Way Too Many Glasses

We have a plethora of canning jars at our house. In the basement, shelves and plastic trays hold a variety of sizes and shapes. There are random canning jars in our kitchen cabinets, freshly washed after finishing up the jelly or pickled beans. A few crafting projects with canning jars are also scattered about. I love them. I turned a blue one into a soap dispenser in our downstairs bathroom, which really means it was my idea, but my husband turned the blue jar into a soap dispenser.

Recently, probably as a result of all the Fixer Upper episodes I have been watching lately, I decided to use some of these canning jars as glasses. So, I went to the basement and rounded up a collection of jars I thought would make good glasses in a variety of sizes. Then, I pulled all of the rejected glassware out of the cabinet and put in a box to store in the basement. Mind you, I have already pared down our glassware by storing an entire plastic tote of it down in the basement. As I was putting away a few wine glasses by the bar, I kept thinking, “Geez, do we have a lot of glasses.” Seriously.

When we got married, I had a pretty decent supply of glasses, my husband had drink glasses for every kind of cocktail you can imagine, we registered for and received a nice set of everyday glasses and I am pretty sure between the two of us, we had pint glasses for every restaurant and bar we ever visited. And I haven’t even mentioned the vast collection of shot glasses! We both collected shot glasses from our travels when we were younger and neither of us knew the other one collected them. Now they line the top of the bar area.  We have an obscene amount of glasses. Goodwill has nothing on us as far as glassware goes. As I was putting these glasses away, I kept thinking, “We should get rid of some of this stuff.” But, then, I noticed a pint glass from a friend’s wedding and another one from one of my favorite restaurants, and I put them in a box and thought, “We might use them someday.”

This is happening more and more lately. I keep saving things I would not have saved five years ago. I blame my husband. He is a notorious saver. I can’t count the times, though, that I have mentioned something I would like for the house (like a ladder to hold blankets), and he has said, “I have one in the barn,” or goes into the basement and returns five minutes later with the mentioned item. Now, every time I think to get rid of something, I think, “What if I need this someday?” or “That wedding was so fun! I love this pint glass!”

And now the basement storage shelves are out of room.

I can’t even blame my husband. Well, not entirely, anyway. 

Thankful Thursday

This post was inspired by a slice I read a few weeks ago. Here is my version!

I am thankful for my home, full of windows and memories and laughter.
I am thankful for unexpected surprises like pie and snow days.
I am thankful for the friends of yesterday, the friends of today, and the friends of forever.
I am thankful for a job that I love and learn from Every. Single. Day. Teaching is the best.
I am thankful for words I read, words that resonate, words that change me and words that make me think.
I am thankful for parents who filled my childhood with goodness, gave me strong roots and showed me every day, through example, what a loving marriage and family was all about.
I am thankful for a brother who will still duet "Regulate" with me if I ask very nicely. Neither of us should probably be singing out loud in front of other people.
I am thankful for family--the one I was blessed with, the one my husband brought with him and the chosen family of friends I have found along this journey.
I am thankful for coffee. Every morning. So very thankful for coffee.
I am thankful for Mason, who leaves notes on my pillow that say, "I love you, Mom." Pure joy.
I am thankful for Jack, whose exuberance for life and gentleness for all things vulnerable fills my heart.
I am thankful for Amelia, my baby who is not really a baby anymore, for her giggle and for the way her sweet little head still rests on my shoulder when I sing to her before bed.
I am thankful for my husband--my best friend and partner in this beautiful life.

And it is a truly, beautiful life. For this I know and for this I am forever thankful.

Story Time

I love reading to my kids. We always read right before bed. They each pick out a story and we all snuggle up together to enjoy stories. My oldest is reading now, so sometimes he reads to us. Tonight he read Vincent Paints His House by Tedd Arnold (yes, the same Tedd Arnold who writes the Fly Guy books). It is a super cute book that was great fun for my son to read. My kids especially liked listening to all of the different shades of the colors Vincent used to paint his house (helped with that part). I read Miss Hazeltine's Home for Shy and Fearful Cats and Ragweed's Farm Dog Handbook. All of these books came from the library. When I hear about good books from professional presentations or blogs I read, I put them on hold at the library so I can read them and share them with my kids...the ones at home AND at school. These particular books have been sitting on my desk for almost 2 weeks...it was time to read them! Enjoying these books with my kids was definitely a highlight of my day.

Smoothies in the Morning

My son Jack, who is almost five (Did I really just write that???? Is he seriously almost FIVE?!?!), enjoys smoothies. One day, quite a while ago, he saw me making my morning smoothie (with spinach) and asked if he could have some. "Absolutely!" I said as I excitedly poured him some, thinking to myself, "YES!! He is getting fruits AND veggies in his system first thing this morning! Point one for Mom! Score!" From then on, sharing my smoothie with him was a sure fire way to make sure he got at least SOME fruits and veggies in him.

Jack is very interested in cooking. He loves to make cookies with Grandma and he likes to make what he calls his "mixes". The kid would go nuts in the kitchen if I'd let him. He would mix eggs with fruit and water and bread and then bake it. He might get one heck of an egg bake. It's hard sometimes to let them do something you KNOW is a bad idea...like mix random, weird things in the kitchen. I think I just wrote a mouthful of truth about parenthood...it's hard to let them do something you know is a bad idea. Hmmpth....back to smoothies...

He was pretty excited the other day when I brought a mango home for him from the grocery store. He wanted to put it in a smoothie. This morning, with about 20 minutes until we absolutely had to be pulling out of the garage, I was helping my incredibly persistent and wonderful little boy make a smoothie. You couldn't have paid me to be anywhere else. He was so excited to add all kinds of fruit. He put in raspberries and strawberries, and he let me put in frozen pineapple because I told him it made the smoothie really cold and smoothies are best when they are really cold. He was alright when I explained that we should put a banana in to make it really smooth. He wanted to put in yogurt (straight out of the Go-Gurt squeezee tube), so I helped him cut the top off and squeeze it in. I drew the line at putting muffins in the smoothie. No muffins in smoothies. We all have limits. We mixed it up and tasted it. He said it was good but that it didn't taste enough like mango. I smiled. I don't think he has had enough mango to know what mango is supposed to taste like. He shared his smoothie with his sister and insisted his brother try it.

He was so proud.

Me too.

More than he will ever know.

A Boy and His Dog

This evening as I prepared dinner, my oldest son took the dog outside to throw the ball for her. I watched them from the kitchen window as I washed a few dishes. He would throw the ball, she would chase after it and Mason would chase after her. He'd throw it again and she'd chase it and he would run and skip after her. They repeated this for quite awhile. I love seeing them play together.

When I was pregnant with my oldest child, my husband and I talked about how we hoped our dog, Lola, and our child would grow to be good buddies. We imagined she would be protective and loving towards her little human. We thought maybe she would sleep in the baby's room. What a lovely picture we painted!

When we brought Mason home from the hospital, Lola was pretty indifferent. As he grew, she continued to be indifferent. When we brought our second son, Jack, home from the possible, she gave me this look that I took to mean that if she could talk, she would have said, "Seriously? Another baby???? Seriously???" She was not amused. And while you could tell the kids made her a little nervous, she tolerated them just fine; she has NEVER been the slightest bit aggressive. She has never been the kind of dog that is comfortable with them crawling and laying on her, though. She doesn't LOVE them. She looks at us like, "Please help." But she takes it. When we are outside, and she brings me a ball, the boys want to throw it and she brings it back to me every time. I wanted her to love them! I wanted her to play with them! Go! Let them play with you! It made me so sad that Lola didn't love the kids.

To see Mason and Lola playing together tonight warmed my heart. I am hopeful that relationship I hoped for many years ago is blooming now between Lola and our children.

Favorite Movies

Last night during dinner, someone at my table asked about everyone's favorite movie. I mentioned that I liked a lot of movies and it was hard to choose a favorite. I listed a comedy I love (Old School with Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn). He then asked what my next favorite movie was and I froze. I went blank. All of I could think of was There's Something about Mary, which I didn't want to mention because I was trying to think of something a little more important, like Shawshank Redemption. While that movie is good and I liked it, it doesn't really qualify as a favorite. I am probably not going to choose to watch that over There's Something about Mary if I am flipping through channels. It makes me sad. So, of course, since then, I have been thinking about movies I love. Truthfully, I don't really have favorite movies. I have movies I really enjoy--movies I can watch over and over again and while I like movies, I don't really LOVE movies in general. I am not a "movie buff" like some people I know. I don't go to a lot of movies in the theater. I don't watch all of the Oscar-nominated movies; I didn't even watch the Oscars this year. When I think of someone who loves movies, I think of my brother. He watches a lot of movies and he can have a pretty deep conversation about important themes and messages and what thought processes the movie evoked in him. He embraces movies, learns from them and connects the movie to his own life if he can. A movie he convinced me to watch was Gran Torino. Excellent movie. Hard to watch at times. Important message, and Clint Eastwood was amazingly convincing.

Growing up I watched a lot of movies, so I have a good working knowledge of movies from the eighties and nineties. Not so much anymore. The truth is, I don't watch a whole lot of new movies these days. By the time the kids go to bed and my husband and I could sit down and watch a movie together, I am bound to fall asleep and miss half the movie. We tend to flip through the channels and settle on a good comedy we have seen twenty times already.

My definition of "favorite" movies would have to be movies that thoroughly entertain me and make me laugh. I love comedies. I have seen many though-provoking, feel good movies with excellent messages, and while I do enjoy those, I am not going to watch them over and over again. I also enjoy a good chick flick (like Sweet Home Alabama). I would not say that my favorite movies are Oscar-deserving or cinematic marvels...these movies make me laugh...usually these are not the movies that make me think really hard. These are in no particular order, but here are some movies I love to watch over and over again. I am sure there are many more, but these are the ones that pop into my mind.

1. Old School ("Let's go streaking!!")
2. There's Something About Mary
3. The Hangover (Seriously. I have never laughed so hard in my life.)
4. Both of the National Treasure movies--love them!
5. Baby Mama (Tina Fey AND Amy Poehler!!!)

Cabaret

Every year in March, the high school music department in our district puts on an amazing event entitled Cabaret. There are a variety of performances including ensemble performances, solos, duets, musical and vocal performances. In addition to preparing for their performances, the students also decorate, help prepare and serve a meal to the audience, clean up, help each other prepare and practice. It was an absolutely amazing event. 

I find it fascinating what songs and music the students chose and why. Music speaks to us all differently at different times in our lives. I imagine the task of picking songs could be quite daunting. How would you pick songs? Would you pick the ones you just love? The ones that speak to you? The ones that remind you of someone or something? 

A variety of music were chosen by the student. The theme was "Time Warp" so as you can imagine, there were songs from the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. It was so fun to see what they picked. One of my favorite numbers was "Unpretty" (originally performed by TLC in the late nineties). The young women who performed it have beautiful voices, and to see two beautiful young women sing a song about the importance of looking inside of yourself to find beauty rather than what you see on the outside, was incredibly inspiring. I hope all of the young girls and women who were there tonight took what I took from this song. So many of the numbers performed tonight were songs I remember listening to growing up--songs originally performed by bands such as Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. So many songs took me back to meaningful moments in my life. This is the beauty of music, right--it speaks to us all. 

I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to attend this event.