Wednesday

My Old Favorite Game Shows

1. Family Feud
2. Win, Lose, or Draw
3. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
4. Wheel of Fortune
5. Jeopardy
6. The Newlywed Show
7. Price is Right
8. Double Dare

Tuesday

Things I'm Loving

1. Pistol Annies on Spotify
3. Nutella and graham crackers, or as W calls them, "matella sandwiches"
4. Restoration Hardware's birdcage caged chandeleirs- look
5. Figs
6. W's new school
7. My clean car
8. The Today Show. Now that W's in school, I can watch it again.
11. Cameo jewelry

Monday

Things That Remind Me Of My Great-Aunt Mert

1. Halls cough drops, the yellow ones
2. Roses- seeing them, smelling them. They grew beautiful roses.
3. She always called her purse her "pocketbook." I love that.
4. Pink Dove soap. I used to walk by it at the store and smell it just to remember her. I bought some at Schnucks this week, and I can smell it all over our house.
5. Her skin was always so cool, but it was silky and warm at the same time. She was the coziest person ever.
6. The song Make Me Down a Pallet On Your Floor by Gillian Welch. She used to make us cozy pallets in the living room to nap and watch TV with blankets and bed pillows. Their house always made me sleepy, because it was so comfortable and safe.
7. Any time I see someone lying on the floor with their feet pointed to the TV. She wouldn't let us lie like that because she said we wouldn't be able to have babies.
8. Back scratches- no one does them better than she did. She filed her long nails often and they were always perfect for a good scratch.
9. She had this blue/purple mole at the bottom of her neck on her chest. It used to freak me out.
10. Their radio in the kitchen used to play softly 24 hours a day.
11. Those little candies that are like caramel Tootsie Rolls that are either pink, blue, or yellow. And Hershey's miniatures. And Werther's Originals. Their candy drawer was the second one down to the right of the refrigerator.
12. Beauty pageants- we used to watch Miss America with my sisters and make score sheets and rate the contestants and pick our favorites.
13. They had the best cabinet that was also Mert's end table by "her seat" on the couch. It had Cool Whip tubs full of crayons, Big Chief tablets, coloring books, lined tablets, and those things you could draw on the plastic sheet with the plastic "pen" then lift up the plastic sheet to erase it. They also bought us those big 64 crayon boxes with the sharpener on the box, which was really fancy for us.
14. I would love to have the wallpaper that was in their kitchen and hallway.
16. Every time I drive by the Lebanon exit on Hwy 44- I used to go their with her and Donald to Mert's doctor appointments
17. Every time I make mashed potatoes, I use what I think is her recipe, but must not be, because they don't taste 1/100th as good as hers did.
18. She always, always wore those thick white support/control stockings. Those must have been really uncomfortable, and even more uncomfortable to NOT wear them, which makes me sad for her.
19. They used to decorate their huge cactus in the living room for Christmas instead of bringing in a tree.
20. Their 3rd bedroom was converted into a yarn room for Mert to keep her shelves and shelves of yarn and crochet supplies.
21. Fishing. Donald was a terrific fisherman, and he and Mert would take us out on their boat for the day. I would catch little tiny perch and then we would eat chicken nuggets and drink grape juice and Mert would put wet washcloths in ziploc bags and keep them in the cooler to cool off our hands and faces if it got too hot on the water.
22. I didn't really have a traditional grandma. She filled that role for us. She let us have candy and cookies and junky cereal and drink Kool-Aid with our meals and have cans of grape juice for no reason and was an amazing cook. They would take us to Wal-Mart to buy us anything we wanted. We would eat meals with them, and they babysat us. She gave her whole life for us.
23. She loved us like crazy. I hope that I can love that well.
24. I loved the smell of their house. If I remember really hard, I can still smell it. And sometimes it's mixed with their wood fireplace.
25. My little sister always got to sit with Uncle Donald in his chair. I was always too nervous to ask if I could sit their, too. I'm glad I just let that be their special thing. I loved snuggling with Mert, so it wasn't like I had it rough or anything.
26. We used to play kickball in their front yard. I wish I remembered the bases. I think that first base was the corner of the wrought-iron fence around their front porch, and third base was a pine tree.
27. Their front driveway was a super-steep gravel one. They would say "push! push!" and we would all push the dashboard, seat in front of us, whatever thinking we could help push the car up the hill.

Sunday

If I Had a Race Horse, I'd Name It After a Song. Here Would Be Some Good Ones

1. Miss Ohio
2. Real Real Gone
3. Tupelo Honey
4. Steppin' Out Queen
5. Lonely Soldier
6. Speed of Sound
7. Love's Old Song
8. Beauty for Ashes
9. Rebel Prince
10. Southern Anthem
11. Such Great Heights
12. My Strongest Weakness
13. Prince of Darkness
14. Sounds Like Hallelujah
15. Fleet of Hope
16. Lesson Learned
17. Acony Bell
18. Say Your Prayers
19. Chase This Light
20. Mary of Silence
21. Bang and Blame
22. Pennyroyal Tea
23. My Old Man
24. Poker Face
25. Calamity Song
26. Thunder Road
27. Penny Lane

Saturday

Today

1. I feel like Mexican food for lunch
2. My children are little monsters because they woke up too early for a Saturday
3. I am rewatching Glee, so I'll watch a few episodes while they're napping
4. A's been gone all morning cycling
5. I need to clean out and organize W's closet and R's chest of drawers
6. I went grocery shopping at 8:30 with both the kids
7. W is putting all of her bows and barrettes in her stick-pony Sarah's pink hair
8. I think I'll take a nice bath this evening
9. R fell on the sidewalk this morning and skinned his knees
10. Soundtrack for the day- The Head and The Heart, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, and The Civil Wars

Friday

If I Were A Celebrity, My BFFs Would Be

1. Sienna Miller
2. Nicole Ritchie
3. Heidi Klum
4. Gwyneth Paltrow
5. Whoever could get me closest to Ryan Gosling
6. Michelle Williams
7. Amy Poehler
8. Victoria Beckham
9. Jennifer Garner

Thursday

Some Cool Things At The St. Louis Art Fair This Year

1. Fireworks Saturday night at 10:00
2. Walk on Art- a chalk art area with chalk artists from around the country, including a 3-D chalk artist. Also, a chalk art competition for groups from local high schools. Their submission drawings are amazing- I can't wait to see the finished chalk products.
3. Paint the Earth, Jeremiah Johnson, and Dr. Zhivegas are all performing
4. Over 15 areas in the Creative Castle for young children to participate in art- making recycled paper, recycled bottle art, creating journals, magnets, and suncatchers are some of the activities
5. Different art demonstrations during the weekend
6. I think this is one of the strongest years in terms of quality artists
7. T-shirts that feature the lovable Fobots will be for sale and they are so cute
8. The St. Louis Flamenco Society's performing Saturday afternoon. W would love that.
9. The restaurant list is already making my mouth water.

Wednesday

I Don't Like

1. Cantaloupe
2. Tight spaces
3. Those stick-figure families on the backs of minivans
4. The neon clothing trend
5. Cilantro
6. Water in the morning
7. Stepping on Brio track
8. Dr. Seuss books
9. Hot pie
10. Muscle cars
11. Driving
12. Salad bars
13. Water bottles
14. Dirty car interiors
15. Cold weather
16. Wearing socks
17. Feeling phony or insincere
18. Goat cheese
19. Taking hot showers
20. When people leave their windshield wipers on too long after it's clearly stopped raining

Tuesday

Numbers

1. 63- contacts in my iPhone
2. 4- brick pavers we have bought and personalized in Forest Park
3. 31- days since our car accident
4. 12- students in W's preschool class
5. 30- part of my bra size
6. 5- meetings for the art fair between now and Sept. 9
7. 2- new pairs of sunglasses I grabbed up at Anthropologie this week
8. 90- million dollars the Colts recently gave 35 year old Peyton Manning for his new 5-year contract
9. 3- big projects I want to tackle today
10. 15- train cars on R's Brio track right now
11. 6- pairs of pants we bought on W's back to school shopping trip
12. 14- the ranking gave to the Arkansas Razorbacks football team on this year's preseason coaches' poll
13. 20- the age that W said means your a big person. I will keep reminding her of this as she ages
14. 15- how old she thought her Aunt Tracy was
15. 6- years old, the age of our dog Puddy
16. 8- books I read this summer
17. 32- how old I am
18. 60- piece puzzle that my 2 year old can complete unassisted
19. 460- mg of potassium in my Larabar
20. 17- percent increase in average lifespan of Tour de France cyclists compared with the general population
21. 470- calories in an Auntie Anne's cinnamon sugar pretzel, which I have to remind myself of in order to walk by without getting one
22. 100- dollars per year we give to the St. Louis Art Museum for our membership
23. 934- posts I've made on this blog
24. 83- minutes long The Little Mermaid is, but we've watched it a lot of times
25. 16- boxes of raisins we have
26. 15- Mason jars in my cabinets/refrigerator for food storage
27. 5- framed photos in our living room
28. 150- miles A's going to ride in a couple of weeks for the MS 150 cycling event
29. 8- days I wait until I water my jade plant
30. 2- times today W has cried because I told her Jasmine is my favorite Disney Princess and not Belle, who she wants me to say is my favorite
31. 9- types of veggies in my burrito
32. 5- loads of laundry I folded last night while watching TV

Monday

W's First Packed School Lunch

1. Whole grain crackers and peanut butter
2. Organic cheese stick
3. Strawberries and red grapes
4. Bolthouse Farm's Green Goddess juice

Sunday

My Top Ten Favorite Songs Of All Time

1. Strange Currencies- REM
2. Steppin' Out Queen- Van Morrison
3. Flightless Bird, American Mouth- Iron & Wine
4. Jolene- Ray LaMontagne
5. Me and Bobby McGee- Janis Joplin
6. Sweet Carolina- Ryan Adams
7. America- Simon & Garfunkel
8. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye- David Gray
9. Green Pastures- Emmylou Harris
10. Skinny Love- Bon Iver

Saturday

Songs That Fell Victim To The Cutting Room Floor On My Top Ten Songs List

1. Hard Times- Gillian Welch
2. Dog Days Are Over- Florence + The Machine
3. Sounds Like Hallelujah- The Head and The Heart
4. Hymn #101- Joe Pug
5. Lies- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
6. Blackbird- The Beatles
7. Case of You- Joni Mitchell
8. Save It For A Rainy Day- The Jayhawks
9. New York City's Killing Me- Ray LaMontagne
10. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters- Elton John
11. Free (live)- Jackopierce
12. I've Been Loving You To Long- Otis Redding
13. Ghost- Indigo Girls
14. Bleed to Love Her- Fleetwood Mac
15. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes- Platters
16. All My Mistakes- The Avett Brothers
17. Goodnight Elisabeth- Counting Crows

Friday

Things I'm Loving

1. Rose water
2. Succulents
3. Full skirts. I tried this one on today and went back and forth. Sans bow it was perfect.
4. Grandma-chic
5. These boots. I wonder how I could convince Andy a $350 boot is a need and not a want? Andy, I wear a size 8, in case you agree.
6. Rimi Yang art. Breathtaking!
7. Club soda and juice spritzers
8. Words painted on walls. I have all these little things I want on our walls but will wait until we move next year. I hope I don't overdo it.
10. We can't keep up with R's puzzle doing talents. It's remarkable.
11. The Head and The Heart. Buy their album. So good.
12. Pillows. I troll the web for them constantly. Yet I never buy any. I'm just a sucker for a decorative pillow.
13. The soft-baked chocolate chip cookies from Whole Foods
14. Football season's almost here!

Wednesday

More Things To Love About Arkansas

1. The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
2. People from there love it. Like crazy love it.
3. Arkansas by Damien Jurado
4. Fayetteville. What a great town! My friend Ginny posted some of her favorites here.
5. So many outdoor activities. My cousin who is very sportsy outdoorsy and has some strange college degree that is related lived in Colorado for a while and couldn't wait to move to Arkansas because of all the scenery and activities. He's not even from Arkansas.
6. The Buffalo River
7. The Clinton Library. So maybe it does look like a fancy double-wide, but I think that works! It means a lot to the city of Little Rock and is beautifully located on and over the Arkansas River.
8. The entire town of Eureka Springs. One of my favorite places.
9. I digress, but I love this.

Little Goals

1. I'm going to get back on track with my weekly and monthly cleaning schedules
2. Start going to some movies by myself. I think I would like that.
3. Get a purse. And use it. I always just have a hand full of stuff.
4. Bring my purse in each night instead of leaving it in the car, because then the car gets raised on the lift, parked under, and if I need it, it's impossible to get to.
5. Need to reorganize our food cabinets and maybe buy some solutions at The Container Store. I don't have enough room in my kitchen.
6. I'm growing my hair out for just a bit. I know that I have told some of you to advise me against this because I always do it and always hate it. However, W has been requesting I have curly hair like hers and it just doesn't work with it this short.
7. Eat more fruit.
8. Figure out some fun things for R and I to do while W is at school 3 days a week.
9. Because of our car accident, we easily met our insanely high medical insurance deductible (because of the wreck, I also learned what a deductible was) so this year, I'm going to have everything checked out on my body and every sort of appointment I can think of.
10. Somehow get W to stop interrupting while people are talking. Or else, a new goal will be saving up for boarding school.

Tuesday

Our School Lunch Possibilities List

1. PBJs
2. Peanut butter and crackers
3. Cheese and crackers
4. Grapes
5. Grilled cheese and a pasta sauce dipper
6. Yogurt and a mix-in (wheat germ, chia seeds, fruit, flax seed)
7. Squeezies, the most coveted food at our home
8. Sweet potato chunks
9. Cheese sticks
10. Strawberries
11. Banana
12. Mixed nuts
13. Raisin boxes
14. Pancakes or waffles
15. Rice bowls
16. Granola, energy, or cereal bars
17. Popcorn
18. Pasta in olive oil and parmesan
19. Homemade trail mix- cereal, raisins, chocolate chips, craisins, nuts, bunnies
20. Gardein strips (meat-free "chicken" strips)
21. Edamame (I buy these cute little Dora the Explorer bags from Whole Foods that W loves)
22. Mango chunks
23. Sweet potato fries and ketchup
24. Graham cracker and cream cheese sandwiches
25. Dried fruit or Just... brand dehydrated fruit
26. Quinoa
27. Leftover pizza
28. Applesauce
29. Quesadillas and greek yogurt
30. Mandarin oranges
31. Bagel bread-slices
32. Apples
33. Ravioli or tortellini
34. Mini muffin
35. Roasted garbanzo beans
36. Beet cookies. I guess any cookies. We love cookies.
37. Carrot coins
38. Hard-boiled eggs
39. Peaches
40. Pumpkin pudding
41. Pizza bagel
42. Fruit leather
43. Mini pita sandwiches
44. Rice cakes
45. Tortilla chips and sour cream/salsa for dipping
46. Boiled red potatoes
47. Veggie burger
48. Fruit snacks
49. Pirate's Booty
50. Tortilla roll-ups, with either PBJ, PB and honey, Nutella and banana, cream cheese and jam, etc.
51. Pretzels

Monday

Names I Call W

1. Peanut
2. Peanut butter
3. Sweet potato
4. Sweet girl
5. Baby girl
6. Pooh bear

Sunday

Why I'm Happy To Be Home

1. Nothing is more comfortable than your own bed when you've been away from it.
2. Missing our regular routines- schedules, eating, sleep times, etc.
3. My TiVo is full and I'm sure, missing me too.
4. The kids have some great new toys to play with.
5. I missed people.
6. Ready for school to start.
7. I missed cleaning my house.

Saturday

Movies I Watched This Week

1. Hall Pass
2. The Dilemma
3. Crazy Stupid Love
4. The Adjustment Bureau
5. Jane Eyre
6. Turned off Bad Teacher 20 minutes in because it was so awful

Friday

Tracy's Making Vegan Dinner

1. Manicotti
2. Brown beans
3. Sauteed garlic kale
4. Roasted Brussels sprouts
5. Sauteed mushrooms
6. Jenny's massaged kale salad


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Thursday

Next Week

1. Back home in STL
2. Getting an EEG and an MRI
3. W starts preschool at her new school
4. W has a hair appointment
5. I have an art fair meeting
6. Puddy's getting groomed
7. I have 3 doctor appointments


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Wednesday

R's Favorite Things At Googie & Pawpaw's House

1. Their whirlpool tub, which he calls the "hot pool"
2. Walking around in Pawpaw's house shoes
3. Chocolate milk
4. Bristle blocks his Aunt Jenny brought over
5. His new dinosaur puzzles
6. His little toddler cot he sleeps on
7. Noah's Ark floor puzzle
8. Jumping from the ottoman onto the big chair


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Tuesday

Non-Friends I Follow On Twitter

1. Kyle Richards
2. Design Milk
3. Bob Harper
4. Jimmy Fallon
5. John Piper
6. Anthropologie
7. lululemon
8. Conan O'Brien
9. Bob & Courtney Novogratz
10. The Onion
11. Daily Garnish
12. I am Fuel, you are Friends
13. Kiwi Magazine


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Monday

Today's Goodness

1. I had the whole morning to myself.
2. Mom-made apple cobbler
3. Bachelor Pad started tonight. My all-time favorite boy contestant and girl contestant are on it, so I'm very excited.
4. W got a pair of Nikes and R got some Toms. Too cute!
5. I was able to spend a lot of time with my sweet little sister.
6. R fell asleep in his bed wearing a t-shirt and a pair of rain boots.
7. Missy alerted me of the upcoming Project Runway All Stars.
8. I bought a new book. I love new books.
9. W told me today that I was so lovely.


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Sunday

My Sister Jenny's Top Five Male Celebrities

1. Brad Pitt
2. Ryan Reynolds
3. Jake Gyllenhaal
4. Taylor Kitsch
5. Ryan Gosling


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Saturday

My Better Than Medicine Day

1. I got to sleep until...wait for it...9:45
2. My mom's making me a berry cobbler this afternoon and already made no-bake cookies last night
3. Jenny and I are going to see Crazy Stupid Love
4. There's some talk of a game of Catch Phrase
5. I had homemade potato soup (my mom's is the best) for lunch
6. I am lying in bed right now while R sleeps because W is off on a Googie adventure
7. There's grenadine in the fridge
8. R hasn't puked today


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Friday

Towns R Puked In These Last Couple Days

1. Waynesville, MO
2. Branson, MO
3. Hollister, MO
4. Damascus, AR


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Thursday

Right Now

1. Listening to music on Spotify- Emmylou Harris playing
2. Eating some coconut lime truffles, which might be my new favorite sweet treat. Coming soon to an "invite me to your house and ask me to bring dessert" party near you!
3. W is whiny. She's been whiny for about 2 weeks now, sweet girl.
4. I am dizzy.
5. R is doing a puzzle like he is always doing
6. Procrastinating packing. We are going to Arkansas for a week or so.
7. Wondering if cds have hidden tracks still? I used to love that one at the end of Jagged Little Pill. "And I played your Joni..."
8. Drinking water

Wednesday

What I'm Looking Forward To

1. Gillian Welch show next month
2. W starting 3K preschool at a new school
3. Going to Stephanie Peters' baby shower this weekend
4. My grandpa's 91st birthday party
5. St. Louis Art Fair
6. Not having a concussion

Tuesday

Today's Menu

1. Kashi frozen waffle with cream cheese
2. Wrap with wheatberries, farro, red quinoa, spinach, red peppers, salsa, and broccoli sprouts and a Mountain Dew that's been in our fridge for about 3 months.
3. Quesadilla with cheese, corn, spinach, onion, and sweet potato and salsa on the side
4. 3-day old brownie

Monday

Kids Movies I Love

1. Alice in Wonderland
2. Finding Nemo
3. Wizard of Oz
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. The Land Before Time
6. Spirit


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