2. Whitney Houston died. Whoa, right? She had a brilliant catalog of music and it’s sad to see her light dimmed too soon. Because of her death, I’ve gone back and listened to more of her stuff lately – which is why I spent a good chunk of yesterday with “I Have Nothing” stuck in my head.

3. Less than a week until Blissdom and Nashville. Can’t believe it – and am ready to get in the lovely Chevy Traverse (Thanks GM!) and road trip down with one of my favorite people (Hi Kat!) and spend several days with some of my favorite people, learning new things and being thoroughly entertained. (Are you going to Blissdom? Lemme know in the comments!)

4. Entertained because… they announced Blissdom’s entertainment yesterday – Rascall Flats (I always get it wrong – two Ls in Rascal? Or two Ts in Flats? Y’all know who I mean, though, right?). Joe Jonas. And the lovely Chris Mann. I’m looking forward to it.

5. I sent my sister the link to Etsy the other day so she could look at props for newborn baby photos. Can I just say how EXCITED I AM to photograph a little bitty baby? Still a few more things I would like to get (a super fluffy blanky to photograph the baby with), but it’ll happen.

6. Speaking of my sister – after her doc’s appointment yesterday, they are no longer really concerned about pre-eclampsia – but they want to keep an eye out on her blood pressure. They anticipate inducing labor the first week of March. I cannot believe it’s almost here!!

7. The Princess’s doctor said the kiddo needed shoes with better support to combat the heel pain she’s been having. How is my nine year old in a SIX AND A HALF SHOE already? Granted, I have big feet, so… odds are not in her favor of having tiny dainty feet. But whoa. When did that happen? (And I’m embarassed to admit that the shoes she HAD been wearing were 4s. My god, those must have hurt like hell).

8. I have been reading the Steve Jobs biography for a few weeks now. It’s a big book. It’s a really big book – so well written, but it’s slow going. I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel though, and I can’t WAIT to start reading something else.

9. The other day, Pumpkin and The Princess were on a chess kick. I don’t even know how to play chess and yet they played off and on all day. It amazes me. The Princess won most of the time, but I think as Pumpkin gets older and figures strategy and thinking a few steps ahead of herself, she may give her sis a serious run for her money.

10. This weekend is the second of baby showers I’ve had this winter (can you believe my sister and best friend are pregnant at the same time? BABIES BABIES EVERYWHERE!). Both are having girls. I may try re-doing my Oreos on a stick. I’ve re-thought my Oreo dipping strategy and I think I’ve got the solution to a gorgeous cookie. We’ll see, huh?

It goes like this.
Little Miss planted a kiss.
Planted a kiss?
Planted a kiss.

And so begins “Plant A Kiss”,  the latest children’s story book written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (@missamykr on Twitter – and author of some of my favorite kids’ books – as well as the beckoner of lovely) and illustrated by Peter Reynolds (You may recognize his style from the Judy Moody series.

Little Miss plants a kiss and she nurtures and cares for that kiss and patiently waits for it to grow.

Like all of Miss Amy’s stories (that’s what we call her in my house – we kind of really love her – a love that was cemented even further when she called The Princess and read a story to her on her birthday a few years ago), this book has much to do with love and kindness and giving – and the simplicity, along with the whimsy of the illustrations, brings such joy to my heart.

It’s a very very sweet story, and one that I’ll love long after my children decide they’re “too old” for it.

I received this book free for review but this post is 100% from the heart and I was not compensated for writing it. I do like my opinions and I’ll give them for free. Especially when books are involved.

2. THEN, I waited impatiently for all the post-game-blah blah blah to end so I could catch the premiere of Season 2 of The Voice to see Chris Mann do his thing. He was absolutely amazing and I was not surprised to see the judges hit their buttons. He’ll be on Team Christina this season and if you missed it, make sure you tune in to catch him and support him. Not only is he phenomenally talented, but he’s also a nice guy. I really hope to see him succeed on the show and I’ll be tuning in to cheer him on this season.

3. As I do every winter, I just got bored with my hair, so I decided to get it colored. I saw someone other than my regular stylist, so I was nervous. The color? I think is okay. The cut? WAS SOOOOO NOT OK. Saw my regular stylist on Monday and in a matter of snip-snip-snip, my cut was one I was happy with again.

4. Gearing up for a huge bake sale on Monday to raise funds for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I’ll spend all day Sunday baking – and hope to raise a few hundred dollars on Monday to support my team in the walk. What should I bake?

5. I went to The Princess’s school yesterday to surprise her because her teacher had let me know she was getting an award (it was a secret to my kiddo). I sat through 20 minutes of some useless presentation by the school guidance counselor before watching the five minutes of the children getting their awards. It was a bizarro rendition of “Deal Or No Deal” and I’m not entirely sure what it had to do with the presentation of awards. Hmmph.

6. We met at a sports bar for book club last night. I felt a bit like playing “Name that Tune” with the restaurant music. Immediately recognized a song by the Eagles by the opening bars and then it took me far too long to realize it was “Victim of Love” (I love the Eagles, by the way. Don’t hate). Speaking of book club, we decided to take it easy from hard core serious books and are reading Mindy Kaling’s book this month. Whew.

7. Two weeks until Nashville – are you going to Blissdom?

8. I really need to find a tailor – because wearing taller shoes as an alternative to getting my pants hemmed is starting to hurt my feet.

9. Pumpkin ended up with some cootie/cough yuck that kept her home last Friday. She fought against the antibiotics because she insisted they “clogged her cough”. Seems like at six years old, giving medicine would be easier. Not so much.

10. I actually had a really interesting dialogue on Facebook (I KNOW!) yesterday about education and how teaching children by rote can sometimes inhibit creativity – and it evolved into “teaching for tests” and so forth. First of all, was pleased to not have that blow out of the water – as I’m friends with several teachers on Facebook. But it’s also pretty awesome sometimes to realize that I am friends with a group of really smart people – and not just generically smart – their areas of knowledge are so varied and it’s pretty amazing sometimes to when you hit a topic that is someone’s area of expertise and you get to see them in a different light as they are sharing what they truly know and are passionate about. It was pretty cool. And it was on Facebook! Blows my mind.

But I didn’t and I haven’t and occasionally I have these ideas floating through my head, things I should write about, things I should share. I have had this post about my daughters tumbling through my head for a week now – I just need to write it. I keep wondering if I can make my words match my heart. How do I describe how truly amazing they are without it sounding cliche – or like a typical mom telling you how great her kids are? I don’t know.

So I marinate in my words.

I have a pain in my neck.

Literally.  A pain – a dull ache – the back of the left side of my neck, shoulder and a little bit of my back (trapezius? lats? I don’t know – it feels like a muscular ache back there). The pain is probably because I sleep on my left side, head propped up on two very puffy pillows. It’s been nagging at me all day – this pain.

And now, my head is tired, my eyes are heavy and this pain – and I think to myself, perhaps I should ditch one of my pillows tonight. Maybe that will help.

I have my clothes already laid out for tomorrow morning – pants, cardigan, camisole, new shoes. Anything to make my morning smoother.

Six months of this routine and it’s still such a different world than getting my kids off to school and starting my day in comfortable clothes, fuzzy slippers. The process of getting up and putting myself together is not a process I love – but a necessary one.

I miss my fuzzy slippers.

I miss writing but the words I give are not the words I want to write – and it seems I’ve fallen out of practice. I guess I’ll have to work on that. I promise I’ll try.

2. So, Chris Mann – the guy with a voice like buttah (I’m not entirely cool enough to pull off describing his voice that way – but HIS VOICE. Sigh. Amazing) is going to be on The Voice this Sunday after the SuperBowl. I don’t really care about the SuperBowl, but am so looking forward to seeing Chris because I know he is going to kick ass. How could he not? Go check out his EPs on iTunes if you haven’t already, and when he wins The Voice you can say you knew about him WAY before The Voice. Oh, and here he is. I love this picture that Rachel (A Southern Fairytale) took at Blissdom last year. Check him out on Sunday on The Voice after the SuperBowl.

3. Holy jalapeno… that’s an exclaimation from Pumpkin’s favorite book series these days – Skippyjon Jones. They’ve been reading them in school and she ADORES them. I don’t know, I can take ‘em or leave them (they’re kind of long for bedtime story reading), but some of the sayings make me laugh. Since I hate cats, I don’t blame Skippito for pretending he’s a chihuahua. Dude, I would too. If I were a cat.

4. I’m going to attempt the candy-coated Oreos on a stick once more. This time, instead of putting the freshly dipped Oreos on a cooling rack (oy, the grid marks), I have purchased a styrofoam block at a craftstore which will be covered with foil or parchment paper, and I will put the stick in the styrofoam, nearly right up to the pop (so frosting doesn’t drip down the stick), so it will look pretty from all sides. I’ll update y’all. I think it’s still gonna be a messy project. But yummy. And yummy trumps messy…almost every time.

5. My sister’s doctor is saying that she has pre-eclampsia and that the baby is measuring kinda big – which means my niece may be here a few weeks early. I’m kinda looking forward to meeting this new little person in just about a month. I can’t wait to see what she looks like, what her temperament is like, and frankly, I just want to spoil her.

6. When I stopped in for my cappuccino, the new kid working at Starbucks said I should get a venti because I “looked tired”. Was he trying to upsell me or was he clueless? Who knows. And yeah, I got the venti.

7. The Princess had a gymnastics meet on Sunday where despite very tough judging managed to bring home three red ribbons and a white. She found out a few days later at practice just how CLOSE she was to getting a blue ribbon for her floor routine – a frustrating discovery for her. BUT, she knows what to work on and hopefully she’ll improve that aspect for the next meet. And really? Every time she competes she is just so much better than the time before. Her progress is noticeable, visible and really just amazing to see. I’m very proud of her.

8. Got an email from The Princess’s fourth grade teacher that the unit on recorders in music class is over and that the kids should keep their recorders at school just in case they need them again. Hallelujah. I love music and I love my children being involved with loving and learning music – but that recorder? ANNOYING AS ALL GET OUT. No one sounds good playing one.

9. In just a few short weeks I’ll be road tripping down to Nashville with Kat for Blissdom – will I see you there? Looking forward to learning new things and seeing some of the friends I only get to see once a year. I sure hope Kat’s ready to karaoke with me again.

10. Book club meeting is next week to discuss “The Night Circus” and I need ideas to suggest for March’s book selection. What are you reading? Are you enjoying it?

2. Since I’m already talking about music… I’m less than a month away from a road trip to Blissdom! Kat and I will be driving from hereish to there – which translates into SEVERAL HOURS IN THE CAR. Of course, I love a good road trip, I love me some Kat – and I am SO excited about the trip. But, Kat and I need some good tunes in the car – if you have suggestions for our Road to Bliss playlist, let me know.

3. Saw the movie “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” this past weekend. I’d been slightly (not very) hesitant because movie adaptations are never as good as the book. Frankly, I loved the book so much the movie didn’t stand a chance of measuring up. But. It was beautifully done and lovely and I didn’t cry nearly as much as I thought I would. And it’s got an Oscar nomination – making it the only contender for “Best Picture” that I’ve seen this year.

4. I just wrapped up reading a fun book this week, and I’m reading a book with The Princess for our Mom/Daughter book club, but I’m finally gearing up to dive into Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Have you read it? What did you think? I am not normally a reader of biographies, but thought I’d give it a whirl. I took the below photo outside the 5th Avenue Apple store in New York City.

5. I’ve reached the point of winter where I am bored with my hair and debating getting a major hair cut. I need to talk myself out of it. I have been growing out my hair since my last drastic above-the-shoulders cut two years ago and it’s down to the bottom of my shoulder blades. I don’t want to grow my hair to my feet – but I’m not sure I’m ready for a short ‘do again (or ever!). But… winter almost compels me to make a change. So… maybe I need a new color.

6. Pumpkin is on a SkippyJon Jones kick. I have to admit, I find it somewhat adorable that she’s added the phrase “holy frijoles” to her vocabulary.

7. A boy told The Princess yesterday that she was not “built for soccer” but that she was “built for math”. I don’t even know what the hell that means, but I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be nice. I’m fighting the mama bear urge to tell The Princess to give him the middle finger and say, “You’re right – I’m so good at math I can tell you exactly how many fingers I’m holding up.” But, that’s not the right answer. My gymnast could probably beat any of the boys in her class in a pushup contest, and being good at math is an awesome thing. I can only assume this boy just didn’t want any girls in a “boys only” game of soccer. To which I say THIS: pbbbbbbbbbbbbth. Whether you are a parent of daughters or a parent of sons (or of both!), you have a responsibility to challenge the gender “norms” that have been held for so long: girls can’t play sports, boys can’t play dress up or have dolls, everything made for girls needs to be pink. It’s 2012 not 1950. I have daughters – and it’s my job to let them know they are capable of doing damn near anything a boy can (except pee standing up – I’m not encouraging that mess).

8. I’ve made it a mission to work on strengthening my skills in the arena of food photography. It’s not easy – for sure – but, I’m intrigued by it.

9. My sister’s baby shower? It went WELL! Now to plan the shower for my sweet sweet friend who is due just four weeks after. Two baby showers back to back has taught me one thing: I was right in not pursuing a career in event planning.

10. Project Runway without Tim Gunn? No bueno. I even almost miss Heidi. Project Runway AllStars is kind of a miss for me. And that’s my hard-hitting reality TV opinion of the day.

The problem? That pin linked to somebody’s blog post with just a picture of the cute desserts. No how-to, no tips, no nothin’. Well. Shucks. That doesn’t help.

So let me tell you about ‘em, huh?

First things first. You’ll need Double Stuf Oreos. Reason? Even if you get the skinniest lollipop stick, it’s too thick for the regular Oreos. It will break EVERY. SINGLE. COOKIE.

So, if you’re with me so far – Double Stuf Oreos. Lollipop sticks.

You’ll want to microwave the Oreos for just a few seconds – for me, eight to 12 seconds was enough to soften the frosting in the middle enough to insert the lollipop stick.

Note: Putting that lollipop stick into the Oreo frosting? It’s still kind of a pain.

Next, you’ll need candy melts. Now… I used pink ones – these are for my sister’s baby shower tomorrow (shhh, don’t tell her!), so PINK was in order.

I melted this in the microwave also – start with a minute in the microwave in a microwave-safe container. Stir. They’ll probably need a bit longer in the microwave, so heat in 30 second increments until your candy melts have indeed melted.

Now? You’re ready to dunk your Oreos. It’s easy because they’re on the stick, you have a container full of candy melt, so dip, shake off some of the excess, and lay flat to set.

As you can see, I used a cookie cooling sheet. I did this so that some of the frosting would remain on the back of the cookie. The problem here is that you need to use caution when removing the set cookie from the rack (I used a butter knife to scrape some of the excess set-candy from the back of the cooling rack and then to gently pry the cookie from the rack).

More than a few cookies were lost until I perfected the “scrape the bottom of the rack” technique (Initially, I skipped that step. Many cookies were lost. It was sad).

So, you know. They’re wicked cute. If you like Oreos, they’re pretty yummy.

BUT, they’re a TEENSY-TINY bit tougher to make than they look on Pinterest. But y’know… now you know.

And knowing is half the battle.

2. The other song I’m loving now is Ingrid Michaelson’s cover of “Somebody That I Used To Know”. The song is all over the internet right now, with basically everyone on the planet covering it. I like her version. And I love watching what she’s doing with percussion.

3. The Princess had a spelling bee the other day and sadly was out in the second round. And she was devastated. She knew how to spell the word and her mouth just went a little faster than her brain. Poor kid.

4. I am on the second round of antibiotics for this 2012 Massive Cootie Germfest. Seriously. I think they’re working. My sinuses feel less like popping out of my face. It’s been…not so fun. But, I’m hoping I’ve turned the corner. I hope.

5. In the zone with baby shower planning – my sister’s shower is THIS WEEKEND. Pulling those last minute details together and really just excited about spoiling my sister and my unborn niece rotten. I think I’m finally done shopping for the shower. I keep picking up “one more thing”. So fun. Can you tell I’m a first time aunt?

6. American Idol is back. As someone who will never make more than a few sympathy dollars with her singing voice (I think it’s really good but I realize that every one else just lacks taste), I sure do love the first few eps of American Idol where everyone sings so horribly. It makes me happy. Which is awful, but I’m sure it’s the point.

7. Sometimes I take a picture that I fall in love with. I wish I had had something better than just an iPhone with me but I still… I look at this and see exactly what had drawn me to his moment. Sometimes I see something – but it doesn’t translate. This, the emotion I saw in the empty chairs, carried to the end result.

8. Around the holiday season, everyone was talking about Love Actually so I rented it from iTunes and I thought it didn’t download. Well, I thought that because iTunes told me it didn’t. Then this week, I got notice that the rental period was nearly up. I’ve had that movie ALL THAT TIME? Well, guess what? Another year has passed and I still haven’t seen it.

9. In four months (WOW! Just four?!), I’ll be in Boston walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. You know it’s a good cause, so if you’d like to support me, please click to donate.

10. I’m really looking forward to the movie “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” that comes out this weekend. Would I have cast Tom Hanks? I’m thinking… no. Soooo, it’ll be interesting to see.

And then true to fashion for the Company, they realized how much work I was doing that they couldn’t immediately farm out. They hired me on a part-time/contract basis and on I soldiered, doing what I was used to doing.

I continued with the contract work through the summer while interviewing for jobs.

I continued after I started my new job.

I continued even after I realized how tired I was working a full day, coming home and working some more.

I knew that they would be transitioning my role, that it was fading and that they’d hired someone who could do the same thing and more, but in house. So it wasn’t like I thought it was a permanent situation. Hell, I didn’t want to work there forever anymore.

And then.

At the beginning of January, I tried to log on to my computer to get some work done. And couldn’t. A call to technical support told me my account was disabled and I left a voice mail message for the woman I reported to. The next day she called me back to say: “Oh, December 31 was your last day. I forgot to tell you.”

So, I guess I’m done.

I sent my materials back, and with very little fanfare it’s over and done and after ten years of working for the Company (whose name I am still not mentioning because it’s not nice), it’s over.

And while I have to say: it was good while it lasted and I am grateful for the part time work to hold me over while I searched for and found a job, I find it amazing to believe that ten years of service and hard work doesn’t warrant more courtesy than an “Oops, I forgot.”

I guess I should be so grateful, in this economy, to have had a job that I would happily excuse bad behavior but instead I am left with an odd feeling: I am relieved to have had the experience, I am relieved to be saying goodbye to them at a time when I saw it coming and I didn’t need them, and yet I have this bad taste in my mouth of how is there so little regard for the PEOPLE in an organization that a little courtesy didn’t seem to register on one’s radar long enough to actually follow through with it.

It is what it is.

Because ultimately the end result is this: I have work. I now have a little more free time that I was ready to have. I don’t have to come home and start another shift of work with their projects.

It’s all good, right?

Yes. It really is.

Wishing they’d handled it differently surely doesn’t make it so. Feeling that I deserved more kindness at the closure doesn’t make it happen. And since I haven’t invented a time machine and surely they haven’t either, it can’t be re-done, undone, or changed.

It is what it is.

And so it goes and so it’s done.

And life goes on.

2. As I type, the snow is falling and we’re expected to get a few inches of snow in West Michigan. We’ve been pretty lucky with a mild winter so far, so I shouldn’t complain about getting a few inches of snow in January except… I really don’t like snow.

3. And with bad weather comes… the lengthening of my commute. This morning’s drive in was super slow. And there wasn’t any snow. It’s ONLY GONNA GET BETTER!

4. So, the thing about Project Runway All Stars is… Tim Gunn isn’t on it. Pfft. What’s Project Runway without Tim? I’m rooting for Mondo, though, and yeah, I’ll probably keep watching.

5. With this cold that won’t go away, I have decided to heed the typical “drink lots of fluid” advice and have upped my water intake by about 100,000 percent. (I may be exaggerating). Those insulated cold cups with the straws? THE BEST for encouraging water consumption because somehow drinking with a straw seems to make it less of a chore. Probably the same reason I can drink ten diet cokes when I go out to eat (not really ten. Probably).

6. Baby shower planning mode in full effect. Do you know that baby shower planning is really tough work? It IS. But, I’m excited and can’t wait to surprise my sister with some really fun stuff that she has no idea about. Turned in the final head count today and we’re going to have a full house.

7. I am making it a mission to get better at food photography – I’m a rotten cook, but I want to sharpen my skills at making food look appetizing. I gave it a whirl photographing the brownies I baked tonight. Let’s just say I have a LONG WAY TO GO.

8. Do you use Pinterest? I was resistant to trying it, but love the photography ideas. And the cookie recipes. I really love the cookie recipes.

9. Did you pick a word for the year? I did.

10. Just finished reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close over the weekend and LOVED it. I am not a fan of writing and highlighting books – but this book made me want to. There were so many lines that resonated with me that I wanted to make note of them all. I didn’t. I may go back and track them down. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie (though now that I’ve read the book, I question the casting).