Thursday Goodness

How to stay positive:




Best day ever!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

I have been awake more than asleep, though now I feel more asleep than awake.  I started this post while waiting to hear about my place of work and whether it suffered damage in the storms last night.  Well, it did and it's in pretty bad shape.  We were in the basement for about 30 minutes ourselves, but we squeaked right between the worst of it.

Tooth fairy finally got a tooth.  Willa lost the top one now.  This time she placed it in a juice glass and it was much easier for the fairy to get to.

My staycation was not long enough.  In fact, I'd rather it was permanent.  With my children, I spent last week doing some to all of these things: getting my hair colored, getting in a doctor's appointment, stopping at the library, playing on the computer, going to the pool, traveling to meet and play with new friends, picking strawberries, losing teeth, throwing water balloons and using water guns, riding bikes to get ice cream, watching the half marathoners and cheering them on, checking out the farmer's market, going to a post marathon party, planning my 40th birthday (not until next year, but hey), letting the dads play D&D with sons while painting toenails with the girls, hauling kids to parties, having dinner with friends, finishing up a query letter, batting book ideas around, and staying up to 1 am (I am still on my staycation time, which is harsh considering I have to get up early now for work).

Happy belated Father's Day to all the dads.  Mr. Wild played D&D with his son and his friend and his son.  They seemed to enjoy it.  Andrew was just happy to spend more time with boys.  I guess Willa and I were just too much girl time.

Now, I am a sometimes historic clothing historian.  Which can make it difficult for me to watch "period" movies.  Because, invariably, the costume designer takes a lot of "artistic license" with historic clothing.  Marie Antoinette was one that was a terrible violator.  The Other Boleyn Girl had promise, but in the end, I was sorely disappointed.  However, I have found a film that impressed me with its clothing.  So much so, that I did not have to even think about it, or spend half my time thinking "he wouldn't wear that, she wouldn't wear that" and could actually enjoy the movie and plot line.  Which, usually, if I find the clothes so totally wrong for the time period, I can't enjoy the movie.  The movie was The Young Victoria.  It was well acted and interesting and great historical clothing.  I felt it was too short.  I would have liked to have seen more of her early married life with her husband, Albert, but it ended way too soon.

Ok, that's all I've got, especially now that I'm trying to function on 4 hours of sleep.  I will try to catch a nap here and try to avoid a headache.  Until then, go random!

Thursday Goodness

Caught this by way of Unreasonable Faith.  I think it is something we should think about and then, hopefully, act.  I am thinking I can give this a shot.




Another bit of something to share. If we would all think backwards, maybe we will accomplish great things.



Get your goodness out. If someone can tell me how to create the button (or even better, make me a pretty one) and how to use Mr. Linky, I will start making this a meme you can follow. There's nothing wrong with finding the good in life to make us smile and think.

UPDATE: Alicson at Feet Off the Table is joining in.  Are you next?

Wardrobe Wednesday

We're late today, but the shoes were too cute, couldn't resist.

They actually look as good on her as they do on me.

Strawberries!!!!

Big thank you to Aliceson for hosting us for berry picking, lunch and a rousing game of kick ball. Silly me, I forgot to take my camera out of the car. I really brought it, I just plain forgot. It was a nice day, overcast, but warm enough, so good for picking berries and being outside. But then I got home with my haul.

Dang, that's a lot of strawberries!  Okay, easily my kids go through four pounds a week, but I guess they aren't all super ripe at the very same time.  Aliceson, I also forgot to grab rhubarb.  Never fear, we have some in the freezer from my mother-in-law.  I'm thinking I've got to make a rhubarb crisp here shortly. I am slowly picking my way through them.  Washing off nice ones for eating go in the fridge, cutting the tops off less nice ones to use in cooking or slicing and making a sauce.  It was a fun time and the rewards are sweet.  Aliceson made a spinach, feta, strawberry, walnut salad.  I did the same thing at home when I returned, with a balsamic vinegar, oil and sugar dressing on it.  Fabulous!  We did dip them in chocolate, too.  My son had another idea.

We had some pretty ripe bananas, so we cut them up, dipped them in chocolate and then froze them.  The kids are going crazy waiting for them to freeze.  Then I tried to use up more of the chocolate with dipping them in strawberries.  Willa was going nuts and pulled out the blueberries to try to use up the last of it.  We dipped nearly every fruit in the house.

Click over to Feet Off the Table.  She'll probably share some of the photos she remembered to snap.  I have some camera envy, but I don't think I can use all the flashy attachments she's got.  I suppose, though, it's just taking the time to learn what works and makes great pictures.

Randomize me!

Randomize me!

Oh, yes, it's that time.

First for an update:

Unfortunately, the FIRST tooth appears to have taken a trip either down the sink or down the throat. Ack!  She composed a very nice letter to the tooth fairy.

She added a nice picture on the back to attract the fairy.

It did work.  The note stayed under the pillow, but also three quarters made it under the pillow.  She was most excited that one of the quarters happened to have the Hawaii logo on the back of it.  What a clever fairy.  I'm sure she put it there on purpose rather than digging around in her change and just throwing under there whatever coins happened to be in her pocket.

Next, some advice for the ladies in catching a man.  Between three of us women, with our husbands in the same room, we have determined the following:

1. Laugh at all his jokes.
2. Watch his scifi.
3. Go Dutch.

Just saying.  Seeing as how collectively we had probably nearly 40 years of wedded bliss between us, we must be on to something.  So any of you young gals out there not yet hitched, we dispense this wisdom freely and with confidence.

I'll let you know what the men come up with in catching their women after they have their poker game.  Seeing as how they have a heck of a time actually organizing the day and time of the poker game, it may be a while before I can share this wisdom.

Ok, other randomness.  Remember back in the early days of email and internet there were fleshmeets?  According to The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang, fleshmeet is "a meeting of the flesh of on-line correspondents."  They designate it as US slang and give it the date of 1996.  I am here to reassure you that in Iowa in 1992, we were corresponding with people from Illinois and Australia and using this terminology well before that particular date.  My first one was with a Illinios high school student in the said time period of 1992.  I wasn't dating him, just met him through a list serve and email correspondence when the email was still in DOS format, rather than all html prettied up.  It was weird and rare then, but now, I think people do that all the time, meeting up at BlogHer and quilt events and so forth.  And we don't use the slang anymore, which also is kind of weird.  Whatever on-line community you happen to be in, you tend to find a chance to meet the face behind the email.  Or at least try to, because it can be fun.  Now, if I want to go visit, say, Ohio, I might actually know someone there.  Whether they would let me and my clan stay on their couch would be a different matter altogether.  What is the protocol for that anyway?

I only mention this because I'm heading out to meet fellow blogger Aliceson for some strawberry picking.  I just want you all to be jealous, because I'm hoping we can get some chocolate covered strawberries. (you have to scroll to the bottom to see them, but they look amazing)  And maybe I'll get some nice pictures of my kids too.  She seems to have some great photo equipment.  I'm just worried she's going to find out how truly weird my kids are in the eating department since we're having lunch.  If we have strawberries, we should be fine, but maybe I need to bring some things the kids will eat.  Though, as I think back, I seem to remember I've posted about their eating habits, so perhaps they won't be a big surprise.

Ah, my children's eating habits.  The ones where he likes peanut butter, she likes jelly.  She will eat anything remotely related to the pig, he turns his nose up at everything, but sausage on pizza and pork chops in the crock pot.  I don't know why, but I forever find myself apologizing for them and being embarrassed by their pickiness.  I don't remember being so picky when I was young, which may be why I am so embarrassed.  We have friends watching the kids this summer and they wanted a list of things they like, which I found wasn't all that long.  They stayed with them last Friday and when lunch came around and they were served, Willa looked up from the lunch and said, "I thought my mom gave you a list of what we liked to eat."  Yes, somehow we haven't fully mastered the "politely eat what you are served without a comment," yet.

Here's another song I would add to my list of "feel good" songs for my CD.




I'm trying to decide if I go original cover or Glee cover.  There's also this on YouTube which is pretty good as well.

Speaking of Glee, having been in show choir both in high school and college (yes, I was one of those.  I was also on flag squad and the captain, both in high school and college), it makes me wonder if Glee has changed the way show choirs are doing things.  Like more arrangements of current artists rather than show tunes and songs from 30-40 years ago.  And the whole mash up thing.  And does Glee sell its arrangements for show choir consumption? Oh, I guess they're out there.  As my husband says, Glee puts our show choir experiences to shame.

And how about those show choir names?  On Glee we have Vocal Adrenaline, New Directions, and Aural Intensity (I'm still laughing about that one).  I've personally been in Encore, South Side Transit, and Show Stoppers.

Okay, nuff said, I need to get out of my pjs and actually do something with the kids.  After my iced coffee drink.  We were going to go to the park, but it got dark and started raining soon after I started this composition.

Monday Garden Club

Go to Feet Off the Table to check out more gardening.


I've been wanting to share one gardening feat I did this past fall.

Notice how my peonies are squished up between the other bushes?  Also, notice the space between two of the bushes?  Used to be a peony there.  I had read that you transplant peonies in the fall, so I did a test one, moving it from less sun and crowded conditions in the back, to more sun and freedom in the front.  I full expected it not to bloom, as everything I read on-line said it wouldn't bloom the first year after transplanting.  Boy, were they wrong...

So, not only did I have blooms earlier than the ones in back (see first photo, they were all taken at the same time), I discovered I had two different peonies in this bunch that I moved.  (see third photo)

I am leaving you with the wisteria that I've been nursing and trying to train ever since I moved in here.  At least now it blooms too.  It took a lot of work and I have to keep those tendrils in check, trying to get them to cover our pergola in the back.  But that's all I got for gardening.  I give up on the tomato plants.

More milestones

My dear daughter has her first (and second) loose tooth.

For your viewing pleasure:

It's one of those situations where you're grossed out by it but can't stop looking at it, or touching it, or trying to wiggle it free.  This one is a stinker and I just don't want to yank it out.

The top tooth just above this one is wanting to come out too.  She's excited because a straw fits in that space.

Thursday Goodness

Heard this song when I turned on the radio:



Yeah, reminds me of a marching band trip to Arizona my senior year of high school.  Awesome!


In addition, a little Jane Austen for you.  Apparently the male mouse pheromone that attracts female mice has been named 'darcin' after the hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  You can see more about that here.  Sigh...I still think that Colin Firth made the best Darcy.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

On the Good Ship Lollipop...

This is what crazy recital-head mama does.  Sits daughter down for a good forty-five minutes while she tortures her with the curling iron.  She suffered two burns on the day of the recital and still got out there and danced her heart out.

Proud of the boy.  All decked out in safety patrol gear in the blue with the belt.

He didn't want his picture taken.

Anybody ever hitch a ride?  Does anyone do that anymore?  Have we all been scared off by it?

Should one use rechargeable batteries in your cordless keyboard and mouse?  What brand do you like?

Blogger is working funny for me.  I hate when I hit the return key in "Compose" and it doesn't advance.

A different way to shop for underwear.  Knicker Picker, brought to you by our flirty fun neighbors across the pond. (You might want to check this out at home.  I don't know what your work policy is for the viewing of the underwear...)

My new badge at the top is Prisoner of Summer.  Creation of Ash at Shades of Blue and Green.  We all want to be good bloggers, but sometimes being outdoors is more fun.  So, instead of apologizing, grab a badge for your blog and we will all understand your time with family and friends is time well spent.

Unfortunately, our darling son is showing signs of the preteen/teen.  Mr. Wild and I are reminded of this video every time we try to talk to him.




I am thinking about putting together an upbeat playlist and making a CD.  So far I have in mind:
I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Bubbly by Colbie Caillat
What's the Rumpus? by Gaelic Storm


Any other happy-go-lucky selections you can think of to ad?

And for your viewing pleasure, the flashmob at the beginning of Oprah's 24th season kick off.  I wonder what they'll do for the 25th kick off.  This was pretty awesome.



(flash mob = a lot of what appears to be random people starting to dance or sing in a public place.  Google it, they are pretty awesome.  I want to do a flash mob sometime.)

All right kids, click the button and let's go random!

Thursday Goodness--Baby hears mom's voice for the first time

I can't take the credit for finding this.  On ABC News Good Morning American this morning, they showed the YouTube video of a baby hearing his mother for the first time with a cochlear implant.



Isn't it just as sweet as can be?

Happy Thursday!

Yes, I'm trying to be random

How can it be that time already?  Oh wait, holiday weekend.

In line today I was behind a mother who was buying eight cans of dry formula for her baby.  I don't want to be prejudice.  I want to believe she tried to make a go at nursing.  But I cringed at all that formula.  I did give my son formula, but by the time the second one came around, I had gotten the hang of it.  The other cringe factor was that it was over $100 worth of product.  I don't know how long that lasts, but heck, that $100 could be in her pocket and she'd be feeding her baby for free.

It made me think of my crazy kick on avoiding pre-made foods, could this be where it starts?  The hospital so kindly gives you the formula kit with the nice bag for holding "nursing" supplies and the companies try to make it look like they're supporting breastfeeding, but they really want you to buy their stuff.  Duh.  Give them the first hit for free and once they're hooked, they're paying for it through the nose.  Plus, something about trying to sell us the "ease" of convenience food.  Yup, it's all a conspiracy to get our consumer dollar.

(PS, I know nursing your baby isn't everyone's cup of tea, but we should at least get the most support we can to give it the old college try.)

How about that giant sinkhole today?  Is it really that freakin' deep or is it a trick of the camera?

So I'm watching Glee with my husband (I think for him it's like a train wreck, he can't stop watching.  He made the mistake tonight of saying he really used to like the Queen song "Another One Bites the Dust" and I encouraged him to watch.)  He proceeds to tell me how principals would never let the kids get away with that stuff, how they aren't really singing that, how none of this was really like high school.  I paused the show and told him if he didn't want to watch it, he could leave.  No, no, he would watch it and was quiet.  Then when the pregnant girls were dancing all over the floor, I said, there's no way those girls are pregnant.  They couldn't get up and down on the floor like that if they were pregnant.  At which point he threatened to stop the show if I didn't shut up.  Ok, lesson learned.  It was still a funny show.  Except, damn it, my DVR quit recording it before I saw the very ending.  Guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow for the last 2 minutes.  I made sure next week's got extra recording time.  I am not missing a thing.

Oh, and how about Al and Tipper?  Yeah, I guess I'm not surprised.  But sad they couldn't get it worked out after a full 40 years!  Sheesh.

Someone please get me a new neck.  I have a nasty horrible tight stiff neck and shoulder on the right side.  Been doing hot compress and ibuprofen.  Not helping a lot.  Also doing stretches, but no complete relief yet.  Anyone with suggestions?  Useful ones mind you.

That's all I got.  Stupid bug is crawling on my screen anyway.  Click on the button to join the randomness.