Saturday, February 27, 2010

Thursday, February 25, 2010

WHERE DOES THE GOOD GO????? CONTEST

Yep, you heard that right.  I am having a contest.  As it was, I was sailing down 394 when my favorite DJ Mary Lucia from The Current 89.3 asked for callers to win tickets to Tegan and Sara.......SHAZAAMMM POW WOW!!!! I was the winner....the winner of a PAIR of tickets.  Wednesday March 24 in the evening at the Orpheum you shall have the fortune (or misfortune) to attend with me....and NO....I don't know if the tickets are good.  We could be sitting the bathroom for all I know, but at least we will have fun. 

The rules are the following:

1)You must be fun.
2)You must like great music.  Celine Dion does not count as great music. 
3)You must be interested in getting dinner/drinks beforehand. 
4)You must pay for your own airfare if you are from out of state (sorry, I haven't won powerball yet.)  I do have a hide-a-bed so I can provide you with a space to crash. 

To enter this contest, you must listen to the attached Tegan and Sara song  "Where Does The Good Go?  and answer ONE of the questions posed in the song.  I will likely employee the help of some neutral party to help me pick a winner. 




Disclaimer: I know the song is kind of depressing but it is in NO WAY an indication of my current state of mind or my marriage or anything (I am very happy right now, especially because I get to finally see these guys live)....I really only thought up this contest in the past 10 minutes hence why it is not that thought out...but we will just deal with it.  I do, however,  encourage positive, funny, interesting and gregarious responses. 

I will choose a winner by Wednesday March 10.....let your creative juices flow.......

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Being Happy With What I Have--Day 1 of my proclamation


First off, deceiving as it may be, I am not one step away from being diagnosed as a hoarder....it sort of looks that way, but let me explain.  (Brain Interjects: Denial is the first clue)....seriously, I love this closet. 

Down on the right is my underutilized sewing machine, which sits upon a bin of unused fabric I am saving to make some fantastic doodad or outfit.  Behind the sewing machine, you can't see it, but there upon lies a HUGE stack of vintage Martha Stewart Living magazines (insert your laugh here, I dig the gal).  I hang on to those magazines because someday I swear I will make a felted wool mushroom village for Kendall to play with after she has eaten a beautiful meal of rack of lamb and cleaned the kitchen floors with some magical cleaning concoction that only Martha would know. To the far left of the magazines is my collection of gift bags divided by holiday/season/occasion. To the left of that is my box of ribbons I save.  It is safe to say that a third of the closet is devoted to wrapping presents.....laugh away, but I LOVE WRAPPING PRESENTS....sadly the University of Arizona didn't have a B.S. in Wrapology....

As you move on up you will find a collection of my "unread books" and my cookbooks.....that third shelf is an half a shelf of stationary and cards (again unused).  You see that sort of tan box laying perpendicular to the cookbooks, that is where I put all the recipes I cut out or xerox.....

It is hard to see but on the left side (4th shelf) you see another bin and that is one of many of my "special" bins...there are old poems I wrote or notes from high school or old pictures or magazine articles of places I want to visit.  Just plain good stuff.....

Which brings me to the whole damn point of why I am showing this to you.  I am a shopaholic, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. Let me clarify, I am a bargain shopaholic...I am not one of those people that goes to Nordies and buys 10 pairs of Seven Jeans for $1500 dollars.  Anyways, a few years ago, I heard a woman on the radio talk about how she was having a "relationship wth STUFF rather then with people."  So today as I sat and wrapped a present for Kendall, I thought to myself that I really could get by with so much less.....that I could easily just be happy with everything I have.

So starting today February 13 (which is sort of a wierd day to start)....I am going to move towards this sort of wierd and not very thought out plan to stop consuming so much. 

I am going to give myself a little leeway:

1)I can buy necessary items (toothpaste, food, etc.)
2)I can buy consignment or used items.
3)I can still eat out and go see bands.
4)I can still buy gifts (hello, what am I going to do with the 87 giftbags I have?)

But overall, my goal is to stop wasting so much time and money in the retail marketplace and just be happy with what I have.  I am hoping this time and money I save will go towards better things.....I will keep you updated on the progress....it is not going to be easy.

PS Todays Hoar Frost.....breathtaking...pictures don't even do it justice.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Star of the Week

Dilly is "Star of The Week" at preschool.  She gets to do "show and tell" with 3 things and she can bring in a treat.  I gave her the "Star of The Week" bag and she immediately runs upstairs and without thinking stuffs it with a bunch of random toys; a chainsaw, some doll clothes, a plastic fork.  Okay, I admit, I intervened....none of them are even close to representing her.....so I pulled all the stuff out and I put in Thomas The Train, her be all and end all of ultimate toys.  She grabbed a page of pictures from when she was a baby and we put those in.  And then we put a drawing in that she had done recently.....it was a homemade "invitation" she had done for her birthday party coming up.

So let me tell you about my Star.....

1)I love her eyebrows so immensely, they make my heart weak.....
2)She could pretty much eat peanut butter and toast for the remaining days of her life, if she had too. And all would be good in the world for her.
3)When we bake cookies, she pretty much tastes every single ingredient.  She always tastes the flour and the baking soda.  She never learns and then next time, she does the same thing.
4)She is quite bossy, but in a creative sort of way.  She will tell Mason, "you are a baby" and "I am the mama" and for two hours she will boss Mason around, changing his diaper, making him take naps, putting pacifiers in his mouth and so on, and they just love it.
5)She says she hates all dogs.....and she only likes kitties.  I have yet to figure out where that fear came from....
6)I will forever love that she calls me her Mama......
7)I love that she will put on pink pants and a kelly green shirt and then she will "match" them with a kelly green barrette and a pink barrette.
8)She will hold my cheeks and clear the hair from my forehead and say "I love you" and I just know that it is coming from the deepest part of her heart and mind and it hits me so hard. 
9)Her Daddy is by far her best friend (next to Mason).
10)She pretty much crawls in our bed every morning at 5:00 am and I just know being between Mom and Dad, it is her happy place.  And I am totally fine with that.

Just happy being herself.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Shout out!!!

Here is a VERY PUBLIC SHOUT OUT LOUD....THANK YOU!!!!!  Seriously, one of the best birthdays ever that I can remember, but being as I am now 35, I am getting kind of forgetful, so I have probably had other equally as great birthdays, but this one is just in the forefront of my mind now. The day started off with Josh and I attending a parent-teacher conference for the Masonator.  Gift #1: The teacher says Mason is a gentle soul.....very sweet and an excellent little man and student.  OHHHHH, and Mason has now gone two weeks of pretty much wearing undies (a few small accidents), but we are well on our way to being a diaper free home....whoop whoop!!

(Interject: Gift 1.5 was a free drink at Caribou....the White Chocolate Mocha with Skim....I quit drinking them a few weeks ago to follow my diet better, but today was my birthday....a little extra sugar and chocolate are a good thing sometimes.)

Gift#2: Although this is somewhat random, I get to work and there is a message on my voicemail.....from who?  Well, from D.A. the CEO of my company.......calling to wish me a very happy birthday.  You are thinking, why is this a gift?  Well, I am ever more thankful that I can work at such a nice company that the CEO calls to wish each employee happy birthday.  I am truly blessed to have a good job in this this economy and that I am surrounded by excellent management and that I am learning a lot.  Oh and did I mention I get to go to New Orleans in 4 weeks, for work???

Gift#3: I am at my company's exercise facility and I am huffing and puffing away on the eliptical (sp?) when at this moment, I realize.....this is where I can meditate each day.  So I close my eyes and pray. The gift was that time and moment to do that.

 Gift#4: I get home and there is this cute little box sitting on the steps.....so I open it  and OH MY, am I ever a sucker for sophisticated packaging and marketing.....check it out:




 
Beeswax Candles and Plates and Napkins to boot

 
YUMMMMMMMMY, chocolate espresso cake from Auntie K.....thx, pax

Gifts #5, #6---my presents from my parents......My Mom and Mike, such a great gift givers, gave me not one great book, not two great books, but three amazing books:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Backyard Homestead (the guide on how to produce all the food you need on just one quarter acre)
Baking by Dorie Greespan (the bible of baking)

My Dad and Kathy gave me an awesome new volleyball and some money to go out to lunch with the family. 

(You are starting to think....man is she spoiled and I am telling you....YES I AM.)

Gift#7--AMAZING FRIENDS and a SUPER FANTASTIC WONDERFUL HUSBAND......so I had planned a bowling night...not to celebrate my birthday, but just to go bowling.  I honestly don't know anyone that thinks bowling is lame....you can be horrible at it (ME--see my score below) and still have a total blast (ME).  BUT my loving husband surprised me by bringing in cake and song and embarrassing the heck out of me......so with 3 lanes and about 18 people, we boogied and laughed and cheered and imbibed and I just couldn't wipe the smile off my face when we left.....So thanks to all of you who made my 35th birthday so fun and amazing.  





(okay, the truth is that my only complaint is about the whole day was the  endless rap and hip/hop being played at the bowling alley)....I thought it was called ROCK N BOWL......