busybee

perfect treat to make on a rainy fall day.

Harper's Butterflies are making their rounds through Jeff's family...  I had to try my hand at making these yummy yummy YUMMY treats myself.  SO easy, and so YUM!

Lay some mini pretzels out on a cookie sheet.  Top with hershey kisses.

Pop in an oven, and "warm" for 2-3 minutes at 350 degrees!
(Careful not to over-cook, you just want the chocolate to be melty, not well-done.)

Remove from oven and smush peanut-butter M&M's into the kisses while the chocolate is soft.  (The kids had a blast smushing several into one, as you can see.)

Let them cool (or pop in the fridge for a bit) and then eat & enjoy.

Warning:  may cause belly-aches if you eat too many, which is easy to do, since they are RIDICULOUSLY addictive!  

Enjoy!
 
 
 

Amused.

When I saw this picture earlier today, I laughed so hard I cried.

At first, I giggled at the image of Jeff driving down the street in this truck.  Because, let's face it, a grown man towing a robotic pony - that's pretty funny.  But it's when you start to think about the innocent bystander who will witness this debacle pass him by, well that's when it really starts to be funny.  Because you know he's going to stop in his tracks, do a double-take, and try to make sense of the situation.

And no matter how hard he tries, unless he's got a 6-year-old daughter at home, it will just never make sense.

And that is what's funny about it.

amused.

 

I stopped into Joann Fabrics to pick up some thread to sew a shirt that has a hole in it.  While I was there, something caught my eye.  This little guy was sitting in the dollar bin, and he was so cute, he needed to come home.  He amuses me, and for no reason makes me giggle...

The kids loved him.  I actually had to get 2, because - well if you are a Mom of 2+ kids, you will understand why.

 

And...  a painting.

FUNNY post coming tomorrow.

How is it possible that I did not already think of this on my own??

Just now, I was surfing the internet in search of my usual (the meaning of life and such.)  When I stumbled across this photo of Elise Blaha's closet.

 

It suddenly became very clear to me that I needed (!) to re-arrange the contents of my closet into a rainbow of color coordination.  Because, as the meaning of life continues to evade me, I will (at the very least) be amused on a daily basis by the sheer act of opening my closet door.

Oh yes!

hush.

I like this word.  It's my new favorite.
 
I like it so much better than "be quiet" or "shhhh" or "shut up already, you spazz!!"
 
It's soft and gentle.  It's calming.  
 
It's almost sweet.

Just my random observation for today.

This is your brain... This is your brain on caffeine and vampires.

 

Oh, silly brain.  You have done it again. 

Of course you all remember me talking about the puke dreams that I sometimes have when it is time to "let go?"

I'm starting to realize that when I am completely over-stimulated, I dream about water.  Not just any water, but floods and floods of water.  Sometimes crazy destructive tsunamis.  And usually they wipe out my city and take everyone I love away from me...  I probably have this dream once every three or four months and shortly thereafter I need to spend a day creating, or doing something to get those feelings out... 

Last night I had the tsunami dream.  This time it took my kids, and my parents dog, Bailey (who passed away almost two years ago.)  Silly brain.  You confuse me so....

In light of that.  I decided to carve some time out the upcoming weekend to get my hands dirty, and also decided to share the things that are causing me to have a total system overload.

Chase Coy - Goodbyes and Autumn Skies.  You really need to go download this CD, and then you need to put it on repeat, and then you need to super-glue your headphones into your ear holes, and then you can die happy.  You're welcome.

Be still.

I have decided I absolutely LOVE those words.  Mostly because they evoke a feeling in me that is so close to tangible I feel as though I could scoop it out with a melon baller and make a fruit salad. 

Be still.  Be very still.  Do not move.  Do not breath.  Do not think.  Do not for a second even consider changing anything about this exact moment right now, right here.  It is perfect. 

I want these words to always be with me in some way to remind me to think about these "be still" moments, and enjoy them with everything I have, as they do happen.

I'm hoping for some really great "be still" moments in 2009.

There is more, so much more I want to share, but for now I am out of time...  I will definitely be back soon.  For now, scroll down and look at the pictures that the Guest Blogger posted yesterday....

Let them fill you with hope...

missing summer.

 

This morning, as I wrapped my face in a scarf and squinted my eyes behind sunglasses so that only a tiny sliver of my eyeballs were exposed to a potential frostbite scenario...  And I breathed in my own warm carbon dioxide so that my lungs would not shatter after the instantaneous FREEZING they would surely succumb to if I didn't, I realized the following:

At some point over the last few years, I have become a summer girl.

Afternoons at the park, long bike rides, walks to the ice cream stand, sunburns...  And sweat.  Sweet, glorious, smelly sweat..............

Oh summer, how I miss you so.

if you were a fly on the wall...

Yesterday, I had a lunch date with Jeff, who had braved the potential for hypothermia and/or frostbite to join me in the consumption of an italian grilled cheese sandwich. Which you can only understand the magnitude of if you have, in fact, previously ingested one of these little gems.   During our lunch date, Jeff learned a very important lesson:

If you are going to date the busybee, you need to be ready to change subjects rather quickly. 

To his credit, he does normally do a pretty good job of keeping up with how fast my mind travels.  But on this fateful day, with the impending frigid weather and a previously planned "taco night," things got a little confusing for us both...

S:  Did you know it's supposed to be REALLY cold this weekend?

J:  I know.

S:  Like, FRIGID!!  Arctic temps, they are saying!!

J:  Yeah.

S: Are we still doing taco night on Friday?

J:  (After a thoughtful pause.)  Um, well were you planning on eating outdoors?

S:  Huh?

J:  Were you thinking we'd grill the tacos?

S:  Oh.  No...  Sorry!  In my head, those were two separate topics.

J:  I see.

And then much giggling (mostly me) ensued. 

But, have no fear, taco night is still a go!  And we wont be adorned in Eskimo gear while we slather on our sour creme.  PHEW!  Glad we got that straightened out, you know how I love my Old El Paso.

quickly...

busy busy busy couple days it has been...

But had to share this, from west elm, which just popped into my email...

 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, WEST ELM?!!???  PINTUCKED?!?!!?!!  ORGANIC?!!?!!?!???

Oh, be still my heart!  If I had an extra $170 laying around, it would be mine in an instant.

Something about a good pin-tuck.  You complete me, pin-tucked bedding...  You complete me.

(NOTE: Once again, if I owe you an email any time in the last week or 2, bear with me...  Catching up a little at a time!!)

a walk down haircut lane

Remember this hair?

 

Which, very suddenly became this hair...  (in a moment of complete and total lock-me-in-a-padded-room insanity!!)

   

I tried very hard to like it.  I really did...  Remember this dorky picture?

But, the truth is.  I hated it.  I really really hated it.   I cut it on a whim for ridiculously stupid reasons, and I felt naked and silly, and very very WRONG.  When the scissors made that very first snip, I wanted to hit the "UNDO" button and go back in the most unbelievable way.  But it was too late. 

Melodramatic?  Very much so.  But my hair had never been that long before (ever in my life) and I absolutely LOVED it.  I literally hated that haircut so much I wanted to cry, and I did not leave my house for 3 days...  So I set out to grow it back.  But after 15 months of NO HAIRCUTS, I realized that trims were probably something I should have considered...  Over the last couple months my ends became so dead and split that they very-much resembled straw and I came to realize that the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz was NOT the look I was striving for. 

So as much as I did not want to cut it.  I knew it needed to be done. 

So Jyoti and I worked a trade.  Photos for her, and a haircut for me!  SWEET DEAL.  I thought about how short I wanted to go, thinking I would need at least a couple inches chopped off to make it healthy again.  I contemplated snipping it up to my shoulders for a MILLISECOND.  I finally told her to trim as much as necessary so it wouldn't feel like straw, and we snipped in some "sweepy bangs" as well.  Done and done.

I am VERY happy.  It is still longish.  It feels healthy again.  It is still growing... 

   

And, I am still a dork.