Spring Staples

Now that spring has sprung I feel the need to lighten things up a little bit. It's time to fold up the sweaters and long-sleeves, and pull out the short-sleeves and capri's. It's time to switch out my winter purse for something springy-er, and for heaven's sake it's time to get a pedicure so I can start sporting some sandals and flip-flops!!! Can I get an AMEN!?!

Because I'm a "Day", one of my favorite things to do is people watch. That's the politically correct way of saying "staring". LOL!! Don't get me started. Any-hoo, it's hard not to notice that other people are feeling the same way that I am...pastel colors are replacing darker ones, cute purses and jewelry are inspiring outfits, and toes are coming forth in all their polished and pedicured glory!! (I am so lame, huh?)

While I was in Michigan last weekend, my sisters and nieces and I did a little shopping in downtown Milford. It was so fun to be outside and to stroll through the little shops that are all decked out for Spring. Everything just looked so bright and beckoning. It made me want to come home and throw all of my clothes away. But we all know we can't do that. So instead, it made me start examining my closet...what to ditch, what to store for the summer, what to plan on purchasing...all in the name of change...because after all it is finally SPRING!!

One of the purchases I made was a cute necklace...a pendant that had the phrase "Well the landslide will bring it down." Isn't that ironically perfect for me? (Refer to last week's posts if you don't know why.) Anyway, I paired the pendant with a bird charm and my birthstone charm; and it has been inspiring me and making me happy ever since. Another gifted purchase was a Vera Bradley quilted purse from my sweet sisters...I love it!! It definitely makes me feel like Spring!! It even has little turquoise birdies on lime-green branches...so cute!! (Thanks you guys!)

What are some of your Spring wardrobe staples? What are the basic pieces that you find yourself wearing over and over again? What can you not live without? What are some of the new, exciting things that are giving you an extra "spring" in your step this season???

Why I Hate Oldies

For some reason oldies music is like listening to nails scratching a chalk board. I don't know why, it's harmless enough...fun, light-hearted, catchy tunes, right??? Da doo run run run, Sherry, Earth Angel...just to name a few. Not so much for me, I'm not feeling it. When I hear it, it all sounds monotonous and kind of drones on and on with repetitive, simple lyrics that kind of annoy me. There are a few that don't make me cringe, but I couldn't tell you what they are off the top of my head. It's the fifties teeny-boppy type stuff that I'm talking about...the 1,2,3 o'clock, 4 o'clock rock type stuff...seriously tedious to my sensitive ears.

I think it all happened when I was a teenager and worked at Carriage Cleaners over the summer of my junior, senior, and freshman college years. There was no air-conditioning (is this the story of my life or what?!?), and with the heat coming off of the presses combined with the summer humidity, it was always a million degrees in there. I could barely will my limbs to raise and lower properly. I would be drenched, thirsty, tired, hot, and irritated at pretty much everything and anything (or is this the story of my life?!? LOL!). Add to that irritation was the fifties music that my manager would have blaring in the back of the Cleaners. For her, it got her through the work day. For me, it made me want to either jump off a bridge, or work that much harder in school so that working at a cleaners wasn't my only lot in life.

So that's where it started. Now when I hear it I have that same feeling...like my brain juice is being sucked out of my eyeballs. Ironic thing is that this past Monday I worked at Sparkle Cleaners for our Home teacher, Tim who was visiting family for Easter. When Tim is not working at his Cleaner's, he is a deejay for a radio show every Saturday night. His deejay persona is called the "Rock 'n' Roll Wizzard" (Yes, he spells wizard with two z's). He broadcasts Oldies music; mostly from the 50's through the early 70's. Guess what his stereo in the Cleaners is tuned to? If that isn't irony coming to bite me in the hiney I don't know what is. Being forced to listen to Oldies in a Cleaners again 20 years later. Wow. How'd I get so lucky?!?

Memory Mondays

I thought my SIL's idea to post a memory on a Monday was fabulous. So here goes:

Maryn
Last week I took Maryn to Target with me. (She's a shopper like me thank goodness!) She was being pretty quiet in the backseat so I asked her what she was thinking about. She replied, "oh just what any normal 10 year old girl thinks about." "What's that? Jewelry, clothes, nail polish?!?", I asked. "Actually I was thinking about nail polish...wouldn't it be cool if there was a nail polish that was glow-in-the-dark, mood changed, and was scented all at the same time?!?" I laughed and told her I was so glad she didn't say she was thinking about "boys!!"

Avery
Sometimes Avery acts so mature sometimes that I forget that she is still very innocent and trusting. It doesn't help that she's practically 5 feet tall and in the next year may start borrowing my shoes. Anyway, as we left for Michigan for Easter she asked me how the Easter bunny was going to find them since we were leaving our house. I figured she had figured it out by now...guess not. I love that she still believes. On the drive home, she pulled out another loose tooth. Later that night, she told me to let the tooth fairy know that her tooth was in a green plastic easter egg on her bookshelf. When the tooth fairy didn't get the memo (oops!), she made sure to put the tooth in a more visible location the next night...this time in her tooth pillow on the middle of her headboard. It practically had a neon sign over it saying, "HERE IT IS! NOW GIVE ME MY MONEY!" She is such a cute girl.

Parker
As we driving to Mich. this weekend, Parker was pretty chill on the way there. She talked practically the entire time, but it was mostly happy jabber. She would wave at the cars and trucks passing by and say "hi-eee", "cahhhh (car)", and "ba-bye"...it was so cute. She is just so social and friendly right now. She enters a room and immediately is greeting everyone in the room (stranger or friend) with a wave and a "hi-ee". Even at the rest-stops, she would immediately greet the cashier, and anyone who was within earshot, it's when she was approaching greasy old guys with her friendly greetings that I began to not love her friendliness so much. She's such a sweetheart.

I Climbed a Mountain and I Turned Around

I kinda had a spiritual experience watching this on Oprah today. Have you ever really listened to the lyrics to this? Beautiful. Chalk this song up to one of my all-time faves. My beloved Dixie Chicks did a remake of this awhile back, but still not as great as Stevie!! And Sheryl is da bomb too, so well...perfection.

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Stevie-Nicks-and-Sheryl-Crow-Sing-Landslide-Video

Enjoy!!

The Consequences of Eating

We do a lot of eating in this house of mine. Some more than others, wink wink. But seriously, there are 5 hungry mouths to feed on a daily basis...make that thrice daily!! And that's where the work comes in.

I bet you thought this was going to be a whiny post about weight loss...Nay!! Although a blog-worthy topic, I don't really feel like going there today. Rather, I wish to speak on the subject of my Motherly-housewifery duty of procuring and preparing the chow for my ravenous brood.

If I had to describe it in one word, it would be: blah! Can I get an amen?!?

We (okay I) made a goal to eat out less in 2011, and to stay home and cook more. Not only is is better for the budget, but it is better for the health. You just eat better when you cook things yourself. It's not rocket science. However, cooking home more means more planning, shopping, and organizing. Not to mention, the cooking part of cooking. I don't mind cooking, I actually like it. Baking is another story. Love the baked goods, hate the baking unfortunately. :-)

Of particular disdain at the present moment is the process of grocery shopping. I really, really hate it. It's just not that fun of a job. And when you throw a budget into the mix, I would describe it with a word that starts with an H and ends with double hockey sticks.

I think part of the reason I hate grocery shopping is the fact that it requires so much time, effort, and thought. You have to first come up with a menu for the week, this can be a chore in and of itself. I find that I end up cooking the same 5 things week after boring, monotonous week; trying to dazzle and impress a family which ranges from picky to pickier. Then after you decide on a menu you have to write out the ingredients for the menu, and then search the store for the items. Then you have to load the items into the grocery cart, making multiple returns to the same aisle for a forgotten item, take the items through the check-out, bag them (which you have to do at Aldi yo-self), take them out to the car, unload them into the car, drive home, unload the bags into the house, then unload the items into the cupboards, fridge, freezer, food storage, etc. BLAH!!!!!! It is an extraordinary amount of work!! Even writing about it makes me dread it more.

I have to go grocery shopping for the week. I should have gone today, but I put it off cuz I dislike it so much. We are down to the nubbins in our fridge and pantry. We are resorting to eating corn as a side dish. Not that this is bad per se, but you know the pickins are slim when all you have on hand is canned corn.

I know the pay off is a good one. I enjoy cooking (most of the time). I like planning meals (most of the time). I like having a yummy finished product at the end of all the effort that goes into the preparation, but seriously is there anything worse than grocery shopping? Wait...don't answer that.

What you can tell me is this: how can I hate this less? Any tricks up your sleeve to make it less miserable?