My Real Life

I know, I know.

Lots of random thoughts lately.

I’ve been sick with high fever, and maybe it’s making me think random thoughts more than usual.

Or, maybe it’s just allowed me to ignore my edit button, and if it comes into my head, it’s coming out of my fingers on the blog.

Either way, here are some more random thoughts to entertain you this Sunday.

1.  How is possible that my temperature is 102.6 right now, and yet I am absolutely freezing and shivering with the chills?

(I don’t need an actual scientific explanation…I’m just pondering.)

Monkey in the Middle keeps telling me I should get out from under the blanket because my fever is so high, and I keep trying to explain that I’m freezing.  Thank goodness, he’s never been really sick, so he doesn’t understand.  Here’s hoping he never does.

2.  Here’s a conversation that happened here yesterday:

Baby Monkey: I wish I was an elf so I could go into houses at night and use a flashlight.

Real Man:  Well, you can use a flashlight in our house at night.

Baby Monkey:  No, I want to go into OTHER people’s houses and use a flashlight at night.

Real Man:  Oh, so you want to be a criminal!

Baby Monkey:  No, Dad.  An elf.

3.  I’d like to direct your attention to my friend, Shane’s, blog.

I think I’ve sent you there before, but this week, he’s writing about the songs of summer and how they define certain times in our lives.

He nailed it.

Check it out.

4.  I’m on the hunt.

I’m on the hunt for a mug.

Anyone who has ever opened our mug cabinet might think this is a strange ambition, considering the sheer amount of mugs we have in this house.

They’ve accumulated from both of our childhoods and through our entire relationship.

We’ve got mugs with Disney characters, with our names, with Thomas Kinkaide pictures, and almost every other kind of mug there is.

However, I want something special.

I drink a lot of tea, and little mugs don’t do it for me.

However, I don’t just want a plain, big mug.

I want to find “the perfect” mug.

I want a mug that has some kind of saying about writing on it.

I love quotes from authors about the craft of writing.

And, since I do most of my writing at my desk with a mug of tea by my side, I can’t help but feel that it would be inspirational.

(Can’t you see it?  My novel finally gets published and I dedicate the book to my mug?)

So, if you happen to see such a mug in your travels, my dear readers, please give me a heads up.

‘Cuz I’m on the hunt.

5.  We Bought a Zoo.

No, WE didn’t buy a zoo, but we watched the movie last night for family movie night.

Loved it.

Seriously.

Watch it.

(Just be mindful of the language…we weren’t quite ready for some of the swears and did a lot of impromptu coughing to cover up.)

1.  Pie

Pie is one of those things that seems to be SO much better in theory than in actual practice.

I was home with a sick Monkey Girl on Tuesday, and we spent the day snuggling, reading, and watching old episodes of iCarly on Netflix.  One of the episodes, which we had seen before, was the one where Mr. Gallini, from Gallini’s Pie Shop dies, and no one has the recipe for his pies.  Throughout the episode, people are eating pie, talking about pie, making pie, smashing their faces in pie…you get the picture.

Since then, all I can think about is pie.

Whenever I see pie on tv, (and there really is a lot of pie on tv and in the movies.  Someone in a diner is always getting a slice of pie, and it always looks delicious), it’s all I can think about for days afterward.

Particularly coconut cream pie.

Coconut cream pie.

Just writing it gives me the pie jones.

I’ve never actually eaten a coconut cream pie, but lord knows I want to.

And I want to throw one in someone’s face.

Because, apparently, that’s what you do with a coconut cream pie.

But, pie in real life is never quite the same as pie on tv or in the movies.

The insides spill out onto your plate.  It’s flat.  It’s burnt.

I love cherry and blueberry pie, but I have to steel myself, every time I eat it, for the reality that it will not live up to my expectations.

To prove my point, Monkey Girl and I bought a Key Lime Meringue Pie.

It was beautiful.

It tasted…eh.

So, pie.

Love the idea.

Not always the reality.

2.  Real Man was setting up Netflix on the Play Station the other night, and it had “Amy’s Top 10 Recommendations.”

So, we were assuming, that based upon our viewing habits, it would have some recommendations for us.

I use Netflix and the kids use it for streaming, constantly.

So, imagine our surprise when two of their top 10 recommendations for me were “Confessions: Animal Hoarding” and “Buccaneer,” a black and white film from 1938.

Hmmmm…

3.  You know what I’d like to invent and patent?

Soft ice cream that has sprinkles already built in.

That way, you can’t like the sprinkles off before you are finished with the cone.  If they are spread throughout, there would be sprinkles in every bite.

That would make me happy.

So very happy.

4.  There is nothing…nothing like a trip to the pediatric center at the hospital to make you realize just how lucky you are.

Took Monkey Girl for a chest x-ray and blood work and just saw so many sad and scared parents.

And saw so many brave and courageous little kids.

Broke my heart and inspired me, all at the same time.

And made me count my blessings again and again and again.

Donate, volunteer, do anything you can to help out the pediatric wing at your local hospital.

Helping children.

No greater cause.

5.  I love a good thunderstorm.

Nothing better than sitting inside, looking out a big window, watching a storm.

Except being OUTSIDE in a storm.

Gimme rain, gimme thunder, gimme lightning and let me be out in it, and I am good to go.

There’s just something very untamed and natural about a storm.

You can’t stop it and you can’t control it.

Very cool.

6.  My mantra for the week is “Don’t be part of the problem…be part of the solution.”

7.  Along those lines, 5 of my FB friends posted, yesterday, about paying it forward, random acts of kindness, and giving back to the community.

I think I know some pretty darn good people and I’m proud of each and every one of them.

This weekend, I spent my time outside.

I walked, explored, played, chased, laughed.

I did not, however, write or even have the computer on for an extended period of time.

So, today, I’m taking a “No Post Day,” in honor of one of the nicest weekends I’ve spent in a very, very long time.

The following events took place between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm on Saturday, May 19, 2012.

Lots of baby crawling and acting like he was going to take a step, but didn’t.

Lots of rolling down the slight incline of the backyard.

Lots of kickball with the 5 bigger people in the family, while watching out for said baby.

Lots of footraces.

Lots of dancing on the deck to music.

Lots of laughing.  Lots of loving.  Lots of fun.

I have this picture on my desk, at home.

I love looking at it.

It was taken the summer after we graduated from college.

Real Man and I went to Great Adventure with Kim and our friend, Joe.

Real Man is wearing his ripped off jeans shorts.

I loved those shorts.

He also used to wear a hat every waking minute of the day.

That was my intramural sports t-shirt from college.

I played rugby in college.

I loved it.

Can’t say I was very good at it, but I loved it.

I loved that t-shirt, too, because I had no athletic ability and it was the only sports shirt I was ever going to have.

I wore it until it began to shred.

There’s just something about that picture.

Maybe it’s because it’s the four of us, and it was the four of us at lunch, when Real Man and I met and started dating in high school.

Maybe it’s because we look so young and unencumbered and carefree.

Maybe it’s because I still don’t get Joe’s shirt.

I don’t know…I just really love this picture.

We have so many pictures from our early days, and this is the one that I have framed.

Don’t know why.

Don’t care.

Just really love it.