i love the olympics

This winter has been freezing cold. Which is why I feel so grateful that we have sixteen days of awesome television to enjoy while we continue to hunker down.

It's no secret I adore the olympics. I'm a huge fan. Love the back stories, love the panoramic aerial shots of the surrounding area, love the music that leads to and from commercial, love the P and G commercials about the mom's, and I enjoy the sports themselves. (Though I am no a huge fan of the team sweaters this year...a bit too reminiscent of an ugly sweater christmas party. But whatever...they're olympians...they can wear whatever they want.)

So bring it on Sochi. We're hoping our new couch arrives in the next sixteen days so we can have friends over to watch and share in another international smorgasbord. (Fun fact: we found out we were pregnant with Ivar during the last winter games. Crazy the changes in four years: two moves, two kids...)

I'll leave you with a favorite commercial so far that got me excited for all the fun that is to come.

i love samoa creamer

I just googled how to spell Samoa...and apparently these little cookies are now called Caramel Delights. And for some reason I took offense at that. Maybe because I went door to door peddling these cookies for many March's of my childhood.

Anyhoo. This stuff. It is my happy juice. I don't drink coffee in the morning, I wait until I need it most. Which can be any time between 1:00 and 3:00. If the kids nap, I save it for when they wake up. If the kids don't nap, I listen to them cry in the monitor until I have made (and drank) my happy juice. I consider this practice a healthy boundary.

I have never been a coffee drinker. Not through college, not after. But little kids sort of necessitate a caffeine hit. I know many get stuck on the stuff and later try to get off of it. But most of those people are in the 40's. So I've decided I'll try to kick the caffeine in my 40's too.

This non-dairy-what-is-it-then creamer is yummy. So yummy that a few weeks ago when I met my friend Erika (one of my bridesmaids, now living out east) who I haven't seen in forever at Starbucks, I brought my 2 Tablespoons of creamer in a little tupperware. It took me about twenty minutes of catch up to finally dig in my purse and tell her, "I love this stuff. Don't think I'm strange that I brought my own creamer to starbucks."

i love slugs and bugs

We have a few kids cd's in our car. Rory once said to me, "let's put something in that has no xylophone." The xylophone is sort of the staple instrument, apparently, in kids music. But it can be hard to listen to these songs again and again and again.

Enter Slugs and Bugs. I was first introduced to Slugs and Bugs through The Rabbit Room, a blog I like of solid Christian thinkers. There are many authors who write on the site. A few of them are musicians, a few are artists, a few are pastors. Andrew Peterson (whom I love) and Randall Goodgame (who I now love too) came out with the first Slugs and Bugs. I would describe the songs as Shell Silverstein poems played with an incredible band. The songs are silly and the music is awesome. No xylophone on a single song.

And the last five songs are stunning lullabies that have now entered our family repertoir. Click here to see a song list  (at the bottom of the page) and be sure to listen to #16 Beautiful Girl, #17 My Baby Loves to Dance (both lullabies) and #10 Chicken Wiggle and #14 The Boy who was Bored (both awesome and silly).

***

BUT THE NEW FAVORITE is Sing the Bible with Slugs and Bugs! (The yellow cd pictured at the top).

This cd is 100% straight out of the Bible. Each song's lyrics are taken right off the page. And the music was heavily influenced by Paul Simon with a strong Graceland style.

Here's the thing. I always wish I could memorize scripture better. And I know that if I really worked at it, I could do a whole lot better. But you know the scripture that comes to mind when I need a word from the Lord? Every camp song I have every learned. Somehow that scripture is at the ready when I need it most.

I feel like Sing the Bible with Slugs and Bugs is a sweet gift for me. We got this CD for Christmas just while I was beginning to think, "I should make a goal to memorize more scripture in the new year."  We popped this CD in and bam, I have a whole CD of new verses in my head.

The songs are great, the music fun, the words powerful and there are some really silly moments mixed in too.

It's a good one for kids and mom's and dad's. Everyone will like it.

So I just looked at the other two Slugs and Bugs CD's, one for Christmas and one called Under Wear? And they look great too. I just heard a snipet of a song called "I'm adopted" on the Under Wear? cd that sounded so great. So maybe just buy all four, while you're at it. Until then, you can't go wrong with the other two I wrote about. :)

To close, I'll leave you with Ivar's most requested song on the Lullabies cd. A song that starts cute and ends so, so three-year-old silly. He laughs his head off every time:

i love alba shampoo

For all of our marriage I have shared a bottle of Suave shampoo with my husband. It's fine. It seems to have done the job for eight years. But I have a strange confession: I love using other people's shampoo and body scrub and face wash. Because using someone's Aveda is like a little sweet luxury. Using someone's four step face wash system is like a day at a spa.

So it was during the second polar vortex here in Minnesota that I found myself wandering the aisles of Target telling myself that I deserve nice shampoos. That maybe after eight years of Suave I could justify a shampoo like the ones I utilize at friends' houses. So I crossed over from the Pantene-and-friends aisle to the Bed Head, Redken and Bumble and Bumble aisle. I read labels. I gasped at the $29 price tags. You understand there is a 50/50 chance this will all fall into the bathtub with my kids one night and wash down the drain...

So I wandered a little farther down the aisle and found this Alba stuff for $10 a bottle. Ten bucks still felt expensive to my Suave-buying self, but I smelled it and it smelled like Hawaii. And a little Hawaii in the middle of a polar vortex is always welcome.

It's sulfate free. And though I don't know what that means, I feel I can sleep better at night, knowing I don't have all those pesky sulfates in my hair any more. I do know it smells awesome and leaves my hair soft. I love it. 

That night I also got a foot pumice, a new lafoof thingy and a big bottle of shea butter lotion. And let me tell you, a little home spa is a wonderful addition to my winter life. Especially when my showers are basically shared with two kids in and out, opening the curtain, letting all the cold air in. It's nice to have yummy shampoos when I'm freezing because the bathroom door is wide open.

**And I think this goes without saying, but just in case. I'm a teeny little blog here that has no affiliates. I don't get any kickback for the products I'm telling about this week. These are just my own thoughts, my own opinions...for what they're worth. Up next: my favorite kids cd!

i love melanie claire

So this is sort of fun. I've decided to take this week to pass along a few of my favorite things. At the start of this lovely short month of February, I am going to share a few things I love. Because you may love them too. From shampoo, to kids cd's to favorite etsy shops, here are a few things I love.

Today I'm starting with a bang. Melanie Claire is a good friend of mine. She has a heart of GOLD and is a very empathetic listener. She's a joy to be around and if I were to describe her in one word, I'd use the word sweet. Kind, thoughtful, considerate...sweet.

And she makes the most adorable dolls and sells them on etsy and recently in a store in Minneapolis. Here's a question: Do you feel a certain joy when a friend you know opens up their own online venture? Or is that just me? Because I think it is the coolest, most inspiring thing to see someone take their own creations and offer their craft to the world. And to make some money for all the time time, love and labor they put into their craft. I don't know, maybe it's just me. But I'm inspired by people selling their goods.

Especially adorable dolls. Like this one I purchased for Elsie for Christmas, who we have affectionately named Melanie Claire. (Who was very cooperative this nap time for her window sill photo shoot.)

I mean, people. Short, red hair for my red head? Polka dot tights? A chevron skirt?!! How cute could a little fabric doll be? And how fun is it to use Elsie as my excuse to start buying dolls again?!!

Her dolls are getting a little face lift this month, and you can check out her new girl and boy dolls on her etsy shop: Melanie Claire Creates. And be sure to click on the doll faces to see the whole doll...because the outfits are cuter than I dress my own children.

Might be fun to surprise your little one for valentines with a new doll. Might be fun to surprise yourself by buying a new doll just for your own adult self. Might be fun to buy a doll to keep at your house for when your grandkids visit. Just sayin... Because I love them!

Back tomorrow with my new shampoo.