live life to the fullest.

"Life is very enjoyable and never a dull moment. Love life, family, and friends."
- Isabelle Lawrence (my grandma) June 17, 1924 - August 28, 2011

She lived life to the fullest every day. I hope to be like that too. My grandma will be greatly missed.

Funeral Service at Martin Funeral Home in Mt. Morris Thursday, Sept.1 at 2:00. Viewing Wednesday from 12 - 8pm.

Butt hot and busy

It has butt hot lately!  Good grief and holy heatwave, Batman!  Lets just say I'm glad I'm not a construction worker.  Traffic is crawling on my commute home, but its all good because it gives me time to write a post finally!

I started a diet a few weeks ago and am now thoroughly sick of bland salad.  On the up side I've lost about 14 lbs but have now abruptly stopped for some reason.  I think I wasnt eating enough.

bored yet?  I sure am.  Why, when I have the time to write a post, am I so stuck as to what to say.  When I'm super busy random inspired thoughts and insights will pop into my head, but now...crickets.  Random words that are now popping in my head -

Elvis
Elephant
Enormous/Ginormous
Will ferrell
Cheerleader sketch with cheri oteri
Otters
"and now I'm spent"
Austen powers
Elizabeth...
Elizabeth Haselbeck
Republicans
The view
Oprah

And I'll stop there.  Did you follow the stream?  If so, congrats and welcome to my crazy head.  Enjoy your weekend, may it be full of F-U-N!

paaaaarty!

baby boy turned 4!  think superheros, 20 kids, magic, a butt-hot day, and spidey.  here's a teaser.  i'll have to cheat and post some pics taken with my reg camera since I barely had a chance to take regular pics let alone ones with my phone as well.

I saw the sign...and I am happy now.

So the title has little to do with the blog post other than the fact that I think its catchy and reminds me of summer, which is just around the corner.  So this is sort of a rambley post (as if any of my previous posts were remotely coherent!).

Childhood -

Shirley Temple - animal crackers in my soup do funny things to me.  Love me some shirley and bojangles tap dancing.

Faux fur coats - pink and white for my sister and l.  We loved them along with our green and blue tutus.  No, we didn't take dance, but by george we had the tutus.  They were awfully itchy, but very worth it.

Panhandling - I mean selling M&M's for our trip out west.  Think girlscouts selling cookies at the grocery store but for a less noble cause without uniforms.

We've been making memories for the boys.   Hopefully ones they will start remembering as they get older.

Going to see movies - took Lucas to his first movie (hop).  We went with Jonah's budfy and his mom from school.  Was a smashing success.  Tip - take the car seat in with you and strap your child in the seat.  Oh and see a movie with lots of color and action and music.

Traveling - flying to see grandparents out of state.  Yet another first for Lucas.  Was not such a smashing success.  He didn't cry, just wanted to run around and be loud, you know, be an 18 month old.  Jonah was fantastic, 3/4 is the time to start flying again. 

Playing house as a single mother - daddy was out of town for what I am terming "bro-fest" in Chicago with (you guessed it) his brothers.  So it was just me and the boys for the weekend.  I have mad respect for simgle moms!  Some times I was like ok this isn't awful, then 10 minutes later I'm tearing my hair out.  Because I am adventurous or some would say crazy I took the boys out to dinner at Logans Roadhouse.  And they were great!  So much so that we were complimented by the dining patrons around us!  Call me shocked and so proud of my boys.  Yeah, it was a good mommy moment.

Memories, I'm not alone in the darkness.  Yes, CATS reference.  And this weekend we will make more memories celebrating Easter, the death and ressurection of Jesus, and continuing old and new traditions.

Happy Easter!  Happy Passover, and if you are neither christian nor jewish, happy weekend!

The upside

So today I did something stupid, which is really not completely out of the ordinary for me, but this time it cost me about $300.  No one was hurt, just the check book.  After some beating up of myself, ok alot of beating myself up, I prayed with my mom and decided that it was what it was.  Can't change it now, if the Lord sees fit to fix it than praise the Lord.  If not well, praise the Lord too, its just money.  So I perused my gallery of pictures on my phone and this is what I found.  2 sweet healthy, funny boys that love their mama and that my friends is so much more important.  I'm not going to let a stupid mistake ruin my evening.

Love.  Love is what masters.  How can it not be after just witnessing a
Beautiful wedding ceremony full of it.  So frustration no more.  Just love baby!  My cup is full, nee' it runneth over!

And all those cliches...

Our home has been invaded by a bug, a cold and allergy bug to be exact. Poor big boy likes to be cuddled up with mama on the couch. Oh the trials of being a mama! Is it bad that I am enjoying the sickness a bit? No, I am just seeing the silver lining, making the best of a bad situation, looking at life through rose colored glasses, and all those other cliches. We've also had some fun while being cooped up in the house. :)

Up next, a review of kids night at the French Laundry. Lets just say, Love!























sorry about the upside down picture, just tilt your head... alot.

So last saturday...

Running late with the promised post due to feeling like death warmed over the past few days. But now feeling much better, just in time for an early spring day! It's in the 60's today baby! Oh and happy st. patrick's day! Today at work the office manager brought in green bagels, then green cupcakes, then we ended the day with mint moose tracks. My work place pretty much rocks. Oh, but back to saturday.

So we started with breakfast at the French Laundry (http://lunchandbeyond.com/), a must visit restaurant if you are every in michigan. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, each meal will be divinity guaranteed! So we are sitting waiting for breakfast and an older man walks by to go to the bathroom. Well, he had a bit of a shoulder hunch and he shuffled a little bit. I look at Nathan after he passes and say, I'm so glad Jonah is so oblivious to things. Well, as the poor guy shuffles back to his table from the bathroom, Jonah looks up at us from his legos and says, "that guy looks like a penguin, he waddles.". So I guess he's not so oblivious, ha!  After breakfast we headed down to ann arbor to the hand on museum.  That was our saturday!

6 days for THIS?!

I should probably mention that I commute to work with my husband. He drives and I, well, I passenger quite nicely. Truth be told, my fellow commuters are probably well served by my well honed passengering skills. Let it be known, I detest driving. There's just too many other things I'd rather be doing. Things like playing games, reading books, and just recently - Blogging!

Let's go over a typical work week. I commute 35-45 minutes to work and back...that equates to on average an hour and 15 minutes per day in the car. So I should be able to blog semi regularly right? well we will see... Oh and If you are still with me, I have a short attention span and frequently jump from 1 subject to the next...oh and I apparently love using "...". Yes, I am a lover of the run on sentence. Um, where were we? oh yes, my typical week...

Up at 6AM (should be 5 am to get all that I should get done, done, I know, but I'm not a morning person). (please see previous disclaimer regarding run on sentences).  Drop kids off at school at 7am, commute, work by 8am, get picked up from work around 5pm. Pick up kids by 6pm for Dinner and play. Kids start bedtime ritual at 7:30, or 8, or 8:30 because seriously who can get dinner ready, baths done, and have a decent amount of fun and playtime in an hour and 30 minutes?!

Then after the kids finally get to sleep I (supermom) am supposed to clean the house, do laundry, and somehow chronicle the goings on and growth of my children. Right?! That's if I haven't already fallen asleep with said oldest that I was lying (or is it laying?) down with. We are batting about a 50% average on the falling asleep part. So it's no wonder that my house is sometimes (ok most of the time) a bit messy...oh yeah, and have quality time with my husband. Although some would say that our daily commute would be just that perfect opportunity, but I've now decided to BLOG during that time. lol. poor long suffering nathan.  Really we do use that time alot to discuss things, as such I am not blogging during EVERY commute.  Plus I think twice blogging daily is like writing a hugely long winded facebook post twice a day and no one wants to read that.

oh good grief i am out of breath and tired. Also just so you know I completely cheated and did not write the post during the commute, lest you think I am so skilled that this all rolled off my tongue at 7am on a traffic ridden highway. As witnessed by the previous 2 posts, my usually scattered brain is even more so when blogging by cell phone (even if it is what they say nowadays "smart". :)

Length of time it took to write this post 6 days on off commute time! wow, good thing I wrote 2 others during the commute!! Will post during the next few commutes about our weekend adventure to the French Laundry for breakfast and then the Ann Arbor Hands On Children's Museum. :)


shocker - a video!!!!

Highlights

Another day, another commute, and yes - Another Post!  Can it be?!  Maybe this experiment will work!  Listening to the new Glee Vol. 5, yes, my co-commuters are very tolerant.  Are you feeling like a firework, a fat bottom girl, or maybe a P.Y.T?  And speaking of Glee, the last episode was a bit much.  I was offended at the stance the show took against abstinence.  It felt like they were making fun of it.  Now don't get me wrong, I believe that safe sex should also be taught as an option at an appropriate age, but practicing abstinence by no means makes one a prude.  Glee needs more singing and less kissing.

Ok, enough glee talk.  I downloaded new camera apps for my phone.  Vignette and photo collage.  Check out my results!  I need to get better at my photography skills with my camera phone. 

Highlights of my work day. 

1. A coworker walking by my office, waving, then almost walking into the wall.

2.  My surprisingly yummy michelina's lean microwave santa fe rice and beans meal.  Not bad for a buck.

3.  Checking on the progress of my new office.  Psyched cuz I get a window.  I guess being in management has a few perks.

4. Now.  The ride home to get my babies.  Just 3 more exits to go. 

And speaking of the 2 little men in my life...last night during a rough night with baby, mt heart melted and I smiled when he whined the word, "nurse".  Lucas is a baby of few words.  He uses them sparingly only when he feels the need is great.  It was the first time I'd heard him say that.  Now I know he is a but old to still be nursing to some, but the nursing keeps us close and in my head keeps him a baby for a bit longer.  And who doesn't want their growing toddler to stay a baby for just a little longer.  Oh and not to forget about #1, he sings along to "Billionare" and break dances.  Probably the cutest and funniest thing in the world.  I'll try to get video.  And with that I close out this post, almost to school.  Very ready to get my love cup refilled. 

What were your highlights of today thus far?

Blogging by...cell phone?

Wow, so in doing research last night I discovered a blogger app for my phone!  This whole blogging by commute thing might be even easier than I thought!  Granted, while writing a post by ones smart phone is not as easy as with a full size keyboard, one must make adjustments.  On the odd side, my post so far looks super long for just a few sentences, ha!  I also discovered some cool camera apps.

Now for the low down on the technical.  I will be blogging, using a Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate by Verizon and/or an Apple iPad (original version).  Alas, at this time I cannot afford to upgrade to the iPad2.  The new cameras on them  make me wonder how they would affect my blogging. 

Incidentally, this is my first official "by commute" post.  I am sitting in the rain on US23 as I type (or rather swype as it may be).  Ok here's the way cool part about blogging by the android blogger app - I can take a picture and blog at the same time.  Insert pic of traffic here.  So it will be interesting to see where the photo shows up in the post.

Not to worry, each post will not include a picture of my daily commute.   I am approaching the downtown Ann Arbor area, so with that I bid you adieau.  To you and you and you.

Changes are afoot...

New blog with a new perspective coming soon!

Blogging By Commute

Henceforth,

By reason of necessity, all blog posts will now be written during the 45 minute commute to and from work (thank you apple ipad). All pics will be those taken from my phone (thank you photobucket android ap!). It's a new era, baby and mama needs to maximize her time! So onward with the time betterification* project.

* Yes, I totally made that word up, but it really should be in the dictionary.

Now to figure out how to actually DO it...