I'm linking up with Poe at Many Waters for this great and rambly post. I'm tired. I've been up for almost an hour already and it's not yet 5AM. "Why in the world have you been up since before 4AM," you ask? Well...there is this going on...and it's LOUD:
They had a different attachment on the end a little earlier and it makes my whole house shake. I'm going back to bed (hopefully) when my husband gets up for work. There goes my plans to take him to work and meet for part of a playdate today. I think playdate time will be naptime as my kids aren't sleeping well through this either...and they're both in my bed now. I have NO clue when my son arrived in bed with us, but my daughter woke up about 20 minutes after me, terrified. I've never seen her run so fast from her room. She sat on the couch with me and watched for about 5 minutes before I convinced her to go lay in my bed. Poor thing. I can hear her now struggling to sleep. I feel bad for her. It's going to be a very long day in my household.
On to the link up though!
This week's Top 10 is products! I'm not one to really care much about "things" but there are some things I can't live without. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Washer/Dryer - Yes, I know how to hand wash, however, I think I'd be buying new clothes instead with how much we go through...
2. Stove/Oven - If I had to cook over a fire for this stuff, no problem, I love the convenience though...and it warms the house a little more on those cool days!
3. Crock Pot - How much easier does it get to cook? I love mine on those busy/lazy days!
4. My car - I have a 2010 Honda Pilot. I was thinking of getting a van but then I looked into my friend's van and thought "I have one more seat in here than they have and it's not a big deal for my oldest to climb over the seat if we need to move her to the back row." I can put 6 carseats in my car if I need to. If there are no children in my car, I can fit 7 full grown adult passengers in there and have it be mostly comfortable. This is the car I will have to carpool teenagers around to dances, soccer, dance classes, dates, etc. It's a great car. When we don't have the carseats in, we can put the two back rows down and my family of 4 can sleep in the back fairly comfortably (with just me and the kids, we can do it with just the very back row down!)
5. My iPad/iPod - Technically the iPod is for the kids, but I have my music on it for the gym/running...which I need to get back to. I miss it. I don't think I'd be as happy without my iPad now. I use it as my laptop most of the time. I have a keyboard I can use with it and do on occasion (like when I write a blog post from it). I love the games that I can play, the E-Readers, cooking apps, kids apps, tv apps, etc. I have my bible on it. My church's synod has an app that I have on it. My contacts are there, notes, etc. It's basically my lifeline.
UGH! House shakey attachment is back on and going...so glad I didn't go back to sleep when I was going to!
6. My cameras - I have four cameras. Two I never use (one of those is technically my husband's), out of the two left...one is broken at the moment...that leaves my Nikon D40. I am in no way, shape or form a professional photographer, but I wouldn't trade having a more professional like camera for the world! I grew up using one like this only it wasn't automatic and it was a 35mm (I do not always use the auto on my camera! I like using it in manual). The first real time I was allowed to use this camera was in France. A lot of my pictures turned out like crap, but there were some that were amazing. When I go back, I will have MY camera and be able to take some great photos of some of the things that didn't turn out so great the first time around. I'm excited for this trip. Whenever my youngest hits 10/12 we will be making the trek and we are bringing my parents along too. The first time I went, I was with my mom and my high school's french club. What an experience! I can't wait to do it again!
7. Our Keurig - I don't really drink much coffee, but it makes my tea making go much faster. No longer do I HAVE to boil the water before being able to steep my tea to perfection...I just put my cup under the keurig without a k-cup in it and I have a piping hot cup of water ready and waiting for a tea bag. I can also make a cup of swiss miss fast with it. My husband does make coffee in it, so it's not a complete waste on us. I also enjoy making my iced tea in it on occasion. I love Tazo Zen and Tazo Awake iced. I don't think I've ever had either hot. My hot tea of choice is a good chamomile or Sweet Dreams (I believe it's called that...it's a mint/chamomile combo...I usually only drink that if my stomach is upset).
8. Our TVs - Some days I can't live without it. Today it will be watching my kids if they don't want to take a nap with me. It will be on ALL day today. We just got rid of cable so it's all Netflix all the time until we get Amazon Prime or Hulu Plus (I think we're going to go with Amazon so we can watch some Team Umizoomi!) but it's worth it to have that extra peace of mind that my kids are okay and entertained while I'm sleeping on the couch.
9. Planners/Calenders - I am an addict. Free printable menu planners scatter my house, I usually have 2-3 calenders hanging on my walls in any given year (amazingly I only have one this year!), I have a small calender in my purse and I also have a student planner on my husband's desk for bills/plans too. If there is an offer for a free calender, I usually take it. Any kind of printable, I'll download it and use it. I'm actually searching for a good weekly/monthly calender with plenty of room and lines to do a prayer calender with. One that is pretty and functional along with free (because I really and truly can't afford to pay anything right now). If anyone has any leads for that, please let me know!
10. External Hard Drives - I have a big one...storage wise, not size wise. My husband has the same one, only his is almost full, mine hardly has anything on it. Pictures don't take up much room when you have something this big (It says 1.36TB when I pull it up on the computer). I love it. I also love the cute flash drives...I have a few....A turtle, a monkey and a penguin. I would love to find an elephant and giraffe for the kids...technically the turtle and monkey are the kids' but they aren't allowed to touch them yet. They aren't even allowed near the computer yet unless we're right there and we invited them to be there.
So that wraps up my favorite products. It was hard for me to think of the last few...I actually took the Keurig and camera from Poe because I just couldn't get my mind to think of things. Now let's hope this construction stuff quiets down by 6:00AM like it's supposed to (I'm doubting it! Every time it's been "done" at 6, they haven't stopped working until at least 8!)
