I’m more than a little bit surprised that I made it through this week in one piece. It got pretty crazy there for a while, with work and PTO thangs and fundraiser parties, oh my. Yesterday I spent most of the day relaxing and recuperating. I was so glad not to have a deadline for an entire day.
The weather was nice, so I decided to wash the winter filth off my car. Only in Oregon does a person need to clean MOSS off their car—I scrubbed with a toothbrush forEVER to get that gunk off. Sheesh. My Jetta is a happy car now, moss-free and ready to face spring.
I came up with a semi-brilliant idea to get my kids to de-clutter their rooms a little bit at a time. Today I handed them each a grocery bag and said I’d give them a dollar if they’d fill it with stuff they no longer wanted. The rules were that I had to okay each item—no giving away family heirlooms or beloved items belonging to a sibling—and the bag had to be overflowing. Jack was done in five minutes; Katie took close to an hour. Now if I can get them to do that AT LEAST once a week, preferably more often, then we can lower our home’s junk level considerably. I did the same thing in my room, by the way. ‘Twas good.
I broke a candleholder yesterday so I got the super glue out today to repair it. I was careful not to stick my fingers together, but I still got lots of it on my fingers and it’s driving me crazy. You really have to file that stuff off your skin, dontcha? Geez.
For the past few weeks I’ve been hearing about Pinterest from Sherilee and some blogs I follow, and I think I’ve finally figgered it out. Imagine having a bulletin board with photos of stuff you like pinned all over it. Maybe you have a bunch of bulletin boards, each with a theme. Anywhere you go on the Internet, if you find something you like, you can “pin” it to one of your boards. Other people can re-pin your photos, they can comment on your pinned items, and you can follow other people’s boards to see what kinds of pin-worthy things they find. It’s cool to look at your boards after you’ve pinned a few things—they’re like little collections of parts of YOU. I like it very much. I made a board with photos of the plants and flowers we have in our yard; it may not be of much interest to anyone else, but I love seeing everything together like that. Pinterest is a whole big ton of fun!
You know two colors I’ve decided I do not like together? Grey and yellow. There’s a LOT of grey and yellow pinned on Pinterest boards, and it’s supposedly the new hot color combo, but I THINK IT IS HORRIBLE. I know, I’m probably the only person in the whole world who thinks this—it would seem so, anyway—but UGH.
Thursday evening I had a Relay for Life fundraiser at my house—a Miche Bag party. I think it went well, but I don’t have final numbers yet because my party is still open. This means, of course, that if you wanted to order something but didn’t make it to the party, it’s not too late. Let me know soon, though, ok? These are the classic shells I got, BTW:
Thirty percent of the total party sales will be donated to our team. I’m grateful to all of you who bought bags and helped us raise more money to kick cancer’s ass! And to my mom, who purchased the base bag and Madelynn shell for me, THANK YOU!
I got a new iPhone game that’s fun and addictive, at least for the short term: Doodle Fill. It’s free.
One of the goodies I prepared for the fundraiser party was a last-minute decision based on something I saw on Pinterest. I made rainbow fruit skewers, served with a simple but yummy dip made of strawberry yogurt and Cool Whip.
Here are my thoughts:
- I used canned mandarin oranges for the orange color and they were less than ideal. I did it for time’s sake, but were I to do these again, I would either use fresh oranges/tangerines/clementines/whatever or cantaloupe. Canned mandarin oranges aren’t firm enough for skewers.
- These really need bigger cubes of pineapple. Next time.
- What is the flippin’ deal with kiwi fruit, anyway? They’re a pain in the ass to peel, and when you finally get all that whiskery skin off, they’re totally slimy and slippery. And they taste like grass! They may look pretty, but I think green grapes or honeydew would work just as well and taste a lot better. The kiwi is pretty, I’ll give it that.
- Bigger, fatter blueberries: required.
- The raspberries were perfect (though expensive) but watermelon or strawberries would also work. I wouldn’t do watermelon if I’ve used cantaloupe and honeydew—too melon-y!
I froze all the leftover fruit and dip and blended it up into a delicious smoothie the next morning. Nummers.
BTW, the plates in the photo above? New. We were long overdue to replace our old, scratched up dishes and when I saw these at Pier 1 I just couldn’t resist. Here’s a better photo of the set:
The weather has improved a bit lately, and even on the rainy days the temps are higher than they’ve been for a long while. Victor and I have been taking walks in the evenings; it’s lovely to be outside and enjoy springtime in Clackamas. We’ve tried to walk a mile or so every night. If we go without a dog or kid, it’s easy and even though it’s not all that leisurely, we still have a good time hangin’.
We’ve gone through scrapbooks and photo albums a lot in the past couple weeks as we reminisce about our sweet Scout. I ran across this photo and I just have to share it. No, it has nothing to do with Scout and I don’t suddenly think my grandma’s the best thing ever, but she certainly does love Jack. This was taken in August 2006.
On Friday, my author friend Lisa Schroeder spent the day at our school. She gave three presentations to portions of the student body, and the teachers selected a handful of students from each class to join her for one-on-one time during lunch. She signed tons of books the kids had ordered, and we had a drawing for signed copies of the promotional posters. It was so cute seeing the kids around her—some were completely star struck and speechless, and others couldn’t shut up. I’ve heard really good comments about her visit. I hope we can do more author visits in the future—I think they’re very inspiring to the kids.
Friday night was our last family night at the school for the year. We did a game night and set up board games around the cafeteria and had kickball in the gym. The weather was gorgeous, and lots of kids spent the evening out on the playground. Popcorn, Italian sodas, candy, and rousing games of Scattergories? OH MY GOODNESS YES. It was such fun!
Speaking of school, Jack said there are only 17 school days left. How did that happen?
Another busy week ahead. Wish me luck.
Lots going on with you, for sure. Glad you got a little down time this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI love the bag idea with the kids. I do that myself every once in awhile, but I am going to inflict that on Seth this week and see how it goes. His big overflowing thing is books, and (like his mom) he has hard time giving them up... might want to read them again, right?
Hope you have a great week ahead! xoxo
Your decluttering idea? Genius!
ReplyDeleteAlso checking out pinterest now.