Barnaclebutt

 I had such a great weekend with Marc's little sister Becca and her sweet boys Drew and Wes. They were my baby fix until November when we'll see them again. Even though I know my child bearing days are long gone, there is nothing I like better than a baby. Unless it's two babies!

Becca and my sweet nephews are coming today and I have to clean like the wind so I only have one tip today. (Actually, they came last night and I was so busy smooching those boys that I forgot to post this.)

Let your kids cook.

Sharing how much I love food and cooking with my children and really letting them get in there and make a mess with me has paid off.

They make me really nice dinners now.

Today's tips from my WEEK O'TIPS are about what television shows you should be watching. You can see my other tips here and here.

I have excellent taste in television shows. You know it's true because even after Marc and I decided to stop watching tv (which you can read about here) and cancelled cable, the shows we watch are so good that we had to buy a ROKU and start watching them again. I know!

So if you love your J. J. Abrams like we do you will certainly be watching the final season of...

1. Fringe-because alternate universes and bowler hats and super mind powers=YES!

This week I am pretending I am a large and fancy blogger by giving tips as if I am an expert and people care what I think. Some people do, actually, care what I think so I'm not completely faking here. When they are hungry my family members care very sincerely about what I think we are having for dinner. Because it usually comes true. So. That's good.

Tips! Today I am sharing my "witch doctor" tips that I mostly learned from my Mother-in-law and Sister-in-law who shall henceforth be known as "Mom" and "Jenna." To say I have 10 of them would be (is) a gross exaggeration, but the four I'm giving you are really pretty good so I think it's going to be worth it for you to hang in there with me.

I'm going to go from least powerful to most spectacular a la David Letterman.

4. Okay, this one is good for when you get a sty on your eye. You take a penny and rub it rapidly back and forth over your jeans until it feels hot. Then hold it on your ouchie (closed!) eye until it cools down. Do this two or three times, it helps the swelling go away much quicker. I don't know why, but if someone else does it for you it works even better.

3. Marc learned this one from his Mom-it's for when you have an earache. Pour a little olive oil in a spoon and then heat the oil by holding a lit match under the spoon. The first time Marc wanted to try it on me I wouldn't let him, then I got a really bad middle of the night earache and figured warm oil in my ear was better than the ice pick I was planning to poke in there any minute. And it worked! I was able to sleep that night and then went to the doctor the next day.

Um, when you go to the doctor the next day I don't know how she'll feel about you getting vicarious medical advice from a witch doctor on the internet. Maybe you shouldn't mention it.

2. Airborne. It does help kick a cold. My number 1 tip is better, but it's hard to get kids (or a sick baby husband) to participate so sometimes you have to go with second best. Which is Airborne.

1. And the number one witch doctor tip from my mom is what we fondly refer to as "the cocktail." Here's whatcha do. At the first hint you are getting a cold, and I mean the first itch in your throat or slightly stuffy nose, you've got to bust out this cocktail:
Rx-take whatever the bottle recommended dose is of
vitamin c
vitamin a
echinacea 

I like to read some of the big blogs as noted on my sidebar. I dream about having that kind of readership, mostly because I love writing and think it is fun when people read what I write, also I love comments, and also Pop-u-lar; I want to be Pop-uuuu-lar!

So in an effort to emulate I am going to spend this week giving tips. Because the big girls often give "10 tips on how to(fill in the blank)." I haven't thought of that many things I know enough about to give tips on, and I don't think I have 10 tips for the things I can think of, but I don't think that should stop me from believing in myself!

Here I go then. These are my beauty tips; I think those kind of tips are the most popular:

1. Get dressed. Try to do this everyday. Pajamas are not an outfit the same way a ponytail is not a hairstyle. Don't hate me, it' just the truth.

2. Use this lipstick. I have no affiliate links, I just really like this lip color. It is light, smooth and medium shiny. It reminds me of Burt's Bees but has more colors to choose from. 

3. Also, I do my own hair color with the John Frieda hair color and have excellent results, I tell you what. This product is so good that I have repeatedly embarrassed myself by gushing to friends about how awesome it is until their eyes glaze over. It goes on like a mousse and it lets all the variations of shade and highlights in your hair shine through so it looks really natural. And it is SO much cheaper than a salon do, which I have paid for for years and I actually like this better because as soon as I notice my roots I swing by CVS to get a box and take care of it that night. Half an hour and twelve bucks and BOOM, I look like this:

I decided that I needed a small improvement project that I could actually finish before I go back to the project that shall not be named this weekend. Since we bought the house there are a million things that need to be done, some big, some small. Improving the light fixture in the entryway seemed like a quick little soul satisfying project.

It feels like I am always messing with the entryway, trying to make the first impression of our home a little bit better each time. Read about one of my early entryway efforts here. Oh for a complete demolition and makeover...sigh.

Notice I say improve the fixture and not replace the fixture. Replacing costs money. Surprise! Here is a before picture.

Driving home from work today I saw a row of American flags that had been arranged on an overpass above the freeway.

Of course it made me remember 9/11. And it made me think of the phrase I sometimes hear, "never forget." I felt bad for a moment because I have a fairly poor long term memory (except for bad/dumb songs; I remember those forever)and I tried to take a mental inventory of what I remember from that sad day and the weeks that followed.

I remember standing in our little condo in Northern Virginia, watching my little girls play and talking on the corded phone with my friend Brandy when the television coverage started.

I remember the feeling of confusion about what was happening and her immediate recognition that it was al-Qaeda (she was a reporter in her pre-mom days).

I remember feeling desperate for Marc to get out of D.C. where he worked and to get home. That feeling of fear, of being unsafe is something I will never forget. Knowing that feeling, I have more empathy and desire to help people who live in countries where they feel that way all the time, and I have a much vaster appreciation for the feelings of safety and peace that I enjoy now and have been blessed with for most of my life. In spite of our mistakes, this is a Great country.

Later in the week we called our dear friends the Klasses who lived in New York. We only knew one family in the whole state, surely they were fine...but we were still afraid to call and find out. 

When we finally reached them they weren't fine. Kristen's brother-in-law had an office in one of the towers and had died while on the phone telling her sister how much he loved her and their two children. Although we didn't know Eileen and Michael well, I remember how unbearable it felt.

I remember Kristen telling me she was glad I called. I told her how useless and stupid all my words felt but she said her friends were now divided into two camps, those who cared enough to check on her, and those who let their fears stop them. I learned that I should never let fear stop me from telling someone who is suffering that I love them.

September 11th changed us all. What do you remember?

I'm thinking another post about our house painting project may be kind of overkill, but I'm putting up the porch pictures just the same because it is the best part. If you've painted a whole house yourself then you know what I mean, it's the little details that finally make it look good.

If you want to follow the process, here are links to the other posts.

I tried to be fresh and modern, I really did, but the trim paint colors that won are black and red. I guess I'm just a traditional girl at heart, and after painting the green I kept coming back (like Leslie and Linda recommended) to the craftsman colors. 

Katie and I took that down with a bow saw. Go girls! OOPS,  just in, Phallic is spelled Phallic.  What a funny phallic word.