smile-worthy

Okay, so I have to go to the dentist again today. And this time it even involves shots and drills and all manner of nasty things. I've already been sick, despite the fact that I knew better than to put anything in my stomach besides coffee. Uhh yeah. Way too much information. Sorry. Panic overload.

But I am not going to allow this mental meltdown to lead me down any paths as stupid as I did last week. Instead I figured it was a good time to focus on "good stuff."

*The Ask and the Answer...only a bit over a hundred pages in. Know a lot of shit is coming. Want to know so badly what's to come, yet realize I'm not going to like it. The events, that is. Not the book. Nearly certain I will continue loving the book.

*On a related note, Rich started reading The Knife of Never Letting Go last night. Squeeee. :D :D :D Doesn't it just make you downright giddy when someone you love starts reading a book you love?!!!

*This vlog. Okay, I hate that I caused Ana so much stress...really I do. But I am so very, very happy that she made this vlog!!! I probably shouldn't admit how many times I've watched it already. Kind of like the way I look at my pictures of our visit with Chris all the time. And Renay. Ahhh, I just have the greatest friends. :D :D :D :D

*This outfit. Just makes me smile. (And makes me wish that I could dress like her.)

*This vlog. Oh my goodness, how I love this video review!!! Amanda and her boys are just too adorable for words. Seriously. :D

*Okay, here's a no-brainer--the read-a-thon is less than a week away! :D :D :D :D  So, so, so, so, sooooo excited.

*One more vlog. Eva simply could not be any cuter...I just love how she arranges her bookshelves! And what fun getting an in-depth look this way...feels almost voyeuristic. Anyway, it looks so pretty arranged by color. Wish I could do that, but I know I'd never be able to find anything.

*And speaking of bookshelves. Yes, I'm still in the process of rearranging our "library." Rich put a few more shelves in the former closet, so I'm going to be able to get all of Annie's books (not counting the massive number of books she still has housed in her bedroom, that is) into there. And this means, I will get one whole wall for my fiction! :D And Rich also built an additional bookcase for that wall this weekend...we're sneaking it in behind the door. Anyway, maybe when I finish rearranging, I'll post pics of the completed sections. Ahh, I just love playing with all the pretty books. :D

In fact, I think I will head off and do just that while I await my doom...

good stuff...the Rich version

Excuse me for being all mushy this morning...but today is our 19th wedding anniversary, and I feel pretty damn blessed!

*There is no way on Earth I could even imagine being married to someone more supportive than Rich. Seriously, supportive in every thing I do.

*He is so not afraid of embarrassing himself, which allows us to be incredibly goofy. (Much to Annie's chagrin.)

*While he may entertain thoughts of slipping arsenic in my coffee for posting this picture of him, he would never actually follow through.








*He LOVES reading, and accumulating books! So very convenient for me, as I never have to make excuses.

*As much as I hate the fact that I got fat, he couldn't care less. He really couldn't. He tells me all the time how beautiful I am. His rose-colored glasses are obviously very thick!

*He does so many things to make me happy...everything from keeping the car filled with gas because I don't like to do it to bringing me little treats to cleaning the shower because I'm swamped with other work to saying totally awesome things like this:

"Since we're heading as far Memphis on vacation, maybe we should just haul off and go meet Chris in New Orleans. Who knows when we'll be down South again."

*He is such an incredible Daddy to our monkeys. So extremely involved. Not only is that wonderful for them, but it truly makes being a Mommy so much easier.

Happy Anniversary, Rich! I love you more than I can say! (And I apologize about the photo, but it was the most recent one I had. Besides, you look pretty darn good in my book.)

good stuff

*I finally finished a book!

The Golden Phoenix: Eight French-Canadian Fairy Tales by Marius Barbeau, retold by Michael Hornyansky. Okay, so it was a very short book at just under 150 pages, but it was a book nonetheless. And quite an enjoyable one. It's not that I'd forgotten that I love folktales, but I think I had forgotten just how much I love them. There wasn't a single tale in this collection that I didn't enjoy. Quite the contrary...this was a wonderful little collection! In my limited experience with folktales overall, I think I've only previously read one French-Canadian tale, "The Talking Cat," so it was great fun to read the tales in this book. They definitely had both their own feel (like containing lots of Jacques and Jean Petits :D ), but they also seemed to contain all those classic folktale elements. Bottom line, I highly recommend this book to folktale lovers of all ages!

*Wonderful blogger friends who introduce me to books that I likely never would have heard of otherwise. Yes, as in the book above. Thank you, Kailana!!!

*The wonder of imagination.

This adorable little munchkin (I'm his mom--I'm allowed to be biased) lost the first of those all-important top front teeth. I asked him if he thought the tooth fairy would be paying him a visit that night. He answered, "There is no tooth fairy." Oh man, my heart just sank...how could he be growing up so fast?!! But then I asked him where the money came from and where the lost teeth disappeared to. His answer: the Tooth Cloud. Huh? Well, according to young Maxidoodle, the Tooth Cloud drops down the money and then sucks up the tooth. This was a totally new one to me, so I asked him who told him about the Tooth Cloud. "Nobody. I just heard it in my head. And I'm pretty sure I'm right."

(Yes, the Tooth Cloud did come through for him.)

*Wonderful blogger friends who send me e-mails that make my heart smile. For all kinds of different reasons. Thank you, Nymeth and Shanra!!!

*Silliness. Plain and simple.

















*Surprise visitors.






















*Book lists.

Don't lists of books just make you giddy right down to your toenails?!! Well, I just found one I'm super excited about. Susan at Black-Eyed Susan posted her unofficial list of great YA by or about women of color. It's my new personal reading challenge to read them all. Susan is pretty new blogger to me...and she's so awesome. Renay kind of awesome. Nymeth kind of awesome. Eva kind of awesome. Dewey kind of awesome. You know, that kind of awesome that speaks up about things that matter. The kind of awesome that makes a difference.

good, good stuff

*Gray awoke feeling so much better! He'd been in absolute agony the previous two days due to a horrendous ear infection. I seriously think he cried nearly as much in those two days as he has in the rest of his life put together. Today, he's like a whole new boy. :)

*The most wonderful letter arrived in the mail from Eva! I kid you not, this was the most pleasant thing to arrive in our mailbox in ages! Here it is her birthday today, and I'm the one who got the sweetest gift from her. :) Happy Birthday, Eva!

*Our first daffodils are on the verge of blooming! Maybe we'll see their cheerful yellow sunshine on Easter day.

*A humungous bowl of fresh homemade potato salad in the fridge to go with our ham tomorrow. Mmmm.

*The anticipation of making a book pile and a goodies stash for the Dewey's Read-a-Thon.

good stuff...

*Being pleasantly surprised by a book. I was sort of dreading picking up Jane Eyre. But I chose it as Annie's first read for our new literature unit, so I had to dive in eventually. And yes, I admit that I've only so far read the first five pages...but I discovered that I actually enjoyed it! Here's to the next 400+ pages being equally enjoyable!

*Yesterday was a truly glorious spring day here! A high of 56 degrees and nothing but sunshine all day! Yes, it is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow, but that's okay. Just makes days like yesterday all the celebrate-able, right?

*Chris's heartwarming post.

*Seeing four species of salamanders on our nighttime hike.

*Hearing the excitement in Mom's voice when she was telling me about their upcoming trip.

*Knowing I shall conquer the dirty clothes mountain today.

*The video that Renay has at her Herding Cats Challenge site. The boys have made me play it at least a dozen times, and we all still laugh every time.

good stuff...

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence is all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all ...

The Zombie Chicken Award! I mean, come on, is this not the coolest little award ever?!! But you know what really broadens that smile on my face and in my heart? The incredibly kind words from Becky. It's not just that I admire Becky...and admire her I do. I mean, seriously. She gets more than ten times the amount read that I do. No exaggeration there. And she reviews it all! I love the amazing variety she reads...everything from picture books to classics to young adult to non-fiction. I may not be interested in reading every book she reads, but I sure as heck am interested in what she has to say about each one anyway. Yeah, she's somewhat of an addiction. :) She maintains numerous blogs, each one a wonderful place to visit. She hosts numerous challenges...and with such a wide variety, she's always got one going to match anyone's interests. (Or in the case of some us, several.) But even beyond Becky's awesome energy and sheer dynamo-ness, there's Becky's heart of gold! Yeah, I would admire all she does no matter what. But I wouldn't love her the way I do if she wasn't such a welcoming, kind, authentic sweetheart of a person! Bottom line...thanks Becky...it means the world to me that I get to call you friend.

And I must admit that I'm now going to brave facing the zombie chicken wrath. Scary, isn't it? I'm hoping the cats will help protect me, if it comes to that. Okay, but seriously, it's not that I wouldn't love to pass it on...because I can think of so many people who deserve it. Hence the problem, so many people. And I've kind of adopted the policy that I know some others have, of not passing these award along.

Okay, I realize that it's a bit hard to top the Chicken Zombie Award, but I've got a bunch more good stuff that put a smile on my face, too:

*We survived the Science Fair last night. The boys worked together on a project testing who had the cleaner mouths--them or their pets. It was the first year the school put on a science fair, and there were no judges or anything like that. It was just great fun, with lots of interesting exhibits. Some of the kids had very, very polished posters. Very few kids actually reported any sort of experiment, however, and instead made a poster presentation describing something "science-y." Everything from how the eye works to a comparison/contrasting of Jupiter and Earth to how waves are created in the oceans. Unfortunately, I'd failed to check the camera before we went and found that the battery was dead when we arrived. :(

The boys' poster was far from the most "professional" looking, as they did the writing, cutting, etc. by themselves. But everyone seemed to agree that their experiment was pretty darn cool. And Gray's hypothesis probably got more laughs than anything else there (yeah, so not the goal of a science fair project, but he kept it real anyway).

His hypothesis: We think Baker will have the most germs because he licks the floor, eats his poop, and doesn't brush his teeth.

Their experiment proved their hypothesis wrong though. Max had the most germ-y mouth, with 172 germ colonies grown from his swab; Gray followed with 163 colonies. Their pets, on the other hand, had far fewer...Baker 8 and Lucky 2. Hmmmm.

*I finished the taxes! Both state and federal. Such a relief to have that done.

*Annie's most recent poems, especially "Starwalkers"...I love that one.

*My dear friend Kara's little guy turns one-year-old today!!! (Though I'm at a complete loss to explain just how one whole year has gone by already.)

*Jean's incredible travelogue! My cousin-in-law/friend is currently in Vietnam. Her husband is teaching there for a month, and the whole family was lucky enough to get to tag along. They are seeing so many incredible sights, and she's sharing it through tons of wonderful photos and commentary.

*The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. I'm almost done with this book :( ...but oh my gosh, I just can't tell you how much I've been loving it. As Chris was just saying yesterday, "Do you ever go into a book expecting to like it, not really knowing much of what it’s about and then you start reading it and find that you absolutely love it?" This is definitely one of those books for me!

---Tomorrow, I can hopefully add "I finished writing the 3rd Quarter Progress Report" to the list...but that means I'd better go get started on it.

good stuff

*freshly fallen snow

*new blog posts from treasured friends who have been absent for a while

*Morning Edition's story on doodling...yay, turns out it's a good thing

*Morning Edition in general

*the smell of freshly brewed coffee

*starting a list of "possibles" for Once Upon a Time

*knowing the weekend is just around the corner

*fun coffee mugs, like the Flintstones one I'm currently drinking from

*little boy giggles...oh yes, they are every bit as sweet as little girl giggles

another dose of good stuff

*It's Square Root Day! (Yeah, I've no idea why I think it's so cool, but I do. And we won't get to celebrate it again for another seven+ years, so we'd better live it up, right?)

*Hot Cinnamon Sunset tea...mmmmmmmm...

*Already having an idea of what I'm going to make for supper tonight. With big bonus points for knowing that no one will be complaining when they see what's being served. :)
Why is deciding what to cook always so much harder than the actual cooking anyway?

*Starting a new book with the boys last night that had them saying, "Just one more chapter."..."Just one more chapter."..."Just one more chapter." And the short little chapters that allowed me to oblige them numerous times.

*Silly beagle antics. And even sillier kitty cat antics.

needing a quick dose of good stuff...

Never in my life has the Christmas season been this totally out of hand. (Scheduling the end of a school quarter for this time of year was definitely a HUMUNGOUS mistake!) I seriously feel on the verge of a breakdown. And what does that call for? Yep, a look at all the good stuff of the past week.

*SNOW!!! 19 inches in the past 48 hrs., with another 12+ called for in the next day and a half! So even if a warm front appears out of nowhere, we should still have a buttload left to make sure it's a white Christmas. :)

*Annie finished her first college class! She should find out her grade in the next few days. (Unless she totally blew her final project, she'll probably receive an A- or B+.) So proud of her for giving it a try and for facing the challenges with a smile.

*Jean! Not only did she send me two cards that put huge smiles on my face, she also sent me A Taste of Earth and Other Legends of Vietnam by Thich Nhat Hanh. It looks wonderful! Thank you, Jean!

*Zanna's Gift by Orson Scott Card arrived in the mail while we were away for the day yesterday. I simply had to order it after reading Chris's wonderful review.

*Finally finished all the Christmas baking, and Annie delivered tins of cookies to all the neighbors on Friday.

I hate so very much that I haven't had time to visit everyone's blogs to see how everyone else is fairing. I miss you all so very much! Hope each and every one of you is having a beautiful holiday season!!!

geeking...week 17, day 6

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens

Oh yes, I love that one! And of course, it makes me want to add some good stuff...

*baking rolls from scratch (you know that whole domestic goddess-like feeling that comes from yeast and rolling pins)

*two apple trees and a pear tree dripping with ripe fruit

*sweet, supportive friends like Nymeth and Melissa and Trish

*a soft bundle of fur (a.k.a. cat) curled up in your lap as you read

*four phone calls in three hours from a daughter who obviously just likes to talk to you

*a clean bathroom (at least for the next few hours)

*this post by Bellezza!

Yep, so many blessings.

good stuff

How could I have let so much time go by without reminding myself of all the good stuff a day can bring?!!

*the cool, crisp morning air signaling that fall is indeed on its way

*hanging a freshly laundered load of towels on the line to dry

*a mini peppermint patty

*the dulcet sounds of Annie's flute practice

*the smell of the fresh cut grass

*a sweet husband who not only cleaned the kitchen floor for me last night, but did the grocery shopping this morning

*the thrill of gathering up a nice big pile of creepy reads

*an abundance of little boy giggles as they dig together in the dirt

*the satisfaction of finally beginning a project that's been put off for too long

As they say, life is good.

good stuff

*It's Friday!

*The library's spring sale starts today!

*The Flyers are up 3-1 in their series against the Canadiens!

*It's supposed to warm back up this weekend (the snow flurries this week were most unwelcome).

*Finding Gray's bad dreams weren't really bad dreams. He woke me up twice last night, yelling in his sleep. Sounded like he was having some really bad dreams. When I asked him this morning, he said, "I didn't have any bad dreams. All I remember is having a boxing match with a bear."

***edited to add***

*Me won the chocolate monkey! Me won the chocolate monkey!
Thank you Dewey!!!

good stuff

*The weather continues to be glorious...you'd swear by the temperatures that it was late June, not late April. Now the tulips are blooming along with the daffodils. And even the cherry tree and the pear tree are bursting into flower.














*The kids and I are off to the local nature park this morning for their Earth Day Celebration (a tree-planting ceremony, a black bear presentation, and some wetland ecology activities).

*Annie got some exciting news this week. (Do not feel obligated to go read my shameless bragging. Seriously.)

*Today starts Educator Appreciation Week at Barnes & Noble. Gotta love that 25% discount!

--Hope everyone has a super-fantastic weekend!

good stuff

Ah, it's just a great morning...

*snow coming down in big, beautiful flakes

*homemade brownies in the kitchen

*two glorious hours of "for fun" reading in peace before anyone else got up

*being productive enough yesterday that there may be time for some scrapbooking this afternoon

*The Traveling Wilburys singing "Last Night" on my iPod...yes, I'm hopelessly old and incredibly uncool

*a couple of goofy boys who leave me in hysterics

good stuff

The abbreviated version:

*Cheerios

*snow

*ibuprofen

*glue dots

*homemade spaghetti sauce

*David Attenborough DVDs

*kids and "goggles"

another week of good stuff

Lying in bed Friday night, I decided that I was taking the week off from blogging. This is winter break here in our little neck of the woods, and it exquisitely wonderful that Rich's college always has winter break matching up with the local school districts. Equally as wonderful is the fact that my birthday always falls during winter break, and it has become somewhat of a tradition for my parents to watch the monkeys for a few days during the week as part of my birthday present. Anyway, I have these somewhat ridiculous ideas about all I can get accomplished during this week (finish up at least 3 books, make at least 10 scrapbook layouts, finish up a lot of lesson plans, etc.)...but figure that I've got a much better shot at reaching these goals if I just make myself stay off the computer. Doesn't look like I'm doing so well, huh? It's not quite as bad as it seems though...it's just that I remembered that I'd already had this draft started for this week's good stuff, so I decided that I ought to just go ahead and post it.

*the return of Jericho (yes, I am slightly obsessed)

*Gray's beautiful Valentine art (though my photographic skills don't do it justice)



*conversation hearts (yes, I know I've said that before, but I just love those little nuggets of flavored sugar)

*and while I'm on the subject of Valentines, there's Dawn's post on love that I thought was quite beautiful (unfortunately I couldn't post to the exact post, but it's entitled "the greatest contradiction" if you decide to pop on over to read it)

*and while I'm on the subject of posts by fellow bloggers, there's this one by Jean about working the polls on election day

*fairy tales

*Uno winning the Westminster Dog Show...go beagles!

*and while I'm on the subject of beagles, there's this photo of my favorite one along with my favorite guy



*the start of winter break

Can't wait to catch up with everyone next Sunday!

GOOD STUFF

Jericho is back tonight! Oh, I am one happy camper...

good stuff

*homemade waffles

*hugs from lovable little munchkins

*this card, sent to me by Jean, after one of my posts last week:


Thanks Jean! I can't help but smile every time I see it!

*a wonderful husband who does the grocery shopping for me

*a visit from two of my favorite people in the world...love you Mom and Dad!

*hearing that all is still going well for my dear friend Kara with her pregnancy (last time around she a really, really rough time)

*finally finishing my first book for the month of February

*new books (Gossamer by Lois Lowry and Wastelands: Stories of the Apolcalypse edited by John Joseph Adams)...and no, I'm not even going to try to justify these purchases

For good news from other little households around the globe, visit Melissa's Good News Sunday.

good intentions

Well, last week was the first week of "Quarter 3" of Annie's school year...though a much abbreviated week, as we took Monday and Friday off along with the boys. And I had honestly planned to get back to my "homeschool happenings and highlights" posting. But the weekend went by and I didn't get to it.

I love doing my "good stuff" posts, and figured that since Melissa is now hosting Good News Sunday, Sunday would be the perfect time to post a new one. Again, it didn't happen.

Rich got home a little early from work on Friday, and I decided to just blow off all responsibilities and head to the basement and scrapbook for a bit. (Surprised I remembered how as it's been so long.) Meant to post my layout. Obviously, that didn't happen either.

Yep, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging, huh? And don't worry, I do realize that is a good thing.

Anyway, here are the condensed versions:

"Homeschool Happenings and Highlights"
--Annie's favorites from the week:
*starting The Giver
*swimming lessons
*watching Nature: Alligators and Crocodiles (reptiles unit)
*watching Save Our History: Star-Spangled Banner (War of 1812 unit)

"Good Stuff"
*having Rich home...of course!
*conversation hearts "in season"
*having two extra days off from school
*starting The Fellowship of the Ring and finding that I was an idiot for ever having felt intimidated by it
*making time to scrapbook
*cuddling up with a warm beagle
*cuddling up with a warm husband to watch 2 episodes of Jericho
*paperbackswap.com, from which I got Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
*gift cards, which allowed me to pick up Blaze by Stephen King, The 6th Target by James Patterson, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (I know, I know, I was trying to save the rest of my gift cards, but with the discount from Educators Week, I just couldn't resist. But now the cards are spent, and I'd better start reading!)

"Creating Update"
*one scrapbook layout

*working on another project that I can't really talk about yet

Okay, and now I best get back to my previously scheduled life. (And catching up with everyone else's lives.)

more good stuff...

It's been far too long since I've done a "good stuff" post. I'm so blessed and so grateful for so many things...

*all the wonders of fall















*photos (especially when I'm really missing someone)




















*wonderful parents who spoil my kiddos















*prizes...and even better, kind, generous people who go out of their way to make other people happy (This is the prize package I got from Carl from this spring's tiny story contest. Isn't he amazing?!!)















*pupper dogs (Oh, he can be quite a little handful at times, but one look at that face, and I just melt!)




















*Poppets! My first! (There are actually two more hidden away for me, a purple one and an orange one, for under the Christmas tree. Subtle hints, like pulling up the eBay screen and saying, "Gee, that would make a really good Christmas present!" do sometimes pay off.) And again, I might mention kind, generous people...for along with the Poppet, Lisa Snellings-Clark, artist extraordinaire, included the cool pin and bookmark and even some Halloween candy, which the boys promptly claimed for themselves.