My Real Life

February 22, 2010

Sunshine Award

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 3:34 am
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I received a fun award today!
Thank you Debbie, at Our Old Homestead. 
Debbie is definitely my most consistent commenter here, at My Real Life, and I enjoy her blog tremendously! 
It’s the kind of award you pay forward, and so that being said, here are the rules!
1. Post award
2. Pass it on to 12 bloggers that brighten your day.
3. Link to nominees.
4. Link back to givers.
Here are twelve blogs that definitely brighten my day!  Check them out and let them brighten your Monday, as well!
1.  A Beautiful Mess
2.  Beauty That Moves
3.  Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
4.  Soule Mama
5.  Hip Mountain Mama
6.  Wanderlust Productions
7.  Embers
8. Progressive Pioneer
9.  Sweet Juniper
10. 6512 and Growing!
11. Tiny Twig Goes Out on a Limb
12. Lindsay Brackeen
I’m adding a bonus blog here, for a blog that I really enjoy, but seems to be encountering technical difficulties over the past few days.  I’m going to add the link here, with the hopes that by the time you all click it, she’ll be back up and running!
13.  5 Orange Potatoes

February 21, 2010

Searching For

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 10:19 pm
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I realize that it is still February, and I have a long time to wait until Spring finally rolls around to stay.

However, I’m getting a little bit of Spring fever, lately, and when Spring and Summer roll around, so do garage sales.

I’m a frugal lady, by nature.

I do not like to part with my money.

However, I love a good garage sale.

I browse and browse, but do not usually buy.

Sometimes, though, I get it into my head that there is something, in particular, that I must have, and so I hit the garage sales with a single purpose.

This is going to be one of those years.

What do I want?

For what do I search?

(courtesy flickr.com)

That’s right, my friends.

I am looking for a record player.

Preferably one that is old and 70’s-like.

I miss records.

Don’t you?

I just had this conversation with some people the other day.  We talked about finding just the right groove in order to play the song you wanted.  If you wanted to hear the song again, you walked over, picked up the needle and set it back in place again.

My records from childhood are long gone.

When my parents moved (while I was in college) the movers actually stole a bunch of things, including my records.

I’ve always had a hard time imagining a bunch of burly movers, sitting around a poker table, drinking beer, listening to my Shaun Cassidy albums, but hey, stranger things have happened, right?

So, in addition to my record player, I guess I’ll need to find some records, as well.

I’m not shunning modern technology.

We love our cd’s, iPods, iTouches, and iPhones.

I am just craving a bit of my past, and if I can find it at garage sale prices, and share that experience with my monkeys, why not?

Monkey Love

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 4:25 pm
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Yesterday was a busy day for everyone around here, except for me.  There were birthday parties and basketball practices and Girl Scout events.  It was a long day, and they were all exhausted by last night.

After church today, they told me that they were “taking it easy” today.

Fine by me.

Baby Monkey and I have been snuggling on my bed this afternoon.

Real Man has been working on the computer and doing some cleaning.

However, Monkey Girl and Monkey in the Middle have been strangely absent and quiet.

I decided to get up a stretch a little and find out what they were doing.

When I got to Monkey Girl’s bedroom, the door was closed, and there was a sign taped to it saying “Quiet DS Playing Time.  Please do not disturb Jules and Patrick.”

I knocked, to respect the sign, and was invited in.

Upon walking in, here’s what I found:

The two of them, just hanging out on Monkey Girl’s bed, playing with their DS’s.

At the moment I entered, Monkey Girl was helping Monkey in the Middle in a tricky part in his game.

Not sure what I did to get so lucky, but I’m extremely grateful.

Chuck E. Cheese

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 3:15 pm
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I suddenly realized that I have been remiss and have forgotten to share with you an exciting event from last weekend.

The boys’ birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.

Until this year, we have been able to get away with celebrating the boys birthdays by having the grandparents over for dinner on each of their special days.  No parties with friends.  Family, cake, presents, and we were good to go.

Monkey Girl didn’t have her first birthday party with friends until she turned 6, and it seems as though Monkey in the Middle somehow knew that 6 was the magic age around here.

So, in December, he started dropping hints that he would like to have a birthday party with friends this year.

Hints like, “I want a birthday party this year.”

So, we started talking about what type of party he would like.

Monkey Girl has always asked for mystery-themed birthday parties where we invite a few friends over, make up mysteries, and she and her friends solve them.

Frugal, fun, easy.

Monkey in the Middle?

He wanted Chuck E. Cheese.

Grandma overheard and said that she wanted him to have whatever he wanted, and she’d foot the bill.

However, Baby Monkey was listening intently to all of the birthday talk and decided that he, too, wanted a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party this year.

Grandma said, “If it’s fine with Mommy and Daddy, I’ll take care of that, as well.”

Hard to fight the generosity of a grandparent, especially a grandparent as stubborn as my mom, and so we agreed.

Each boy was allowed to choose four or five friends and we sent out the invites. 

Monkey Girl was also allowed to invite her cousin, who is her age, so that she had someone to play with.

It was a great time.

Chuck E. Cheese always has the potential to make a parent crazy, but Real Man and I went into it with the attitude that it really is a magical, fun place for a kid (especially our kids who never go there) and so we were going to relax and let it be whatever it was.

And, as I said, it was great.

They played with their friends, ate their pizza, ate their ice cream, waved at Mr. Cheese and had a blast.

The party lasted for an hour and a half, and after the guests left, we stayed with the monkeys for another hour or so and let them play and collect tickets and chill.

It was a great day for two great boys.

Fads

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 9:50 am
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We don’t give in to fads much around here.

Whether it’s because my kids don’t watch a ton of tv, so they don’t see the commercials, or because they honestly don’t care what other people are wearing, doing, saying, buying, I don’t know.

However, the end result is that we’ve been able to escape the fads that seem to rush through the kids schools and groups of friends.

That being said, this time around, I’ve got a girl who will be 9 next week who is very into these “Silly Bands.”

Basically, they are rubber band bracelets that are shaped like animals.

Monkey Girl had these years ago.  Had we known they would explode into a fad, all these years later, perhaps we would have held on to them, but who has that kind of foresight?

Not us.

Anyway, she’s been talking about these silly bands, dropping hints here and there.

She’s not the kind of kid to say “I have to have these or I’ll simply DIE, mother!”

Instead, we get “Hmmm…it sure would be nice to be looking at a silly band on my wrist right about now.”

Subtle.

The problem was, Real Man and I had no idea where to buy these things.

So, I dedicated a recent Facebook status to asking the question where they could be bought.

Apparently, everyone knew what I was talking about, and had many suggestions.

In the end, Real Man happened to stumble across them at the pharmacy and bought a pack.

And, being the girl that she is, when he brought them home, Monkey Girl immediately gave a band to each of her brothers, and pulled out four more to share with her friend and three siblings, to who’s house she was going for a playdate.

Love.  That.  Girl.

February 20, 2010

I’m Guessing…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 7:57 pm
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…that right now, most of you are feeling really thankful that I have a full-time job, as you are realizing that if I were home all day, there would be no end to the amount of posts I’d have in this blog that you’d have to make your way through.

So, bear with me through my recovery.  When my pain meds kick in, I feel productive and almost human, but I’m not allowed to move around too much, so board games and blogging it is.

So, in the last few minutes since I last blogged, Monkey in the Middle came in to sniff and snuggle for awhile.

Earlier in the day, we took a nap together. 

It was bliss.

Anyway this evening, he came in, and as we snuggled, he kept trying to make up signals and signs for us to use if we wanted to say “I love you” to each other, but we didn’t want anyone else to know.

Eventually, he came up with this:

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that this is the international sign for “Loser.”

I tried to persuade him to let us hold our “L’s” over our hearts, to further symbolize the love, but he was all about the “L” on the forehead.

So, if you see Monkey in the Middle and I in public and we happen to be making this symbol, please know we aren’t insulting each other.

It’s true love.

My Girl, the Seamstress

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 5:58 pm
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Monkey Girl had a Girl Scout sewing class today. 

It was Sewing II, but she wasn’t a part of this troop for the Sewing I class, so they weren’t going to let her participate because she wasn’t there for the session where they learned how to use the machines.

In the end, though, they let her participate.

All by herself, she  made this skirt, that can double as a tube top.

She sewed in the elastic and the ribbon, sewed the seam…

Again, she did it all.

I’m so proud of her!

Guess there’s no excuse not to bust out that new sewing machine and get this sewing show on the road!!!

Stick a Fork in Them…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 1:19 pm
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…the monkeys are DONE with winter.

I’m folding some clothes on my bed and I hear Baby Monkey say, “Hey!  Where are my sunglasses?”

I had to know, so I went up to the living room.

Snow, schmow.

It’s a beach day!

Things That Make Me Go Hmmm…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 8:22 am
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…otherwise known as, “A Few Things I Found and Wanted to Share with You!”

Cute, cute, cute.

Although, if I had them, I may not get any work done, due to the fact I’d be staring at my shoes all day.

Might be worth it!

Perspective.  Maybe I’m a psychotherapist at heart, but I love considering the that what I say may not be what you’ve heard, or vice-versa.  Sometimes perspective is more important than what is being said.

The writing and reading I could get done at that table, in these woods…

I would love to imagine who sat there before me, and what was on their minds as they enjoyed the view.

Magical, mystical, gorgeous.

Wouldn’t call it cute, cute, cute, but I sent it to Real Man in an e-mail last night.

Little reminders never hurt.

Awesome.

I don’t believe the tiers of cupcakes even need an explanation.

Photoshopped?  Real Photo?

Don’t care.

I’m all about the love today.

(All photos from etsy.com, flickr.com, and weheartit.com)

February 19, 2010

I’m Home

Filed under: Uncategorized — Amy @ 1:28 pm
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Today was the big day.

Sinus surgery.

It went well. 

She snipped out parts of my sinuses to make it easier for me to drain, and she also corrected the deviated septum.

So, now I’m home and it hurts. 

Quite a bit, actually. 

Interestingly, my front left tooth hurts the most, but I think it’s because it’s right under the stitches for the septum surgery.

The bruising hasn’t started yet, so the good news is, when the monkeys get home from school, I should still look relatively normal except for the splints up my nose and the big gauze thing holding it all together.  I don’t want to scare them.

My parents came over this morning at 6:15, as it was an early surgery, and they said that the monkeys were phenomenal.  They missed me and were worried about me, but they were just model children.

School mornings aren’t their favorite time, but, as always, when we needed them to be great, they were.

Never underestimate kids.

But, I’m fine, in bed, got my Netflix movies and Real Man is an excellent caregiver.

I’m a lucky girl.

Not a particularly stylish girl today, but a lucky girl.

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