cool beans

Hopefully, I’ll be too busy shoving mass quantities of food into my head to be hanging out at the computer for the next few days. I’m thankful for many things, including you. Whether you’re an old friend or a new one, thank you for hanging out here with me. I’m not sure yet where my voice fits in the world of online journaling, but it’s nice to have some listeners. I hope you have a lovely holiday weekend or, at the very least, good stories to tell about a dysfunctional one.

The same son who thinks smooching is not at all natural and entirely disgusting likes Harry Potter. I like dates. So we went on a date* to see Harry Potter tonight.

After the movie I asked him if he liked it. He said he thought it was good, but had anticipated being more frightened. Then he said, “I thought it was going to be scary because of the ominous music at the beginning.”

OMINOUS. Yeehaw. I likey.

I liked the movie, but was snapped out of the story a few times because the acting was …affected? in a few spots. I was also struggling with believing the characters were really 14. But maybe that’s just me. I tend to think sounding British-ish makes kids sound smarter and older.

*He says it’s not a date. Also, no matter what it’s called, there is no smooching allowed.

My husband and I dropped the kids off with their grandmother and headed out of town to do our Christmas shopping today. We got most of it done and picked the kids up way past their bedtimes. In the car on the way home they asked if we’d gone “out of town or something.” I said, “Yes, we did. We were on a date. We did lots of smooching, right Dad?”

Husband: “Yep.”
Daughter: “Well, that’s natural.”
Son: “For some people it is.”
Husband: [Absently howling at the not-quite-full moon.]
Me: “And what about other people?”
Son: “It’s disgusting. And it’s also unpleasant.”
Husband: [Still howling at moon.]
Son: “‘Unpleasant’ is a word, isn’t it?”

Last night I was flipping through my archives and it occurred to me that I should have more comments than I did. I didn’t realize Haloscan puts old comments in a box and stuffs them under the bed where you can’t see them.

I paid my dues and the old comments are back and it makes me happy. I feel the comment love again. Smoochies.

Recently, I said it’s not that I don’t like Coldplay, it’s that I just don’t get them.* Well, I get this**:

when you try your best but you don’t succeed
when you get what you want but not what you need
when you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
stuck in reverse

and the tears come streaming down your face
when you lose something you can’t replace
or you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse

lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
I will try to fix you

high up above and down below
you’re too in love to let it go
but if you never try you’ll never know
just what you’re worth

lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
I will try to fix you

tears stream down your face
when you lose something you cannot replace
tears stream down your face and I
tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
tears stream down your face and I

lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
and I will try to fix you

*While I am coming around a bit regarding Coldplay, I will admit I totally made fun of the dude for walking toward me in two different videos. Like, whoa! Stop walking at me. Just sing, cat. S’okay if you just stand there. Seriously. Enough with the walking.

**If you don’t believe me that I get it, ask my son who was very concerned about me when this song came on the radio on our way home from Taekwondo last week. I was crying AND singing while he laughed nervously and asked more than once if I was okay.

I woke up this morning to winter. Having not taken the weather forecast seriously, I wasn’t prepared to be brushing a heavy layer of snow off of my car. If it weren’t so windy, it would be such a gorgeous snowy day because the snow is wet and sticky and is coating everything like frosting on a sugar cookie.

I wish I had a digital camera so I could share.

Because it’s cold and the weather lady said the snow and wind would keep up all day, I decided last minute to pack a lunch for work. I threw together a green salad and chicken salad on rolls, packed an apple and made a smoothie. The smoothie was meant to be a morning snack, but I started it before my coffee was gone because I cannot resist a strawberry peach smoothie. It’s impossible.

It’s hard to believe I can talk about food right now. I still have a touch of the cold. I just can’t shake it. As a bonus, my stomach is now upset with me.

This morning at home should have been easy enough, but for some reason I couldn’t keep it together when it was time to leave. The Toddler whined about having his shoes on, whined about the heavier jacket, whined about keeping the stocking cap on his head, whined about being carried to the car, whined about being carried into daycare… When I tried to put the cap on his head before walking out the door, he knelt so I missed. I picked him up under his arms, but he wouldn’t put his feet down. It was intense and I was out of patience. As I was dealing with this little flopping tantrum thrower, my daughter burst through the front door and announced, “THE CAR IS LOCKED!” Well, her door was locked, but generally the car that IS RUNNING AND DRIPPING THE MELTING SNOW HAS THE KEYS IN IT AND AT LEAST ONE DOOR IS UNLOCKED. And LET’S PUT ON OUR CRITICAL THINKING CAPS AND SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS!!!

I apologized for yelling at her on the way to school. She said she understood and forgave me and blew kisses as she climbed out of the car and squish-squashed her way toward the building.

I felt really bad for losing it with The Toddler because he likes walking independently and enjoys opening and closing the gate at daycare all by himself. It’s not fun to have your autonomy snatched away just because your “mahi” likes to wear clean and dry pants to work and doesn’t want your wet shoes slopping up the sitter’s floors. He kissed me a dozen times (literally) when I dropped him off at daycare, so I think we’re made up.

Other people are much better at preparing and talking about food and its preparation than I am. I will leave it to them. Amy of Beauty Joy Food is one of those people and she is a new addition to my blogroll. Please pay her a visit.

My daughter saw the pediatrician this week. The pediatrician was not concerned about the congestion in her lungs and diagnosed her with an ear infection. She said she doesn’t think the cough is related to the immunization she received on October 5th (I believe I blogged about the barking cough on 10/6 or 10/7). She also doesn’t think it’s related to asthma. She did give us the card of an allergist/asthma specialist person, though. We’re going to make an appointment and try to boost her immune system in the meantime.

I’m getting better. I still have some chest congestion and minor coughing. And a lot of sharp sinus pains. But so much better than this time last week.

I’ve always disliked tissues with the lotion added to them because they made me feel like I still had boogers on my nose because of the slimy feeling. It also sucks when you reach for a tissue to clean your glasses and you don’t know the tissue has lotion in it until you put your glasses back on and your eyes scooch around in your head trying to find a clear spot to peer out from. But I had to bust out the lotiony tissues for this cold because the regular tissues were peeling my skin off. For the last week, I’ve had an Aloe-y moustache. BLECH. BARF.

We now own three vaporizers, 17 bottles of Vitamin C and enough Mentholatum to grease up the neighborhood.

The kids have the next two days off school and Friday is a Food Day at work. We’re attending a wedding reception and dance on Saturday. My outlook is a little bit brighter with fun stuff on the calendar, lungs that are working at 85%, and a full bottle of cough syrup that WORKS.

I feel like I’ve been away F O R E V E R. It’s hard to know where to begin. Fortunately, I was tagged for a meme by Mama K. HURRAY! I’ve been tagged! I feel so popular! So we’ll start there.

7 celebrity crushes:

• Johnny Depp
• Jimmy Fallon
• Ralph Fiennes
• Colin Farrell
• Gwen Stefani - Before she went B A N A N A S, mostly.
• Ryan Dunn (and a few of his friends, too)

7 things I’m good at:

• Internet searches
• Laughing at myself
• Taking care of babies
• Cooking - particularly in the “Cream of” soup arena.
• Obsessing
• Being late
• Offering unsolicited advice

7 things I plan to do before I die:

• Clean out my underwear drawer
• See my children graduate, marry and reproduce like mad
• Sling my grandbabies and spoil the bejeezus out of them
• Pay my daughters-in-law to love me anyway
• Travel extensively
• Learn to knit
• GET A PUPPY FOR CHRISTMAS

7 things I cannot do:

• Tan
• Tolerate country music whilst sober
• Comprehend atoms
• A cartwheel or handstand
• Most crafty things like draw, sew or knit
• Avoid library fines
• Eat aspartame (NutraSweet)

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex (in random order):

• Sense of humor
• Height
• Face
• Grooming abilities/smell
• Facial hair (or not)
• Smartness
• Free drinks

7 things I say often:

• “Cool beans”*
• “Alrighty then”
• “Long Island Iced Tea, in a bucket”
• “Hooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnney? Will you (insert random household task here)?”
• “Yeeaaaaaaaaaaaah. Notsomuch. Thanks”
• “I love you”
• “GO.TO.BED.”

*I say “cool beans” less often now since it’s a characteristic that makes me Google-able by folks who don’t know ’bout this here bloggin’ venture. But I’m slowly getting over that. Maybe.

I’m not going to tag anyone, but please feel free to copy and hollaback if you do.