tag

My fabulous friends Beth and Susan tagged me via their blog, oh, sometime last week. I've had a lot of Spamalot- and Disney-related posts to get through (Seriously! We're going to Disneyworld.) before I could allow myself the total luxury of an entire blog post about myself. But, there's no putting it off now, so without further ado...

Seven Random Facts About Myself

1. You know the John Denver/Muppets collaboration without which Christmas would be just a hollow mockery of the holiday season? It appeared as both a record (which I now own on CD) and a TV special (which for some reason has never been released on video or DVD. Crazy!) Are you wondering what this has to do with me? I recently learned that the original airdate for the TV special was the actual day that I was born. (Hey Mom, did you watch it?)

2. Speaking of TV shows and childbirth, I watched NCIS when I was in labor with Porter. And I watched Scrubs both of the times I gave birth (the show has been on for several years, and it keeps changing nights).

3. My first car was a 1986 Chevy Caprice... which doesn't sound too bad until you consider the year was 1999. Calling it a rust bucket is actually fairly generous.

4. I don't know any foreign languages. How did I manage to avoid learning one, you wonder? I took Latin in high school.

5. Despite having been an avid scrapbooker for over six years, I don't subscribe to any scrapbook magazines and I never have. I'd rather get back issues at the library and spend my money on something else (usually paper). My favorite mag. is Scrapbook Trends, which is $15 an issue (seriously: ouch!) but they are also the most likely to publish me, so I get a free issue from time to time.

6. My favorite kind of bagel is Everything.

7. My favorite scent at Bath and Body Works is Peony, which used to be a limited-edition and is now part of their regular lineup. The peony is also the state flower of Indiana, so that seems appropriate somehow.

Okay, that's seven... next up, I'm tagging Mom. (There must be seven things about you that I don't know!)

dude.

I just booked our trip to Disney World.

We'll be going in early September, after school has started - they will still have the free dining and also special activities for preschoolers. We decided to go ahead and fly down there instead of drive - I found really cheap flights, and frankly, with the cost of gas, PLUS the massive inconvenience of spending four days in the car with the kids... yeah, it's supposed to be a fun vacation.

I've already booked a princess lunch for Betsy and me, since I've heard they fill up really fast. She better love me the most now. You sure don't see Dad taking her to eat with princesses.

I think I'm ten times more excited than the kids, at this point. Matt and I went to Disney for our honeymoon six-and-a-half years ago, and ever since then we've been wanting to go back with little kids. I can only imagine how much fun it's going to be watching them enjoy it.

Mothers: they have to push the pram a lot.

First off, yes, we did go and see Spamalot on Saturday, with my brother Mike and his pregnant wife Mandy. So, it was the three of us hardcore Python fans, plus Matt, who has seen the movie but maybe doesn't necessarily feel the need to quote it. And even he enjoyed the show, which should tell you something. One thing the actors do is throw out a local culture reference - "You will be as revered in {city} as {thing this city is famous for}." Now, this being Indianapolis it was Peyton Manning, which was not surprising but did get a huge reaction out of the audience (what with winning the Super Bowl and everything this year). Anyway, I found out that when they played Rochester the weekend before, the reference was to Dinosaur barbecue. And I know first-hand how tasty that stuff is, since we had it for Emily's rehearsal dinner. So, it's nice to know that the actors are putting forth an effort. Also, the program was hilarious - in the vein of the original movie, Michael Palin wrote a set of fake moose-related credits. We decided to make a day of it and had dinner at the same Greek restaurant downtown where Matt took me the night he didn't propose to me. It was really good, and Mike had a beer named after my son (it may have been the other way around).

Also, Sunday was a little holiday known as Mother's Day. I got to take a nap, had chocolate in church (which is way better than flowers if you ask me), and talked to my mother and mother-in-law. Matt grilled steaks for dinner, and we had strawberries and pound cake for dessert. This is my Mother's Day gift from Matt:

Yes, so technically he gave me a Michaels giftcard and I did the shopping myself. It does tend to work out better that way. I've been eyeing some of the new Martha Stewart stuff but was reluctant to buy it - that no-coupon thing is a real bummer - so the giftcard was a perfect excuse. A lot of the Martha stuff is too clean and simple for my taste, but those acrylic letter stamps could actually work quite well on a funky, doodley page - I'm thinking Sassafrass Lass or Scenic Route - and the word bubble stickers are just plain fun. I think it's all in how you use it.

This was my gift from the kids:

Like a macaroni necklace, only for your feet. Don't you just love the pictures of the kids where my big toes will go? I haven't worn them yet; I want to apply a couple coats of Mod Podge first to keep everything from falling off.

And speaking of mothers, here's (finally) a picture of the mother-daughter aprons I sewed a couple of weeks ago. Betsy and I wear them whenever we make cookies together, which is at least once a week.

They were supposed to have pockets, but I lazied out and skipped them... maybe I will add the pockets later. Also, mine ended up being way too long in the torso (I'm 5'7" and I sewed a small! Dang, patterns do run large) but that should be easy enough to fix, just as soon as I get my sewing machine out again.

Anyway, my friends Beth and Susan tagged me on their blog... but I think this post has been massive enough (congratulations on making it this far) so that will have to wait until next time.

yep, he's a keeper!

So, I had a really lousy day yesterday. I got rained on when I went to Meijer and the kids were non-stop screaming all day. Not good. So, Matt brought flowers AND chocolate when he came home last night.
But, the best part was, Matt brought me chocolate that he doesn't like. (It was a Cadbury with roasted almonds, which always reminds me of when Emily was born.) He does this so that he won't be tempted to eat it and the chocolatey goodness is all mine. Now, if that's not love, I don't know what is!

Yep, we have a holiday!

Today is National Scrapbooking Day.





Can I just take a moment and share why I love this hobby so much? It's because I love telling the story of my family through pictures and words. Also because I truly love all the paper, stickers, and ribbon (which if you've been in my house, you already knew!) And because it's FUN!



I plan on doing some scrapbooking today if I get a minute... I'll be working on Porter's birthday layout and maybe making some Mother's Day cards.

And speaking of Mother's Day... I finished the mother-daughter aprons that I was sewing for Betsy and me. I'll post a picture as soon as I have one... I haven'ttaken a shower yet this morning so no camera is coming near me!