If children's drawings were made into toys. Is there a company out there that does this?? What a fabulous idea!!
love this!
I repinned this delicious-looking dried strawberry recipe on Pinterest the other day, and then I thought I’d try it since I had strawberries in the fridge.
The recipe said 3 hours in the oven at 150 degrees. Ummm…. NOT EVEN CLOSE. To even *sort of* dry out, it took TEN HOURS. And then they were disgusting anyway.
F@$&ing Pinterest.
So my boss and I are in Fairbanks this summer, where it gets REAAAAALLLLY cold in the in the winter. I mean REEEEALLLLY cold. Like, -50 degrees. Seriously. Ok so anyway… we’re talking to this pharmacy intern who says she’s from Louisiana and is leaving in September. I mention she’s missing the “best part of the year” (winter), and she giggles and tells me it’s okay because one of her friends made her go into this “winter simulation chamber” — a touristy thing, it’s a room that’s like -30 degrees to show outsiders what the winter weather feels like.
So… cut to dinner later that evening with my boss.
Boss: So, it looks like we may have a few extra hours to kill before the flight tomorrow. What is there to do around here?
Me: Oh, well, we could have lunch at Lavelle’s, then we could go to Pioneer Park and do a little bit of touristy stuff… oh hey! Maybe we could go to that stimulation room! ACK! *chokes on wine, almost spews out nose* … I mean SIMULATION ROOM. SIMULATION. Oh god, haha, oops. SIMulation.
Boss: Um, that sounds fun. Could we just skip lunch and go straight there? Haha!
Yeah, I’m that awesome. Maybe less wine at dinner with the boss next time. For the record though, he blushed too. :)
Thought I’d implement a new feature! I’m a little bit of a bookworm, and I’ve gotten quite a few book suggestion requests from those of you who know how often I try to have my nose buried in a book – so I’ll try to keep you all updated on what I’m reading. :) These days I only have time to read while I’m at the gym (I use the kindle app on my iPad), but I enjoy that because when I find a great book it motivates me to go back and work out more!
Most recently I finished the three books in the Hunger Games series – it’s YA, and I definitely recommend. I wasn’t too hot on the last book, but it does close everything up nicely. The Hunger Games is a dystopian story about a teen girl who is forced to compete to the death in a televised, government-controlled survivor battle. It’s fast-paced and definitely not boring! If you’re a Hunger Games fan as well, use these Hot Topic coupon codes to buy some gear!
Because I’m on a YA kick right now, I’m currently reading Rick Riordan’s continuation of the Percy Jackson series. I just finished the first one, and started the second book while on the elliptical yesterday. If you’ve read the original Percy Jackson books, you’ll enjoy seeing him again in the new series (and if you haven’t read the original books, do that first – they’re great!). All of these books are about greek gods and demi-gods, and battles and saving the world, lol – I enjoyed trying to remember all of the stories about the Greeks from my high school and college days, as Riordan does a great job of working in pretty accurate Greek mythology.
So… what are you reading? Any good suggestions? :)
My husband doesn’t read books.
Well, not real books. He does, however, love the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader books – you know, the ones with a ton of random facts. I even bought him a few Bathroom Reader CDs a while back to listen to while he goes on long drives for work. He loves these books so much that he’s pretty much the Random Trivia King Genius of the World. NO. JOKE. You want him on your team if you’re playing a trivia game… he WILL win.
Anyway… a few days ago he discovered the Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader iPhone app. Oh joy – random trivia 24/7.
So, the other night we’re laying in bed. I’m falling asleep, Adam is playing on his phone. All of a sudden, breaking the silence at one o’clock in the morning…
“Hey, you wanna hear about aardvarks?”
Every year since I’ve been without my mom during the holidays (since 2005), decorating my house has been rough – emotionally. I always cry while I hang family ornaments on my tree, and listening to Christmas music just tugs at my heartstrings. On top of that, Adam gets all grinchy during Christmas because it’s a fairly stressful time for him at work, so I always end up decorating BY MYSELF. How fun.
This year, however, Adam offered to help.
HOLD. THE. PHONE. What?
Yep… SuperHubs actually made time just to help Ellie and I decorate our Christmas tree. –pause for collective “awwwwwww”– I was ridiculously happy to spend an evening at home with just my family – Mommy, Daddy, Ellie & Tali. Gives me warm fuzzies just thinking about it. :)
A few gems from that evening:
Adam: Ohp! Gotta do an egg.
Me: What? An egg?
Adam: Duh, I do it every year.
Me: You’ve NEVER done “an egg” – what does that even mean?
Adam: It means cool. Doesn’t it look cool?
Me: I’ve never even heard of this, EVER.
Adam: I do this every year. Call my brother.
—I call Alex–
Me: Hey Bro! Did you guys decorate your tree yet?
Alex: No not yet.
Me: Oh, well are you gonna do an egg this year?
Alex: WTF does that mean?
Me: WINNER.
Also, by the way, the egg IS cool. Adam hollowed out an egg from the fridge and then put a hole in it and attached it to a light on the tree. It IS cool… I’ve just never ever seen him do it before. Being that this is the FIRST YEAR EVER that he’s helped decorate the tree, I don’t see how he could have done this “every year, duh.”
Okay, in the spirit of equality… here is one where I’M the loser, lol:
Adam: Do we have to hang all of these bells? There’s too many bells on this tree. Isn’t there only supposed to be one? Like, every time a bell rings an angel gets it’s wings?
Me: This isn’t Peter Pan, ‘tard.
Adam: Um, it’s from ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, ‘tard.
Me: Huh. What was Peter Pan then?
Adam: HAVE SOME MORE WINE.
Yeeeeaaaaaah. I *may* have been drinking.
A few years ago, Superwife and a few close friends got involved with a local (Alaska) charity that provided Christmas gifts to underprivileged children in our area. We recieved Christmas wish lists from kids ages 0-18, and did our best to make Christmas a holiday for these kids and their families. The Mat-Su Special Santa program helped over 3000 children in 2009, and has helped over 15,000 children since 1997!
This year, I expanded my involvement – by sharing it with YOU. I posted about this opportunity on the Superwife facebook page, and was able to sign up a wonderful group of generous SuperSponsors.
After coordinating with the MatSu Special Santa program to request individual wishlists for children in AK, Superwife’s SuperSponsors made a Christmas difference for 25 kiddos this year. TWENTY-FIVE.
Now THAT was a car load of gifts. :) Adam and I loaded up all of the presents on Tuesday night into the back of my new mom van, and on Wednesday morning I set out to deliver everything to the Special Santa Workshop out in Wasilla (with the help of SuperSponsor Charlotte and my darling little Ellie).
The program volunteers were ecstatic, and it was absolutely amazing to see the behind-the-scenes magic that happens in the workshop. Volunteers were bustling about, putting together packages for families; tables were stacked with toys, games, jackets, and sports items. Jackets, hats and gloves were hung in the middle of the room, waiting to be packed up. Bags marked with individual numbers for each family were neatly situated in the corner of the warehouse, packed and ready to go – each with a brightly colored winter sled attached.
Although we didn’t get to actually see the families pick up their gifts, this experience was just awesome. A HUGE thank you to all of the wonderful people who volunteered to fulfill wishlists this year – I know that these kids will absolutely LOVE the stuffed animals, winter gear, blankies, gift cards, princess stuff, pajamas, basketballs, bicycles, baby toys, diapers, backpacks, coloring books, scooters, and all of the other items you had fun shopping for.
I love that the feedback I recieved from you all was so heartwarming – many of you took this as an opportunity to teach your own children about helping and giving, and ALL of you were so excited to help and shop that you said you had a hard time staying within the program-set spending limits (me too!). I seriously cried reading emails and texts from sponsors more than once during this whole event. *WARM FUZZIES!*
Next year… SuperSponsor goal is 50. I know we can do it! :)
Okay, I know I’ve been MIA. I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m alive, and I planning on a few posts soon. I’d throw my list of excuses your way, but they just seem so petty when I write them all out. Blech.
I hope everyone is having a very merry Christmas, and I’ll be putting some fun up soon! :)
