Bones brothers

 Thank you to Mike who coined the title. Thing One brought home two plastic skeletons, one to have fun with as a passenger in her car and one for Thing Two's upcoming birthday since he was a Halloween baby and loves all things spooky. WE have been having a ball with them:

For those patiently waiting

I must apologize. I've been terrible about transferring quotes from our quote board to the blog, but there are some old ones up now (finally) at Telling It Like It Is over there on the right side, or you could just click on the link above. I have another half a quote board to do, but at least it'll give you something fun. So sorry! 

We've not been as good about writing them down in the first place lately, including a gem that I've forgotten half of. To whatever was said, Damon's reply was, "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down." Carrie wondered aloud, "did you ever even play with Weebles?" And I forget where the ensuing discussion went. All I remember was that the conversation took place in the car...

Maybe capturing quotes quickly should be a New Year's Resolution. 

All the hairy details

It's funny. I read in one of my multitudes of breast cancer books that I should box up all my hair care products so they're out of my way and I don't have to keep seeing them. I did my best, but those of you with plenty of hair know how hair clips and hair elastics and hair accessories seem to migrate all through the house, the car, into every handbag, etc. I thought I did pretty well gathering Stuff up and sticking it all in a box:

Then I remembered I also had a drawer in the kids' bathroom:

If the entire purpose of boxing up The Hair Stuff was to free space, the experts have seriously underestimated the generosity of my friends and family. This is not everything I received in the mail or in person, but it is the vast majority of it. The bandannas in the bottom left are representatives of a much larger stack of them which I've used throughout my life and especially at camp. To any of you who thoughtfully picked out fabrics, styles, and colors for my naked bean, I thank you. Thanks for spiffing up my wardrobe!

And to those of you who see me when I'm not wearing anything on my head, you now are absolutely sure that it is not because I am lacking appropriate headgear. Sometimes it is nice to just feel the wind in my hair eyebrows eyelashes ears. 

No, I really don't like that. I tend to pull all these suckers down so the wind doesn't do that...

There are many more tiny hairs on my head than there were a few weeks ago. Dada is teasing me about it coming in white and curly, but they look mighty straight-and-stick-outy to me. My Mary Alice calls it dandelion hair. Time will tell. Eyebrows also seem to be attempting a comeback and I have curled my eyelashes without fear of losing them entirely twice in the last week. This is what progress looks like!

"Second winter"

I put a funny I'd seen on Facebook onto my wall there which had Aragorn and some Hobbits commenting on "second winter" in a parody of their "second breakfast" conversation. While I realize some of you got way, way more snow than you anticipated for spring break, we've had flurries for a few days. 

The kids pulled a Neva on the way home from karate last night. If you're unfamiliar, Neva is one of their cousins who possesses a very determined nature. She was about two years old when she demanded her father get out of "her" spot:

Get out!

Can you use your manners, Neva?

*pause*

May I have a ... GET OUT... please?

=)

Last night the flurries were flying again, so the kids channeled their inner Neva and roared, "STOOOOOP SNOOOOOOOWING... please."

They thought it was hilarious. Now I had flurries AND loud kids in the car. Super.

Anyway, this is what our sugar dusting looked like: 

This post is brought to you today by the letters E-l-s-a...

"Winter is coming."

Say all the Starks in George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones series. They can stop saying it. Winter is here once again. We have not had a full school day since before Christmas. December 19, to be precise.

Last week we had 2 hour delays MWF. Tuesday and Thursday brought cancellations. Yesterday school was cancelled again. Today the kids had a 2 hour delay.

We are NEVER going to be able to get up and moving once life thaws out and things are running on time again.

Naturally, this leads me to muse about hibernation and all its wisdom. Who wouldn't want to eat all autumn, stocking up treats and fats so one could sleep through the bitterness of winter? How many of you find it easy to hop out of bed while it's still dark to go shovel your walkways/stairs/driveways while your brain is still in bed, dreaming of warmer memories?

I don't know about you, but I am solar-powered and have an awful time trying to find my motivation, much less use it, when it is dark from 5 PM until 8 AM.

And then there are the germs. How many of you have been sick since November? October? The start of school? Uh huh.

Yet one of the number one goals of the New Year remains to lose weight. How has it not occurred to us YET that our bodies are trying to stay warm to survive? Weight loss programs should start when it warms up. Like in June. If we're lucky.

How is one supposed to go from the candy canes, Christmas cookies, champagne, fruitcakes, Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinner, holiday parties, Christmas dinner, and all the leftover snacks to flipping over the calendar (or finding the new one, three weeks into the new year) and magically using willpower? Ridiculous.

How do people stay warm on skim milk/ soy/ no whipped cream drinks?!

There are several comics floating around various walls on Facebook. One has a sad little cartoon person stating, "The air hurts my face. Why do I live where the air hurts my face?"

It's a valid question!

Another has a bird with a decorated Christmas tree, a cheerful snowman, pristine snow, and a happy heart. He's singing "fa la la la la..." and the caption says either December or Christmas, I forget. The frame below it has the same bird looking pretty bedraggled, a half melted snowman, tracks and slush everywhere, lights taken off the tree, and the bird is stuttering, "f f fff fff ff" as the caption reads, "January-Spring. A cold, grey bucket of suck."

Completely appropriate. And completely hilarious to our middle schooler, though we all try to refrain from using that word.

2015 has been rough starting year. Our friend Helen's husband Jack passed away, our car was rear ended and totaled, our mailbox has been demolished by a plow (we think), and a mom from my moms' group has a sister who was in a car accident that left her oldest daughter in the hospital while she herself recovers from knee/leg/arm injuries. Both younger girls were fine. I'm sure you could list several accidents and injuries and even deaths yourselves.

Winter is here, and it is scary and uncooperative.

Can you tell that I'm a hater?

To cope, we're doing what people have done forever. We eat. We're having people over for dinner tomorrow- new work transplants. A family from South America and another coworker. We're trying to practice hospitality in a big way in 2015. Which means I'd better go and clean up so they're not frightened back to South America tomorrow night...

But I'll leave you with this. I saw it in the movie theater and thought it was hilarious. I'm not promoting any weight loss system, I'm just trying to brighten your day. It makes me laugh every single time I see it.

Be human. Stay warm. Do what you gotta do to survive the winter, and give yourself some grace. YOLO.