Random Bits

Often times, I think of some wondering or one of the girls says something cute, and I want to remember it - but when I go later to write it down, I have forgotten. So I decided to begin a post and add stuff to it as I thought of it or soon after it happened... thus the title "Random Bits." It probably sounds kind of stream-of-consciousness as you read it... these are all things that I've been collecting bit by bit, which occurred or were pondered in somewhat recent times, to be very non-specific :)

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Cecilia continues to sing O Come O Come Emmanuel at random... "O come Eee-maaan-el, shall come thee Iiiiis-ri-el, rejoice, Eee-maaan-el, shall come thee Iiiis-ri-el," and sometimes she adds, "O Jesse stem" for extra pizazz. She has also been singing, "We free kings of or-ee-an-it are, Bearing gifts we travel so far, Field and fountain, moor and mountain, Folling wonder star, O star of wonder star of light, star wiff roya beauty bright, Westward leeving, stall pra-veeding, Guide us to the perfick light," usually followed by something like, "Ave Maria, Ave Maria," or "St. Maaaartin, St. Maaaaaartin." I have never heard a child under age two actually sing songs, and she does not really sing haltingly, either, you know, pausing between each word... it is more rhythmic and smooth. Weird. But, hey, St. Cecilia is the patron of music, after all!

Speaking of songs, I was humming this morning while getting the girls ready, and Caroline said, "Hey, Mommy, stop humming that hippie song!" Um, okay. I thought it was an early 90s soft rock song, you know, along the lines of Michael Bolton and Richard Marx. Not too sure if that would qualify as "hippie" music! I was humming that song that was stuck in my head six months ago... it comes and goes still. Good thing it's not a song I dislike, or the last six months might have had some pretty rough spots! ;)

[Oooh, shouldn't have even thought of Michael Bolton. I like his music only a fraction of a teensy bit more than I like Meatloaf's music, and I like Meatloaf's music like I would like having my tonsils removed with a paper clip. Now that horrid "How am I Supposed to Live without You" song is entering my thoughts.... NOOOOOO, NOOOOOOO!]

So... the highlight of my children's evening lately has been to look for the "Star of Bethlehem" through the window, or the "Bethlehem Parking Lot," as my husband refers to it. Cecilia also says, "Want see TV!!!" The first time, I thought this was odd, because she doesn't watch TV, so I thought she wanted to go push the button on the TV, which she went through a brief phase of doing. It turns out she wants to look through the window to see a neighbor's huge TV, which is literally about four or five houses away, and we just happen to get a good view through their window. Not that we can make out the picture, but it is a pretty big TV!

We have a box of Clifford Crunch cereal, and on the box there is a picture of Clifford along with two other dogs and Emily Elizabeth, the girl who owns Clifford. Caroline, who has watched Clifford a couple times at Gramma's house, told me today that the dogs are named Cleo and Tebow. Go Gata!!

Oh, and the United States Postal Service isn't totally awful, as previously believed. Not only did they deliver a package we sent to my sister and brother-in-law ON Christmas Day, they also found the package of mine they'd lost that I ordered back in November. It made it here, with no original label somehow, right around the beginning of the new year. Yay for a government entity doing a good job!

Today Caroline put on her dress-up angel halo and said, "Mommy, I'm an angel!" and pretended to knock on my door. "Oh, do you bring tidings of great joy?" I asked her. "No," she replied, "not this time."

So, I tried playing with my sidebar here at my blog, and it just won't cooperate. Certain "gadgets" (as Blogger calls them) are stubborn and want to stay in certain places, even though I am supposed to be able to click and drag them to wherever I want them. Perhaps I have too many things in my sidebar, then? Nah... I do need to look into how to make two sidebars - a three-column layout - which Carrie sent me info on how to do, but I haven't done it yet. In my old age of 30, I am becoming less technologically-able... isn't that sad? I can't even take my new cell phone out of my pocket without accidentally answering it or disabling the ringer... but yeah, I'll get on that blog layout thing at some point, hopefully (and probably end up asking my husband to do it for me when I can't figure it out).

I made granola bars today from the best recipe I have ever tried - they don't crumble apart (which, if you have ever made homemade granola bars before, you may have been unhappy with how crumbly they are!). And - you don't have to bake them, either!! They stick together as well as a store-bought bar. H/t to Jessi for this delicious recipe!

And I just have to mention my new favorite toy... the GPS that my brother Stephen gave to us for Christmas. I never imagined how fun they would be... but I just keep mine on all the time and let it draw the map of where I am driving. I have always liked looking at road maps, so this brings it to a new, modern level for me! I don't think it is something I would have bought for myself, but it has been a fun and useful thing to own, and I'm loving it!

Lately, I have been drinking tea all the time... not Southern sweet iced tea, but hot tea, like I suddenly became British or something. There's actually not a drop of English blood in me that I know of, although I think there is in my husband, so maybe the act of bearing children who have some English in them has rubbed off on me. I have liked hot tea for quite awhile, and with milk in it often times, but I have seriously been drinking 3-5 cups a day lately. This one has been my favorite for awhile... mmm! It is made by the Republic of Tea, and on the canister lid there is a sticker that says "Approved by the Minister of Leaves." I'm going to guess that's just a slogan or something, although perhaps there really is a minister of tea leaves??

And, is anybody at all surprised that Mark McGwire was using steroids? I'm not!