Friday Five:Sleep

1. How many hours of sleep do you like to get in a night?
Five or six
2. How many hours of sleep can you survive on indefinitely?
Four or Five
3. Do you enjoy napping?
Oh my goodness yes!
4. The average amount of time it takes a person to fall asleep is seven minutes--do you tend to need more or less time than that?
About the same most of the time
5. If you were offered a pill that would enable you to sleep only two hours out of every twenty-four and remain fully functional, but you could never sleep more than that, would you take it?
Hell no, I love sleeping and napping way too much :)
 

Friday Five: Staples

I love the Friday Five, in fact, I love it so much that I think I'm going to do FIVE Friday Five categories today. Today's topic is "Staples"

1.Five Fridge Staples:

Yogurt
Milk
Baby carrots
Cheese
Diet coke (oops)

2. Five Cooking Staples

Kosher salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Olive oil
Fresh Rosemary

3. Five Pantry Staples:

Pasta
Peanut butter
Pasta sauce
Mac and Cheese
Crackers
(we like carbs, what can I say?)

4. Five Freezer Staples:

Ice, lots and lots of ice
Popsicles
Pork chops
Chicken breast
Frozen veggies

5. Five Cabinet Staples

Ten inch stainless steel pan
Stock pot
Le Creseut Dutch oven
10x13 baking dish
Large covered Dutch oven

What are your Friday Five staples??

Friday Five: I'm Old

In no particular order, five things that make me feel very old

1. Gabe kissed me goodbye before he got on the bus, when I told him I'd miss him, he said "Jeez Mom, I'll only be gone six hours, get a grip"

2. Last night at the school's open house, Bitsy got to see all of her new classrooms and meet the principal and other support staff and she looked like she belonged there. She was perfectly content to roam the halls and check out the library and I'm pretty sure she was positively giddy when she saw the gym and art rooms.

3. I had a serious conversation about fiber with someone the other day. FIBER!

4. I've been called ma'am this week.

5. The daughter of Kurt Cobain is voting age.

*sigh* I'm so damn old this week.

Friday Five: Five Things My Children Have Taught Me

1. Blue, purple, orange, red, yellow, pink and green are all acceptable colors to wear...together.

2. With enough treats, you can get the cat to wear clothes.

3.As soon as you sit down with something to eat, the children will also be hungry.

4. Sometimes, no matter how old you are, a nap will improve your whole day.

5. Beds are for bouncing, people are for loving, grandparents are for hugging, and every day is a brand new slate.

Friday Five: Five Things I Know for Sure (updated)

Last week I asked for the five things YOU know for sure...here's what I've gotten:
1) It's always easier than it looks.

2) If a drink doesn't taste right, add pink lemonade.

3) Fruit punch is the cure for a bad mood.

4) It's always okay to admit when you don't know something. That's how you learn.

5) Cakes/brownies are always done when the edges pull away from the pan. Always.

1. A baby's laugh can smooth the edges off of the roughest day.
2. Some people are simply miserable and will do anything to bring you down with them. It is okay to let these people go from your life.
3. Doctors are wrong a LOT.
4. Liking your spouse is at least as important as loving them.
5. Wintry Sunday nights are best done up with a long-sleeved nightgown some soup, hot tea (or cocoa) and a movie or a good, scary book.

1. If you find out all the facts instead of assuming, problems can be avoided 99% of the time.

2. You can always count on your kids to love you unconditionally. The love of your kids is something that never dies no matter what the circumstances. And that is also true for a parents love for their children.

3. I am always right! LOL Kidding. I am quite often wrong about things and know from experience that it makes things so much easier if you just admit it when your wrong.

4. Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming, "WOO HOO, what a ride!"

5. When your kids think about their childhood they are not going to think about all the material items they have or how clean the house is...they are going to look at how much love, attention and nurturing they receive from their parents.

1."all I know is that I know nothing". Socrates
2. it's not WHAT you know, it's WHO you know
3. my wife is the most important part of my life
4. my taxes will be due April 15th
5. sometimes you're the tiger, sometimes the tiger devours you


Feel free to add more if you think of them! Great submissions everyone!

Friday Five: Five Things I Know for Sure

Today's Friday Five is a bit different, it's interactive-I'm going to list five things I know for sure (five truths, five observations, whathaveyou) and you, dear readers are encouraged to do the same in the comments section and then next week I'll share them with everyone. Sounds fun, right?! RIGHT!

Here we go:

(In no particular order)

1. You should never turn down a chance to use the bathroom

2. Sometimes it isn't about YOU and the other person really just needs their space without you projecting your issues onto the situation (actually, I find this to be more that sometimes true, lol, I find it to be true 99% of the time)

3. You should strive to learn something new every single day, even if it isn't life changing knowledge, learning something new every day is a GOOD thing.

4. Listening is more important than talking, as the old cliche goes, we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

5. No one is perfect, not even you, so try to give the benefit of the doubt when dealing with someone or something frustrating.

Now it's your turn...

Friday Five: Stick it to the man

1. What kind of magnets do you have on your fridge? All different sorts; letters, shapes, words, pictures, you name it we have it.
   
2. What’s your preferred type of glue? good old elmers white glue
   
3. When is it good to feel sticky? When you're having your eyebrows waxed
   
4. What was the last thing you wrote upon a Post-It? A recipe
   
5. How much pancake syrup do you put on your pancakes? A TON

Friday Five: Bring it to the Table

1. Some friends have invited you over to watch the big game. What do you bring for the snack table? Chips and salsa or chips and guac
   
2. What do you bring for a potluck lunch at work (or school)?
   usually a baked pasta dish
   
3. It’s a regifting party! Everyone brings some gift they never opened or used and leaves with someone else’s. What do you bring? Hmm, that's a hard one, I always get great gifts!
   
4. You’re going camping for a long weekend with a bunch of friends. Everybody agrees to bring one thing that others often don’t think to bring. What’s your contribution?Toothbrushes and toothpaste
   
5. Road trip! The car in which you’re going to spend twenty hours with your closest friends only has a CD player. What do you bring?Mad libs and my phone

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!

Friday Five: What Goes In

1. What goes into your coffee or tea? (no coffee, gross!) sugar or honey and an ice cube or two
   
2. What goes into a good omelet? Cheese and ham
   
3. What goes into your ears on a good morning? Sarah McLachlan of course!
   
4. What goes into a healthy but yummy lunch? chicken, lettuce, veggies, cheese, and a bit of salad dressing
   
5. What goes into a productive evening? uh, hard work and hand grenades?!

Friday Five: Around The House

1. Of the products you use just to keep yourself clean and presentable, what seems to be the most overpriced? The $8 a bottle shampoo in the shower.
   
2. Where in your house is a reliable place to get a few quarters? The blue bowl by the microwave, everyone knows that
   
3. A rare yes-or-no question on Friday 5: Have you ever dropped your cell phone onto your face? No, but I have dropped it on its' face (not pretty)
   
4. What did you last take out of your freezer? Popsicles for the kids
   
5. How many rolls of wrapping paper do you have in your house? none *gasp*

A Friday Five Saga: Bitsy and the Bees

When we were in Michigan, Bits was stung by a bee:

and she was sad and mad...

 

She swore that day that she'd always "hate bees"

Whenever we go to pick George up from work, we drive by some bee hives and I say to Bitsy "oh Bitsy, there's your beeeeeees"

And she always says "I HATE BEES!"

One day she was talking to our friend Jon about how much she hates bees because she was stung by one and it hurt. Jon (an advocate for Bees-I had no idea) is Bitsy's future husband, according to her, and explained that bees die when they sting people and she shouldn't hate something that died because she was scared.

 Now anytime we go by the bee hives and I say "Bitsy, there's your beeeees" She says "I'm sorry bees, I don't hate you, you die when you sting people. Sorry you died when you stung me, bee"

So now, Bitsy loves bees and we love Bitsy, so it all works out :)

Friday Five: Five Funny Kids Sayings

Kids say the funniest things (and they're often incredibly cute) In no particular order, five things that have made me laugh out loud this week as said by Gabe and Bits:

Gabe kissed me last night and said "Oh I love you, my big beautiful tulip"

Bits was sorting through coins and picked out a nickel and a quarter; she looked at them, looked at me and said "alright, which one of these is the quarter? I need a quarter for gum and YOU need to tell me which is which"

At dinner last night, we were talking about our old cat Jax. Gabe smiled and said "Oh Jax, like jackass...three the movie. Or jackass the movie. Ha ha. I said Jackass but it's a movie and not a bad word"

At the allergist yesterday morning, Bits had to have five little needles in her skin for the second round of testing. After the shot, she had little blood spots on her arm. She touched them and said "Oh, these are blood polka dots" and laughed her little head off.

and finally, number five...(which I am going to admit, isn't my kiddo, but from my godson Liver Lips when he was little...)
When Liver Lips (aka Cameron) was itty bitty he couldn't say Chrissi and George, instead he called us Tiss and Jew and would sing a little song about it. He also used to call a hammer a hamburger and none of us is quite sure why, however to this day it's hilarious (and boy, I hope he doesn't read the blog or he's gonna be quite irate with Aunt Tiss :P)

Friday Five: Five Silly Animals

Five funny animals pics for my Friday Fiver today! Enjoy :)

Friday Five: Quickly Now

1. What's your favorite quick meal?
Take out ha ha. Other than that, spaghetti and garlic bread, which is always a hit around here.

2. Who's the quickest person you know?
Boni cat...he's a person right? A cat person?

3. What are three things you can do quickly?
Wash a load of dishes, fold laundry, fall asleep

4. What's the quickest you've ever run a mile?
I honestly have no idea. I do know that I average about five mins per mile when biking, does that count?

5. Quickly tell me your weekend plans
Bloomin' Fest (a garden festival) touring the Batavia windmill, and sewing

Friday (2)5

Since I've missed the last few Friday five posts, I'm going to make a HUGE Friday (twenty)Five post today. Five questions each with five answers. Woohoo!

1. Five things I'm going to be blogging about in the near future:
a)  the death of Osama bin Laden
b) SarahAnne's first dance recital
c) Parental responsibility (and diet)
d) Marital bliss (and long marriages)
e) In laws

2. Five things I'm looking forward to in the next five months (in no particular order):
a) Celebrating my tenth wedding anniversary with HH
b) Celebrating two big wedding anniversaries with family
c) Two new nephews coming!!
d) Bitsy going to school
e) Family visits!

3. Five books on my "to read" list:
a) "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave
b) "10th Anniversary" by James Patterson
c) "Dead Reckoning" by Charlaine Harris
d) "From This Moment On" by Shania Twain
e) "Does the Noise in My Head Bother You" by Steven Tyler

4. Five songs I currently cannot get enough of:
a) E.T. by Katy Perry
b) Peacock by Katy Perry
c) Awake My Soul by Mumford and Sons
d) Backstabber by Ke$ha
e) Just Breathe by Pearl Jam

5. Five things I've learned recently:
a) Cats have 32 muscles in each ear; humans have six
b) My favorite cd by my favorite artist of all time ("Fumbling Toward Ecstacy" by the Goddess herself, Sarah McLachlan) is being made into a ballet
c) SarahAnne is much smarter than she's letting on; she can sound out words and pick out which letters belong in them. She got very frustrated with me the other day because I refused to say the word apple. She said "it's A, d, no, not d, it LOOKS like a d and then a puh and l MOM" little stinker
d) The Dog Days are Over!
e) Making a list of 25 things is a bit harder than I expected!

Friday Five-All About Me

Today's Friday Five is all about yours truly :)
Five facts about me you may or may not have known:

1. My favorite singer of all time is, of course, Sarah McLachlan, my favorite band is U2, and my favorite style of music is alt-rock.

2. I'm a book-a-holic. It's not unusual for me to finish a book a day when I really get into an author.

3. One of my biggest fears is choking to death on a pen cap. I read a statistic the other day that said something like 1000 people a year die from choking on a pen. I honest to God shuddered when I read that.

4. If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life it would be pizza; I love pizza in all of its' incarnation. Living in Chicago land makes being a pizza lover very easy. Deep dish, thin crust, honey wheat. You name it, we have it!! YUM

5. I feel most at home when I'm near water. I am instantly calmer when I see the lake in Chicago (even if it isn't MY lake) I love going home in August and spending every single day at the beach with the kiddos. I'm so glad they love the lake as much as I do.

Friday Five: Spring Cleaning

1. What’s in need of a good cleaning? The kitchen UGH
2. What’s your idea of good, clean fun? Can I say a shower with HH? I can't? Why not? Ohhhh that's right, it's a family blog. Um, good clean fun: playing monopoly with the other Wits :P
3. How clean is your driving record? Squeaky
4. When did you last make a clean escape? I prefer to make dramatic escapes, so never.
5. What are your feelings about dirty language? Orbit gum can apparently take care of it *ting*

Friday Five-It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

1. What’s the best thing about being awake when the rest of the world seems to be sleeping? It's quiet!!
2. Where can you go when you get a case of the late-night munchies? Taco Bell!
3. What open-all-night establishment has saved you from catastrophe, and what were the circumstances? Meijer-too many saves to even list them
4. What’s the worst thing about being awake when the rest of the world seems to be sleeping? It can be rather lonely
5. When you are up all night at home for whatever reason, what’s most likely to be on the television to keep you company? Crappy reality tv

Whoops!

Again I've missed Thankful Thursday. Jeez oh pete! I'm thankful that Gabe is feeling better and that my children have awesome immune systems. The flu should last a good week to ten days per the doc and both of them were better within three days of being diagnosed. Thank goodness Gabe is feeling better-the pink eye still seems to be bugging him a bit though, so he's taking one more day off of school JUST to be on the safe side.

Yesterday we went to the Science Museum. I wasn't sure if the kids would EVER want to leave, but eventually they did-only because we went to A&W for root beer floats though LOL

My Friday Five for today is five pictures from yesterday-enjoy :)

The kiddos learned about woolly mammoths; a mammoth weighs the same as 12 cows-who knew? 

 this was BY FAR Gabriel's favorite exhibit-it showed how things are distributed and he stood there reading and checking it out for a good ten minutes by himself

 The next two pictures are from an exhibit called "A Million of Me" it was basically a large kaleidescope and both kids loved it. They kept trying to get me to climb in and see "millions of Mom" silly kiddos. I especially love the picture of Bits in the Million of Me because you can actually see more than one of her in the picture-very cool if you ask me

 and finally, the obligatory "in front of the museum" shot :P

I would definitely recommend Sci Tech to anyone with kiddos who are interested in science-hell, even if they AREN'T interested in science, they will be after a trip here. The museum had a field trip group in while we were there-while they were downstairs exploring, we were upstairs by ourselves-when they went upstairs we came downstairs and had the run of the place. It was definitely worth the admission price (3 and under are free, 4-60 are $8 60 and better are $7) I am seriously considering replacing our zoo membership with a membership to Sci Tech. I think we'd get more use out of it actually.