365 days 103-106

 4-24-12

Having a dulcimer around is super cool.  It's a cinch to play and is chock full of suspended chords.  YUM!!!

 4-25-12

Like mother like daughter.  Does anyone else look at their kids and think "HOLY SNAP WHERE DID THAT HUMAN COME FROM?!?!"

 4-25-12

So we're having this problem in school where WonderGirl just can't stop yammering.  Raise your hand.... the class doesn't need to know about the water system that flows into Eastern Europe or the specifics of diesel train engines... and let someone else answer once in a while.  It's not her fault that she knows far more than a preschooler should, but how does one get her to keep it to herself??  Now YOU raise your hand if you saw this coming at least 3 years ago.  Yeah, me too.  We're going to have to get her a school muzzle.

4-27-12

TGIF!!!

make ups

Alright men, you can tune out.  Ladies, you still there?  I need to share my 2 new beauty finds that don't stink.  I know, I'm not that kind of blogger, but I AM the kind of blogger who can't keep anything to herself.  And lately I've been annoyed with my face - rather, the things I put on my face to make it look less like my face.  But I've found two things that are the awesome that I just must share:

First, Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circle Treatment Concealer.   I saw a professional make-up-person on Pinterest who shared her 3 product morning routine, and I was surprised her concealer was something a lowly nobody like me could find at Walgreens.  Usually it's super fancy stuff that they sell in super fancy cities with Targets and populations exceeding that of my grad school graduating class.  Ahem.  Anywho, she suggested it and I was excited to try it out.  Dark circles are my nemesis and I hate all the concealers I've used.  I grabbed this at Walmart and honestly, I was so excited I actually opened in the car on the way home and put it on at a traffic light without even looking at what I was doing.

When I glanced up in the rearview mirror, I was blown away at the sudden awesomeness.  It blends almost completely as you put it on because of the cotton ball-like applicator, and then it's just a teeny bit of blending around the edges and you're done.  And I look less tired!  Super easy to apply, instant, non cake-y results?  I'm a serious fan.

Garnier Skin Renew Miracle Skin Perfector.

I read another random blogger gushing about this stuff - a tinted moisturizer that was also supposed to have nice things in it for your skin and such.  I don't like foundation, and love moisturizer.  A few years ago Oil of Olay had a tinted moisturizer that was fab, but then they discontinued it and started selling a teeny bottle of kind of the same thing for twice the money.  Nuh-uh.

So this promised to be not-too-much color that gave a bit of coverage while doing the moisturizing duty, so I picked it up on a trip to Walgreens while refilling a prescription.  The pharmacist saw the Garnier box and started gushing how she adored the stuff - how she had sun damage and it was the only stuff that evened out her skin so well.  That's a good sign, right?  And she was right, it rocks.  Not too thick, not too thin.  Super easy to blend around for  make-up moron like me.

Now, does anyone have some mascara you dig?  Because I have some L'Oreal stuff that clumps like a champion clump-er and I am NOT a fan of raccoon eyes by 5pm.

365 days 98-102

 4-19-12
Today was a rough day for both of us.  The Dude had Fifth disease (we don't have health insurance until next week, but the consensus on Facebook was overwhelming for Fifth disease so it MUST have been) I got some kind of cold/flu.  But the snuggling almost made me never want to get better.  SO MUCH SNUGGLING.

4-20-12
The husband got me a remote for my camera!!!  It's in my right hand there.  I wanted to take a creepy picture of my head floating from the ground with help from the stairs, but the Dude wouldn't leave me alone (still with the cuddling).  So it's a picture of me mugging on him, just to hear the giggles. Oh, my Dude is the most adorable boy human I've ever made.

4-21-12
Yo.

4-22-12
After church I went outside to see what I could do with my remote.  I'm sure the neighbors regard this behavior as perfectly normal by now.  Why-oh-why doesn't this state have privacy fences???

4-23-12
So after a weekend that punched me in the face, stomach and throat, I had some breathing room.  And it occurred to me I live ACROSS THE STREET from a park with 3 (or 4?) soccer fields.  ACROSS THE STREET.   I could go for a de-stressing jog, just a quick one.  There's a playground for the kids, and my mom gave me these cool running shoes.  Why not?  I love playing dress-up.

I looked around my closet for clothes that might actually function in a functional way.  I had some leggings that I purchased back when leggings became cool again and then never wore them because I just shouldn't wear leggings.  But they looked kind of sporty, and it was 11:30 in the morning, so who would see anyway?  I paired it with a ginormous tee shirt to cover a bit of my booty.

I strode out into my yard feeling secretly cool and then saw at least 5 people standing on my neighbor's lawn, discussing home renovation.  And I'm pretty sure then they were all secretly mocking the strange housewife's get-up.  Instantly killed my buzz.  But I took 10 more steps and was in the park.  It's seriously across the street.  I tried to look convincing as I started jogging, but the Dude suddenly started yelling to be held and WonderGirl got really competitive and sprinted out into the fields and tried trash-talking me.  I tried to run-walk with the Dude, but I ended up walking because he kept getting mad for some reason.  I did eventually  get to the end of the field and threw mothering to the wind and ran all the way back.  WG totally beat me, fair and square.  I have no idea how far it is - 10 miles?  A quarter of a mile?  I thought I was going to die, and even though the strange people on my neighbor's lawn were gone by then, I'm pretty sure I heard the cows laughing at me.

The husband told me he'd give me a dollar if I ran around the entire park, and I might just do that if I have another crummy day.  But I'm checking the neighbor's yard first.

365 days 91-97

4-12-12
Having a yellow chair rocks.

 

4-13-12

Well helloooo there.

 4-14-12
The local children's theater put on Charlotte's Web, so I got the brilliant notion to take WonderGirl.  But I also got the brilliant notion that she HAD to read it before she went, and then I didn't make it to the library until 2 days before.  So Friday afternoon when the Dude went for a nap, we popped some popcorn and read. And read.  And read.  For about 4 hours.  We read all of Charlotte's Web in one sitting.  SHE loved it, I got a headache, and realized that I'd forgotten how much of the plot revolved around a SPIDER.  I hate spiders.  I also had eaten leftover Easter ham for lunch.  But it was all worth it to see her watch the play.  She gets INTO these things.  I'm a fan.


 4-15-12
Remember how annoying my laptop is?  I took this of the Google homepage trying to load.  You can ree part of my angry reflection (I added an arrow for help).

 4-16-12
Profile.  I didn't realize how insane my hair usually looks.

 4-17-12
Mama bear.

4-18-12
Unedited and freckled.

dude shirt to chick shirt

I don't think I've ever taken this much time off of blogging... maybe, but I'm too lazy to sift through the last 11 years of posts, so let's take my word for it.  My laptop has been... difficult... and I've started spending less time on it because it gets me crazy aggrivated.  It doesn't work as a mom to say "I have 3 uninterrupted minutes, I'll go shoot off that e.mail or check a friend's blog or check Pinterest for inspiration" *the last one is the most likely* and then spend the next 10 minutes waiting for your computer to unfreeze.

I'll tell you, my house is cleaner than it has ever been, and my fuse is shorter than it has a ever been.  MOMMY NEEDS INTERNETS.  FAST INTERNETS.  The husband is on the case and I'm trying to be zen.  We DO have at the very least 6 computers in the house, and he took the photo files from my computer and put them on  the fast one downstairs -  and I just realized it DOESN'T take 8 minutes for a picture save on Picnik!  Man, I have NOT been using my time well.

But I did do something cool in my "free" time.  And then I bragged to Heidi about it and she didn't understand what I was saying so she told me to make a tutorial and then she'd pin it on Pinterest to make me feel awesomesauce.  So I'm on a functioning computer to do just that and I can already feel my blood pressure going down.  Behold:

So you know how basic tee shirts for women are always slightly too short and hug that portion of our midsection that would go away if we only did some sit-ups but we can't because we're too busy screaming at our laptops?  And how men's shirts are always long enough and don't hug that portion of our midsection that would go away if we only did some sit-ups but we can't because we're too busy screaming at our laptops?  But they also kind of make you look like a slob, and the crew neckline just looks... manly?  Which totally works.  If you are a man.

Well, I found a small solution.  I went out bought a pack of men's tees (I'm 5'10" and the mediums are just the right length and not-too-tight-not-too-loose) and stared at myself in the mirror, trying to figure out WHY they look wrong.  I got V-neck and that looked much better than a crew neckline (and DIDN'T go low like ladies shirts, trying to show off the girls and all that).  And I didn't mind the boxy looseness around my midsection.

The culprit:  THE SLEEVES.

Men's sleeves are really wide, probably to make room for their massive guns and all that.  But as you can see,  I haven't got guns.  I don't even have a water pistol.  So my solution was to figure out how to make the sleeve smaller.  And after some trial and error, I found the perfect trick:

It's very important to not make it TOO tight, or else it will look really off with the looseness of the rest of the shirt.  Juuust enough that it doesn't look like wings anymore.

See?  It's just slight enough that it makes it look comfortable instead of sloppy.  I've done the refashions where I take in the sides too, but I really prefer this.  Shouldn't a girl get to wear something that isn't smooshing against her I-need-to-do-some-situps region at least every now and then?   Throw on some cute jeans and you'll be oh-so-comfortable all day.  I'm tempted to dye some of the other shirts in the pack and have one in every color.  They do also come in grey and black.  Oh, and I used Hanes.  Not that it matters, really.

There you go, Heidi!!  Thanks for contributing the the longer fuse I'm going to have with the kids today.  They thank you :)

365 days 85-90 and others.

 4-6-12
Blinded by the light.

4-7-12
Who stayed up late into the night sewing snaps onto Easter baskets their kids didn't actually need because they already sewed them some last year??   Yes, I'm nuts.  And that's poor husband, right next to me, sewing away.  And then I decided to sew sleeves onto WonderGirl's Easter dress even though it came with a jacket. Have I ever sewn sleeves on anything?  Naw, just pure nuts.

 4-8-12
Egg-cellent Easter!

4-9-12

So on Easter I ate a TON for ham.  I was STUFFED.  I was also wearing some high-waisted jeans from college that I had no business wearing.  So when I moaned and complained that I was seriously full and I couldn't fit into my pants any more, a friend we had over assumed I was pregnant.  %$*&^%*&^$.  So I took a picture of my torso today to make we feel slightly better.

 4-10-12

My throne.

4-11-12
Runaways.

Aaaaaaaand, a few Easter pictures.  You can click on over to the family blog for a few more, but here are a coupla reasons why I haven't blogged in a week.


The best Easter shot I could get:

What most of them looked like:

And the sleeves:

Yes, I actually went to the store, found a material close to the dress, and practiced around with some tee shirt material until I'd kind of figured what sleeves look like and then tried to sew the on.  As long as you are a few feet away, they look awesome!  (-ish)

Now, I know you don't come here for the pictures.  I'll try and get a life so I can post words and things, but no promises.  Oh, for some AWESOME words, check out what I'll be reading to my Young Women tonight - Ten Things I Want To Tell Teenage Girls.  Pure awesomeness.

365 days 83-84

 4-4-12
Playdate aftermath.

4-5-12
Braid.ed.  I used this nifty tutorial to spiffy things up - skeptically, because generally my hair will not cooperate, or pulling my hair too far from my face reminds me that I have a creepy face and I have to put it down again.  The hair, not my face.

So you know how Instagram is FINALLY available for droids?  I downloaded it today and have to say I'm kind of unimpressed.  Maybe I'm just a crummy photog, but the app I've been using - Lightbox - has been working great and this same picture looked better in it than in Instagram.

I heard a great interview with Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber this morning and am jonesing to watch Jesus Christ Superstar again.  I was obsessed with it in high school - such an intriguing view.  One I don't agree with, of course, but it really helped me understand why Judas did what he did - and why the other Jews hated him so.  I'd never really understood the smaller picture, because as I've studied Christ's life it has always been about the good of mankind not just the people of his time.  They wanted fish, but he wanted to teach them to fish.  And the music is GOOD.  As my high school choir teacher used to say, Jesus IS a tenor :)

I like understanding how the world viewed Jesus Christ in his time, thanks to Tim and Andy.  (Can I call him that??)  But I'm thankful that I know more of the story.  And this video is far more in tune with my beliefs:

Peaceful.  And wonderful.  I'm also thankful that there isn't as much cultural hoopla surrounding Easter and that I can quietly celebrate and worship Christ's life and Resurrection.  Happy almost Easter!!

365 days 74-82

3-27-12
Bad day?  Pull a mattress onto the floor and watch the kids go berzerk.

3-28-12
View from my fingers.  I really need to write a song.  My brain and fingers are itching for it, but I'm just getting frustrated.  I don't like anything that's coming out.  I've actually written two recently that I slightly dig but it was on the PIANO.  What is the world coming to??  Next thing you'll know, I'll be able to do basic math!

3-29-12
Well hellooooo there.

 3-30-12
Thumbs up!  I was laying in my bed, the light was on and the shadows from the fan made kind of a cool effect.

 3-31-12
General Conference - view from the couch.  Wasn't it awesome??

4-1-12
Crayon knuckles!  I found these at the dollar store, and they distracted the Dude for a good 3 minutes.  WonderGirl and I for a bit longer.

4-2-12
Last second blur picture.

4-3-12
Uncomfortably close.