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.

52 Date Nights: Week three, Play a video game

Week 1. Week 2. Date Night Ideas PDF download here. (Not sponsored.)

Thomas was really excited about this date night, as he’s always trying to talk me into playing video games. (Well, he used to. He gave up a while ago, because I always said no. Sorry, honey!) We played Mario Kart all the time in college on his Game Cube, both individually, together, and with friends. I used to spend hours trying to beat my time on the cruise ship course, which was my favorite. We still have several inside jokes about various things that happened. One of our friends always thought Baby Peach was out to get her and called her “that little b****, Peach.” (If we could go back and play the game in his apartment with our friends I’d play it ALL THE TIME. It’s just not the same in our basement.)

Now we have it on the Wii, which I don’t like as well, mainly because I learned to play on a different console, but also because the Wii isn’t really meant for controller-based games. Since I haven’t really played in years, it was rather comical. A good time was had by all.

(And, yes! Those are our custom Miis in the carts. Or, excuse me, karts.) (Why with the K? Can it not be Mario Cart?)

Should it Stay Monday: Open-Front Cardigan

Alright, up this week is what is apparently called a marled open-front cardigan. What the heck marled means, I have no idea. (Oops, just googled and that's apparently the color, which is different from the one I own. Disregard!)

I got this at Kohl's a few years ago - not sure if the link will work, since all it shows is the item isn't sold there anymore. I've always had trouble styling it, as I don't want to look like a tent (which may beg the question of why I bought it, but don't get smart with me). (I bought it because it was on clearance, of course.)

This sweater was the victim of an unexpected fashion emergency this past week, which only emphasized it's tent-like properties and earned it a spot on Should it Stay Monday.

I managed to find a safety pin, but I think we can all agree this isn't a good look.

And yes, I always intend to cut the tag off, but it has useful information, like the style number that helped me find the listing to link to this post. (Or perhaps because I always forget to do it.)

This is how I usually wear it, taken later in the day when my shirt had finally dried:

If I've learned one thing, it's to not take
pictures in the bathroom at work anymore.

I sometimes tie it in front, but there's too much fabric for that to really work. I wish I could wrap it all the way around and tie in the back, but there's not quite enough material for that.

So. Do you have suggestions for how I should wear this? Should I just get rid of it?










Updated: Poll results

Should it Stay: Grey, open-front cardigan

Seven Quick Takes

1. I've realized I have a little problem with the Stay-at-home Date Night posts, in that I like to be kind of snarky or sarcastic and worry that Hallie, who gave me her blessing to use her list for my project, might think I'm snarking on her ideas. That's certainly not my intention, I'm just naturally sarcastic and happen to like posts that are as well.
    
2. Monday morning I realized I might do a bit too much scheduling of posts when I opened my reader thinking “Ooh, I wonder what my post is about today.” (I do this because I tend to write in bursts or 2 or 3 or sometimes 6 posts at once, then nothing for several days or even a week.)
    
3. Also, I spend all week writing down quick takes here and there and hope by Friday I have seven. I think a lot of quick take people do this, though. I don’t always get around to posting them, which is why I have dozens of files on my computer named things like “Quick Takes 5-9-12.”
     
4. Panera’s radio ads make me want to vow to never eat there again.
    
5. Also, that Barack Obama "gotta [do this], gotta [do that], gotta vote" radio ad makes me want to take a hammer to the radio, Office Space style.
    
6. If you couldn’t tell, I’m in one of my radio phases at work at it’s not going well. If I have to hear that Flo Rida whistle song one more time I’m going to throw up. It’s just so gross. Why do I have to hear this at WORK? (Or in the car. Or anywhere, really.) I’m not even “think of the children” on this one, because I HOPE they don’t get it. BUT I DO. And I do not appreciate it.(I listen to online radio streaming, so I can’t switch between stations easily.)   
     
7. Today at Style All Over, I answered a reader question about belts and a couple of the rejects were so ridiculous I thought I'd treat you to them.
   
   
   On the left we have the Anne Klein Tortoise Patent Panel belt, originally $48.00, because you can't put a price on your love for The Lion King.
   On the right, the Michael Kors Logo Belt Bag. I think we all know they can call it a "Belt Bag" all they want, but really it's just a $55 fanny pack.

52 Date Night Ideas: Week 2

Week 1 here! Date Night Ideas PDF download here. (Not sponsored.)

We got the Sunday paper this week, which inspired us to tackle #22 Complete a crossword puzzle. Also, a bottle of wine. Seemed like it would liven up the crossword. Unfortunately, it turned out we were both hoping the other person was good at crosswords and neither of us was in luck. Especially since it was the New York Times’ crossword and we apparently don't speak that language. 

After a while we gave up and switched over to the word jumble. Which was also embarrassingly hard, but we finished it! We also finished the wine.* GO US.

You can see how pathetically few words we got on the crossword.

*The bottle was only half full when we started.

We then decided to #29 Take a Quiz and I chose the 5 Love Languages Quiz without even realizing that was the actual suggestion on Hallie’s list. I hadn’t looked at the descriptions in a while and actually just went over to look and see if she meant more of a knowledge quiz – like the crossword puzzle – and we’d missed the point. Guess not!

I’ve wanted to take the love languages quiz for years, but have never actually done it. I even checked out the book from the Kindle lending library in May. Still haven’t read it.

We discovered Thomas’ #1 love language is physical touch, which, coincidentally, is my last choice. I don’t even know how it got those 2 points. I should make them a negative 2. I’ve heard this is common for couples with small children? The wife wants everyone to back off and stop touching her, while the husband misses the wife who used to want to snuggle? That’s us. (DON’T. TOUCH. ME.) (I’ll hug you in NOLA, though.)

So that was helpful. Not sure what we’re going to do about it. Maybe I should read the book.

September 2012 books

The Body in the Boudoir by Katherine Hall Page

I thoroughly enjoyed this, but if you haven't read the Faith Fairchild series (this is book 20) you might not so much. There wasn't a mystery until page 102 and no 'body in the boudoir' until page 120 (out of 238). I didn't care, though, because I liked the rest of the story so much.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 

Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox

Reviewed here!

Dead Over Heels (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Book 5) by Charlaine Harris

I liked the first few books in this series, they're going downhill fast. The premise behind the first book was a group who liked to study famous historical murders being confronted by a real murder. However, the group then disbanded and hasn't played any role in the rest of the books, leaving them kind of anchorless.

Presumed Guilty by Tess Gerritsen

This was published in May of 2012 and people were excited for a new book from Tess Gerritsen (who writes the Rizzoli & Isles series the TNT show is based on) only to find out it was a reprint. It was originally published in 1993 and is a combo mystery/romance, predating Gerritsen's psycological thriller days. Since I got the book from the library, I wasn't as angry as all the people who bought the book expecting something new, but I was a bit thrown. Gerritsen has come a long way since her romance novel days, but this was a quick, entertaining read.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

I read this for Chicken Book Club (formerly called Twitter Book Club, until we discovered there were too many of those) and I loved it. Loved. Once I started it, I couldn't stop. I can't imagine how much work went into lining up all the little details and weaving them together. (You should read it, too, and join us for book club on October 24th!)

I'm going to make you vote on everything in my closet

Thank you for your feedback on the Should the Dress Stay post. I have more planned (I have a lot of clothes I’m not sure about!), but I thought I’d talk about where I’m coming from first.

Most of the comments (including those via Twitter or email) said essentially if I don’t feel good in it, I should get rid of it. While this is good advice, how I feel is more complicated (and subjective). I wore the dress to church - that was when I took the pictures - and was feeling quite self-conscious. Then someone came up to me and said she had the same dress and loved how I accessorized it with a belt. She said I looked great, so suddenly I felt like I looked great.

I’ve had outfits I loved and wore all the time, then after months (or years) saw a picture of me in them and was horrified and embarrassed I wore it so much. Sometimes I get lots of nice comments on something I threw on and didn’t particularly like. Honestly, I’m not that great of a judge of what looks good on me. I think Elizabeth said something on one of her What I Wore posts about not really having any idea how you look in something unless you can see what other people see, via a photo.

I do realize if people thought the dress looked good, they probably would have said so and maybe those who said “don’t keep it if you don’t like wearing it” left out “…it makes you look fat” to be nice. (Don’t worry – I didn’t automatically assume that’s what you meant.)

I understand the importance of doing things for yourself rather than other people. I’m sure if I said I felt fantastic in that dress, but people at church thought it made me look fat, you’d say the hell with them, wear it as much as you want. I want to learn what actually looks good on me, though. Also, I want to figure out how tweak the stuff that doesn’t to improve it, so I don’t have to start a new wardrobe from scratch.

I didn’t start this “Should it Stay?” series in an effort to be philosophical and change my whole outlook on dressing. I just had a few things in my closet I couldn’t decide on. I really do want your advice, whatever it is. I kind of feel like I’m critiquing the responses you were nice enough to take time to give and I don’t want you to worry about giving the “right” answer or one that’s deep enough. Whatever you want to say is great! I’m looking into adding a poll, too, so if you prefer, you can just click “Keep!” or “No.” (Does anyone know how to do that?)