Ten on Tuesday

1. I've just developed a special relationship with the dark Hershey's Kisses.

2. In my own nine years and seven months unscientific study, I've concluded dogs are easier to train than husbands. Now if I can just get the dog to remove my husband's underwear from his worn pants we're in business!

3. I read that the average woman spends eight years of her life shopping.  I'm curious how many of those years are spent shopping for herself.

4. If I were a dog I'd have been put out of my misery days ago.  I hobble with my bum foot.  I have the flu and ache, slowing me down to a crawl, but I don't actually crawl because I tried that and it hurts worse than walking. Add to that the runny nose that has made the center of my face raw, and the cough that is so aggressive my internal organs are beginning to bruise.  Someone just make it stop!

5. It was by accident that I found my beloved Key Lime juice at Kroger; the stuff I fell in love with in Florida. Key Lime Pie Time!

6. I've been so sick that I'm all caught up on my shows hogging up space on the DVR.  It's pretty bad when I sit around on Sunday night waiting for my shows to come on so I have something to do.

7. Lauren is destined for fashion greatness.  Inspired by a picture of her messy hair after swimming, she insists I curl her hair in a flip each morning. She calls it her flower hair-do.

8. It is my experience that Jim Beam isn't nearly as effective as brandy in subsiding a cough.  Jägermeister is also not a suitable substitute.

9. Geoff was my personal (okay, I shared him with the lovelies) chief last night.  Two thumbs up on the pork fajita salad, G!

10. When talking about the new fishing pole Abby got for her birthday she sobbed, "I never got to go fishing with Great Grandpa."  Talk about tugging at my heart strings.  I bet Papa will take her in Great Grandpa's boat. And I'm sure my grandpa will be there, too. Grandpa, if you can just plant her line near the mouth of a good-eating Walleye we're in business!

Random Ramblings

• Lauren decided she wanted eggs for breakfast this morning.  But not the ones like Papa makes, she wanted them swirled around.
• When looking at a picture of my grandpa fishing Up North, Abby asked, "How did Great Grandpa get his rocking chair in the boat?"  Classic.

{Grandpa Blue Gill Fishing: June, 2007}
• It's official: Abby's favorite shape is the rectangle.
• Obviously we have spent a little too much time watching the news.  On Friday Abby asked me, "Why do they keep showing his picture (Jared Laughner) over and over again?" I wonder what else she is picking up on!
• Abby has been reflecting on death a lot in the past few months. She talks about the people she knows who have died.  She talks about dying herself.  I don't completely dismiss it, but consider it typical for her age to fixate on things she doesn't quite comprehend.
• Abby doesn't believe in Rudolph because he has a red nose.
• At Christmas Abby talked a great deal about Santa, asking once, "Mom, why does Santa look different in every picture?"
• Now that Christmas and her birthday have passed, Abby's main focus is losing her first tooth, to which she wondered, "How does the Tooth Fairy know you loosed a tooth?  Maybe if Santa knows then the Tooth Fairy knows.  I'm wondering if the Tooth Fairy gets anything for Christmas."

Flashback Friday

I contemplated what I was going to post.  The most obvious choice seemed a picture of the girls when they were sick a couple of years ago; the one with the puke buckets on their heads is classic.

But the computer with that picture is currently out of service, so when I was browsing though some of the scanned pictures on our laptop I came across this.  It made me laugh.  Today, I needed that.  Life before the lovelies....

October 31, 2002

Our First Halloween at Hanscom AFB, MA

{The Viking, the Prom Date From Hell

and the Fire Chief}

Thank You Thursdayish

Sick on Thursday. Sicker on Friday. But I'm upright long enough to get it in....

1. I'm thankful Geoff graciously offered to let me sleep with Abby Wednesday night.  He looked like an overstuffed pig in a blanket on her little bed, but I slept better with her in close proximity. The poor little lady was burning up!

2. I'm thankful I have an understanding boss.

3. I'm thankful I got an appointment for the girls this morning at the doctor's office.  I'll be even more thankful when we get through whatever is ailing us.

4. I'm thankful for sleep. Though I've done little else in the last 18 hours, it certainly has to have helped.

5. I'm thankful the roads are cleared.  It is hard enough for me just to walk these days, the last thing I need is to feel this crummy and try to be driving through inclimate conditions with my hobble foot.  Now coffee, kick in so I can stay upright long enough to get medical attention.  I need a nanny.

❄Snow Day❄

A productive snow day....

❄I quickly compiled a grocery list for Geoff❄

[I'm learning to delegate.]

❄Played barista❄

[mmmmm, hot chocolate!]

❄Baked pumpkin bread❄

❄Played referee❄

[sorry, no pics!]

❄Relaxed with my final DVRed Private Practice❄

❄Took a nap❄

❄Honoured the Brits with afternoon tea❄

❄Watched the snow fall❄

❄Caught up on making my cards❄

❄Did I mention I love snow days?!❄

Eleven on Tuesday

Hello first eleventh day of two thousand eleven!

1. Until I broke my toe it never occurred to me that I shave my right leg first, but apply moisturizer first to my left leg.  Hmmmmm.

2. I'm always there for others when they need someone.  But when I need help....

3. I love my Lauren, but I've learned to watch her like a hawk when she gets ticked off.  Sunday she peed all over the stool in my shower; she wasn't even in there showering. In the past she's dumped out my make-up and toner.  Naughty little girl.

4. He knew. {smile}

5. Not properly sealing a Ziploc bag negates the entire purpose of using one.  How can people truly not know how to close a stinking bag properly?!

6. I watch Abby as if I'm having an out-of-body experience.  I could never have imagined another person could exist in my likeness.

7. I've concluded that January is dull for a reason: parents need serious down time to recover from Christmas.

8. I'm not perfect, but I'm a good person.  I work hard and get paid very little for the collective work I do.  My reward?  It isn't appreciation.  Is this the tale of every mother and wife?!

9. How do I always get behind the car going significantly less than the speed limit on my way to work?  Grrrrrrrrrr.

10. It only makes sense for a clerk to take your money and give you your change BEFORE giving you your ice cream cone.  Why to people not get this?

11. ❄I love a snow storm. I especially love it when it brings snow days.  Who cares if we have to make up days in the spring.  I love being all bundled up on a winter day watching it snow!!!❄

Flashback Friday

In honor of Abby's birthdays past....

January 7, 2005

One Day Old

January 6, 2006

One Year Old

January 6, 2007

Two Years Old

January 6, 2008

Three Years Old

January 6, 2009

Four Years Old

January 6, 2010

Five Years Old

January 6, 2011

Six Years Old