My Real Life

1.  So…the new washer and dryer are here.

We went with the LG and they are beautiful.

I haven’t had a chance to use them yet, however, as soon as I got home from work and saw them, I realized our mistake.

All of the buttons and dials are on the front.

Within reach of Tiny.

Who has already forced the dishwasher to create new error codes for itself due to the constant button pushing of his little fingers.

Laundry room is right off the kitchen and the door has no lock, as it is a pocket door.

Gonna need a latch.

Fast.

—-

2.  I am totally digging Maroon 5’s “Just One More Night.”

It’s just stuck on replay in my head.

And on my iPhone.

Good song.

Stupid video, but good song.

—-

3.  We have turned this place inside out and upside down and I can officially say that Monkey Girl’s iPod is just gone, gone, gone.

There is no possible way she lost it in the house, unless…

Tiny picked it up and threw it away.

And, if that’s the case, it’s in some landfill somewhere, entertaining the junkyard dogs.

I just hate the feeling that we don’t know where it is.

When she got it, she asked if she should have iCloud turned on and I, in my infinite wisdom, said “No…I don’t think you’ll need that.”

Guess what.

She does, if she wants to use “Find my iPod.”

So, it’s gone, she’s heartbroken, I’m heartbroken and pissed, and Real Man is just pissed.

We run the gamut of emotions, here, folks.

—-

4.  The good news:  I’m typing this on Monday night and I’m actually pretty tired, which means I seem to be heading toward a Monday night full of good rest and not the usual Monday insomnia.

The bad news:  It’s 8:34, Tiny has been in bed for an hour, and he is still calling me through the monitor.  I went in about 40 minutes ago and rocked him for a bit, but it didn’t take.

—-

5.  My friend, S.W. Hubbard just had her newest book published.

You’ll definitely want to check it out!

Another Man’s Treasure

—-

6.  Countdown to love and awesomeness.

Kim is getting married this Saturday!

I’m so incredibly happy for her and cannot wait to celebrate this joyous day!

Yeah for Kim!

—-

7.  Someone shared this on Facebook.

Yep.

—-

8.  You know how when a baby is having trouble falling asleep, and they are whining a bit, but not really crying, and then they are quiet for, like, three minutes, and for the whole three minutes you sit perfectly still, holding your breath?  Then, he/she cries, and suddenly you let out the breath that you were holding and you realize that maybe it’s a good thing they started crying again because you might have passed out because you didn’t realize you were actually holding your breath the whole time?  Yeah.  That’s happening here.

—-

9.  I don’t really have a #9, but I feel like stopping at #8 is shortchanging the reader.

Like, it either has to be 5 or it has to be 10.

Unless it is like  “The Tuesday Two,” but seriously, why would you even bother with just two?

So, 10 it is because it just feels more right.

—-

10.  My Draw Something app on my iPad tells me that I have 99 notifications waiting for me.

I haven’t played in months and I am afraid to open the app, at this point.

I just sorta ran out of steam with Draw Something.

I love words, so I’m still on top of Words With Friends and love Phrase Friends, as well.

But Draw Something and I had a brief, but fiery love affair, but it’s all fizzled out, and I’m left with the whiny app on my iPad that stares at me every time I turn it on, saying “C’mon, Amy…I’ll try harder…I can make you happy…I know I can.”

But you know what, Draw Something?  You can’t.  You just can’t.

I have a holiday nemesis.

It’s not the Elf on the Shelf, although I hear he’s a popular nemesis.

(And…if you are looking for some holiday laughs, go buy my middle-school friend, Jen’s, book Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat  She has lots to say about the Elf on the Shelf, and I can guarantee it’ll make you laugh!)

No…my nemesis is something much smaller.

Something that disguises itself as holiday cheer.

Something sweet to share with the family or with guests or to bring with you if you are invited somewhere.

Something to make people smile.

Russell Stover Caramels and Chews.

Not just any box of Russell Stover candy.

The Caramels and Chews box.

There is not one single piece of candy in this box that I don’t love.

I thought I’d escape it, this year.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our home for my parents and my father-in-law.

I knew what they were bringing for dessert, and so I thought I was in the clear.

But Real Man headed to the store and came home with the box.

Good Lord, I love them.

I’ve been relatively well-behaved with them in the house.

Well, I mean, I ate the Roman Nougats (both of them) within 30 seconds of the box being opened.

The fruit and nuts were close behind.

Oh, and the peanut chews.

I guess I wasn’t as well-behaved as I thought.

However, I’ve been exercising and my glucose numbers have been good, so I’m going to allow myself a little Thanksgiving fun.

And if another box comes in the house.

I’ll do better.

Perhaps.

Instead of a blog post, today, I’ve spent some time cleaning up the blog.

I deleted a few pages like the Real Food page.

This isn’t Pinterest.  No one cares what we eat.

I also deleted the Grocery Goal page.

I still try to do my best when I shop, but I don’t remember to post it…ever, so I don’t think we need a page.

I’ve kept Books Read 2010 and Books Read 2012 and will be adding Books Read 2013, because I think some people like to see what books others are reading.

Kind of like Goodreads.

Love that site.

I don’t always remember to keep up with the Books Read 2012 page, but when I do, I add.

I kept Real Weight Loss, as I am trying hard to keep myself accountable with the exercise.

I do great when I’m not in school.

I do terribly when I am.

My major goal for 2013 will be to figure out an exercise plan that I can stick with, even during the week when I am working.

It may involve some very early hours or some late nights, but I really, really, really need to take better care of myself, for so many reasons.

I’m always open for ideas, if there is anything you’d like to see on the blog.

New feature days, new pages, etc.

Comments and questions always welcome!

Daily Gratitude, Day 25

Today I am grateful for my health.

Hide and Seek!

Daily Gratitude, Day 24
Today, I am grateful for family. The one that lives in this house and the rest that don’t.

Daily Gratitude, Day 22

I’m grateful that I have so many things to be thankful for that I have a hard time narrowing it down, each day, for the daily gratitude.

Daily Gratitude, Day 21

I’m grateful that 15 seconds after crying, Tiny can give a smile like the one above.

Okay, it’s not really my new pastime.

In fact, it’s not really even something I do every day.

However, when I get a minute here or there, I find myself thoroughly enjoying Quora.

It’s kind of like Pinterest for words.

People ask questions and people respond.

Sometimes, the answers are funny or snarky:

Question: How did Neil Patrick Harris get the job of Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother” considering he’s gay?

Answer:  It’s called acting.

Sometimes they are serious:

Question:  What are the Obama girls really like?

Answer:  Nobody knows.
That’s by design.
There is a time-honored tradition in the USA that the children of the president are off-limits in any public forum.    No pictures not posed-for-with-the-prez, no speculation, no gossip.
They didn’t run for anything.    By an accident of history they are known world-wide.
It’s hard enough growing up with a team of secret service in tow and a helicopter over-head.
Let our curiosity give way to decency.

It’s also an area for people to create boards and share and store information they find.

Some of those boards are fun:

Famous Barney Stinson quotes (can you tell I was browsing some “HIMYM” boards?)

“Jesus waited three days to come back to life. It was perfect! If he had only waited one day, a lot of people wouldn’t have even heard he died. They’d be all, “Hey Jesus, what up?” and Jesus would probably be like, “What up? I died yesterday!” and they’d be all, “Uh, you look pretty alive to me, dude…” and then Jesus would have to explain how he was resurrected, and how it was a miracle, and the dude’d be like “Uhh okay, whatever you say, bro…” And he’s not gonna come back on a Saturday. Everybody’s busy, doing chores, workin’ the loom, trimmin’ the beard, NO. He waited the perfect number of days, three. Plus it’s Sunday, so everyone’s in church already, and they’re all in there like “Oh no, Jesus is dead”, and then BAM! He bursts in the back door, runnin’ up the aisle, everyone’s totally psyched, and FYI, that’s when he invented the high five. That’s why we wait three days to call a woman, because that’s how long Jesus wants us to wait…. True story.”

Others aren’t funny, and I won’t share them because…well, they can be boring.

You can type in just about anything and find information that is entertaining and relevant.

Granted, it’s written by regular people who aren’t necessarily experts, unless they are quoting research (which they often do) but it’s just a great site to get sucked into.

Teacher friends, so much discussion, insight, and information on teaching and education.

It’s like professional development on your couch.

Anyway, if you find you have a moment or two, head on over.

It’s a blast.

Daily Gratitude, Day 20

Today I am grateful that I have a life where I can engage in some mindless browsing of a site like Quora.  Too many people in this world are working three and four jobs to make ends meet and downtime and free time are words that have no meaning.  How lucky I am to have been given the opportunities that are denied to so many.

I’ll be honest with you, folks.

I got nothin’ today.

I’ve been trying to come up with a topic for today’s blog all weekend, and just keep coming up empty-handed.

Our dryer broke, so we’re washing clothes and then taking wet loads to our parents homes to dry which, logistically, is a bit of a pain, but how fortunate are we to have our parents all living within a five-mile range of us?

Here’s the irony.

Is it irony?

Probably not.

Here’s the thing.

Yeah, that’s better.

So, here’s the thing…

When we got married, my parents bought us our first washer and dryer as a wedding gift.

We took them with us when we moved from house 1 to house 2 and then from house 2 to house 3.

When we moved into house 3, the owners left behind their washer and dryer, but we wanted to keep using ours, so we gave the ones that were already in the house to my father-in-law who had a washer and dryer held together with rubber bands and chewing gum.

Then, when we bought this house, it turned out they had the exact same washer and dryer (forgot to see how old they were) so we decided to leave our wedding gifts at house 3 and go with the ones that were left behind here.

My bet is that the ones we left behind are still going strong.

This one?

Not so much.

Anyway, we spent our Sunday with Real Man up to his elbows in wires and tools and electricity and then researching washers and dryers and ordering and scheduling delivery for my new babies and driving our wet laundry around and drying it at our parents’ homes.

Saturday was spent at school, for Monkey Girl and I.

It was the dance auditions for the musical, and that eats up a Saturday.

However, once again, I have to say that the other directors are people that I enjoy immensely, and that takes the sting out of working all day Saturday.

And…I LOVE being the musical director of the show.

This year, we are doing Annie and it’s one of my favorites.

It was actually the second show we did when I started working at my current school, and I’ve always hoped we could do it again.

Saturday night, the monkeys were playing in the basement and Real Man and I were watching television in the living room.

As we flipped through the channels, Jaws was on and I commented that I had never seen the movie.

I’ve never seen The Godfather, either.

Apparently, I’m missing out.

Anyway, we started watching and Monkey in the Middle came up to ask me a question.

He got sucked in and crawled under the blanket with us.

About five minutes later, Baby Monkey came upstairs to see what the hold-up was and got sucked in, as well, and also snuggled under the blanket with us.

Finally, Monkey Girl, having been abandoned by her brothers joined us, and Real Man and I were no longer sweetly snuggling together on the couch, watching Jaws.

Instead, we were completely smushed into the couch, while three relatively large children were sprawled on top of us, asking a million questions about the movie.

I’d say they watched the last 45 minutes of the movie with us and, surprisingly, weren’t too scared by it.

I swear Baby Monkey has seen the movie before, because every few minutes or so, he’d say “You know what I’d do if I were on that ship?”

And whatever he said, the characters did in the next few minutes.

Love that kid.

Anyway, it turned out to be a really nice ending to a long day.

So, busy weekend that left me with no actual topic.

Hope you didn’t mind the recap.

It’s all I’ve got today.

Daily Gratitude, Day 19

Today I’m grateful that I have a career that I love which take the sting out of Monday mornings.

Don’t forget to enter our contest for a chance to win an iTunes gift card, as well as $15 donated in your name to Hurricane Sandy Relief!
Daily Gratitude, Day 16

It may be trite, but this week, in particular, I am so very, very grateful that it is Friday.

So, I didn’t sleep for even one second last night.

I had a migraine before bed, so I’m thinking the migraine pills may have been the culprit, considering they are essentially pain relievers plus caffeine pills, but Monday nights are always rough for me.

Anyway, I have a few observations.

First of all, apparently, if you are going to make a movie about the daughter of the President of the United States, the plot must go like this:

First Daughter goes to college, wants her freedom

POTUS puts a secret Secret ServiceMan who is young and gorgeous in her midst to quietly guard her.

They fall in love.

She finds out he’s a SS agent and is furious and breaks up with him and goes home.

They come back together  (inspired by a talk from Daddy) and live happily ever after.

I saw that movie twice last night.

It had two different names.

“Chasing Liberty” and “First Daughter.”

Mandy Moore and Katie Holmes as adorable/beautiful brunette first daughters.

Marc Blucas and Matthew Goode as gorgeous secret Secret Service agents.

Good flicks, but utterly predictable, even if you hadn’t already seen the other one.

However, watching those led me to another realization.

Matthew Goode,

who I absolutely have loved since I saw him in “Leap Year,”

should play the father to this kid:

Freddie Highmore, who starred opposite Emma Roberts in “The Art of Getting By,” which I also watched.

Another thing to note is that old episodes of “Friends” can still make me laugh out loud with glee.

Also, there are some truly horrifying movies out there.

I wound up getting sucked into a movie called “Mother’s Day” starring Rebecca DeMornay and let me tell you…it was insane.  Very much like “The Strangers” but even a bit more twisted.

And, finally, “Die Hard With a Vengeance” is still my all time favorite action movie.  There is nothing about that film that I don’t like.

Here’s hoping for some zzzz’s tonight!

Daily Gratitude, Day 13

Today I am grateful that the smallest problem I have in my life is one night of insomnia.  Small potatoes compared to what so many are dealing with in this world.