not so wordless saturday

late to the Wednesday party.... lol

 

one of my favorite babywearing pics of me, S3 and our Freehand onbuhimo. 

My PSA for today:

Where do I begin? It's AZ.  It's cold.  Oh, ok, it's chilly.  Oh alright, it's brisk in the morning.  On any given day this time of year, you will see people wearing both a wool coat and flip flops.  Please good people, stop with the socks and sandals/open toe/peep toe shoe. It's not cute. Open toe shoes are for just that- open toes.  Your toes aren't open if they are still covered by pantyhose, socks or tights.  Catch my drift?  The only exception I will make is from back in the '90s at Western, when we wore wool socks with Teva sandals.  It was all the rage.  lol.  If you are a professional and must wear tights/pantyhose, all I ask is that you wear closed toe shoes.  Gentlemen, this goes for you too.  I have had to call my own father out for attempting to be seen in public in black dress socks with his sandals.  Black dress socks!!!! So please put some lotion on your toesies and scrap the socks/tights/pantyhose if you are going to be wearing open toe shoes. Stop the madness.

Thank you.  ;)

Soapnuts- Natural Laundry Detergent.

Have you ever tired them? I have heard great things about these little seeds that have the capacity to clean entire loads of laundry! Because they are not technically soap (from what I understand), they don't lather like your commercial laundry soap.  Cool.  They're reusable too!  So, because I like free and natural stuff, I entered this Soapnut contest!  Check it out! The odds look pretty good.  If you win, I get half. ;)

Oh Canada!

This morning, hubby was making breakfast for the family.  I took the maple syrup (brought to us by our lovely friends in Calgary!) out of the fridge.  So when we sat down to breakfast, he says to me 'I know your daughter is half Canadian. She would drink that maple syrup out of a cup if she could. You Canadians put maple syrup on everything.'  So I laughed and asked him to pass me the syrup.  
Who doesn't love syrop d'erable? It's funny because I love maple syrup, but I don't like maple-flavored syrup.  Just like I love watermelon, but I loathe watermelon flavored anything! Weird? Do you have aversions like this? Tell me I am not the only one! ;)

wordless wednesday...

The weather in AZ.....

Is miserable and I love it!  Rain and clouds are always a welcome change in weather for this Canadian!  I love overcast days.  The kidlets are reading to one another.  Life is good and I thank God.

I am blogging from my kitchen, where spaghetti squash is on the stove and where chicken will soon be marinated and thrown on the grill.  I have got to get to the Caribbean store asap because there is only about a teaspoon worth of Jerk marinade and all the one teaspoon of Jerk marinade is going to do is irritate me! LOL.

He has his moments.....

Yesterday after a long day of co-op, rock climbing, shopping, and visiting with a friend, hubby and I were winding down for the day when out of nowhere he goes- you should start a blog called 'crap my husband says.' We both laughed.  You have to understand that hubby is from the islands and although we almost always come to an agreement on things, we take verrrrrrry different thought processes to get there.  I have come to accept this, so rather than get irritated at how he comes to his conclusions, I now try to understand how he comes to them.  Yes, trying to understand his brain is on my 'work on this year' list. 

So, if you could start a blog called 'Crap My Husband Says,' what would your first statement be?  I'll think of a few and post them!

wordless thursday.

Sorry good people- totally late for Wordless Wednesday.  I'll work on it. ;)

Gettin' cloggy with it.

I have recently found the clog love, thanks to Sanita.  I have always heard great things about clogs, but once again, the lovely ladies on the forums at TheBabywearer pushed me over the edge.  So, after checking out online stores including The Clog Outlet, Original Clogs and EuroWalking, I decided that I had to have a pair.   I actually bought Sanita wood soled clogs for my daughters before I actually bought mine. Can I just say that these clogs are so cute on toddler and preschooler feet!

So, of course after checking out the attention to detail and amazing craftsmanship of Sanita kid clogs,  I ended up with these lovelies- black leather, open backed, wood soled, total foot supported goodness. I have to be real when I tell you that the website pictures really don't do these shoes justice and I was a tad worried that I would not love these as much as my friends did.  However, these clogs look sooooo cute with jeans or cargos.  I think I'll wait until I get a pair of closed back ones to wear with skirts or capris, so there is not so much attention on my chubtastic ankles! They are so comfy and I love that I can wear them all day! (I am a social worker and spend much of my time in the field).   I should tell you that I am uber clumsy and have yet to trip even one time in these shoes because of the wear resistant rubber sole on the bottom! HA!

So after falling in love with the wood sole comfort of these shoes, I was bummed to see that there is a very limited variety of wood soled Sanita clogs in the US (I'm sorry- I just can't bring myself to wear animal print shoes yet- on any level).  Most of the Sanita clogs sold in the US are have the PU, shock absorbing sole which I hear is pretty comfy as well. However, I have been informed that more wood soled styles are coming from Sanita in February! I can't wait!
Here are my uber cool clogs.  I think that I will post random pictures of where I go in my Sanitas.  First one- airport:

I put this pic up in a photo contest from Clog Outlet to win...... yes good people, another pair of clogs! I figure you can't have too many! ;)

Dare ya.

Hubby and I will have been married 7 years on March 18th.  He is my buddy.  We've known each other since the mid 90s and  both of us will readily admit that this ride has not been easy!  I was listening to the radio yesterday day and the DJs issued a challenge called The Love Dare.  It's based on a book by Steven and Alex Kendrick and goes from January 6th to February 14th.  The whole idea of the Love Dare is to enrich relationships.  Not only married couples, but with your children, friends and family.  I have decided to accept the dare.  I am all for enriching relationships as I know that I am not an easy person to live with! ;)  So as the challenge rolls along, I'll do my best to keep you up to speed on how I am doing.  Wanna join me? You can get more details on K-Love's blog. Click on the link, check out the dare.  I dare ya.

Is there a teenager in the house?

As of January 2, we have a teenager in the house.  S1 is 13.  Where did the time go?  I am really trying to really understand his world.  Yes, we've all been there, done that but I think that because of new technology and endless social networks, things are different for young people today.  I watched Dr. Phil the other day and was actually quite stunned (even though I am a social worker and have seen lots of things) at what I saw.  S1 is such a gentle and kind soul- and smart too! We are so proud of him! We stay on him about his grades and his chores and his room and his grades and his room and his chores.  I know we'll come out of S1's teen years with a few battle wounds but I think we have a good foundation.  Right now, I'm re-learning how he communicates (or doesn't). ;)

What do you think- are teenagers today under more pressure than we did in the late 80s/early 90s?

Happy New Year!

2010!!!! Wishing all the peace, love and prosperity that this new year (and decade) has to offer.  I am looking forward to rising to challenges and stepping out in faith as a child of God, wife to my husband and mother to my children.  I'll be working more with goals this year, rather than resolutions.  My goals include spending more quality time with the people I love, really listening to my husband and losing some weight (of course! haha). 

Did you resolve this year? What are your goals?