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Thursday Ten: Nothing Kills Productivity Faster than a Migraine Edition

June 3, 2010 by 1 Comment

1. The next two weeks are pure insanity, schedule-wise, and yesterday I was completely sidelined for most of the day by a migraine. A full day to work and accomplish things… wasted. I curled up in a fetal position in bed – if I sat upright, my queasiness was magnified, when I lay down my headache was worse. LOSE-LOSE. Eventually the pain subsided – right in time for the school bus to bring The Princess home from school. Go figure. BTW – if you have any tried-and-true migraine remedies or pain relief, please share ’em with me!

2. This morning, I attended Field Day at The Princess’s school. That was… interesting. I actually felt horribly for the sub running The Princess’s class — he’s pretty fresh off the college thing — and seemed pretty overwhelmed by the bunch of kids. I don’t blame him. There are many reasons why I’m not a teacher, and the lack of patience is one of them.

3. With warmer weather comes… MOSQUITOES. Ow. They’re like the state bird of Michigan. (Does every state say that?)

4. I know that at nearly five-years-old, it’s totally common for a kiddo to phase out taking a nap, but I miss naptime. Kind of a lot.

5. I don’t need to mourn the end of this season’s American Idol too long because, uh, “So You Think You Can Dance”. And how amazing is this contestant? Jarrell Robinson from Illinois – completely deaf – but still rocking his audition (he starts dancing at 1:48 – and yeah, this clip runs way longer than it should). AMAZING.

6. Currently, I’m reading Ann Hood’s “The Red Thread” and am loving it. It’s a fast, easy read (so far – I’m about midway through) – and my pile of books to read is growing faster than I can keep up with. What are you reading now?

7. New music of the week? Jack Johnson’s new album “To the Sea”. I make no apologies for my Jack Johnson love, and nothing says “summer” quite like his laid-back melodies and beachy tunes. I’m liking it – especially his revisited version of “Better Together”.

8. The new issue of Room 704 hits today… and this month’s theme is Sultry. Maybe you wanna mosey on over and check that out.

9. So, Suri Cruise got an iPad?  I guess when you’re rich and famous and can wipe your butt with hundred dollar bills, it’s not a problem to gift your kids with all those techy goodies… but, just because they can, does it mean they should? (Also, I may be more than a little bit jealous).

10. For lack of anything better to say for item 10 (face it, I’m thinking of all the work I SHOULD be doing right now) – let me know if you have any ideas of recipes/food projects you’d like me to bake/cook/share for a Monday recipe post. We’ll make it a food challenge. Tell me what to cook, and I’ll tell you how miserably I failed. Fun for everyone, no?

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Thursday Ten: Spring Break And Expecting Snow?! Edition

April 8, 2010 by 4 Comments

1. The kids are on spring break this week. It was beautiful Monday. Then it rained Tuesday. It rained yesterday. Today the skies are heavy with clouds, the air outside is cold and there’s a chance of snow in the forecast. Yuck. Also, it would have been a good idea to venture towards warmer weather over break.

2. Of course, as luck would have it – Spring Break happens to have fallen during an incredibly busy week for work. Crappy weather and being wicked busy? DOUBLE WHAMMY.

3. Yesterday, I baked a cheesecake – a turtle cheesecake. I’ve never made one before, but it involves peeling plastic wrappers off an entire bag of caramels so you can melt the caramel down to make a sauce to pour over the Oreo crust and then over the cheesecake before serving. I think actually making caramel from scratch would have been easier than unwrapping all those candies. And as I opened them, I kept flashing on the dialogue between Will and Skylar in Good Will Hunting. LOVE that movie.

Just as arbitrary as drinking coffee.

4. No guitar lesson this week which is probably a good thing because I haven’t even picked up my guitar this week to practice. I can tell when I haven’t practiced enough – the calluses on my fingertips are softer, almost like they used to be. Maybe I better write “PRACTICE GUITAR” on my to do list in big print, and then UNDERLINE IT. I like to write things on my to do list, because I like to cross things off my to do list (Like this: Eat breakfast).

5. I’ve been reading a lot lately. Last week, I polished off The Art of Racing in the Rain, which I adored so much. This week, I have started digging in to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society*. Admittedly, this is not normally a kind of book I enjoy, but I am liking it so far. I haven’t slammed the cover shut and thrown it across the room yet and I’m a third of the way through, so that’s a good sign.

6. New music of the week? Jack Johnson’s new single You And Your Heart*, which actually sounds like classic Jack, though I’ve read that his new album coming out soon is going to be more “rock-flavored”. Meh. I’m a lil bit nervous about that. I like beachy-acoustic Jack. Will I like rock Jack? I dunno. But, this single isn’t really a departure from the sound I expect from him. And I like it.

7. Apparently tomorrow is “NAME YOURSELF DAY”. If you were gonna choose YOUR name, what would you pick? Would you stick with the name that you were given or would you choose something totally different?

8. Have you joined our Photo Scavenger Hunt yet? Raising money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer – so if you have bewbs, or know of someone who does – you should probably enter and maybe win some awesome prizes -some of which will be given randomly and THAT MEANS, even if your every shot is photo-bombed by your thumb, you could still win things. Cool, right?

9. We took the kids to see “How to Train Your Dragon” last weekend – and they loved it. I don’t normally like stuff like that – dragons and whatnot, but it was pretty cute. Not cute? The cost of admission and snacks to take a whole family to a movie. Oy.

10. So, the iPad. Did you get one? Do you want one? Despite being a total Apple fan girl, I’m holding off for now. Perhaps it’s because I’m currently crushing on a Canon DSLR, and that is where my next big gadget expenditure will be. Don’t get me wrong, if someone handed me an iPad today and said, “Here! Take it! It’s YOURS!”, I’d take it and be happy. But I don’t want to spend my money on one just yet.

*Yes, affiliate links. I’m saving up to buy a pony.

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

Thursday Ten: Where Did Time GO?! Edition

November 20, 2008 by Leave a Comment

1. I was in guitar lesson today and my teacher and I realized it was the 20th already. The 20th. My god, where did November go?! And Christmas is right around the corner. I have still got a lot to do before Christmas comes.

2. Speaking of Christmas… caught a sneak preview of “Four Christmases” last night. Was it rocket science? No. Does that matter? No. I still love Vince Vaughn and still loved the movie and I laughed so hard at some parts (and oh my god I didn’t even recognize Tim McGraw as Vince Vaughn’s brother. Wow).

3. Music this week… Well, I bought the whole soundtrack to “Twilight” which is actually pretty good (songs weren’t available individually – I almost never buy complete albums anymore). Also bought three tracks from David Cook’s cd. I’m a bit iffy on those – I like them but they seem pretty formulaic, radio-friendly, nothing new. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

4. Today, I started learning Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy” on guitar. She’s teaching me two parts so we can do a duet of sorts (for no good reason other than to teach me how to play when someone else is playing at the same time). She also started teaching me “Rodeo Clowns” by Jack Johnson which involves four chords I just learned today.

Seeing as how all four are barre chords and my fingers just don’t have the strength yet it may take me awhile. The good news is that the chords all have the same basic shape – it’s just a matter of moving them to different frets. I’ll get it. I’m determined and I hate not being good at things.

5. I think we’re finally done with getting our basement drywalled. Which is good, because you know, we finished our basement three and a half years ago and there was no good reason for it to be torn up now. So I’m not in love with this basement project. Now, I’ll have to figure out which leftover paint color to paint it down there. Blah.

6. Supposed to see “Twilight” this weekend with my mom and sis. Hello movie month. That will bring November’s total to… Five? Six if I take The Princess to see “Bolt” next week, which I fully plan on because… why not?

7. This weekend is also the BAKING EXTRAVAGANZA with my BFF and her sister in law and so that ought to be fun. I’m hoping to not eat my weight in powdered sugar or whatever it is that we’re making. One of the things we’re making is chocolate covered pretzels and that will DO ME IN because I love them. A lot. More than I should. Yum.

8. Actual conversation with my mom:
Me: “Well, I found that out from her Facebook status message.”
Mom: “Why won’t you check MY Facebook? Why do you check HER Facebook but you won’t check mine?”
Me: “Because you don’t HAVE Facebook, mom.”
My mom did just sign up for MySpace last week – because she can’t fight the overwhelming urge to see what everyone is up to. My MySpace account pretty much just sits there, though. (My quote on my MS is “She’s like the DaVinci code. Except harder to crack.” Points to whoever can figure out what movie it’s from.)

9. Sometimes I have a very difficult time talking about myself in third person. I notice it when I’m trying to write witty status messages, or having to write my Blissfully Domestic bio earlier in the week. I start writing in third person and all I can think of is this guy I knew in college who would get so drunk and start referring to himself in third person: “Jay is really tired now. Jay had too much to drink. Jay thinks he needs to go home now.” Fun times.

10. Anyone watching the new Top Chef? It’s taking me awhile to get into it. Of course, I was only half paying attention to it last night because I was just zoning.

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Thursday Ten, Don’t Trust A Ho Edition

October 30, 2008 by 6 Comments

1. Um, yeah. The “don’t trust a ho” thing is from some of my new music this week. That lovely gem is from “Don’t Trust Me” by 3OH!3. I’m also listening to: “Sex On Fire” (Kings of Leon), “Especially in Michigan” (Red Hot Chili Peppers), “It’s All Your Fault” and “Please Don’t Leave Me” (P!nk), “You’re Not Sorry” (Taylor Swift) and “Stars” (Josh Charles).

2. Speaking of Josh Charles – he’s pretty awesome. Stumbled over him on Twitter. You can follow him on Twitter (here’s the link to his profile). I’m actually really liking his sound – his voice is definitely very Van Morrison-y. You can check him out on Amazon or iTunes, or visit his web page here. If you sign up for his mailing list, you can get a free unreleased MP3. I have the info to do that sitting in my inbox – I’ve just been too freakin’ lazy to do it yet. Okay – I’m done pimping him for the day… but definitely check him out.

3. Guitar lesson today – I started learning “Taylor” by Jack Johnson. The reason she wanted to teach me was because of all the slurs (No, not the politically incorrect kind that you’re not supposed to do – but with guitar there are things called slurs which include hammer-ons and pull-offs. And I can’t really explain it – if you want to know, you should take your own lessons). I’m either going to be VERY impressed with myself for mastering it at some point, or very annoyed that my fingers won’t work that way.

4. Halloween tomorrow – got a last minute invite to a party requiring a costume. Fantastic. Not many options if you don’t want to be a slutty nurse, or a slutty… anything. I think I may just try to find some cat ears, wear all black and call it good. Unless y’all have better ideas? Lay ’em on me.

5. I should totally get bonus points for not forgetting to eat lunch today. While I was running errands (trying to find stupid cat ears), I hit Panera for some soup. Note: Soup is not travel food. Whooops.

6. So, Halloween is tomorrow. I will not be trick-or-treating. Instead, I’ll be waiting for Hubby to get back with the girls so that I can raid their candy.

7. Yesterday, the 365 kicked my butt. Some days, there’s inspiration everywhere and I can find things to take pictures of. Somedays, I take random goofy pictures of myself making funny faces. There’s entirely too few pictures of me sticking my tongue out. Or rolling my eyes. I don’t love having my picture taken – so here’s hoping I don’t have to do that much!

8. Stepson is nearly 13 and in 7th grade. Last night, after listening to approximately two hours of him struggling with math homework with Hubby, it became pretty clear that the kid doesn’t know his multiplication tables at all. Way back when dinosaurs roamed the land and I was in junior high (oh, let’s be real – WAY before junior high) there was that whole memorization of the multiplication tables dealy. And it WAS memorization. It wasn’t thought. It was basically drilling into your brain, “9×1=9, 9×2=18, 9×3=27…” and so on. That way if asked, you could spit out an answer without thinking about it. Stepson can’t. And I don’t know if it’s that they don’t teach it like that anymore (entirely possible) or if he just doesn’t get it? Any ideas? Honestly, I never really struggled with math until my freshman year at University of Michigan in Calculus II which basically drove me to tears and I think I got a C and decided maybe that would just be it for math… and the Engineering program for me.

9. My little Starbucks dude asked me if I was “dressing up for Halloween” tomorrow. He can’t think of a costume. He wants to be Obama but doesn’t want to step on any toes. And I can totally borrow his apron and be a Starbucks person if I want. I don’t even know what to say but it’s good for a laugh.

10. Tickets to see The Killers in concert go on sale tomorrow. I want to go so badly… anyone want to be my date?

You may want to visit Blissfully Domestic and check out other links via “I am Blissfully Domestic” . Blogger seems to not love my COOL “Blissfully Domestic” badge. But check the link – some awesome stuff out there!!


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Thursday Ten: It’s Because of the Arpeggios Edition

October 23, 2008 by 1 Comment

1. Guitar lessons continue to go alright – today, I learned “We Three Kings” (which I can now add to my holiday music arsenal, along with “O Holy Night” and “Silent Night”). I also learned the first bit of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” – because my teacher was trying to teach me about arpeggios. Yes, I have heard of Blue Oyster Cult. No, I probably wouldn’t know the song if I got it in “Name that Tune”. Next week, she says she’ll teach me parts of “Taylor” by Jack Johnson, which makes me very happy because I love Jack Johnson.

2. Cheetos? They are good. I love Cheetos. Every Thursday, I manage to forget to eat lunch before I go to guitar lesson, so when I got home today I was starving. I cracked open some Cheetos. I was chatting with a girlfriend of mine, telling her my keyboard was now covered with artificial cheese – she replied: “Cheetos: ur doing it right.” We decided that Cheetos were like cheesy, orange crack – which under most circumstances we all agree would be bad. When it comes to Cheetos, though, we make an exception.

3. This weekend is the Michigan/Michigan State football game. GOOOO BLUE. (However, I am not terribly optimistic).

4. I got another HUGE pile of magazines in the mail today. I’m not even caught up from the last round. Today’s mail included another copy of Cookie magazine (which I would NEVER pay for, by the way – it was a free subscription and I don’t love the magazine), Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping and Health. I love magazines.

5. It’s my mom’s boss’s birthday tomorrow and he’s on some diet plan that allows very few sweets but apparently gives the thumbs up to rice crispy treats. My mother, however, is “baked goods” inept (I hesitate to use the term baked goods, because I hardly would put the rice crispy treat in that category). She actually asked me to make them for her. This is why I know how to bake. As soon as I could read, my mom had me take over the baking projects. This morning she dropped off marshmallows and rice crispies and tomorrow she’ll pick them up on her way to work. Like I’m the freakin’ snack drive through.

6. The Princess came home today and told me a mean boy in her class gave her a piece of paper today with the words “Poop you” written on it (Kids. What the hell are they thinking?). I asked if she showed the teacher. “No, mom,” she said, “but I recycled it.” That’s my girl.

7. New music this week: LOTS. Some of it isn’t so “new”, but new to my collection anyway. “3×5” John Mayer; “U Want Me 2” Sarah McLachlan; “Bad Girlfriend” Theory of a Deadman; “A Sorta Fairytale” Tori Amos; “Bizarre Love Triangle” New Order; aaaaaaaand “Miss Independent” (not Kelly Clarkson) Ne-Yo. Why yes, I’m working on a birthday iTunes gift card.

8. I miss Project Runway.

9. Pumpkin is doing much better with her sleeping… and if she sleeps through tonight, I’m taking her out for donuts for breakfast tomorrow. Bribery – I never thought I’d be that kind of parent but when it comes to me getting my sleep, it’s totally worth it because I need my sleep.

10. Soooo, “High School Musical 3” – how many people getting suckered into taking their kids this weekend?

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