AND

My computer time is so limited these days that I have to combine posts and kill two bugs with one stone. (I hate killing birds…unless it is that nasty seagull that did his business on my windshield.) So today we have a 7 Quick Takes & {pretty, happy, funny, real} Mash-up. Enjoy!

~~ 1 ~~

{pretty}

I hesitate to post photos of flowers or sunny skies when people are sitting in snow but hopefully it will give you something to look forward to as you wait for spring. It seems to be arriving early in California.

~~ 2 ~~

{happy}

I can’t tell you how happy I am to have Brian feeling better and cancer free! As I mentioned in yesterday’s Theme Thursday (Cari rocks!), Brian and I had the opportunity to go out to dinner at Pebble Beach (where Brian works.) It was much needed outing after Brian’s surgery and all the stress we’ve been under lately. I love the Spanish Bay Inn there and they have a great restaurant called Sticks. It is a tradition that each evening The Bagpiper plays at sunset to close the day.

However, our original babysitting plans changed and my in-laws watched the kids instead. To make it easier on them we brought Matthew to dinner with us as our chaperone.  I loooove this photo of Matty’s precious face and rosy cheeks. (He had just woken up.)

~~ 3 ~~

Speaking of Pebble Beach, this weekend is the AT&T Pro Am. It is a big deal to the town but as for me, it just mostly means everything will be super crowded so we won’t venture far from the house this weekend. There are a number of “stars” and athletes on the Peninsula but unless they happen to stop by Target in the next day or two, I’ll not be seeing them. (Although there was that time I sat behind Kevin James at Mass. ;-))

~~ 4 ~~

{funny}

As I mentioned earlier, I have not had time to blog much this week. But Matthew offered to help me out.

~~ 5 ~~

{real}

I finally took down the Christmas wreath on our door this week and put up our Valentine’s welcome sign. How is it possible that both Valentine’s and Lent start next week??? I am still in shock.

~~ 6 ~~

More {real}

Remember when I mentioned a couple weeks back that the kids got lice from school? Well, we went through the treatment and got rid of the nasty things only to go back and to school and get reinfected. It lands out a number of kids had it without knowing and it was being passed back and forth. Thankfully, the school took care of things now. (It still baffles me that we even have lice in our day and age!)

So now we are on Round 2 of the lice war and on Tuesday I just broke down and sobbed. I mean I cried my eyes out. Not so much because of the lice, but it was finally the straw that broke the camel’s back. With Brian’s illness, and cancer, and surgery I was uncharacteristically calm and unworried and dry eyed. But you know how it is, you can only stay strong for so long until you’ve got to get it all out. I thought all the crying I did at Sybil’s death was enough but I still had more in me. Now I am feeling back to myself and the lice war seems to be ending, although I still spend over 2 hours each day going through the kids hair with a nit comb (Bella’s long hair is the worse) to make sure it stays away.

On top of that, the washing everything in hot water that touched their head is insane and this is what my house has looked like all week. The dirty piles were far outweighing the clean piles but I am finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Praise God!

~~ 7 ~~

Once I get all the laundry done I’ll work on something for next week’s Making it Count Tuesday. Actually, let me ask you a question about that. Originally the link up was called Pinning It Down.

It was hosted by Sarah at AmongstLovelyThings.com and Pam at EveryDaySnapshots. It encouraged people to make or do some of the things they pinned on Pinterest. But then there was the concern about breaking copyright laws and not giving the right people credit for their work etc.

They changed the link up to Making It Count with the idea being to…

“Simply start with any one of those fabulous ideas you’ve found online or on Pinterest. Then, do it. Make it. Cook it. Create it. Take it from the screen, give it life and let it bless your world. When you’re done, snap a photo, write about it and share it with us. Make your time online count!”

However, with their busy schedules, Sarah and Pam couldn’t host anymore. I offered to take over hosting duties and Sarah gladly let me but she warned me that participation dropped off once they switched from Pinning It Down to Making It Count. And once it moved blogs, it really dropped.

My question to you, after all that, should I go back to a Pinterest themed link up and just require links to the original site (rather than their pin link)? It could be a Pinterest Party or something. Or should I make it more general? For example, a link up to share something you did creatively (cooking, crafting, photography, a school project) whether the idea came from an online source or not. Please give me some ideas or let me know if I should just leave it as is and give it time to build up again. Thanks in advance!

Okay, I just heard the washer buzz so my blogging time is up. Time for another load. Have a great weekend!