Jul. 31: July in review

Time to summarize July at the Manullangs’ house.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• Independence Day. Quiet-ish celebration at home but-cept for a little bit of blowin’ shit up after dark.
• Relay for Life 2012!
• Darlene’s and Alec’s birthdays. The fam gathered at Darlene and Wellington’s. Fun was had by all, especially those who ate that cake Sonya brought.
• Victor turned older on July 29. We didn’t do a whole lot, but in two years: WATCH OUT. Big celebration for the elderly guy in my house!

Books I read this month:

• One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd, by Jim Fergus. I loved this story, loved the white woman’s view of the blending of cultures.
• I started reading several books that I didn’t finish, either because they were totally uninteresting or simply not my thing. What a waste of time with those. Ugh.
• We met Carlos Ruiz Zafon, author of The Shadow of the Wind, at Powell’s last week and I bought his latest book (The Prisoner of Heaven) and the one before it, The Angel’s Game. They are all part of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. So excited to go back to that place! He’s a very talented storyteller.

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• I’ve been watching a little Olympics, but otherwise not much interests me on TV these days.
• I finally got the second season of Samantha Who? on DVD. I really loved that show. So much.
• Mirror Mirror. Cute-sy cute.
• It was neither a movie nor a TV show, but we saw Jersey Boys on its stop in Portland last week. I made the mistake of not checking the appropriateness of the show for 10-year-olds, and Jack heard more profanity in three hours than he’s heard in his whole life. Oops. Heh heh.

New recipes or restaurants we tried:

• No new restaurants; just returned to some of our favorites.
• No new recipes, either. Jack and I baked cookies today and I was instantly reminded of why I hate baking cookies. An all-day summer project involving constant use of the oven? No thanks. Come talk to me when you have a Popsicle in your hand.

Special or unusual purchases we made:

• Guitar strings to replace the ones that kept snapping on Katie’s new guitar.
• I floated again. Got kinda bored this time.
• I bought a LOT of polished river rocks so I could make one of these:

This month’s disappointments:

• That guitar string problem.
• Vic’s stay-cation. (I hate that word so much. No, I resent that word so much. We needed to get o-u-t of here.) It was nice having him home for a week, though.
• Football camps and practices started. Sorry, Jill, but for me, it super-sucks.

My accomplishments:

• I almost have all the glue off me after making the river rock doormat. For a couple days, I felt like Clark Griswold in this scene from Christmas Vacation:

• We got a good report from the oncologist on my 18-month post-treatment tests. I don’t think anything I did had anything to do with that happening, so to call it an accomplishment is awfully generous. Let’s just say it happened and it was a good thing. There.
• We organized our garage and took loads of stuff to Goodwill. Related: someone stole our stove—but it was our old one, so we didn’t care. Related: we got Katie to give up a bunch of stuff (though you’d never know it by looking at her room) for the neighbors’ garage sale. Related: I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. And cleaned. I also cleaned.
• Another Pinterest-inspired project: these planners. The glass in the frames (I used two of these) makes a good dry-erase surface, and the scrapbook paper inside serves as separator between days. Every week I change the headings and write in the upcoming week’s stuff. These hang in the kitchen where everyone in the family can see them and now they are no longer allowed to yell at me for not telling them what’s going on. It’s working well so far.

• I got  my new laptop set up with minimum difficulty, and now I hardly even notice that it’s a different one. Whew. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still bitter that I had to buy a new one.
• I didn’t kill anyone, even though several people who crossed my path TOTALLY asked for it.

Anything else noteworthy:

• Pamela Ribon’s newest book, You Take it From Here, came out on July 3. My name is in it. I’m way more proud of that than I deserve to be. Acknowledgement or not, I loved the book and encourage all y’all to buy it.
• We got to hang with the Fukais for the first time in way too long. Val and I caught up on People magazine news, Vic and Chris enjoyed their new fire pit, Jack dressed up in a skirt with a parasol, and Katie got schooled by Val in a Nerf gun fight (followed by Val shooting herself in the face).

• We met up with Debi and Greg while they were in Portland last weekend. Greg got a new dress! Yes, some might call it a kilt, but I called it a dress. In Portland, he was not even given a second glance because in Portland, guys in kilts aren’t even a little bit unusual. Portland is so weird and awesome. Debi and Greg aren’t so bad either.
• OMG, OMG, OMG! Snoop Dogg changed his name. That’s noteworthy, right? Yahoo News thought so and put it all big and headline-like on my page. Yay???

Bring it, August. I’m ready for ya.

Dec. 6: Daybook

Look! I’m actually posting this Daybook thing on a Monday morning, when it’s meant to be posted. I might just be awesome. For today only.

Today…

Outside my window... it’s gross. I don’t really want to talk about it.

This weekend, I… baked two dozen cupcakes in black and orange, and two dozen in green and yellow. Yep, they were for a Civil War game party. If I cared at all about the Beavers or the Ducks, I would have probably put nasty stuff in the cupcakes representing the team I liked less. Lucky for the people at the party, I didn’t give even a tiny bit of a shit who won. In fact, most of the time I was at the party I couldn’t even see the TV. When I heard people cheering, it made me happy. When I heard people booing, it made me sad. Now I have some questions for you:

1. Did you know that Rumple Minze is good in hot chocolate?
2. Can you say “Rumple Minze” if you’ve been drinking Rumple Minze? I cannot. It comes out “rupplemist” or “rumblemist” or “rumplemints.” Wait! That’s it! RUMPLE MINTS. Rumple. Mints. Rumple Minze. Rumble Mertz. DAMMIT!
3. Can you tell that Cassie got me drunk at this party? She didn’t even have to try very hard.
4. I love Cassie.
5. That last one was not a question, was it?
6. I think maybe it’s easier to say “peppermint schnapps.” Also, to make this a question, will you buy me some peppermint schnapps? I’d like marshmallows with it, pretty please.

I am thinking... that pretty soon my in-laws and their families will be in town and I’m very happy about that. They’re nice people. Well, I’m not sure about Sonya. She can be kinda mean, like, ALL THE TIME. The rest of them are decent, I guess. Or maybe I’ll just stay home by myself.

I am thankful... for videos like this on the web. It almost hurts, how funny this is:

The 12 minutes fly by.

I am working on... fun Christmas gifts, etsy-style. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

I am going... to get our Christmas cards out this week. I am also going to need an editor because right now our Christmas letter is nine pages long, and that’s at least eight pages two many. Oh, and I forgot that last year we used up our supply of CD sleeves, so I had to order more last night and I am going to have to wait to mail the Christmas cards that get CDs with them until the new sleeves arrive.

In other words, I am going… to do a lot of things that are difficult and frustrating and will make me angry and possibly bitter about the holidays.

I am hoping... to check some stuff off my PTO to-do list this week. There are a lot of things to tackle this week. I am also hoping to see Val this week, because I only saw her once last week and it was on Monday and I’ve already forgotten what she looks like. I am also hoping to see Sunshine this week. I saw her a bunch last week, but I don’t think it was for a fun thing even once. We need to do fun things.

Around the house... it’s getting all Christmas’d up. I love it! The tree is in the family room this year—we think we might get to enjoy it more this way—and we’ve got our singing snowmen all over the house. Turns out I’m a little corny when it comes to Christmas décor. Thank goodness for the twitter I read this morning, which put a stop to my insanity, at least for outdoors: “I was going to cover my lawn with inflatable Christmas decorations, but I’m too busy growing a mullet and watching Jerry Springer.”

One of my favorite things... is making fun of Christmas décor. It’s hilarious, what people think looks good enough to put on and around their homes. I love the displays that are tasteful and I love that ones that are kitschy. Everything in between gets pointed and laughed at. SO. MUCH. FUN. And since you’re thinking it, YES, I will enjoy doing that in hell too.

Plans for the rest of the week: PTO doodies, work, a Pampered Chef party at Cindi’s, Wellington’s birthday celebration, the gol-durn Christmas cards and CDs, TiVo catch-up, and a top-secret project I’m hinting at below.

Here’s an image I want to share:

Yes, that’s me and author extraordinaire Pamela Ribon when we met last June. She emailed me last week. I know, I’m such a dork to share that info, but facts are facts, people. She even asked me to do her a favor, which I gladly agreed to because I think she’s so amazing and I would do anything for her. And I probably shouldn’t make a big deal out of it, but when you give someone a vital organ, aren’t you allowed to make a big deal out of it?

Oops. Spilled the beans. The kidney beans.

Oh fine, Pamie didn’t ask me for a kidney. But I’d probably give her one of mine if she wanted it. Unless she didn’t really need it, like if she wanted a spare just in case. That wouldn’t be such a cool thing.

Maybe I’ll tell you more about Pamie later. (Did I mention that she’s the coolest?)

…and the restraining order is served in one… two… three…

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Aug. 2: Daybook

My bloggy friend Jen E has been doing this Daybook thing for a while now. I like that it makes it (seem) easy to sort out one’s week before it really gets going, so decided to give it a try too.

Today…

Outside my window... it is sunny and beautiful. Bright blue sky. Not too hot yet. I am going to be out there in it soon. This is not a day to stay indoors.

I am thinking... of taking some water aerobics classes. I asked about them this morning at the aquatic center; when I explained my health situation the woman said, “You’d probably feel comfortable in the 11:00 class because there are mostly handicapped people in it.” I’ve never been called ‘handicapped’ before. Not sure I liked it. But I could probably out-aerobicize all o’ them wheelchair folk! I’m so in!

I am thankful for... my family. My good kids (today, anyway). My incredible friends. So many wonderful people in my life. Happiness.

From the kitchen... there’s not much going on. We might attempt cookies this week. I found a recipe for those delicious chocolatey cookies with the dusting of powdered sugar—my friend’s mom made them with us a bunch of times when I was little and just seeing the photo of them brought back happy memories.

I am wearing... jeans and a shirt. I’ll put on a scarf and shoes before I leave the house.

I am creating... an even bigger mess in my attempt to clean and sort closets. It’s wearing me out, but if I stop now, it’ll never get done. And I’m kinda cursing the fact that we recently downsized our garbage can, because we could really use the space right now. Thank goodness the recycle bin can be used for a lot of what we’re discarding.

I am going... shopping with the kids this afternoon. Katie needs a new lunchbox, and Jack needs shirts. Maybe a little something for Mommy too???

I am reading... nothing right now. The next book on my list, though, is by Pamela Ribon. Of course.

I am hoping... to get a nap this afternoon. My sleep during the night has been very tossy-turny and I’m not getting enough.

I am hearing... the kids fight over Vic’s birthday cake downstairs. I am not intervening because I don’t want any for myself. Otherwise, though, I’d be ‘punishing’ them for fighting. (Punishing = Mommy gets all the cake.)

Around the house... we’ve been finding more and more evidence that Casey is losing bladder control. It’s sad, but so very frustrating, too. I want to put a giant wee-wee pad down in every room.

One of my favorite things... is the fountain in our front yard. It makes a lovely sound, and it’s calming. When birds come to drink, all the better. It’s a sure sign that I’m getting old, isn’t it, when I can sit and watch water for long periods of time? Gah.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Jack’s swimming lessons, possibly some water aerobics for handicapped Jen, Mom and Gilly’s visit, blah blah blah. I wrote about this in my last post.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing:

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.