Seven Quick Takes, mostly about food

1. It seems I’m the only person on Twitter who doesn’t like the texture of fluffy eggs. WHY must people insist on fluffifying the eggs? Don’t add milk! Don’t cook in butter! (That doesn’t have anything to do with texture, I just don’t like it.)
    
2. I found a jar of Trader Joe’s peanut butter that needed using up and am eating it this week. Living on the edge! (It’s not on the recall list, so I’m hoping for the best.) (After I looked at that recall list, though, I realized I ate a ThinkThin bar that is on it. Oops.)
    



Not sponsored, though
this is an affiliate link.

3. Have you tried BB cream yet? It’s a combination product that often takes the place of several things (foundation included). I’ve tried several and my hands-down favorite is Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse. I think different BB creams are meant to replace different products – right? Some don’t have sunscreen, some do. Some don’t replace moisturizer, some do. Well, the Water Fuse is super moisturizing and my skin has been better hydrated using it instead of moisturizer plus foundation. It’s not cheap and I wouldn’t have randomly picked it up, but I got one in my Birchbox a while ago and fell in love. Make sure you get the WaterFuse, as I tried the Dr. Jart Premium and didn’t like it – it was too thick. It seems most people have a favorite already - what's yours?
    
4. Don’t forget to sign up for the Shutterfly giveaway! You could win a $50 credit to use for anything on their site.
    
5. Someone made the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls for mom's club today and they were amazing. I'd always heard they were good, but I'm not much of a cinnamon roll person (or a baking with yeast person), so I dismissed them as something I'd never make. I may need to change that.
    
6. At Christmastime I volunteer to bring cookies to everything so I can prep anytime I want and freeze them instead of having to make something right before leaving. I started making batches a few weeks ago to cut down on holiday stress, but they've been slowly disappearing from our freezer. I've made 17 dozen and we have about 4 dozen left. Maybe we need a new freezer.
   (I should mention I'm rather free with cookie gifts when I feel like I have plenty so I've given away 8 dozen so far. They're never going to last until Christmas.)
    
7. I still don't have Halloween costumes for the kids. I'm just not into Halloween at ALL this year and costumes seem like a whole lot of money for some crappy fabric. Meg said cheerfully she'll just wear her costume from last year (love her!), but I'm not sure it will fit. I know Paul's won't. Have you seen any good sales?

Seven Quick Takes, new niece edition

1. I’m an aunt! My sister had a baby:) When we visited them in the hospital, I kind of wanted to just grab the baby and settle in for the night. I was the first of my siblings/in-law siblings and all our friends to have babies, so it feels weird to not be the one taking care of her. (However, it did not give Thomas or I baby fever. We’re good for now.)
2. Which reminds me! My parents’ three grandchildren have the same age differences as their three children. The first two (Meg and Paul) are about two years apart and the third (new baby!) is 16 months younger. I really can’t imagine this baby being mine. I now understand my middle sister’s jealousy of the baby of the family much more clearly, because if I had a new baby Paul would be freaking out. He’s all mama all the time.
3. The Blathering is in FOUR WEEKS!
4. I have a couple new posts up at Style All Over: flat-soled boots, dry shampoo
5. Meg is really into dark = bedtime right now and I’m not sure what we’re going to do when that changes. I’m all for bedtime at 6pm in the dead of winter, but I sense that won’t really work.
6. Paul loves to steal water bottles and sippie cups, so it's nearly impossible to contain germs around here. Thomas and I both carry around water bottles (as Meg and Paul do sippies) so they can't be spilled, but that means it's easy for Paul to drink from them. He got the stomach flu Tuesday and, like clockwork, Thomas, Meg, and I all came down with it yesterday. That was really not fun. Luckily, it was basically a 12-hour virus and over pretty fast.
7. The illness hit Meg in the car (of course), so her car seat had to be removed, dismantled, and cleaned. When I went to put it back today, I figured I might as well vaccuum around her seat...then thought I might as well do the floor, too...then might as well do the floor in the front...and before I knew it I'd detailed my whole car, cleaning the windshield, console, and all. It looks brand-new.

Seven Quick Takes: High chairs and swearing

1.   I forgot to mention in yesterday's post I had a second major in political science! I tend to forget about it because accounting was my 'career' major and political science was just because I loved the classes. I have thought teaching civics/history/something like that might be fun, though. I also have a masters in accounting and have thought about being an accounting lecturer.

2.       I've been in a real kick-a**-and-take-names mood lately. (Do we prefer the astericks there? I personally find them distracting. I think they bring more attention to the word. But do people have an aversion to seeing it written out?)

3.       I may be overthinking the asterisks because I went out with my mom's group on Monday and apparently they swear a "heck" of a lot less than I'm used to. I was telling a story and said my reaction to something was "Oh, crap!" They seemed a little shocked. It's not the first time, either. I mean, I get it, you're at home with kids all day, I guess you just...ban those words from your vocabulary? Should I? I mean, I don't say it in front of my kids, but this was adults only time. It's not like I said "Oh, f***." (Which I also say, but not in front of church friends. And I'm trying to stop.) 

4.       I should probably just post this now and make "do you swear?" the question of the day. But instead I will soldier on. This will be seven quick takes! Even if they’re all boring!

5.       Paul has been using this high chair for nine months (manly, isn't it?). I've wiped down from time to time, but never removed the cover to wash. I assumed it was like the car seat, where by the time you get everything taken apart the thought of putting it back together makes you want to just go buy a new one. Plus, it's just going to get dirty again, right? Last night, though, I was not in a doing things halfway mood. Checking the vaccuum to see why it was clicking (string caught in the rollers) led to spending a half-hour deep cleaning it. Next thing I knew I was taking the high chair apart. So of course it was ridiculously easy. Like, I can't believe you let that horribly gross thing sit in your living room for months when it takes like TWO MINUTES to take apart (and put together) easy.

This is an "after" picture. I didn't want photographic evidence of the before. 

6.       Also, I would like to know what kind of magical stuff that cover is made out of. I realize it's meant to have all kinds of food smeared all over it, then wash clean, but I let it sit for nine months and figured the washing clean ship had sailed. However, after a quick spin in the washer it looked like I had gone out and bought a new one.

7.       Remember this? When I confessed I've watched Friends a hundred times and still didn't get the Holden McGroin joke? I realized recently I did it again. This time I at least got the gist, but I still wasn't quite right. When Phoebe mixes up the words to Tiny Dancer, I always thought she got two things wrong. It sounded to me like she said "Hold me close, young Tony Danza."

I didn't know why he was young. She's singing a nonsensical phrase, anyway. Why should I be able to explain it? It took seeing someone write the line out on Twitter to actually realize she really is just saying "Hold me closER." Not "close, young." I misheard her mishearing the song. How meta.

Quick Takes Friday

1.      I had a problem with a flexible spending claim a while ago, tried to get it fixed, and got shot down. I then stewed and muttered under my breath for months (since April!). I finally got up the courage to call them again yesterday and be firm. It took about 10 minutes of explaining the situation several ways, then they said "Oh! We're so sorry! We'll deposit $429 in your account by the end of the day!" I WIN.

I feel like the definition of the parenting axiom if you give in to your child, even just once, they'll never stop trying to get you to give in again. Give me all your customer service problems! I am emboldened to keep insisting until they solve everything!

2.     There was a big flurry of Blathering registrations a couple weeks ago. I finally added all attendees to my Twitter account and am now having a hard time using Twitter. There’s too much! Too many people I don’t know yet, too many tweets to wade through, too many conversations to try and wedge myself into.

3.     You know what else there’s too much of? Political retweets. Are you kidding me with this? By all means, tweet your own political views, if you like, but don’t flood my feed with incredibly partisan retweets. I don’t even like seeing the ones I agree with. (By the way, is there an option to not have someone’s retweets show up in my twitter stream?)

4.     My taste in pumpkin spice lattes seems to vary year-to-year. Some years I can’t taste anything but the spice and feel like I’m drinking some weird herbal thing. This year I’m finding them quite tasty (I think the key is the whipped cream. Mellows it.)

5.      Last week I saw a license plate that said LUV2PIN. Do you think it’s talking about Pinterest? Would someone really put that on their license plate? That seems drastic.

6.   I think I’m ready to buy a nice (read: expensive) pair of jeans. It's time to give up the hope I’ll be losing a ton of weight in the near future and stop putting purchases off. What is your favorite brand? Bonus points if I can find it at Kohl’s, which I have 20% off coupons for.

7.  Me: "It's not my job to always know where your crayons are."

      Meg: "It is your job. I want them now."