What do you really think of me?

Here's a narcissistic post. It's pretty neat, though. Click this link to be taken to a page where you choose five or six adjectives to describe me. Then your list (and others who complete this) will be compared to mine to let me know if I have an accurate perception of myself or not. I think I might not as people often say that their first impression of me is very different than once they get to know me.

Play along. Then you can create your own. I promise, I'll do yours if you do mine.

Confession: I judge you (and me) by the size of your garbage can

I notice. On garbage collection day, I see those big orange cans in front of some super-sized homes, and I think, "Consumers. Victims. Wasters." And then I see those smaller green cans and think "Oh, you're better than I am."

You see, we have a medium-sized gray can. We don't always fill it up, though, so John and I have been thinking of downsizing. I worry about the weeks we have company or just seem to have more trash for some reason. I could buy the extra bags for $2 for those occasions.

But now that the City of Austin has delivered my beautiful, clean, blue 40 GALLON single-stream recycling bin, I may be ready to make the leap to the smaller garbage can. This single-stream recycling deal blows my mind. They just can't make it any easier. Pick-up is every other week. All recycling goes in there -- no need to sort. Cardboard, aluminum, paper, even paperboard (cereal boxes and soda boxes.) And plastics #1-#7 now! The paperboard and some of the plastics are new additions, and I think those items might be just enough to move us up to the smallest can!

And while I'm cutting the waste in my home, I'll work on reducing the wasted energy of judgmentalism, too.

Fun with Tickers

We have some busy months coming up!

Weekly Command Center

Menu:
This week, I'll be gone one evening, so John and Caroline will have a quickie dinner together. Another night, we have late afternoon ballet tickets for a fun family outing, so we'll be eating a quick dinner, and we'll be going out with out-of-town visiting family one night. Here's our short-week menu.

The links below are to a fun new blog Rita started. Five of us are sharing recipe ideas there. Check it out!

spaghetti
steaks and baked potatoes
chicken and dumplings
fried rice
breakfast casserole -- one morning for brunch

Bargains:
Cascade is on sale at CVS for $2.50. I had a 25 cent coupon, too. Not fabulous, but good enough.
I got my September monthly rebate items at Walgreens, too.
Crest Pro-Health -- free after rebate
Glade scented candle -- on sale for 1.99 plus 1.00 rebate plus 1.00 coupon in today's paper -- free for me!
I also picked up some clearance items at Walgreens -- a hair clip for me for $1 and a pack of five panties for Caroline for $3.

Decluttering:
I'm going to focus on decluttering the top surfaces in the master bedroom this week -- the desk, nightstands, dresser, and bookshelf. I should easily find ten things to purge in those places. I imagine many of them will be books. The books will go on paperbackswap since I am now down to zero credits.

Ignorance is Bliss

Scene: Amanda at upscale hair salon. First visit to a new stylist.

Amanda: I don't want to take off much length. Just trim the ends. But I want to try bangs like Sarah Palin's.

Stylist: I don't watch TV. I don't know who that is.

Amanda: Um. She's McCain's running mate for the vice presidency.

Stylist: Yeah, like I said. I don't watch TV. I don't really follow politics.

Amanda: Do you vote? Because she's really scary and if you vote you need to read up on her.

Stylist: Uh...I don't vote.

We didn't chat much after that.

And my bangs still look nothing like Palin's!

Smile Award

Caroline and I have a new game we like to play: Smiles. I explained to her recently that the best way to get someone to smile at you is to smile at them first! Well, my buddy Erica just smiled at me. And as I smile back at her, I'm going to smile at a few others.

I've been awarded by Erica of Haphazard Happenstances, the esteemed "SMILE AWARD!" Thanks, Erica! The rule of the smile award is to pass it along to those people who you feel represent what a big ol' smile is which is someone who:

1. Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times–we are all human).
2. Must love one another.
3. Must make mistakes.
4. Must learn from others.
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world.
6. Must love life.
7. Must love kids.

There are rules are:

1. The recipient must link back to the awards creator (The Babblings of Mere).
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must choose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award (see above).
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

I pass the award on to
1. Rita, The Bookworm -- Rita is honest and funny (she's more *real* than Sarah Palin, even!) and makes the blog world a better place! I smile whenever I read something Rita writes -- though I usually laugh out loud, too.
2. Deb at Deb's Thoughts-- Deb is open and honest about the struggles of being a stay-at-home mom. Still, she's cheerful, likes kids, and learns from others. I smile when she posts new blog entries.
3. Mary at The Satoros -- My darling sister. I love her! And she brightens up the blog-o-sphere with pictures of my darling red-headed nieces.
4. Stephanie at The Foleys est 2005-- One of my favorite sisters-in-law. This girl loves life and loves people! She's one of those who really, truly cares. I smile when I get my gossip family updates from Stephanie.
5. Carlye at The Bindels-- Another of my favorite sisters-in-law. Carlye, too, loves life and is (almost) always cheerful. I smile when Carlye leaves me a voice mail and ends it with "That's all."

See, I love you all so much that I didn't mention that all of you make mistakes, which is one of the requirements. :-)

Command Center Weekly

Bargains

Left -- Walgreens = 4.43
2 pack kickboards for pool fun for Caroline -- 75% off
Tylenol PM -- on sale plus $1 Walgreens coupon plus $1.00 manu coupon
Dove bars -- BOGO 50% plus $1.00 manu coupon
Lady Speedstick -- BOGO free plus $1.00 manu coupon
Reese's Pumpkins -- .33 each (I'm sure I left the store with three Reese's Pumpkins...Hmmm...)

Right -- CVS -- $2.22
Speedstick -- BOGO free plus $ .75 manu coupon for one and $1.00 CVS coupon for other
Herbel Essenses shampoo and conditioner -- on sale plus $2.00 off 2 manu coupon

TOTAL for both stores: $6.65
Total savings -- $20.01

Decluttering
TO BE CULLED THIS WEEK: TOYS

I have decided to jump on the decluttering bandwagon. I've started reading about some folks decluttering 2008 items in 2008. I'm a little late to join in on that, but I am going to rid my home of ten items per week between now and the end of the year. I'll report back next week on what goes this week. I have also asked my dear husband to reduce his computer museum collection by half. He's working on that right now. This should clear things out of the house some and make room for new items that enter the house for Christmas and new baby.


Menu (I'm flexible with days of the week)
Sunday -- stir fry
Monday -- beef fillets with wild rice and brocolli
Tuesday -- carmelized onion pizza w/chicken, borrowing idea from Courtney at Frugal Foods
Wednesday -- Italian pork chops with potatoes and salad
Thursday -- poppy seed chicken
Friday -- on your own / leftovers
Saturday -- party at friends' home

Daily Show: McCain -- Reformed Maverick

Since we don't have cable, I'm a day behind on The Daily Show. Just wanted to share this for others out who don't have Comedy Central (or Heaven forbid, have it but don't watch John Stewart.)

Facebook

I'm not even close to as addicted to Facebook as many seem to be, but I do check in every day now because so many folks are joining. It is neat to see what old classmates are up to now, and I like to read what new friends are doing on there, too. I added this blog to my Facebook profile, so those of you who prefer Facebook to RSS feeds can subscribe to the Facebook Blog Network using the link on the righthand sidebar.