FIVE GOOD THINGS FRIDAY

This has been the longest 3-day week of my life.  THE LONGEST.  There are exactly 4 other cars in the parking lot at work, which means there are exactly 4 other people in my building.  It's quiet.  Creepy quiet.  And if you know anything about me, you know that I CAN'T handle the quiet.  So this week has blessed my office with a whole lotta Pandora up in here.  (btw... did you know that there's a cap of 100 stations one can have on Pandora?  and yes, I know that from experience)


Good Thing #1: Having time to go through the holy-wow-mega-crazy lot of photos on my phone.  
Yes, the phone I've had for four months.  And yes, the phone that's nearly maxed out its storage.  I suppose that's an occupational hazard when you're a parent who dabbles in social media.  So far I've deleted about 847 photos from my phone, and there are PLENTY more to toss.  It was embarrassing to see how many pics I've taken of food.  Laughable, even.

Seriously?  How interesting is that plate of pita chips, Lanie?  #facepalm.

Good Thing #2:  UNCLES.  

Uncles who give good high-fives.

Uncles who have brilliant [real] smiles and wear bottles on their fingers.

Uncles who hold Sol in the air like they're Rafiki.

Uncles who look like lumberjacks and like a good beer just as much as we do.

Uncles who pretend to eat my baby with a giant fork and knife.

Good Thing #3:  A mini-me who gets uber-excited whenever the Big Bang Theory theme song comes on.

Good Thing #4:  That same mini-me, who allows Mama to shove a stocking cap on her head and take multiple photos in an attempt to capture that perfect "oh we're so cool" moment.

Good Thing #5:  (in two parts)
A. coming home to packages at my front door (which apparently arouses such an incredible WOW factor that I have to take a photo each time...)

Buuuuuut this segues into 5b:

B. opening up a package to reveal just how much of a nerd you truly are. 

Star Trek iPhone cases,
light-up Star Trek bib,
light-up Starship Enterprise baby spoon,
and Star Trek onesie.

But hey, Sol LOVES being a nerd!  Just try to have a boring meal when you're eating yams from the USS Enterprise.  Going boldly where no baby food has gone before.  Thank you for the ideas, Uncle Todd :)

<>

And a video: '
a stop-action compilation of the trials and tribulations of not-so-fine motor skills.  

 <>

Possible title: 

"Champions of Wearing Hard Plastic Bibs With Giant Pockets on the Fronts of Them."

FIVE GOOD THINGS FRIDAY

I'm so bad at this.  I apparently can't keep up with being a full-time mom, being sick, working, shooting photos on the side, having some inkling of a social life, and posting regularly on my blog.  Ahhhh, but I was doing so well for a while!  2013 looks promising, dear ones.  Fear not; I will regain my status as the #1 blogger of All Things Sol-Related.

Until then, however... back to five good things.

Good Thing #1: Outings with Joleen
 Have I mentioned how excited I am that Aunt Joleen lives in Kalamazoo?  Okay.  I'm excited that Aunt Joleen lives in Kalamazoo.  She brings us straight-up Michigan Christmas cookies like these:

That's a sugar beet and the lower peninsula of Michigan, btw :)

And she goes to Target with us and attempts to put Avengers helmets on my child, much to the dismay of poor Sol (haha).  And she stands at the checkout with us and listens to Mr. Crazyman tell her how beautiful my child is and oh can he take a picture of her and not every child is beautiful for example he has three kids of his own and his oldest son isn't so pretty but he's smart so that's good and he gives single moms a lot of credit because he doesn't have hips so he can't hold children the same way women can and his mom is a supermom when she goes to the Old Country Buffet with one kid on the left hip and one on the right and one on the teat and one holding her hand and she's still eating at the Old Country Buffet and oh well Merry Christmas anyway.  Oh yes, that whole scenario happened.  Joleen can vouch for it.  We did not allow him to photograph Sol; we DID, however, laugh about it the whole way home.  And THAT, my friends, is exactly why I like having company when I'm out in public.

Good Thing #2: (Christmas baked goodies!!)
The Christmas season is upon us.  And I like having meetings in different buildings.  Because a) I get to see a different crop of people than if I were holed up in my office all day long, and b) by the time I get back to my office, I've accumulated a container of treats that looks something like the Gladware delectability below:

Good Thing #3: brown paper packages tied up with strings (or packing tape)
I also like Christmastime because I come home from work and there are cool things like Christmas cards from friends, or packages on my doorstep.  The other day, I got what may be one of the cheeriest packages I've ever received:

 

Is that Bath and Body Works?  Oh yes it is.   

And this was also the best-smelling package I've ever received.  

Because the contents went a little something like this:

 Good Thing #4:  Christmas Cards (outgoing)
Christmastime also means I get to return the favor and send out masses of Christmas cards for the first time EVER.  (This also means I get to stay up till 12:32am five days before Christmas, addressing envelopes and losing 75% of my saliva to the gross adhesive on these glad tidings...)

 Good Thing #5: good butterflies

Butterflies when I'm straightening my hair and curling my eyelashes.

 

Butterflies when I'm frantically trying to pick out a shirt to wear.

Waiting for me to expound?  Let's just say that I had good butterflies on Saturday night.  Because it was just one of those Sunday morning things, you know, where God plops you down on the far left side of the fourth pew from the very back, and you turn around to share the peace with the person sitting behind you, and [oh yes] it's the same guy that caught your eye in church almost a month ago, and upon talking to him you find out that he's a single dad of a 1-year-old boy.  And somewhere after losing yourself in his blue eyes you give him your phone number, and then you spend the rest of the night wondering... Did he actually ask for my phone number?  Did he ever explicitly state that he was single?  Did I just make myself out to be a total moron?  Do I need to transfer my church membership now?  And two days later he calls you and you find out that you have a ridiculous/scary number of things in common, even down to the teeniest, WEIRDEST coincidences.  And then he asks you to go out on Saturday night and you go into it expecting very little (because that's the only way to avoid disappointment) and it ends up going so well that he asks to see you the next day and you're almost too excited to believe that this is happening.

Things are looking awfully bright.  There are very few presents wrapped up beneath our tree (and incidentally none with my name on them), but THIS gal is a happy Christmas camper regardless. 

<<<>>>

And one good song.

<<<>>>

My absolute favorite Christmas song.  I heard it a few years ago in Old Navy, and I was hooked.

After some extensive research, I found it and downloaded the entire album on iTunes.  Enjoy!  

Merry Christmas :)

FIVE GOOD THINGS FRIDAY

 

Five Good Things...

Good Thing #1:

A flexible job that works around me.  The Sol child is sick today, and had to be picked up early from daycare.  Thankfully I'm able to work from home this afternoon, no questions asked.  So Sol and I are colleagues this afternoon, changing the world one kilo of oregano at a time . Rah rah rah.

Good Thing #2:

The following clip from Wednesday's episode of Modern Family.  It's a rewind-and-watch-over-again-at-least-15-times-and-laugh-out-loud-every-time kind of clip.  Trust me, you'll love it.

Good Thing #3:

A baby who laughs so hard at me patting my leg that it makes her snort.

Good Thing #4:

My new Kindle Paperwhite, courtesy of one of my suppliers (woot woot!).  And the first book I bought on it?  A Gift of Wings, by my own dear friend Stephanie Stamm.  It's right up there with the Twilight series, and it was written by my friend.  If you like Twilight (and maybe even if you like 50 Shades), READ THIS BOOK (you can buy an e-book here).  I know Stephanie personally, and I'm incredibly proud of her - what a tremendous accomplishment!

Good Thing #5:

The occasional 8:45pm bedtime.  Yeah, you heard me.  8:45.  I was apparently too tired last night to stay up until 9:00.  Something is clearly whipping the energy out of me. 

...and one good song

(one of my faves)