WIWS - Firmoo!

The outfit is nothing special. You've seen all of the elements before. But what I'm excited about today are my new Firmoo's! That's right.  My new glasses! Aren't they cute?



Link to frames style #CP6061

Firmoo is a global online optical store. They have tons of frames and they are cheap. It was so easy to order these.  AND BEST OF ALL?  They have a first free pair program.  Click here to see the details.  All you have to do is pay the shipping and you can get your first pair FREE!

And in case you are worried about how the glasses will look on your face, you can easily upload a picture of your face so that you can "try on" the glasses. Pick your pair, plug in your prescription (your eye doctor is required by law to give you a copy if you ask and should do so without giving you a hassle), make a few other choices and you are done.

It's very quick and easy. If you have any questions you can email their customer service team and they will get back to you by the next business day. If you are in the market for a new pair of specs, I highly recommend Firmoo. And these glasses are so affordable, you can own extra pairs and change them out like you would a necklace or a scarf!

  **Disclosure... I was given a free pair of glasses to review.  Everything I have said here is true and I would definitely use Firmoo instead of my eye doctor for the next pair of frames I need!

For more great Palm Sunday outfits, head on over to Fine Linen and Purple! 

7 Quick Takes Friday

It's time for 7 Quick Takes Friday.  My takes haven't been quick in quite a few Fridays so I will try to be brief today.  Because otherwise it would be called "Let's Cram As Much Stuff As We Can Into One Post" Friday and that just doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

1.  Check this out:

So what?  Just some Maxwell House, right?

Wrong!  It's an ad for Maxwell House on a gallon of milk.

For some reason, this has annoyed me all week.

2.  Peter woke up on the wrong side of the bed last Sunday.  He had a bad attitude towards me all morning and was being very mouthy.  Finally, in the car on the way to church I could take no more and I said, "If you don't stop being such a smart as - er, uh, um, - smart attitude boy, um you are going to lose computer privileges for a month!"

Smart attitude boy?  Quick thinking is not my forte obviously but at least I was able to stop myself. And he did stop being a smart attitude boy.  And Dan was able to stifle his laughter so it was a win-win.

3.  I read the occasional fashion blog and I have a question.  When did it stop being okay to say "trendy?"  Everyone now says "on trend."  Much like #1, I'm not sure why but I am highly annoyed by this.  So when did it become trendy to say on-trend?  Or, I guess if I want to be on-trend I should ask, "When did it become on-trend to say on trend?" Sounds so pretentious...on trend....

4.  My keyboard was filthy so I got one of those cans of air and cleaned it out.  The gross out factor was high - very high. Which reminds me, as soon as I'm done here, I've got to vacuum a mound of crumbs from the floor right beneath my keyboard.

5.  So unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Google will be discontinuing Google Reader in July.  Whatevs Google.  Whatevs.  I've been reading blogs so long that I was using Bloglines when they discontinued it and I was forced to start using Google Reader.  So switching feed readers isn't that big of a deal except that  the whole world must be trying to  switch to Feedly today because I can't get that site to do anything except say "refreshing page".  Perhaps I should check out bloglovin' in the meantime.

6. Peter is doing fractions in math and this week he was changing improper fractions to mixed numbers or something along those lines.  I wasn't able to help him so that task fell to my husband.  Because every man wants to come home at 7:00 PM and sit down and help his kid with math homework - Well, all the good ones do anyway.

7. Did I mention that three of the four of us had the stomach bug last weekend and early this week?  I probably didn't because no one wants to read a blog post about that. Or the weather.  Did I mention it's supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend? 

Head on over to Jen's place for more 7 Quick Takes Friday!

John Adams - husband to Abigail.

Yesterday I asked Peter if parents were supposed to come to his Women in History presentation.

"They can if they want to," was his response.

"Well, do you want me to?  I'm free tomorrow morning so I can come if you want me to come."

"Great!" he replied.

So instead of heading out for a run on this clear, sunny and why-is-it-so-cold-in-March-it's-springtime-for-heaven's-sake morning, I went to school.

Peter's famous woman from history was Abigail Adams (wife of John and mother to John Quincy).  He had to read a book about her and prepare a timeline from her life.

And then he had to attend an "interview" where he (since he is a he) had to be a male from her life and answer questions about her. He chose to do the interview as her husband, John.

And, of course, there was extra credit if you wore a costume.

So I did what any good (but lazy) mom would do.  I scoured eBay until I found a used colonial boy costume for cheap.

Please note, I did make the lopsided buckles.  My non-craftiness is apparent in all that I do.

When he walked into the classroom wearing his 1700's polyester blend costume, one of the girls said, "Ooooh, Peter, you look soooo handsome in that uniform!"

Yes, little female classmate, he does look handsome. But please step away from my child.  He currently isn't interested in little girls and I would like to keep it that way for a while.  ...ahem...

The kids were the studio audience and the teacher was the talk show host.

They shook hands and the interview began.  She asked him questions about Abigail's youth and education, about their family, why she's famous, etc.

Telling the studio audience all they will every need to know about good ole Abbie.

And telling them a little more.

At the end of the interview, the class got to ask questions.  He did a great job with that as well.

I'm so glad I got to hear him.

Although, it's supposed to rain tomorrow and you know what that means.

I think I said "Bite me, Jillian!" at least 20 times. Maybe more.

I just started Week 2 of Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30.  I bought this DVD a couple of weeks ago so I would have something to do when it's raining and I can't get outside for a run.

Let's just say I'm hoping it's sunny tomorrow morning so I can go outside for a run.

Last week I did Week 1 and I did it smuggly. 

This is pretty easy, I thought proudly to myself as I was working my way through the different circuits. 

Well, that was Week 1.  Week 2 is a whole different ball game.  Within minutes I was drenched in sweat and cussing Jillian.

Where had smug Beth gone?  She turned into one of the contestants on the Biggest Loser that's over in the corner puking into a bucket, crying for mercy and telling Jillian that they just. can't. do. it.

Okay.  I may be exaggerating just a teeny little bit but I did  realize why all of the people she trains on the Biggest Loser end up in the fetal position at least once on their weight loss journey. (Not sure if you watch the show or not but it drives me and Dan crazy when they call it their "weight loss journey".  And they use that phrase a lot.  A. Lot.)

I have big expectations with this DVD. 

And I'm hoping I can push my shopping cart through Wal-Mart this morning.

And I'm hoping for sunshine tomorrow because a 3 mile run would be a walk in the park compared to Week 2 of Ripped in 30.

We ended up hot pink and purple!

Jennifer and I had a great time at The Color Run!  It's a total fun run.  They don't even give you timing chips so you don't feel pressured to run fast or hard.  The only thing you want to try to do is get colored!

And I think we did a pretty good job of that!

Here we are pre-race.  There were lots of crazy kids in tutus and long colored eye lashes and crazy wigs.  And when I say kids I mean mid-20s.   This was definitely a younger crowd but we kept up in our hot pink high top socks!

Here we are post-race.  We definitely got covered in color!

And here we are back at Jennifer's house.  We wanted to get a picture of the back of our shorts but were too embarrassed to ask a stranger at the race.

And here's a professional photo taken by Andrew Dye of the Winston-Salem Journal.

The Color Run - it really is the happiest 5k on the planet!

WIWS - Boring is as boring does.

It's What I Wore Sunday and well, here's what I  wore.

Took this first shot outside and as you can see, it was super windy. The flap on the back of my jacket is blowing up and my hair is blowing away. But you get the idea...

We tried a few shots inside but the light wasn't  good and my belt is off center. But at least you can see my mass of bangle bracelets and  my leopard ballerina flats a little better. 

Jacket - Kohls
Tee - Kohls
Cords -  Target
Flats - Target
Ill-fitting belt - Target
Bangles - Kohls
Necklace - Gift

This outfit is a little boring to me.  I think if I wore it again I would wear a burgundy tee shirt. That might give the outfit a little more oomph and would tie in the color in the bracelets.

Head on over to Fine Linen and Purple to see what everyone else is wearing today.  Hopefully their outfits are a little less boring and a little more inspiring. 

7 Quick Takes Friday

1.  The Color Run is tomorrow!  So excited! Except that my husband is out of town so I'll be sending the kids to play at Jennifer's house and she and I will go alone.  The only problem with that - who is going to hold my cell phone and take Before and After pictures of us?  I mean, isn't the only reason we do these things is so we can brag about it to others on Facebook????

2.  Here's a picture of Sarah with her Mars project.  Each of the kids in her class were assigned a planet and had to make a physical representation of it (any way they chose) and include certain facts wtih the project as well as any thing they found interesting.

I forgot to get a picture of her the morning she took the project to school but here's the picture the day she brought it home.  It held up fairly well except for the fortune cookie.  One of the moons of Mars looks a lot like a fortune cookie so that's what we used.  I snapped this picture and as soon as I did, she ripped the three week old fortune cookie off the project and ate it.  I know.  Gross.

The note cards dangling off the dowel rods contain all the important facts about Mars.

3.  Speaking of important facts about Mars.  If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you only weight 39 pounds on Mars.  I'm online searching for cheap flights right now.

4.  Yesterday the ice make blew out in my freezer.  I came home to a fridge that was not working at all thanks to the fact that the breaker also flipped off and a fridge/freezer that smelled like smoke.  Luckily I was able to get the meats and dairy into our fridge in the garage and the repairman was able to arrive and  fix it in just a matter of  two hours. I was afraid I was going to have to make a last minute trip to Lowes to get a new one.  I would love a new fridge with French doors, but I would prefer to do it on my terms and not the ice maker's terms.

5. I have hired one of the teachers at the kid's school to tutor Peter in handwriting.  We switched to our current school last year when Peter was in 3rd grade.  The public schools teach cursive in 3rd grade but the Catholic schools teach it in 2nd.  So the summer before we started, I tried to teach Peter cursive.  He hated me trying to teach him so he "taught" himself.  It is cursive, I suppose, because all the letters are linked together but oh man, is it hard to read.

He gets marked off on things that are correct on tests and papers because the teacher can't make out what he's trying to say.  And, to make matters worse, the teacher that he will have in 5th grade is a master calligrapher and places a very, very high importance on good penmanship.  I have heard this from several people.  So, tutoring starts next week.  I told the tutor to act as if he has never learned cursive and to start completely over.

Peter is thrilled.  HA!

6.  Jennifer Fulwiler had the best article about waiting for the white smoke at the National Catholic Register.  Go read it.  I loved it.

And that's going to be it for me.  I know these are supposed to be quick takes but it seems like every week I end up writing an entire blog post for each take.  So, I'll end at 6 and that will be how I make these 7 Quick Takes quick!

Go see Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.

Maybe she's ready to join the 1.2 billion?

I didn't join the Catholic church until 2007.  I have vague memories of watching white smoke on the news in 2005 but at that time, it wasn't too meaningful to me.

Yesterday as I was doing things around the house, I would occasionally go into the office to check the Pope Smoke Cam on the computer.  I never keep the TV on during the day so I thought checking on the computer would be a great way to see the smoke as it billowed out.

I checked it again around 2:05ish and then decided I need to finish up a couple of things quickly before heading out to get gas and then get the kids from school.

At 2:08 my phone rang.  It was my mom (a lifelong Protestant) and she was excitedly saying, "There's white smoke!  There's white smoke!  Are you watching?  Turn to CNN right now!  Right now!"

Dang it!  I was watching the smoke cam  mere minutes earlier. I really wanted to see the very first puffs.  I guess I should have just parked myself in front of the TV all day.

So I turned to CNN and watched the beautiful white smoke billowing from the smoke stack of the Sistine Chapel.

I watched for a few minutes but I really needed to get gas and get my kids.

I turned on the radio searching for a channel that would be covering this so I could hear first hand at least, who the new Pope would be.

And of course, I found nothing.  So at the gas station I quickly down loaded the CNN radio app to my phone and listened to the news reports live from Rome as I was driving to pick up my kids.

As they piled into the car, I exclaimed, "We have a new Pope!"  They, of course, already knew since they do go to a Catholic school.

"Who is it?  What's his name?" they questioned.

So we listened to the radio reports until they finally, finally, announced Jorge Mario Bergoglioni! 

Pope Francis.

Peter wanted it to be someone from the US but seemed pleased that at least it was a non-European.
Sarah didn't seem to care one way or the other who it was.

We all liked the name Francis.

After school we went straight to Peter's guitar lesson.  My phone rang and it was my mom again.

"Have you heard who it is?? He's just the cutest thing.  He looks so sweet!  I have tears in my eyes!" sang out my mom's voice.

Quite certain my Mom would make a great Catholic!  

Wednesday already?

Wednesday already?

Time flies when you are grocery shopping, paying bills, going to the dentist, driving the kids to and from school piano and guitar, going to a PTO meeting, having lunch with a friend one day and then lunch with Mom the next and laundry...there's always laundry.

But as I am typing this list, I am smiling.  I am very lucky to have the life I have.  And I am trying to be thankful for every minute of it.

Even the dirty underwear.

Because there's always dirty underwear.