WFMW - Fun link!

Not that my WFMW tip will change your life, but it will help you in those times of need when the name of an actor or actress just won't come to mind, or your viewing companion SWEARS that David Hasselhoff plays the dad in the Brady Bunch Movie and you know that it's really Gary Cole. Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) to the rescue. You can look up actors, movies, tv shows, and even enter the name of your favorite book to see if it is becoming a movie any time soon. You can also look up your favorite movies and find trivia and errors.

**WARNING: I was showing my good friend Jenny this magical site and said, "pick a movie, any movie." She picked "Savannah Smiles" and said, "I was wondering whatever happened to the sweet little girl that played Savannah." My demonstration didn't go so well when we learned the actress had died of a drug overdose. Poor Jenny, I ruined her favorite movie for her. So IMDB with caution**

Check out other (more productive) tips at Rocks In My Dryer!

Lazy blogging...

So on days when posting pictures with minimal words seems to be what I have the time (and energy or brain capacity) to do, I will henceforth refer to it as LAZY BLOGGING :). Today we headed to the park, bundled up in our sweatshirt that was a little too large. Monkey had a great time, as did I :). Thank goodness it is finally Spring!

Lovely view on our walk!

Monkey loved this, since he is all about flipping over and over now :)

Kinda like the swing at home only much colder :)

Question Game: 5 Senses

When I was in High School, my friends and I would play the Question Game: everyone anonymously wrote a question (simple, funny, awkward, or otherwise) on a piece of paper, put it in a bowl (or what ever was handy), and each person drew a question. Sometimes we'd all answer the question, sometimes you'd just answer the one you drew. I am hoping to keep that little tradition alive by posting Question Game questions from time to time. If you read this, you must leave your answer, or else...well, I 'll think of something intimidating :). So to kick it off, we have a five part question:

What are your favorite things to see, smell, hear, taste, and touch?

And my answers are:
See: My husband and son, people being nice to one another
Taste: Warm bread, ice cold Pepsi
Touch: My husband's hands, my son's skin, & soft fabric (fleece and flannel)
Hear: Laughter, ocean waves, & music
Smell: Rain, Swiss Army cologne, & anything associated with laundry (clean laundry that is!)

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

WFMW - For book lovers

I had written a WFMW tip a few weeks back on gift giving...the ultimate irony is that the man that I love, the man I know so well, is the most difficult person to shop for! However, my husband had this amazing ability to read (and actually remember) an book in an evening. So for his birthday I got him a subscription to booksfree.com...think Netflix, only for book worms :)! The most inexpensive membership is 2 books (or audiobooks) at a time for $10 a month. They send you a bag with the postage already on it to return the books for the next two off your list. The site has everything from fiction and young adult to self help and religion. The books are used paperbacks, so they don't always have the most current books out in hardback, but they have over 100,00 titles.

Booksfree.com works for me (and The Hubs), head over to Rocks In My Dryer for more WFMW ideas :).

It's good to be good...

I just noticed that my three favorite TV shows right now (I only see them thanks to the wonderful invention of DVR) have one thing in common: they show people trying to do the right thing and show that it's good to be a good person. My three shows are:

Eli Stone: Money hungry corperate lawyer with no morals suddenly has a vision of George Michael singing "Faith." Odd hallucinations follow, and Eli realizes he wants to change the direction of his life and the hallucinations offer him insight into the underdogs he needs to help. He remembers that his father, who also had these visions, told him "You're meant to do great things... speak inspired words... you're going to help people." Interesting factoid: Jonny Lee Miller (who plays Eli Stone) was Angelina Jolie's first husband.

Samantha Who?: Love, love, love Christina Applegate in this show. She plays Samantha, who after a hit and run accident and an 8 day coma, wakes up with retrograde amnesia (translation: she has no memory of friends, family, or her own history). She finds out she hadn't talked to her parents in years, was cheating on her boyfriend with a married man, and tended to be vain and selfish. She is trying to be a better person while learning what kind of person she used to be. Absolutely hilarious and insightful.

Miss Guided: I'm cheating, here is the discription from the home page: "Having finally conquered the awkward, traumatic world of high school, Becky Freeley (Judy Greer) returns to her alma mater as a guidance counselor with her insecurities and orthodontia a distant memory." Becky Freely is any person who was self conscious or awkward in high school, and yet despite her embarrassing moments, she remains optimistic and positive :).

Musicwise, I am currently enjoying the music of a little known artist called Monkey's Papa. He has a very unique spin on alternate lyrics to childhood songs that keeps me giggling and has Monkey memorized. However, we have learned the hard way that Monkey's Papa cannot wear hats or bandannas when performing because these items cause the audience to become confused, then scared, and then inconsolably upset until the headgear is removed (hint: it's not me, I actually love the sight of The Hubs wearing a hat). The other day I walked in to hear him singing (to the tune of the ABC's): "Monkey looks a little like me, won't he be as sweet as mommy..." I don't know for sure what swooning is, but I think I did it then :).

Silly Monkey :)

Here's your sign...

So as I am wiping down Money's bib after a feeding that left rice cereal on the floor, table, child, curtains, and I am pretty sure at least one of the cats (totally my fault, I dropped the bowl of rice cereal and it sprayed like a fountain), I noticed something on the tag: DO NOT IRON. Never mind the fact that this is a vinyl bib we are speaking of, what I want to know is...WHO IS IRONING BIBS?? I think I am doing fantastic to even have the bibs clean! I know that comedian Bill Engvall of "Here's Your Sign" fame says that companies post these warnings (like the warning on the Auto Shade, "Do not drive with Auto Shade in place") because someone out there has actually attempted it. I am glad that I have that little nugget of knowledge though, before I go trying to iron my vinyl pants before my next Girls Night Out.

In Monkey news, he is now sitting up like a proper gentleman, as well as eating baby food (we were side tracked with some GI issues and had to stop), and sleeping in his crib (big step for me). I am still in awe of how fast he growing and how much he has changed already. Here's a pic of him before heading out to play pick up basketball with the the other kiddos (Bibs vs Onesies) today:
Thanks for peeking in on us, take care!

We're baaaaaack...

No we did not win the lottery and skip town nor were we abducted by aliens...we headed to Indy to see my family and have Monkey baptized! The word road trip strikes fear in the hearts of some, but the Hubs and I are perfect road trip companions. You have to be compatible when it comes to your choice of entertainment (books on tape, comedy CD's, the license plate game), number of and severity of need for bathroom stops, and a shared point of slap happy, road trip delirium when everything becomes funny. I can honestly say that we have had some of our best conversations and created some of our best inside jokes on our trips to Indy :). Monkey did a stellar job on his first road trip to Indy, granted he was 2 months old and did what he did best...sleep and eat. A now 6 month old Monkey is a different story, and I was a little fearful at what point he would say, "Okay people, no amount of toys, distraction, or singing will deter me from from my mission of removing my heinie from this car seat!" But alas, Monkey travels like his mama...he sleeps :). He slept a record 8 hours both trips, waking for the last 2 hours of the trip. The ceremony was wonderful from what I could hear, our usually mild mannered, smiling boy was screaming almost the entire time (how dare we schedule the baptism during lunch time!). When we leaned his head over the baptismal font, I had to ask the Hubs to help hold on since Monkey was attempting to kick off my stomach and dive right in. He did show his true colors in the beginning, when the priest knelt down and said that we were here for the baptism of Monkey, he laughed :). We had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa and our cousin Mare-Bear, and seeing the rest of our Indy family. It is always hard to leave but it makes it easier knowing we will be back next month for Auntie Jess's graduation!

Cheesing with my grandparents

Snoozin' on the road

Remember when our folks did this when they were driving and not stopped for gas :)?

Playing with Mare-Bear

WFMW Premade baby scrapbooks

One of the best ideas for a baby shower gift I have seen was a pre-made baby scrapbook! The gift giver had taken an 8x8 scrapbook album and done pages for each month of baby's life up to one year! This way, a busy mom can keep up by picking one photo per month and placing it in the already made photo album. I made one for my son over a weekend before he was born and used 8x8 paper (Michael's and Joann Crafts have a great selection, Joann's also had a 8x8 baby theme scrapbook stack with paper, stickers, vellum quotes, etc) and Mat Stack 4.5x6.5 cardstock sheets. Place the 4x6 piece on as your picture (it is slightly larger than a photo and will frame it nicely) and create your page around it. I also included pages for holidays, first bath, etc. A weekend's worth of work to keep up on a year of scrapbooking works for me... check out other great tips at Rocks in my Dryer!

I'm not avoiding 30, I really am 29!

Although I am no longer 21 and I am a mother, I can still pull an all night birthday party with the best of them! However, the only the reason I was up all night was because my dear Monkey decided he wanted to celebrate my birthday by only ceasing to cry when I held him. He has not done this since he started sleeping through the night, but he decided his gift to me would be lots of snuggle time and very little sleep for his Mama. Bright and early, the Hubs took Monkey out of my arms, put him in his swing, tucked me in, and told me "Happy Birthday!" I promptly told him "Happy Birthday" and passed out :). We had a lovely dinner at Cheesecake Factory, remembering that it was the place he took me for my first birthday that we were dating and also where we ate right after he proposed. Good memories make great birthday presents :). I got the new Jennifer Weiner book, "Certain Girls" and the music edition of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (laugh if you must but it is awesome to read aloud on road trips, since it is made up of short stories, and our very favorite: mindless factoids!). We also got Jennifer Weiner's "Little Earthquakes" to listen to on our road trip, I got to pick in honor of Birthday Week. The Hubs is letting me try out Birthday Week without much complaint, yesterday I declared "Birthday Week" to get out of changing a poopy diaper but realized if I do that too often, I may not be married for my next birthday.

I look at how my life my has changed in just one year: I became someone's mother, I watched my husband become a father and fell more in love with him than I was before. I had times I treasured with my families and friends. I had the chance to comfort a child who was scared or hurting. I truly am in awe of the every miracles I get to witness and participate in and am so excited for another year of that! The following is a song I listen to when I am having the best or worst of days, to remind myself that I am blessed and lucky :).

"These Are Days"
by 10,000 Maniacs

These are days you’ll remember
Never before and never since, I promise
Will the whole world be warm as this
And as you feel it,
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you
Are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you

These are days that you’ll remember
When May is rushing over you
With desire to be part of the miracles
You see in every hour
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you are touched
By something that will grow and bloom in you

These are days
These are the days you might fill
With laughter until you break
These days you might feel
A shaft of light
Make its way across your face
And when you do
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
See the signs and know their meaning
It's true
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
Hear the signs and know they’re speaking
To you, to you

More misc musings...

Musing #1: As I am driving home this weekend, I am greeted by a huge electronic sign over the highway stating "AGRESSIVE SPEED ENFORCEMENT APRIL 1 - APRIL 15." This leads me to ponder several things: What exactly do they mean by aggressive? Why are they letting us know the cut off date...April 14th, be very careful, but April 16th, it will be like the Fast and the Furious on I35! However, maybe the Kansas Highway Patrol is submitting to the Livingston theory of Birthday Week and that is their gift to me...make everyone else slow down so I can get to work a little quicker :). I also saw a large billboard for a Psychic fair and it made me wonder if they have to let the Psychics know the fair is happening or if they just have a premonition of the location, time, date, etc.

Musing #2: When I was little my mother told us that we could have some Pringles chips but only when she opened them. So my brother and I would check them from time to time and they wouldn't be open yet and then they'd be gone. No, my mother wasn't having a Pringles binge nor did she have willpower of steel...she would peel back the seal halfway, remove some chips, and put the lid back on! Brilliant really because what 10 year old is going to look through the clear plastic lid and double check that the seal really is intact? Flash forward several years, I am an adult and perfectly willing to share Pringles with The Hubs...yet I still only peel the seal halfway back. It drives The Hubs crazy yet for my sake, he leaves the seal on :).

Musing #3: I have learned this week that scented baby wipes are fine as long as they are not food scents. After cleaning up Matthew's "artwork" (a 10+ wipe affair), I don't think I will craving cucumbers or melon any time soon, if ever again. I have also learned that a 13 work shift is way to long to break in a new pair of works shoes.

Just a few of the many things on my mind :). We have a busy but very exciting week ahead, we're making our second Indy road trip with the Monkey and can't wait to see the other half of our family. I have a feeling I am not going to be seeing much of the Monkey once we get there :). Have a wonderful week and thank you for peeking in on us!

WFMW: Project Linus

This weeks WFMW theme is posting your best idea to date... since I have only posted 2, I thought I would just go ahead and post something new :).

This is an idea for those of you crafty and not so crafty people looking for a summer project or something to do with your kids. I am a pediatric nurse at a large metro children's hospital and one of my very favorite things is receiving blankets from Project Linus. Named after Charlie Brown's friend Linus with his trusty security blanket, this group has chapters all over the US. "Blanketeers" can make and donate any kind of blanket (including quilts, tied comforters, fleece blankets, crocheted or knitted afghans, and receiving blankets in child-friendly colors), which are used for seriously ill and traumatized children, ages 0-18. Their website provides all the specifics as far as preferred sizes and local chapters (click here to see their homepage). From my personal experience, there is nothing more wonderful than giving a child something made with love to snuggle up with during a very scary time. Sometimes I have it waiting on their bed to greet them when they arrive, sometimes it "magically appears" on their bed when they are asleep at night. And I know for a fact that the teenagers appreciate them as much as the little kiddos :).

Project Linus works for me (and lots of other people), check out more great ideas for WFMW at Rock In My Dryer!