Random whatnot (including magic hair)

How is it already mid-January? Yeesh. At least we’ve actually had a winter here. Though freezing temperatures without snow are pointless. So if we could just have a flurry here while I’m home at the same time the boys are, that’d be great. Thanks.

We had a busy weekend – the boys had a sleepover Friday night for a friend’s birthday, then Saturday night one of their friends slept over, then Sunday we went to yet another birthday party. (Fortunately they had Monday to recover.)

Random pictures of kids stuck to a wall from the Sunday birthday party:

I also did some baking over the weekend. Make pizza dough for the boys’ dinner Saturday night, then made a king cake for breakfast the next day.

I used this recipe, but halved the yeast. (In the past, the king cakes I’ve made have tasted too yeasty.) It came out pretty well. I should have baked it at a lower temperature, I think. The outside was getting dark, but the inside was still possibly not cooked as much as I’d have liked (but not raw.) I could just hear Paul and Mary critiquing it. But everyone else liked it, so I’m going to stop pretending I’m on the Great British Bake Off. (I do have some other ideas on how to improve it for next time…)

In other news, I ordered two fun things from Amazon that I’m excited about.

Hair straightening brush. This is magic! My sister has one and I used it when she was in town, so I treated myself for my birthday.

CHECK THIS OUT!!! That’s before – I didn’t touch my hair this morning after washing it. No brushing or anything. That’s totally air dried. And the after is from six minutes of brushing with the magic brush! Insane.

Usually straight hair involves blow drying (pfft no way) and then flat ironing for 15 minutes while I curse the hard to reach hair at the back of my head. This was just brush, brush, brush, avoid ears because last time I burned the crap out of the back of my ear. I mean, this thing gets hot, but as long as you’re careful, it’s fine.

Rose gold glitter sneakers. For Mardi Gras, but also, you know, for always.

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I also wanted to share the post I wrote for New Orleans Moms Blog. All about my love of football. (Yeah right.)

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126 books in 2017

I read 90 books in 2016, so that means I read 38% more books in 2017! Want to see what I read?

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(I think that’s only 125 covers, but I remembered another book later that I forgot to record, but it was really a novella so it’s okay. Maybe I should say I read 125.5 books this year?)

In any case, this year I’m going to be more organized and instead of just saving screenshots of the covers (since 99% of the books I read are on my phone) I’ll use Goodreads like I should have all along. (I used Goodreads to generate these graphics, btw.) (You can follow me here, if you like.)

The books are shown in the order I read them in so you can see that sometimes I’ll find an author that I enjoy, and then read the crap out of whatever the library has. Some authors I devoured everything I could get my hands on either because I loved their books (Tana French, Jenny Han) or because I couldn’t find anything better to read (Nancy Thayer, Sarah Morgan.)

I read a lot of YA this year (Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, Geekerella.) I was surprised at how much better The Nightingale was than most of Kristen Hannah‘s other books, though many of them were very enjoyable. But I mean, what, did she take a writing class before writing that?

I also read a surprising (to me, when I look back over the year) number of memoirs. Probably the first half of Shrill was my favorite. I spent most of Cat Marnell’s book on edge and feeling very nervous for her.

You can also see that I read a lot of fluff (unapologetically) which probably explains why I can read 126 books in 365 days. I’m also happy to say I think I purchased only one of these books, and it was the aforementioned novella, and the proceeds went to charity. Libraries FTW!

High points:

Low points:

  • All the books that I know I read but can’t recall at all.
  • The two Danielle Steel books that are the books I am ashamed of reading. They were just so terrible. I get these from the library when desperate. But they’re the only two books I’m embarrassed for you to see here. I should have stopped reading three pages in.
  • The latter of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series that I read. I enjoyed the first one, but my enjoyment lessened the further I got into the series. They were kind of a slog to read, but I was desperate for more dark mysteries after I’d finished the Tana French books.
  • A book you won’t see listed – Into the Water. I just could not get into it. I hate not finishing books (see Danielle Steel, above), but life’s too short.

Overall, though, it was a good year for reading. On to 2018! I don’t have any quantity goals but I’d be happy to match 2017. I’m currently on book #8, so I’m on my way!

516 months

Yesterday was my birthday! (I thought about taking a monthly picture, but no one was home to take it when it was still light outside, but that’d have been funny, eh? Darn, missed opportunity there.)

Anyway, even though this year I was at home and not gallivanting around the world in, say, San Francisco or Barcelona, I had a great birthday. In fact, one of the better ones, I’d say. It wasn’t particularly eventful, but just overall a lovely day. Well, except for the weather. I’d appreciate a sunny birthday more often, but sadly, January is gray and yucky too often to hope for that.

It started out with waking up with the boys and bringing them to the bus stop so I could see Ann Frances (my birthday buddy, you know.) Then I went to Orangetheory and thought at one point in the workout that it might end up that I would last exactly 43 years on this planet, but alas, I survived the workout. Stopped at a neighborhood coffee shop for a hot beverage and a pastry (apple turnover) and then went home to chill for a bit. (I took the day off work.)

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January 9 buddies

Kiki had sent me a pile of presents, and I wanted to spread them out throughout the day. So I opened one – a White House Christmas ornament. Earlier I’d opened one that had some face masks and cream in it.

I got on the ferry a little while later and met up with Heather and Steph for a fancy lunch at Antoine’s, one of those old traditional New Orleans restaurants in the French Quarter. (The oldest, in fact, having been around since 1840.) It was lovely, even if the service wasn’t the greatest. Then again, our waiter had been there for 50 years, and so what if he kept bringing me screwdrivers when I asked for martinis? (Part of the lunch special is 25 cent cocktails.) Anyway, I’d have been on the floor if I’d had three martinis, so perhaps he knew best.

After a delicious lunch of oysters, steak, and a meringue dessert, Heather drove me home, and I relaxed for a while until it was time to go get the boys. (I also opened another gift from Kiki – a copy of the Smitten Kitchen cookbook that I’ve been wanting. Yay!) I was going to let George pick them up, but I wanted to get a birthday cake. Kind of pathetic, having to buy my own birthday cake, but if I wanted one, I’d have to buy it. So I went to the grocery store and found a yellow cake/chocolate frosting number, and here’s where it gets even sadder.

I asked them to put “Happy Birthday” on it, but when she asked for a name, I just said, “no name, that’s fine.” I’m sure it seemed odd, but not as pathetic as it would have been if she’d realized Pam was me. What if I went to check out and the cashier noticed the name on the cake was the same as the name on my debit card? I know it’s a long shot, but I didn’t feel like risking it. Usually, that kind of thing doesn’t bother me, but I just couldn’t make myself do it. So my cake remained nameless.

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Also my Ron Swanson came in the mail!

When I went to pick up the boys, Miles informed me he’d made me a card!!! This is all I ever want from the boys, and I was thrilled. It was the sweetest card. Ack!

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Oliver posted a Happy Birthday on Instagram that morning, which was indescribably sweet. It was a terrrrrrible picture of me, but that’s kind of okay, you know? Like, he doesn’t think it’s a terrible picture. He just sees Mom. So sweet.

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(Yeah, nothing from Linus, but I did get plenty of hugs at least.)

When we got home, I opened my gifts from George (another lens for my phone – this one a telephoto) and a glow in the dark cockroach that I gave back to him. Thanks, dear. Ellie called me to say Happy Birthday, too.

Then we ordered dinner (pizza for the boys, pasta for me) and had cake. Later, I went to the pub for a birthday drink with Jenn and Terry and Steph, and came home way too late. So I’m tired today, but it was worth it – a nice day filled with friends and food and presents and love. What more could I ask for?

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10 years + 1 month

As mentioned earlier, the boys are super into manga right now. They are also super into Funko Pop figures. So it follows that they are super-duper obsessed with manga-themed Funko Pops.

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Please don’t ask which figures they’re holding. No idea. But they would be happy to tell you about them in great detail.

Oh, and I’ve updated the Monthly Photos page since at 120+ pics, it was getting a tad unwieldy. Hopefully it’s a bit more user-friendly now.

Mothering achievement unlocked

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Look! It’s triplets! With books!

Yesterday the boys and I met up with my sister and her family at Cafe du Monde to say goodbye before they headed back to Virginia. The boys were sitting at a table with Emily, reading their library books that we’d just checked out. (They’re obsessed with manga books right now.)

The woman in line behind me pointed to them and asked, “are they yours?” I said, yes, the boys were. She said, “that’s something you never see.”

Yeah, yeah, triplets, blah blah blah.

She continued, “Boys with books! That’s wonderful!”

I have never been prouder than I was in that moment (not strictly true but you know.)

Of course, it’s not like they’re reading chapter books, but they’re reading.

As she walked out of the shop, the woman said, “keep up the great work.”

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2017 in review

Years that end in 7s have typically been pretty eventful for me. Well, at least two of them have. I spent a good chunk of 1997 in London, which was life-changing for me. And 2007 brought a trio of little clones into our lives. So I expected 2017 to be equally eventful for me personally. I mean, hey, it was also the year I was 42, so expectations were high.

But it didn’t end up being particularly noteworthy, at least not for me. In fact, generally speaking, I’d say it was not a great year overall. But for our family, it was fine. Let’s recap. Read More

Christmas 2017!

Obviously, I wrote this post last week. Oops!

I can’t believe Christmas was two days ago already! Ain’t that how it goes. The post-holiday blues are settling in a bit, so I’m glad tomorrow we’ll be heading to Baton Rouge to spend time with my sister and her family.

Anyway, we had a nice Christmas. We had steak for dinner on Christmas eve, and then the boys and I read The Night Before Christmas together (cue heart melting) and I made them take pictures with their stockings, and then I sent them to bed so Santa could come. (Not that they believe, but they like to pretend anyway.)

I spent another hour wrapping a bazillion presents and drinking my traditional eggnog daiquiri that I had procured earlier in the day. And then I put together the eggnog French toast we were going to have for breakfast. (Yeah, I like eggnog.)

img_6215We were ready!

The next morning, the boys were up before 7, but I told them they weren’t allowed to wake us up until then. But at 7 on the dot, they dragged me out of bed to open their gifts.

We had quite the pile under the tree, and we all made pretty quick work of it. Their big present was my old laptop from work (I got my new one last week) so I wrapped up the old box to remind them why they didn’t get anything huge.

They got clothes and drawing supplies and lots of Pop figures (they’re obsessed) and books and new towels. (I know, towels don’t seem super exciting for 10 year old boys, but they have been complaining about the size of our bath towels so I got them each their own bath sheet.)

I also made out like a bandit. I got a lovely necklace that the boys picked out, a bracelet with a stamped piece (101010 on one side, 42 on the other – 42 is my lucky number, and 101010 is 42 in binary, and also this year the boys are 10 and I am 42.) I also got an electric wine opener and a Tile and a new skillet from Kiki. Oh! And a case for my new laptop. And a coloring book that is for grown-up eyes only. Oh! And a macro lens and case for my phone. (Would love the telephoto lens too, thank goodness my birthday is next week, eh?) Man, I got spoiled. The boys also got me cards and Oliver wrote I was the best mom on Earth, which made me cry. (Sorry, all other moms on Earth!)

 

Anyway, after that excitement was over, we had breakfast and I made a salad to bring to the pub later. Yep, George’s dream came true and we got to spend Christmas at the pub. There was a huge spread of food and a bunch of our friends and thankfully a friend of the boys’ as well. It was a lovely lunch, but we did miss having family around.

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Later, I brought the boys home with their friend Ethan, and they played Just Dance, which was adorbs.

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And after Ethan went home, Linus and Oliver and I played Ticket to Ride, which was fun and only resulted in a few fights and tears. I also made the bittersweet discovery that they like tamales, which is bittersweet because Terry makes them only at certain times of year, and now I have to share them. Ugh. (Fortunately, I found that Costco sells decent ones that they’ll eat.)

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The end!

The first guitar recital!

Subtitle: Proudest mama in the whole wide world

A couple of weeks ago, the boys performed in their first recital. They started lessons back in April at a local school for performing arts, and they have performances twice a year – at Christmas and in the spring. The school is pretty big – there were several “concerts” throughout the day, two hours each, and there were 43 performances in this particular block. So yeah, a lot.

Fortunately, each kid (or group) only performed for a minute or two each, so it went by pretty quickly. Thank goodness because the boys were slated to go 41st.

And now the video! Don’t worry, it’s only a minute long. I pretty much wept through the whole thing, so it’s a good thing we were able to get the professional video so you don’t hear me sniffling.

 

A few pics:

 

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Their teacher accompanied them.

 

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Proud mama

 

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Proud Grandee (can you see her back there?!?)

 

 

 

 

 

2017 Holiday cards, virtual edition

I really have no excuse, but I just didn’t get it together in time to order nice photo cards for the holidays. Well, I nearly did, but then CVS screwed them up, and I didn’t have it in me to try again, and they’d have barely been here in time to mail, so I just bought some cute old-school cards, had some photos printed, and put them inside, just like in the olden days. (And I only sent out like six, but I’d have sent out a bunch more if I’d gotten photo cards.)

Anyway, so then I decided since I’m not actually buying the cards, I can go on the card websites I like and fantasize about the cards I would order! And heck, since I’m not actually buying them, I’m going all out with fancy corners!

From Minted:

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Oh of course, I have to have this one.

But these are cute too:

OH BUT NO.

 

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Next year FOR SURE.

From Paper Culture:

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That’s cute. I came really close to ordering that one.

From Tiny Prints:

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Since we’re fantasizing, I’m going FULL GLITTER.

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Or, why not scalloped edges?

So, there you have it. Your choice of holiday cards to print out and stick to your fridge.

Some outtakes from the photo session:

Individual pics:

Special thanks to the Hawkins for the amazing Christmas jumpers they gave the boys last year when we visited!

My DIY Christmas mantle

Last year, we spent the holidays in the UK, and it was magical and wonderful and fantastic and everything else positive (minus of course the last day when Miles barfed everywhere and I got to put one of those tiny washer/dryer combos to the test) (and why did I have to ruin that sentence with barf talk? Just Keeping It Real, folks.) but this year, we’re staying home. Which is fine, I guess (kicks the dirt sadly) but I reasoned if we were going to be in stinky old Louisiana for Christmas, I’d better decorate the house so we’d feel more festive.

So I turned my attention to the mantle. I started buying garlands to hang over it when they appeared at Michael’s last month. I dug out the boys’ stockings (though I still need to fix the one Ziggy chewed up two years ago.) But I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do on the mantle itself.

 

That’s freaking festive right there.

 

Then I remembered my mom’s Christmas village set that she didn’t really use anymore. But then I was reminded she’d asked me years ago if I wanted it, and I said no, and so she sent it to my sister. Okay, plan B.

I was perusing Facebook one day and came across a papercraft village that I could make with my Silhouette. Not too hard, and since it was mostly made of cardstock, cheap! (Just the way I like it.) I bought the templates and started cutting. And gluing. And folding. And after a few nights of watching movies over Thanksgiving break, it was done!

 

It doesn’t get much cuter than that.

 

If you plan to create your own cardstock village, I have some advice.

  • Use 80 lb cardstock. I made the bases with 110 lb and it didn’t’ cut as easily.
  • Get some strong, 1/4″ wide double sided tape like this. At first I used glue dots, and that was a disaster. The red backing on the tape makes it easy to see to remove.
  • The instructions on the 3dcuts.com website say to take waxed paper to the back of each window so the tea lights don’t show through. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Transparent Scotch tape worked perfectly and was much easier than cutting tiny squares of waxed paper. (Make sure it’s the foggy kind of tape, not the crystal clear kind.)
  • Okay, so my village looks more like it’s in a cloud than in snow. Whatever.
  • My little sign is the same size as the houses. But it’s cute so I don’t care.
  • Aren’t the trees great? They’re from the dollar spot at Target.

 

Awww, all lit up.

 

Wait, but that’s not all! The pièce de résistance is my autographed It’s a Wonderful Life poster.

Yes, that’s right! I said AUTOGRAPHED.

Thank you, 16-year-old self for being obsessed with Jimmy Stewart!

Next year, expect to see MORE GARLANDS and MORE TINY BUILDINGS! Wooooo!

I’m goooooood

I was poking around my blog entries from December 2009, trying to find my favorite Santa picture (this one, in case you were wondering) and came across this post, where I predicted what the boys would be when they grow up.

Well, I mean, it’s not like they’re grown up or anything, but I was eerily right about what they want to be at this stage, anyway.

Linus

What I said then: I’m going to go with something like engineering or medicine.

Now, I’d say programmer or something scienceish.

Oliver

What I said then:  let’s say…tortured artist?

Sure enough, he wants to be an artist.

Miles

What I said then: I’m thinking….actor?

Need I say more?

Okay, I mean, I wasn’t exact, but pretty darn close considering they were two years old when I wrote that and not completely out of the blob stage.