Random Question of the Week

When do girls stop crying EVERY DAY?

I keep wondering when this "magic age" is.

And when my oldest daughter will reach this milestone.

On numerous occasions, we have given the challenge, "Let's see if you can go a whole day WITHOUT crying!"

It has yet to happen!

Every day of the 7 years, 8 months, and 6 days of her life, she has cried.

The tears most often flow when she gets, "No" for an answer. But, there's also tears when it's time to get ready. Or when it's time to do her homework. Or when it's time to go to bed. Or when I pick up Miss B from Nursery (instead of her.) Or when she loses in a game. And very frequently on the way to school - and if not on the way - at home, before she goes. And most definitely when she gets teased by her brothers.

I kind of thought that after you reach a certain age - say 5 yrs. old, which means my middle daughter should be there, too - you only cry when you suffer physical pain.
Or severe emotional pain...which apparently all of the above mentioned items (& more) are just that, to her!

Random Question of the Week

What does one wear to/in New York City?

Especially if:

• One doesn't want to [appear to] be a fashion "outcast"
• A lot of walking may be involved
• One wants to be the *right* temperature (for September)

I'm a little bit clueless. :0

Random Question of the Week

"How do you do dinner during Baseball season?"
Fine print: I'm looking for other answers besides fast food.

OR the "Dinner of Champions" (hot dog, chips, & pop) purchased at the Snack Shack.

When games start between 5:00 & 7:30 PM and are a couple of hours long, dinner gets royally messed up.

Last week, we had "dinner" at the Honor Society Induction Ceremony (A glass of punch & an Eclair) since we arrived there immediately from a game.

I can start at 3:00 PM making dinner (there goes my blogging time!) and eat around 4:30 PM, but Matt won't be home for it - and he's practically the only fun one to cook for since he REALLY appreciates the food.

OR, we can eat between 9:00 & 10:00 at night after we're all home together again. That's great on your figure!

I've already packed a picnic a couple of times and I feel like I've exhausted all my food options: Cold Cut sandwiches and fried chicken.

BTW, did you all know about the FREE MEAL at KFC? Go to http://www.unthinkfc.com/ - but, Hurry and print your coupon TODAY because it's the last day to print. (you can use it until 5/19.) There's one of our baseball night dinners solved!! :) One hint, print it during an "non-peak" time because the site's busy - I printed mine around 10 PM.

So, please tell me how to do it. Is bringing dinner to the ball park the best option? Any other ideas besides sandwiches, chicken, & fast food?

Random Question of the Week

What are your Valentine's Day traditions?

Every year, I'm always wondering what I should do for Valentine's Day. I guess we have no "traditions." So far I've done something different each time - I suppose that's the "tradition" - does that count as one? I try things and then, because of the lack of extreme excitement or appreciation from my family I don't deem it worth the work/effort the following years. Is this another one of my "commitment issues?" This makes it harder on me since I have to keep "reinventing the wheel." Sometimes it's just too exhausting to be so creative!! :)

Here's what we've (I've) done in the past:

• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• CHOCOLATE - this tradition stems from when I was in Japan. February 14th is not called, "Valentine's Day," but is called "Girl's Day." The tradition is that GIRLS give chocolate to BOYS. There was chocolate EVERYTHING in the stores around this time. Chocolate shaped trucks, balls, houses, tennis rackets, money, beer cans, toilet paper, flags, fruit, Pokemon, baskets, etc. etc. But, don't worry...there was a "Boy's Day" later in the year (I think March?) to make things equal - but the boys gave girls toys or kites or something (Chocolate would be MUCH better!) So, I ALMOST always do the "Girl's Day" chocolate thing! But, I still don't stick to the same thing with this either, I try to think of a different chocolate idea every year - not as much to choose from in the USA!
• Make & decorate heart sugar cookies with frosting & sprinkles/candy. We do this a lot - but not EVERY year, so I still can't qualify it as a "tradition." This year? CHECK!
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Papa Murphy's heart-shaped pizza for dinner
• I even bought a baking pan that has 5 big heart shapes in it - one year I made brownies in it, decorated them & put one on a dessert plate for every one's place at the dinner table.
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Mandarin Take-out for dinner - we made sure to CALL right at 5:00PM to order! We put down a Valentine-y table cloth, sprinkled valentine confetti on the table and called it good!
• Make homemade Valentines with card stock, die cuts, glue, & stickers and then give them away.
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Eat off/drink from Valentine-themed paper products for dinner.
• Have a "red" dinner. All the food is red - strawberries, red punch, apples, red grapes, spaghetti, red jell-o, etc. I really am NOT fond of spaghetti & jell-o, though, (together or separate) so I didn't really like this one. What other red foods are there?
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Made chocolate-dipped Oreos, pressed valentine sprinkles/decorations into the chocolate & put in a sucker stick - gave some away & kept some for us.
• I put together treat/goodie bags (that have hearts or something valentine-ish printed on them) and put them at every one's place setting - another year I put them on their beds.
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• I'll spare you the details of ways Matt & I celebrate...;D Come to think of it, that Very Sexy cologne from Victoria's Secret I fed his addiction with DOES have a purpose after all!! :)
• When I was young, I remember our doorbell ringing all evening on Valentine's Day. When we'd answer it, no one was there, but there'd be a valentine(s) on the porch. This was always fun to pick them up and see who they were for. Without fail, sometime during the evening, there would be a PILE of presents, wrapped in red or pink tissue paper & tied up with ribbon, on the front porch when we answered the doorbell. These were from a secret "Cupid." I was always excited for this part of Valentine's Day, even though it was usually a package of underwear or socks for myself & each of my siblings - it was NEVER treats, my mom thought candy was "of the devil." (Thus, my current status as a sugar-aholic!) The thing that was so magical about it was that we thought it was my Mom doing it, but when we'd answer the door and squeal in delight, she'd be walking up behind us asking, "What is it?" So how could it be her? Come to find out later...she was sneaky...in one of our houses, there was a porch that went across the entire front and one of the bedroom windows was there, too. She'd climb out the window, leave the presents on the porch, ring the doorbell, and run back to climb in the window before the door was answered, walk back down the hall and be behind us when we brought them in! In the next house, there was actually a door that went into the garage at the other end of the porch, so she'd just go in there & enter the house through another door. Even though I LOVED this so much, I just don't think my kids would be thrilled with underwear - I feel like it takes SO MUCH MORE to please them - what happened to the simple pleasures of "the good 'ol days?"
• Matt & I have sometimes gone out on a date, depending on the year. I remember one very well - Valentine's Day 1996, we went out to Chili's. I was DUE with Ryan on 2/15- the next day (but didn't end up having the 10 lb. baby until 2/25!) So, you can IMAGINE how HUGE I was. Well, the seating hostess girl takes us to a booth...with an immovable table & bench. And I did NOT fit! Yep, it's true, I could not even slide in. And she says, "Oh, whoops! I thought we had pretty big booths." What was that girl thinkin'?!? Note to any restaurant staff out there - do not put pregnant chicks in a booth! We had to be re-assigned to a table with [forgiving] chairs! This year? Not lookin' too good since I still have to work. :(

As you may have gathered, I'm very fond of Cherry Ju Ju Hearts - they have to be the Sweet's brand, though. But, if you don't get them early enough, they sell out and are no where to be found! So, again, not a "tradition" since some years I was unfortunate enough not to get them. This year? CHECK! I got them 4 weeks ago in St. George!

Anywhoo...I'm sure y'all have some good nuggets of Valentine's Day wisdom...and I ask you to share!! Otherwise I'll have to come up with "PLAN O" or keep using one of my "tried-once-or-twice-&-bagged-it" methods. But, I think I'm ready for a TRADITION! (subject to Family's reaction, of course!)

Random Question of the Week

Where's a good place to get watch batteries??

The last place I got one was Fred Meyer Jewelers and they charged about $15 (& couldn't get to me right away.) Well, I have about 4+ dead watches lying around now, (my own little "watch cemetary") and that'll cost me an arm & a leg if I go there again to get them all working!!

I could get a NEW watch for that amount!

There's got to be a less expensive place to get them replaced! Share your secrets with me, please!

OR is it old fashioned altogether to have a watch still and should I just be looking at my cell phone instead to tell time? (If I could ever find it in the "black hole" - my purse!)

Random Question of the Week

What time do you get ready for the day?

This is seeming to be a problem for me a lot lately...

You see, I start out getting ready for the day in the bathroom each morning, but if (more like when) I get interupted, I leave the bathroom before I'm done and then I forget that I never finished and I go on with things...Thus, abandoning the "getting ready" task.

Most often, it's minor like I didn't get to blow dry & brush my hair all the way out, so it's all funky & not very cute. Leaving the pick stuck in my hair is a common occurance, too. Sometimes, I go places wearing slippers or those big, thick, fluffy socks by mistake. And then I realize (when I happen to look down) that not only do I not match, but they're buldging out of any shoe opening AND I look absolutely DORKY! Those are bad, but it doesn't stop there! Oh No! It doesn't. I also don't get my make-up on at times - that in itself isn't that big of a deal, but it's when I start, then don't finish. You see, my very first step in applying my make-up is using this cover stick -- that happens to be green! (It's suppose to be good on red splotchy areas and/or blemishes.) So, I dot this on random areas of my face and then...you guessed it... leave the bathroom and that's as far as I get. Later in the day, I'll be talking to someone and I think to myself, "They sure are looking at my forehead/chin/nose a lot (& weird)." And, it's not until I happen to walk by a mirror that I see all the green dots! It'd be nice if someone in my family would tell me about this, but I guess they're used to it and think it's suppose to be like that?!? I think my least favorite side effect of my problem is this one...On occasion, I can be out and I look down and see a white shirt on my body and I think, "Huh? I thought I wore a red shirt today!" Then it all comes back to me...I must've made another premature exit from the bathroom that morning! The white shirt is my first shirt I put on and the outer shirt must still be at home! The problem with this?? This first shirt is SUPPOSE to be an "under shirt" - NOT meant to be worn alone. No, No, No! It is too short (especially on my post-baby body). It's use is to provide coverage & a "pop" of color up top ONLY, like with a V-neck. So, needless to say, it doesn't cover my stomach all the way and looks horrid if worn alone (with everything hanging out.) Again, when I see THAT in a mirror (when it's too late. of course) I run through my mind how many people actually saw me like that - always too many!

Why didn't someone tell me?

They probably didn't want me to feel bad by bringing it to my attention that my shirt doesn't fit! Well, that's not the worst problem -TELL ME!

Anyway...what time do all you normal people get ready?

Random Question of the Week

After being so pleasantly surprised with this new restaurant I didn't even know about a few days ago...it got me thinking, "I bet there are OTHER "best kept secrets" out there in the restaurant department!" And since it's my birthday later this week and I MADE Matt PROMISE that the ONLY way I would marry him the same week as my birthday was if I'd get TWO separate celebrations, TWO separate gifts, and TWO separate dates every year, (of course, he agreed!) so that means I'm making plans. So, let me take this opportunity to ask a question....

What is your favorite restaurant?

Random Question of the Week

Why can't grocery stores EVER get the pricing right on the WHOLE purchase and/or manage to include EVERYTHING you purchase in your bags to take home?!??
Seriously, I don't think I've ever gone grocery shopping without one of those 2 errors occurring.