Casting about for positive small things

Now that I'm singing, "these are a few of my faaavorite things," (now you are too and you're welcome), I just thought I'd throw out some things that have made me smile in the past week. 

Ignore the Ninjabread cookie kit in the background. I bought those years ago and ended up pitching the actual cookie mix because it was so old I didn't even want to try it. I've found a replacement gingerbread cookie mix that I tossed back in the box and still it waits on the counter...

Anyway, that would be a birthday cake because I'm now officially in my late 40's, according to my little brother anyhow. I added green and silver sprinkles despite the fact that I'd be a Hufflepuff and not a Slytherin. 

These nightstand plants don't have names, but they are buddies hanging out in my bedroom. The cactus has been around for at least a decade and was so dusty and pitiful that I felt sorry for him. I switched nightstands and gave him a friend and he's all perked up and glossy and blooms! Amazing. Just goes to show we all need time with our friends. And sunlight. The one on the left was from my parents' bathroom at their old house. It's also growing every which way and probably needs a new pot and to be rotated. They don't look as green as they actually are in this soft, furry morning light.

These incredible pumpkin chocolate chip cookies were mailed to me by my bestie, who also offered the recipe. I had to turn her down because if I knew how to make these bad boys, my two remaining pairs of appropriate-for-work pants are certainly not going to keep fitting either! YUM.

I believe this is called a Thing Two Placeholder...

My cart at Aldi had a sticker! I think it was meant for me. *beam*

What small things are making a big difference in your outlook?

 

Thing One and Thing Two are so busted.

 

These people that I live with drive me crazy for myriads of reasons, but I think you'll be able to tell why in this particular case.

In their defense, the dishwasher was full so that's why there is a handful of dishes in the sink not including things I tend to do by hand. I'm not mad about the dishes. 

Let me give you some facts:

1. Dada brought home both those ice cream containers on Tuesday.

2. It is now Friday morning.

3. Dada had none from either ice cream container.

4. I had none from either ice cream container.

5. The dogs, to their intense dismay, had none from either ice cream container.

(Not a fact but a speculation: I don't think the Damonater had any from these ice cream containers.)

HOW'RE BOTH CONTAINERS EMPTY BY THURSDAY NIGHT?!

Drat those two Thingz!

Do you wanna build a snowman?

I took the above photo (I think of it as Frodo's "Dead Marshes") at lunchtime on January 19. I liked that you could see pieces of blue sky in the standing water amidst dormant grass.

The photo below was taken Tuesday at 5:45 pm.

This next photo was Wednesday around 1 pm. We certainly didn't get the 8" that was the predicted high end, but as the photo shows it's always hard to tell what we officially got because ours doesn't stay put. We'll have multiple inches in some spots and bare ground in others. We did have a tremendous amount of slush. I attempted to shovel and decided the tiny walkway was all I was going to do. It's supposed to get up to 35F today though right now it's saying with windchill it feels like 7F. 

You may have seen BGSU's snowball fight with one of their mascots, Freddie Falcon, taking a snowball straight to the beak. Here's a clip of some of the chaos: Sent-Tribune link

Our kiddos have yet to go build a snowman or start a snowball fight or anything as none of them appreciate cold weather. I guess if you have to be out in it, might as well have some fun!

 

Baby, it’s cold outside!

I was all excited to go play with “my” kids today as I was scheduled to sub as the art teacher. Alas, it’s the second snow day of the week. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a blessing to be able to stay home with my family and I appreciate being safe and warm at home. I’m just bummin’ for a few minutes.

Snuggle up with a friend and stay toasty!

 

Award winning

 I hereby declare, in an officially fancy-looking font, that Thing Three is certifiably the World's Worst Umbrella Holder. He is legit, folks. 

I should back up. Last week, I went for a walk in the rain all by my onesies, as Captain Jack Sparrow says. I don't mind rain. I have boots and I have, in theory and in name, a raincoat, and even a rain hat. 

Well, I forgot the hat but I did have my hood. I schlepped along pretty contentedly, skirting puddles and obvious mud-sucking areas. My good-for-nothing bangs snuck out from underneath my hood and began to drip water down into my face and along the sides of my hood. I stopped to shake like a dog a few times as my "raincoat" isn't truly waterproof, at least not anymore, and I'd rather get the wet off before it soaks in. 

I did about three miles and laughed at myself in the mirror when I got home. For the first time in a long time, I was wearing colorful eye shadow and some of that had run along with the not waterproof colorful mascara. All in all, I looked like a sad water color painting, haha.

I texted all that to my bestie, who asked where my bumbershoot was. I told her that I hated umbrellas because they always either turned inside out or busted, and I'd rather just be in my hood and/or rain hat and hope for the best. She laughed and agreed.

This morning it wasn't truly rainy, but very wet and drippy and heading towards foggy after a night of rain and temps in the low 40's. I figured it'd be a good day to wait at the bus stop under one of our big umbrellas. Damonater, dancing with delight, announced he'd love to hold the umbrella. However, he had difficulties getting it open, so he returned it to me. Voila, I found the button and WHOOSH. Inside out. First thing. Not even out in the wind. There's me standing there, holding what looks like an enormous flower beginning to open, huge drips of water from our oak trees plummeting down around us, this fool laughing beside me. *siiiiiiiiiiiigh*

After some good-natured piratey, black scribble griping, I got the darn thing set to rights and it actually stayed put. He took over from there but I sure didn't stay any drier. I try to watch down the street for the bus and he holds it so it blocks the horizon. He straightens it uprightish and tilts it back so it catches wind from the passing cars. It's still dark out there at 7 AM and this kid is cackling, "I LOVE umbrellas! They're so fun!"

"Child. It's purpose is to keep us dry. Hold it over us!"

*more waggling around* Bear in mind the child is 12. Twelve!

"Ahem. I can't see if the bus is coming. Hold it UP."

*more spinning and giggles*

"You are officially The World's Worst Umbrella Holder Ever."

"Yeah. I'm a doofus." *more chortling*

Oh my stars. One of us is going to end up at the funny farm for sure. At least there I'll be dry...

And we're off...

Happy New Year! 

It's been a slow start this morning, the first whole weekend of 2023. Someone called me at 8:37 which led to me grumbling, "who in the world would be calling me at 8:30 on a Saturday morning!?" They didn't leave a message, so I guess I'll never know. 

I was slouched at the dining room table with the Christmas lights plugged in, savoring my first few sips of hot coffee with coconut creamer when Dada strolled in, paused at the light switch and warned, "light."

"Whyyyyyyyy?" I slap my hand over my closed eyes.

No click.

He brings his coffee to the table and sits, his bottom lip poking out.

I peek out from under my hand. "That's not light."

"No, but you threw a lot of shade."

 

Back to life, back to reality...

 Thursday was slated to be a busy day- our first day back to school post-Christmas vacation as well as Liam's wisdom teeth extraction. I felt it appropriate to wear corresponding socks:

I do believe they're from my Muggin, and they read, "Dang it all to heck" which cracks me up every time. 

It exactly sums up Thing Three's feelings on returning to school:

Liam, who had gone the pre-surgical route of nothing to eat or drink for 10+ hours before surgery, was surprisingly pleasant going into the appointment. Here he is, delighted at all the tech he's being connected to, quipping, "I really AM a Borg!" If you're not sure what a Borg is, just Google it. It's even more terrifying now that it was then, and it was plenty scary then. As tech is one of his love languages, he was over the moon.

He was absolutely hilarious in the car on the quick ride home. He had long strings of gauze hanging out of his mouth and it reminded me of a Fu Manchu mustache. Apparently anesthesia makes him chatty. He held forth the entire drive and I was laughing so hard that I cried which is impressive as it's only about 7 minutes from where he had the procedure done to where we live. There was a whole lot of what sounded like he was talking through a towel, but a surprising amount of "thah wah well hun. Well hun!" 

"That was well done?"

"Yeth."

"Okay, I'm glad."

"Thah wah fanthathich! Well hun. Fanthathich!"

 

Everything went well. All five (yes, he's one of the lucky ones) wisdom teeth are out; he was sent home with 6 prescriptions to fight everything from infection to swelling to pain to stinky feet to bad hair days to... just kidding. There really are 6 prescriptions though two are only for emergencies. He's not a fan of the penicillin , exclaiming after each dose, "good God, that is awful!" It's pretty fun to watch his face turn inside out.

He swelled some but doesn't look like a chipmunk. You can really only tell because you know how angular his face is under normal circumstances. The only real arguments we've had since are about his not being logged into anything whilst he was under the influence. He was dead set on logging into social media to let a friend know how it went as their appointment was a few days from his and we were firmly against him putting anything out there that could be held against him later. Sometimes we just need saved from ourselves.