Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Playlists...

So, I recently (actually, it was over a year ago, but I'm just now getting around to finishing this blog post) set up iTunes Match on my phone.  For those of you who don't know, it kind of lets you share your iTunes account with other people on your family plan, or vice versa.  So now, I have access to ALL of the music that Kevin has ever put on his account.  And there is a lot!  Plus now with Apple Music, I have access to more songs than I could have ever imagined.

And as I have been perusing all of the songs, I have been flooded with memories.  So many songs remind me of so many people.  With that, I have decided to create "playlists" for some of the important people in my life.  They may be songs that the other person likes, songs that were part of a moment we shared, or just songs whose tone or style just remind me of that person.  And since there are just far too many to list for Cakes (and because I've already done a similar blog post for him), he is going to be omitted from the list.  And I know there are many other people/memories/moments that I'm leaving off...but there's always future blog posts.

Here we go:

My Family Playlist
  • Enter Sandman, Plush, November Rain, A Boy Named Sue, Magic Carpet Ride, Mother (Brad)
  • Does He Love You, Stop in the Name of Love, Kissed by a Rose,  Everything I Do, Whatta Man, Short Shorts (Jaime)
  • Family Tradition, Rodeo, The Joker, Zamboni, Sweet Home Alabama, Longneck Bottle (Josh)
  • Little Red Riding Hood, One Week, Ain't to Proud to Beg, Coconut, All My Ex's Live in Texas, Ave Maria (Mom)
  •  I Swear, My Girl, Simple Man, In My Daddy's Hands, Land of A Thousand Dances, Make Me a Channel of Your Peace (Dad)
  • Lose Yourself, Picture, I Can Only Imagine, It's a Great Day to be Alive, One of These Days, Lane's Theme (Joel)
  • Don't Stop Believin', No Rain, 22, Someone Like You, It Won't be Like This for Long, Imma Be (Hannah)
  • Bohemian Rhapsody, TNT, Last Resort, We are the Champions, Magic, Whiskey's Gone (Mason)
My Friends Playlist
  • Blank Space, Nuthin' But a "G" Thang, Moves Like Jagger, Tik Tok, The Monster (Ashley)
  • Boogie Shoes, Shoop, Hammer Time, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, Raise Your Glass (Kristin)
  • Semi Charmed Life, Friends in Low Places, Sunday Morning, Rock Your Body, The Wobble  (Katie)
  • Rodeo, Wonderwall, I Love a Rainy Night, Cryin' (Jessica)
  • My Heart Will Go On, Blue Clear Sky, Who Let the Dogs Out, Brick House, Sexy and I Know It (Tosha)
  • Total Eclipse, Love Song, Roar, September, Faith (Karen)
  • OMG, Ladies Night, Points of Authority/99 Problems, Melon Balls (Melanie)
  • Fancy, I Gotta Feeling, To Make You Feel My Love, Time to Say Goodbye (Angela)
  • Good Vibrations, Step by Step, Nothingman, Shameless, Push (Jenn)

I guess that's all for now.  For those of you who I didn't list this time...there's always next time (although at the rate I'm going, it could be a few years).  For those of you who are mentioned, I wonder if you have memories attached to any of these same songs.  Either way, I hope you all enjoy!

...and if you're not familiar with some of the songs, look them up, and enjoy a little more!

Saturday, November 7, 2015

25 Random Things, Again...

Well it's that time again.  Drum roll, please......My latest edition of 25 Random Thoughts is  here!!!

1) I stumbled across a new saying that I love:
         
             
2) If you've never watched The Goldberg's, you're missing out.  It's ridiculous.  It's funny.  It's sentimental.  And it's a little scary how much I find myself identifying with Beverly Goldberg.
                  Image result for beverly goldberg memes
3) Pinterest has become both my recipe box and the teaching equivalent to the waffle-cone maker I've got in my pantry.  It's full of recipe ideas that I use over and over (as well as ones I've never tried), and it's full of teaching ideas that seem super awesome and fun, but never end up getting used.

4) Family game time has moved up from Chutes & Ladders and Sorry to poker and Catch Phrase.  When did the kids get so grown up?!

5) Although I am nowhere near ready for Christmas, and Thanksgiving is becoming my favorite holiday, I am chomping at the bit to get my Christmas decorations up!

6) I think I might actually proudly let my nerd flag fly, if I had this shirt:
               
7) Hannah is SO much prettier than I was at her age.  But then, she hasn't really been hit by puberty much yet.  But then, she's so much prettier than I was even before puberty.  I was going to post a side-by-side of her 7th grade volleyball picture and mine, but when I actually got my photo album out and looked it was SO much worse than I remembered!  NO ONE needs to see that, so please just take my word for it.

8) Jason Bateman is a very underrated, or at least under-awarded comedic actor.  His dry, sarcastic, impeccably timed delivery is stellar!  If you haven't seen This is Where I Leave You, you really should.  It is one of those movies that gets better every time you watch it.

9) 25 may not seem like a lot, but the moment you do one of these "25 Random Thoughts" things you realize just how enormous it really is.

10) How great was that Justin Timberlake/Chris Stapleton performance at the CMA's the other night?!  Just click here to watch it in all it's glory!

11) 2 equally awesome, yet very different things:  singing Don't Stop Believin', No Rain, and Taylor swift songs with Hannah and singing Bohemian Rhapsody, Enter Sandman, and AC/DC songs with Mason.

12) Both Hannah and Mason have had awesome sports seasons this fall.  Hannah's volleyball teams were undefeated, both at school and with the rec league.  Her softball team isn't undefeated, but they're still pretty great!  And Mason's football team is undefeated so far this season...only 1 game away from the championship!
                   
13) Kevin has worked so hard as a board member for the football league.  He's been so busy, but I think deep down he's enjoyed it.  Besides...as treasurer, he's kind of a big deal.   :)

14) I let pure awesomeness overcome my maternal instincts this Halloween.  Mason's Nacho Libre costume stole the show...even though it meant I had to let my son run around in nothing but tights and underwear all night.

15) I sent out an email to all of my parents that made me sound super ghetto.  In the middle of this well thought-out paragraph explaining the importance of and purpose of the learning portfolios that were coming home I said, "We want these folders to be a tool that will help your children communicate where they is in their learning journey."  Where they IS.  SHEESH!  It was all I could do not to immediately send out an apology email afterwards.

16) This made me chuckle:

                 Image result for puns
17)  It also reminded me of when Mason dressed as a pirate for Halloween when he was 2, and he would say "argh matey" like, "Argh Tee-Tee".   :)

18) This came up on my Facebook newsfeed the other day.  If you're a FRIENDS fan, you've got to check it out.  It's greatness.  Click Here

19) Whenever Hannah is sleeping over at a friends house, she will text me at night.  It starts with a simple, "Hey mommy" and devolves into a silly, sweet back and forth that I just love.  My heart will break when she stops doing that.

20) My second favorite Nicholas Sparks book, The Choice, is being made into a movie.  I hope they do it justice, and not what they did to Last Song.  Not that many of the movies have been fantastic, but that one was especially bad.


21) I am in desperate need of a new family portrait.  Kevin's porn-stache just isn't cutting it anymore:  (But just look at my sweet babies!!  If you can...I know it's small...and blurry)                        

                
22) A month or so ago, I had my first allergic reaction.  I have pictures of my eye, but I'll spare you.  Don't know what caused it, but trust me when I say it looked ROUGH. 

23) Hannah and Mason are crazy jealous over the amount of baby pictures I have of their cousins.  Apparently, I have more of my nieces and nephews as babies than I do of them.  I try to explain to them that cell-phone cameras weren't the way they are now when they were babies, and that we didn't usually carry our actual cameras around with us, but they're not hearing it. 

24) I can't believe that next year, both of my kids will be in middle school.  What craziness is this?!  I can't be that old, can I??

25) After more than year, I have broken my unintentional blog silence.  Hopefully, it won't be that long until the next one (I did start and stop several other posts before settling on this one, so here's hoping).  So until next time, I leave you with another awesome quote: