Tag Archives: life

List of lists 

Posted in Family Fun, Travel by

Michael, Andrew, and I will be embarking on a trip from our home in Illinois to Flagstaff, Arizona Labor Day weekend. Of course, this means I have been in planning mode for the last few weeks.

I have started my lists. Also, means I found a good use for the fluorescent graph paper I picked up while buying school supplies for Andrew. (Told you I would need this paper for something, Zakary!)

Lists that are currently in play:

  • Master list
  • Travel timeline
  • Travel binder – me/Michael
  •  Road trip binder – Andrew
  • Packing lists
    • main luggage – will be shared
    • car bag – Andrew
    • pit stop bag
  • Snacks
  • Shopping list
  • What to see on the road
  • blog/social media posts

One of the questions I often get asked about my lists: “does this help?”

Answer: “It helps me.”

I can’t vouch for everyone. I know that the thought of putting this much time and effort into all of this would drive some people crazy.

Lists help me attempt to control the chaos. Yes, I said it. I can be a little bit of a control freak.

But lists also help me when I am not surprised when something goes wrong. For example, I know that I need to pack a “puke bucket” in the car, because 3.78% of the time we have taken a road trip, Andrew has gotten sick. Not even close to every time, BUT if I don’t pack it, he’ll need it. (also the container of Dramamine with all the pills split in half is already in a pouch for a car bag.)

 

Just An Inch

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I’ve been toying with doing something with my hair lately.

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Decisions, Decisions

I think occasionally about dying it, but realize that I wouldn’t do the upkeep.

Probably not

Blonde?

not brave enough for this!

PURPLE??

(photos modified using Modiface Hair Color App)

I love my hair being long, but usually end up with it in a pony or messy bun.

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I also thought it was cute when it was short. I buzzed it off after Andrew was born.

Add a bow :)

I GI Jane’d it!

On Tuesday, I decided I was going to get my hair cut short.After washing my hair, the stylist said, “You know, if you cut one more inch, you could donate your hair.”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Cut the extra inch.”

I knew that if I cut my hair the way I intended when I walked into the salon, it would be quite a while until I could donate my hair again.

She dried my hair, then sectioned it off into four pony tails and cut. After she said, “ok, now let’s figure out what to do with what you have left!”

Short Rapunzel is cute!

It’s not horrible! 🙂

I’m still getting used to the final product, but it was an extra inch. People talk about going the extra mile, but going an extra inch might be all you have to do to make someone’s life better.

Making The Most Of It

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So today was one of those days where everything seems to happen at one time. Everything needed to be done ASAP. Luckily, it’s easier to calm people down with chocolate cupcakes. How I managed to go all day without eating one of these bad boys I don’t know!

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Now we are sitting around watching Ghostbusters! Takes me back to the good old days!

“Why worry? Each one of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.”

Happy Mushroom Day!

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Tonight I had every intention of posting a step-by-step on how I make stroganoff. But of course, I started cooking before I took photos. And then I had a my youngest telling me, in a very loud voice because obviously I hadn’t heard him the 400 times he had told me, that he wanted cereals for dinner. And no that isn’t a typo, cereals is plural because he wants a whole bowl. Try arguing with that logic…

So I resigned myself to posting a recipe without the tutorial, but with the finished dinner plate instead.

And then we ate…without the photo of the stroganoff, noodles and bright tricolor medley of corn, carrots, and green beans. And of course I didn’t think about it until after I had “lunched up*” the leftovers.

* lunched up is a verb meaning to place leftovers from dinner in containers for lunch.

Feeling a bit morose, I decided to slice up the cake I had baked, only to realize that I had forgotten to take photos of the cake too!

After thinking that I have the be the worst blogger ever, I told the guys that I will have to make everything another time so that everything can be photographed.

Everyone smiled as they ate their cake. How could I torture them with all this delicious food again!!

Tonight’s blog post might not have turned out the way I had planned, but so it goes. My family is fed. All is well.

My Girly Moment

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I could never be accused of being a girly girl.  I am not a frilly, hearts and glitter kind of girl.  I hate shopping.  I don’t like pink, and I think unicorns are early genomic experiments (or creatures brought here by the aliens….)  But I digress…

I grew up with two little brothers, and I have two sons.  I have been surrounded by boys close to all of my life.  But saying all of that I do have moments of girly-ness…I love butterflies.  For one, they are pretty. 🙂 And secondly, from a scientific standpoint, metamorphosis is fascinating.  And from the life lessons file, how wonderful it is to know that even if you start out as a weird caterpillar, some day you can be a fantastically beautiful butterfly!

So of course, as I walked down the pasta aisle at the grocery store, my eyes were drawn to the farfalle pasta.  You know the ones…the bow-tie pasta…but then I saw the farfalline…baby butterflies!  (ok as I just pointed out “baby” butterflies are catapillers, which look more like ziti, but I don’t have to be that critical ALL the time!)

I grabbed the box of pasta excitedly.  The wheels in the creative side of my brain started turning!  I had to find the perfect way to use these tiny butterfly noodles!

The days are much shorter now.  Fall is definitely arriving.  The days are tending to be more gray and wet.  As much as I want to hold on to summer, I am looking forward to autumn.  BUT butterflies are a spring/summer kinda thing…some how I need to find a way to make an autumn-y dish more summer-y.

This is how I created Butterfly Garden Soup

Butterfly Garden Soup

No butterflies were harmed in the making of this soup!

This soup is far from complicated.  Some of the best meals are ones that are just thrown together.  I browned a pound of ground beef with a bit of Onion Onion and Garlic Garlic. While that was cooking away, I filled a pot with a bag of frozen vegetables.  My favorite would have to be vegetables for soup:  stewed tomatoes, corn, potatoes, green beans, onions, carrots, celery and okra. Cover the vegetables with water and put on medium heat.  I drained the grease from the ground beef, and slid it into the pot with the vegetables.  I used three beef bouillon cubes and two cans of condensed tomato soup.  Season with salt and pepper after the bouillon has dissolved.  If you season before, you could end up with too much salt.  Lastly I added two handfuls of little butterflies.  Honestly I did toss the butterflies in…so that they could fly into the soup…hey I never said I wasn’t easily amused!

Like most soups or stews, the next-day left-overs are much better than day of soups…not that I would know with this soup, I didn’t get any left-overs! 🙂