Red Pencil Diaries

I've had this story sent to me in emails countless times. But it still makes me smile and reminds me how I should be living my life.

This will be a brief recap of my life, the past couple of weeks or so.

Just this week, gas prices went from $4.04 per gallon to $4.30 per gallon. Grrrrr. Just over a quarter tank of gas in the truck last night cost almost $30. It's unbelievable. I've been sticking around the house a lot, making food at home. The price of everything is crazy. I went to Aldi to buy some groceries this week because we needed only basic items and they had milk for $1.99 a gallon--which is super cheap, I think, especially considering I usually buy whole milk for Lola and skim for myself.

Somehow, Zack, Lola, Dave, and I have all gotten a weird summer cold. We have been going to the Y to water aerobics this week, so it's most likely something we picked up there. Sucks, though. My nose is stuffy and sometimes runny. Makes it difficult to sleep.

I've also been digging around the house making piles of things I'm going to sell at my yard sale on Saturday. So if any of you need housewares type things or baby items, come on by. My mom, my sister, and my brother's girlfriend are also bringing things. It should be a great sale!

I'm excited that the 4th of July holiday falls on a Friday this year. We're having family over again and I bought glow sticks and glow necklaces for the kids. Last year they had a ball with them. I hope Zack is less scared of the loud noises this year. Last year he cried and spent most of the time in the house, peaking out of the closed window.

Not much else is new. I just felt like posting something. Guess my random happenings sound a bit boring this week. *sigh*

I found a list someone posted of things that make you happy. I'd add one more thing: reading the list itself.

Ok, I LOVE breakfast meats. Bacon, especially. So this seems so cool to me. I'm going to have to try it. I saw another article awhile back on making bowls out of bacon for salads--they're edible and very cool! Gotta love pork products. Yum!

A few weeks ago, I found some images of some jewelry someone had made out of wing nuts. The idea kept popping into my head, so I finally found some wing nuts and tried to make some pendants of my own. I love them. The look kind of cool and industrial and different. I put the pendants on bead chains. I think the metal look is complimentary to the style, but I also mix in sparkly beads and other metal beads.

I'd love to make some to sell. What do you all think? I am going to try to find some smaller wing nuts to make earrings, too!

I love this! People tried to re-create (or recapture) the moment from childhood photos as adults. I need to try that. I can only imagine the possibilities... me dressed as Jeannie, me with my Piglet doll, me and my sister playing Barbies. Too fun! I'll have to see what I can come up with. Could be fun.

Yesterday was our 9th wedding anniversary. yay us! We've been married 9 years, been together 11. Wow... that sounds amazing. I've never done anything consistently for more than 10 years, so this is worth celebrating.

Dave took off work yesterday and we took the kids with us up to Cincinnati. We went to Ikea! It didn't take long to get there, so I hope to go again soon. We didn't buy any furniture, but I did pick up a large print of a painting by Gustav Klimt (my favorite artist!) and I hope to eventually hang it on the wall above our stairs. On the way home, we stopped off at the Gap Distribution Center Outlet in Hebron. I love that place. We spent only maybe 20 minutes in there. Both kids were hungry and tired. So I didn't get to properly go through all the stuff. I did pick up several pajamas for the kids at $.99 a piece. Great deal! I had to dig through a big bin of all sizes, though, and pick out the pieces that matched and were the right sizes. Some of them aren't exact matches, but they look cute and afterall, they are pajamas, so who cares. I just love the comfy cotton knit pajamas from Gap and Old Navy. They are cute and soft and so great for sleeping in.

Tonight, Dave and I are having a date night. The sitter is coming and we're going out to dinner. Dave came home from work early, though. He's been congested and now he's in bed. He swears we are still going out tonight, but I'm sure it won't be a long evening. Oh well. I've been looking forward to our time alone for weeks now. I hate that he's sick.

Today's been rainy, but cool. I have my windows open and I'm enjoying the nice cool breeze blowing in. I need to get back to my cleaning spree, and I hear Lola awake. So time to end this post and get back to it!

I found this article and I love it. I want to start living these 7 steps. It's been forever since I've had adventures and a true group of friends to have them with. Yes, you can have adventures with family, but I think that's what I've been missing... like those incredible stories from college. We had such fun. I need that again. Before I feel too old and stop wanting adventures...

Help the planet! Here are 50 simple things you can do.

Overall, it's been a good week. Zack has been at YMCA Day camp every day. He's on a great schedule and I think I'm going to try to keep him on it. He goes to bed easier, gets up happier. He gets a bit tired and grumpy in the early evening, but that's when I know he's just winding down and will soon be ready for bed. I just have to come up with activities every day for him (and Lola) to keep them busy. I try to do that regularly, but when I have to clean the kitchen and do laundry and clean the kids' rooms and run errands, etc... it gets difficult. Especially when I'm dying for some time for myself. We'll see how well it goes.

I feel a lot better today. I've been a bit down and worried about the economy, Dave's job, our finances, and growing older. I think I'm ok with the growing older. It's just scary to think about Dave's company selling off and possibly letting him go. What would we do then? With this huge, half-finished house that we'd never be able to sell (well, we wouldn't get our money back from it if we had to sell it now--we'd probably have to take a loss)... and where would he find a job? I always feel so helpless because I'm not working and not contributing to our bank account. But I guess somehow things will work out. We just have to wait and see.

Now I think Lola and I will go buy some Father's Day cards and stuff...