The Treasure Box

I've been meaning to blog about the treasure box for awhile now. About a month ago, my mom gave me a call and told me dad had pulled a plastic tote from the attic containing clothes. Immediately, I get excited as I know exactly what it is. It is the missing items from my wardrobe that I packed up prior to going to Alaska the second time around. I was so excited. Sure it may be 10 years ago, but there were some shirts I often wondered.... where did they go. Well, as predicted, when I opened the box, the cute little lacy white tank that buttoned in the back was laying right on top. I purchased that in Portland, OR the May prior to my September departure so it was in great condition. Surprisingly all of the clothes in the tote were pretty well taken care of. My days of working at the Limited, displayed as probably 60% of the clothes were that brand. I took the bin home and washed the clothes since they smelled of that musty, old smell. What do you think I did next... yes... I tried it all on! To my sadness or dismay, what the hell... why were these shirts so short? Also, where did I get the hootchie shirts that had no fabric, only a string to tie it back? I did pull out a random amount of stuff that is possibly wearable, but half went into the goodwill pile as bar clothes. I was happy to find all the bottoms fitting just fine, just having a higher waist (maybe to pull off those short shirts). This again makes me realize how "vanity" sizes are quite true. I wear size 4 typically, in some cases a 6. All my jeans, shorts and skirts in this box were mostly 8's, some 6's and they were a good fit. I think I read that Abercrombie caters to these vanity sizes to make people feel good. Honestly I wish they would pull all sizes off of bottoms and people just bought a pair of jeans that fit, rather than trying to squeeze their butt into a size they want to say they wear. All brands differ anyway, just lay them out in waist and hip size or something. That way, my husband can grab a pair of pants for me without difficulty. Not really, he does just fine when he does, but I'm saying men's pants are labeled better... waist size, inseam. Sounds smart to me. And I by no means think of myself as a tiny person and I wear size 4. I've seen 2 and 0 out there, but where do those people shop if those sizes are too big? I've often thought of that as I take off what appears to be a low size off the rack.
Anyhow, back to the treasure box. Few can appreciate this new bedtime shirt, but My XXL South Padre Skoal's "This Shirt Roars" was in the box too. I smiled with memories of obtaining that. I think I should work at a clothing store again. I really did enjoy that experience. I think I would too, if I wasn't here in Peoria, IL where I would run into a random person and be embarassed of working a job that I did when I was 20. But, don't think I won't just do that someday in another town.
Kids are driving me nuts, but what is new. Peeps appear to be a treat I can bribe them with. They do anything I ask for the pink sugared marshmallow bunny. I figure one a day, is simply that... a treat. God knows, I haven't eaten one. 3.5 more weeks til easter.

The winter that never ended

Is it me or has this winter been going on and on and on? And I don't mean with the snow.... I like the snow, it's the cold I would prefer to stay away. People say we have gotten a lot of snow this year, but I don't think we particularly have. I think the Chicago, Iowa and Wisconsin area have, but not us. My mom was telling me that even my grandma in Dyersville, IA was saying this winter is like years ago with the snow, meaning there was so much. I actually wish we would have gotten more snow here in central IL. It's the crappy wind and 10 degree days that are a pain in the butt and never ending. You'd think I wouldn't complain.... I lived through far worse in Alaska with temperatures sitting around -40 degrees for weeks. I also dealt with the wonderful snowfall in the U.P. How many times did I have to dig my car out of snow?? Several, with the average snowfalls around 130 inches per winter. I guess other places, the winter weather is expected.... you never know what's going to happen around here. I give Mother Nature a month to get her act together and warm it up. But then I suppose, it has snowed on Easter a few times throughout my lifetime.
One thing about this year, we're definately not stir crazy. I always seem to be in the car driving somewhere. When I dropped Maya off at school on tuesday, I was asked to stay and help with an art project. I said, I could as long as Brennan could join the class. They needed the help, so they were like done deal. It was nice to see him participate in a school setting, while I helped with kid's handprints. I know he's so far behind what Maya was at this age. Although, there are plenty of things even now he can do better than Maya. He's a cleaner eater and drinker to start. He can work every electronic button, remote control and computer in this house. Maya pushes randomly until she finds the right button.
Maya got this little paper of 40 happy faces for the days of Lent and she has to do one good deed and she gets to color one in. So, in the mornings she has been making her bed. The other day she organized the shoes in my closet. She can clean up really well, when you get her to stop whining about doing it.
I've been taking the kids swimming at the community center. Finally, Brennan has figured it out. The kids wear muscles of course, but I still always had to hold on to him for balancing. Not anymore. He was floating on his back, kicking his legs... he was so proud of himself shouting... "I'm doing it myself". They loved watching people do flips while they were diving.
Well, it's fun friday... meaning, we'll head to Morton and hang out with grandma for awhile. Perhaps we'll go to storytime at the library. Until warmer days........ have a good one.

Happy Valentines Day. Another silly holiday in my opinion. Can't we have random acts of love and such randomly, instead of being forced to buy candy, cards, presents, etc. on a particular day? I'm sure it's something good for the economy and all those romancers. The kids love it. And can I say, I was surprised at how much Valentine's have changed for kids. First of all..... they all come with candy and have stupid wording. Mine as a kid, were fun sayings that you sat there and decided who would get what phrase and there was no candy. Now parents seem to get pretty inventive. Lots of artsy homemade cards. One even was a picture of the classmate. I guess I'll go artsy next year. Maya picked her Tinkerbell ones out herself, but were pretty boring when compared to everyone elses.
On another note, our family joined the community center last weekend. I have made a Lenten deal, that if I go and work out, I can have one piece of candy or a glass of soda. So far so good. Chocolate has never been so well deserved. I took a class last night and can barely walk today. I am a weakling. I used 2.5lb weights on my dumbell and couldn't keep up with the class. I had to go down to 1lb. I think the body enjoyed the workout though. The kids seem to like the daycare, so it is nice to have an hour or so to devote to myself.
Adam never made it to England last week. His trip was cancelled right after he bought the tickets. I guess that's a good thing, but my philosophy, if you have to work anyway, a couple working days in England would be a treat.
Stella is doing well in puppy class. She has learned to sit and lay. She is up to 9lbs, growing 3 lbs in a month. Potty training is going well and overall... she's a really great dog. I still think she is the cutest canine in the world.
This Saturday, Adam has his work conference, which ends with dinner with the wives. I enjoy meeting everybody and it's fun because Becky is there. The kids are staying with grandma and grandpa for an evening, so it should be an enjoyable night of fun. Besides that, we're getting over colds. The first one of the season. The poor kids were battling bloody noses tuesday from the dryness. I dropped Maya off at school and drove to Walmart. When I took sleeping Brennan out, his head was bent over bleeding on his coat.
Is spring coming? We're ready! We want to play outside without coats! Oh yeah, we are starting to get landscaping bids... so that is exciting.
There's a lizard growing in our bathroom sink. Thanks Grandma Rene. It's one of those growing animals. Maya is holding it in another picture. It's supposed to get 36 inches long!

Too funny

I got this card for my brother-in-law the other day. You have to read it aloud. Cracks me up. We all know I accepted cheeses into my life a long time ago.

My creative day

I enjoy making a quilt every now and then. I put together this quilt for a prego friend today. She doesn't know if she's having a boy or a girl and is decorating the room brown with teal stripes. Do you think this quilt looks too country? It's far from perfect, so no need to critique the stitches, just the overall design. I am putting one more brown border on the outside to bind the quilt. Of course, I'll throw some ric rac on it too, just because I love the squiggly stuff. Any random thoughts from the peanut gallery?

Vampires Fear Me

I realize, we all learn new things daily, but for me this little fact is something I did not realize and it has been an issue. It's about garlic. Our family loves garlic. We add it to everything. I try to cook with it whenever possible. I'll buy fresh garlic randomly, but usually we have the prediced jar in the refrigerator, or the garlic salt, pepper or powder in the cabinet. I like to try new recipes all the time, little did I know, I knew nothing about garlic. My first memorable issue was when we lived in Fairbanks, where I made a salsa. Holy moly, it was garlic city and the talk of the party. People would get people to try it and they'd never go back. I don't eat peppers, so I had no clue what it tasted like. Well a month ago, I made some hummus. Love hummus, and we've made it before. Generally, I just buy it premade or get my fill in a restaurant. Anyhow, New Year's hummus was garlic city. I emitted garlic from my pores for several days and just couldn't get the taste out of my mouth. What is the problem I thought? I followed these recipes to the T. Why is garlic playing tricks on me. I went and googled garlic and now I see the light. Me before the knowledge of garlic: a recipe takes 3 cloves of garlic.... I buy 3 fresh garlics at the store, peal and dice them all and add them to the recipe. Me after the knowledge of garlic: 1 garlic is technically called a bulb. 1 bulb of garlic holds around 10 cloves! I never new 1 clove of garlic was just 1 little section of the so-called garlic bulb. I've been adding many many many more time the garlic then needed. I was completely dumbfounded.