Thankful Today For…

I’ve noticed that quite a few of my Facebook friends are doing a daily “Thankful” post this month.  It gave me an idea for a poll for my family.  I asked them each, “What are you thankful for TODAY?”

Here are our answers:

Hub – “My job.  Sorta.  Tomorrow I might not be, but TODAY I am thankful for my job.”

Kweenmama – I am thankful for a mistake.  Back during the summer we filled a shirt and hoodie order.  I let Huh and her boyfriend make the shirts because Huh needed to earn some money.  I’m not sure exactly what happened, but one of the hoodies ended up with a melted zipper.  So, of course, we needed to replace that hoodie which left us with a defective hoodie here.  This morning we woke to a cold rain.  The defective hoodie came to my rescue.  It is huge, so I was able to pull it over my head without having to use the zipper.  Because of the zipper mistake I had a hoodie to use and was warm and dry while I crossed kids at my school crossing. 

Squid – Unavailable to participate in our poll while he serves a mission for our church in Uruguay.

Huh – “I’m grateful that I get off work at 3:00 today.  Easy day!”

Juju – “I’m grateful for my dad’s cooking.”  Juju was up visiting us from college over the weekend.  She has grown weary of “college fare” and loved that Hub made one of his delicious roasts for Sunday dinner.

Mack – “Hot chocolate.”

Shroom – “Computer.”

Hoob – “My jacket.”  Said as she eyed the rain coming down.

Yawlin – “The rain.” 

What are you thankful for today?

 

Stop! No, really. Stop!

I noticed something while driving near our home and decided to take pictures of what I was noticing and have my family give their interpretations.

Hub – “Somebody was stupid.  They’re putting up new signs but haven’t taken the old ones down.  You put a new sign up, you’re supposed to take the old one down.”  (Can you tell he’s a computer programmer?  SO literal!)

Squid – Unavailable for comment while he serves his mission in Uruguay.

Huh – “This is for the rapidly blinking person.  In case they miss the first one, they can stop at the second one.”

Juju – “People are stupid and don’t know how to stop, so they need a second reminder.”

Mack – “This means that construction workers in Utah are stupid.”

Shroom – “Idiot!”

Hoob – “In case you miss the first sign, you can stop at the second.”

Yawlin – “Stop twice.”

K (Yawlin’s friend) – “Stop even faster.”

And this one…

Hub – “A stutterer put them up.”

Squid – Unavailable for comment.

Huh – “The lower sign is for the vertically challenged.  The higher sign is for the vertically gifted.”

Juju – “Maybe they are blind.  Or there is a dip in the road and they have to stop for both.”

Mack – “We are stop happy!”

Shroom – “Confusion!  Don’t go astray!  Follow the Prophet!”

Hoob – “Stop!  Make sure you don’t turn left.  But stop!  Really!”

Yawlin – “Go the wrong way and then stop.”

K (Yawlin’s friend) – “Go right and stop.”

When we were in Hawaii for a softball tournament in July we saw this sign…

Hub – “Stop for the fish and watch them go by.”

Squid – Unavailable for comment.

Huh – “Stop only if you feel like it.”

Juju – “Colorblind.  In Hawaii.”

Mack – “A colorblind person made the stop signs.”

Shroom – “Yield.”

Hoob – “Someone liked the color blue better than the color red.”

Yawlin – “Oh Hawaii, Hawaii.”

K (Yawlin’s friend) – “Stop faster.”

And, yes, our family is entertained by the simplest things!

Enjoy your day!

 

Goals

A brand new year calls for some goal setting.  I was interested in learning what goals each of my family members has set.  So, I asked them…

Hub – Start a new business

Squid – Unavailable to ask while he serves his mission in Uruguay.

Huh – The conversation went like this:
“Lose 30 pounds.”
“What?! Why?!”
“Okay, 15 pounds.”
“You don’t need to lose weight!”
“Okay, my goal is to be nicer to snots.”
*sigh*

Juju – To not get killed by the mafia.  That is an easy goal to achieve.  I’m pretty sure I will reach that goal.

Mack – To get my best possible score on the ACT and SAT tests.

Shroom – The conversation went like this:
“My goal is to get better looking.”
“Is that it?”
“And to get a job.”  A pause.  “And get a girlfriend.”
“Ah, so you want a girlfriend, huh?”
“Well, I already have four.”
“So you are trying to weed them out?”
“Yeah.”
Again a *sigh*

Hoob – To memorize all of the Harry Potter movies. 

Yawlin – To get better at art. And to not kill anyone in my Webelos den.
Triple *sigh*

My goal?  To help some of my family members learn how to set goals.

 

Bad Day? Ways to Get Over It.

 It’s been awhile since I posted a poll from our family.  I decided I’d better do another one now since Squid leaves next week for a two-year mission for our church and, therefore, won’t be available to participate in family polls.

The question:  When you have a bad day, what do you do to get over it?

The answers from our family (plus two who are like members of the family because it seems like they are at our house all the time):

Hub – Eat!

Kweenmama – Read or go for a walk.  Both are great ways to escape.

Squid – Go mountain biking.

Huh – Throw a ball at the fence for two hours.  Hit the basketball with the bat.  (Yup, she’s a softball player)

Plumber (Huh’s boyfriend) – Go to the gym or go for a drive.

Juju – Draw and listen to music at the same time.

Mack – Talk to my mommy.

SkiShop (Mack’s boyfriend) – Do something I like to do, like drawing.  Or play the guitar.

Shroom – Play on the X-box.

Hoob – Do something I like to do, like drawing.  It takes my mind off of things.

Yawlin – Cry.  Just kidding.  I scream into a pillow.

When SkiShop and Hoob learned that their answers were very similar they decided that they were the smartest of the group since “great minds think alike” dontcha know?

So there you have it folks!  Having a bad day?  Get over it by using our suggestions!

I think I might try hitting the basketball with a bat the next time I have a bad day…

 

Spring!

Happy Spring!  In honor of the first day of spring, and because it is another busy day, I offer a quick poll from our family.

The question:  What is your favorite sign of spring?

Hub:  Seeing the early flowers blooming.

Kweenmama:  Hearing the birds in the morning.

Squid:  The girls start wearing short shorts.  😉

Huh:  Softball starts.

Juju:  Scwirobles!  (The pronunciation of “squirrels” by one of Juju’s foreign exchange friends)

Mack:  Warmness!

Squid:  The warmer weather.

Hoob:  The blossoms.

Yawlin:  The warm weather and flowers. 

Disclosure:  The picture isn’t really of spring flowers.  It was taken last July at my parents’ cabin in the Uinta Mountains.  I was going to take a picture of the crocuses coming up in our yard, but yesterday was a busy, busy day and I didn’t get around to it.  So sue me!  We’ve been experiencing lovely temps here–open the windows temps–and we love it!

Hurray for spring!

 

Obnoxious Sounds

Here is one way to annoy your step son:

When he comes home from college during the middle of the day to do homework, and he sits with his back to you on the couch in your kitchen/family room, and he tries really hard to concentrate on the text book he is reading, make sure to start doing the prep work for Swedish Meatballs for the evening meal which will include crushing dry cornflakes on the counter.  Since you discover that you are out of baggies to put the cornflakes in, just place them on a piece of plastic wrap and fold it over.  Use a plastic measuring cup with the mouth of the cup facing up to do the crushing, it will amplify the sound of the cornflakes being crushed.

Then stand with a grin on your face as you crush the cornflakes over and over.  Watch your step son’s head rise slightly as he stops reading to listen to the crunching sound behind him.  Crunch the cornflakes some more.  Grin.  Crunch.  Your step son will try to be polite for awhile and ignore the sound.  Crunch.  Grin.  Crunch.  Finally he won’t be able to stand it any longer and he will swing around with an annoyed look on his face which will change to a smirk after he sees what you are doing.

You will hear, “Man, I thought you were eating potato chips.  I couldn’t believe how loud you were eating them!  What an obnoxious sound.”

After a good laugh you can finish making the Swedish Meatballs and your step son can continue with his homework.

That is what happened at our house this week and it is what prompted our latest family poll.  I could see that someone crunching “potato chips” loudly was an annoying sound to Squid and I know that I also hate to hear someone eating their food loudly.  People chewing with their mouth open, making smacking noises, is enough to send me over the edge.  It is a sound I do not like to hear.  I asked the kids and Hub what they consider the most obnoxious sound to be.  Here are their answers:

*Hub hates it when people rub their hands on latex balloons.  It gives him the shivers.

*Though Squid hated the sound of what he thought was someone loudly eating potato chips his real answer to the question is that he hates the loud barking of our dog, Max.  Max’s bark doesn’t match his size.  It is louder and deeper than one would think and when he lets it out suddenly in the house it drives Squid crazy.

*Huh says she hates the sound of her alarm clock going off in the morning because it means she has to get up.  When Huh gave her answer there was agreement from the rest of the kids that that is indeed a sound none of them enjoy hearing.  Mack said, “Even if my alarm was the sound of crickets I would hate it because it is waking me up.”

*Juju looked around and then said, “My sound that I most hate to hear is my step sister, Huh.”  From upstairs we heard Huh loudly say, “Don’t make me put a hurt on you!”

*Mack says the sound that most grates on her is Squid screeching Hub’s first name in a high pitched voice whenever he is trying to find him.

*Shroom doesn’t like the sound of the squeaking belt on Squid’s car.

*Hoob’s obnoxious sound is the universally hated fingernails on the chalk board.

*Yawlin says he doesn’t like to hear babies crying because it makes him want to cry.

Right now I am hearing the sound of Huh vacuuming her room.  Now that is a sound I like to hear!  🙂