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Friday, May 30, 2008

My endorsements

This morning Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi put a call out to the super delegates to make their endorsement known for either Barrack Obama or Hillary Clinton. I am not a super delegate but am a super consumer, so I thought I would take a chance to endorse some of my favorite products. If you are looking for a blog subject today and want to share an endorsement of any kind it is a great way to journal.


Jasmine Vanilla Hand Soap from Bath and Body
I love this hand soap (even though he one pictured is Black Currant) In August Bath and Body has a soap event where they will be only $3.00 each, which is half the price. My hands smell yummy for about half an hour after washing them with this great soap.
Make up

Wet and Wild lip liner - #666 - The best kept secret ever. It is only $.99 and is wonderful. I have used many of these down to the last inch.
Mary Kay Mascara - this is hands down my favorite mascara and the only mascara that does not leave me looking like a raccoon.
Bobbi Brown Shimmer brick - The last one I had lasted me 2 years. I have the brown shimmer and the pink shimmer and love them.
Dental stuff

Colgate toothpaste - it is not that I love the tooth paste, but I love the dispenser. I wish there was a way I could refill these and use them over and over.
Floss Picks - the best way I can get myself and kids to floss. It was even the dentist who suggested using these more than once - they are kind of pricey to use just once. *edit in my search I also found these refills that may save the problem - has anyone used these before?)
Oral B toothbrush. This is just a battery operated one from the drug store, but there is just something that I love about it. I am too cheap to invest in a nice one so this is my cheap substitute. $4.00
Kitchen scissors
This is one of my favorite wedding gifts. Silly but true I love a good pair of kitchen scissors.

V8 Fusion
I love this new juice. A healthy guy at church told me about it and so now I am sold. I don't know if is making me healthier but I like to think it is. Just do an experiment at your grocery store and see if the shelf is half empty like all of ours. They are often sold out. It is about $4.75 each (ouch) but I can get them at the commissary for about $2.25 so i buy a bunch when I see them.
My last endorsement is a total indulgence. It is $8.00 and when I buy it I feel a little guilty but love the way it makes my laundry smell. It is Ultra Downy - Pure essentials. I LOVE this stuff. Sometimes I save it only for my sheets and my own laundry and say "the girls don't care how smelly their laundry is."


Have you tried any of the products?
What product do you endorse?

Thursday, May 29, 2008

3 books in one month

Truly a miracle has happened because I started and finished 3 books in one month! I finished my last book this morning so I could be able to make this personal record!

Here are a few of my turned up bottom page quotes that I enjoyed.

gift giving

My mama nudged me with her elbow. "Ain't that a beauty?" she said. "Like to cost the whole amount, but that is the finest windmill money can buy. Steel plates behind the wood, and if one breaks, why , you just end up a man with a piece of wood and an iron peg." My mouth hung open. I said, "Mama, you ordered this? Without asking me?" "Well, it's a present. I don't need your permission to give you a present." It is a blessed thing a joy I can't describe, to look on a powerful gift such as this. Something that represents a sacrifice from someone else or an effort far exceeding what I'd feel was normal, is so beyond my expectations, it touches my deepest soul. My throat tightened up and I felt something swell in my chest. "No", I said. "Reckon you don't." My eyes burned, and I had to hold on to m head for a few seconds. Then I put my hand down and said, "To me a present is a nice feather pillow or a new apron. Mama, this is way overgenerous. It has cost you sixty acres of land. It's too big and too fine and-" "Well, then you just mind your manners and say thank you." "Thank you mama" pg 104-105

I loved this quote. gift giving is such a tricky thing but I have been one blessed with some amazing gifts that represent a sacrifice from someone or an effort far exceeding what i feel is normal - have you?

War
"One thing I know from living with Jack is that war, any war, stains a man deep, and nothing can get the stain out. They can wear clothes like a rancher or a banker, but the stains are under there, never far from the surface of their skin. " pg 59
I thought a bit about this quote this Memorial day weekend when we walked past all the men at the Vietnam Memorial hugging each other and everyone seemed bonded just by being there. I was amazed to hear at the concert that the Iraq war has been going on 6 years - that would mean my Annie Kate would not remember a life without our country being at war.
Jeff does not talk much about what he sees at Walter Reed but I am sure it affects him. I know for me I have such a deeper appreciation for those serving. When I go to Walter Reed they have tables set up with people to talk to or get information about Post Traumatic Syndrome - it makes it more real for me - but still I feel like I have no clue what it must be like for the families and those serving. My respect goes to them for their sacrifice.


My summary of the book was that it was ok. I didn't realize this was the sequel to These are My Words (which I have not read, silly me!) I will read that next. I do love these type of pioneer, homesteading women books and always helps me appreciate the day to day of my life. After reading this I did feel a longing for really helping women with their families and not be so guarded or private as my community feels.
But I found myself getting bored with it at the end and finally skipped two chapters to read the last chapter- and i was kind of happy it was over.


This was a pleasant surprise that I loved this book. My favorite part of this book were the faces I gave to the characters and even seemed to give the Giver a different face than was on the cover. This is a great book to help appreciate any trial that you might be going through- it helped me be reminded of the joy in my life.
I didn't have many turned up corners from this book but there was one I don't want to forget.

Bragging
Jonas was impressed by the things Benjamin had achieved. He knew him, or course, since they had always been group mates, but they had never talked about the boy's accomplishments because such a conversation would have been awkward fro Benjamin. there was never a comfortable way to mention or discuss one's successes without breaking the rule against bragging, even if one didn't mean to. It was a minor rule, rather like rudeness, punishable only be gentle chastisement. But still. Better to steer clear of an occasion governed by a rule which would be so easy to break. pg 27

This is such an interesting quote and could sum up one of Jeff's standards. I always feel like he has so many things he has done, seen or knows but never really talks about them because he feels like it would be bragging. As for me I can't seem to stop talking about my self when I meet someone and so have really made an effort to ask as many questions about someone else so I don't do that.
So my questions
- is there a comfortable way to mention or discuss (face to face) your success without bragging? really feel free to tell me what you think.

-do you feel women these days are more private with their life and trials and need for help or is it just me?

- have you ever received a gift like the description above?


This was one of those gifts that I have received. Every piece of this quilt is hand appliqued. It took months and months to create. It was given to me by my dear friend Mindy who made if for me during my first pregnancy. When I opened it I was so overwhelmed and cried so hard I got a bloody nose. It is the first thing I would grab in a fire after my children.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

blessed day

Coming home from the commissary today Jeff and I stopped and had lunch in Frederick - this town is so charming and has not seen my face or my wallet enough these past two years. That must change. This doorknob was just one of many details on a store front.
the chocolate brown parking meters add charm to the main street. The one next to us was full or I would have snuck some money in as usual.
all the colored houses are shops are just great!
I am not sure what this building was, it said Professional Building, but I could not figure out what it was - but it was eye pleasing.

the gazebo by the baby pool

Swim Team tryouts were today and Caroline was so excited. Ever since last summer she has been hoping to get on the pre-team.
I don't think there are many 4 year olds on the pre-team but this kid was determined to try out.
This is her first anything to be apart of. She has not taken any lessons, classes or been on any team and she was just beside herself with joy! (by this age Annie Kate had been in gymnastics, and two soccer teams - what was I thinking?) She has cheered for her older sister for a few years and it will be good for her to be cheered for this summer.
to make the pre-team she had to swim half the length of the lap pool. But we had told her since last summer she had to swim the full length. She jumped in and one of the youth coaches was there to motivate her to swim to the end. I think he was surprised at how fast she swam and couldn't walk back fast enough. They got to the middle of the pool and the coach came over and said "Pre-Team she is in!" She was so excited but had in her mind that she was to swim at the end of the pool. So she just kept swimming all the way to the end.
It was a proud mom moment for sure. At the time I was sad I was not taking a photo from the end of her swimming to me, but this photo is so much better. She is a go getter and one determined little girl.
Here is our little swimmer with two of the youth coaches were were so supportive in this little girl trying out - they kept saying, "she is 4?"

Sally Jane is just happy being in the baby pool floating on her noodle!
we found a turtle in front of our house this week and he will be staying with us until our weekend visitors come (can't wait!) and then will get moved back to the lake.
and I am sure this will not be the last photo booth photos you will see. our family is having a blast with this thing. I think this may be my new guest book, instead of having people sign in an actual book they can just sit in our photo booth! (photo booth feature on Apple Computers)

Tuesday, May 27, 2008


today she said

"Mom how long have I had my hair?"
I told her since you were born.
"Because I don't want it anymore"
I asked her what do you want?
"just some pink hair"

While swimming tonight she choked on some water and came out of the pool and said,
"I have some pool caught in my throat"

tomorrow she tries out to be on the pre-team for swimming and is the most determined 4 year old I know!
Giveaway!!

In October 2007, Sweet Funky Vintage was launched as the creation of two friends who were destined to design beautiful, functional children’s clothing together, and feed their passions for sewing, designing, children and…fabric!

Missy and Liz are both Pink Christmas Gals and sponsors for 2008! Take a minute to read about and see what their creative minds have come up with. At the end of this post take a minute to enter the great giveaway!

Social Mission
We believe in children. We value healthy communities and will do our part to lend support to underprivileged children. We aim to be trendsetters in making an impact on the world around us by promoting awareness and support for organizations that brighten the lives of children. The bottom line on our financial sheets is not the most important factor. We want to make an impact by working with small businesses and companies who have high standards, and we are committed to making our communities and our world a better place for children.

With your Sweet Funky Vintage purchase, you are partnering with us to do the same.

Missy & Liz

Here are a few of my favorite things you can find for you, your kids or a great gift!

The perfect birthday apron! The cotton and colorful apron screams happy birthday!
$24.00

Our Birthday program:

Register your children`s birthdays with us and we will send you a discount to be used during your child`s birthday month. When you make your birthday month purchase, we will donate $5 to First Book, so they can deliver books into the hands of children who need them. $5 will buy two books!



Your birthday party will be smashing if you hang this fabulous happy birthday banner! Just think, a decoration that is pretty and re-usable!
$25.00
The learn to sew tote kit is the perfect kit for your daughter or granddaughter!
The kit makes one tote bag and one wallet. It contains 2 fabric panels, 5 buttons, ribbon and instructions. This is a sweet gift to send to a granddaughter or niece for graduation.$28.00
Carter is adorable. Carter loves the beach and is saving up his birthday money to buy a sailboat. He wears flip flops to church.

Carter is a 100% cotton tee embellished with a seersucker sailboat.

Available in sizes 12m-12. Also available as a tank.





Monkeybar Buddies Shorts $16.00



Girls can wear their dresses and skirts worry free when they’re hanging around upside down in Monkeybar Buddies. The ultimate in comfort, Monkeybar Buddies were created not to bunch, stick to your dresses, or look bulky under skirts. They are also great under athletic shorts or over dance leotards for an extra layer.

Pheobe Drees $45.00
Pheobe is a classic. She prefers pearls to diamonds. She loves to help Mom in the kitchen and knows more about recycling than most kids her age.

The Phoebe Dress is an updated version of our signature peasant dress. We have re-designed it slightly to make it a little bit longer. The bodice is lined. Tie shoulders allow adjustment for fit. Available in sizes 6m to 6, bloomers are included up to size 12m.
Monogramming available.


...................
So for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to use to buy one of these great items or one of the many more on their site tell us something

Sweet, Funky and Vintage about YOU!!!
if you need something to blog about today, put this on your blog for a piece of journaling!

Here is mine:

Sweet: I sing the same song to my little girls every night that my mom sang to me when I was little. Neena, Nina, Poopa
Funky: I can't drink out of a glass or cup at a restaurant without using a straw. It grosses me out to touch the glass that has been used by something else. What makes this so funky is that I have no problem using the silverware. Now that is Funky!
Vintage: I still have and wear my swatch watches from high school

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend




Even though this video does not tell all the fun and emotional details of the weekend, it does a pretty good job. I just continue to be star struck by every memorial and monument and hope that does not wear off.
And if anyone is making a list of things to do before you die, put walking along the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial day - it is amazing.

music selection was from the music at the concert on Saturday night -
If you are going through hell - Rodney Atkins (I could not resist using this song after the funny performance - since it was the dress rehearsal they had a stage hand stand in and lip sync it)
God Bless the USA - the version I used was from this season of American Idol
Where do I Begin? Idina Menzel

Saturday, May 24, 2008

(Photo I took tonight all on my own not even the help of photoshop!)

Memorial Day Weekend begins.

I have so much to write about today, but it is 10:41 pm and we are just getting home and I must get sleep!
I will put this photo on as a teaser for our day and let you know about a great way to celebrate Memorial Day with you and your family. Check your local listings for Sunday Night and don't miss it!
Tonight we went to the dress rehearsal for the Memorial Day Concert on the west lawn of the Capitol. It was so amazing and I could not believe I was there.

This is who we saw tonight...

Gary Sinise
Joe Mantegna
Gladys Knight
Sarah Brightman
Denis Leary
Idina Menzel (she was amazing)
Charles Durning
Rodney Atkins (he was not there but they had a stage hand lip sync his song for the rehearsal and it was so funny)
John Schneider (yes, the blond dukes of hazard guy)
Gail O’Grady
Caitlin Wachs
Maestro Erich Kunzel
The National Symphony Orchestra
Military District of Washington
U.S. Army Herald Trumpets
The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band
The Soldiers’ Chorus of The United States Army Field Band
The Master Chorale of Washington


My favorite photo I took (thanks Spencer for teaching me how to use my camera) was at the end of the concert when they asked anyone in the Military to stand up to represent different branches. This is Jeff and our good friend (who does more with the soldiers than anyone I know), they both work at Walter Reed Medical Center. Amazing to have a photo of them standing with the Capitol in the back. (Jill this is a framer, right?)

More to come, I have high memorial hopes for this weekend.

Thursday, May 22, 2008


My kind of book
A week ago Jeff and I went to the book store and I saw this book sitting on the table. I picked it up because it fit my very, outwardly, judgemental qualifications for a book.
  • texture or odd shape book. - the cover is smooth
  • I liked the cover - the cute font caught my attention.
  • Kate DiCamillo - wrote a review on the front cover
  • large print
  • cute leaf graphic throughout the book
  • and the description on the front sounded like how i would describe myself as a kid "....and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (possibly) Save the World"
  • at it was only $5.99
This was my second book I was starting in one month - MIRACLE, so I was kind of on a reading train and didn't want to get off.

I give this book 5 Pink Stars. It is my kind of book and reminds me that I am a reader - and these are the kind of books that make me one. It was on the kids table which is where I think I will stay for awhile.

Reading the book was like reading my thoughts when I was a kid. This could have been me as a 6 year old.
When I read I flip the bottom pages up to remind me of great quotes I liked, then when I finish the book I go back and read those pages to find the quote and then I mark it. This way it makes me hunt for it again. Here are a few of my favorite parts of the book.
.....................
on apologizing

"Apologizing is like spring-cleaning. First of all, you don't want to do it. But there's something inside you, or somebody outside you who's standing there with her hands on her hips saying, "It's time to make things right around here," and there's no getting out of it.
Once you get started, though, you find that you can't just clean out one room and be done with it, you have to do the whole house or you're tracking dirt from one place to the other. Well, it starts to seem like too, too much, and want to quit more than Christmas. But there's that somebody or something telling you again, "Keep going. You're almost done. No quitting allowed."
Then all of a sudden you are done. It was an awful terrible time, and you never want to have to do it again in your whole life. But it is kind of nice seeing everything clean and looking just right. And that moment you're almost glad you did it. sort of.

............................

on telling stories
My brain thought about that magic that happens when you tell a story right, and everybody who hears it not only loves the story, but they love you a little bit, too, for telling it so well. Like I love Ms. Washington, in spite of myself, the first time I heard her. When you hear somebody read a story well, you can't help but think there's some good inside the, even if you don't know them.

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on caring
When somebody stops to talk you every day, and asks you about yourself, and doesn't say anything to fill your part of the conversation, just lets you choose if you want to fill it in yourself, then it's hard to think that somebody's your enemy or to keep her so far away from your heart. It's hard not to trust somebody like that.
She was wearing me down in ways she probably didn't even intend to.

...................

on realility
I was floating up and up and music was playing and angels were singing, "Ida B is free, Ida B is free. Come fly with me, Ida B."
But before I flew off into the ether, I got pulled back down to earth by a heavy thought. This seems to good to be true, said the voice in my head that sees all of those presents on Christmas Day and knows that some of them are socks and underwear wrapped up in pretty boxes.
..........................

controlling your tounge

I could fee a wallop of rude and ornery coming up my throat and fighting to get out of my mouth. But I had also promised Mama seven times while we drove to school that I wold be polite.
"Yes, ma'am," I finally said through my teeth, because they were keeping the rudeness inside my mouth.
....................

having a plan

Here's the bad thing about being a snake in the spring: sometimes you find what you think is the best place in the world to sunbathe. It's the biggest rock ever, so long you can't see where it ends. And this perfect, so-good-you-almost-can't-believe-it's-true rock is smooth and dark and toasty warm. You slither out onto its snuggle warm blackness, and pretty soon you get so cozy and content lying there that you fall asleep, stretched out and snoring, even. You are sure you are in snake heaven.
But, being a snake, you're so low to the ground you can't see that this piece of rock paradise you're lying on is really a road. You're so cushy-comfy and sleeping so deeply that you don't hear that big old truck, hauling two towns of tomatoes, getting closer and closer.
And the next thing you know - split, splat, and a couple of crunches, too-there are tire tracks on either end of you. You're not sure exactly what happened, but all of a sudden you truly are gone from this world.
So, I've learned that even when you think you're in heaven, you need to stay alert and have a plan.
Some things are very hard to plan for, though.

An Interview with Katherine Hannigan

Where did Ida B and the idea for her story come from?
Ida B came out of a lot of things in my life – moving to the Midwest and falling in love with the space, the hills, the woods, the people who have no idea who you are but who wave and smile at you as they drive by. She came from a love of laughter and being outdoors, a fondness for people with a good dose of punkishness in them. I think in many ways Ida B has the life I would have chosen if I could have.

Recently Jill asked a question on her blog - What is a part of you, you have forgotten?
And I will say I have forgotten the Ida B. part of me. There is a part of me that is Ida B and my mind wanders and thinks just like Ida B talks in her book. Thanks Jill for asking that question, the other day I could not answer it but now I know I want to find the Ida B. in me!

Have you read this book? Will you rush to the book store to get it?


Last day of Preschool

Today was Caroline's last day of preschool - which of course ended in tears and being overwhelmed from the last day program. She only punched me in the gut once though - that is progress!
I love, love giving end of the year gifts to teachers. Luckily Caroline and her best friend from church are in the same class and it was easy to go in on a gift together. I put a photo of each of the girls on the gift - something I have never done before. I think I will do photos for Annie Kate's gumballs this year.

She had a great teacher!
and a great year!
First Day 2007
Last Day 2008

I found this photo of Annie Kate taken 5 years ago in the same dress and shoes...