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Thursday Ten: Le Fou I’m Afraid I’ve Been Thinking edition

May 13, 2010 by 3 Comments

1. The past few days, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering the things I enjoy doing, the things in which I excel. What I have found is that I am halfway decent at several things but don’t feel like I have focused on any ONE thing quite enough to say that it’s where I shine. Have you ever really thought about where YOU shine? What are YOU really good at?

2. The Princess was invited to try out for the gymnastics team and SHE MADE IT. The program sounds a bit intense – and yes, there will be a competitive aspect… however, this kind of goes back to the first point: what are you really good at? Gymnastics may or may not be something she wants to stick with – but right now, she’s enjoying it a lot. I want to give her the opportunity to see where it goes, as long as she wants to. When she decides she’s done, she’ll wrap up whatever season she’s in – and that’s it. No pressure. I’m kind of curious about this road we’ll be traveling.

3. Last night was the May meeting of our book club. We discussed the book selected for last month, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, shot the breeze a little bit and then? Picked next month’s book. A book by Nicholas Sparks. How did we go from FGM and human trafficking to Nicholas Sparks?

4. Because “Half the Sky” was such a HEAVY read (good read, but definitely heavy), I decided to lighten things up with Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, which is a much lighter read. Also, it cements the knowledge that I have no desire to learn French cooking. Too many livers and lobsters.

5. My guitar lesson went well today – fortunately, my sister was able to hang out with Pumpkin so I got to go solo. Finished working on the Taylor Swift ditty, and went back to Pearl Jam. It was a little easier to work on something without making sure Pumpkin was entertained. And she had lots of fun with her aunt and took a nice nap and spent lots of time singing “Down by the Bay”.

6. I went through Pumpkin’s backpack the other day to sort through all the work and art work she brought home from preschool/daycare and recycled several art projects. Mind you – I LOVE to keep artwork created by my children. However, I don’t love to keep artwork that was clearly cut and assembled by the teachers. And I can tell. The work our kids do is perfect in its imperfection. I wish the teachers would leave it alone.

7. Is it raining where you are? DAYS of rain in Michigan. It’s making me cranky.

8. American Idol’s Final Three – are you happy with the final three? Are you even watching? I loved Lee and Crystal’s rendition of my favorite song – “Falling Slowly” – and yeah, I downloaded today and have listened several times.

9. And since I’m talking about TV, I’m gonna kick on over to Glee and say first of all, I loved Wednesday’s episode. I love the storyline with Kurt and his dad (“Fine doesn’t sound like that song was sung”) — but when they sang U2’s “One” and called it classic rock? I had to hit the Google. “One” was recorded in 1991. I was in high school. So, stuff from my teen years is classic now? Since when? Also… feeling old.

10. Just a few short weeks until the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I am SO close to my goal – and I appreciate ALL the support and love I have gotten. But, if you still want to support the cause (and really, you should because it’s a great one), feel free to share the donation love with my teammate – her link is here. If you donate to her, and write in the message that I sent you, I’ll send you cookies. (Offer limited to the first five peeps to donate).

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

Thursday Ten: New Strings Edition

March 25, 2010 by 3 Comments

1. My guitar has new strings. I was lazy and I just had the music store put them on – it took them four days and the cost? Excessive for strings (my teacher’s eyes bugged out real big when I showed her the receipt). Yes, lesson learned – I’ll do it myself next time. But wow, my strings DO sound great.

2. Began working on two songs today – Jack Johnson’s “Sittin’ Waitin’ Wishing” (for its use of bar, major, minor, and seventh chords) and “Falling Slowly” because it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. I was one of the few who wasn’t totally enamored by the movie “Once” – but I sure do love this song.

3. Did y’all watch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on Sunday night? What did you think? I was STUNNED. I guess not entirely surprised – but yeah, stunned. Expect more from me about this topic. The next episode airs on Friday night. Watch it, and we’ll talk about it next week. {Also, I really hope the lunch ladies/cooks at my daughter’s school aren’t that cranky!}

4. Thank you so much to everyone who gave me feedback about The Princess and things I could do moving forward in absence of a gifted program in her school. Good news – we do have an appointment with her principal to sit down and talk about how we can keep her challenged in third grade and beyond — as well as pairing her with a teacher who doesn’t mind doing the extra work to keep her loving education.

5. That wasn’t the ONLY parent-teacher conference for the week. Oh yeah. Yesterday was my first conference with Pumpkin’s new preschool and I was pleasantly surprised. I think what surprised me most was how social my daughter is – not to the extent where the teacher says she’s a chatterbox – but that she’s friendly with all the kids. The teacher said, “You’d never know she hasn’t been here since September. She just found her place here.” Awesome.

6. Last week I had lots of extra fun social stuff planned – including dinner out with a former coworker/friend and my good friend. TWO NIGHTS OUT. That also means two meals I got to eat that weren’t cooked by yours truly. You can see, I’m sure, why I am mourning last week a lil bit, right? Tonight I’ll be cooking Cuban black beans and rice which means that I fully anticipate getting to hear from my children what a rotten cook I am. It’s inspiring, really.

7. I caved in to the inexplicable urge I had to buy matching dresses for my daughters so they can dress alike for fun spring pictures on the beach. Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking either but I think it will be cute. I also think they’ll hate me for this in ten years.

8. In just over 70 days, I’ll be walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer – I’m VERY excited. I’m also hoping that it doesn’t rain. Rain would be bad.

9. American Idol this week… So… They could choose from Billboard Top 100s and they all chose crap songs? What was THAT all about? You have all that amazing music at your disposal and whut? Not impressed. At this point, I have no favorites – but several people who annoy me severely (Didi, I’m talkin’ to you).

10. According to the preschool’s calendar, Saturday is Photography Day. I plan to celebrate by taking some pictures (DUH). MAAAAAAAAAYBE I should celebrate by asking the Photography Elves to leave a new camera for me. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were really Photography Elves?

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

Thursday Ten: Hey Bronchitis GO AWAY edition

March 4, 2010 by 8 Comments

1. Wrapped up a round of antibiotics on Sunday for this stupid bronchitis and within two days, all the wheezing and coughing came back.  And it feels worse. This is the third day of Round Two of antibiotics and I don’t feel any better. I’m kind of a big whiny baby when I’m sick.

2. I’m wearing a WHOLE LOTTA GREEN today because the ROOM 704 March edition is LIVE. Go check it out – lots of amazing (and laugh so hard you pee a little) posts from the girls of 704. Including me. I even posted a recipe even though you guys know I really don’t cook much. It’s okay, it’s an easy recipe – it only involves opening cans and jars. Just my style. Anyway, I haven’t even read all the posts yet because I’m savoring the awesomeness, but you – when you’re done reading this list GO OVER THERE.

3. Sunday night, John Mayer was in town and we went. A lot of people either love or hate John Mayer (the word that comes up frequently is “douchebag”, I know). But musically, I was not a fan of the dude until I saw him live the first time, and I just can’t help myself: I LIKE HIM. Michael Franti & Spearhead were the amazing opening act, and they rocked it as well. Happy happy.

Michael Franti & Spearhead - if you don't know them, LOOK THEM UP.

Michael Franti & Spearhead - if you don't know them, LOOK THEM UP.

4. Yesterday, I hosted a bake sale to raise money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I spent all day Tuesday preparing massive amounts of baked goods (from chocolate chip cookies to lemon squares to brownies to cheesecake) and in about three and a half hours raised over $300 for the cause. Yes, I’m insanely happy about that. The power of cookies is surreal.

5. Melissa challenged me last week to introduce my kids to the FLUFFERNUTTER SANDWICH – marshmallow cream and peanut butter. Well, challenge accepted. Pumpkin loved it. The Princess apparently forgot to add the peanut butter to hers. The next challenge is to try this grilled, like a grilled cheese… perhaps with a  lil bit of chocolate involved.

6. Last week, I had a ear for older music – for some reason, I was humming Fleetwood Mac’s “Seven Wonders” for a few days before I decided to gave and buy it and reintroduce that part of the 80s to my music library. Lately, I haven’t purchased anything that was recorded in the past decade though. What am I missing?

7. American Idol – who is watching it? I don’t think I’ve missed a season yet, but admittedly, this is the part I hate: the part in between the rotten auditions and when you start actually caring if certain people stay or go. At this point, I’m mostly just annoyed. And yet… somehow I keep watching.

8. As I type this, Pumpkin is giving me big kisses on my face. That’s definitely better than a stick in the eye.

9. Saturday is NATIONAL OREOS DAY. Will you celebrate? And do you eat your cookies whole or do you break ’em apart and eat the middle first?

10. In guitar lesson today, I started working on Ingrid Michaelson’s “The Chain”. The song features piano but it translates pretty easily to guitar – also, it’s a pretty easy learn. I love this song – it’s quirky and the melody is one of my favorites.

Filed Under: Mom Shtuff, music, Thursday Ten Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,