A Countdown of Things

Ten Parenting Things I Constantly Worry About

1. My kids' friends (and lack of friends)

2. My kids' health and weight

3. Regulating technology in my home

4. My kids' education

5. Something bad happening to my kids

6. Whether my kids' feel loved

7. Scotty and/or I will die and our kids will have to be raised by someone else

8. My kids' mental well-being

9. Not properly preparing my kids for the world

10. Creating entitled monsters

Me worrying about life

Nine Things I've Dreamed About Lately

1. E.T. (at age 37, that little guy still gives me nightmares)

2. Winder Dairy (where I worked right after high school. I have dreams about Winder Dairy at least once a month. I don't dream about any other workplace). 

3. A sock drive for the homeless

4. Math class (I never have my math assignments done)

5. Cutting my hair (my subconscious is always restyling my hair)

6. Pregnancy (I'm always happy to wake up and realize I'm not pregnant!)

7. Going back to primary (I dreamt that we start doing primary again and no one told me. Then they were all mad at me for not showing up)

8. Getting a dog (another dream I'm so relieved to wake up from)

9. Teeth (I constantly have dreams about my teeth falling out)

Eight Word Definitions I've Looked Up This Week

1. Scrupulous

2. Diligent

3. Prudent

4. Delve

5. Prostration

6. Teetotaler

7. Nuance

8. Homage

A lot of the time I look up words I already know just to make sure I'm using them correctly or just to get a better idea of what they mean. I enjoy looking up word definitions and would read the dictionary from front to back if I could retain a decent portion of it. Darn my average memory!

Seven Things I've Cooked/Baked Lately

1. Shrimp fajitas (yum!)

2. French bread (I've made 8 loaves in the last week and a half - mostly to freeze. I make hideous loaves, but it still tastes good).

3. Blueberry Custard Pie (I made this pie for Thanksgiving, and I have made it five times since then. Daisy now knows how to make it on her own). 

4. Buttermilk syrup (on French toast made with the French bread)

5. Poor Man's Steaks (these were gross)

6. Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein (Daisy says this is one of her top ten favorite meals I make. Nicky says it's in his top 500).

7. Sausage Gravy and Drop Biscuits Skillet (yum!)

Six Things I Said While Watching LOTR Last Week

1. "Do you think hobbits are self-conscious about their foot hair?"

2. "Hi, I'm Legolas, and I never say anything, but I like to stare off in the distance with my well-defined chin."

3. "There are so many ugly things in this movie." 

4. [Chant of the Winkie Guards from Wizard of Oz]

5.  "Do you think they braid each others' hair?" (the elves)

6. "I don't get why Gandalf doesn't jump in the bed with the hobbits."

Five Books I've Enjoyed So Far This Year

1. The Snow Gypsy by Lindsay Hayne Ashford

2. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

3. The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup

4. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

5. What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

(I can recommend The Woman in the White Kimono in good conscience. The Snow Gypsy and What the Wind Knows are pretty clean. The Midnight Library has lots of 'F' words, and The Chestnut Man contains everything you'd never want your grandma to read).

Four Things Going on Around Me Right Now

1. Zoe is sitting on the piano bench strumming a ukulele with her feet.

2. Eva is playing restaurant and keeps bringing me elaborate Fisher Price meals. I'm currently "eating" a birthday cake and a bowl of soup.

3. There is a pile of Valentine's Day decorations laying on the end table. I started putting them up a week and a half ago and then gave up. 

4. The dishwasher is running. I'm always grateful anytime someone else does the dishes (tonight it was Scotty). 

Three Things I Need to Work On

1. Spending quality time with my kids instead of feeling constantly annoyed by them and wanting to get away from them

2. Seeing the good in other people 

3. Prioritizing my mental and physical health

Two Things I want to do Right Now

1. Eat Cap'n Crunch

2. Wrap my head in a heating pad

One Thing I'm NOT Blogging About Today

1. COVID.

There! I did it.