Things That Annoy Me

1. How long it takes iTunes to open
2. People thinking Nutella is a health food- just because the commercial says its made with skim milk and cocoa does not make it healthy
3. How Bravo shows have a fake-out scene at about the 40 minute mark that is just a non-essential scene to squeeze in more commercials
4. When people say someone has "drank the Kool-Aid"
5. Laundry
6. My eye doctor makes me fill out information papers EVERY SINGLE TIME I GO IN. Nothing has changed! I'm going to muster the strength to refuse next time.
7. Neither of my children can blow their nose
8. When I have a great idea on Draw Something, but my non-artistic gorilla fingers can't execute
9. When my showering and running schedule require me to shower more than every other day
10. If my car is dirty (much more than if, as in #9, my body is dirty)
11. I always get the wrong USB cord out when I want to load photos on the computer. Then, when I get the right one, I always try to put it in upside down.
12. The gas station "Kum & Go." I will only frequent the one in Hollister on 65, because they do have good fountain drinks.
13. Bad pens
14. People who don't put their health as a top priority. Especially if they constantly complain about their weight or their poor health.

What We Did In Willow Springs

1. My husband and Uncle Chuck went turkey hunting Friday and Saturday mornings
2. Friday morning, the kids and I ran errands with Aunt Patsy: library, egg deliveries, a stop by the hair salon, grocery shopping, and a visit with Sweet Bonnie at the nursing home
3. Back to Patsy's for lunch- mushroom and onion pizza. My kids even ate it, which was surprising. Maybe they've been holding out for local, organic mushrooms this whole time?
4. Friday afternoon we went and saw a man's house- maybe the most unbelievable experience of my life. I can't even describe it...he has so many antique collectibles (from canned goods to old ice skates) that he has built a general store, blacksmith shop, gun shop...he owns a Gatling gun, for instance. It was amazing! My eyes were like silver dollars the whole time we were there.
5. Friday night supper at their house- burgers and veggie burgers and potato salad and green salad- so good! Patsy makes this unusually delicious potato salad.
6. Late night trip to the West Plains ER with R because he was having some breathing problems
7. The nurses gave him a Beanie Baby Buffalo, so we watched many episodes of Guy on a Buffalo. R's in love.
8. Saturday morning drive over to Simpson's Strawberries in Mountain Grove for strawberry picking. I was just going to get a quart or so, but walked away with 13 pounds.
9. The kids probably ate 50 strawberries while we were picking them and were covered head to toe in red juice. The people who worked their were all pretty old and loved it.
10. W loved playing with their cat, Roxy Belle, and now wants a cat instead of a dog. Poor Puddy!
11. Egg salad sandwiches, crackers, and strawberries for lunch
12. We had to engage in a thorough tick-check after I found one on both of the kiddos.
13. Our traditional trip to Smiley's Ice Cream Shoppe on the way out of town. I had Black Forest Cake, and I think it was the best ice cream I've ever had. Maybe ties with the Peach at Kilwin's in North Carolina.

W's Favorite Songs

1. Travelin Soldier- Dixie Chicks
2. Part of Your World- Ariel
3. You Are My Sunshine (we've been listening to the O Brother Where Art Thou? version)
4. Rivers and Roads- The Head and the Heart
5. Die Die Die- The Avett Brothers
6. Skinny Love- the Birdy version
7. Safe and Sound- Taylor Swift
8. The One That You Love- Air Supply
9. I'll Fly Away- Gillian Welch, Emmylou, and Alison Krauss
10. I Painted My Nails So Pretty- Lisa O'Neill
11. Poker Face- Glee version
12. I've Got You Babe- Sonny and Cher
13. Everybody Wants To Be a Cat- from Aristocats
14. L-O-V-E, Love That's Why- a song from school
15. Honey Come Home- The Head and the Heart
16. Poison & Wine- The Civil Wars

The Kids Lunch

1. A hard-boiled egg
2. Mashed sweet potatoes
3. Green grapes
4. Raw almonds
5. Water

What I'm Loving Lately

1. Sour cherries from Oh Lolli Lolli
2. Terrarium planning, even though I don't have a terrarium
3. "Protein Wraps"- whole wheat tortilla, quinoa, scrambled egg, nutritional yeast, beans, spinach and avocado
4. St. Louis pubic radio
5. This Daniel Blue Hallelujah cover
6. Naked, raw almonds
7. The lineup of artists for the 2012 St. Louis Art Fair
8. The gargantuan pot of delicious vegetarian chili I made...even after giving Aaron half of it and eating it for nearly every meal (breakfast this morning, no joke) I don't know how I'm going to eat it all
9. I've been shaving my arms and it feels wonderful
10. The new Trampled by Turtles album
11. Melatonin tablets
12. Today's weather!

Notes On My Running

1. I've been running a little less than a month, and my status is being able to run 2 miles without stopping.

2. I am SLOW right now...last night I did two miles at a 12 minute/mile pace. 

3. I am not going to increase distance until I can get those miles down to a 10 minute pace.

4. I bought these yesterday at Missouri Running Co. because my old, too-small cross-trainers were KILLING my feet.

5. I also got some of these Balega socks, not for any reason other than they were the cheapest of the blend socks.

6. My preferred music while running is bluegrass for the rhythm, but I like anything I would consider "old school," (especially high school music) because a song will remind me of something, then my mind will wander and I'll be distracted reminiscing. Like tonight, I was listening to Aerosmith, remembering when my friend Sam Glover and I drove my little sister and her friend Stacy to Memphis for a concert. It was a fun night to laugh about while I was running against the wind most of the time.

7. So, like I said before, it's not even been a month, and I already have obvious increase in my muscle tone. I would name where I see the differences, but I must've slept through that part of science class.
8. Running has made me more conscious of drinking more water and eating better, so it's good all around.
9. My ideal running time is around 6:30 at night. I will make the kids their dinner when A gets home, then leave so that I can be home to bathe them and put them to bed. And I hate waking up early, so that's mostly out of the question.
10. It's hard for a stay-at-home mom (especially me, as I am always struggling to find "my thing"- something that makes me feel like I have purpose and talent) to feel accomplished, and running allows me to feel proud of myself.
11. Missy and I are running the Make Tracks for the Zoo 5K in a few weeks, and I hope to run in regular 5Ks and maybe set a goal for a 10K later.
12. My earbuds are the worst. One of them is only like 5 inches long, while the other ear cord is like 2 feet long. Maybe I accidentally bought the ones fashioned for people with medically diagnosed fat face?

What I Ate Today

1. A glass of orange juice and an egg sandwich (egg cooked with Penzey's Mural of Flavor and mustard and cheese)
2. A glass of lemon water, guacamole and blue corn chips, a mug of Aaron's quinoa corn chowder, and a small wrap with sweet potato, black beans, and spinach
3. A handful of roasted chickpeas
4. A pizza made with a whole wheat Flatout flatbread and topped with Classico basil pesto, roasted red peppers, roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, kalamata olives, and spinach. And a few glasses of water.
5. A chocolate chip banana brownie and a mega glass of almond milk

My If-I-Were-A-Celebrity-This-Would-Be-My-Rider Rider

1. Sweet tea Arnold Palmers
2. Lemon slices
3. Blackberries and green grapes
4. A Mr. Happy head massager
5. Dr. Pepper in bottles
6. Chunky guacamole and salsa and tortilla chips
7. Pappy Van Winkle whiskey
8. A mani-pedicurist
9. Hummingbird cupcakes
10. Fresh lilacs
11. Veggie flatbread pizza

Yesterday

1. I remembered, just in the nick of time, that W had her 4 year check-up.
2. After leaving our (wonderful) pediatrician's office, we went to the zoo!
3. We lived it UP at the zoo- train rides, carousel, lunch at the Painted Giraffe Cafe (I really like their veggie wrap there), and killed it walking everywhere- Red Rocks, Herpetarium, River's Edge, Fragile Forest, you name it. We walked it.
4. Since my husband was not going to get home until around midnight, I took them by his office to say hello and get rehydrated.
5. We came home exhausted, but we had to take Puddy on a walk to compensate for leaving him in his crate all day...1.5 miles with the kids in the stroller eating Peach Pops from Trader Joes.
6. I wasted time on the computer while the kids watched The Care Bears Movie.
7. Egg salad on toast, carrots, and grapes for the kids for dinner, then baths and early bedtime.
8. I had a homemade Mexican dinner for one (roasted garbanzos, black bean, sweet potato, avocado, spinach burritos with Mexican Villa taco sauce and tortilla chips with nutritional yeast sauce) and watched Melancholia on Netflix.
9. I folded 4 loads of laundry and then went to bed.

Changes Around The House

1. I finally settled on a new shower curtain for the guest bathroom, which led to new hand towels and two little rugs, which led to moving two art pieces into the space...a Deona Fish piece from Asheville that's been in storage and another stored gift from my in-laws.
2. My large, beautiful cockatoo from the Biltmore came out of hibernation back to her perch in my kitchen where she belongs
3. A new succulent that is huge and lovely-colored and architecturally-beautiful now rests on the low bookshelf in the sunlight
4. Summer clothes in, winter clothes out
5. We have swapped some art around and pulled some art out of storage...moved the Mark Hoffman painting from the living room to the dining area, put the wooden pieces from the dining area above our bed, moved the two Alicia LaChance's from above our bed to the kids play area, and moved the large Alicia LaChance above our living room sofa. Whew! Andy was busy with his drill, hammer, and nails.
6. I re-discovered these three little paintings of monster/alien/creatures in jars that my parents bought for R last year- those are now hanging in their room. I hope that surrounding kids with art makes them appreciate art, because they now have 15 original art pieces in their room.
7. I pulled a couple pillow covers out of storage (I could probably operate a store out of our storage units) the added some decorative pillows and moved some around between the two sofas.
8. I hung my last year's signed art fair print by Jodi Perry in our bedroom.
9. We have a beautifully unique Aaron Hequembourg that came out of hiding (read: storage) and now hangs in the living room.
10. I pulled out some Nathan Falter pottery that I'm hoping to use as a succulent container.
11. I'm in the market for an indoor tree that needs limited sunlight to break up a void between the living room and kitchen.

Woody Guthrie's New Year's 1942 Resolutions, Or "Rulins"

1. Work more and better
2. Work by a schedule
3. Wash teeth if any
4. Shave
5. Take bath
6. Eat good- fruits- vegetables- milk
7. Drink very scant if any
8. Write a song a day
9. Wear clean clothes- look good
10. Shine shoes
11. Change socks
12. Change bed clothes often
13. Read lots of good books
14. Listen to radio a lot
15. Learn people better
16. Keep rancho clean
17. Don't get lonesome
18. Stay glad
19. Keep hoping machine running
20. Dream good
21. Bank all extra money
22. Save dough
23. Have company but don't waste time
24. Send Mary and kids money
25. Play and sing good
26. Dance better
27. Help win war- beat fascism
28. Love mama
29. Love papa
30. Love Pete
31. Love everybody
32. Make up your mind
33. Wake up and fight
*source HERE

Kitchen Things I Want

1. A microplane zester
2. Donut baking pan
3. Springform pan
4. A pretty casserole pan
5. A garlic press
6. A Vitamix blender
7. Another DoughMakers loaf pan
8. A grain mill attachment for my KitchenAid mixer
9. More cute, cloth napkins
10. More of these
11. A trifle bowl
12. A faucet-mounted water filter
13. A cast-iron skillet
14. More of these because I use them for everything
15. Cute popsicle molds
16. One of those big mesh strainer spoons
17. A new tablecloth
18. A windowsill herb collection
19. A tree of sorts to stand at the end of our counter by the fish tank

What I Do To Take A Load Off

1. Walk the art museum and bring something to write with
2. Run (not really. I should say this, but I'm not there yet. Maybe soon? Right now its still torturous)
3. Listen to one of my friend Scott's sermons
4. Bake cookies
5. Get in my bed, under the covers, and watch something on TV
6. Yoga
7. Listen to music on headphones while the kids are sleeping
8. Soak in the tub
9. Pray
10. Go get a drink with a friend
11. Go on a walk and get some fresh air and sunshine
12. Eat an orange- those things always make me feel better

How I Attempt To Foster Friendship Between My Toddler Children

1. I try to brainwash them by saying at least 25 times/day, "Your brother is your BEST friend" and "Your sister is your BEST friend."

2. I want them to always root for each other, so I am constantly modeling encouragement and then praising it when I overhear them encouraging one another. Modeling is so important for kids. They have to be shown what to say in situations.

3. When the inevitable scary point of the Disney movie comes up, instead of rushing to W's side (she's more affected that he is) to comfort her, I tell her to hold her brother's hand so he can make her safe.

4. I encourage her to "read" books to him.

5. If they are playing happily together, I never, ever interrupt them. Even if they are making a huge mess or jumping on the furniture or sticking a billion stickers on each other. I can always clean up later, but I can't force them to enjoy one another.

6. I bathe them together, they sit by each other at the table, they share a room, they hold hands when we cross the street...together, together, together.

7. I model empathy between them so that they can learn to have it on their own.

8. I teach them fun, imaginative play games they can play together without me, like camping out, princess and knight, animal rescuers, fort building, restaurant, and mommy and daddy. 

9. I remind W when they are in conflict that one of her jobs as a big sister right now is showing her brother God's love.

10. I'm teaching them to help each other and rely on each other, like W putting on R's clothes, R holding the elevator for W, wiping each other's faces, etc.

11. I don't set them up to be competitive towards each other. 

*I would love to hear your ideas on the matter! This is something important to me.

This Weekend

1. I am going to work on some little decorative changes at our house
2. If the weather cooperates, I want to go do the paddleboats at Forest Park.
3. I have an art fair dinner Saturday night with committee chairs, board members, and jurors that I'm looking forward to.
4. While my husband goes on his long bike ride, I'm going to walk the kids down to the Arch for some good ole river watching, if it doesn't rain.
5. Banana bread baking
6. Granola making
7. Roasting garbanzo beans
8. I'm going to start reading a new book, Serena
9. I expect several rounds of Disney Princess Yahtzee Jr.

The Kids And I Were Like Tourists At Union Station Today

1. We bought a t-shirt at the Cardinals Clubhouse
2. We dropped pennies in the whirling wishing well
3. We fed the fish in the big koi lake
4. We walked over the bridge outside
5. We had lunch at Einstein Bros. Bagels
6. They posed for photos in front of the mermaid fountain
7. We bought a slab of fudge at The Fudgery

Internet Window Shopping

1. I love a popover top
2. I have to get a white totem
3. Cute skirt
4. Cool clutch
5. Nice everyday tank
6. A pretty maxi dress
7. Every year I want to buy a cute cover-up like this, but never do
8. I wish we had a yard for this- too cute
9. Lovely sandals
10. Pillow Love
11. I'll take the tank and the pants
12. THIS would have been perfect for our loft swing
13. Pretty dress

What's Cooking This Morning

1. Quinoa (double batch)
2. Chickpea Salad (where I make chicken salad, but sub chickpeas instead of chicken and use Veganaise instead of mayo)
3. "Cheezy" Sauce from Veganomicon
4. No-bake cookies, a childhood favorite
5. Brown lentils in my rice cooker
6. Adzuki beans (a small batch to finish out the Mason jar they were store in)
7. Cinnamon-topped oatmeal muffins (a Penzey's recipe)

If I Could Leave On Vacation Right Now, I'd Love To Go To

1. Asheville. Always Asheville. If only my parents had picked me up on their way there this week!
2. Napa Valley with Missy. Or Italy.
3. Seattle/Portland/Vancouver with my husband
4. DisneyWorld with the kids
5. A cruise with my gal pals
6. New York or Chicago with my sisters

R's Easter Basket

1. A Cars car, "Finn McMissile"
2. The last horse and man that he loves- this guy completes his set
3. A Mickey Mouse Pez dispenser
4. A Curious George movie
5. Eggs for hiding
6. Candy from Oh Lolli Lolli, the cutest little candy store in Demun (gummy bears, Smarties, and raspberry yogurt covered pretzels)
7. A Sesame Street notepad and stickers
8. Peanut M&Ms because they are his favorite
9. A note from his momma and dad

My Birthday

1. I spent the morning at my daughter's school because it was her birthday star day
2. On the night of my actual birthday, I went to dinner at El Maguey and a 31 party with Missy
3. My birthday is less important because the next day is my daughter's birthday, and we had a amazingly fun, but exhausting day of celebrating her.
4. We celebrated my birthday on Friday night with our friends Josh & Missy and Rick & Lauren.
5. We started the evening with drinks at BrickTop's- I had a blood orange martini that was so good
6. Dinner at Paul Manno's is always a special treat. I had a few bites of Lauren's fried eggplant caprese salad and a vodka cream sauce penne dish that was a rich and delicious.
7. I was gifted a necklace from Anthropologie from my big sister, a shopping trip a couple weeks ago with my parents, and a coat from my husband. And a stack of homemade cards from my children.

10 Things (On My Birthday, But Not At All Related To My Birthday)

1. Potty-training day 2 was such a disaster that I am not even attempting a day 3. Or a day 4 or 5. I might pick it back up on day 6 when it is the weekend.
2. Right now, the kids are playing...W hides a play-food carrot and R pretends he's a dog and tries to find it.
3. I tried watching both Smash and Awake, but neither of them are holding my attention.
4. I've been a little emotionally overwhelmed by a friend's blog post and the loss of a sweet little girl in Conway. Life sucks really bad sometimes.
5. I think that the LouFest lineup this year sounds promising.
6. My little sister left me the most painfully awkward, yet gloriously hilarious voicemail yesterday. Saving it forever.
7. I could really go for some of those Trader Joes Cat Cookies and a glass of dark chocolate almond milk right now.
8. I'm really excited to be spending a few days at my aunt and uncle's house in Willow Springs at the end of the month.
9. I couldn't be happier with these unusually early warm temperatures.
10. Buying things for and assembling Easter baskets for W and R gives me great joy.

Today's To-Do List

1. Run one mile
2. Finish hanging summer clothes
3. Switch out winter and summer shoes
4. Bake cookies with the kids
5. Buy W's school birthday snack
6. Clean the floors
7. Haircut at 7:00
8. Shop for the kids' Easter baskets

I'm A Sucker For...

1. Historical documentaries, ones about WWII, the wild West, the Civil War...I like them all
2. Fruity desserts
3. Clothing with the word "boyfriend" in it
4. Fried pickles
5. A good red lipstick
6. Veggie sandwiches and sweet potato fries at restaurants
7. Snakeskin (preferably faux)
8. Legally Blond on TV
9. A twirly skirt
10. Pie
11. A water park
12. My son saying, "Plllleeeaassee!"