Just The Two of Us

Optimism

RW has spent some time this evening catching up on old (yes, that's old and old) friends on Facebook.  Deciding he wished to see a picture of one of those friends, he headed over to our library room to dig out his yearbooks.  Finding the one he was looking for, he flipped it open:

"..A whole bunch of dead people in this book."

"Wow, Babe... that's a happy thought", I replied, staring at him, slightly bewildered.

"Yeah well, wait until you get old and you can look at all your dead friends too."

Such optimism, I'm not sure how to handle all the happiness!  And by the way, by his comment one would think that he's 92 or something.  Really?

Doggin' It

It's Monday.  That means it's Pinterest Monday.  The day where I  extol the praises of actually doing some Pinterest projects, not just "pinning" them in a sort of "this is a great idea and someday I think this would be fabulous to do with the kids" sort of way.  Because before you know it, those kids will be 28 years old and may just be no longer interested in the cool hot dogs you can make for them.  Trust me.  It could  will happen.

In fact, I was front and center to this weird "the kids actually grow-up phenomenon" this past weekend.  The same day that I did the project below, I also made a ginger-bread house with The Kids.  Last time I checked, all four of those children were participants in the Rent-A-Kid program.  All four love the ginger-bread house every year.  Ok, they have loved it the years we've actually done it, which to be honest, isn't every one of them.  But they remind me every year that it's time -  we need to build that house.  And so this year I was on top of it.  I brought it over.  

We started honing our decorating skills, but it didn't take me too long to see that we were missing some one.  Quaid, who is now seven (I'm sorry?  Who gave him permission to grow up?  Huh?  I was.not.consulted.) decided that being in the other room with his daddy and RW was certainly way cooler than making a ginger-bread house with us.  Well then.  I'm just warning you.. it will happen to you too.

Back to Pinterest (seeing as it is, actually, Pinterest Monday).  I saw the way cool idea (I know, it's not proper sentence structure) of making hot dogs with spaghetti running through them.  Just to be clear, I didn't think this would be way cool for RDub and myself, but for The Kids. [cough].  I brought all the gear over to their house.  "All the gear" sounds a bit overwhelming.  "Gear" consisted only of hot dogs and spaghetti.  Oh, and some buns in case they wanted them.  I made sure The Kids were busy elsewhere, and I covertly started making my magical hot dogs.

I know.  Cool, right?  I threaded the noodles through and dropped them into a pot of boiling water.  And then after that I stood there and told Karen what a fab meal I made the night before, but seeing as that isn't relevant to this conversation, I'll skip to the final product:

Thinking I was oh-so-clever, I cornered 6-yr-old Ava and asked her how the noodles got in the middle of the hot dog.

She excitedly and matter-of-factly said, "OH! You take the noodles when they're stiff?  And poke them through the hot dog?  And them cook them.  That's how you do that."

So much for putting one over on her. 

So thus completes another Pinterest idea project.  And as for Quaid?  I'm guessing I need to come up with some cooler stuff to do.  Because clearly, the ginger-bread house didn't really cut it for him.   Growing up is for the dogs.

2012, Here We Come!

Well.  Here we are again.  January 1st.  Where did that year go?  I believe that sufficient time has passed in order for me to bear discussing last year's resolutions.  Do you remember?  If you don't, refer to this.  I'll have you know that it has taken me a full 13 months to get over the 2 or 3 hours of perfection.  

Granted, these weren't actually my resolutions, per say.  It was an experiment in perfection to let you, my loyal blog readers, know what was worth making resolutions about and what you should just take one moment at a time.  It was a painful, painful few moments of my life.  Which brings us to this year.  2012.  The year in which the Vikings will win more games than they lose (hope springs eternal).  A year in which my friends will send me copious amounts of electronic communications letting me know how much they adore me. (snort.  eye roll.)   A year in which my rather large family will all positively beg us to move closer (hahaha.  right.)  A year in which my dear RW will shower me with his love and affection (ok - that one is likely.  I married well.).  Yes, that year.  2012.  It's here.

I know I may disappoint some, but I don't really have any resolutions for you today.  My friend Stacie and I were discussing resolutions this week, and we both agreed that one can change any day.  This may be a shock to some, but you really don't have to wait until January 1st to do something different.  In my life, today looks a lot like yesterday.  That may have something to do with the fact that the Vikings lost again today, but anyway.. you catch my drift.

So, so long, 2011.  You were a decent year.  You were fairly good to RW and myself.  In 2011 we vacationed with both sides of our families.  We took a few trips.  We saw a nephew that we hold dear get married to his perfect mate.  We rejoiced with another special nephew when he passed the bar, and laughed in awe and not a little bit of admiration at a sweet niece who had the privilege (?) of giving birth to her son in a gas station parking lot (I'm not sure she's laughing about that.) We laughed with friends.  We cried with friends. We loved on our families. We grew closer to God and to each other.  We had jobs.  We watched a parent go through something very difficult, and learned from another parent how to deal with it.  I got to see a friend I hadn't seen in 24 years (hi Kevin!).  I got to spend a couple of days with another dear friend who lives in Africa.  We made some new friends.  We cherished the old ones.  We did life, together. And for that, I'm so grateful.

Happy New Year to you all!  Thanks for being such great readers.  I'm looking forward to a fun year, blog included.  And those resolutions?  Yeah.  Don't bother setting yourself up for failure.  Take it from the expert.  Cheers.