It's Random {Again}

It is 7:06 on a Sunday morning.  One would think that I should be sleeping in.

But, no, because this blog was supposed to be done yesterday already, along with a list of about 4 other things that I wrote on a pink sticky note and put on my counter upstairs.

Things that I thought I would get done on one day but that get pushed to the next day drive me crazy. I wake up at 6 AM thinking of those things and must.get.them.done.immediately. Even if I very likely would have time this afternoon.  Its a chance I cannot take! ;-)

Yesterday was one of those days that I thought was pretty open (a Saturday at home without a defined list of projects!) until the day actually started happening.

Between doing bookwork, helping Jeremy outside, making a pumpkin roll, doing my grocery list and getting groceries, checking Facebook way too many times, and taking care of my family's (many) food needs...the day sped by and I didn't accomplish nearly what I wanted to.

So, here I sit.  Fueled, not by caffeine, but by water (apparently, drinking water before I have my coffee might be a good idea!) and an OCD spirit, I sit and blog.

And its oh.so.random.

Friday night Jeremy and I went on a date.  It was about time!  We ate at our favorite place in town, had great conversation and great food, and then went to a movie.  We have 4 movie choices at our theater, and we settled on "Taken 2" -- A CIA type movie with Liam Neeson.  It was only rated PG13, so I don't know what this says about me, but I cannot.even.deal. with scary movies. This one was adrenline packed almost from the moment we sat down. (We were a bit late.)  When movies get too scary and there are high speed chases and people getting killed left and right and guys sneaking around corners with their guns held up...ready to shoot at any instant, I get way too nervous.  I actually, literally shake.  Not a violent shake, but just like quivering. And I can't make it stop.

So I basically spent this entire movie shaking in fear of what was going to happen next. Even though it was a good story line, part way through I said to Jeremy "Yeah, next time let's go for the comedy!"  As you might guess, I am not drawn to a lot of horror films or violent movies!

It is true that life really is ALL about perspective.  I was feeling kind of guilty about the fact that I always put 2 packets of artificial sweetener in my coffee. Then my Dad told me about a woman they know who puts about 20 packets of real sugar in her coffee. And suddenly; I'm all better.  You know what?  Those two packets?  They're totally fine! (dismissive hand wave)

(The other morning, we had this beautiful frost on everything. I tried to capture it in photographs.)

Nikki and I continue to have clothing battles. Even though I have done everything I can to avoid them. Including picking out her clothing the night before and pretty much letting her wear whatever she dang well wants to wear.

But, here is the new fight. She wants to change her mind in the morning about the clothing she picked the night before.  Is not the whole point of picking the clothing at night so that we don't have to deal with it in the morning?  The other day, it took her 20 minutes to get dressed.  Between losing some privileges and her prize for the week, she still continued to argue and basically just fool around until I couldn't imagine how anyone could possibly take that long to put on 5 pieces of clothing.

Apparently, sleep makes her MORE unreasonable.  Because an outfit that she was excited about and wanted to wear the night before is suddenly cause for tears and much arguing.  I am sick.of.it.  I hope we get this worked out before she is a teen and the clothing battles could tend to be a bit more important.

If you came to my house and saw the three pictures of my children on my bookcase, you would notice that Kendall's picture is a bit more fuzzy than the rest.  Want to know why? 

I will tell you. 

He decided he did not want to do school pictures this year.  I wasn't feeling super opinionated about that, so I said he didn't have to.  Well, they take everyone's picture anyway, even if you didn't place an order, and then they send a paper home showing you the pictures but they have "Copyrighted" or some other annoying word in big letters across them.

But...they have this really small picture on a little identification card that they do for every kid.  I guess that is where they made the mistake.  I cut out that tiny little picture...scanned it into my computer...printed it out as a 5 X 7, and wa-la.  A current picture for his frame. I felt like such a winner!

Does this ever happen to you? You are talking with a friend or friends, and you are expounding on your opinion on a certain subject. All of a sudden, you realize that what you are saying somehow could be taken wrong by someone else in the group.  Like, maybe they will think you are trying to send a not-so subtle message to them.  Saying something about it could almost make it worse...in case it never occured to them how this particular discussion dove-tailed into another one you had with them earlier.

You know that you didn't mean to make a point or say anything indirectly to them, but they don't know that.  I hate when this happens. And it happens on a fairly regular basis. At least twice in the last week. Where I was in the middle of talking and realized "Oh, sh**! I hope they don't think that this was to make a point to them!"

Here's what you need to know about me. I think I can sincerely say that I never really communicate like that. If I have a point to make, I will tend to say it straight up.  So if that ever happens in a conversation between you and I, you can safely assume I was NOT trying to get my point across in a round about way. Because that's not my style.  There...I got that off my chest!

I have the rare privilege of seeing my friend Kristy the other day.  Yes, I had to drive a couple of hours each way to see her, but since she is from Idaho and only gets to Wisconsin once in a while, I was happy to do it!  We met at a McDonald's. She had two of her kids with her, so that made conversation a bit more interesting, but we got creative in our ways to keep them entertained.

Kristy is one of my longest-standing friendships.  Along with a few other great friends from that era when I was about 16 or 17.  Our friendship has had some bumps in the road, but we never let it keep us from staying connected and working out whatever little things could have possibly driven us apart.  I realized, driving home, that I have been friends with her longer than I haven't been!

We were both from Wisconsin, but she got married and moved to Idaho.  Now, when she is in Wisconsin, we pretty much always try to get together, and we have been to visit them in Idaho a few times. Plus, we've met up in South Dakota (the mid-way point between us) two different times.

Anyway, I just felt so happy as I was driving home from spending time with her. She's been such a great friend and I appreciate her so much!  She described it perfectly in a text she sent me.  She said she just felt such a "warm glow of friendship" after our time together. I couldn't have said it better myself!

(I have more random subjects than current photos, so now we're going back into the summer archives!)

Friday I went to school and ate lunch with Kendall and then volunteered in his classroom for close to an hour.  Is it weird that I kind of enjoy being called "Mrs. Miller."  It makes me feel like maybe I totally could have been a teacher...if I would have just wanted to be. (Which is a complete joke, if I'm being honest. I am not patient enough to be a teacher!!)  It makes me feel kind of young and hip, but in a grown up way.  Plus, I am confident enough in my blonde "Mom-shell" status that I don't mind being looked at as Mrs. Miller! Ha, ha!

Plus, kids say the darndest things. They really do.  And at that age, many of them still look up to adults, love to hang out with them, and talk with them.  Its really quite fun!

I do something very weird when I am brushing my teeth. And I feel like we have reached a point in our relationship where I should share this with you.

I don't stand at the sink and brush me teeth. Oh, no.  I don't even stay in the bathroom.  What I do is walk around and do other things while I am brushing my teeth.  Now, we all know that you need at least one hand to brush your teeth.  But, the other hand can be used to pick up stray items off the floor, try to put in one's earrings, or finish getting dressed.

The things I try to do while brushing my teeth are super random and I feel like are a good representation of why multi-tasking does not always make much sense.  Because, often, the stuff that I find to do requires both of my hands.  So what ends up happening is that my toothbrush dangles from my mouth while I put on my shoes and socks or pack the lunches. 

And it ends up taking me way longer to brush my teeth. But it makes me feel like I got something done instead of standing there in front of that mirror for 2 minutes.

Friday night as Jeremy and I sat down to dinner, he looked around the restaurant and mentioned "Oh, there is so-and-so over at that table."  We knew both couples only as acquaintances, but I knew all 4 of their first and last names.

This led into a discussion about how I often feel like I know/recognize/could name a lot more people around town than people who know me.  These two couples, for instance?  Would they even recognize Jeremy or I?  Much less know our names?

This sort of thing makes me very curious. I proposed an idea to Jeremy.  I set out on a quest to find out how many people I know versus how many know me.  (I think I am very good with faces and names. Whether I am or not would remain to be seen, I guess!)  I told him that I could keep a little notebook in my purse, and then when I run into someone whose name I know, I could just go up to them, whip out my notebook, tell them about my project, and see if they know who I am.

I would keep score.  One point for first name and one point for last name.  If I know both of theirs, I get two points.  Same for them. And in time, I would know if my hypothesis is true.

Jeremy was totally afraid to dare me to do this at the restaurant because he knew I was way to serious about it to mess around with daring me. 

I think that this is an awesome idea and could lead to some great stories.  With PLENTY of awkwardness between.

I haven't bought the notebook yet.  I'll keep you posted! ;-)

This has gotten embarrassingly long.

Its one of those posts where you feel like you should say "If you made it this far, you deserve some sort of award!"   And now my mind is free of random clutter.

Thank you!  Really.  Thank you!

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