28 Things

Ginny's Spin Cycle prompt is to list 28 things. It can be any 28 things to commemorate the 28 days of February. So here are my 28 things. First 7 will be just random things going on.

1. I have given up sweets for Lent. I teeter back and forth between sweets and pop but this year I did sweets. I'm hoping that it will spur me on to better eating habits and lose some weight! We'll see. I'm one week into it and not down anything.
2. I'm also participating in The Best Lent Ever. It's a series where they email you scripture, a thought or a video every day to make you think about your faith. It's been really good so far. If you're looking to grow in your faith (even if you're not Catholic) this is a good place to start.
3. I started selling Premier jewelry at the beginning of 2014. It's been one year and while last year was good, I have been completely overwhelmed with the rest of my life that I haven't been able to devote any time to it. Which makes me want to do even less with that. Which does not create very good vibes towards it.
4. I've been  binge reading the Heroes of Olympus series. I'm on book 3 and so far they're really good. I'd already read the Percy Jackson books and enjoyed them so I figured I would like these too.
5. Our microwave broke on Sunday morning and we had to replace it the same day because we use it so much. Even though I've been cooking more we have been eating the leftovers so we need it to warm them up in addition to quick meals/snacks for the other days.
6. I wish everything wasn't so expensive. We're looking to replace our fence and it's looking to be over $3,000. What?! That's insane. We also want to fix a few things around the house inside and out and we would like to have a new driveway repoured. I think we're going to have to divvy up the list.
7. I am so tired of this winter weather. Both the boys are super tired of being cooped up and I'm tired of their attitudes because of it.

My most favorite shows on TV right now:

1. Game of Thrones (duh)
2. Gotham
3. The Following (when it come back on)
4. Bones
5. Under the Dome (when it comes back in the summer)
6. New Girl
7. Expedition Unknown
8. Modern Family

Places I'd like to visit (or visit again): 

1. Seattle
2. New Orleans
3. Disneyland/Disneyworld and all of the other Disney related theme parks plus Harry Potter world!
4. Cayman Islands-it was so beautiful and peaceful when we stopped there on our cruise
5. Italy
6. London
7. France
8. Anywhere else tropical!

And finally, because of all the sports Leo is in or has been in, here is my list of my top 8 favorite sports!

1. Major League baseball - Go Royals and Cardinals!
2. College basketball - Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
3. Professional football - HTTR!
4. NBA basketball
5. Gymnastics
6. Soccer
7. Cheerleading
8. Couch surfing...that counts right?!

So that is a lot you've learned about me! Go visit Ginny and see all the other spinners and their 28 things!

RTT: Cartoons, dinners, weather and birthdays

Since I've been gone for so long I've missed Random Thoughts Tuesdays with Stacy! I've missed it because it gives me a place to just release a few of the randoms running around my brain!

I am so glad that Disney Junior comes out with new cartoons every once in a while. While Jacoby is still hooked on Mickey Mouse and has recently come to like Jake and the Neverland Pirates he has really enjoyed the new shows Miles from Tomorrowland and the 7D. It's nice because I swear even though Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has been on for at least 8 years I'm pretty sure my TV is programmed to play only the ones I've seen (which is all of them).

I am so tired of cooking dinner. I saw a meme I think the other day on Facebook about how even people who enjoyed cooking before kids/families they despise it now. I never loved cooking and I don't despise it now, but it is so difficult to come up with meals that everyone will enjoy on a day where we are all home to eat. We've come into the time where Leo has multiple practices a week and with working until 5 evenings are always hectic. The only meal I've come up with that pleases everyone is spaghetti. There are a few other meals that I can usually get 3 out of the 4 of us to eat but hardly ever 4 for 4. It gets really frustrating.

The weather here has been out of control crazy. We had rain and 45 degrees on Friday and then we had a super nice day on Saturday where we probably got up to 60 and then around 11 Saturday night we had snow and it continued to snow all day Sunday. We didn't have much accumulation but then Monday was FREEZING and it would snow sporadically. Again with not much accumulation though. Thankfully!

Today is my little baby's birthday. Happy 8th birthday LEO! We've gone between angel to devil and now it's like we've surpassed his middle years and we are dealing with straight teen angst. But we love him through it all and this upcoming weekend his birthday party is at the local dodgeball joint. I can't wait to post about it and pictures!

Well that's all the random I have for now. Check out Stacy and the other random revelers!

Time Marches On

There's a segment on the local radio station (which is actually syndicated but whatever) where the hosts talk about things that have happened to them lately that makes them realize that time is marching on for them. So here are a few of my cues that make me realize that my time is marching on.

Yesterday I didn't do anything strenuous and after I woke up from a quick nap and hanging out for a bit my neck was really sore. I hadn't done anything and I just couldn't shake the stiffness. I ended up having to put Icy Hot on it and took some Tylenol. It feels a bit better today but still is sore.

I'm one of the middle school cheerleading coaches and on Saturday we had a game the girls were cheering at. A few of the girls were being rude and disrespectful. There was even a point when I told them something and they blatantly did the opposite. When I said something they were like, well we wanted to do it. I had to stand my ground and tell them that they weren't in charge and I was the coach. Then I thought Oh lord. They probably think I'm a fuddy duddy...which brought up another feeling of time marches on for me even thinking the term fuddy duddy! :)

My friend posted a TBT picture of myself and her at our first job working in a music store. And of course her brother teased and asked what CD's were. It reminded me that when I first started working there we sold cassettes. Now there are hardly any actual music stores that sell CDs.

There's just a few of my recent run ins with Father Time. What are some of yours?

Game of Thrones Annonymous

My name's Kendra and I'm a Game of Thrones-aholic. Is there such a thing as GoT Annonymous? If so I need it. At the end of last year I finished the Century Trilogy and needed a new book to read. I'd started Game of Thrones on HBO Go and had gotten through the first season and thought, "hey I might like to read these books." I threw it out there on Facebook and had a few people tell me how good it was. I found all 5 books for my Kindle for $20 and thought I'd try it out. Holy cow...I'm now addicted. I read all 5 books in 6 weeks. And I also finished the series on HBO and am impatiently patiently waiting season 5 to start on April 12. Not like I've Googled it a few times to get my date correct and that I don't miss it. I'm not sure if it's the action, the love stories/sex or the suspense of who will win the game of thrones that draws me in. Or maybe it's all of the above. Here are just a few of the plot points that I can't wait to find out about in the next books (that book 6 is supposedly coming out in 2016...which can't get here soon enough.) Also...spoilers ahead:

• What will happen to Jon Snow on The Wall? Will the Wildlings ruin it for everyone or will they be able to keep the peace so the Others don't eat all their faces?
• What is going to happen to Arya and Sansa. For real. They're seriously just little girls in the books so it is really strange reading all their escapades.
• Same goes for Bran. That whole storyline is just really strange.
• And where did Rickon go?
• Will we see Zombie Catelyn in the show or will she turn back up in the books?
• What is Melisandre up to? And why does she always need to take off her clothes and seduce everyone?
• Does anyone care what happens to Stannis, Reek/Theon and the rest of the Iron Island people? That was a storyline I could have done without. I'm not sure how it ties together but I could have skimmed those chapters in books 4 and 5 and not missed anything.
• Why did the HBO series change some of the storylines? It was very odd seeing certain characters do things that I had read other characters in the book doing. Some of it I understand due to time restraints but overall I thought it was strange.

Ok so I could go on and on but I'll leave you at that. And just know that I have binged on it and now am waiting to find out what happens. Unfortunately Season 5 on HBO covers books 4 and 5 so I already know more or less what will happen.

To see more spins on binging visit Lemon Drop Pie. And hopefully I'm getting back into the blogging state of mind and will be joining in more often!

From the Mouths of Babes

Things are never boring around here. In the first hour after I got home from work and had the boys picked up here were a few gems I heard:

• You want to do this? Let's go. (from Jacoby...he's 3)
• Can I eat my pepperoni now? (after remembering it was meat and today was Ash Wednesday) Pepperoni's not meat. It's just pepperoni. (Leo...age 8)
• You don't get me. I'm going to stomp your head. (Jacoby to his Hulk hands)
• I don't eat those Ninja Turtles. I eat the chocolate. (Jacoby)

Ok so maybe not the funniest but the context, facial expressions and actions all make it a lot funnier than it may seem. My boys sure do keep me on my toes!

One to remember

As I was laying in bed last night frustrated that it was 10pm and Jacoby had just come in my bedroom I had a moment. I had been snippy because he’d been in and out of bed for almost 2 hours without going to sleep. I’d cleaned the entire house because we have a babysitter comingtonight and had been by myself with the boys since I’d gotten home from work because the hubs had a meeting. So at 10pm all I wanted to do was crawl into bed, by myself, and watch a few episodes of Game of Thrones. Of course with Jacoby in there that wasn’t going to happen. So I was snippy. But then, in all about 3 minutes he had fallen asleep. And he was so flipping angelic. And at that point all I wanted to do was snuggle and kiss him. And I did. But very quietly and gently because I did not want to wake him.

I don’t know what it is about those boys but they make my emotions and moods run extremes. One minute they are demon children and moody teenage-wannabes and the next minute they’re hugging me and telling me how much they love me. It. Is. Exhausting. I am a moody person in general and having two moody children and a moody spouse…yikes. Our house is chaos. And after last night (and all the other nights in between) I think about how much I need to make a little more effort to just give myself to the boys. Just a little more compassion. A little more sympathy. Because their feelings are REAL. As hard as it is for me to remember that when Jacoby asks me why his name is in the trash (I threw away his papers from school) or when Leo is all in a huff because he thinks I’m a liar because I didn’t specify one little thing to him and now I’m the worst mom every. They feel this. They feel the love and the snuggles. But they don’t always feel the compassion. Because it’s not always on the surface. It’s buried beneath hours of work stress and home stress and PTO stress and money stress. I’m going to add it to my list though. It needs to be at the top. Because they are the reason that I do what I do. And I will succeed and they will feel it.

50 Shades of Drama

Hello. Remember me? I know. It’s been over a year since I’ve written. I’ve been busy. Not that you all haven’t been, but yeah. I’m going to leave it at I was busy. I always had blog posts running through my head but never had took the time to write. But today (well actually yesterday was when I composed this in my brain) I have something that compels me to write. And that is 50 Shades of Grey.

It’s funny how it is the most ridiculous things that draw me back to this. I’ve been perusing Facebook lately and it seems like every other sentiment is Ban 50 Shades. 50 Shades is pornography and porn ruins marriages, 50 Shades demoralizes women, 50 Shades makes people want to abuse women. Ok so maybe not that last one but I’ve read posts about how it glamorizes domestic violence.

I just want my opinion out there since the only voice seems to be the one that screams boycott.

This is not porn. This is an R-rated movie. The amount of sex that you will see in this is not even close to what you would see if you even turned on Cinemax at 2am on aSaturday night. It definitely is an erotic movie and the themes will be there even if you don’t see it though. I’m all for that since I don’t really like to have sex shoved in my face. I also don’t see that it glamorizes domestic violence. It sheds light on a sector of the world that enjoys S&M. Personally, not my thing. But who am I to tell someone that if that is what they like that they can’t do it. In the privacy of their own home (or in Christian’s case his airplane, his yacht, his vacation home, etc.) But another side to this coin is the attention that it is not giving to movies like Magic Mike. How is that not demoralizing to men? These are men who are made to go work in an industry (stripping) and they get locked in and can’t get out. We’re not hearing any of that. Not that I agree with that either. There are sides to every story and for every stripper, porn star and Hooters Girl that got sucked in to a horrific sexually deviant lifestyle because of that there are others who enjoy the money and like what they do. So if we’re going to holy roll for women we must do the same for men. And let me tell you, after reading these books it did not ruin my marriage. If anything it spiced it up for a day or so. Then back to the usual stuff…you know, taking kids to school, doing dishes, etc. Get your mind out of the gutter!

I will give these critics one thing. These books are not the best written books I’ve ever read. But there are a lot of books out there that once I’m done I just go meh. And the same goes for movies. So to me I just want everyone to realize this is just a movie. Nothing more, nothing less.