1. We've needed a new blender for a while. In fact we needed a new blender, bought a new blender, and then almost immediately needed a new blender again.
So, I came home Friday and there was a new blender on my kitchen counter. Unfortunately, when you're married and you share a joint bank account and you know the status of that joint bank account, surprise splurges make you first go "Wow, THANK YOU!" and then immediately go "But I literally know we can't afford that."
Enter Costco and their Costco-sized sales. Turns out, we could afford it, and now we can make smoothies for everyone in something like 10 seconds.
Oh, we got a Ninja, in case you need a new blender too.
2. So, hey, we also caught a mouse in our kitchen this past weekend. I know, so gross, but it was the most adorable rodent I've ever seen. (Maybe he heard about the smoothies?)
Kyle and I would have preferred to domesticate the cute thing, but Mike ushered us into the car, drove us to a nearby (but not too nearby) creek, and forced us to let him loose. Then I deep-cleaned the kitchen.
Also, whoa, does wildlife really like our house. In the last year, we've had a bird fly into our living room (and then up our stairs!), a squirrel camp out on our back porch, another bird make a nest on our front porch, multiple bunnies declare home to be under our backyard shed, a rat scurried around in our garage, and let's not forget Fred. Now this.
3. I have a new blog banner! Thanks to Ashley from Little Leaf Design, for making the process so stress-free and easy. I updated a few sidebar things to match.
4. I've been contracted to use The Prowl (a new social media site) for a few weeks, but I'm under no obligation to talk, write, tweet, or otherwise promote it. Just use! Except...it's great. I love the Ask & Answer section of the site. You can pose fashion, beauty, home, and kid-related "help me find it" questions and your followers can make useful suggestion and comments. (For instance, I really need a new face cleanser. Care to help?)
5. I have so many books on my to-read list, I could read for years and never run out of material (not to mention, I have a handful of books left on Elizabeth's best of 2012 list to get through this year), but I'm always interested in what others are reading (and loving). So, do tell, what's your favorite book of the moment?
You can see what I've read so far this year on my 2013 to-do list.
6. Every September I get blue. It happens each year. What the entire world feels mid-February, I feel all of September. I wish I knew why, but at least I can now anticipate the dip in emotions, and I hope to treat it with healthy eating, yoga, and some fun plans on the calendar.
If I'm guessing, I'd say it's because while I love fall, September in Texas is just more summer. It's supposed to be fall but it never is, and actual fall is two weeks long, mid-November, and I'm sad for it to end before it begins. I want pumpkins and football and prepping for Halloween but I don't want to do any of those things WHILE STILL SWEATING.
Is it just me, am I alone in getting the September Blues?
7. Kyle started Pre-K this week. He just moved from one building at his school to another, and he's with most of the same kids he's been with since he was six months old, so the transition wasn't too big of a deal. But, he has to wear a uniform and he has his own locker and desk, and it's the absolute last stop between daycare and Officially Going to School. While it seems a little weird to be proud of someone for just naturally progressing, I'm still so proud of him. Of who he's becoming, more than anything. He's a beautiful, bright, sunny kid who I feel so fortunate to know, let alone get to be the mother of.
I dropped him off Monday and he was absolutely fine and he waved me away with practically an eye-roll as if to say, "You can go now, mom." I walked back to my car, weepy, because he has become one of the "big kids" (what all the other kids in his school call the Pre-K kids), and everyone says it because it's true, that time just goes so damn fast.
I don't know how we even handle the speed of it sometimes.