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Sep. 16th, 2009 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflameLast night we were eating an eagerly anticipated dinner of stuffed poblano peppers, loaded quesadillas and spanish rice, and the kids and I were talking about how some of it got pretty spicy as we ate. Grant, who has an entire cabinet full of hot sauces and uses habeneros in recipes, disagreed, and I told him that not all of us have the Chuck Norris of tongues.
Now, AS THIS WAS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH, I was already regretting it, and sure enough I saw the light come into his eyes as he geared up for the ultimate "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!!"
Then, he updated his facebook simply saying, "My wife says I have the Chuck Norris of tongues", with no context :p
My husband.
I realized the other day that we have never put up a single picture of our kids in this new house. We've been living here for over a year and there was literally not one kid picture ANYWHERE. Once I started browsing through our pictures and it was hospital gowns, nasal canulas, oxygen hoods, ivs, me crying with newborns on my chest, me crying with someone nursing, blah blah blah, I was like, oh, right, this is why I've never done this before. It messed me up physically and mentally pretty badly for a couple of days to sift through aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of our pictures for so long and deal with the resulting questions from watching kids. I was so tense in the neck and shoulders, with low grade nausea and even dizzy spells...it's hard to explain. I did everything I normally do, but in an irritable, out of control FEELING way.
We did indeed get pictures printed though.
And after some purging writing and some talk I feel mostly better about it.
I am considering going back into counseling. It would have to be free counseling right now. But I could probably pull that off. We'll see, I guess. It's weird to think that even when I'm doing so well, there's all this junk lying dormant beneath the surface. I want to dig it all up and get rid of it.
We rediscovered Goodwill, and let me tell you, it has been exciting. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I really think that I must be in some niche demographic because I keep finding AMAZING things I just can't believe we found for these insanely low thrift prices...
Do you see this stuff?
That is an incredibly heavy CAST IRON molded pan in autumn shapes, that would sell for probably $30-45 at Williams Sonoma. And a handmade glass vase that is totally unique with initials carved in the bottom. And a little neato bowl I just saw a double of at Teavana for $17 the day before.
All 3 items? $4. FOUR DOLLARS TOTAL.
We also got Aaron new heelies in his size for $4, so he's psyched. I'm not normally into secondhand shoes for kids for foot development reasons but these are basically skates and it was too good to pass up. And they let us just take this for free -
I think the biggest thing, though, is the BOOKS. OH MY GOSH THE BOOKS!!! Do other Goodwill customers not read or something? I know poor people read, I have witnessed the phenomenon ;) I've bought over 30 books at 2 Goodwills in the past week, most in brand new condition, split between kids' and adult, and it's been about $22 all told. Bestsellers, award winners, classics, the one Harry Potter that we don't own, perfect looking issues of National Geographic on things like Egypt and Jane Goodall for a quarter apiece. ♥
I am a crazy gluttonous bibliophile in general. I think I feel justified because I am homeschooling five children, and also I read a study once saying that among the three factors most indicative of whether a kid will grow up to love to read, one is owning their own books.
I am also absolutely TERRIBLE about returning library books, like to the point that I've had to pay fees over $300 TWICE and right now have books out from the library that were due back...a year ago. The worst part of that is that we have actually BEEN TO the library at least three times in that year, for PATH functions and a storytime.
This is part of why it thrills me to the core to have our own library. I've had this dream of dedicating a main room of a house only to books basically forever.
Some random things:
-We've discovered St Louis' Catholic Church in Pinecrest and really like it. The kids and I really liked Sacred Heart, but Grant did not. At all. The kids are not sure about St Louis, but I loved it, and so did Grant. So. Progress, I suppose. Sacred Heart is still here in town available for daily mass and things. Basically SH is a life sized statues, stained glass, very old fashioned music sort of church where both priests have very strong accents - one Irish, one Haitian - which makes them hard to understand at times...and though they have a membership that spans ethnicities and age groups, they don't really "do" anything beyond basic classes and the occasional picnic for people outside of Mass and confession. St Louis is a much more stylized, modern sort of structure and design, and they have a band, and about a billion different bible studies, couples' workshops and seminars, youth activities, retreats, and so on. And Pinecrest is only about 20-25 minutes away.
-I'm almost done with Isaac's ripple blanket.
-Grant made us a tea tray, so I no longer have to berrate myself every day to hurry up and do decopage to cover our old one, which is a big piece of plastic that looks like the flag of Texas O_o It was like $2 on sale in a bin one day so I got it because we needed one. But this is way, way better :)
-And the other day, trimming back our mango tree, we found an old nest. There is talk of painting an egg gold, putting it back in the tree, and taking pictures? And/or all kinds of other nonsense. Everyone has an idea about what we should do with it. And we are all kind of amazed at how birds just instinctively...do this. You can't really see how smooth and well defined the bowl in the center is, here.
-I'm partially done with way too many things right now. The good news is that means I will be done with a whole lot of stuff soon. But in the meantime it's kind of ridiculous...this whole room swap thing is so massively overwhelming as an undertaking, it involves painting, dissasembling and reassembling a desk, moving A LOT OF THINGS, fixing some flooring, installing baseboards, aquiring a couple of new pieces of furniture (probably from Craigslist), deep cleaning of areas we usually neglect. Blah. Everything is going to FEEL so different, when it's finished.
Now, AS THIS WAS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH, I was already regretting it, and sure enough I saw the light come into his eyes as he geared up for the ultimate "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!!"
Then, he updated his facebook simply saying, "My wife says I have the Chuck Norris of tongues", with no context :p
My husband.
I realized the other day that we have never put up a single picture of our kids in this new house. We've been living here for over a year and there was literally not one kid picture ANYWHERE. Once I started browsing through our pictures and it was hospital gowns, nasal canulas, oxygen hoods, ivs, me crying with newborns on my chest, me crying with someone nursing, blah blah blah, I was like, oh, right, this is why I've never done this before. It messed me up physically and mentally pretty badly for a couple of days to sift through aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of our pictures for so long and deal with the resulting questions from watching kids. I was so tense in the neck and shoulders, with low grade nausea and even dizzy spells...it's hard to explain. I did everything I normally do, but in an irritable, out of control FEELING way.
We did indeed get pictures printed though.
And after some purging writing and some talk I feel mostly better about it.
I am considering going back into counseling. It would have to be free counseling right now. But I could probably pull that off. We'll see, I guess. It's weird to think that even when I'm doing so well, there's all this junk lying dormant beneath the surface. I want to dig it all up and get rid of it.
We rediscovered Goodwill, and let me tell you, it has been exciting. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I really think that I must be in some niche demographic because I keep finding AMAZING things I just can't believe we found for these insanely low thrift prices...
Do you see this stuff?
That is an incredibly heavy CAST IRON molded pan in autumn shapes, that would sell for probably $30-45 at Williams Sonoma. And a handmade glass vase that is totally unique with initials carved in the bottom. And a little neato bowl I just saw a double of at Teavana for $17 the day before.
All 3 items? $4. FOUR DOLLARS TOTAL.
We also got Aaron new heelies in his size for $4, so he's psyched. I'm not normally into secondhand shoes for kids for foot development reasons but these are basically skates and it was too good to pass up. And they let us just take this for free -
I think the biggest thing, though, is the BOOKS. OH MY GOSH THE BOOKS!!! Do other Goodwill customers not read or something? I know poor people read, I have witnessed the phenomenon ;) I've bought over 30 books at 2 Goodwills in the past week, most in brand new condition, split between kids' and adult, and it's been about $22 all told. Bestsellers, award winners, classics, the one Harry Potter that we don't own, perfect looking issues of National Geographic on things like Egypt and Jane Goodall for a quarter apiece. ♥
I am a crazy gluttonous bibliophile in general. I think I feel justified because I am homeschooling five children, and also I read a study once saying that among the three factors most indicative of whether a kid will grow up to love to read, one is owning their own books.
I am also absolutely TERRIBLE about returning library books, like to the point that I've had to pay fees over $300 TWICE and right now have books out from the library that were due back...a year ago. The worst part of that is that we have actually BEEN TO the library at least three times in that year, for PATH functions and a storytime.
This is part of why it thrills me to the core to have our own library. I've had this dream of dedicating a main room of a house only to books basically forever.
Some random things:
-We've discovered St Louis' Catholic Church in Pinecrest and really like it. The kids and I really liked Sacred Heart, but Grant did not. At all. The kids are not sure about St Louis, but I loved it, and so did Grant. So. Progress, I suppose. Sacred Heart is still here in town available for daily mass and things. Basically SH is a life sized statues, stained glass, very old fashioned music sort of church where both priests have very strong accents - one Irish, one Haitian - which makes them hard to understand at times...and though they have a membership that spans ethnicities and age groups, they don't really "do" anything beyond basic classes and the occasional picnic for people outside of Mass and confession. St Louis is a much more stylized, modern sort of structure and design, and they have a band, and about a billion different bible studies, couples' workshops and seminars, youth activities, retreats, and so on. And Pinecrest is only about 20-25 minutes away.
-I'm almost done with Isaac's ripple blanket.
-Grant made us a tea tray, so I no longer have to berrate myself every day to hurry up and do decopage to cover our old one, which is a big piece of plastic that looks like the flag of Texas O_o It was like $2 on sale in a bin one day so I got it because we needed one. But this is way, way better :)
-And the other day, trimming back our mango tree, we found an old nest. There is talk of painting an egg gold, putting it back in the tree, and taking pictures? And/or all kinds of other nonsense. Everyone has an idea about what we should do with it. And we are all kind of amazed at how birds just instinctively...do this. You can't really see how smooth and well defined the bowl in the center is, here.
-I'm partially done with way too many things right now. The good news is that means I will be done with a whole lot of stuff soon. But in the meantime it's kind of ridiculous...this whole room swap thing is so massively overwhelming as an undertaking, it involves painting, dissasembling and reassembling a desk, moving A LOT OF THINGS, fixing some flooring, installing baseboards, aquiring a couple of new pieces of furniture (probably from Craigslist), deep cleaning of areas we usually neglect. Blah. Everything is going to FEEL so different, when it's finished.
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 07:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:52 pm (UTC)Whatever the case, we have crappy stuff at the Goodwills in crappy neighborhoods and cool stuff at Goodwills in better neighborhoods, so I always assumed most of what they're selling is dropped off their at the store. That is the only way I've ever donated things to Goodwill, anyway. It is pretty lame if they just choose at the regional centers to send the crappier stuff to the ghettos.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 11:24 pm (UTC)Along with dead people's stuff you're also getting foreclosures and short sales and abandonments.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 06:33 pm (UTC)In our area, foreclosures, short sales and abandonments are cleaned out aggressively by auctioneer type latin men who then hoarde such possessions in warehouse-sized stores that get advertised and labeled as ongoing "estate sales". You can buy everything from a bra to a doorframe at those places, and it is really sad walking through them and knowing the history. I've only ever heard of South Florida Goodwills getting things by any means but personal donations...most people I know (as well as ourselves) give them big bags of stuff every year after we clean things out and thin clutter/outgrown clothes.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:34 pm (UTC)I don't know how to go about this business with seasoning, I've actually never really had anything cast iron before...I thought it might be different with a baking dish because you are making sweet things, not savory, and baking is more science than art as opposed to, say, stir fries or sauteeing....Feel free to explain more to me about this, as I am 100% certain you know more about baking than I do.
And, mmm.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 03:35 pm (UTC)HTH
no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:58 pm (UTC)Goodwill is awesome. Freecycle is heavenly.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 04:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 05:18 am (UTC)This is me. Right now, our library doubles as study/ music studio/ M's computer space/ spare room for guests. We specifically chose not to have the Master bedroom for our bedroom because we thought it would be better to have a bigger room for all the books :D
But when we move to a bigger place, we'll be dedicating one area to a library. Isn't it weird that some people just don't read? When my MIL came to visit she said, "I can't believe you've got so many books... have you read them all?" And when I answered, "Most of them." She just shook her head, incredulous.
Also, love the skull :)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 03:59 am (UTC)And yeah, my Nana HATED books in the house, she used to call them "dust magnets" and talk about how tacky they were. Can you imagine?
no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 03:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-18 03:57 am (UTC)And it works. fml :p