Cibbit

The Random Dozen #5

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Miscellaneous | No Comments

Here are my Meme answers to Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee.  Read on then join the fun!

 1.  On an average, how often do you splurge and buy something for yourself?
Often enough that Dave Ramsey would not be pleased.

 
2.  Are you more like Hall or Oates? Just kidding. Real question: What is the last creative project you began/finished? Feel free to post a pic of it.
A crochet baby blanket for my cousin who is expecting her fourth baby, all of whom are girls.  It is lemon yellow and all that is lacking on it is the ruffle edging that I haven’t quite learned how to make.  If you have any suggestions for easy crochet borders…hook me up!  Pun intended.

 
3. OK, Goldie Locks, do you consider your house too big, too little or juuuust right?
When the four year old is continuously screaming like a banshee but thinks he is singing,  I realize that I need to add on a soundproof (and sometimes I think a padded-room for me is needed) but for the most part it is just right.

 
4. What is your favorite outdoor chore?
Hmmmm…….I do not believe I have a favorite outdoor chore, but I certainly like it when Hubs cuts the grass.  And let me tell you, he does an excellent job…pretty diagonal stripes.

 
5. If you knew that cigarette smoking was not bad for your health but would be a weight loss tool, would you use it? Why or why not?
Nope and for many reasons but a very logical one would be that it is an expensive addiction.

 
6. On a road trip, would you rather drive or ride?
Drive…and speed to get there fast!

 
7. What do you consider a trivial pursuit?
The game, which I beat everybody in continuously…especially the Disney edition.

 
8. This weekend, we downloaded the movie “Duplicity” with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Within 5 minutes, I was bored and annoyed, but I kept watching 5-10 minutes at a time hoping it would get better between small chores. I finally gave up and Jorge watched it alone, and then regretted wasting that time because he disliked it intensely, too. So … how long do you watch a movie or read a book before giving up on it?
I am in for the long haul…I will watch a bad movie from start to finish just to see how (badly) it ends.  There have been only five exceptions to this rule.

 
9. Is there a song that you really love but are embarrassed to admit because it’s not cool or it’s racy or because it’s by Hall and Oates?
There are several…currently Lady Gaga songs played on the radio come to mind (Just Dance, Poker Face, Paparazzi) and Britney Spears (Circus, Womanizer). Of course I am embarrassed because these are such great examples of femininity and demureness for my son to see how real women should act and be treated.  Plus I think you have to be a teenager to readily admit these are in your iPod.  Add to the fact that I love rock and roll (Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Pink Floyd…etc) and I lose a bunch of rock cred when I admit that pop songs make me dance around the house while I cook supper.  Other than that…  

10. On a scale of 1-10 (10 = extremely) how spontaneous are you?
I am so spontaneous I skipped this question!

 
11. Are you a food and/or beverage snob?
Yup!  I don’t care what anyone says…Toaster Pastries do not taste anything like a Pop-Tart!  Maxwell House is just not as good as Starbucks.  I do not like eating at buffetts.   I’m just saying…

 
12. Who/What are you trying to control in your life? (I hear people gulping and see them sweating in anticipation of how to answer this one.)
Typically, I am trying to control my four year old.  I’ll let keep you posted on how that’s working for me.  (See answer #3)

I was so not trying to be a hero.

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | Miscellaneous, Parenting | No Comments

So we went to a great little fall festival in our town yesterday.  There were cool corvettes to ogle over, inflatables for the kids, artists selling their wares and all kinds of local businesses out doing free advertisement.  Even my chiropractor was there with a booth.
As was the Bloodmobile… which brings us to my little story.  Since I was little, my mom has given blood on a regular basis.  She helps organize the bloodmobile’s visits to her small town even now.  Any time the bloodmobile would be around she was there in a, uh, heartbeat…no pun intended.  Even though I was too young to give at the time, I would go with her and saw the procedures and all that giving blood entails.  I have always felt that it is a great way to help others and is such an important gift.  In college I was typed to be a bone marrow donor but in high school and college I didn’t weigh enough to actually give blood.  Did I also mention that I am borderline hypoglycemic?  That was another reason I had been hesitant in the past.  So basically up until yesterday I knew in theory alone what is like to give blood. 
When we walked past the bloodmobile I had a very strong desire to give blood, like a cosmic holy push.  Hubs would later ask what prompted my decision and all I could do is point up.  I have wanted to give blood before but just had never gotten around to it for one reason or another but today seemed like a great day…
I climbed aboard the big bus which Michael kept calling a house.  It smelled like a hospital and rocked ever so slightly like a boat but I pressed on still feeling good about this decision.  I was asked the compulsory questions and passed the test because the next thing I knew I was strapped up in a tourniquet and in a strange recliner.  Michael climbed up next to me and through the window, we watched the people walk by.  I didn’t start panicking until the nurse pulled out a handful of collection bags…”how many of those things do I have to fill up?” I asked.  She smiled and to my relief said just one.  Things went seemingly well, at least from my perspective (the one who has never actually donated blood before, but what do I know?)  A good ways through the process it began to get really hard to tighten my fist on the stress ball and then it started to get really hot in that bus.  When I asked the nurses on board if that was normal they immediately jacked the air conditioning on high and began to cover me with ice packs.  The nurses told me that the first time to donate blood can be a shocker to the system… apparently your body, unfamiliar with blood draining quickly out of the arm and into a plastic baggie such a feeling thinks it is bleeding out.  NICE!  I also learned that giving blood makes your blood sugar drop drastically…um, oops…
After some orange juice I felt much better until, I saw my blood dripping down my arm and onto the floor.  Normally, I don’t get grossed out by blood but something about almost passing out and having low blood sugar just did it for me and I was right back to feeling woozy.  The IV line had gotten twisted up or clamped, not sure which because at that point I was barely paying attention to the nurses’ conversation and just wanted to close my eyes and drift off to sleep.  After repeated inquires of how I felt, all I could really articulate was “really sleepy.”  “Don’t close your eyes!”  one of the nurses emphatically told me as she handed me an apple juice.  Michael was oblivious and contently sitting on his own recliner while sipping on a Capri Sun muttering about Thomas the Tank Engine to anyone who would listen (bless his heart).  It was about that time that I finished up.  The nurses gave me a package of magic Nutter-Butters and unhooked me from my tethers.  I was able to sit up and began to feel better all the while shivering like it was 10 degrees below zero.  I muttered aloud that I was so embarrassed and Michael repeated it, “ I am so embarrassed too!”  Isn’t he supposed to be a teenager before I embarrass him?  
Nearly passing out twice and being called out by a four year old wasn’t even the most embarrassing part.  At some point during my second dizzy phase one of the nurses had snuck out and requested police escort for me back to my car.  Let me preface, I am so thankful that these ladies cared enough to make sure I got to the car safely but I must say I was terribly embarrassed to be the one.  You know, the one you see in the crowd of people at the festival who is not only being escorted by the police but a police officer in a golf cart!  Yep…that’s me.  However, I did make great strides that day of getting over my difficulty of accepting help from others.  A few years ago and I would not have accepted the golf cart ride with the police officer.  I could have bled all the way to the car and told everyone that I was “fine”.  Michael told me the other day that big boys don’t need help which I was quick to correct, “sometimes the bigger you are the more help you need.”  I took my own advice and didn’t try to be a hero. 
As we were leaving the bloodmobile I apologized to the nurses, who were quick to let me know that this happens a lot and that next time should be much better…hmmm, next time. 
I was that much trouble and they still gave me a shirt and a bag!

I do plan on donating blood again and highly recommend it to anyone who is able.    For more information on Blood Donation please visit the Red Cross Website.   www.givelife.org

Gigi’s Cupcakes

Friday, October 2nd, 2009 | Miscellaneous | No Comments

A new sweets shop has opened in my city and it is wonderful!  I am intrigued by a shop that only sells cupcakes and by the sheer vastness of flavorings offered.  Not to mention the cuteness of the little cakes is certainly a plus.  Gigi’s Cupcakes offers a wonderful array of gourmet cupcakes to tantalize any sweet tooth.  Peanut Butter, Wedding Cake, Tiramisu, Root Beer Float, Merry Margarita, Rocky Road, and my favorite so far, Southern Comfort (think pecan pie but as a cupcake…yum!).  And that is just naming a few.  The store here even offers Auburn Cupcakes.  If you happen to cheer for the other teams they have Roll Tide and Tennessee cupcakes too.  Perfect for tailgating.   Michael picked Kiddie Kake because it is blue and most importantly, had a green gummy worm on top.  Be sure to check out their menu to see which one you want to try first.  I will warn you…these cupcakes are huge!  Hubby called them a meal of icing and cake.  Check to see if there is a Gigi’s near you and get thee there post-haste!

The Flush

Thursday, October 1st, 2009 | Miscellaneous | No Comments

Do you ever worry you’ll loose a flip flop in a public restroom?  I never never never never ever flush a public potty with my bare hand.  I use my foot to flush the industrial toilets and my finger wrapped in a wad of TP for the unfortunate times that I can’t use my foot.  Each and every single time as I raise my foot, I say a prayer that my flip flop doesn’t choose that moment to slip off and leave me (gasp) barefoot in the stall of a public WC or worse (double gasp) with a shoe floating in a porcelain cesspool.  Imagine a navy blue crock, which will float, swirling around the public toilet.  Do you grab it and hop over to the sink, hoping for antibacterial soap or do you just leave it there and BritneySpears your way out of the restroom?  What if it is your brand new Prada Knotted Thong Sandal?  Would it ever really be clean enough after a dip in public comode water?  Add in a three year old boy who keeps loudly asking why your anatomy doesn’t match his and you have the cherry on top of an exciting mommy-needs-a-drink kinda day.  Luckily, this is just a nightmare for me and hasn’t yet been a reality to include owning a pair of Prada shoes (that was the highlight).  Call me anxiety ridden but this scenario does occasionally flash before my eyes right before the flush.  Has it happened to you or am I being overly anxious?  

Password Recovery

Thursday, October 1st, 2009 | Miscellaneous | No Comments

Have you ever lost a password?  I did…sorry I’ve been gone so long.  I’ll keep this password in a safe place!

The Parade of John-Johns

Saturday, March 28th, 2009 | Parenting | No Comments

Heather and Stephanie have been discussing John-Johns at their blogs and I decided to join the conversation with my own post.  I grew up in the Heart of Dixie where it is still customary to dress your little one, even the youngest boys in smocked little outfits.  While growing up in Alabama, each Easter I would wear crinoline slips that made my dress fluff out, a la Shirley Temple on the Good Ship Lollipop.  Sometimes I had jingle bells sewn into the hem.  To this day I am not clear if that was my mother’s doing or it was some ill conceived design by the dress maker.  Regardless, I tinked about like a cat with a bell on its collar.   My other female cousins would be wearing similar dresses and the moms would line us up next to the dogwood tree for pictures.  Looking back at those pictures it is funny to see that we were standing so far apart from one another because our dresses stuck out two feet. 

So when Michael was born he was no doubt included in the tortureous parade of smocking.  The first outfit I bought for him, the day I found out we were having a boy, was this blue Feltman Brothers bubble suit. 

He came home from the hospital in this: notice that it is primary colored.   

Over his first two years, he wore numerous cute john-john outfits, many of which my husband vehemently protested against.  While I think that these outfits are cute and part of the southern flavor, there is definitely an age limit to subjecting dressing a boy in one.  Michael hit his at two.  No more cutesy outfits after the third birthday.  Not to mention the color choice for such an outfit was limited to shades of blue or white by the hubby.  No purple.  Now, we have hit the other southern man staple, the Ralph Lauren Polo shirt.  I must say, however, that I love the hound’s-tooth sweater vest Heather’s little boy is wearing.  I would put Michael in that in a heart beat, despite it’s obvious link with the Crimson Tide.  Losiah is adorable! 

More examples of the Smocked / John-John Parade…

With Friends Like These… (or Sea Monkeys for Adults)

Friday, March 27th, 2009 | Cooking | No Comments

I had a moment of overzealous Little-Mommy-Homemaker Psychosis the other day.  One of the ladies in my bunko group offered me Amish Friendship Bread Starter.  She dropped it off on Saturday.  I remember – vaguely albeit it fondly – the little baggie of starter that mother kept in the fridge many, many, many moons ago of sourdough starter.  It wasn’t until I received my gallon sized Ziploc of goo and read the mile long directions that the magnitude of this project hit.  Can this really be called Friendship Bread?  Wouldn’t a real friend give the bread already baked?  After reading the directions for a third time I realized this was going to be laborious.  I knew it was dire when it told my sister-in-law that I had Amish Friendship Bread Starter and she said, “I am so sorry.”  Little does she know, but she will be getting a bag or two or three of this starter for herself.  I have even begun to compile a list of friends and neighbors, well really, anyone I come in contact with for the next few weeks to pass along this pet in a bag.  Like bunnies or cats, this thing multiplies exponentially and you have to feed it and care for it on a schedule.  (Like I don’t have enough to feed or care for around here.  At least there is no potty training necessary.)  One big gallon Ziploc breeds lots of little baggies.  However, we can eat this pet and also kill it by not feeding it without a blink of an eye or slap on the wrist from the ASCPA or PETA.  Bread starter is like Sea Monkeys for adults.  I remember what happened to my sea monkeys when I was little…it doesn’t look good for the little yeasty beasties.
So since this is my first foray into the land of bread starter, do you have any tips or interesting flavorings for the goo?

23:37

Saturday, March 21st, 2009 | Miscellaneous | No Comments

It is almost time to go to Wal*Mart!  And you ask, “What, pray tell, could compel you to go to the store at exactly midnight?”.  Well dear reader, at midnight, Twilight the movie goes on sale for $17 bucks.  Yippee.  I haven’t made a midnight trip to Wal*Mart since college, but I won’t be buying beer this time.  Just a DVD and Easter candy.
(Michael likes to spell and he reads the Wal*Mart sign as W-A-L-Star-M-A-R-T.  I spell it accordingly in homage of his cuteness and squeaky three year old voice.)  

VBS – Vacation Bible School

Thursday, March 19th, 2009 | Parenting | No Comments

I am so stoked about VBS coming up this summer!  It will be Michael’s first opportunity to participate now that he is older and somewhat potty trained.  More on that later. 

VBS was always a highlight of my summers while growing up and it is wonderful that Michael will have this experience.  He was only two last year and stuck in the nursery while I volunteered for the older groups.  He wanted nothing more than to go with the big kids and sing songs and make crafts. This is his year!   

In my zeal, I have registered him for two separate VBS programs at two different churches.  Coincidentally, both churches are doing the Crocodile Dock program by Group.  We will be um, well versed, no pun intended and will know all the songs and hand motions by at least the second week.  Without fail, by the time you learn all the hand motions that go with the VBS songs, it is Friday and you never have the opportunity to pantomime them again.  Not this time.  Interestingly enough, another church we attend on occasion is having VBS but conveniently on a different week from the other two.  And guess what program they are using…hmmm.     

Crocodile Dock rocks!   

Zen Shopping

Friday, March 13th, 2009 | Miscellaneous | No Comments

For the first time in many months I was able to go to the grocery store by myself.  Usually, I head to Publix with my three year old in tow but to go shopping without the incessant, albeit at times cute, distractions was an exercise in Zen purchasing. 

I was able to concentrate on pricing and product selection instead of quickly picking the first item that was similar to what was required on my list.  Additionally, I could park the buggy next to the shelf without fear of a precocious preschooler arbitrarily picking items off the shelf before depositing them into the cart without my knowledge.  Have you ever gotten home with canned octopus?  

The kicker was noticing things on the shelves that I would swear weren’t there before.  Whole aisles of items that I had never seen, or at least paid attention to before.  (There is a whole aisle of cooking implements to make the Food Network jealous.) 

While I won’t say that I never enjoy grocery shopping, it certainly was a totally different experience than what I usually endure.  And yes, grocery shopping is about endurance especially with a three year old.