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It’s time for another edition of Tuesday Troubles. I’ve said it before (like every week), but this should be named “things i’m annoyed / confused / want to complain about”, however I couldn’t figure out how to make any of those into a snappy title, so Tuesday Troubles it is. And yes, I do realize that these aren’t true “troubles”. I know that many of these for sure could be defined as first world problems!
~Do you get a lot of door to door salespeople in your neighborhood? I know I have posted about this before, but we get a lot. And it still annoys me. And what they are selling is all over the place. I do not mind the kids who come by selling’s things one bit. Coupon books, Girl Scout Cookies, Boy Scout Popcorn, whatever, I will take it! But meat & furniture off semi trucks, $300 books (no for real), carpet cleaning, etc? No. It’s all “Hi ma’am, sorry it’s so late but we want to come in and clean a room of carpet totally free. Look I have a badge!” Umm, first of all, it’s 9pm, so no. And second of all, is it normal to let strangers in your house just because they have a “badge”? That creeps me out. I could make a badge too? Maybe I watch too much Dateline, but I am just not cool with it. And why do you tell me you have been busy cleaning my neighbors carpets for the last few hours? You have not. We are all friends. I’d know.
~What are you getting your mom for Mother’s Day? Do you do something special? Or if you are a mom, do you expect something special to do done for you? I have no idea what I am getting my mom (she’ll swear she just wants a card, but that’s not fun) and I really don’t expect anything from the boys since they are so young (although I hope L has made me something adorable at school). I love the idea of a fancy Mother’s Day Brunch, however, I think that is something that would be more fun when WB is older.
~I really really need to start working out (so badly) and would love for it to be in the mornings, however, like I have mentioned a million times, I am so not a morning person. At all. But I mean it obviously can be done and I want to know what some of your tips / tricks are for getting up in the morning instead of just hitting snooze a million times? Because I would like to get this 30-45 minutes out of the way before my day starts. Because once it starts? It never happens. So help me!
~Do you have any birthday traditions? Like every year you go to the same place for dinner? Or do Birthday Interviews? A special birthday breakfast? In addition to the balloon door for L, I want to do something fun with his gifts, like do a scavenger hunt type thing and maybe start a tradition with that?
~Ohhh, and what should I send into school for L’s birthday treat? The only things that are not allowed are cupcakes (too messy) and anything with peanut butter. I want to send something fun, but I also don’t want to sugar up the class either. Any cool, not-messy ideas?
That’s it from here for now! What’s troubling you today?
When I lived in NC, we used to get various people at the door all the time. I made a little sign that said No Solicitations and put it right above my doorbell. I think it helped for the most part.
I should try that! I guess I just thought no one ever paid attention to the signs?
Ooooh sometimes those guys get inside our building and I just call the police if they don’t leave. We have a no soliciting sign on the door and who knows who lets them in (they aren’t using the buzzer, they are knocking our inside doors). I only answer the door because I expect it to be an actual neighbor. It’s usually the fake utility people.
What do the fake utility people want?
And totally in a different direction, I saw those dessert plates at Nordstrom yesterday! I was expecting them to be bigger, but maybe my desserts are just too big? They are about the size of my hand. Anyway, I think I still want them though….
if i get mine today (i am getting a UPS from nordstrom, not sure which it is) i will stop my ikea building marathon (i built 2 things) and take a photo for you. haha.
LOL! They had them out in beauty section so if course I had to touch them all and inspect them.
On the working out….
I’ve always found if you’re not a morning person, don’t create a workout schedule for the morning. I am a snooze-a-holic and have 4 different alarms on my phone, an actual alarm clock, and my boyfriend calling me to say good morning, and sometimes…I STILL go back to sleep! ugh… So i can’t help you there. But the folks at Weight Watchers (which i’ve been a member of for years now) always suggest to newbies, or folks restarting a workout routine, to stick to a time of day that is realistically possible. I am not a morning person. i will never be a morning person. The only routine i can stick to is 7pm-9pm. let us know though if you can manage it in the morning know, because I’m still looking for the secret!
I have a million alarms set too! Most of the problem revolves around the fact I go to bed at 2-3am….
I really hate it when people come to the door. It doesn’t happen much in my condo, but several times there have been people from a private electric company trying to “update” my power bill. They want me to hand them my power bill, that has all kinds of personal info on it. Nope!
Do you have a YMCA? I love my family membership. The classes are scheduled, so I feel more compelled to go, especially when there’s an instructor or class I prefer. It’s more expensive than other gyms, but day care (and classes) are included, so it’s really extremely easy to fit into the day.
We have a membership to our local rec center that has classes, a great gym, etc. The daycare doesn’t open there till later though. I just want to do it at home and get it over with!
I would love to be a morning person but I am not. The best time for me to work out is 4:00 pm. This normally works unless the kids have after school activities which is my excuse today!
Maybe I can find my perfect time this summer when my oldest is out of scjool
When I do early workouts (and they get really early in the summer when I’m marathon training and have to beat the heat/sunrise) I lay all my stuff out the night before and keep it where I can see it. I also put my alarm further away so I have to get out of bed- makes the snooze more difficult.
For school birthday dessert — what about cake pops?
I wonder if I could have someone make cake pops. LOL! I have tried and mine just do not turn out well. But little superhero ones would be so so so cute.
Go to bed earlier. I’m asleep no later than 11 every night. I never set an alarm. I sleep like a rock and naturally wake up at 6-6:30 every morning. Also, I don’t drink caffeine. .. ever. It screws everything up.
My natural alarm is like 830! You are right about the caffeine. So right!!!
The best way for me to work out is if I am committed to a work out class. I just can’t seem to be motivated at home. I think it’s kinda like in college…. I could only do work in the library/computer lab…. if I was in my room I just couldn’t focus. ALSO, with the classes I push myself harder, so I can keep up… I also don’t leave early… I have to do the full work out. I do have friends that go and do the elliptical to watch their shows. So if you have the treadmill at home – I’d say force yourself to watch 1 hour of kathie lee and hoda or The View or something (you live in a different time zone so I have no idea what’s on at what time where you are)…. and make it a habit routine! Make a goal like you MUST work out at least 4 times a week. I work out 5 days a week for the past 2 years… only exceptions are like holidays or if I have an appointment during that time… it’s so routine to me I don’t dread going it’s like just part of my day.
Now I am totally different. I could never go to the library in college because I would just end up sitting there and talking to whoever I ran into instead of studying!
Yeah, I really do need to make it a routine. Give it a month of getting up at 5 or 6 or whatever and then see how I feel about it!
My sister and I split the cost of a DNA test to try to pinpoint her hertiage for my mom. We don’t have much information on her family and she’s been wanting to know more. We got her DNA results back last week and on Mother’s Day she will see the results.
She love it!
We did a treasure map/hunt once and my son had a blast. I made a treasure chest out of a shoe box, cardboard, and brown tissue paper.
OMG I bet he loved it. I bet I can find some sort of treasure map idea somewhere…
I have no idea what to get my mom for Mother’s Day. I hope to figure it out soon.
For me, my niece is stopping by Lush on her way home from college and I have given her my shopping list. I figure I get what I want and hubby doesn’t have to worry with it. I do keep tagging him in a FB post hoping he will start doing the no cards on Mother’s Day book for me. My kids are so young it would be a really great tradition to start.
http://blog.babygizmo.com/2014/04/mothers-day-cards/
Oh that is cute!! Maybe if I bought the book and printed that page my husband would get the hint!
Birthday traditions..
Everyone in my family, including all my extended family do the same thing. You get to pick your special bday dinner for everyone to enjoy. Usually it’s something that is homemade. For my family (myself, my boyfriend, and my daughter) we get to go see a special birthday movie. This year my boyfriend said Malificent is most likely going to be his. I think my new tradition for mine is doing the ‘Dirty Dash’ on my birthday. Last year it actually landed on my bday, this year its the day before, but we plan on doing it again this year (well, at least the piglet plunge part LoL). Currently with us living in Idaho, and all our family living in California, we do every other year of my Daughter’s bday in California. So that’s always a nice change. Last tradition we have, my boyfriend HAS to have an ice cream cake every year on his birthday. So every year I get one from Baskins Robbins and we enjoy it. Just the 3 of us!
My husband is a big ice cream cake fan too!
I was talking to L about picking a special place for dinner for his birthday and he suggested Arby’s. LOL!!!!!
http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/mini-burger-cookies/b04c861a-0b16-4d4b-81b1-0f712569e1fa
I remember being in 1st grade (seriously..23 years ago and I remember it still) and a kid’s mom made us these and I thought it was the coolest thing. She had them wrapped up all cute like a happy meal would have them. She also did those little potato string chips as french fries.
OMG those are adorable! I wonder what I could use in place of coconut for the lettuce??
You dont really even need the lettuce part.. I think it’d be good either way 🙂
Some chocolate covered pretzels would be fun! You could even dunk them in sprinkles/chocolate chips.
Ohh, maybe like pretzel rods?
I have a canvas I’m going to decoupage a bunch of pictures too with scrapbook paper for my mom. I’m debating between just doing pictures and making it more of a mosaic. The kids will be involved.
We don’t get too much door to door crap here, just the religious people and kids selling stuff.
I make my husband talk to the religious people!
Also my kids love taking ice cream treats to school. Since they both have late birthdays (May and June) it’s a perfect treat 🙂
I need to talk to L and see what other people brought.
For a school treat, you could do candy sushi perhaps. It’s still sugar, but it’s fun to make using fruit roll-ups and rice krispies and stuff like that. If you Google it, there are a bunch of recipes and how-tos. 🙂
Have you made it? Will I end up in tears because it doesn’t look perfect?
It’s really easy. Here’s a link for ideas: http://www.instructables.com/id/Candy-Sushi-A-Great-Birthday-Party-Activity-Tr/
Try Blogilates(start with their beginner calender) or tone it up! You can pull the videos up on Youtube and if my kids are up and running around sometimes they stop and try and do the moves with me….which by the way is hilarious. I love both programs because I can do them from home.
Awesome! Thank you!
If you want to send something to L’s class that’s not too messy, why not try some jelly pops? They’re mostly bite size, too, so it’s a cute little treat without pumping too much sugar into the kids. And you can use L’s favourite colors – they’re super fun to make and easy to transport, if you use plastic shot glasses or silicone molds to pour them. We made these
http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/valentine-jelly-pops/ecd90213-f33a-4d28-992e-276f163b4f49
for Valentine’s and thought that they were super cute^^ We are definitely going to make some with lemon flavor for summer as refreshments.
Ohh those are adorable! They aren’t messy though?
At first, we made a test batch, just to figure out how long it would take for the jelly to set and all and with that first batch, we waited a bit too long so the second layer didn’t quite stick to the first layer, that ended up messy -_- But filling the mold wasn’t too messy since we used a turkey baster for that so there was minimal spilling. It was just me and my four-year-old niece (kitchen ninjas unite!) preparing the jelly pops and we had a blast! We made them in a mold for star shaped ice cubes that I got from IKEA an eternity ago.
I cleaned the pots and equipment we used immediately, though, to avoid the gelatine or any remains sticking to the insides.
Since we used a silicone mold, popping the little treats out was not too difficult, either, we really prepared the mold with baking spray beforehand, though.
Cleaning up always sucks, but devouring those little fellas was well worth it. They were bite sized due to the ice cube mold, but even if you took just a little bite out of them, they didn’t crumble or break or smear so eating was a pretty neat affair for once as long as nobody decided to squish them in their hands…the label should say ‘do not apply pressure’ 😉 Also, using food picks to stab into these sweets? Anything with food picks is a huge hit around here, I have not idea why, it just is!
I was so worried about working with gelatine at first, but I just stuck to the instructions and I felt so proud when my niece said “you’re doing a good job” – haha :D!
Just give it a try. If not for L’s birthday then maybe when he’s at home for summer and you guys get bored. It’s a really refreshing little treat^^
I can for sure see it for the summer! I don’t know if I should start with a batch of 30 for my first try!
If you want to go with something that isn’t as messy as cupcakes you could send muffins or mini muffins. Also, when my son was your son’s age, along with the sweet treat, I sent in party blowers from Target. They were super inexpensive and a HUGE hit with the kids. I got the kind that weren’t noisy with the paper part that gets long when you blow. Sorry I don’t have a better way to explain!
Ohhh, muffins could work. And I know exactly what you mean with your party things!
I’ve pretty much stopped answering the door. About six months after we bought our house, I had a rather interesting interaction with a door-to-door home security guy.
Solicitor: “Oh. Uh. Hi. Is your mom home?”
Me: “Uh…this is my house…?”
Him: “So, she’s not here?”
Me: “No? I…this is MY house.”
Him: -suspicious face- “…you’re the mom?”
……it only went downhill from there.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oooooh no, if people constantly came to our door like that I’d lose my mind. It would not take long at all before I wasn’t even polite. Actually, if I’m even so inclined to open the door I’d just hit them with the squirt bottle just like we do with our cats!
I’m taking my mom to a cooking demo class where we’ll have italian appetizers and wine 🙂
It’s seriously crazy! And you have to say no like 9000 times or they stay on your porch!
Glossybox is troubling me. So close to hitting that cancel button!!!
Are you still waiting on April??
YES! Mine hasn’t even shipped and they just charged my card for May’s box today.
Grrr!!!
Rice Krispy treats in cupcake liners with sprinkles on top!
Is there some super secret for making rice crispy treats so they aren’t a sticky mess?
The more rice crispies you use the less sticky they are.
For working out, having stuff set out (shoes, sports bra, socks, etc) helps me a lot. Othewise I can only find one sock and by the time I get everything together I feel like I don’t have time.
For birthdays we always got one present in the morning, before school. It would be sitting outside our bedroom door when we got up-usually new clothes to wear that day. It’s always fun to wake up to a gift!
And school snacks-I used to teach and some of the big hits I’ve thought were good ideas: juice boxes/pouches, the lunchbox sized bags of chips or crackers, and donuts.
L said he wanted to do donuts!!
My mom is one of those people that has everything she wants, and if she sees something, she just buys it. So were doing a hanging plant for her. My husband is working Mothers Day, so I’m thinking I’ll just spend the day with the kids — church and take them out to lunch afterwards. Something easy and fun.
That will be nice!
I wouldn’t call this a tradition, but when I had my old car the battery died every year without fail on my birthday. It became a big joke after the 3rd or 4th year (I had the car for 8 years, loved that car) for my friends to guess at what point of the day my battery would die.
OMG that is so odd!!!!
I know the typical mothers day gift is flowers and a card however my mother kills flowers in 2 days and well I dont want to get her a plant….happy mothers day heres a…tree? so I try to get her things she can use or treat herself with so this year I got her a Kate Spade rose gold pendent necklace, a gift card to Nordstrom and a scarf…SHE BETTER LIKE IT!
That sounds like a great gift!!! Who wouldn’t like that!
Re: birthday treats – we like chocolate covered frozen bananas. You can either make them at home (super easy) or buy them at stores like Whole Foods. If you make them at home, I highly suggest cutting them in half and putting them on Popsicle sticks. It’s healthy AND not healthy at the same time!!! 🙂 Plus, unless anyone has a dairy allergy, it’s safe to eat and if you need something dairy allergy free (we do in our house), you can use Enjoy Life chocolate chips which taste just the same as regular semi-sweet chocolate chips for a totally allergy safe treat.
Thanks!
Working out? What is this working out you speak of? I do not understand. (big cheesy grin).
We had a “No soliciting” sign on our door once. When the sales person rang the doorbell to try to sell me something and I pointed out the no soliciting sign, he replied “I’m not soliciting, I’m peddling.”. I wanted to smack him.
I was actually born on Mothers Day so every four years my birthday falls on that day. For many years now, my husband has taken me to my favorite sushi place on my birthday, but if it fell on Mothers Day, we would always go where Mom wanted. This will be the first Mothers Day/birthday combo since she passed away. I’m thinking a nice dinner in Hawaii would be a perfect meal to remember her and celebrate my birthday 🙂
I would agree on the Hawaii thing! As I am sure she would!
OMG I would have so smacked him. What an idiot. Like you would buy something after he said that.
For a birthday treat, ever try making jello jigglers (or as I call them Knox Blox). It’s just finger jello which are fun, jiggly, and tasty. And shouldn’t be too messy. Also great for grownup parties if you add alcohol. 🙂
I do love jello shots. LOL!
In the last month or so, I’ve started working out in the am. Bottom line, you have to go to bed earlier. Trust me, I am not a morning person either but there is no way you are going to wake up early to work out unless you’ve had enough sleep. Once you’ve done it for a week or two, you’ll probably be hooked though. It’s so nice to get it done asap, plus I find that I eat healthier when I work out in the am b/c i don’t want to negate the work that I put in. Commit to it for a few days and see what happens!
You are right. I need to change my sleeping pattern!
I did a scavenger hunt for my daughters birthday last year. Each place they went that day she got a “clue” (really it was just a bunch of riddles) and at her birthday dinner she got the presents (which ended up being a trip to Atlanta, Selena Gomez concert, American Girl doll and trip to the store, and a trip to the Atlanta zoo.)
That sounds so fun! I would have liked those presents myself!!