Goodwill

So, as I mentioned before, as I declutter one area of my home, I'm just cluttering up another (my foyer and my scrapbook room). Things worthy of hanging onto just a LITTLE longer for the chance they may sell on Craig's List are being held. Otherwise, into the Goodwill bin they go.

Yesterday, I created a list and valued items for below garage sale prices and it was $160 worth of a tax write off! WOO HOO!!! I'll likely have oh... maybe three more loads.

It feels good to help others with my donations while also doing a little good for our deductions. What a win/win!

Five Question Friday

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then link up to My Little Life (below)!

1. Did you have a favorite blanket or toy as a kid? If so, do you still have it? I can't really say that I did. Maybe my mom would say something different. I do still have a stuffed bear that my Uncle Leonard (my grandmother's brother) gave me when I was in the 4th grade. Why I still have it, no clue. I did snuggle with it all through high school, but probably just because I didn't have a 2nd pillow to snuggle with.

2. Do you dream in color? I guess I do? I don't really know. I'm generally asleep, you see.

3. How tall are you? Do you wish you were shorter or taller? I'm 5'2" and I wish I were about 5'7". I have like ZERO waist ... it's all boob and then hips. Kinda sucks.

4. If you could have anyone's (celeb or other) voice as the guide on your GPS, who would it be? Funny, I thought about this. I think Homer Simpson would be funny. Or maybe, Demi Moore. Her voice is soothing but she enunciates words well. Charlize Theron speaks well. I could laugh and say Sam Kenison (but he's dead) because he'd like SCREAM at you... "You #%(*#ng MORON... TURN THE #*&% around! You're going the wrong way! MAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! That'd be hilarious. Or, even Eddie Murphy as Donkey! I think he's too sweet.

5. Do you return your shopping cart to the corral or leave it wherever in the parking lot? Generally, I turn it into the corral unless a) it's wicked hot and I have Ben with me; b) it's raining cats and dogs and there's no one near me or c) my kiddo is screaming his head off and if I don't get the car moving he's prone to do the hyperventilating ear-piercing scream all the way home. So, as you can see, I'm a Boy Scout unless I have my kiddo with me. :) Ha ha.

Come join the fun each Friday at My Little Life

Friday Fill Ins

And...here we go!

1. I'm going crazy from the heat... stircrazy from being in the house so much... to DisneyWorld (I wish)... to sleep about 9pm tonight.

2. I just made a post-dated post about The Deadliest Catch with Captain Phil Harris and realize that crab fishing is definitely an adventure and a career only for the daring.

3. Perhaps today you can make it a point to be happy with the hand you've been dealt. Complaining about life doesn't make anything any better. Be happy with what you have, not with what you do not.

4. Captain Phil sure had a true adventurer’s spirit.

5. Compassion is a trait I hope to instill in my children.

6. Finish what you start, no matter how difficult.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hosting sleepovers for both boys with their best friends, tomorrow my plans include taking Josh to do his grass drills for football try-outs in the SENIOR league (insert frightened face here) and Sunday, I want to get my weeks' menu planned, have a den meeting, go to church, eat some good food and get a good night's rest to start the week off right!

You can play along with Friday Fill Ins, too. Click HERE.

Stroll down memory lane

If your sense of smell is most closely linked to your memory, I think that your sense of hearing is a close second.

I found a small tub in the attic the other day. It contains gobs of cassette tapes. Does anyone even REMEMBER what those are? Crazy! I started thumbing through them. It's amazing to see the bizarre assortment of music contained therein.

I have Course of Empire (I'm sure no one has ever heard of them). IT was an amazing rock band... or Human Radio. They sang a song called "Me & Elvis" that I just love. I hate that many of my favorites from my past are NOT AVAILABLE for download on Zune.com. Jerks!

S'Express anyone?

How about Meat Beat Manifesto?

Erasure! Many of their old tracks aren't available!?! Not even for PURCHASE! What a rip!

The Front -- one of my VERY FAVORITE bands of the 90s

Vain -- they sang a song called No Respect that I used to jam out in the car to with Chrsitie!

The Soup Dragons - Divine Thing -- anyone remember that song? Greatness!

Front 242. Yeah, I loved the techno scene too!

Nine Inch Nails... there... Pretty Hate Machine, too, not available for download.

...and another that isn't available for download is Maggie's Dream. Loved their first album.

AND, well, there are NO Def Leppard songs available for download OR purchase. (insert big sad face here)

I found several empty tape holders with no tapes inside... like... Pretty Boy Floyd, Sinead O'Conner, Depeche Mode (love them!), Information Society, Kon Kan, The Timelords (Doctorin' the Tardis -- LOVE that song), Nitzer Ebb (Join in the Chant), Deee-Lite, Arrested Development, Jellybean... sigh. THIS is what reminds me of high school - these songs, this music. Not particular events, just this time in my life. :) I love me some good tunes!

Wednesday Wickedness with Mick Jagger

Hi and welcome to Wednesday Wickedness. We are like other memes in that we will ask you ten questions each and every Wednesday. But our little "twist" is that each week we will pick a famous person and pick ten of their quotes. Each of our questions will be based on the quotes. Got it? Great! Let's begin this week's meme!

Today we picked Mick Jagger. Here's Wednesday Wickedness!

1. “A good thing never ends.” Have you ever had a good thing in your life that never ended? Strangely enough, the fact that I'm breathing, healthy and vertical are all good things that haven't ended!

2. “I got nasty habits, I take tea at three.” Do you have an nasty habits? Probably my bad language... I've been trying to do better.

3. “I'd rather be dead than to be singing Satisfaction at 45.” He obviously changed his mind. What is something that you still do that you thought you' outgrow? Sucking my thumb. JUST KIDDING! Ha ha... Um... I consider myself to be void of any of my youthful impulses.

4. “Lose your dreams and lose your mind.” Have you lost any of your dreams as time went by? Sigh, sadly, yes. I wanted to be an attorney by now. I wanted to learn to play the guitar before I turned 30... now I'm approaching 40. I wanted to do something that was just for **me** and now that dream seems so... selfish.

5. “I haven't had time to return to the scene because I never left it.” As you've grown older, what ways are you still act and think the way you did as when you were younger? Strangely enough I've thought about this very scenario quite a bit lately. I think we all see the elderly like these frail little beings that really don't have a clue as to the reality of the world. However, the more they age, the more real they actually become. They "get it" it's just that we don't give them CREDIT for "getting it." They are living history. They've "been there / done that." Personally, I still look at myself as if I should look like I did when I was in my 20's wearing a size 4. Right now, I definitely have a body image issue which I didn't have before(easy to do after having a baby and not having your pre-baby body back). So, I believe all of us still think the same, but I, for one, definitely don't act the same. Youth are too impulsive and immature. And, a lot of the actions of our youth inflict certain realities upon us as adults that prevent us FROM acting the same. :)

6. “Patriotism is something that fades when the war starts.” How do you react to this quote? Wow. That's quite a profound statement. I agree with it 100%. Kind of like how after 9/11 our country was, for once, united patriots. Now we are divided idiots. I wish they'd show footage of 9/11 every once in a while just to remind Americans what kind of monsters we are up against. War is not pretty. No one wants to believe innocent blood will be shed. When that starts to happen, the tides turn and people are anti-American... anti-whatever political party "started" the war. It's a no win situation. We need to remember what we fight for... and to continually remind the public of that very thing.

7. “The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.” Is there a person in your life who still treats you as the same person to when your were younger? Do you like it? Nope, not at the present, but I can imagine that I wouldn't like it one bit if they did. I was friends in the past with ex-boyfriends who always relived what "great times" we had together but ... honestly, if it were so "great," wouldn't we STILL BE together? I just think that people, for the most part, really want to block out the bad and remember the good in everyone and most situations. I, however, am a cynical witch and I don't forget those times. I forgive them, but I never forget... but it's like on the movie The Incredibles... how Mr. Incredible keeps reliving the "glory days" and his wife has to remind him that the HERE and NOW and their family is what's happening NOW. He believes by not reliving the "glory days" they're pretending like they never happened. She's fine with remembering the past but also living life in the present WHILE leaving the "glory days" in the past. There have been a few movies (one which I can see in my mind's eye right now but can't recall the title) where a group of guys gets together and they're all in different places in their lives -- one, in particular, has grown up. Another just wants to relive the glory days over and over. There just comes a time when you realize they're in the past for a REASON. Move on. Grow up. Who cares.

8. “It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you pull yourself back.” Have you let yourself go in any aspect of your life? Well, ask ANYONE struggling with weight issues ... even after a baby has been born... and they'll tell you they have. I haven't let myself go, I just haven't kept myself in shape. My body likes to hold onto fat when I nurse. I lose it all when I stop but until then, I'm just pretty miserable with how I look... and how freakin' ginormous my boobs are! UGH! HATE BIG BOOBS!

9. “My mother has always been unhappy with what I do. She would rather I do something nicer, like being a brick layer.” How do you parents feel about what you do? Don't know. Honestly, don't care.

10. “Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope.” How would you categorize your political point of view? I don't know if you can put a label on what I am. I'm DEFINITELY not a Democrat -- I'm NOT for big government, big taxes, big spending, lots of dependence. I'm not necessarily a Republican either. I'm for Low Taxes, less dependence on foreign ANYTHING, pro-American, protective of America. I don't believe we should abandon governmental programs but I definitely think that the hemorrhaging of tax payers dollars needs to be stopped. I think the PERSON in control right now is an outright idiot with zero experience in running ANYTHING, let alone what ONCE WAS the most powerful country in the world.

Tears to go around

Pass the earplugs!

We're having a meltdown. Ben is inconsolable right now. I'm beyond done so while he's screaming it out in the swing, I'm sitting here. I've tried everything.

Josh was crying because drew head butted him in the nose...

Drew is crying because he got spanked.

We've got tears to go around... join in the fest.

Sarcasm

I've seriously gotta work on the whole sarcasm thing. I'm a sarcastic person by nature. Gasp!? C'est nes vrais! But yes, it's true! Generally, most days, you'll find me oozing with sarcasm during any type of a conversation. I don't know why, I just do.

So yesterday evening at the dinner table, we're talking about the boys' bickering. By "boys" I'm talking about Josh and Drew obviously. Andy was telling me about how within 5 minutes of leaving the pool, he was reminded why his mom never took them on vacation anywhere. One does this, one did that in retaliation, one choose another form of retaliation. One cried. One tattle-tails. One shoves. One hits. One splashes. He was like... Good GRIEF kids?! What the heck!

I just smiled and sipped my tea.

And then Josh pipes in, "...but he started it?"

Again, I smile and raise my eyebrows. I turn to face Josh with a look of "oh ... REALLY?"

Drew tries to butt in to his own defense.

Josh tries to further explain how Drew did this, so he did this which resulted in this...and then that... which led to this causing that. Even I was growing weary listening to excuse after excuse after excuse of how it was all Drew's fault.

So I looked at Josh with a "get real" face and said, "So, you're expecting me to believe that eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeverything is all Drew's fault?"

Josh's resposne, "Pretty much."

So I look at Drew with a face that said, "Everything coming out of my mouth is a big fat lie," and I said to Drew, "Josh is SUUUUUUUCH a perfect son and everything that goes wrong is obviously your fault. Josh never does aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanything wrong. He's tooooooooooooooootally innocent."

And then Drew put his head on his knees in the chair ... and began to sob. :( Can you just hear my heart breaking? I was trying to be ridiculously sarcastic and Drew thought I was serious saying what a better person Josh was than he was and basically how horrible of a person he was.

Epic.Mommy.Moment.Failure.

I set my dinner down and went to my son and wrapped my arms around him and said, "Drew, everything I was saying was NOT TRUE. It was sarcasm. I know that Josh starts just as much mischief as YOU do. I was basically meaning the complete opposite."

Then Josh pipes in, "Oh...so you're saying I'm a horrible person?"

I was ready to throw bbq sauce all over him and send them to their room. I hate that whole "taking the words out of context thing." I'm like... let me make Drew feel better... shut your freakin' pie hole and KEEP IT SHUT!

Of COURSE you're not a horrible person
but... equally OF COURSE are you NOT COMPLETELY INNOCENT so quit acting like it!

Lesson learned. Sarcasm is definitely a skill that comes with age. Note to self -- no more sarcasm for the six year old for fear MY heart will break if I see him crying again thinking my words were true.