Thursday, April 3, 2008

Sing Along Time!

In honor of Helena, who wanted me to dig deep! To tell you the truth, I thought she ran out of ideas to have people blog about, but it took me a while to come up with my list. In no particular order, here are the songs I have to sing to if I hear them. (Although I pretty much sing out loud to any song I know...even if it is just the chorus!)

1. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice *sigh* I know, I know!
2. Ironic - Alanis Morrisette ---Isn't it ironic that it came to me at about 3 am this morning?
3. Strawberry Wine - Deana Carter
4. Amazed - Lonestar (This is our song)
5. Proud to be an American -Lee Greenwood ---get emotional every time I hear it, and get even worse when I sing along.
6. Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio ---If you really listen to the lyrics, you can apply it to life, growing up, etc.
7. Straight Up - Paula Abdul
8. Because I Love You (The Postman Song) - Stevie B (Cheesy, but I like it!)
9. Killing Me Softly - Fugees
10. Over and Over - Nelly and Tim McGraw (I can listen to this one Over and Over again!)

Literary Tag

This is what you do:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people


"There was room to dance again."

This line is from The Bridges of Madison County. In this section of the book, Francesca, the farmer’s wife, is dancing with Robert Kincaid, the out-of-town photographer. She is being with someone who made her feel good, made her feel like a woman, complete and happy, to be in love with someone completely. Later in the book you see that she is desperately in love with Robert and would leave her husband and grown kids to run away with him, if he asked her to. But she doesn’t want to go because she knows it would destroy Richard, her husband, and she couldn’t just leave her kids. He didn’t ask her to. She stayed, they were never again together, loved each other until they died, alone.

I liked this line, especially out of context. There was room to dance again; to find yourself renewed and rejuvenated and ready to appreciate life once more. Sometimes we get weighed down with all that goes on again that we forget the things that make life fun, worthwhile and meaningful. We get into a rhythm in life that we take ourselves, our spouses, and the people that are important to us for granted. We lack passion, love, understanding and move more like robots trying to get to the end of another day. We forget and disregard dreams, goals, and ideas we once had because we think we have become something different. Maybe…hopefully, something better? We feel the need to shelf part of who we are to be something that someone else thinks we should be, or sometimes, even something we think we should be. Once we realize that just because we are married and have kids, or have something else going on in our lives, doesn’t mean that we have to abandon the part of us that makes us different. We don’t need to “fit in” or “make due” with who we are, once we accept and aspire to those things that we enjoy and need to nurture, then we can be ourselves, respected as a mother, a spouse, and an individual. Two are one, but you can’t have a whole without a full half.

Hmm, did I make any sense to anyone besides me? Maybe I need to start having topics if you really want to delve into me.

I don’t really know who reads my blog…so… if you read this, consider yourself tagged!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

High Flying

Last night Shaun decided that he wanted to take Owen on the trampoline with the kids. Shaun stood with Owen while Jaxen and Ember put on a show. Who would have thought that Owen would love it! He was laughing like crazy.




Yes, Jaxen is quite the dare devil, isn't he? And who said boys aren't fun...and really really scary!
Err, I just realized that all my pictures for the last month are one day off...hmm, darn leap day.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Going Green

You know, the only bad thing about going green is the guilt. Could I be doing more? Once your eyes are open to analyze everything you do, you start to ask, is there another way to do this? Can it be composted, recycled, done differently to reduce energy or water? I find myself getting anxious sometimes. So for all my green buddies, here is a list of some little (and weird) things I to save the world a little bit at a time.

1. You know you have gone green when you and a few of your green friends dig trash out of a public park trashcan so you can take it home to recycle it. The same goes for when you are traveling and you save your trash so you can recycle it when you get home.

2. You know you have gone green when you take home rotten veggies, etc. from a friends house to compost at yours because they were going to throw it out anyway.

3. You know you have gone green when you convince, is subtle and not so subtle ways, your friends to compost and grow a garden.

4. You know you have gone green when you buy tons or reusable cloth bags from Fry's and take them to whatever store you go to.

5. You know you have gone green when you recycle the plastic bags you do get (when you rush and forget the cloth ones in the trunk). I may be green, but I am definitely not perfect. LOL

6. You know you have gone green when you hang dry almost all of your clothes from a shower rod put up between your laundry room and your house. (I need a clothes line.)

7. You know you have gone green when you only wash laundry before 12 and after 7, even though you are not on the peak plan, to save energy.

8. You know you have gone green when you buy a majority of big purchases and clothes second hand.

9. You know you have gone green when you cloth diaper.

10. You know you have gone green when you use plastic containers for veggies (and other stuff) in the fridge instead of baggies.

11. You know you have gone green when you use real plates for 99% of your meals instead of the good 'ol paper ones.

12. You know you have gone green when you compose your hair.

13. You know you have gone green when you take cups of water left over the night and pour them on houseplants, in the compost bin, in the garden, and sometimes drink it (eww, definitely a last resort) instead of pouring it down the drain.

14. You know you have gone green when you catch yourself hunched over in the shower to washer your hair in the cold water that most people let go down the drain while they wait for it to heat up. You also turn the water on to get wet, turn it off while you get all soapy, and then turn it on to rinse...taking you approximately 5 miuntes.

15. You know you have gone green when you use the backside of paper before throwing it away. As well as make your children draw on both sides of the paper before getting a new one.

16. You know you have gone green when you freeze leftovers instead of letting them rot away in the fridge.

17. You know you have gone green when you put your son's diaper liners (rice paper ones) in the compost after washing them in fragrance and color free detergent (with vinegar, of course!)

18. You know you have gone green when you compost your shredded bills, etc.

19. You know you have gone green when you save sunflower seed shells in a cup as you eat them and then take them out and dump them in your compost.

20. You know you have gone green when you teach your kids to wash their hands by: a) adding soap to hands, b) turning the water on to get their hands wet, c) turning the water off, d) wash hands, e) then turing on the water to rinse. You realize you did a good job when you watch other little kids wash their hands with the water on the whole time.

21. You know you have gone green when you can't stop thinking of other things to add to your list.

There *sigh*. Making a list eases the guilt. Feel free to share the little and weird things you do to help conserve. It will make you feel good, and give me more ideas!

Under Pressure

For what seems like forever we have had crappy water pressure in the kitchen. I couldn't really quite place when it all started. I removed the nozzle and cleaned it out. Nothing seemed to help. I was resigned to the fact that it will always take me at least an hour to do the dishes. My hot water was nothing more than a trickle...almost like when you kids leave the water on after washing their hands. I can tell you how much water they waste, because I have stood there waiting for my sink to fill up to do the dishes. Those few minutes between them washing hands and me finding the water trickling....hmm, really not that much water...but the conservationist I am, it still is.

Yes, to make my life easier I have even at one point, go ahead and laugh, put water in the microwave to get it hot again....don't want to waste water. By the time I fill 'er up, the water is luke warm again.

But, as of 12 am this morning, I have water pressure!!! My husband, whom I love dearly, started the lovely project at 10 pm. I am so excited. It is like a late birthday present. He was under the sink pulling out all the hoses and stuff. A real plumber that man is.

I guess, because he made my day, I will forgive him for leaving the checkbook in his pants, that got washed this morning, that has left a white film over all the clothes. LOL

Monday, March 17, 2008

Prince Charming

Today Ember and I decided to play ponies, which included two miniature princess figurines as well. Ember was Snow White and I got to be Belle.

E: Lets go to the Royal Ball.
M: Ok
E: So we can dance with the princes.
M: Ok, let's go to the ball...but you don't have any princes.
E: (excitedly) I know! Lets pretend that Jaxen's superheroes are the princes. Not the bad guys though.
M:Ok.

So off she runs to Jaxen's room and comes back with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Belle and Snow White danced the night away with their handsome, crime fighting, green princes. That is, until, the evil puppy dog jumped out and tried to steal the princesses away. Luckily, the righteous turtle princes saved the day and conquered the evil puppy villian. The TMNT are treated to pizza, their favorite of course, while we go to pick up Jaxen.

To be continued...

(Lucky for me, Jaxen will take over.)

Making amends


He was a cute bird, lets see if he falls for it he likes it. The kids would sure love it if he did! (Ok, I would too!) Yes, it has been a productive morning.