A Little Good News, A Little Bad News

The good news: While shopping at Target today I discovered that the Starbucks Via Ready Brew Pumpkin Spice coffee I like has gone on clearance. Whoop whoop!

It used to be $7.99. Now it's on clearance for $3.98! I also had a dollar off coupon bringing the price to $2.98!! Three cheers for clearance! Hip Hip Hooray! Or one cheer is fine!

The bad news: My favorite Starbucks Via flavor has gone on clearance which means once it's gone I won't be able to get more until fall. BUMMER!

The good news: I bought a ton of it because it was on clearance and I had coupons! Yay!!

The bad news: I bought a ton of it and there isn't any left for anyone else. 

Sorry, my bad!

Christine

Baby It's Cold Outside

No school for the kids today and it's so cold outside your nostrils freeze closed in 30 seconds or less. Brrrrrrr

So today we dress in comfy warm clothes.

We bake!

Mmmmmm oatmeal raisin!

We work on Valentine's day crafts.

Gotta love the goof troop!

And we wait for that perfect buildup of static electricity, the one that makes your finger hurt from its tip to the knuckle once it's discharged, and just the right moment to ZAP some poor unsuspecting family member! Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh!

Oh yeah! Gotta love a Minnesota deep freeze!

Christine

He Said/She Said : The Onion Ring Incident

It all happened about 15 years ago.

Actually it was early July 1997 and she was about 3 months pregnant with their first child. Yep, about then.

They had been snuggled up together on the couch one evening watching television when, in golden brown, crispy battered glory, the most delicious looking onion rings appeared on the screen.

Her mouth watered! Those onion rings looked so good!

She said simply, "Oh, onion rings sound good."

She made no actual request. She simply made a statement of fact.

He replied, "You're not pregnant enough for me to go get onion rings."

Yes, you read correctly, he said she was not pregnant enough for him to go and get her onion rings. She was however pregnant enough to be vomiting every morning - the poor thing barfed regularly for 7 months of that pregnancy as well as during labor! Not to mention pregnant enough to be exhausted and very emotional. 

Lets just say, it was a fatal response! 

She did not let it go easily.

She may have demanded he read, out loud, the paragraph from her pregnancy book that explained how women experience the most cravings in the first three months of pregnancy! BAM!! That's right! First three months!!

Eh hem. I digress.

Don't fret. Our couple was able to patch things up.

They had a beautiful baby girl.

All was forgiven. 

He vowed to never make that mistake again.

She vowed she would not hold it against him forever. In fact, she doesn't even really think about the incident at all, until he brings it up that is. 

You see he might start the conversation with, "Have you thought about what you're going to plant in the garden this year?" which, of course, causes her to start thinking about the list of seeds she'll need to get, which makes her think about the need for new garden gloves, which makes her think about wearing summer flip flops, which leads to thinking about summer picnics, which leads to thinking about how long winters are in Minnesota, which, of course, leads to...you wouldn't go get onion rings! He totally brings it up.

Or does she have issues letting it go. No, I don't think it's that.

He only brings it up once or twice a year and then he very graciously tolerates her covering, yet again, her 7 months of barfing as well as her high pregnancy emotions. They then both say they're sorry for even discussing it again and life goes back to normal. Well, until the most recent rehashing of the incident.

The last time he brought up the incident with some unrelated question...see how he does that? He always starts out the conversation like he intends to discuss something else. Weird! 

Anyway, the last time the incident was discussed, and amends remade, He left shortly thereafter to run some errands.

Upon his return he handed her a take out bag filled with...

the most delicious, crispy, beer battered, golden onion rings!!!

Oh they were so good!

Now, anytime the incident is brought up, all she can think about is how he showed up, unexpectedly, with onion rings for her. -sigh-

He is wonderful!

She has nothing more to say about the incident.

Christine

P.S. This blog post is Husband approved!

Rebel

Miss Sofia and Miss Emma Bean received these journals for Christmas. Too fun right?

At the time that's exactly what the Husband and I thought, fun. It didn't occur to me then that these Wreck this Journal books might impart a very necessary lesson for our girl who is, bless her heart, an extreme rule follower.

You see Miss Sofia wants very much to do what is right and good. She doesn't want to upset anyone, hurt anyone's feelings, or go against the grain. She wants desperately to follow the rules. And that's not a bad thing, well, except when it is. Confusing, I know.

Miss Sofia was very excited to use her new journal, however, she asked me more than once if it was really alright to wreck this book, because we all know the rules say it's not ok to wreck books.

Miss Sofia's first thought about this journal is pretty clear.

That's right, CRAZY! But she has taken to wrecking this book with gusto!

Doodling.

Adding stickers. Clearly we've been eating lots of bananas and cuties!

Drawing circles all over the page.

Miss Sofia has said this book makes her feel like a rebel! She is thoroughly enjoying breaking the rules!

And I have to say, I'm glad! While the Husband and I want our girls to be obedient and follow the rules, we also know that sometimes the rules have to be broken, and we want them to know when and how to make that judgement call. We also want them to know that the world won't end if the rules are broken.

Would we have heroes who run into burning buildings to rescue others if the rule - stay away from fire - was strictly followed?

We all agree that - Thou shalt not kill - is one of the most important rules to follow. But what about our military or police officers who put their lives in danger and will, if there is no other option, take a life to protect the innocent? 

What if I stopped sharing my faith because I knew there would be the occasional reader who would not agree and be offended?

Yes, sometimes the rules need to be broken. But who would have thought that something as silly as wrecking a journal would teach such an important lesson, and make it fun!?

I think that writing on the edge of this book,

and taking it in the shower, I suspect the dog eared page means this will be accomplished next, might be exactly the thing our girl needed.

She seems to be feeling much better about "breaking" the rules!

Look at that, she did it!

Way to go rebel!

Christine