go to my parents she was about to fall asleep, and she was definitely out by the time we made the five minute ride to their house. We only stayed long enough to show off the costume, and after that we promptly went home, upon which Mommy lost her temper because Livers was too tired to eat and instead threw her food on the floor. I put her in bed and she was asleep within seconds.

Hopefully next year will be a more enjoyable Halloween.....

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On an amusing note, every time Livers wants a piece of her Halloween candy that she knows is stashed in the pantry, she looks at us and goes "Candy Bars! Twick or Tweet!"