music — This Mom's Wired

Thursday Ten: The Pink Elephant Edition*

May 19, 2011 By sarah 2 Comment

1. The Nutella cake I referenced in last night’s post? Here’s the recipe. I think it should be served with vanilla ice cream. Trust me, I know these things.

2. I have not bought any new music this week – which is just not quite right and I need to remedy that promptly. What’s your favorite song these days?

3. I turned on American Idol for a few minutes last night. And then muted it. And then stopped paying attention. I think I am over it.

4. I spent the earlier part of the week reading a book so tense and awful that when it was done, I put it down and promptly picked up the biggest fluffiest book in my to-read pile to give my brain a break from people doing meth and killing people. What an awful book that last one was. I’m not sure why I finished reading it – you hit a point in a book sometimes where you’ve invested so much time, that to give up seems like a waste. I have GOT to learn to be able to just GIVE UP on bad books.

5. “What do you want to learn today?” my guitar teacher asked me. I shrugged. We just wrapped up Ryan Adam’s Desire (Oh how I love that song), and I hadn’t really thought ahead for anything else that I might want to learn. “Surprise me,” I replied.

6. As we wrap up our first year of competitive gymnastics, The Princess was very bummed that she is not yet being promoted to the next level. Skillwise she is just SO CLOSE that I hope that maybe if she can completely master her handspring, they’ll move her up. If not, they don’t. Sometimes it’s nice to be the big fish in the small pond.

7. I stopped by my favorite flower place today and almost bought myself a pot of gerbera daisies and then realized that attempting to grow something would be futile because the soil here is full of clay and because the puppy would dig anything pretty out of the ground within days. So I bought a bouquet of tulips. They’re gorgeous and it’s okay that in a few days they’ll wilt and die. I’ll buy new ones after that.

8. Went to see Bridesmaids on Sunday (along with everyone else in the universe, I think). And yeah, I thought it was funny. It also reminded me why weddings are such an unbelievable pain in the hind end. ALL THOSE WEDDING SHOWERS. And PEOPLE. Then again, my last wedding experience was my sister’s, and the massive amounts of dealing with her in-laws-to-be made for some…interesting times.

9. I have a new shampoo and it is eucalyptus-y. It smells good and makes my head feel happy. Speaking of – the other day, I mentioned on Twitter how one of my favorite parts about getting a hair cut is having my hair washed at the salon before hand. I guess I’m not the only one! A lot of agreement there… it’s the best, right?

10. One of the best parts about summer approaching is that it’s nearly county fair season. I actually don’t love county fairs – but do you know what I DO love? Elephant ears! Can’t wait.

*Nope, not talking about it. Again.

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, Eats, Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten

Thursday Ten: Game SEVEN Edition

May 12, 2011 By sarah 1 Comment

1. Oh yes, I’d be remiss if I didn’t start out with the ohmygoshtheRedWingsandSharksplayGAMESEVENtonight! It’s been an intense series – I’m hoping Detroit emerges victorious. If they lose, that will suck. (I’m so eloquent about hockey.)

2. Wherefore art thou, spring? Currently, it’s 80 degrees. Humidity is 64% which is code for “Sarah is wearing a ponytail”. The middle of the road seasons are my favorite – and I hope that things cool down and we get more of a taste of spring again before getting bombarded with all this stupid HEAT.

3. “This is the week you turn to your guitar to cheer you up when you feel like things aren’t going your way.” Or so says my guitar teacher, in a combination of trying to uplift me and probably wishful thinking because I didn’t even open my guitar case with the chaos of last week. Today, she threw Jack Johnson’s “Holes to Heaven” at me because she liked the riff.

4. Despite the ugly heat, I went for a run this afternoon and actually made decent time and didn’t feel like curling up in a ball in the gutter from exhaustion. TWO BIG THUMBS UP.

5. When I said the folks at LoveDrop had a fan for life – I really meant it. Even though the Love Drop for my lovely friend Katie is complete, I have stuck around because I really like what this group is doing. This month, the goal is to help a family in Louisiana. The goal? To get them a car. If you have connections in the automotive industry and can help them reach this goal, or even if you don’t and just want to see how you can help otherwise, please be sure to visit Love Drop and let ‘em know.

6. I am sure that I have talked about them before – but my love for barbecue PopChips has been renewed. I ate an insane amount of them yesterday (NO, I’m not telling y’all how much chips I ate – but it was both a lot and too much all at once). I tweeted about them – that PopChips are like meth, but legal and cheaper. I thought for sure I’d get a tweet back from the lovely PopChips folks telling me to stop comparing their product to illegal controlled substances. Instead, they tweeted me back with the hashtag: #snackcrack. They know what they’re talking about.*

7. A while back, I wrote here about the book We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel. Today, I see that they have made a movie from this book – starring Tilda Swinton and it debuted at Cannes to good reviews. While I don’t often care for movie adaptations of books, I’d be curious to see this one. The book was horrifying and gripping and just… I just got goosebumps recalling it. I had to read this book in small doses – but it was tremendous. I hope the movie measures up.

8. As the school year comes closer to its end, the number of activities increases ten-fold: field days, field trips, and performances (Oh my!). Both girls have numerous events in the next several weeks – I’m gonna be one busy mom. Guess it’s a good thing I have a lil more free time right now, huh?

9. Speaking of school, earlier in the school year, I did a rude thing and I set up a filter in my email so that all emails from the PTA would skip my inbox altogether and go directly to a folder that I could review at my leisure. The reason being was that those PTA parents are email-happy – I was getting NUMEROUS emails daily (I’m not even ON THE PTA), and then all the replies to the emails. It was working quite well, until today. Today, my email is getting bombarded with “reply all” messages to the request for food for the staff appreciation luncheon (I’ll offer to bring cookies – y’all know I can’t cook).

10. The warm weather brings me the reminder that I probably do not drink enough water. I get on these hydration sprees regularly – and will consume massive amounts of water…for a few days before giving up. Today is a “guzzle lots of water” day. It’s also a “spend a lot of time thinking about how much you have to pee” day.

*No, I am not being paid or sponsored to talk about PopChips, though, hey, PopChip people… call me. You can pay me in PopChips. Really. I don’t need money, just chips. Lovely, savory, crunchy, salty, yummy barbecue chips. FOR LIFE. Nom nom nom.

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, Do Good Feel Good, Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten

Thursday Ten: Something’s Gotta Give Edition

April 28, 2011 By sarah 1 Comment

1. HELLO RAIN. It’s insane. I feel awful for complaining about the rain when so many other areas have had it far worse. So while I don’t love the weather, my heart goes out to those who are in areas that have been hit worse by this weather, with tornadoes, wind and have had experience loss.

2. As much as I pride myself for staying on top of the things I need to do – sometimes… I slack. The lovely peeps at Freschetta sent me some awesome storage containers and some coupons to try some of their new products free – and since I am usually not the one to go grocery shopping, I hadn’t picked up the pizza until late last week. I was able to try their Pizza-By-The-Slice in the BBQ chicken flavor. First things first – I love pizza. Second things second – I don’t normally love frozen pizza, but I do love Freschetta, and I think it’s because I’m a carb girl – for me, the crust makes or breaks a pizza. I don’t like a flimsy crust. Freschetta kind of wins me over with their crust. I actually dig the idea of a “by the slice” pizza – partly (okay, MOSTLY) because it stops me from gorging on half a full size pizza in one sitting. If you would like to win a coupon to try this for yourself as well as a three pack of storage containers from Freschetta – leave a comment below. I’ll randomly pick a winner on Saturday morning. (If I had posted this earlier, I would have run it longer. This is where that not being on top of things-thing just backfired). Anyway – it’s pretty tasty, you’ll want to try it.

3. Guitar lesson went…okay…today. We took a break from Jack Johnson and his bar chords to tinker with Ryan Adams and “Desire”. The good thing about this song? All chords I know and love. It’s a song I know and love. Oh, and it’s a nice brain-break from trying to coordinate mutes, bar chords, and weird goofy things that are probably really easy for those people who are lucky enough to be prodigies but for me, I feel like my brain and hands are trying to do twelve things at once and there is steam coming out of my ears from the gears in my head turning double-time. It’s okay. I’ll survive.

4. Vloggedy-vlog. Guh. I did one, and then never again. For some reason, video from my phone flipped sideways when I put it into the Sony Vegas video editing software I’m trying out, so I had to rotate it. Then I managed to chop a large portion of my head off. NOTE: I hate this software. I am using a trial version. This is NOT intuitive. It’s quite a bit of a pain. Also, I don’t think it compresses the final product very well, so the files take a VERY LONG TIME to upload. I should have just uploaded to YouTube straight from my phone. SIGH. Anyway… there I am. Down there. And yes, I totally cut off the end – where I then rambled on for FORTY MORE SECONDS ABOUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Bad transition/end to the video? Yes. But trust me, you wanted me to be done. Guh.

5. And since I just told you how much I DO NOT LOVE SONY VEGAS VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE, what can you recommend that might work better? I do have Windows MovieMaker – but I have had a real pain of a time importing both video and music to the software to put things together. Not sure what the deal is – but, it’s not really working for me either. SHORT OF TOSSING MY LAPTOP OUT THE WINDOW, BUYING A MAC AND USING iMOVIE – any other suggestions for PC-friendly video editing software?

6. Hold your look of surprise but… I HAVE NOT DOWNLOADED ANY NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK. I know. It’s crazy, right?

7. I actually watched “The Voice” the other night. Actually an interesting premise that is kind of intriguing, just in time for American Idol to have gotten so boring I can’t stand it. I do find the camera constantly zooming in on Christina Aguilera’s cleavage to be somewhat gratuitous, though, and frankly… does nothing for me (Sorry, Xtina).

8. I’m done with my antibiotics and the sinus headaches are gone but my ears still hurt. A lot. I have got to make taking decongestants a regular part of my day (be honest, you like when I talk about my sinuses, don’t you?). I’m not particularly a big fan of medication of any sort really – but the ear pain? It’s like someone jabbed a Q-tip in too far, repeatedly and constantly for the past several weeks {I’m guessing. That’s never REALLY happened}

9. The other night, I was making dinner and The Princess said to me, “Why are you making it that way?” Yes, with a tone and a sneer. I told her if she didn’t like it, she could make her own dinner – and you know what? She did! I am not sure what her problem is with my (totally amazing from scratch whole wheat) pizza dough, but she preferred the stuff out of the box and she made her own little pizza and cleaned up after herself when she was done. It’s not ideal, but whoa, she’s getting older.

10. I’ve been watching “Chasing Amy” while I’ve been working out on the treadmill – because the weather has been all craptastic. And I used to really love this movie – partly because I really tend to love dialog driven movies – however, one thing that becomes more and more apparent to me with each minute of this movie? I really do NOT love Ben Affleck. I don’t know what it is about him – he always seems kind of smarmy. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Ben Affleck do anything I’ve ever liked in a movie.

___

While I was sent coupons for complimentary pizza from Freschetta, my opinions are, as always my own. And yes, I’m pretty sure I just used an emoticon in a blog post which means that lightning will strike me soonish.

Filed Under: Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten Tagged With: Oh My Vlog

Thursday Ten: When Your Kid Makes a Cake and the Dog Eats It Edition

April 21, 2011 By sarah 3 Comment

1. I took the kids to Barnes & Noble last week. After much hemming and hawing (and an epic shower of tears) in the store, The Princess opted for two books on cake and cupcake decoration. And so this week, she made a cake. Yesterday, the dog jumped on the counter and proceeded to eat half the cake. Thankfully, there was no chocolate in the cake and I talked to the vet who told me to watch for “GI upset” — but the darn dog didn’t seem upset at all. Not even a little bloated (NO FAIR! I’d have bloated if I ate half a cake). My upset kiddo decided, “Okay. Guess I need to make another one.” So she did. Yep. I have a baker.

2. Though the weather in Michigan has been sporadic and we have had snow as recently as this Monday, I have been getting kind of tired on Pumpkin’s insistence on wearing her snowboots every day and everywhere. I’d tell her to wear her regular shoes. She’d whine. So… I hid the boots. I know, in the overall scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal but those boots have been through a lot and are looking kind of rough. They had to go.

3. This month’s book club selection is “Water for Elephants”. I’ve read it before, but loved it – which was why I didn’t mind the prospect of re-reading it…however… I’ve dropped the ball. I’ve been so busy lately that when I am reading, I want to read something NEW, not something I’ve already read – no matter how great it is. Here’s hoping next month’s selection is something different.

4. This week marks 21 years that I have lived in Michigan. Whee. Thanks, mom, for moving me to the land of never-ending winters. Eternally grateful I am. (Not so much)

5. Been spending a lot of time with the camera lately – in the past few weeks, I’ve done a few portrait sessions – and both have been such tremendously different experiences. Probably the most fun was photographing a two-year-old. I had FORGOTTEN just how high energy toddlers can be – I certainly got my workout chasing that little guy. On the contrary, when photographing a baby’s six-month shots last weekend, it wasn’t so much running around, it was clicking quickly before she tired of the experience. Every shoot is a different experience, and I’m really happy with the opportunities I’ve had and the photographs I’ve taken.

6. Tuesday evening, a friend was in town and she and I were able to catch up over dinner. We ended up talking so long the restaurant emptied around us. I ended up driving home in a tremendous rain storm – one that I might have avoided had I left the restaurant an hour earlier, but you know what? Sometimes you just need to sit down over dinner with people and talk and catch up and listen and just…chill out. It was super fun. Except the driving home part.

7. Guitar lesson today, we are keeping on with the Jack Johnson marathon with “Better Together”. Hey, Jack? You are wicked cute – but ix-nay on all the bar chords. I walked out of lesson pretty smiley and with this song stuck in my head.

8. Easter is this weekend. How do you celebrate, and more importantly are you Pro-Peep? Do you prefer the Cadbury egg? I have to say, I find Easter candy pretty disappointing in general.

9. There’s been a lot of new music in my ear but the most recent is Ingrid Michaelson’s “Parachute”. I love Ingrid.

10. It has been a crazy week with crazy deadlines and I feel like I’ve been barely hanging on. I’m getting things done. In some cases, it’s been a miracle. Ready for this week to be over. O – V – E – R.

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, Mom Shtuff, music, Photography, Thursday Ten Tagged With: Pet Shtuff

Thursday Ten: Being Sick Is No Fun Edition

April 14, 2011 By sarah 1 Comment

1. As I type this, I’m on day three of antibiotics for a sinus infection that makes my head feel like it’s caving in. I have a pretty high pain threshold, but this? It’s misery. I am waiting for the medicine to kick in while trying to alleviate symptoms with Advil Cold & Sinus. Not working.

2. I actually started getting sick over the weekend while I was in Chicago. I had been looking forward to the trip for so long, to feel unwell at times while I was there was a bummer. I’m glad that the misery didn’t REALLY hit until I got home… because I love Chicago and I love to be happy while I’m there.

3. As a result of feeling rotten (are you detecting a theme, here?), my guitar lesson went HORRIBLY today. I could not get things together for the life of me. I finally told my teacher, “I hear what you’re doing, I understand what you’re saying, I just cannot do it right now.” It was a horrible feeling – this utter inability to figure out what I was doing and how to fix it. Anyway, still working on Jack Johnson’s “Banana Pancakes”.

4. As I type this, a lot of my favorite people are en route to New Orleans for a conference. Nope, not me. I’m bummed, but hope they have fun. I hope that their missing me doesn’t get in the way of enjoying themselves. *wink*

5. Martha Stewart has never had any reason to fear for her livelihood or fear that I would somehow take over her throne as domestic extraordinaire. Witness, a massive pile of laundry needing to be folded and the dishwasher I’m avoiding emptying. I can wash clothes all day – but folding it? UGH. Likewise, I don’t mind loading the dishwasher (Though frankly, I would prefer if the family helped out a little more in this arena) – but man, I really HATE to empty it.

6. New music this week… It’s invaded pop radio, but I like it anyway. This is the clean version of Pink’s “Perfect”.

7. The Princess was given a speaking part in the school play and doesn’t want to do it. It was a one-line role and she will automatically be in the play as a chorus part anyway. I declined on her behalf. Part of me thinks, It’s one line. I should have encouraged her to do it, but part of me just wants to respect that she doesn’t want to do it and that’s fine.

8. I feel like I should be emptying the dishwasher right now. Ugh.

9. We had 80 degree weather Sunday here in Michigan. Just one day and then it vanished. Now, 80 is hotter than I want it to be, but I’d sure love if it’d hit 60, 70… and stay for awhile.

10. I had the opportunity to shoot two year portraits yesterday and lemme just say… I had forgotten just how BUSY toddlers are. I spent a great deal of time running after that little dude. In the end, I got several shots that I’m very proud of. He’s adorable and so I knew I’d get some good ones – but BOY. I WAS TIRED when I was done.

Filed Under: Mom Shtuff, music, Photography, Thursday Ten

Thursday Ten: Spring Break Broke Me Edition

April 7, 2011 By sarah 1 Comment

1. It’s kind of fun to have spent a week on spring break so far and have my daughters decide that they will either be best friends or they will be snarling at each other throwing ‘bows. Admittedly, when they fight? I really REALLY hate that. The “she said THIS” and “she PUSHED ME” moments make me want to cry. And then… five minutes later they’re BFFs again. It’s really…tiring.

2. Katie’s LOVE DROP may be over, but I am still really loving the group and what they’re doing. This month, they’re helping the Kahlen Family – and to help them out, they’ve opened up a store on Etsy with some cool donated art stuff to help them out. Love it. If you are interested in purchasing some cool stuff, check it out. If you are an artist and want to donate, check out this link.

3. Sometimes I make myself laugh. I have no real NEED for an iPad 2. I have gadgets that do everything that the iPad does and yet… I still lust after technology. Part of me thinks, I can get the OLD iPad for crazy cheap now… I should just do it. I’m just a goof ball. I should probably focus on replacing this laptop first.

4. SPEAKING OF THIS LAPTOP… I finally replaced the battery because it hasn’t been able to hold a charge in like… forever. I’d unplug it to move it from one room to another and in that time, it would just decide, “Nope, that was enough. I’m tired now.” and the computer would shut down. Pffffffft. Fine, fine, fine. Battery replaced. Ouch.

5. I was supposed to do a portrait session for my cousin’s kiddo today. Little dude just turned two, and true to toddler nature, on picture day he bumped into something and goose-egged his forehead. So, I have the afternoon free of photo sessions. Honestly though, I was looking forward to it. Maybe next week.

6. Over the weekend, one of my favorite music-maker-y people, Chris Mann, posted that he had a new song available on iTunes. “Beautiful Life” is classic Chris – his voice gives me goosebumps – the good goosebumps. I have found this song stuck in my head repeatedly over the past week. I love the melody, and this song already has an absurdly high number of plays in my iTunes. Check it out.

7. My kids make lists of songs for me to download and make mix CDs for them with. My most recent list from Pumpkin included several Lady Gaga songs (My library now includes “Born This Way” which makes me want to scream. I do. not. like.) and The Princess just requested some Justin Bieber. Oh so fun.

8. Spring break means no guitar lesson this week. Sad face. You’d think I would practice anyway. Well, then you’d be wrong.

9. Once Pumpkin’s antibiotics were done, her fever and cough immediately rebounded. Would be nice if the doctor had called me back today as promised. *SIGH* Guess I’ll cross my fingers and hope to get a call back tomorrow.

10. I have a cake cooling on the counter. It’s funny how you wouldn’t think cake could talk and yet there it is down there, calling my name so softly, “Sarah… Sarah… You don’t even need to add any icing. Just tear off a piece and tryyyyy meeeeeeeee….” What? Your cakes don’t talk to you?

Filed Under: Eats, Mom Shtuff, music, Photography, Thursday Ten

Sometimes you have to find joy where it may be

April 4, 2011 By sarah 1 Comment

Call me crazy, but I think now that we’ve rolled into April the days of snow and blah weather and seasonal-affective-funkitude should long be over.

Uh. No go.

So, we’re on spring break and the weather is, shall we say, less than fabulous… There’s chaos and busy-ness, and just a general MOOD, lately.

And at those moments I have to rely on the things I know will make me smile – some of those things are definitely music related (some of those things are brownie and cookie related – I just gotta keep it real – my feelings like sugar). One of my go-to songs to perk my up is the B-52s “Dry County”.

I moved to Michigan 21 years ago this month (next week, in fact. Gah. Where does time go?) and on the drive from California to Michigan, my mom and I listened to the Cosmic Thing tape (yes. tape) numerous times along the way. Now, the B-52s aren’t my FAVORITE band of all time, but I admit, it’s really hard to be in a bad mood when you hear them. And this song? It specifically addresses feeling blah:

When the blues whoomp you up on the side of the head
Throw ‘em to the floor and kick ‘em out the door

And so that’s what I do.

I kick them. Hard. In the face. BOOM.

Okay. I’m getting carried away.

Anyway, what songs lighten your mood when it’s less than fabulous?

Filed Under: music

Thursday Ten: Wanderlust and Spring Edition

March 31, 2011 By sarah 2 Comment

1. As y’all know, I was in and out of Dallas this weekend – what some of you might not know is that I am extremely petrified of flying. The thing is that I had two pretty okay flights this weekend. I didn’t sweat, cry, or hyperventilate. In fact, I don’t BELIEVE I showed any outward signs of fear (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Were you on the plane? No. THEN YOU DON’T KNOW. I was probably TOTALLY OKAY.). Now? I totally want to go EVERYWHERE! I have a couple trips on my calendar already – but I want to ride the wave of not feeling throw-uppy about being up in the air. I have always wanted to see the world – see more than my own backyard. I would love to travel more.

2. Guitar lesson this morning went fabulously. Funny what happens when I actually practice. Ah, yeah. I was struggling with a piece of the music (That’s nothing new) and my teacher had me break it down measure by measure – at one point playing one measure probably ten times in a row. By that last time, it was becoming instinct for my fingers to just know where to go next instead of my brain and my fingers not cooperating and missing several notes. It’s funny – this morning, I couldn’t do it, couldn’t play it… now I can. Whee! Success!

3. Sometimes I read something and it really resonates with me – today that was Austin Kleon’s “How to Steal Like an Artist” – definitely worth the read if you want to pop on over there (after you’re done with this extremely interesting list, of course) and read it.

4. Spring break starts tomorrow – hold me. We’re gonna have to get creative with the schedule around this casa in order for everyone to stay sane and for me to get work done while the kiddarooni’s are off for the week. Everything will work out – but there may be some Netflix streaming of Pinky Dinky Doo involved so I can get my work done. We’ll get it. We’ll be kicking off the break with The Princess’s friend spending the night tonight. I picked up some Freschetta pizzas (Blissdom sponsor love – I hate frozen pizza, but this is good stuff and it means I don’t have to do real cooking tonight – which is REALLY good!) and maybe the girls will watch Tangled… Again.

5. This is one of those weeks where I’ve looked at my iTunes library, gotten twitchy and then pleaded with people for music recommendations. I’m still in my big puffy heart love mode for Ryan Adams (and his cover of “Wonderwall”) – but also on my radar now is Frightened Rabbit. I downloaded two songs from their “The Midnight Organ Fight” album – and really enjoyed them. Worth checking out.

6. I attended parent-teacher conferences at Pumpkin’s school the other day – and was pleased that her teacher noted – as I had – just how much she’s progressed in the past few months. When Pumpkin was in preschool, she had a pretty rotten preschool teacher who told me at one point that she didn’t think my daughter would be ready for kindergarten this year – and I really put a lot of thought into making the decision as to whether she’d go into Kindergarten or Young Fives this year. I followed my gut – and Pumpkin’s teacher said that she has no doubt in her mind that Pumpkin is more than ready for first grade in the fall. Reassurance, for sure.

7. As I type this, I’m eating a precisely measured mixture of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal and regular Special K (really, not at all precise. A bit of one, a bit of another, a quick toss with the spoon – voila). Nobody grocery shopped this week – and yesterday, in lieu of buying REAL food I bought about four boxes of cereal (I also bought five boxes of Kleenex and a can of Suave’s new dry shampoo that smells a little too sickly-sweet-fruity for me to use on a regular basis). If I could live on cereal, I probably would.

8. This morning, I opened my eyes at 7:15, looked at the clock and about jumped out of bed. AFTER SEVEN?!?! I thought for sure Pumpkin would be downstairs sitting on the couch, eyes glazed after having snuck in 90 minutes of television but it turned out… she was still sleeping. I think she’s still sleeping off this double ear infection because for her to sleep past six is nearly unheard of. Nice, though. Is it too much to hope she repeats it tomorrow?

9. For a lot of people, today is kind of a big deal. Something to do with baseball or something? Snort. Yeah. I’m not really a baseball fan, so for me – it’s just Thursday… but happy day to those who are excited about the next several months of baseball. (My favorite part about baseball is… Oh wait. I don’t think I have one. But hey everyone! Have fun with that!)

10. Finally… I try to not overwhelm y’all with mentions of it, but in ONE HUNDRED DAYS (holy cow – only 100?), I’ll be in San Francisco walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I’m 56% of the way to my fundraising goal – and every lil bit helps. If you want to support me, please click this link to donate. If a friend or loved one is fighting breast cancer or has lost the battle and you would like me to walk in their honor, you may message me – I’d be honored to wear their name on the shirt I’ll wear during the walk.

Filed Under: Do Good Feel Good, Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten

Thursday Ten: IN like a lion Edition

March 24, 2011 By sarah 3 Comment

1. Hey, March. I’m not sure you got the memo but this weird weather hooey you’ve got going on right now? You’re sort of supposed to relax, let the sun do its job and just let go of this whole “winter thing”. I’m tired of being cold. To be fair, I’ll give credit where it’s due – your ice display today is rather pretty.

2. Pumpkin has had a nasty cough for a few days – and I’m grateful for our endlessly refillable liquid Albuterol prescription. Every year she gets this cough – and right now, she’s a pretty uncomfortable kiddo. Well, not right NOW. The Albuterol just kicked in.

3. My iPod Classic has decided it no longer wishes to function. This shouldn’t be a big deal – it was only working sporadically before – but now the stupid thing doesn’t power on AT ALL. WHEE. When I took it in to the Apple Store last month, of course it was working perfectly that day. The Genius complimented me on how well cared for my iPod is, and how I didn’t have a ton of stolen music on it (Uh, thank you?). Now? It doesn’t want to work – and I’m peeved. None of the troubleshooting tips from Apple’s support site are working – so if you’ve BTDT and have “fix it” ideas for it, let me know.

4. It’s hard to type with a five year old in your lap.

5. Musically, I’m loving Bob Schneider’s “40 Dogs”. Still. I can’t remember if I talked about this last week or not. But I love this song.

6. I just finished reading We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and was completely blown away. It is one of the best – though, bone chilling – books I have read in quite some time. It was difficult to read for long stretches, the subject matter makes it so – but the way the author weaved words together was so beautiful and heartbreaking. I’d definitely recommend it (though I recommend doing as I did and following it up with something lighter – I read a novella by Nick Hornby to sort of “cleanse my palate”, so to speak, from the book that preceded it).

7. Still playing “Banana Pancakes” in guitar lessons. Yeah. Back to working on bar chords.

8. In the scope of posting number 7, I put on Banana Pancakes and have listened to it three times now. Yes, it takes me that long to write these lists. Can’t you see that it’s just raining? There ain’t no need to go outside…

9. I’ve realized in the past few days that I probably totally UNDERUTILIZE Linked In. I basically ignore everything that comes through – because it’s not FUN like Twitter or writing my OH SO FASCINATING blog. Of course, LI actually has a purpose.

10. My daughter just had me put a side-ponytail in her hair, a la 1985. Sure, everything old becomes new again… but somethings ought to just stay in the past. LIKE THE SIDE PONYTAIL.

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten

Thursday Ten: It’s St Patrick’s Day Edition

March 17, 2011 By sarah 1 Comment

1. Happy St Patrick’s Day. If that’s your thing. It’s not mine. I am pretty sure that I’m not at all Irish so I’m fairly neutral to it, so… it’s nothing for me but if green beer doesn’t gross you out, have at it.

2. Annnnnd, it’s March Madness time. I always fill out brackets – even though I really don’t know anything about any of the teams because I don’t follow basketball. Do you fill out brackets? If so, who’s your Final Four?

3. New music this week? SO MUCH. Most of it is from the “everything old is new again” which is why I’m listening to Skee-Lo’s “I Wish.” (You miss this song, don’t you? I wish I was a little bit taller….)

4. Not to be that girl who blogs about the weather all the time, but it’s supposed to be nearly 70 degrees today. NEARLY. SEVENTY. DEGREES. {yay!} Winter has lasted too long, and while this weather is just for today only, I am glad to see temps above freezing forecasted for the next few days. SEE YA, WINTER.

5. And to celebrate the coming of spring, I schedule an appointment for a spring mani/pedi. Sigh. I love pedicures. It’s funny, because I mostly think feet are gross – and don’t really want anyone touching my feet or even really looking at them, and yet… Pedicures are heavenly.

6. This morning I took the kids out for donuts and coffee (a day early, as they have no school tomorrow), and ordered my usual cappuccino. I didn’t take my first sip until I got into the car. Memo to all barristas and future barristas: the foam on a cappuccino comes from MILK, and not massive amounts of whipped cream. I pulled the car over, thinking I’d just scrape off the whipped cream and the drink would be salvageable. Nope. Once I scraped off the whipped cream, it was just a latte. Ick.

7. My mom dragged me to see the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston flick “Just Go With It”, over the weekend. It was brutally rotten. I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie quite so horrible. Trust me. Even if you normally don’t mind Adam Sandler (and sometimes, I really think he’s hilarious!)… the movie was not a good one.

8. No guitar lessons this week because my teacher had a schedule conflict. What a bummer. I miss it tremendously. I, er… should practice. Yeah. That’s what I should be doing.

9. In an attempt to shake up my workout schedule, I added the Nike Fit Club training app (free!) to my phone. Amazing. Great workouts – varied levels of difficulty. I have now done four different workouts and feel completely exhausted (in a good way) when I’m done. Love it.

10. For next month’s book club, we’ve chosen Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. I’ve already read it – but it’s pretty good, so I’ll be reading again along with everyone else. This has been the downside to book club, I’ve found – I’m such a voracious reader that I’ve read a lot of the “popular book club” selections. Sometimes I decide to just re-read a book and not make a fuss – particularly if the book is good and I think others will really enjoy it. So – if you haven’t read it, pick it up and join me as I (re)read it.

Filed Under: Books and Stuff, music, Thursday Ten