Aimless Thoughts.

I have a zillion things rolling around in my head today… none of which are enough to write an actual post about, but perhaps the sum of all the parts will equal… something. See? I can’t even finish a thought.

In no particular order…

I was going to title this post “random” something or other but since I tend to massively overuse that word, I clicked over to thesaurus.com to find something else. One synonym was “aimless,” so I went with that, not because it necessarily represented what I was trying to communicate but because it made me think of the song “Aimless Love” by my very favorite singer/songwriter, John Prine. And thinking of him reminded me that we are going to see him in DAYTON, OHIO in just a couple weeks, and I am extremely excited about it. I bought tickets months ago as an early birthday present to myself. Other birthday presents to myself will include fresh highlights and maybe a pedicure.

Speaking of birthdays, our crazy insane birthMONTH concludes on Saturday with Kate’s party at the skating rink. I finally got around to scheduling it, but I’ve yet to actually invite anyone. This morning, I tried to find the invitations I bought but I think I must have thrown them away with the Easter candy wrappers when I put together the kids’ baskets. So yeah, this could be a problem. #momfail

In other random news, I’m trying to plan our summer vacation but I can’t make any decisions, mostly because I can’t find the time to research anything thoroughly and omg it’s almost MAY and I don’t know where we are going.

Ugh my anxiety levels are skyrocketing just talking about it.

We had such a great time in Michigan last year that we want to go back there, but we’re not sure if we should go to the exact same place, or try something new. Really, the Tamarack Lodge would be hard to beat. But I think the Inn at Bay Harbor looks pretty amazing, although I haven’t actually looked into availability or pricing. Any suggestions?

Right now I just want to be anywhere that it’s warm and not raining. This rain sucks. It’s supposed to rain/thunderstorm again this afternoon. Oh so here’s a good example of how crazy neurotic I am. Last night I thought to myself that I hoped it did thunderstorm this evening because Kate’s supposed to have softball practice and I wanted it to be cancelled because I really want to have time to make carne asada for dinner tonight. But then I thought that I shouldn’t hope that practice is cancelled, because her team has only practiced twice and games will be starting soon and she’s in a coach pitch league this year and she really needs to learn how to, you know, hit and field the ball before an actual game. So then I thought that I really didn’t know which option I should hope for, when it hit me – it’s going to thunderstorm or not thunderstorm regardless of what I’m rooting for in my head. Practice is going to be cancelled or it’s not. That is something I can mark off my list of things to worry about because believe it or not I have no control over the weather.

Ugh.

All this crazy talk is reminding me of when I was at the drug store waiting on prescription last week and overheard someone trying to pin down the pharmacist on which diet pill worked best. He was trying to convey to her in a tactful manner that a) they are all the same and b) unfortunately for all of us none of them work. She wasn’t picking up what he was laying down, however, and proceeded with her line of questioning.

“What if I want to drink some alcohol while I’m taking these. Is that ok?”

It was at this point that I picked up my phone to start tweeting what I was witnessing.

“I have anxiety,” she said. “What if I take these and then I need to take some Xanax, will that mess me up?”

I was cracking up.

But really, people who live in crazy houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Because today? Please pass the alcohol AND the Xanax.

And also the diet pills.

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Review: 2011 Kia Sorento

A few weeks before we bought our van, I had the fun opportunity to test-drive the 2011 Kia Sorento for a week.  I was interested in this crossover because it has a third-row seat and can haul more kids!  But it’s not as big as an SUV or a mini-van, so it didn’t feel like I was driving a monster.

Here’s what I liked about the Sorento:

  • Super-cool navigation screen
  • Lots of room for groceries in the back
  • Third row was super-easy to put up and down
  • Snazzy leather heated seats
  • Two sunroofs!  You know, the kids need one too!

I really enjoyed my test-drive!  I don’t feel that this car is right for my family at this time because you can’t get in and out of the rear seat with car seats attached in the middle seat very easily.  But, it’s a great vehicle for anyone with older kids, or if you just want to use the third row seat to haul your kids’ friends around once in awhile.

You can go to Kia’s website here to build your own Sorento and see all the options available.

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Best Popsicles EVAH

My kids were on spring break last week, and the day before we were to leave to spend Easter with my folks in Virginia, Joshua became, for some reason, obsessed with the idea of making his own popsicles.  Why? I don’t know.  It was rainy and yucky so it’s not like a heat wave inspired him.  And he cannot tell me why when I ask. It just occurred to him to try.  He even wrote out some instructions of his own:

He reaallllly wanted to try and make some popsicles so I told him we would do it in Virginia (even though I was fairly sure his instructions weren’t fool-proof.) On the way to Virginia, I started thinking about these really amazing popsicles the wonderful ladies at the church I grew up at would make us every year at Vacation Bible School.  I knew they had Jell-o in them, but I didn’t know exactly how to make them.  However, since they are in my childhood memory, the PERFECT popsicle, I decided we should try our hand at them.

Luckily, when we got to my parent’s place, my mom had some Jell-O (Berry Blue, in fact).  My darling husband got out his Droid X and googled a recipe for Jell-O popsicles and VOILA!  He found one!  I have no idea where exactly he found it and he doesn’t remember so I am sorry I cannot give credit.  But just so ya know, I didn’t come up with this myself.  Here’s how to make the PERFECT popsicle!

One package Jell-O, any flavor

1 tbs sugar

water (however much the Jell-O package says)

Mix the Jell-O according to package directions.  Add in one tablespoon sugar and stir.  Pour evenly into Dixie cups, insert popsicle stick and freeze overnight.  To release from cups, thaw a few seconds in hot water, then ENJOY!

The smallest cups we could find at ye olde local dollar store were 9 0z., but a Dixie cup would be a good size.  However, you can make them as big or small as you want to.  My genius husband came up with this contraption for keeping the popsicle sticks in the liquid before putting them in the freezer:

We froze them overnight and they came out A-W-E-S-O-M-E! They are so perfect because they don’t DRIP everywhere and they taste yuuuuumy. We all really enjoyed them! They were exactly like the wonderful popsicles I had at Vacation Bible School so many years ago. SO, if you have any Jell-O in the pantry, and you want your kids to think you are super-awesome, go make ya some!

Joshua highly recommends it!

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