Too Many Deals - a guest post by Chris

I don't know if Anna is still doing the "Too Many" title series. Honestly, I don't even know if it was intentional. We have been humming the theme song for the last weeks, so it could have been sub-conscious.

But I am doing it consciously to try and keep some kind of continuity among these posts. I told Anna that I would write her Blog post tonight if she would read to the girls. Gracie wanted some hide-and-seek flap book that I have read about three-dozen times, and I didn't want to walk all the way up the stairs to look at Maisy the Mouse look for her friends again. (I really don't mind reading to the girls every night, just some nights are rough and it is nice to have a break and eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's[blueberry graham greek yogurt, or cookie dough? hoo hoo!] without sharing instead.)

That is all I really had. Somehow I thought that explaining the deal would take up more space than a paragraph. Does this count as a legitimate blog post? It is the blog post equivalent of reading a shampoo bottle blurb. It has real sentences, but no value or information. I am sorry to be the author of such disappointment. I assume if you are reading this, you wanted to hear Anna talk about some experience or thought that impressed her, and instead you just learned that I was lazy tonight and didn't want to leave the Ipad and go upstairs when Jojo finished brushing her teeth (alone because she was in time-out for "accidentally" slamming Gracie's fingers in the toothpaste/hair band/spare change/barrette/q-tip drawer. Four times.)

I hope my next post next November is more substantial.

Balloons against invasion

Last Friday I went to Nuremberg and watched Interstellar. It is the first movie I have seen in a theater in at least four years. It was pretty amazing---I think it totally deserves it's high IMDB score. Go see it; it's awesome.

On the way to the theater, there was a small sing-along/protest going on. They were giving out a bunch of stuff so I grabbed the most useful--which is why I now have three balloons proudly declaring Crimea still a part of Ukraine.

I don't know what the symbol on the back of the balloon. A two minute Google search did lot clear up what it was so I suppose I'll never know. Still, the girls are loving hitting these around. 

Eat-All-The-Milkas Update: Judgment Day

So a few nights ago I bought all my favorite cookie Milkas: Schokokeks, Chips Ahoy, Oreo (large panel) and Oreo (100g version. Plus, we had some Weihnachts Schokolade Marzipan left and since it was Chris's new favorite we added it to competition. Here is a more clear picture without my six year old charmer:

As I tasted each bar and discussed the benefits and drawbacks with the other four tasters (i.e. my husband and three daughters) it became clear that this "best of" competition was an oversimplification. All the bars (except for Chris's Marzipan bar) were examples of a single category: Cookie bars. It was easy to name one best cookie bar, but there were other marzipan bars that were excellent but in a different category. Sometimes, no matter its excellence, you don't want a cookie bar. So, in order to be more fair, I have broken the bars into categories and am naming the best in each category.  Please enjoy the rewards of my exciting and arduous Milka journey:

THE RESULTS:

Best Cookie Bar (which tends to be a favorite in our family): Oreo 100 gram version

Best nut bar: Nuss &Nougat Creme (only in large panel)

Best yogurt bar: Johgurt Milka (100 gram)

Best Novelty Bar: Choco Jelly (large panel)

Best Marzipan:  Marzipan (100 gram)

Best bar to make you throw up in your mouth: Luflee Caramel

For the record, the other tasters proclaimed their favorites:

Sophia: Chips Ahoy and Oreo (100 Gram)

Jojo: Chips Ahoy and Oreo (100 Gram)

Chris: a triple tie between Weihnachts Scholade Marzipan, Nuss &Nougat Creme, and Schoko Keks

Gracie: Chocolate Chocolate chocolate chocolate

Good luck in your own chocolate eating endeavors.

Three hours

Three hours is how much sleep I had last night. And now it's 6:30 p.m. and because of prior obligations, I have not been able to have a nap. It is quite the struggle not to be grumpy at my children who are doing nothing out of the ordinary, And by "not be grumpy" I actually meant "not be a horrific monster." One of my least favorite feelings comes right after I lash out at one of my kids and realize a second too late that  it had nothing to do with them and all to do with myself--but they got the brunt of it anyway.

Here's to repentenance,forgiveness, and more sleep.

Too many gag gifts

There is a very deep and real part of me that loves giving gag gifts. A gag gift is something that is funny and useless, like a bobble-head doll, or a t-shirt with a funny quote that is too ugly to actually wear. I don't know why but I long to buy people gag gifts, especially at Christmastime. In fact, after I saw the Santaur the other day, I literally went over every person on my Christmas list because there had to be one person who would love that ornament.

I have learned, over the years that actually, gag gifts are rarely a good idea. The best way to gauge if a gag gift is appropriate is to consider the person and ask if they would rather have the gag gift or an real gift of equivalent value.

The Santaur costs (alarmingly) fifteen dollars. I don't think any of my family or friends would prefer the Santaur to fifteen actual dollars. If they do, I should probably stop hanging out with them.

I even considered buying it for myself and realized that I would rather have fifteen dollars than that amazing beast. I would even rather have five dollars. Or a chocolate chip cookie.

I think the only time it is appropriate to give a gag gift is when it is a) unexpected and b) involves a hilarious joke you share with the recipient. Even still, it might be wiser to go with a box of chocolates or a fruit basket.

So, no Santaur this year. Sorry if anyone is disappointed.

Bragalog: Too many quilts

Right before my friend Becky got married, she told me I should start working on a baby quilt for her. I am always late finishing baby quilts and she wanted me to have plenty of time*. Well, I finally finished and mailed it to her about three months after her little girl was born. But let's not focus on my tardiness, let's focus on my awesomeness. I saw this quilt online and wanted to do something similar, or basically just like it.

Here are a gazillion pictures I took because everyone loves looking at quilt pictures. I apologize in advance if you fall into a pit of despair just thinking about how you will never live up to my amazingness. (Also ignore the binding. Bindings are hard for me.) (Also, uneven sewing lines are part of it's charm. Charm, I say!)

So you can tell better in the close up pictures that the quilt is actually pieced. For the piecing I just basically cut up all the fabric and sewed it back together again. It was a little time consuming. I did this because a) I wanted it to be a pieced quilt, but mostly because b) I thought it might be more authentic to do so to better represent the complexity of space. I admit the authenticity added by the subtle lines in the quilt is slightly compromised by several of the planets being represented with not-so-subtle polka-dots, but sometimes science has to take a backseat to cuteness. Am I right or am I right?

That's Pluto of course.

*Just thought I'd better clear up that Becky wasn't pregnant at the time she asked me. Just in case you thought she was. She's just a good planner.

Too many Parades

The girls watching the end of a mystery parade last Sunday.

We live at the end of the main street in our town. This is pretty awesome because it means that every time there is a parade, it goes right by our house. Our town has parades all the time and, since we are not well versed in all the local small holidays, they are generally surprise parades for us.

There is very little as charming as having a normal humdrum day, and then suddenly hearing a cheery tune slowly grow louder. We always rush to the windows and watch them to the very end. (Our town's pretty small so the parades don't tend to be very long.)

We used to open the windows and wave and cheer but we stopped doing that after one rather somber parade passed us and I realized hat it was not a parade at all, but actually march from the Catholic church to the cemetery. Funeral processions are kind of like parades, but you aren't supposed to cheer or throw confettin. Yeah, not our finest moment.

But we still watch every parade we can. Sometimes they sing, sometimes they chant, sometimes they ring bells and bang drums. Sometimes they wear current military uniforms, sometime ancient military uniforms, usually there are some dirndles and ledehosen involved. It's always awesome and always just under our noses. Hooray for Germany.