thankful thursday.

today, i'm thankful:

1. for the example my parents have given me.

2. for the almost photographic memories i have of my grandmothers.

3. for all the years i was a stay at home mom.

4. for maraschino cherries.

5. that kelly is having a baby.

6. that i have a daughter to watch american idol with.

7. that i have sons who bring me flowers from the yard.

8. that carlos makes me laugh everyday.

9. that matthew thinks it's normal to eat pickles for breakfast.

10. that God's mercy is new every morning.


11. for u2 (um... somebody forgot to give adam a street sign...rude.)

the way matt sees it #364

matthew: why was that man's neck shaped like that?

me: everybody is different.

matthew: except me, i'm normal.

dont get me wrong, he's a tender little guy. he recently showed a lot of compassion when he said this (loudly in public)...


"look, look, over there (pointing) it's just so sad when people lose their hair."

the song in my head #1

today we woke up to snow falling like wild! it was beautiful...although it has had a "chuck e cheese" effect on the kids. they were all outside at 6:30a.m. making snowballs. abraham tried to make a snow angel in about an inch which was hilarious. what is it about snow that makes us so happy?
i can not help having this song in my head...



snowman, starbucks style. this made me happy on so many levels
because it was made by E. who is our resident "fun bobby" (except instead of alcohol, he drinks amp & mt. dew) he's been sick for a while and this is just evidence that he's feeling better, and the world is right again.

my "box for a car" as alexandria calls it was covered. we love snow.

my boy.

abraham went to a birthday party at a roller rink today.

remember how cool it was to go skating was when you were a kid?
the lights.
the music.
backwards skate.
the hokey pokey.

pure magic.

product reviews.

ever since i used method dish soap
i haven't been able to go back to cheap-o dish soap.
it feels so greasy and weird.
i do not however love the bottles it comes in,
it's really thick plastic that becomes difficult to use after 2/3 of the bottle is gone.
method is not sold at my publix so in a pinch
i bought this stuff. it's really, really good.
i use the glass cleaner, and the concentrated multi purpose
cleaner that i dilute into spray bottles.
i highly recommend clorox greenworks.

and my sister- in- love told me about the
faux-oxyclean that dollar general sells
it's the bigest bucket for $5.00.
a scoop in the laundry gets out all the stains.
great stuff!

and finally this is my favorite body wash ever.
and i've tried many.
i love, love, love it.


yes, i know... i need to get out more.

update.

it's been an eventful week...
my schedule was crazy
not allowing any time for a mental reset.
so today, i'm taking it easy and preparing myself
to start again tomorrow.
the kids have been sick (again)
and i got sick and lost my voice.
i don't realize how much i need my voice until i lose it.
since i could not find a replacement on my shift yesterday
i took orders and called drinks whilst being completely hoarse...

me: (read my lips) decaf venti vanilla nonfat no foam 3 splenda extra hot latte.

customer: "what one was that?"

and repeat.

also this week, we got a volvo. it's super cool and paid for.
for the first time in 8 years i'm not driving a mini-van!

and abraham got his long locks of hair cut off.
pictures coming soon.

so...

chris sent me an email last week and i just got around to reading it...
i'm so glad i did because it would not have been okay if i missed out on this...

"On March 2nd, one day before U2 releases its latest studio creation, No Line on the Horizon, the band will take to Letterman for what will be a five-night residency stint."

so does a new album mean a tour? if so, i'm going to a concert.

mark my words.

i'm. going. to. a. concert.

and i'm taking him along with me.

i've only been to one U2 concert, it was my senior year of highschool.
i went with my friend kristy.
we drove from neptune beach to atlanta.
went about 3 hours past the exit.
turned around and tried it again.
got to atlanta at rush hour.
freaked out.
found our hotel on peachtree street.
walked to the georgia dome.
found our seats.
(about five rows from the top. sadness.)
it was the zoo tv tour which was interesting...
but i loved the acoustic set they did at the end of the catwalk.
and bono called the white house to speak to the 1st president bush.
but they wouldn't patch him thru.

after the concert we thought it would be more safe to board a shuttle
rather than walk thru downtown atlanta in the middle of the night.
but we couldn't figure out which shuttle was going our way so we walked,
and it was scary.
now that i think about this story, i'm so impressed my parents let me do this.
they also let me go to lollapalooza 2...but that is a story for another day.

dispensing happiness.

so carlos has wanted to buy this "soda dispenser"
just about every time we've been at the store for the past year.
but all i could picture was soda spewing all over my kitchen
so i said no way could he waste our money on such foolishness
strongly discouraged his from buying it.
but alexandria, being the enabler sweet girl that she is,
talked me into getting it for him as a birthday gift.
and it's actually not that bad.
it is meant for a 2 liter bottle but my hubby
is a maverick and uses it on little bottles too.
he claims it's the best birthday gift he's ever gotten
and enjoys it thoroughly.

soo funny.

i love "king of queens"
if anyone wants to give me a box set
of all the seasons that would be A-OK with me.

the heart of the matter.

if i could make my own conversation hearts today
they would probably say...

i'm spent.
emotional.
over it.
blah.

just keeping it real.

close to home.

my life for the most part feels so normal
that i forget about the recession that our country is in.
we've never really had much money, so budgeting and sacrifice is second nature.
i just figure that a lot more americans are joining
us in our quest to stretch a penny as far as possible.
but the recession that seemed so distant and nonparallel to my little world,
hit very close to home when a co-worker got laid off.
watching someone get fired is horrible,
even if you can't hear what is happening you can see and feel the impact.

today was sobering.