My brain hurts!

Hiya!

So, I KNOW it's Menu Monday, but today I have a Little Miss home with a sore throat, so I'm thinking we're sticking with good old chicken-noodle soup and Kraft Dinner type meals today - she's EXTRAORDINARILY picky when she's sick and, frankly, I'm okay with that. hahaha  Anyway, I realized I won't be cooking anything really worth talking about today (except the horrible, mass amounts of MSG, preservatives, colour number 6-bazillion and goodness only knows what else I'll be feeding my family today - hahaha) so I'm going to do "Menu Monday" TOMORROW, okay?  Look for the deets on a very very yummy Chinese Chicken Salad - just thinking about having this for lunch tomorrow is making me salivate. YUM!

AND I know I didn't post on Thursday.  Thankful Thursday I DID remember, but let me tell you, I'm so out of the Thankful-Thursday-groove at the moment, I couldn't come up with anything to write about!! Isn't that awful? And I don't mean that I'm not thankful for anything, I mean that I'm so out of it I couldn't come up with my five things.

All the ideas I had to write about were the things I've in the past purposely AVOIDED writing about - they're so cliche and HUGE I've steered myself away from writing about them specifically: my family - holy CRAP I am thankful for my family, but what do I write about? My kid? My hubs? My mommy? My in-laws? My infuriating baby brother (who's SO OLD now! hahaha), my goof of a father, oozing with wisdom?  Just saying "I'm thankful for my family" isn't what Thankful Thursdays are supposed to be about aaaand so I didn't write about it.

I started Thankful Thursdays to help ME. To help me look at the piles of crap laying around my house and to find something I love and am grateful for.  So, what have I written about in the past? Kraft Dinner, for pity's sake. My stereo.  Naps.  Being SICK for goodness' sake.  So to cop out and write a post on something so OBVIOUS as my wonderful friends or my cannot-live-without-them family? Psht. SO not what it's about.

So I didn't write anything.  Obviously.

My goal for this week is to get my head back in that game and come up with my five things to write about. I don't even know or care if anyone reads my Thankful Thursday posts; they're for ME. They help me have perspective and be a better, happier, positive person.

Fingers crossed I can get it together and get it done.  Maybe we'll do "the unemployment edition" or something.  Actually, I'm liking that idea... hmmmm.... :-)

I am thankful for my family, for sure.  It's the middle of the day, so Little Miss is feeling, I think, as good as she's going to today, and Mr. Man is busy giving her a mani/pedi over in the living room.  Who could possibly NOT be thankful for a life that includes that fabulousness?? Ohmigoodness, for all our faults, I have the GREATEST family. My little nuclear one here at home, the one I grew up with, the one I've been added to, my 'adopted' families.  I love these folks.

Anyway, that's enough of that. Excuses for not doing what I said I was going to do, rambling through my fingers...lah-de-daaaaahhhh....

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great Monday! I'll be back with a food post tomorrow. :-)

The Response

Well, wow! hahaha

Sometimes a blog post of mine generates some interest and I get comments - actually in the 'comments' section, on Facebook, the odd ohmigosh-I-read-your-blog phone call (that one is USUALLY my mom - Hi, Mom!), or people stop me when we're out and about (I find this the weirdest way, just 'cause, I dunno, what do you say in person to someone who reads your blog and has something to say about something you said? Aye aye, cap'n, and thanks for the insight? Don't NOT do it, I just....feel funny sometimes! hahaha)

Yesterday's post was one of these.  I dunno, I just felt all ICK about stuff at the moment and had to write it out - my favourite part about blogging, I think.

Almost as soon as I posted the link to Facebook I started getting feedback, and at least over the last couple of months that I've been back to writing yesterday's was the most visited post on my blog by dinnertime.

My mom, true to fantastic form (don't never call me again because of something I wrote on my blog, okay, Mom??) CALLED me as soon as she read the post.  With this FANTASTIC advice:

• get a ziploc bag IMMEDIATELY and put the nuts and bolts sitting on the end table inside. Then take it downstairs with a piece of tape and tape it to a wooden section of the toddler bed from which they come. 

I did that.  The end table is STILL covered in junk, but not those nuts and bolts anymore!  BOOyah!

Thanks, Mom!

One gal lamented she doesn't live closer to help me get on top of things - my darling girl, when I go to your ridiculously beautiful home I HATE it because I can't DO that!  hahaha I would absolutely take you up on the offer if you could in fact offer it!

Another, who I can't envision in a million years having a problem similar to mine, cracked me up with her comment: "You're brave posting all those pictures. You should totally use those to enter one of these HGTV shows where they come and give you a free home reno. Who wouldn't love a free home reno?"  hahaha I LOVE that.  I can't tell you how many times I've wondered if my house is 'bad' enough to qualify for one of those shows!  So yeah, seriously made me grin!

A lovely gal I knew back in the day in school THANKED me on Facebook for posting about our disarray - they have a similarly difficult time clearing the junk out of their home.

My one SIL, who last week came for a visit and asked about the nuts-and-bolts stuff on the end table "what are these for?" was ecstatic for me that we figured out what they belonged to! (Did you see? They're in a BAGGIE taped to the bed they belong to! WAHOO!)

My local friend commented about her sheer adoration for tidying and organizing.... but she's wickedly allergic to my cats.  Boo.

Another laughed and said if I had dogs it could be worse - yet another point AGAINST dogs in my cats vs. dogs mental log (dogs don't fare too well, and I am proud to say I'm a cat person hahaha)

A friend I haven't talked to in forever recommended a book she finds helpful in managing her scattered-living-lifestyle, introducing me to the fantastic phrase: C.H.A.O.S -> Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome.  LOVE this.

And then today my MIL phoned.  It was funny, because she opened up with how sad she was for me, buuuuut I wrote that yesterday and am totally fine today so I'm all...what?? hahaha (Don't worry, my house is still a mess.  We didn't rehabilitate that quickly.)

So, my mom is working out how to get down and help me tackle my problem. My MIL and SIL and darling nieces are mobilizing after Easter, coming armed with bins (they're on sale at Giant Tiger this week - win) and gosh DARN it I WILL CONQUER THIS HOUSE!!

I just know for absolutely certain I CANNOT do it by myself.

And I won't have to. :-)

(ALSO, the shelf beside the bed that ate a chunk of my shoulder? Yeah, WITHOUT having read yesterday's post Mr. Man up and decided to take it down last night. It was eerie.... same-wavelength kinda' thing. shudder )

THANK-you, everyone for your love and support, and bearing with my downer moments.

Introducing: THANKFUL THURSDAYS!

Ha! Soooo... Shop Girl gave the green light, and I'm a sucker for alliteration so.... Thankful Thursdays are here!

Say it with me now:

"CORNY!"

Well, I LOVE corn sooooo pooh on you!

Ready for my first Thankful Thursday list of 5 things I'm grateful for?? (Yes, just five.  I'm too through-my-fingers-verbose to do ten at one go). Okay, here it goes:

1) CORN
I know, right? Stupid, but I DO love corn. Whoever first saw the stuff growing there on the stalk and said, hot dang, let's peel this back and see if it's edible, THANK you! I love it on the cob, from the can, from frozen, popped, caramelized, candied, mixed with vegetables, smothered with butter and salts & spices... mmmmmm......

(from http://soilcrop.tamu.edu/photogallery/cornsorghum+/pages/corn%20ears.htm)

(from http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/popcorn.html)

Yeah, that's right. You know you're suddenly hankering for some fresh-popped buttery goodness.  MMMMmmmm.....

2) CHOICE

(from http://www.torontoprepschool.com/GuidanceFinal.html)

(See? I'm not always totally, only a dunderhead!)
This kinda' blows my mind, especially reflecting on history and how things used to be, especially for women. But me? I can do WHATEVER THE HECK I WANT, and that's a-okay.  I mean, obviously within reason. My choices should be what's good (best!) for my family.... but even being at THAT state, where I have to consider my husband and daughter when making decisions, that was a CHOICE, or a series of choices.  I had/have options.  I can be who I want, when I want, where I want, how I want, and do what I want.  I can choose to wear PANTS for goodness' sake - and who wouldn't, really? I mean, I dunno about you, but even at my super-dee-duper skinniest the very tops of my thighs kinda' slap together when I walk soooo even when I'm wearing a skirt or a dress for some reason I'm wearing shorts underneath; the slapslapslapslap HURTS after a while!!

I can choose to be educated or not. I can choose to work or not - seriously, WHAT a blessing to have CHOICE on that matter! CRAZY!  I can choose to stay home and raise my kid, pursue my career while raising my kid, let someone else raise my kid, I could have chosen to not HAVE a kid. I can choose to have more kids.

I CAN DO WHATEVER THE HECK I WANT TO, and that is absolutely AMAZING.

(Don't worry - just because I CAN choose something, doesn't mean I HAVE to... that's the beauty of it! LOVE it!)

3) BLANKETS

(from http://www.alibaba.com/buyofferdetail/103339214/Plush_Mink_Blankets.html)

One of my favourite things is to be freezing cold, land myself on the couch or the bed, and pull up a nice, fluffy, warm blanket - within moments I'm cuddly, toasty, content.... bliss... and I don't know what's the difference between that crummy blanket I have over there that doesn't warm an inch of me and some of my most favourite snuggle blankies, but hot dang, whoever knows the difference and makes the good kind - THANK YOU!

(Ummm.... CRAZY I found that picture, because Mr. Man and I actually have this blanket on our bed! hahaha I KNOW it's kinda' ugly...and weird - seriously? a panther on the bed? COME ON - but he got it when he was in Korea, and it is the ultimate comfy, snuggly blanket, and perfect for freezing winter nights overtop of our duvet.... ALSO...world's greatest NAP blanket)

4) LAUGHTER

(from http://gnightgirl.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html)

I don't know about you, but laughing is a big part of my life. O:-) Some of my best and favourite family memories are of my mother and I cackling in tandem at some ridiculously hilarious thing the boys had done/said.  Or, more recently, I was venting and exaggerating about something that was bothering me while she was driving.... we were laughing so hard we were both definitely tearing up, and Mom's ability to stay on the road was greatly compromised.....

What are some of the best sounds in life, though?  Seriously. I LIVE to hear Little Miss laugh, a good Earth-shaking belly laugh. It's adorable, delightful, it makes ME laugh, smile.... laughing together makes all the problems in the world go away and floods us with happiness.  Even if just for that moment, laughter rocks.

Think about it - some of the best paid people EVER make oodles of money MAKING PEOPLE LAUGH! That's it, that's all! You're funny? BOOyah! Here's a job, do your thing.

And I'm totally okay with that.

It shares, it bonds, it relieves tension.  It's medicine, exercise, enlightening, fun. It's common, binding, ice-breaking, all-inclusive, transcendent. It's the best way to end an argument. 

Thanks for all the laughs, my family, my friends, you funny people out there, my favourite funny websites, my LIFE..... thanks.

5) PAINT
It's an easy space lift, addition, change, refresher.... communicates bits of personality, tastes, idiosyncrasies..... and it's FUN.....

....especially with a helper as awesome as this!

Voila! 5 things I'm thankful for.  See you next week for another Thankful Thursday! 

Week in review. ish.

So I wanted to check in and report on my week. Another post JUST for me, that means, I know. But...you'll get over it. ;)

Tuesday-Friday went exactly as I'd planned, INCLUDING the wonderful book-club-Italian-feast food dalliance I had been counting on......and LOOOOOOOVED!! DELICIOUS chicken-breast lasagna, scrumptious caesar salad (by yours truly), garlic bread, chocolate mousse cake.... mmmmmmmmmmm......... I even drank gasp POP! OH it was DIVINE! hahaha

The rest of the weekend, I sort of resigned myself wold be another food-weekend-from-delicious-empty-calorie-ridden-fantasy-land. My parents were over (my mom's first book club attendance equaled a fun family sleepover!) aaaand we had delicious, healthy smoothies for breakfast Saturday morning....coupled with my dad's famous "Daddy eggs" - delectably fried eggs in....bacon fat!! And YES we ate the bacon, too. And toast with butter... hahaha Lunch we did all-you-can-eat Sushi, and for "dinner" I took my darling pal, for her 13th birthday, to the movies to see the fantastical Justin Bieber in documentary/concert movie 3D splendor, which was obviously coupled with popcorn, hot dogs, and nibs! O:-) Her BIRTHDAY dinner the next night consisted of delicious chicken parmesan with....perfectly too much cheese, another caesar salad, and polished off with ice cream cake.

So yeah. Talk aBOUT some straying from the path there! But you know what? I ran 30K last week, which I know isn't much for SERIOUS runners, but it's the most I've ever done in a single week, and I'm STOKED about it, and I KNOW I can do it, and I plan to do it again this week soooooo.... whatever. Weekend was a throw away. I can survive that. BOOyah!

Feeling a wee bit like I can do anything THAT regards tonight, so YAY for that! hahaha A WELCOME, refreshing change!

Now, I JUST READ on my darling Shop Girl's blog a great post about gratitude. She ends the post with a plan to post every Sunday 10 things she's grateful for. I LOVE this idea, and as soon as she gives me the green light (no pressure, my friend!) I'm TOTALLY STEALING IT!! I oh so DESPERATELY need some positive focus in my life right now and this is just such a great exercise. Like Oprah's gratitude journal or something. hahaha I'm currently beyond excellent at seeing all the hum drum, la dee dah, and blech in my life - yeah, I'm a real peach to be around at the moment - and committing to reflecting on ten different things I'm grateful for each week just seems brilliant. ...I haven't assigned myself a check-in-day yet, though. Shop Girl's doing Sundays, but I don't know if that will be realistic for me as I'm NOT currently in the habit of posting every day and rarely post on Sundays soooo... I'll get back to you on that, along with posting my first list!!

Be excited.

And that, I think, is that for now. I'm reading "The Princess Bride" at the moment and am finding it much funnier now than I remember it being last time I read it - oh the surprises of a maturing humour! aaaand it's sitting here near me calling my name soooo.... into my bed and Florin I dive for the balance of the evening!

Until next time!