In My Copious Free Time

"unexpected" hardly covers this one

Tonight Alex and I walked into Cracker Barrel just behind a giant walking penis.

Yes, you read that correctly. A man dressed as the aforementioned genitalia - complete with testicles - went inside the restaurant after a brief shouting match with a uniformed waitress who stormed off saying "you're gonna get me fired." A manager type immediately walked over to Penisman and told him he had to leave, but he attracted quite a bit of attention.

a little-known sign of addiction

Sign you are addicted to your lip gloss: you put it on BEFORE showering.

I have this new lip gloss. It's a plumping gloss. The first generation of plumping glosses that contained irritants like capsaicin or cinnamon oil and achieved plump lips through, well, searing pain. Not my cup of tea. But this new generation of plumpers is different. I got a set of 4 Buxom Babe glosses and I am newly converted. Not only do they have a wonderful smell that seems to be a chocolate and vanilla blend, they feel great. Initially they tingle, but the tingle turns into a minty cooling sensation that lasts quite a while.

Needless to say, they feel SO good that I think I'm hooked. How bad is it? Well, the other day I was about to step into the shower and I caught sight of one of the glosses sitting beside the sink. And I thought, "What the heck, I'll just put a little on now..."

Yes, I put lip gloss on to take a shower.

Alex's haircut

I got Alex's hair cut on Sunday and when I told my sister (who saw him the previous weekend looking quite shaggy), she said she wanted to see a picture. By the time I remembered on Monday, he had fallen asleep on the couch, but the picture is pretty darned cute nonetheless. Look at those eyelashes!!

What actually happened this weekend

This weekend I posted a list of what needed to happen. Here's what I actually did:

• Put flannel sheets on bed
• Cleaned kitchen counters (Joe did this)
• Recycling - I did break down boxes, but that's it
• Folded a cubic raftload of laundry and put it away. An equal amount remains.
• Swept the bathroom (did not clean, per se)

What I did that wasn't on the list:

• Took Alex out for a fun lunch
• Took Alex to get a haircut
• Took Alex to the airport to watch planes
• Had a good walk with my boss
• Organized drawers and cabinets in bathroom (including a re-org of the makeup stash, which is not a small task)
• Got rid of outdated stuff on fridge, neatened up what remained
• Returned some stuff to Target
• Started boxing up stuff to send to a friend (long overdue)
• Got more storage bins
• Put away Alex's summer clothes (mostly done)

I'm sure there was more, but that will have to do for now.

I LOL'D

You know what's nice about lolcats? They never stop being funny.

What has to happen today

Finish putting away ALL laundry
Put flannel sheets on bed
Straighten up books (i.e., gather all the books that are all over the house)
Recycling (break down boxes, sort through magazines)
Clean kitchen counters
Clean upstairs bathroom
Sweep everything

And if I'm REALLY ambitious, sort through some toys and box up the ones that don't see action anymore.

I've discovered how to warp time

Easy. Just have a child. I guarandamntee you that this will reset your personal clock to spin like...something that spins really fast. Today Alex is six and there's something about that number that made me sit up and take notice today. Six??

I'm not quite in the sentimental letter writing mood today, so instead I'll share a funny things that  happened recently. Now that he's a first grader, he has tests. Granted, they're spelling tests and the words are pretty easy, but they're still tests. The first week was terribly easy. I mean, how hard is it to spell the word "a"? The words for the week were a, I, and, in and the. He got 120 on the test -- 100 points for spelling all the words correctly and an extra 20 points for using one in a sentence that he made up himself. His sentence? I like to sleep in.

That's my boy. :)

Hit and run blogging

I'm tired so this is going to be short and sweet. Or short.

Six weeks ago today, I gave up Coke.

Let me just repeat that for those of you who know me well. I gave up Coke. That's a big enough deal on its own, but it isn't just Coke. I quit drinking soda, period. Cold turkey. The first few days were a regular  festival of headaches, but that resolved soon enough. It's no surprise that I still crave it, especially when I have pizza or we go to our favorite Mexican restaurant. But the real surprise has been the effect quitting has had on my eating habits. I have much less desire to eat anything sweet these days. In fact, most of the time, the thought of something sweet makes me feel ill.

I drink mostly water these days, and usually a tall glass of chocolate milk in the morning and a glass of lemonade (water, lemon juice, sugar - no high fructose corn syrup).

I NEVER thought I'd do this, but it's working so far.