Mom's are the BEST!

Everyone says that there mom is the best and I have to agree that there is just something about the mom that you call yours that makes her the best.  We all have a special bond with our mom's that is always there.  My mom sent me an e-mail last week and tweaked a few things that another girl had written about her own mom to reflect our relationship.  In all honesty though she didn't have to change a whole lot about it.  But now it is time for me to tell you about what makes my mom the BEST mom ever.

 She is always willing to listen.  She could be super busy with a million other things happening but will drop everything just to help you.  Case in point, when I called her because water was dripping from the ceiling and I had to leave for an interview in an hour.  She came over and took care of the small mess so I could get ready.  She also tried to figure out where it was coming from so we could fix it later.  It stopped dripping and we know that it was from the extreme melting of the snow from the previous day.  Still will be fixing the vent for the fan though to keep from happening in the future.  

 The random gifts just because she loves you and knows it will put a smile on your face.  Plus the fact that every time you use or see the item you will think of her and know how loved you are.  Zip id case that matches my Vera Bradley bag because I mentioned something like it and how it would be perfect for when I have to leave keys and id in the office while subbing.  The random sparkle skirts because they are cute and you happened to be at work when the limited edition one became available and sold out in an hour.

 Mom is always looking for ways to take care of me.  It can be spending a few hours wandering stores aimlessly with me because both of us are procrastinating on cleaning or doing laundry at our homes.  Well, since we have been out wandering aimlessly in the store how about we go have dinner together?  That right there, making sure I have enough to eat.  Just stopping by to say hi since I am home and she wanted to drop off a cup of coffee for me and they happened to have my favorite flavor available.  Guess who is having French Toast coffee for the next month.  A French Toast breakfast dish also arrived piping hot  Sunday morning.

My mom is always doing nice things for everyone, not just me.  She is kind and thoughtful.  She is so many things but most important, she is my mom and she is the best.  *Oh, and everything mentioned in this post happened in the past week alone*

Over the Weekend...

I volunteered with friends and family to work the water stop at Johnny's Running of the Green 5 Mile Race.  Despite it being chilly we all had a wonderful time and enjoyed munching on some cookies and chocolate milk.  

 We offered water to the top runners but would you believe that not one of them stopped?  Even if it was hot we probably wouldn't have had a taker.

 On Sunday Luke and I went to a little girls 3rd birthday party.  It was a Frozen theme and the homemade cake was delicious.  There was swimming for a little bit and then pizza, presents and cake.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Fixin' Things and Such

This is a huge THANK YOU to the one and only Papa Bear!  Although it would have been easier for you to just do things for Jen and I you insisted we do it ourselves after you explained or gave a little demonstration.  We did a little workin' in your basement workshop growing up and learned how to use the tools even if we didn't really want to.

 Because of your insistence that we learn to do it ourselves I sanded and painted our kitchen cabinets and added pulls to them (they didn't have any before).  I also can find a stud in the wall for hanging photos or all my Disney medals.  Added bonus for the curtain rod being level.  It took longer to hang, but all that measuring, finding and marking was worth having something beautiful to look at that I am proud to say I did all by myself.

 When the shower knob decided to crack and break on the inside I was able to replace it.  My sleeve might we a little wet, but I learned to shut the water off the next time.  I've also been able to trouble shoot if the toilet is running and can usually fix that on my own too!

 Thanks Papa Bear for all those little lessons on how to fix stuff while growing up and making me do it myself so I would remember.  We are so lucky and even better is there is still a lot for me to learn (like this winter I learned about how to change the spark plug in the snow blower--even if you did it for me since my fingers would have froze off).

Laundry Detergent

 I finally used up almost all of the detergent that I made way back in August.  I still have about 1/4 of a peanut container full though.  The ingredients above are all you need (3 bars of the soap) and it makes this much stuff:

I skipped the unstoppables this time since I didn't really notice the scent last time.  After I use the rest of the "old batch" I will fill the 3rd peanut container and be ready to wash for another 9ish months or so.  We have had 4 or 5 loads a week with the cold weather and all my extra running gear so that should go back down to 2-3 a week when the weather warms up.

What are some DIY things that you use at your house that are money savers?

Party 'til you Puke...

 This past weekend Miss New Hampshire came to town from Florida (yup, scratch your head on that one for a while) so a bunch of people met up at Marge's Lakeside Inn for some drinks and to visit with her on Friday.  Marge's is a tropical theme place, local "dive" bar in the best way possible.

 Apparently if you are out drinking with friends for a few hours you turn into a squirrel.  I am happy to report that my mother turned back into herself for her birthday the next day.  To celebrate her birthday Jen came to town with Michael.

 A few people stopped by my parents to visit with her and Michael Saturday.  Miss New Hampshire had to go take a nap that afternoon.  Jen went to the Knighthawks lacrosse game with my folks while Manfriend and I had the chance to babysit.  He woke up from his nap, we played and then did the bedtime routine of bath and bottle.  A few hours later, our babysitting adventure ended in the little dude puking all over about 15 minutes before they came home.  We hope that he is feeling better since he had to travel back home Sunday afternoon.

March Goals

So we replaced the remaining windows in our house and they are great.  No more storm windows covered in frost and severe drafts in our rooms.  The guy lucked out too and temps were in the upper 20's the day he did the windows compared to the below zero temps with the windchill that has been par for all of February.  We are still stuck in the stupid polar vortex.  We really need spring around here.

Anyways, here are some goals for March:
Suck it up and just get out the door 4 days a week to run--bundle up!  It's great having the elliptical but I just don't feel like I "worked out" when I use it, even if I break a major sweat.  So we might have an extra load of laundry for the next month while I wear 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts for each run.  Totally re-evaluating my April half marathon goal because of the weather and my training.

Spend 15 minutes 3 days a week reading a book.  There are so many good books out there but I just don't take the time to really sit down and read a good book.  Don't get me wrong I read plenty but it is different doing a read aloud at school compared to a book for yourself.

Crochet.  Yup, I need to practice on this one.  I took a class and am a total fail (but the instructor was horrible in my defense).  I looked at some tutorials on-line and it is making some sense to me.  Thank you instructor for not going over the vocabulary and assuming we had a clue what you were talking about.  I will figure it out but just need some extra practice.

And reenact this polaroid photo my aunt Jodi has on her fridge while Jen is in town:

Every time we talk about when we were little kids she talks about this photo and how it cracks her up.  Just imagine us now.  Oh, and the tree still fits it just has a very long trunk.