Five for Fighting

Five for Fighting pretty much rocks. Mostly for this , because every time that video is played, .40 will be donated to Autism Speaks, an organization which works to raise funding and awareness for Autism Spectrum disorders. In fact, wander around Five for Fighting's website- there are tons of causes that their fundraising is supporting.

Josh is home. Thank God. He made it just in the nick of time, in that little window between frustrated and full blown crazy.
The day before yesterday, Dex was being his usual charming self and dipped my phone in the bathtub. This is not just any phone, people. It is a Moto Q. I know I have mentioned it before and it is because I LOVE MY PHONE. It is everything you could want in a phone and pda. Needless to say, the bathtub dip was not good for the phone. I took it apart, and dried it out as best I could. But after that, everytime I put the battery in it vibrated. Endlessly. And the screen flashed on and off. And then it died completely. I accepted my fate. I shed a few tears of loss for my phone. I watched sadly as the screen fogged up. And I started pricing new phones.
On some whim I decided to try to turn it on last night. And it works!! It is a miracle! Call the Pope! Seester said she knew that it would work again because she has dropped her phone in water, spilled water on it, annnnnnnnnd dropped in a glass of beer. A glass of beer? Statistically speaking, what are the odds that you would not only drop your phone, but also that it would land in a beer? Only you, Michelle. But I am glad you were right.
Less than two weeks until my vacation. :D

We rented a Power Rangers movie today. Emma's selection at the video store didn't surprise me, but it did come with a fair amount of internal grimacing and sighing. It was worth it for this conversation though:

Emma: (Eyes wide, entranced) How did that power ranger get so strong?
Me: Uh... working out?
Emma: Did you see those muscles? (Mouth agape, eyebrows raised)
Me: Uh...
Emma: (Turning to me) Did you?

Ew. In case you are wondering, the Power Rangers haven't changed a bit. Awful special effects with embarrassing acting. Emma is in love.

Living the single life

I've got a pretty good husband, you know. I don't think about it that often, because normally he is here. But since he has been out of town, I have been thinking more about how lucky I am. He is smart, hardworking, funny, and, more importantly, he take out the trash. Every single day. Don't get me wrong, I miss him for more reasons that the trash. But let me tell you, people, taking the trash out sucks.

He is more patient with the kids than I am, and I think they know that. He is almost always willing to play hide and seek, color, kick a ball around, or have a food fight with them. I generally am not. Life for out kids has been severely lacking in the hide and seek department lately. I also now have a deep respect for single parents. If you are a single parent, and not absolutely insane, you are a saint.

Josh has been working non-stop every day trying to prepare Al for moving. He is working much harder than I am, so I am trying not to be whiny. Apparently, though Al has a very small condo, he has managed to cram 20 something years worth of stuff into it.

This happened about this time last year (the Josh going out of town bit), and I am finding myself lazier this time around. Last time I was so bored that I organized everything. This time I am so bored that I am reading TMZ. It seems my priorities have changed.. (God, Britney, get your shit together already.) I could read, or something, like some of my other friends do, but a. I have read all the Harry Potter books and b. turning on the TV requires a much shorter attention span. Mythbusters seems to come on like 4 times a day. Who needs books?

You all know how I feel about discussing feelings (ew), so I will just say this- I miss my husband.

I did something!

All by myself! With no help from Jared or JD (my two computer-knowledge friends)! I now have a blogroll!! I made a list of the links I visit daily, which include some of my friends' blogs, blogs of a couple of complete strangers, and one random website, engrish.com, because I can always count on it for a LOL moment. A good chuckle, at least. Anyway, if you scroll down, under the list of archives, there is my list of blogs. I probably forgot some links, or got some wrong, but I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself. :D

more underwear and pop tarts

Holy crap, dudes. (Do I start out every third blog that way, or what?) I am tired of taking care of people. I have 3 toddlers, a dog, a husband, and a grandpa who, at this moment, depend on me for cooking, cleaning, driving, internet-site-finding, phone dialing, channel changing, drink preparing, and in two cases, butt wiping. (Yes, Claire CAN wipe her own butt, she is just not very good at it.) I am trying to be patient, because it is only five more weeks until I get a honest-to-God vacation. No butt wiping involved. Well, my own, most likely. Beside the point.
I have a new reader, and a new friend. (Hi Jenny!) You should read her blog, though I have to warn you that she is an alarmingly intelligent woman and will probably make my blog seem lacking in deep thought. I mean, honestly, I write about underwear and Pop Tarts. She writes about great works of literature. She appears to be vastly smarter than I am, and obviously more well read, but I like her anyway.
(BTW, anyone know how I can start a blog roll of what I am reading? It would be nice to have a permanent list I could add to...)

I have taken exactly zero pictures outside of Christmas snapshots. And I even got some new toys for Christmas. I can't wait to try out my graphics tablet (thanks mom!) for photo editing. Some day I will get the time...
Which reminds me, Christmas pictures. Here are some of them.

This one went out on the Christmas cards. Not my best work ever, but under the circumstances... oh well.

No kid ever wanted a Dora sleeping bag more in her life. Ever.

Michelle and Jacob came, but they were all Emo in their black sweaters.

We have a pretty big family and I stupidly did not bring a wide angle lens. Oh well, here are the bits and pieces, anyhow.(I especially like this last one- kinda like power-channeling through head touching...)