Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Randoms...

1) Smelly painting was...AWESOME. Mostly because we did it while Michael was napping, but also because it was so easy, it smelled so good, the kids had a blast, and I managed to enjoy it as well. At one point I even turned on some classical music and they painted what they heard in the music. Hello? Cool? Biggest disappointment was that I had not managed to find lime or lemon or blue raspberry Kool-Aid, so our colors were orange, red-strawberry, red-cherry, and purple. Kind of boring.

2) Do cars have a hidden self-destruct button built into them? Jeff and I were so excited to finally pay off our Honda Accord. Oh! How we would use that money each month to help pay off the kitchen...it would work out swell. We have had almost zero issues with this car. Oil changes and a burnt out headlight are the only expenses that come to mind in the 5 years we've owned it. But once we were sent title in May? New battery, new brake pads, and new tires. Um...excuse me? This is actually MORE EXPENSIVE than our car payment was. I think that once they mail you the title, the car dealers hit some button that activates the self-destruction of the car. So that you'll throw your hands up in the air in frustration and trade it in for a brand new car payment. Seriously.

3) Vacation took the wind out of my running sails. I've been going out once maybe twice a week. Pathetic. This morning I was really struggling, and I was so frustrated that I'm still not up to 20-30 minutes of running at time. Um...duh? You kind of need to build up to it, and by going once a week, you are wasting away from it. I've got to get back into gear...

4) All of a sudden Jeff's job includes a lot of travel. We knew this when he took the job last August, but he just didn't travel for the first 6 months. But April brought his trip to Argentina and Brazil, then came a last minute trip to Knoxville. This week he goes to Charlotte for a few days, then next week to Ohio, then the week after that to California, and possibly somewhere in there he has to fit in going to go to Mexico and Brazil again...although maybe in two separate trips. It just makes me...ugh. Wish I were closer to family? check!

5) I am reading like a crazy person. In the month of July (aided by a vacation), I've read Barefoot, Best Friends Forever, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and A Reliable Wife. Yesterday, I turned on a long movie for the kids just so I could finish my book. Bad. Bad mommy. I just finished A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley. I really really enjoyed it. I can't even describe why...I just really like the characters and the writing and the description of farm life. Turns out it is a new telling of King Lear by Shakespeare. I went online to read the synopsis of King Lear (it's been a looooooong time)...turns out it was very very similar. And as I searched for the link in Amazon, I discover that it was made into a movie in 1997, starring Michelle Pfiefer and Jessica Lange. Go figure.

Okay...must go pay attention to the children...

5 comments:

Sara said...

I thought of you and your smelly painting yesterday while we painted with watercolors. I'm glad it was awesome! On our end, Kelly made it a disaster! Maybe I'll try the smelly painting with just Ally.
And I am sorry about the car--that sucks!!!!! That does seem like a conspiracy.... :(

Michelle said...

A Thousand Acres is a good, but sad movie! I have it on VHS!!!

memere said...

2) The car thing is a complete conspiracy. We were going to keep one of our vans after the lease ran out and then the transmission went. We had bought extended warrenty. They gave us a very difficult time but we finally got it fixed....then we sold the car.
4) We want to be closer too. Not fair.

CARRIE said...

Ok, I'm gonna have to try this smelly painting. Just Kool-Aid and water, right??

Kelsey said...

We had one of Harper's smelly paintings from school hanging on the art wall in our kitchen - until it started to melt/drip in the summer humidity! We haven't tried it at home, but I'm glad it was so much fun for you guys.