C’mon Ride the Train

Tags

C'mon 'N Ride It, diaper train, Holiday, National Train Day, Quad City DJ's

May 12^th Holiday

NATIONAL TRAIN DAY

Choo Choo! It’s Train Day! Today was an exceptionally busy day for me. I had my cousin Julie’s baby shower and the Schertel’s wedding to attend. I thought about which event better suited the train theme and it seemed like the baby shower was a no-brainer. Especially since the baby to be is a boy. I have seen all the cutesy diaper creations that people do for showers and looked up a tutorial on how to make a diaper train. If you buy these things pre-made they are pricey, but they look amazing. I had no delusions of grandeur, I knew that since this was my first shot at attempting this feat it was not going to be as pretty as the professional ones. I worked on it earlier in the week since I knew I would have zero time on Saturday to complete it. Here is what the finished product looked like:

I was semi-impressed with how it turned out. I’m not planning on turning this into a career by any means, that’s for sure. It was not as complicated as I thought it was going to be, so that was a plus. Will I ever make a diaper train again? Probably not. They have way cuter diaper creations that I would rather use as a gift. Someone else at the shower had made the motorcycle one with the stuffed animal on top and it was much cooler in my opinion. Later on, at the wedding, the inevitable C’mon ‘N Ride It (The Train) song came on and led to a massive dance train. Since I have STILL not charged my handheld camera battery, I was left with only my cell phone camera to capture the moment. Here is the best shot (best is not a good adjective, it’s crap but it’s all I got):

Everyone likes trains. Real trains, diaper trains, dance trains….it’s all good.

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0 – the diaper train was all part of the shower gift so it doesn’t count as extra cost.

Song of the Day:

Take a wild guess……

P.S. – I’m doing my train dance right now to this song, choo choo!

You Are About to Enter Another Dimension

Tags

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, George Clooney, Holiday, The Twilight Zone

May 11th Holiday

TWILIGHT ZONE DAY

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.

Hayley has just undergone her eleventh plastic surgery treatment to restructure her deformed face. Eleven treatments is the maximum number legally allowed, so this is her last chance to finally fit in and look like everyone else:

She has begged the doctors and nurses (whose faces are cast in shadow) to remove her bandages early. She cannot stand the suspense. Now for the big reveal:

“It’s pretty bad, isn’t it? I know it’s pretty bad. Ever since I can remember… ever since I was a little girl…people have turned away from me. The very first thing I can remember is a little child screaming when she looked at me. I never wanted to be beautiful. I never wanted to look like a painting. I never even wanted to be loved. I just wanted… I just wanted people not to scream when they looked at me.”

Although to the audience she is beautiful, the doctors and nurses tell her the operation has failed and her face has undergone no change at all. Now for the inevitable twist:

Hayley runs through the halls of the hospital, distraught that her procedure has failed her and she will never look normal:

She sees the Leader on television preaching that, “Differences weaken us. Variations destroy us. An incredible permissiveness to deviation from this norm is what has ended nations and brought them to their knees. Conformity we must worship and hold sacred. Conformity is the key to survival.”

Distraught and viewed as an outcast, a man named George with Hayley’s same ‘condition’ comes to take her to the exiled village where others of her own kind reside:

There her ugliness will not trouble the State. To try to comfort her, George tells Hayley, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

The End.

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

Clip of the Day:

Some of the actual Twilight Zone episode from which I drew my inspiration today:

 

P.S. – Yes, I did spend way too much time pasting my sad face over Stacy Kiebler’s….

I Need a Maid

Tags

Clean Up Your Room Day, cleaning, Holiday, Organizing

May 10^th Holiday

CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM DAY

Depending on how I look at this, today’s holiday could not have come at a better, or worse, time. I desperately needed to clean up my room, but I also have been so incredibly burnt out on cleaning up EVERYTHING that I just really needed a break. I feel like we have been trapped in a land of boxes lately and that we are never going to unpack everything. I know, I know, we have been in the house less than a week, I can’t expect miracles. I am just very impatient with stuff like that. I had a mini-mental breakdown today about all the stress and changes. Rich talked me off the ledge and reminded me that we are doing the best we can and everything will get done in due time. Good thing we are both Libras, we always manage to balance each other out. I did manage to tackle the daunting task of at least putting all my clothes away. You don’t realize how much crap you have until you have to stuff it in boxes, move it and then shove it somewhere new. Here is a before picture of what our bedroom looked like: 

This is not even as bad as it actually was to be completely honest. There were a few other boxes/containers also full of clothes downstairs that just had not been brought up to the room yet. Plus, as you will notice, I am only showing you a portion of the bedroom….now do you see why I am going crazy?!?! I dedicated some time after Roman went to sleep and I got everything put in its place finally:

Disclaimer – that bookshelf is not even supposed to be there, it just happened to end up in our room and that was a good place to put it. Second Disclaimer – I have not even begun to think about the décor (which is the stuff that I actually like to do!) so all that random stuff you see piled up on the bookshelf is simply there temporarily. Don’t judge me. I swear in a few weeks (or more realistically, months) things will be pretty and homey, just how I have dreamed. It is nice to get stuff put away though, it creates a sense of calmness and clarity. I want to give special thank you to my husband today for helping clean up/make dinner/unpack. You’re the best. Thanks for making my cleaning day a little bit easier to celebrate!

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

Clip of the Day:

I found it highly amusing that when I typed ‘clean up your room’ into YouTube about a zillion different DIY videos came up. This was one of my favorites:

 

P.S. – Do people really search for DIY videos on how to clean their room?? That seems like a colossal waste of valuable cleaning time.

In Memoriam

Tags

Evil Dryer, Holiday, I Will Remember You, Lost Sock Memorial Day, lost socks

May 9^th Holiday

NATIONAL LOST SOCK MEMORIAL DAY

It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of our partners today:  

We have been left abandoned and unused. Our days are spent alone in a drawer while we watch all the remaining pairs get plucked out and worn over and over again. The only comfort we have is the knowledge that we will not have to face The Evil Dryer that has already claimed our mates: 

The Evil Dryer has eaten them up and left not a single linty trace. Now we wait in vain to either be miraculously reunited with our other half or be woefully cast into the trash can. To all the lost socks out there, come back! We love you, we want you back, we want to be together in harmony once more. If you all ban together, you can defeat The Evil Dryer and resurface to the bowels of his belly. There you will be found and happily matched to once again be a twosome. With this unwavering hope, we hope to see you again one day. You will never be forgotten.

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

Song of the Day:

I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan:

 

P.S. – Weep not for the memories…..

 

Just Say No….To Socks

Tags

flip flops, Free Fallin', Holiday, No Socks Day

May 8th Holiday

NO SOCKS DAY

It seems as if there have been a lot of holidays about shoes/socks/feet, doesn’t it? Today’s holiday doesn’t have any super special meaning behind it. The creators point out that by not wearing socks it cuts down on laundry and thereby helps the environment. I guess I never thought that socks take up that much space in the laundry machine, but okay. It is also a day to let you feet free to breathe without the constraints of those oh-so-confining socks. Luckily, today was my working from home day so I could wear flip flops:

We are not allowed to wear flip flops at my work…boo. It was also pleasantly warm out today so I was more than happy to toss my socks aside and let my feet soak up the sunshine. Yippee for no socks! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s holiday for more sock related banter….

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

Song of the Day:

Free Fallin’. Why? Well, because my toes are FREEEEEEE!

 

P.S. – Does anyone else automatically think of Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire when they hear this song?

Nuts For Coconut

Tags

coconut cream pie, hoiday, pie, The Pie Song

May 7th Holiday

NATIONAL COCONUT CREAM PIE DAY

Today was the first day I ever recall trying coconut cream pie. I picked one up from the local Meijer during my grocery shopping trip:

REAL whipped cream!! Wowza!! Coconut cream pie had never interested me for some reason. I like coconut, I like cream and I like pie. So, you would think that I would like the combination of all three, right? Hmmm…not so much. It wasn’t terrible or anything, just not really that great. My suspicions about how it was going to taste were confirmed….I feel like it tasted like suntan lotion:

I gave Roman a little slice too. He ate the crust, but he just squished the rest of it in his hands and then whined when he couldn’t get it off:

Rich was working a shift during today’s holiday so he didn’t get to participate. Don’t worry though, he has single-handedly consumed the remaining pieces of pie as of today. He likes pie….a lot.

Total Cost to Celebrate: $6.99

 

Song of the Day:

The Pie Song:

 

P.S. – I will now have nightmares about pie tonight thanks to this song.

 

Nurse? I Need a Shot of Morphine Over Here.

Tags

Holiday, Nurse Jackie, Nurses Day

May 6^th Holiday

NURSES DAY

I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about nurses. Some think they are all crabby witches, some think they like to inflict pain upon people and others believe they are the unsung heroes of the medical world.

I believe a little bit of each of the categories. Before all you nurses start freaking out about my judgment, hear me out. I believe a lot of nurses may come off as crabby because they are the ones that are working the hardest and getting paid the least. They are the ones that are dealing with the crazy people, they are the ones that work ridiculous shifts and are on their feet the entire time and they are the ones that are essentially doing all of the grunt work before the doctor comes in. So, I understand why some nurses may be a little cranky. The part about inflicting pain is mainly about the fact that I would never be able to do what a lot of nurses have to do. I know when my husband was going through Paramedic school, he was really into (and still is) putting IVs into people. Ick. I would never let him practice on me because I have notoriously tiny veins. When I went to have Roman, I got poked about 3 or 4 times (one resulting in a massive bruise/swelling on my hand) before they got that beastly needle into me. Needless to say, the nurse didn’t seem too apologetic. I understand that I am a hard case though, so I will always cut them some slack. She did what she had to do and I understand that. Last but not least, nurses are the unsung heroes of the medical world. As I pointed out above, nurses really get a bad wrap sometimes. They have to deal with a lot of crap before the doctor even enters the room. I’m not discounting doctors by any means, but today is Nurses Day so they are getting all the credit for this holiday. Next time you have to go to the doctor or the emergency room, remember to thank the nurses. They are working much harder than the doctors and they probably get thanked much much less. Thank you to all the nurses out there for all that you do!

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

Clip of the Day:

A scene from Nurse Jackie:

P.S. – I love this show….I miss my premium tv!!!!

Cinco de Move-o

Tags

Cinco de Mayo, Holiday, Margaritas, Moving, Sombrero Cookies

May 5^th Holiday

CINCO DE MAYO

As you may have deduced by the title of today’s post, Cinco de Mayo was instead deemed ‘Moving Day’ for the Dege family. Therefore, there was not too much fiesta time unfortunately. I would have gladly enjoyed a margarita (or 4) if I wasn’t in my current state to help ease the agony of all that Moving Day entailed. I did not take any pictures of the actual move since I didn’t really plan on documenting that awesomeness. Here are a few pictures of what the aftermath looks like: 

Fun, right? I love not being able to find my toothbrush and plowing into boxes searching for the bathroom in the middle of the night! All in all, it actually wasn’t that bad. We had prepared well and we had a lot of help from friends and family. Rich did A LOT more work than I did. My job was basically to keep Roman out of the way. Thank you to all that helped us, we couldn’t have done it without you!

Now that I am done with my Moving Day spiel, I have to make up for my disregard of the greatest Mexican holiday ever. Pinterest, the always trusty party/décor/fun idea site, had a few nifty pins that I thought I would share with everyone. Hey, I know this post is late but enjoying some drinks and treats is always in season!

Margarita Cupcakes

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

 

Clip of the Day:

Just in case you weren’t into the margarita cupcakes, here in another option:

 

P.S. – What does clubwear have to do with cookies? I’m confused.

You Check that Door for Heat, Tim?

Tags

Backdraft, Firefighters, Guest Blogger, Holiday, National Firefighters Day

May 4th Holiday

NATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS DAY

As many of you know my husband, Rich, is a firefighter. He had asked me about doing a guest blogger post for a holiday and I figured this be the best possible one! Please enjoy his humorous take on today’s celebration.

My wife was looking forward to National Firefighters Day. I’ve been involved in the job in some capacity for a few years now so my wife knows a lot of firemen. She was confident that she would find a highly talented and brilliant firefighter to appear as a guest blogger on this holiday of holidays. To her disappointment, none of them were available so she reluctantly asked me to do it.

Believe it or not, my inspiration to pursue this career path came from the film, “Backdraft”. My friend John and I rented the movie one November evening in 2001. After approximately two hours the somewhat corny, but always awesome, movie came to an end and John turned to me and said, “I think we should be firemen”.  I, of course, agreed and I enrolled in the fire academy the next fall. The dream of fighting fire with Bull and Axe in th Fighting 17^th seemed just too good to pass up. For anyone interested in pursuing a career as a fireman, I recommend you view the film before enrolling in the academy. The movie is pretty much a spot on depiction of a typical day at the firehouse for me. I can’t tell how many times in a fire that I’ve broken off the nozzle of a fire extinguisher and hurled the canister into a roaring wall of fire causing an intense explosion of carbon dioxide giving me just enough time to do a Pete Rose slide into a rogue 2.5 inch hose charged with 300 PSI and tame the beast single handedly. Not to mention the weekly axe fights with corrupt firemen in a burning hazardous materials environment on an unstable platform 200 feet above a lake of superheated liquid metal. Also, both of my children were conceived upon the hose bed on top of a fire engine.

In reality, I do love my job. I couldn’t be happier doing anything else in the world.  I never would have succeeded without the support of my loving and beautiful wife (brownie points plug). Also, I owe a great debt of gratitude to the senior firefighters and paramedics who read me the playbook of how to do the job properly. It is a high honor to be the one who people call when they are having their worst day and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. To all of you, thanks for reading and following my wife’s blog. If you see a firefighter today give them a hug. Or better yet a kiss on the mouth.

Thanks to all of the brave souls who dedicated their lives to the tradition of the brotherhood. And thank you LT RT, a great friend and the best teacher I’ve ever had.

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

 

Clip of the Day: 

So many great clips to choose from this academy award deserving film. The title of today’s blog is one of my favorite lines from the movie, but the scene it’s a part of may be a bit too gruesome. In its stead I chose another heroic but heartwarming scene when Bull’s brother goes from probie to pipeman and finally wins over the respect of his older, tough loving brother.

 

P.S. – Not only does that give me chills every time but there are tears streaming down my face.

Shoe Crazy

Tags

Holiday, Two Different Colored Shoes Day, Uniqueness

May 3rd Holiday

NATIONAL TWO DIFFERENT COLORED SHOES DAY

Today’s holiday was easy to celebrate. As you all saw with one of my previous posts, I have an extensive collection of Converse All Stars in a wide range of colors. I picked two different colored shoes and matched my outfit to them:

I felt a little silly wearing such a matchy matchy outfit, but at the same time it was fun:

I thought people would ask me why I was wearing two different colored shoes or even ask me if I realized I was not wearing a matching pair. I had all these smart comments prepared to respond with such as, “Why AREN’T you wearing two different colored shoes?” or “Oh my goodness, I totally didn’t notice when I got dressed this morning!” No one asked me though. Instead I got a much different reaction than I expected. A lot of people just told me how ‘cute’ I looked with my super color coordinated outfit. Hmmmm…I wasn’t anticipating those comments. Maybe everyone was just being nice to me since I’m getting fatter more pregnant by the second. They don’t want to question a highly hormonal chick about why her shoes don’t match. Either way, the purpose of today’s holiday is to do something fun and unique. Mission accomplished!

Total Cost to Celebrate: $0

Clip of the Day:

A little video about today’s holiday:

 

P.S. – Cute!