Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for cold diet coke, soft pillows, and silly small children. All should be so lucky to have these three things-at the same time-like I do :)

It's week 2 of the Thankfulness Challenge...who will you thank THIS week!?

Wordless Wednesday: Twins

Friday Five: My Favorite Color

Today's Friday Five is all about my favorite color...Maroon (5) ha ha.

In no particular order, five things I'd like to do with Adam Levine, the lead singer of Maroon 5 if they weren't a) illegal b) dangerous or c) a combo of those two....complete with pictures-you're welcome. Now quit that slobbering on your keyboard, will ya?

1. Go on a high speed car chase in a sweet ass car

2. Tear the label off a mattress

3. Go to the zoo, come home with a penguin


4. Stalk Adam Levine (wait, can I stalk Adam Levine while being WITH Adam Levine? I certainly hope so! and based on this picture it makes him sad to stalk himself)


And finally, in at number 5, I'd like to smack Bob Dylan while Adam Levine looks on, however since he'll be an accessory we probably *will* both get arrested...and that's okay because this is how he looks when arrested...


Again, quit drooling, you're getting your keyboard all wet!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for a new job and thankful for our friend Kimme for telling me about the job! This week I started a new job, two days a week, at a local dry cleaning pick up place. It's a small staff and they are pretty much fabulous. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to a) get out of the house and b) have a little "pin" money.

As for the thankfulness challenge...hopefully by this point you've done your first thank you...and if not-get on it!! :)

The Thankfulness Challenge

Recently I read an article about a man who's life was in the dumps; he was a good guy, trusting, helpful, a good family man, but life had dealt him some crappy cards. He was on the verge of suicide to try and shed his problems when a friend reached out with a phone call and a dinner invite. At dinner, the friend told this man that he was sorry it had taken so long, but he wanted him to know that he had always been thankful for his friendship and the impact he'd had on his life. After parting ways Mr. GoodGuy went home and decided that once a week for the next year, he was going to reach out and thank someone for their contribution to his life. One week it was a verbal thank you to a cashier who always went out of her way to help him, another week it was a letter to his young daughter thanking her for always having a smile on her face. On and on, just simple little thank you's, verbal, written, emailed and even texted. Mr. GoodGuy found that his life had started to turn around; he found that by being grateful for the little things the big stuff around him seemed to melt away; his life became richer because of it.

I really enjoyed this article, I loved the message. Each Thursday I do a thankful Thursday post but in addition from now on, each week for the next year, I will be thanking someone who has impacted my life in some way and I'd like to challenge YOU to do it too. Maybe not for a year, maybe just start with a month...and work your way up to a year. If you're doing this challenge, which we'll call the Thankfulness Challenge, I'd love for you to let me know and maybe even post it on your blog with a link back to this post so we can see what kind of change for the better we've made. Who's with me?

Thankful Thursday: Cat 1 and Cat 2

It's probably silly to post about being thankful for the fur balls today, but that's what I'm thankful for today. Both kiddos had rough nights sleeping last night, not sure why, but they did. Cat 1, also known as big fat Boni cat, made a point to snuggle up with Gabe till he fell asleep and after that hopped up on top of the couch (Gabe was on the couch) and watched him for the rest of the night. Cat 2, also know as Bam Dingle Fritz Witkowski, was all snoogled up to Bits last night (The dream team, Bits and Fritz!) under her chin to help her fall asleep. After making sure she was fast asleep, he stretched out next to ME and put me to sleep. Something about a kitty purring softly in your ear and soft black ears to pet if you need to (Bam is also a black cat) are incredibly comforting. So thank you, Cat 1 and Cat 2 for putting us all to sleep last night!

*meow*

Wordless Wednesday: I Hate Gingavitis!!

The Days are Long, The Years are Short

HH and I just had our tenth wedding anniversary at the end of July; for whatever reason, I seem to think of people's children in relation to how old they were at our wedding. It doesn't make much sense, but it's how I do it...

There was a gawky kind of awkward 12 year old boy at our wedding whom I danced with. That 12 year old is now 22, has a beautiful fiance, and a baby on the way. Um...how did that happen?

Another little one at our wedding was newly eight and just wanted to dance with the bride; she was a cute little blonde who ended up going home with all of my wedding jewelry (no worries, it was all fake and I made it ha ha) This little blonde? Well you guessed it, she's 18 and just started her freshman year at Iowa State. She's a Hawkeye now...how did that happen?

Yesterday was my sweet little biver bips, er, liver lips, er uh, godson Cameron's 11th birthday. ELEVEN! EEE-LEH-VIN! At my wedding? Well he wasn't there, but he was itty bitty and probably wearing his favorite camouflage onesie. I don't see him as an eleven year old, I see him as a little guy with a dish of spaghetti on his head, I see him as a toddler with the letter "K" from his magnetic alphabet pretending to spray things and clean them, I see him as a toothly 7 year old sprawled out on my bed reading Calvin and Hobbes. Not an 11 year old who can carry on a conversation with his Aunt Chrissi and actually make sense. Not an 11 year old who's headed toward puberty in a big way. Not an 11 year old who is closer to 18 than to being 1 (sorry Amanda, but it's true...)

And my own itty bitty, small, tiny, definitely not closer to 8 than 7 Gabriel McGoochenstein. The other night, he was so sick and ended up spiking a 105 fever. I was panicking because 105 is so high and he's so little...I called the doctor who calmly talked me through my hysterics (I tend to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk some more when I'm hysterical-I talk about 10 times as much as normal which is a lot anyway lol) He calmly asked "and how old is Gabe now?" I said "he's seven and a half and his fever...." he cut me off and said "relax mom, he's a big kid now, this isn't a big deal" I said "what do you mean, he's a BIG kid now? No he is not...ramble ramble". After I got off the phone I realized that the doctor was right, he IS a big kid now. He's no longer my itty bitty needs me for everything guy. He's almost 8; he doesn't even kiss me at the bus stop anymore for pete's sake.

How did this happen? How did ALL of these children, including my own, get so damn old? Furthermore, how did *I* get so damn old? When did this happen? As my mom is fond of saying "The days are long but the years are short" She's right, as usual and I'm betting she feels the same way about me...

Thankful Thursday: This One Was Hard

It's been a really long and crappy week; I mean just crap on top of crap. I could list all the bad things that have happened in the last few days, but it isn't going to do me any good. So instead of dwelling on the negatives today, I've been trying to fixate on the positive and this is the list I've come up with today. These are things, in no particular order, that I am thankful for:

*The support of family and friends this week; particularly my sister, Tori, my sister in law Katie, my long distance bff, Steph, and my bb, Tiff.
*Our excellent pediatrician and her staff
*The Greats, who are in upstate NY, are safe and sound after all the rain and flooding they've had lately
*We went to the library today and got about four million books to read
*The weather at night has been perfect for sleeping
*Grampsey Johnny, while still in the hospital, is doing very very well and it looks like he'll be up and at 'em by Saturday. Bet he can't wait to be home...the kiddos can't wait to see him either.

And that's it for now...I'm sure there's more, but this'll do for now. What are you thankful today?

Wordless Wednesday: Teeth Before and After

Oh My Gourd (and Other Veggie Tales)

The last week has been, in a word, pretty sucktastic. (that's a word right?) I've been writing this blog post in my head for the last 24 hours and still haven't gotten it quite right yet...so bear with me if this post is awkward.

In the last week, we have seen our pediatrician three times, the dentist twice, my chiropractor twice, I've been to the pediatrician with my nephew twice, the hospital with my nephew once, and we're headed to the dentist again tomorrow.

Katie tripped down our stairs and took Aubrey with her, Bitsy got a black eye playing soccer yesterday, and Gabriel has developed a rather naughty potty mouth. I hit myself in the mouth with a heavy zipper pull and thought I knocked my tooth out. Geo's dad is in the hospital because of a bad reaction to some meds he's on.


This week has sucked...however a lot of other good stuff HAS happened, so the week hasn't been a total wash; we had friends over for a bbq, we had overnight guests and a trip to the flea market, we ate gourmet gelato, we slept in, we took naps, and we watched plenty of movies. We had a surprise dinner guest one night, we went to grandma's house for a bbq, and we spent time with friends and family. HH has been off for five days-and coherent and well rested for ALL of them and that right there is enough to make the week amazing.

At this point, all I can do is laugh about everything that's happened because it's beyond ridiculous; it's beyond believable to most people and yet...here we are, fifty two doctor's visits later...keep Bits in your thoughts if you will-she is having a tooth pulled tomorrow..and also HH's dad (Grampsey Johnny) who's still in the hospital trying to get things figured out.