a quarter for your thoughts

i'm running short on time but i have so much to say. pardon me while i jump around from topic to topic in order to get it all out.

remember how i said my look is frumpy? well, it is and i just wish i could look a little less frumpy most days. i'm not even talking about being stylish. i just want a little less frump so that when i run into stylish friends at the grocery store i won't want to run down another aisle to escape being seen (that's not really what happened...by the time i saw her it was too late to try to run anywhere. not that i would really run away from her, i wouldn't.). i really blame that encounter on my dear husband who made me go to the grocery store with him even though i just wanted to stay home in pj's and enjoy the cold and the rain. but seriously, how do you stylish women do it -- the hair, the makeup, the clothes -- day in and day out. i get tired just thinking about it. maybe i need a haircut?

maybe my style is dictated by my font type. i love fonts. love them. i never really considered myself to be just one font, though. i change my font like i change my...well, you know. i tend to use comic sans a lot even though i usually want to be taken more seriously. i just figured i'd be the fun, bubbly sort so i was quite surprised (and a bit taken aback) when i took this what font are you quiz  (thanks to ordinary courage) and discovered i am helvetica. dull, predictable and boring. really, that's what it means. great. just great. there really is no hope for me, is there? i guess i better stop hiding behind papyrus and jokerman mt. i'm not giving up, though, i'm not. i know there is a way, some way, i can be the ali edwards font.

so, i read this today on facebook:

It's hard because on the one hand I want to raise an ethical child but on the other, finders keepers, losers weepers, you know?

this generated a lot of buzz...especially from me. it ended up being about a quarter. her daughter found a quarter at the gas station. they returned it. what would you have done? it was just outside the door so i think i would have given it back, too. but then i got to thinking, "we return a quarter but not a penny?" have you ever wondered about that? i don't think i have ever met someone who returned a penny. i think most people find a penny and think, "find a penny, pick it up. all day long, you'll have good luck." heck, i'm guilty of teaching my son that rule. but why is a quarter worthy of being returned to its owner and not a penny? there have certainly been times in my life where the difference between a positive checking account versus a negative account was just a penny. food for thought. 

now that brings me to this funny story about my husband. his response to that status and to returning a quarter was, "i don't care what i find, a quarter or a hundred dollars, i'm keepin' it." this from a man who once gathered the trash from his car into a cup, set it on the ground outside and drove off. that trash included his just-been-cashed paycheck which we really needed in order to stop squatting on our cousin's floor (actually, we got the bed while she and her husband squatted on the floor). yeah, he didn't have anything to say when i brought that up. he just turned around and went down the hall to bed. just so you know, my husband and i are like fire and ice most of the time. i don't know how we manage, but we do. 

yes, we do. thankfully. we're going through a rough patch right now but i'm confident we'll manage to pull through it. do you ever want to hit the person who said marriage was easy, a piece of cake? i do. it seemed easy at one time but the older i get and the longer we're married, it actually has become more work. i'm sure it's because we're like fire and ice and because we learned from the worst examples of successful, long-term, happy marriages. where we once wanted to give up and walk away from each other, we now find it exciting to try to make ours a better union. i still want to hit that person, though. and i will always ogle those ridiculously happy, can't-keep-our-hands-off-each-other type couples, especially if they've been together for fifty some odd years. thank god for those couples. they make me want to try harder so i can be a good example to my children and to other youngsters one day.

just so you know, i don't believe there is just one person out there for us and i don't believe everyone can or should stick it out. ya gotta do what ya gotta do...especially if there is abuse or addiction involved.

so let's end this on a happy note: cake pops. i'm addicted. i haven't eaten one nor have i made any but i want to...i really want to. i think i am going to try it this weekend. i haven't asked permission to use a photo but if you click here it will take you to bakerella.com where you will find amazing photos and easy instructions on how to make your own cake pops. if you make them, take photos and share. i promise to do the same. this woman is amazing and i think i lov'er. if you have time, go to her christmas and some cookies post. look at how organized she is. i love it!

and do you know anything about the pioneer woman? i think i lov'er, too.  

oh, oh, oh, i learned from bakerella that betty crocker is not/was not a real person! huh?!? i read that yesterday and i still can't wrap my brain around that one. you can read more about it at her betty rocker post.