I've spent some time over the last couple of weeks really contemplating this blog post. I knew the core concept I wanted to get across, but I spent my shower thinking time many days wondering how to word it. It may not be the most elegantly worded blog post available, but it speaks from my heart and goes like this;
Be kind. Adulting is hard. Hell, life in general is hard. Whether you are 10 or 50, the scope of your reality includes a great many things that are just plain hard for you. Maybe it's tying your shoes, or maybe it's dealing with the loss of a loved one. Our days are all full of hard decisions and situations. On top of all of this, we live in a world where tragedy and injustice is splashed in our faces every day. Be kind. It sounds so simple, but it isn't. Think about it. If we could just be kind to one another, how much easier could we make things? Hold the door for a stranger, smile at people in the grocery store, tolerate the differences in others. When you are thinking of someone, let them know. Say something nice to your partner, to your children, to your parents and your friends. Say something nice to someone you don't particularly like, What is it hurting? Nothing. Be kind. Unplug from your phone at whatever sport practice and interact with the other parents. Go on that coffee date you keep putting off. Spread kindness around like you are trying to start an epidemic. And maybe you will. Put a positive spin on your life, and you may find that it changes a lot. Start now. Enjoy every minute. Life is so short, just be kind.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Dusting off the Old Blog
Facebook has that fancy "On This Day" business now, and several times it has offered up old blog posts of mine to give me warm feelys about the past. I realized when the last one popped up that it had been 3 years since I last graced the internet with the musings and misadventures of my everyday life. Not that I really believe the internet missed me, but I did remember how much I enjoyed sharing my insights and adventures with my family and friends. So on a whim today I dusted off the old blog, and did a bit of freshening up. Sort of like Spring Cleaning. In July. There's still a bit to be done, but I thought I'd throw this out there. You know, like a heads up, or a warning, whichever way you choose to take it. Maybe a little nudge to the rest of you that have neglected blogs floating about. I do enjoy reading them.
Monday, July 1, 2013
How to Blow up a Pyrex Dish and Other Fun Summer Activities
Let me start by saying that so far, our Summer has been an absolute whirlwind. Mostly not in a bad way, just lots of crazy busyness. Whew!
It started a week before school let out when my wonderful SIL and her hubby came to stay for about a week. It was so great to have them here, as they live in ID and we don't really get to see them much. They arrived on the Saturday that my upstairs neighbor's water heater ruptured and caused for it to rain in my bathroom and hallway. LOL Welcome to the neighborhood! The trip for them, however, was not as much fun as it should have been since they seemed to have one problem after another with their Jeep. The long and complicated mess ended with them having to have one of my other SIL tow their Jeep back to Elko from Winnemucca to hang out at our place until Alex can get it fixed. They had to go back to Fallon and get a friend from ID to come and pick them up to take them home. Much later than they had originally planned. But thankfully they are back home safely, and the Jeep is in good hands.
About 3 days after Siddie and Ryan left, my Auntie and nephews came to stay for a little over a week. We checked out museums while they were here, spent some time at the park, and blew up a Pyrex baking dish. And broke a window. I should probably start with how I blew up the Pyrex since that's the first of a series of strange chaotic events that occurred while my Auntie was here. The night prior, I baked a delicious Wacky Cake and left the leftover portion in the Pyrex on the back burner of the stove. In preparing to cook the beautiful giant artichokes I paid an insane price for the next evening, I accidentally turned on the burner under the Pyrex dish instead of the one under the artichokes. We noticed a strange smell and that the Pyrex dish was smoking. Realizing what I had done, I grabbed the dish and went to put it in the dishwater in the sink (yes, I really was going to do that). At this point, my Auntie stopped me and pointed out that it would be much safer to set the dish on the back porch in case it exploded when it started to cool off. I agreed and turned to walk to the back door only to have the dish in question explode violently in my hands. Yup. Covered me in glass, blew it clear into the living room, under the stove, under the table, and, you guessed it, all over those beautiful artichokes which were now rendered inedible. Yay. So no artichokes for dinner that night. A couple of days after the Exploding Pyrex, my curious 5 year old son decided to see if he could bounce a rock off the cement in our back yard. Yup. And right through his bedroom window. While I was standing in front of it stripping the sheets off his bed to wash them. After I finally calmed down, I called the rental company, who would not, by the way, pay for the window (thankfully our renter's insurance did) and was instructed to cover the window with something to keep people from getting hurt on it (???) and call someone to fix it. I reached under the sink to grab a trash bag (the first cover I thought of) only to find that everything under my sink was VERY wet, due to the fact that the sink was leaking. I called the rental company again. While I was outside with my Auntie duck taping trash bags over the broken window (thankfully it was a double paned window and he only broke the outside pane) the maintenance guy showed up. Not to fix my sink, but to (finally) look at my ceiling where it had rained from my upstairs neighbors apartment more than a week prior. He poked at it, looked at my sink and told me he would be back the next day to cut some holes in my ceiling and assess the damage, and also to fix my sink. At 4:50pm the next day, he called to say he wouldn't make it, but would be by at 8:00 a.m. the following day. Okay. He came in, cut a 12x12 hole in the ceiling in my hallway and in my bathroom, and fixed my kitchen sink after 2 trips to the Home Depot and several hours. Haven't seen him since. I had to talk to the rental company today because I thought we had a gas leak (turns out we are just smelling the rotting insulation and wood through the holes in our ceiling) and was assured we are a priority this week. This week?
In the midst of all this chaos, we did manage to mark 5 or 6 things off our Summer Bucket list, and start some others. And laugh. We have to laugh. Or go crazy.
It started a week before school let out when my wonderful SIL and her hubby came to stay for about a week. It was so great to have them here, as they live in ID and we don't really get to see them much. They arrived on the Saturday that my upstairs neighbor's water heater ruptured and caused for it to rain in my bathroom and hallway. LOL Welcome to the neighborhood! The trip for them, however, was not as much fun as it should have been since they seemed to have one problem after another with their Jeep. The long and complicated mess ended with them having to have one of my other SIL tow their Jeep back to Elko from Winnemucca to hang out at our place until Alex can get it fixed. They had to go back to Fallon and get a friend from ID to come and pick them up to take them home. Much later than they had originally planned. But thankfully they are back home safely, and the Jeep is in good hands.
About 3 days after Siddie and Ryan left, my Auntie and nephews came to stay for a little over a week. We checked out museums while they were here, spent some time at the park, and blew up a Pyrex baking dish. And broke a window. I should probably start with how I blew up the Pyrex since that's the first of a series of strange chaotic events that occurred while my Auntie was here. The night prior, I baked a delicious Wacky Cake and left the leftover portion in the Pyrex on the back burner of the stove. In preparing to cook the beautiful giant artichokes I paid an insane price for the next evening, I accidentally turned on the burner under the Pyrex dish instead of the one under the artichokes. We noticed a strange smell and that the Pyrex dish was smoking. Realizing what I had done, I grabbed the dish and went to put it in the dishwater in the sink (yes, I really was going to do that). At this point, my Auntie stopped me and pointed out that it would be much safer to set the dish on the back porch in case it exploded when it started to cool off. I agreed and turned to walk to the back door only to have the dish in question explode violently in my hands. Yup. Covered me in glass, blew it clear into the living room, under the stove, under the table, and, you guessed it, all over those beautiful artichokes which were now rendered inedible. Yay. So no artichokes for dinner that night. A couple of days after the Exploding Pyrex, my curious 5 year old son decided to see if he could bounce a rock off the cement in our back yard. Yup. And right through his bedroom window. While I was standing in front of it stripping the sheets off his bed to wash them. After I finally calmed down, I called the rental company, who would not, by the way, pay for the window (thankfully our renter's insurance did) and was instructed to cover the window with something to keep people from getting hurt on it (???) and call someone to fix it. I reached under the sink to grab a trash bag (the first cover I thought of) only to find that everything under my sink was VERY wet, due to the fact that the sink was leaking. I called the rental company again. While I was outside with my Auntie duck taping trash bags over the broken window (thankfully it was a double paned window and he only broke the outside pane) the maintenance guy showed up. Not to fix my sink, but to (finally) look at my ceiling where it had rained from my upstairs neighbors apartment more than a week prior. He poked at it, looked at my sink and told me he would be back the next day to cut some holes in my ceiling and assess the damage, and also to fix my sink. At 4:50pm the next day, he called to say he wouldn't make it, but would be by at 8:00 a.m. the following day. Okay. He came in, cut a 12x12 hole in the ceiling in my hallway and in my bathroom, and fixed my kitchen sink after 2 trips to the Home Depot and several hours. Haven't seen him since. I had to talk to the rental company today because I thought we had a gas leak (turns out we are just smelling the rotting insulation and wood through the holes in our ceiling) and was assured we are a priority this week. This week?
In the midst of all this chaos, we did manage to mark 5 or 6 things off our Summer Bucket list, and start some others. And laugh. We have to laugh. Or go crazy.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Bringing a Bedroom Together on the Cheap
Miss Leelah came to live with us full time in February. On the 3rd to be precise. Her bedroom was...well, kind of a catch all to be honest. Because no one used it full time before she came, I had my craft stuff in it, and used the closet as extra storage space. It had a bed, but the bed set was about 10 years old, and looked it. The only other piece of bedroom furniture in the room was one of a set of nightstands that my Aunt had given us. Yep, just the one. LOL And not a dresser in site.
Shortly after she came to live with us, my Grandmother gave us a dresser that had belonged to my Pop's mom, my Great-granny Fern, long before I was even born. It was a very sturdy dresser, but in need of a make over.
Both pieces were varnished, or lacquered, or whatever they used to make them slick and shiny. I remembered pinning a tip on Pinterest (who doesn't love Pinterest?) about a primer that would make anything ready to paint. Enter the miracle primer Zinsser Cover Stain. The best part is that I found a quart of this liquid gold on clearance at WalMart for about half price. Score for me! It seriously covers and sticks to ANYTHING. But be warned. It's an oil-base primer, so if you don't wear gloves when you use it, and you happen to get it on your hands, you may as well remove your skin to get it off. Or that's what I've heard anyway. I would NEVER not pay attention to the fact that is was oil-based and use it without gloves. Nope, not me.
So, I took all the hardware off both pieces of furniture and used a small foam roller to primer them. Not too bad. I didn't put it on extra thick or try to have perfect coverage. I sort of just played it by ear and hoped for the best.
The primer was dry in about half an hour. I then used the WalMart brand paint in Tribal Smokestone to paint both the dresser and nightstand. Leelah picked the color, and it is very catching. And the WalMart brand of paint only ran me about $10 for a quart. Again, I didn't put it on super thick or try for perfect coverage. I went over the places that I felt needed it with a second coat, and everything was dry in about half and hour again. The primer underneath gives it sort of a rough texture, and I don't know if it's because I only lightly primered or because that's just how the primer is, but I like it.
On to the hardware. Of course the furniture wasn't from a matching set, so the hardware was different on each piece. The dresser had gold colored knobs, and the nightstand had a bronze toned knobs. Hmmm. Back to Walmart to buy some Krylon Colormaster Brushed Metallic spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze. I had never used it before now, but what the heck. It's really watery. I mean really watery, and it took 2 coats to cover the knobs well, but it is beautiful, and it dries in 10 minutes or less. Perfect.
Once everything was dry, I put all the knobs and drawers back in their places, and voila! a matching bedroom set, complete with new bed set, for less than $100. Not too shabby. The best part is, however, that Leelah loves it.
Shortly after she came to live with us, my Grandmother gave us a dresser that had belonged to my Pop's mom, my Great-granny Fern, long before I was even born. It was a very sturdy dresser, but in need of a make over.
Both pieces were varnished, or lacquered, or whatever they used to make them slick and shiny. I remembered pinning a tip on Pinterest (who doesn't love Pinterest?) about a primer that would make anything ready to paint. Enter the miracle primer Zinsser Cover Stain. The best part is that I found a quart of this liquid gold on clearance at WalMart for about half price. Score for me! It seriously covers and sticks to ANYTHING. But be warned. It's an oil-base primer, so if you don't wear gloves when you use it, and you happen to get it on your hands, you may as well remove your skin to get it off. Or that's what I've heard anyway. I would NEVER not pay attention to the fact that is was oil-based and use it without gloves. Nope, not me.
So, I took all the hardware off both pieces of furniture and used a small foam roller to primer them. Not too bad. I didn't put it on extra thick or try to have perfect coverage. I sort of just played it by ear and hoped for the best.
The primer was dry in about half an hour. I then used the WalMart brand paint in Tribal Smokestone to paint both the dresser and nightstand. Leelah picked the color, and it is very catching. And the WalMart brand of paint only ran me about $10 for a quart. Again, I didn't put it on super thick or try for perfect coverage. I went over the places that I felt needed it with a second coat, and everything was dry in about half and hour again. The primer underneath gives it sort of a rough texture, and I don't know if it's because I only lightly primered or because that's just how the primer is, but I like it.
On to the hardware. Of course the furniture wasn't from a matching set, so the hardware was different on each piece. The dresser had gold colored knobs, and the nightstand had a bronze toned knobs. Hmmm. Back to Walmart to buy some Krylon Colormaster Brushed Metallic spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze. I had never used it before now, but what the heck. It's really watery. I mean really watery, and it took 2 coats to cover the knobs well, but it is beautiful, and it dries in 10 minutes or less. Perfect.
Once everything was dry, I put all the knobs and drawers back in their places, and voila! a matching bedroom set, complete with new bed set, for less than $100. Not too shabby. The best part is, however, that Leelah loves it.
Monday, January 7, 2013
A Thought (or Two) on New Year's Resolutions...
It’s a New Year!
Hello to 2013, a new chance full of a hundred thousand promises and ways
to make life even better.
I wonder to myself why it is that the New Year makes us all
want to put into effect those changes we have been putting off for months or
even years. Maybe it’s because it gives
us the sense of starting over, or starting fresh. That’s what I’m doing with this New Year,
starting fresh. I’ve set myself some
specific New Year’s Resolutions, in hopes that by being less vague I make them
a little more obtainable. I’m setting up
a system of support, people and things to help me achieve these personal goals,
and I’m excited like I’ve never been excited before.
My overall goal this year is to simplify my life. By simplify, I mean to take out all the
unneccessary and unhealthy baggage, so to speak. I signed up to join in the 52 Week Organized Home
Challenge, and I’m purging and organizing like crazy! I’m actually ahead on the January Declutter
calendar, and I have been using Pinterest
as a guide for crafty storage solutions (the possibilities are endless!)
The simplification doesn’t stop there, however. I’m also simplifying the way we eat. Not to say that our meals will be simple, but
more along the lines of the ingredients will be simpler and fresher. I’m
planning for leaner proteins, more fruits and vegies and a goal to only eat out
once a month. Thanks to Bountiful Baskets, I can do all of
this and still stay within my budget, which is also being simplified. I’m FINALLY making myself stick out a fitness
routine. No excuses to be had! I joined an 8 week challenge with a friend of
mine via The
Six Sister’s Stuff (these ladies have a fantastic blog!). I’ve picked back up on the Weight Watchers
program (which, BTW, you can follow for free if you don’t mind not having the
new 360 program). My goals are within
reach.
I guess what I’m really doing is taking a good hard look at
the things that matter most in my life; my family, my health and my
happiness. How can I make these things
better and enjoy them more? The
possibilities are endless! So take a
minute to slow down in this crazy thing we call life, and enjoy the simple
things. May 2013 bring you many things
to celebrate and smile about.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Today I am Thirty...
Today I am Thirty. It feels like that line should come with a weight of some kind. I guess for me it just doesn't. I am honestly excited to be the big 3-0. It's crazy for me to think back and realize I have thirty years of life under my belt. 2 marriages. 4 kids. A million amazing adventures. I wouldn't trade a day of it for anything in the universe. Not even a bad day. :) I don't feel thirty, and, for me, this is the best part of all. I feel like life is really just starting to get good, and I can't wait to see what's waiting around the next bend. So here's to 30, and cheers to 30 more!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Five Years Ago Today
Five years ago today, this is what I looked like. LOL At 5:00 o'clock in the morning, I was at Churchill County Hospital preparing to be induced, since in this house we never have small babies. LOL
After about 12 hours of labor, we welcomed into the world the 8 pound 7 ounce Anthony Gleason (Anthony for his Uncle AJ and Gleason for his Papa).
It's still hard for me to believe that this tiny (well, maybe not "tiny") baby boy is 5 years old today. It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly time passes. It seems like only yesterday he was a wiggly, shy 2 year old.
Then I blinked and he was starting Kindergarten. Still shy, still pretty wiggly, but so much bigger. He has grown into a kind hearted and happy boy that is full of laughs and silly stories.
So Happy 5th Birthday to the best Anthony Gleason that any family could ask for!
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