My Real Life

1.  I couldn’t help, but wonder, as I took a walk, if anyone else would see this on the ground and immediately think “I should pick that up, because it would be excellent for staking vampires,” or if it was just me.

2.  Darkness falls across the land / The midnight hour is close at hand / Creatures crawl in search of blood / To terrorize y’all’s neighbourhood / And whosoever shall be found / Without the soul for getting down / Must stand and face the hounds of hell / And rot inside a corpse’s shell. / The foulest stench is in the air / The funk of 40,000 years / And grizzy ghouls from every tomb / Are closing in to seal your doom / And though you fight to stay alive / Your body starts to shiver / For no mere mortal can resist / The evil of the thriller.

Once you realized what that was, you read it in Vincent Price’s voice, didn’t you?

3.  I love music, and I love how most music is associated with a memory in my life.

When I hear “No One is to Blame” by Howard Jones or “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins, I am immediately at Michaela’s shore house and in 8th grade.  Sitting on a boat, eating fudge sticks and drinking iced tea.

“Ghetto Bastard” by Naughty by Nature takes me right to college, in a frat rec room, where I watched many, many midwestern boys trying very hard to be ghetto while rapping it out.  I still know all the words and love that song.

The flip side is that “I Got Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks brings me to the same frat rec room, and always seemed a much more appropriate song for those boys, and to this day, I cringe when I hear that one.

4.  I think it’s weird that babies are born with excellent posture.

I mean, once they can sit up…not when they are new and all slumpy.

Tiny puts me to shame on a daily basis.

When we read or if we’re watching something or just sitting outside, watching the world, he sits so straight and I realize how slouched I am.

You’d think posture would be a learned behavior, but then you see him and you realize, “No…I’m just really, really stupid when it comes to sitting up straight.”

5.  This e-card (with which I have already documented my love/hate relationship) tickled my fancy this week:

6.  This picture reminded me of the time we went to a restaurant and the bathrooms were labeled “Espresso” and “Cappuccino.”

Huh?

7.  Still decluttering.

High chair is gone and (not so) Tiny is sitting with us at the table in a booster seat.

The high chair was freecycled and the person who took it emailed and said it was perfect and was so grateful.

Love freecycle.

I’ve listed some other baby things, that we purchased, on eBay.  (We only sell what we bought…if it was given to us, we pass along the love.)

Getting ready to take a hard look at my closet, next week, and see what can go.

Because, I’m sure there are things that can go.

I tend to wear the same things over and over and over.

My students can tell you.

8.  I’m slowly realizing that if anyone were to peruse my Pinterest posts, they’d realize I have a serious addiction.

To showers and bookshelves.

Find me a stone shower with bookshelves installed.

Heaven!

9.  I have to believe I’m not the only person who turns over the magazines in the bathrooms so the people on the cover aren’t watching me go.

10.  Layla

There is just something about the original, fast, rock version of that song.

Such passion.  Such desire.  Such longing.

I’ve always loved it, but then after I read the Clapton biography, I loved it more.

Don’t forget to enter our Caption Contest!

We have a problem in our home.

A big problem.

A problem of epic proportions.

It occurs in different rooms in the house, and it’s growing, now that summer is here.

The Living Room:

The Library:

The Kitchen:

During the school year, there’s a routine.

Kids get off the bus, come in the front door, shoes go directly in the closet.

Summer?

Not so much.

They are in and out the front door, the door that leads to the garage, the two sliders to the deck.

Anywhere and everywhere, and the shoes and flip-flops just go a-flying.

Drives me insane.

So, while I declutter and purge this summer, I’ll also be creating summertime shoe rules.

Who knew we’d need them?

We live in Morristown, New Jersey.

I don’t think I’m giving away any big secrets, with this one, as most readers of my blog know me, and those who don’t could easily find out this information.

Besides, it’s important information for today’s post.

We live in Morristown, New Jersey.

It’s the military capital of the American Revolution.

(See why it’s important…being almost July 4th and all?)

Monkey Girl and I have been taking our time in the morning, while the big boys are at rec, to explore our town.

I grew up here and have lived here all my life, with the exception of 4 years of college and 8 years in a neighboring town, and I find that I still love it so very much.

There is so much history here, in Morristown.

The other morning, we decided to walk around the Green.

So much history in that one little part of town.

Monkey Girl chatting it up with Washington, Hamilton, and LaFayette.

Not Revolutionary, but a beautiful monument, nonetheless. I particularly like the canons that are hidden in the flora.

My beautiful church.  Explanation above, photo below.

Beautiful park, with tables for playing checkers or chess, right in the midst of all the history.

All that history made us hungry, so we went for a bagel.

Not all of us were so impressed.

So, that’s just the center of town, and it’s easy to see why a history buff, like me, can get so excited about living in this place.

Summer has just begun, and Monkey Girl and I have a long list of places to explore in our town, so be on the lookout for My Town – Part II, III, IV.

You get the picture.

-You may remember that all of the monkeys were born in February.  That is also when we had their birthday parties.  I just sent out their thank you’s last week.  Now working on the Thank-You’s from Monkey in the Middle’s First Communion in May.

-Tiny’s car seat is the gift that keeps on giving, as far as he’s concerned.  There are Cheerios stuck in every nook and cranny of that seat, and I actually use those Cheerios to bribe him to let me clip him in when we are leaving somewhere he doesn’t want to leave.  I say, “OOh!  Cheerios!” and he gets excited, and I extract one from a fold in the carseat.  He’s thrilled, I clip in fast, and we’re on our way.  I should actually clean it out, but…no.

-In the summer, if I wasn’t going anywhere that anyone would see me, I’d happily wear the same clothes every single day.  No laundry and I’m not really that sweaty, so eh.

-As I write this, Baby Monkey has had fruit for breakfast, lunch and snacks for the past 4 days.  He has whatever I make for dinner, but the rest of the day, and for dessert, he chooses fruit.  I realize, as far as things a 6 year old could be choosing to eat, fruit is a good thing, but there should probably be some variety in his day.  The way I figure, though, is that at least he won’t get scurvy.

-Real Man gets up, every morning, weekday or weekend, around 5:30 and goes for a long walk through the neighborhood or on the nearby path system.  I miss him when he goes (I’d love to go too, but you know…4 little monkeys in the house and all) but his spot is never empty for long.  Monkey in the Middle usually hears him leave and comes right in to snuggle.  It is really, really nice time spent with a little guy who is never still during waking hours.  We whisper and talk about what we’ll be doing that day, and just spend some nice Mommy/Monkey time together.  One of my favorite parts of the day.

-There’s an ecard for everything, it seems, and sometimes, it can get to be too much.  But, sometimes, I can’t help myself and they make me laugh and laugh and laugh.  I thought I’d share a few I stumbled across the other day:

As I’ve mentioned, I’m spending a good portion of my summer days decluttering and purging.

My house looks better, but most importantly, I feel better.

In fact, I think we all feel better.

I found this article on clutter and the psychology behind it, and I’d definitely encourage you all to read it.

Makes a good case for getting the lead out and getting rid of what is weighing you down.

Open space can only be a good thing.

It’s funny, when I read the article, I thought about Real Man.

He had his tonsils and his uvula taken out about a month ago, and since then, he has so much more energy, sleeps beautifully (they were taken out due to apnea) and just seems happier.

So, there is certainly body clutter, as well, and the psychology of decluttering can apply to weight loss and, apparently, tonsillectomies. 🙂

(Okay, that’s a stretch, but you see what I’m saying.)

Anything extra we hold on to, holds us back, weighs us down, stops us from achieving.

So, read the article, and see what ways you can get rid of what is weighing you down, and commit to change.