Ten on Tuesday (67)

These questions are from Ashley (<- link). She said she’s tired of the cold weather and we should start thinking about summer.

1. Any vacations you are looking forward to this summer?
Yes. We are going to Chicago for a wedding and we’re going to make a vacation out of it. I’m pretty excited. I’ll be soliciting your advice here in the next week or two. Bloggers have lots of opinions about things like that.

2. What is your favorite article of summer clothing (shoes are included)?
Cotton sundresses. I love my Reefs and I love my Sperry’s, but I live in cotton dresses.

3. What is your favorite summer drink (alcoholic or non)?
That’s a tough one. I love an ice cold Bud Light on a hot day. But I also love fun, fruity drinks and raspberry mojitos. And I love a big glass of sweet tea.

4. Do you tan or burn?
Burn. Burn. Burn.

5. Any goals you are working toward this summer?
My one goal is to get into a bathing suit and be comfortable. I’ve pretty much convinced myself that I’ll be in tankinis until these stretch marks fade. I just love people too much to expose them to my purpley lines.

6. What is your favorite summertime food?
Fresh berries. After our strawberry picking adventure last year, I’m now convinced that there is NOTHING better than a strawberry straight from the vine.

7. What song most says “summer” to you?
I have no idea. Maybe some old school Pat Green. It reminds me of summertime adventures in high school. Two of my girlfriends and I went to several of his dancehall concerts, most were not in Houston so we took mini-roadtrips. Good times.

8. Any home improvement goals planned for this summer?
My whole life is a giant home improvement goal.

9. What is one thing you hate to see at the beach?
I’m listing more than one thing because I have lots of thoughts and feelings on the matter: Large people in small bathing suits, kids without sunscreen, rain clouds, a giant boardwalk going up at MY portion of the beach that I know will cause traffic and overcrowding, jellyfish or sharks, an empty cooler, and trash.

10. Did you ever go to a summer camp?
Oh yes I did! I went to weekend summer camp once or twice and then I went to a week long summer camp twice. It was fun minus the dirt, bugs, showering with shoes on, and coed dance night. The best part was The Blob. (Giant balloon like thing in the lake – you jump off a platform on it. I think they also have them in Heaven.)

Your turn!

My Sweet Boy

This is a special Valentine’s Day for me. Why? Because I am the #1 woman in two boys’ lives. And I will be until some punk girl in pigtails and polka dot tights makes my baby boy come home from kindergarten telling me he is in love. I don’t really know how I’m going to handle that but I imagine it will involve a box of Kleenex and a bottle of wine.

For now, he’s all mine. I’ll share though.

(This is 4.5 minutes long and chances are, there are only about 6 people who will be interested in watching it in its entirety. But feel free to watch the first minute for a good pick-me-up. Baby giggles are the best medicine.)

Ten on Tuesday are posted!

A List And Stuff

1.
I just started to write out my number one and it ended up being so long that I’m going to save it for an actual post at some point. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.

2.
I finished reading Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls for Big Mama’s book club. I’m now reading The Glass Castle, which so many of you have recommended to me over the past year or two. It’s great. If you enjoy reading, pick these two up, for sure. But just be warned: This family is full of complete freak jobs. I recommend reading them in the order that I read them (even though I think they were written opposite) because Half Broke Horses is about the grandmother’s life and The Glass Castle is about the mother’s life. So it’s in chronological order this way, and that just makes more sense to me.

3.
Okay yesterday someone shared something on Twitter that totally blew me away. It won’t make sense to some of you. Remember the television show Blossom? Yeah… Blossom is Amy Farrah Fowler on Big Bang Theory. I didn’t believe it so I looked it up on IMDB. It’s for real. Amazing. I never would have noticed.

4.
One of these days I’m going to post a video of Jansen when he gets the uncontrollable giggles. It’s probably the cutest thing you’ll ever see in your life. The problem is that EVERY time I get the video camera out, he stops. Every single time. I think I should invent a camera that is hidden in the eyeball of a stuffed animal so he won’t notice. I’ll work on it. (Not on the invention but on getting a good video of him.)

5.
Have a great weekend.

The Little Gentleman

This picture was taken on a cell phone so it is really grainy, but it is pretty stinking cute. I feel like he should have a cigar in his hand.

The Most Interesting Post In The History Of Ever

It is currently 10:30 at night and I’m tapping this post out with one hand while the other hand holds the pump cone of shame. On a scale from 1 to 10, I’m about 17 tired and I wish I was in bed. We had a thing at our church tonight that we felt like we should attend. Has anyone ever been part of a church that has had a pastor request a “peaceful release?” Well I’m not going to go into much discussion but let me just tell you that there are a lot of opinions and, while everyone may be entitled to their own opinion, it isn’t necessary to speak them publicly into a microphone under the disguise of a question. And also? It’s sort of shocking how unkind people can be within the church. Last week when I mentioned that my life was going through a bagillion changes, this is one of them. My church of 26 years is having some major pains right now. Prayers are greatly appreciated.

Another change that my life has been going through: I own TOMs. Did I mention that? I’ve been wanting them for quite some time and my mom bought me a gift certificate for early Valentine’s Day. The problem was that I couldn’t just pick one pair. My friend Sarah told me to look at it as if I was buying a pair of shoes for a kid in need… and I just happen to get a pair as well. So now I own the red canvas ones and the silver glitter ones. I think TOMs are like crack. I want more. I’m thinking either the slate or olive or brown ones. What do you think? My life is full of big decisions.

(Insert clever segue here.)

I love you forever if you leave some Ten on Tuesday questions in the comments. I know beggars can’t be choosers but please leave them in sets of ten… not just a question here or there. It’s too hard for my disheveled mind to compile them late on Sunday nights.

Thanks in advance. And also my husband just told me that formula was invented when people tried to mimic the vitamins and benefits of breast milk for use by body builders and other strength trainers.

Ten on Tuesday (66)

I made up these questions. I have a set in my email from someone but they are lost. I have a week to find them before I beg her to rewrite them. If you’d like to send a set, email me: chelsea (at) rootsandrings (dot) com.

1. What’s your favorite kind of donut?
A Shipley’s glazed donut – hot and fresh. There’s nothing better. I could probably eat 6 of them.

2. Do you use the snooze button?
Yes. I used to push it several times but now I just push it twice. It’s a 5 minute snoozer. I usually push it once, then when it goes off I make sure Stephen gets out of bed and turns on the shower. While it’s heating up, I snooze one more time. (Yes, it takes that long to heat up, especially in the winter.) (And no, he doesn’t just wake up to turn on the shower. He likes to eat breakfast and watch the news. I couldn’t be bothered with that.)

3. Do you write in cursive, print, or a combination of the two?
Usually print unless I’m in a hurry and then it’s a messy mixture.

4. Tell us a joke.
What do you call a sleep walking nun?

Wait for it…. do you give up??

A Roman Catholic.

Ba dum tish! (I just Googled how to spell that. I was going to go with “ba dum ching!”)

5. How many languages do you speak?
English and a bit of Spanglish.

6. Why did you start blogging?
I didn’t really know anything about blogs and had no idea there was such a blogging community out there. I didn’t know that strangers would read and that I would make blog friends. I started blogging because I wanted to write. My life was sort of un-fulfilling at that time and I needed something creative in my life.

7. Do you use bar soap or liquid body wash?
I use Yardley Oatmeal and Honey bar soap. It has little specks in it that exfoliate. It smells good and it’s good for my sensitive skin.

8. Do you buy bottled water?
Rarely. Sometimes I’ll buy a case if there is a reason – like a trip to the beach or something. But we drink fridge water and I carry my Tervis Tumbler.

9. What did you think of the Super Bowl Half Time Show?
Dumb. I had high hopes too because I’m not a Blackeyed Peas hater. For the most part, I like them. (Except for their new version of Time of My Life… gross. Don’t change that song, it’s just fine the way it is.)

10. How do you feel about Steve Carell leaving The Office?
I think the show may as well be cancelled. I really can’t see them making a smooth transition with a new cast member. Once a television show starts making major changes like that, it tends to stray from what made it popular to begin with. Not that they have a choice since he is leaving and wasn’t fired. I’ll watch until it’s dumb. But really, it’s not my favorite show anymore. Big Bang Theory and Community are much better.

That’s all folks. Your turn. Link it up!

My Baby Is Five Months

Jansen turned five months last Wednesday. I’ll save the whine fest about how time is flying and my little tiny baby isn’t little and tiny anymore.

Jansen has changed more this past month than all the others. He’s reaching for everything and putting it all straight into his mouth. He has discovered his feet and rolls around to grab them. He hasn’t had as many giggle fits as he used to but he has been talking non-stop. He just gets going and blabbers on, sometimes just screaming and moaning. We think he really likes his voice. One of his favorite things is to sit in his Bumbo with the tray on. We set several toys on his tray and he plays with one until he knocks it on the floor, and then grabs the next.

We started making him cry it out at night because he suddenly turned into a terrible sleeper. We started that Wednesday night and I honestly couldn’t tell you if it’s working or not because we’ve had the monitor off and the doors closed. We’ve had better sleep, though!

Check out the growth!

He’s a cute kid, huh?

(ToT will be posted shortly.)

Ice Day

I’m not dead, but thanks for checking. That’s the good thing about being a blogger – I could never be left for dead in my house for several days, one of you would eventually come check on me. You know, besides the fact that my husband and my son would likely notice.

Anyways, you’ve probably heard but the entire city of Houston has shut down. Originally they thought we were going to have snow. Laugh all you want, Canadians, but Houstonians don’t know how to drive in snow. We don’t have those fancy trucks that go around and make the roads safe. Turns out, we didn’t get snow, we got a nice layer of ice. There were countless accidents during the night from people accidentally driving on black ice.

Since we knew this was coming, most schools and offices were closed. Consequently, last night felt like Friday night and I flat out forgot to write my post until about 11:45 when I was pumping. I decided not to write anything. So this is me, not writing anything.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

A Few Things

1. This week is weird.

2. It may or may not be snowing in Houston, Texas when you’re reading this.

3. Stephen got rear-ended last night. Awesome. We haven’t heard from the guy’s insurance company yet, hopefully they’ll call soon or else he’ll have to call them.

4. Tonight is night number three of Crying It Out. I can’t tell you how last night went since I’m writing this on Wednesday night. I don’t anticipate it going well because Jansen is taking a monster nap right now. I know I should wake him up but we were dealing with the car and then dinner and pumping and all this other stuff.

5. You guys have been fantastic, supportive commenters this week and I’m forever grateful for that. Seriously. If you’re not a blogger yo don’t realize how uplifting the comments can be. Even nonsense things like, “I can’t believe you keep talking about your husband’s armpits.” It’s all appreciated. Thanks friends.

6. You get another list tomorrow. Lucky you.

Whirlwind

My life is caught up in a whirlwind right now. It’s not falling apart or anything, it’s just changing. Seriously y’all, I’m not kidding. Every single aspect of my life is going through a change. Some are minor adjustments but some are gigantic overhauls.

Most of the time I can cope just fine. It’s part of life, I remind myself. The only thing that stays the same is that everything changes, right?

Here’s the thing though, I don’t like change. Some of it is for the better and I’ll be thankful when I’m on the other side of it. Strike that: all of it is for the better. But these little growing pains are wearing my body out. I don’t want another Debbie Downer post, I think one per week is enough. I don’t want you to think I’m over here sulking and being all “woe is me” because, frankly, I’m not. I’m a rockstar and I’m powering through even though changes give me the heebie geebies. I even manage to genuinely smile all throughout the day.

Change can be a good thing and one day I’ll tell you a bit about it. Until then, just know that I’m soaking life in bit by bit. I’m finding the joy in all of it! Not like I have to look hard, have you SEEN my baby? Plus, I’m a Christian and you know what that means? It means I have hope. God knows what’s best and He’s going to work it all out according to His purpose, and His purpose is the best purpose. (And if I repeat that enough times, I’ll actually believe it… still working on that part!)

So my cute baby, my sexy husband with the fantastic smelling armpits, and I are going to huddle together and enjoy every moment of this crazy life. Because that’s the best we can do, right?