Sparkles.

Me: Hey!
Tyler: *glistening*
Me: Did, uh, did you put some lotion on your face?
Tyler: Yeah.    *glistening*
Me: Was it that men’s face lotion I gave you?
Tyler: No, it was that new stuff you were using the other day.
Me: The ultra-hydrating lotion I put on my legs?
Tyler: Yeah, it said it was for dry skin. Plus it smells like almonds.
Me: Oh, yeah. But... it might be a little too greasy to use on your face?
Tyler: Oh, okay.  *glistening*
Me: Honey?
Tyler: Yeah?
Me: Go wash your face.

Man Cold

So for the past two weeks, Tyler has been feeling pretty poorly. We've tried a bunch of different products from cough drops and cold medicine, to soups and home remedies.

Nothing seemed to help much. Last night he woke me up in the middle of the night telling me he couldn't sleep and he was going to Wal-Mart to hopefully find a miracle product:

And I guess it worked, because I work up early this morning to find him passed out on the couch. Apparently he didn't even have the energy to make it upstairs. He groggily agreed that maybe it was finally time to go to Urgent Care, and then he proceeded to take another dose of the drowsy-medicine because it "works better." So he went back to sleep... for another 6 hours.

I enjoyed my leisurely morning by watching copious amounts of TLC shows on Netflix. Around noon, I decided to try to feed him something a little more substantial than crackers and chicken broth. I thought a little comfort food was in order, so I whipped up a "gourmet" meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese.

He woke up enough to eat, and his only comment about my thoughtful gesture was that his "mom makes it differently." If he weren't sick, he would have gotten a smack to the back of his head. But he was off the couch, which was a step in the right direction. I told him to get dressed and I would take him to get checked out. He gave me puppy dog eyes and asked if maybe he could just take a little nap first?

So that's how we got to 2pm on a Saturday, and I have done pretty much nothing all day. To be honest, it's been kind of wonderful, but I wish Tyler were feeling a little better. I guess I'll just have to take care of my sleeping beauty for a few more days.

Phone Skills

I've recently been thinking about an old friend I haven't talked to in a while. So I came up with a brilliant plan: I pulled out my cell phone and called her. But what did I hear on the other end? Not my friend's voice. Not a recording asking me to leave a message. Her husband answered the phone. Dum dum DUM!

My mind went completely blank. I know there's something I'm supposed to say in this situation... but my mind was not prepared. Everyone I talk to these days has a cell phone. When I call, I expect to communicate directly with the person I'm trying to reach. I'm not supposed to have to communicate with OTHER people.

Me:           "Hi, uh, I'm trying to reach [friend], I'm not sure I have the right number?"
Husband:   "Oh, yeah, we just have the one phone, you dialed right."
Me:           "Oh, okay. Thanks. Um. Can you... Can I... I could... leave a message?"
Husband:   "She's right here, let me get her for you."

The funny thing is, I call strangers all the time at work and know how to request the person I'm looking for, and leave a message if needed. I just never encounter this anymore in my social life. I'll guess this means I'll have to be more proactive. In the near future I will be implementing some training exercises to keep my phone skills sharply honed and ready for the unpredictable. Clearly this will be a top priority.

Weekend Things

Here are some things I did this weekend:

Tyler got some good news from work on Friday, so we wanted to celebrate! We went to Red Robin with Jordan and Megan. Thought about hitting up a parking-lot carnival after, but everyone was too tired.

Saturday morning, Tyler had to catch up on a few things at the office. I decided the nice weather was actually picnic weather. At the grocery store deli counter, I picked out "fancy" meats and cheeses to attempt to recreate his favorite restaurant-style sub sandwich.

Turns out we don't know where any parks are, and we ended up at some sort of bird/wildlife preservation area.

Ideal park experience:

Approximate park experience:

We found a shady spot in a semi-grassy-ish area. Tyler thought it was altogether too hot to be outside, but was gracious enough to participate in my picnic plan with minimal grousing. Even took his shoes off!

After an hour and a half of outdoor time (during which Tyler had a shouting match with the sun as it slowly crept across our picnic blanket), we packed up and headed to Melissa and Raphael's house. We were going to grill... something. We were hoping a plan would just come together, but at the mention of charcoal, we quickly lost motivation. We ended up going out for dinner instead.

On Sunday morning we put some corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage in the crockpot. Tyler kept calling it leprechaun meat. I also made some mini-cupcakes for our Primary class at church (we teach the 9-year-olds). We made them work for the special treat by giving them a simple test at the end of class. Despite high stress over the testing, they all passed and everyone enjoyed the green-cream-filled cupcakes.

Lowbrow blogging. You know, for kids.

I'm not actually a huge Twilight fan, but I like the books and movies well enough. It's just the uber!crazy fans that worry me somewhat on occasion.

And really, I've never understood the Team Edward vs Team Jacob mentality. I mean, who are these people on Team Jacob? Why would you CHOSE to be on the losing team? Are they just saying that if they had to chose, they would likely choose Jacob over Edward?

Well guess what, Jacobians. You are not the central character in the middle of that particular love triangle. Her name is Bella Swan. She may be silly, but she still gets to chose her romantic partners. You do not get a choice. She does. Understood? Bella chooses Edward, and it was pretty obvious from the beginning that she was going to. PAINFULLY OBVIOUS.

It's like when sports fans watch a game where they know their favored team has no chance what-so-ever of winning, but they still cheer for them like it will make a difference. YOU are not playing. Nothing you do will affect the outcome. At some point your loyalty may have been earned, but there comes a time where it becomes foolish. Cut your losses and seek out greener pastures.

It baffles me.


Whenever I think about my blog anymore, I always whine to myself about how I never have anything I want to say. So I have forced myself to take a terse and flippant status message and turn it into a terse and flippant blog post. You are welcome, internet.

Frittering away.

I realize it has been ages since I blogged. I apologize to all three of my readers. However, I feel like I haven't had much to say lately.

But, I suppose I have to end the lack of blogging eventually. So here are a few things in my life:

• I am turning 25 next week which kind of terrifies me. Being 25 will greatly reduce my ability to pretend I'm still in my early twenties and still allowed to be "figuring things out."

• I got a jury summons in the mail a few days ago. I am not really looking forward to it, but it probably won't be as bad as I imagine it will be. Also, not wanting to get jury duty is one of the reasons I've never registered to vote. (Feel free to judge me. I judge myself for this.) I guess that's not really a valid reason anymore. Especially since I didn't allow the possibility of jury duty to prevent me from getting my driver's license. Oh well.

• I went shopping with some of the money from my tip jar yesterday. For the longest time I wasn't spending any of that money at all because I was saving for a Kitchenaid mixer. But once I surpassed that goal, I felt like I could start spending a bit here or there to tip the pizza guy or do something fun that wasn't in my budget. Yesterday I managed to spend $80 worth of tip money that I had brought 'just in case.' But it was fun. Martin and I drove an hour and a half to meet our eldest sister at the city halfway between us. We saw Cowboys and Aliens and got lunch and I bought a couple new shirts that I really like even though I thought they were too expensive.

• Martin and I keep our 72-hour-kits along with a few gallons of water on one of the shelves in our pantry. This morning we discovered that 3 of the 4 gallons had sprung leaks (probably a few days ago) and soaked down into a box of my cookbooks and random recipe papers I'd stashed there (with the idea that I would eventually type the up and keep them forever). Now I'm too sad. Plus, how annoying is it that THREE OF FOUR gallons randomly started leaking without any discernible reason. The only good news was that I had waterproofed everything in the kits, so none of that was ruined.

Blogging From My Phone

So I have recently acquired a fancy new phone. (Don't judge, it was totally in the budget.) I am currently writing this post with my phone on the super-useful slide out keyboard. It is that awesome.

Along with my fancy phone, I also aquired a fancy new phone number. I had a few reasons for doing this, but mostly I just wanted to. Please do not be offended if I have not personally contacted you to notify you of my nw number. I didn't even give it to my dad. If you want it, ask. And then I will decide if you are worthy of it on a case-by-case basis. (Kidding!) (Mostly.)

The only only problem with my new number is that it seems like the previous owner of it is still using it / giving it out to service techs and collection agencies. I get at least 3 calls a week for Sergio and often they are from people telling me they will be showing up in the next 15 minutes to install my new cable box. Or telling me I owe them a lot of money.

Stupid Sergio.

Tips for a Happy Life

So the place where I work has a tip jar. A lot of people just drop in their change, and a few regulars sometimes throw in a little more. At the end of each shift, we split it up and everybody usually ends up with a dollar or two and large handful of change. Which I take home and put in a jar.

I kind of thought it would be cool to just keep the money in there forever and see how much I could collect. But, um... it was getting really full. And there is really no point in that kind of "saving," is there?

No, I didn't think so.

So last night I took it to the grocery store and turned all the coins into an amazon gift card worth almost $50. (If you use a CoinStar machine to get cash, they'll charge you a 10% fee. But if you are willing to accept a gift certificate instead of cash, there's no fee.)

So this is what I got with my tips:

The Ender's Shadow Series Box Set AND the Ender Quartet Box Set. Plus, I still have like $40 in one dollar bills. Any suggestions on how to spend it?

Color Coordination in the Kitchen.

Guys. Martin says I shouldn't show this to you because it reflects badly on our housekeeping skills. But GUYS! It is so awesome. I give you...

MOLD!!!

Sometimes I like to soak things so they won't get all crusty by the time I get around to dishes. But in this case, I think it may have been counterproductive. Let's look at it again...



Isn't it pretty? And it kind of matches the bowl! Now that's fancy!

Dear family,

See you soon!



~Holly