Posts Tagged ‘movie’
Jeff woke up this morning feeling a bit flu-ish. Hopefully he’ll be fine by the end of the week, though, when he travels to Texas for his father’s memorial. I told him that I would be his nurse. :) He didn’t get a flu shot this year, but I’m sure glad that I did. I feel like I’m coming down with a cold, too, however. I’ve been congested at night and in the mornings, but today I can *really* feel something going on in my head. (Mixed with PMS, it’s not fun!) It’s just that time of year, though. :( Meredith still has a deep cough at times, and it concerns me that it has been going on for *so* long. I also noticed this morning that Lucas’s nose was running heavily. We’re just a bunch of snot-nosed brats around here! :)
So … check out what I picked up yesterday for absolutely *no* money whatsoever!
Lucas and Meredith now have a brand-new iMac (well, brand-new to us!). Lucas *loves* to type “e-mails.” I showed him how to type his name, “M.J.,” “Mom,” and “Dad.” Hopefully we can find some kids’ software out there. I *love* Macs. I really miss the computer that I used to use when I was a graphic designer at the bank (a G3, G4, something like that). Anyway, I drove over to Philmont, NY (about 18 miles away) to pick it up through Freecycle. How fantastic. I can’t believe it ~ a computer for free. (An *old* computer, but still!)
Just a minute ago, I turned on the TV and saw a show called “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” At first, I thought that it was a “Star Trek” thing! (Nope … that’s “Cardassians,” LOL!) Anyway, it’s sucking me right in. Must turn off the TV so that I can get some freelance work done!
P.S. A totally random note ~ has anyone seen the new James Bond movie? And if so, what did you think of it? We’re *huge* James Bond fans around here. But he has nothing on my husband … look how great he looks in tuxedos! hehe :)
Meredith climbed out of her crib this morning. I don’t know whether to be excited for her or sad ~ probably a little bit of both! Looks like it’s time for her to make the transition to her toddler bed. This should be interesting! Lucas climbed out of his crib at almost exactly the same age, and when he did, he also stopped taking naps. Ugh. :( I’m looking forward to taking apart our crib and storing it someplace, though, so that we’ll have more room in Meredith’s bedroom. We can make it more of a big-girl room now, too. Gosh, we’ve had a crib in our house since February 2005! I so vividly remember being 30-some weeks pregnant with Lucas and looking inside his newly set-up crib, thinking, “Oh my gosh … this is where our *son* is going to sleep!” And now, we’re taking it down. This is a milestone!
In other news, yesterday morning I accidentally sewed over my left index finger with our sewing machine. Ouch. Well, it actually didn’t hurt much at all right when it happened; it just took me aback. But then, it started hurting like heck. I walked over to our neighbor’s house ~ she is a retired nurse ~ so that she could take a look at it. The needle went through my fingernail and almost completely out the back of my finger. I had been making a Christmas present and was sewing in reverse in order to close a corner, and my finger just got in the way. Our neighbor said to put ice on it throughout the day and keep that hand relaxed. I called the doctor’s office this morning to see whether I’d need a tetanus shot, but thankfully I got that shot back in October 2007. My mom tells me that sewing body parts is hereditary … she also did the same thing when she was a teenager! LOL! :) I’m glad that the needle didn’t break inside my finger. And of course, I tried to milk my injury for all it was worth. After all, it takes *two* hands to change a diaper, right? :)
And finally, a melting-mommy moment from last night. I laid down with Lucas to snuggle with him a little bit before he went to sleep. Suddenly, he leaned over to me and said, “You’re, like, kind of neat.” I just wanted to scoop him up, give him a great big hug, and never let go! It was *so* incredibly sweet. Then, I said, “I love being your mommy.” And he replied, “I love being your Lucas!”
P.S. Today marks exactly 12 years since my husband and I went out on our very first date! November 17, 1996. We went to dinner at Puccini’s in Bloomington, IN, and then watched “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” (The love song from that movie was our first-dance song as husband and wife at our wedding.) Hmm … it might be worth a grocery store trip today in order to recreate the meal we had that night ~ penne a la vodka!
Can you believe that the Christmas tree pictured on the right is made entirely from empty cans of Mountain Dew? My friend Cassandra in Minnesota sent me the e-mail forward with photos, and I couldn’t resist blogging it. I actually think that it looks kind of pretty! The two-liter bottle on top is such a nice touch! :) It looks like it probably took a long time to put together … there are wires soldered to the cans, and then somehow they’re hooked to the inner pole of the tree. I wonder how long it took for them to drink all of that Mountain Dew? Talk about a great way to recycle … and I’m sorry that I don’t know who created this Christmas tree, or I would give them proper credit here. (I hope that this isn’t a “hoax” ~ I probably should have checked out Snopes first!)
It’s almost 60 degrees here today. So nice! I went grocery shopping with the kiddos this morning (they were really good ~ yay!), then we took a walk around our neighborhood after lunch. (With the McDonalds that I ate yesterday, I needed some exercise ~ or some cheap diet pills, LOL!) Now that Meri is napping, I’m settling down to work some more on this quadricentennial calendar for our town. Later this afternoon, we’re picking up our next-to-last CSA share from the farm. Not sure what’s on tap for this weekend, but tomorrow I have to stop by our neighbor’s house to pick up something ~ and I’ll get to enjoy some “me time” on Sunday. We also have the Netflix movie “Kung Fu Panda” to watch. Happy Friday, everyone! :)
I was just downstairs with Jeff, commenting on how nice it is that Lucas can now play by himself in our bonus room without getting into trouble. We thought that he was watching his “Jonah” DVD. Wrong! I came upstairs to get Meredith up from her nap, and Luke was completely naked in our guest bathroom. He was squirting hand soap into the sink, filling it with water, tearing off pieces of toilet paper, and throwing them into the “pool.” I *just* cleaned that bathroom yesterday. What’s that saying about kids suddenly getting quiet … that’s when you know that mischief is happening! :)
Jeff had the day off work today (thank you, veterans, for all that you do for our country … we honor you and remember you today), so we went shopping at K-mart because we heard that lots of toys were 50 percent off. I hadn’t been inside a K-mart in years, and honestly, I used to think that K-mart was kind of junky. But I was *so* surprised! Not so! (At least, our store wasn’t.) They had all kinds of great stuff. The kids had a blast looking at the toys. (Lucas wanted some Harley parts ~ just kidding!) We actually did *all* of our Christmas shopping for Lucas and Meredith today, and now my moms’ group is having a gift wrapping session on the 20th (the moms get together for some fun, fellowship, and wrapping presents together). It feels good to have a bit of a head start on Christmas! We also had lunch at Pizza Hut. I lost count of how many pieces of pepperoni pizza Lucas ate! They served this weird dessert pizza that tasted like chocolate pudding with some frosting on top. Blech.
Thanks to everyone who responded to my milk question. I can’t believe all of the different advice that doctors give. I think that we’re going to stick with whole milk for the kids for a while. I’m just happy to see that milk prices have come down recently. A gallon at our grocery store today was only $2 something.
Did anyone watch “The Big Bang Theory” last night? Did you catch Sheldon’s movie reference? Leonard said to Penny, “Congratulations … you are now one of us.” And then Sheldon said, “One of us … one of us …” I wracked my brain last night and this morning, trying to figure out what movie that line was from. We Googled it last night but didn’t have any luck. First thing when I woke up this morning, though, I suddenly remembered what movie I was thinking of. Do you know? (Answer in the comments section!) I was *so* freaking relieved to have figured it out! It was driving me nuts!
- I was kind of bummed that I couldn’t stay to watch Lucas do his first show-and-tell at preschool today. Parents are welcome to stay only through “calendar time,” which I completely understand. I did bring our old camera to capture a short video of him during preschool, though, and I’m attempting to upload it to Flickr right now. Luke was in charge of bringing a snack for the class today, so we brought dog bone-shaped “Scooby Snacks” (graham crackers ~ thanks, Mom and Dad!) and white bread shaped like puppies with strawberry jam on top along with apple juice. He brought Learning Puppy and Blue for show-and-tell, so I tried to continue the theme. :)
- I’m swamped with freelancing right now. I have a book edit due on Thursday, then I have another book to edit after that. I’m interviewing two people tomorrow for a feature story that I’m writing, and I also need to make an appointment with someone else for a different article. Hope that I can get it all done. The end of the month is always hectic for me.
- I gave Meredith a bath last night. Dried her off, gave her a new diaper, changed her into pajamas ~ the works. And what did she do? Ran down the hallway and jumped right back into the bathtub. Fully clothed. It was hilarious!
- My husband has a business trip for work this week ~ just two days at West Point. He left this morning and gets back on Thursday.
- Green Mountain pumpkin spice decaf coffee is AMAZING. We sent some to my dad for his birthday (which was yesterday), and when he totally raved about it, I couldn’t resist buying some for myself. I’m the only one in our household who drinks coffee, and my parents gave me an awesome new four-cup coffee maker for my birthday! A little splash of milk, a sprinkle of sugar … voilà, an instant pumpkin-spice latté. Just delicious. Some of the best coffee that I’ve ever had! All it needs is an apple cider doughnut to go with it. :)
- Looking forward to snuggling with the kids tonight underneath our down comforter and watching a movie. :)
When my mom left for the airport yesterday, I decided to take Lucas shopping for his preschool supplies. I thought that it might help take my mind off missing her (nope!). I’ve been *so* excited about this new milestone for him. It was our very *first* time shopping for school supplies! Of course, I took pictures. Ohh, all the brand-new, crisp notebooks! The cool pens! The shiny folders! The erasers! The little safety scissors! The crayons! I am *so* into all of it. (Can I buy some school supplies for myself, too, even though I’m not a student?)
On the way to Target, Lucas told me that he wanted a blue backpack. I wasn’t sure whether that meant “Blue’s Clues,” but it turns out that he just wanted a plain blue backpack. He spotted one that looked *really* nice, but it was also $35! (I overheard a mom behind me saying to her daughter, “There’s *no* way that I’m spending $35 on a backpack!”) Too bad it wasn’t on sale. I almost bought it for him anyway, but then I noticed that it was for older kids and would have been *way* too big for Lucas to carry. I suggested that maybe he should check out the other backpacks, too, in case there was a “Cars” one. Indeed, there was. The very last one hanging on the rack. $14.99 ~ I can handle that. He fell in love with it. I slipped my arms through the straps and showed him how to wear it. And then … that’s when it happened.
He put his arms through the straps of his new backpack, and all of the sudden he looked OLDER. Almost like the kids who get off the school bus near our house. He looked *so* grown up. Oh my God. That’s when it hit me … our son, who is now almost three and a half years old, is going to PRESCHOOL! I just can’t get over it. He’ll be *four* in March! I swear … pretty soon we’ll be buying him a new notebook computer for his first year at college.
He’s been carrying around his new backpack ever since we bought it (and stuffing his toys inside). His teacher also specified a roll of paper towels, antibacterial hand wipes (which we have to go back for), a labeled shoebox with a change of clothes inside (we bought a Rubbermaid container the size of a shoebox), a package of markers (I opted for the washable ones!), a box of tissues, and three white glue sticks (I could only find purple disappearing ones at Target, alas). Isn’t that such a cute list?
I can’t wait to see how he does this fall. It’ll also be nice to have some one-on-one time with Meredith while he’s there. He’s very excited. Potty training is going well, but he still wears Pull-Ups ~ and I have no idea whether that’s OK. He’s a pro at going potty, though. I just hope that he’ll tell his teacher when he has to go! When my mom visited, she bought him a brand-new book about going to school. It’s almost like “sending him off into the world.” I can’t imagine how it’s going to be when he starts kindergarten!
I felt so overwhelmed on Saturday. Between freelance assignments with looming deadlines, my ever-growing to-do list, longing for a little bit of a break, and not being able to accomplish much lately, it just all kind of “hit the fan.” I sat down and wrote a blog entry, mentioning at the end that my husband would be in Baltimore all week for a business trip.
A few hours later, my mom called. I knew that something was up, because my parents don’t usually call us on Saturday mornings. She asked me, “Do you have anyone to watch the kids while you go to your doctor’s appointment on Monday?” I said no, that I was just going to bring them with me (ugh!). That’s when my mom replied, “Well … would you like to have a babysitter?” Kind of puzzled, I said, “Uh … sure!” And then she said, “Well … *I* can babysit, if that would be OK!” Huh? My parents live in Indiana! All I could say was, “What?”
That’s when my mom told me that she was going to hop a plane the very next day and stay with us until Thursday. She mentioned phrases such as, “doing the dishes,” “working on some laundry,” “babysitting the kids,” “fixing some meals,” and so on. My eyes immediately welled up with tears. I kept saying, “Oh my God!” over and over. I just couldn’t believe it. We got off the phone, and I just burst into tears. She had absolutely *no* idea how much I needed something like this and what *perfect* timing it was. Jeff said that it was an answer to his prayers, too, because he was concerned about me having to watch the kids all week by myself. I was simply on cloud nine. We hardly *ever* get to see our families. Read the rest of this entry »
The kids are watching “Cars” right now, on the futon in our bonus room. Just a few minutes ago, Lucas shouted, “Mom! I have to use the potty!” So, I paused the movie and put the remote control on my computer desk while I went into our guest bathroom with Lucas. After a few seconds, I heard the movie start playing again. I thought to myself, “Huh?” I went back into our bonus room to look, and here’s what I discovered. Meredith had gotten up, walked over to my computer desk, picked up the remote control, brought it back over to the TV, pointed it at the screen, pushed the play button, and climbed back up into the futon. Nothing ~ not even a potty ~ interferes with her movie watching! Looks like she’s taking after Daddy in the electronics department ~ fully mastering the remote control!
She *completely* made me melt last night. We were snuggling on the futon together, and it was almost bedtime. I gave her a bunch of kisses on her face and neck and said, “I love you!” Then, I asked her, “Can *you* say ‘I love you’?” She looked up at me with her beautiful blue eyes and sweetly said, “LOVE ooh.” It was her *very* first time saying that! I’ve been *so* looking forward to that moment. Seems like yesterday when Lucas said it for the very first time. I just wanted to scoop her up and hug her tightly and give her nonstop kisses. It was just *so* sweet. She also blows kisses now, too (which she learned from her friend Heidi in Chicago). She puts her hand up to her mouth and says, “Mmmmmuah!” And she’s saying so many more new words now, too ~ including “sippy,” “see you soon,” and “pup” (for her favorite Learning Puppy). Just the other day, she actually put together a longer string of words and said, “It is raining out.”
Isn’t she still a tiny baby? How can she be turning *two* in October?
Friday night, we watched “The Bucket List.” A bit depressing, but it’s definitely one of my *very* favorite movies now. (Anything starring Morgan Freeman is usually awesome!) At one point in the film, he asks two questions: “Have you found joy in your life?” and “Has your life brought joy to others?” I think that he may have nailed down the meaning of life right there. Without a doubt, that’s how I want to live my life. Just a beautiful, inspiring, and funny movie. I highly recommend it.
Today, bright and early at 9 a.m., Lucas and I walked down to our town hall and volunteered to help pull weeds and spread new mulch around the building. I thought that it would be good exercise for Luke (as well as an opportunity to be outside and enjoy the fresh humid summertime air). Lucas was a *huge* help, and he also got to take a few rides on a tractor (totally the highlight of his day!). It always makes me feel great when I can help, and I might go back sometime tomorrow for more work.
Tomorrow is Shannon’s birthday. (I won’t tell you how old she’s turning this year, but here’s a hint: she probably needs some wrinkle cream! LOL!) Oh, and when I turned the page of my “365 Amazing Trivia Facts” desk calendar this morning, I saw the trivia question for July 12th. It’s extremely appropriate and fitting for Miss Shannon: “When it comes to courtroom acronyms, what is ‘PINS’?” (The answer? “Person in Need of Supervision.”) :D
Ahh, just kidding, of course. (I know that she’ll appreciate those jokes!) She’s one of my very best friends. We met in high school when I was a freshman and she was a sophomore. We were on the newspaper staff together, and we hung out a lot. I miss living close to her and being able to get together on a regular basis. I am so grateful to have her in my life. (And who knows ~ maybe our daughters will become best friends someday, too!) Hope you have an awesomely happy birthday tomorrow, dear friend! Thinking of you on your special day! (And please, if you get a chance tomorrow, stop by her blog and wish her well!)
We made a trip to Wal-Mart and Price Chopper this morning. On the way out of the grocery store, Lucas and Meredith waved to one of the guys who was bringing in shopping carts. It really made him smile, and he said, “Pardon me … I hope that you don’t mind me asking, but … how old are your children?” I said, “Lucas turned three in March, and Meredith is 20 months old.” He shook his head in disbelief and said, “That’s just fantastic ~ them waving like that. They sure have manners. And that’s something that you don’t see much with most kids these days.” Wow ~ talk about making me feel wonderful! Manners are extremely important to me, and I want to instill that value in our children, too. One thing that I noticed right away about Jeff when we met for the very first time was how polite he was. :) That guy’s comment this morning made me feel so proud.
Let’s see … we’re heading over to our town’s farmers’ market late this afternoon, then we’ll pick up our weekly CSA share. And it’s homemade pizza night (Lucas requested pepperoni!). We also have a Netflix movie to watch this weekend (see the nifty sidebar widget that I just installed!). Other than that, I’m not sure what’s on tap for our weekend. I’d like to get my hair cut, but I just really can’t take Lucas and Meredith with me. Believe it or not, I’d kind of like to get my hair cut like Martha Stewart’s! (Do you think that style would look good on me?)
