Friday favorites

Hopefully today begins the recovery. My doctor prescribed an inhaler yesterday that -- while it's like taking speed and it kept me up all night -- really helped my breathing. And BOY. It's nice to be able to breathe again ... you guys (except Laura) probably all took it for granted all week, you know, the fact that you could breathe. Now that my sats are back up near 100 again, I'm feeling good about my prospects.

Nonetheless, I wasn't able to miraculously whip up a pithy post for today, so I thought I'd treat you to some of the things that made my Week from Hell slightly better than it would have been otherwise:

1. Laura, the Hollywood Housewife, just wrapped up the story of how she and her husband met and fell in love. I was captivated.

2. A goody from Fail Blog, a perennial favorite ... what were they THINKING?

3. The best automobile ad of all time, which no fewer than 14 people sent me (after I Tweeted it two days ago so WHO WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION?) because the entire planet knows of our undying love for all things Star Wars (and I use the term "our" loosely):



4. The 15 Most Popular Auto-Corrects of the Month from DYAC, a new favorite, including:

5. And last but not least, from another new favorite, When Parents Text, which is packed with gems like this:

MOM: I read your blog today. I was going to post a comment but I don’t know how to. I have chosen different possibilities…this time I chose URL (after googling “what the hell is URL?”). I typed out my comment and then tried to send it and a red bar showed up saying I was using illegal URL symbols or something…for God’s sake, I was using our alphabet…so I quickly deleted everything in case I was arrested or something.

Paige, I don't know why, but this reminded me of your relationship with your mother. And I've never even MET your mother.

Friday favorites and some Ruminations for good measure

1. If I had to identify a blog that makes me laugh every single day, it would be June's. One, most people just aren't that funny. And two, most people don't post every single day. So I guess that narrows the list a little, but still, June ALWAYS has something funny to say. You just have to be willing to follow the ramble all the way to the point. And then be OK with it if there's no actual point. I just re-read this one again and I'm not sure IT has a point, but I need to share it with you anyway.

2. I've only been reading this blog for a couple of weeks, but I love to visit. It's written by a mom who dresses her daughter up while she naps and tries to capture her dreams right there on the den floor. Now that I type that, it sounds a little creepy. But that doesn't diminish my love of it. It seems a little untenable as a long-term blog topic, but perhaps it's PERFECT for the long-term. At least the baby is a girl ... boys might not stand for it after a year or two.

3. I don't have a single rainbow-colored thing in my house that I can think of. I'm generally not into rainbows as a design device, but when I read this post over at Furbish, the pictures just made me smile. Plus, PANTONE MUGS. Swoon. The whole post reminded me of Meg's rainbow cake -- which, when I become the mother I aspire to be, I will make.

4. I hope you visit Ruminations at least once a week. But in case you don't, and you depend on me for the highlights every once in a while, here are some of my favorites from the last few days:

- I was at a BP filling up my tank and a sign literally read, "You are responsible for any spills." Indeed, BP. Indeed.

- I have no sympathy for my child. You don't want to eat your vegetables? Too bad, I've seen you eat glue and boogers.

- Nothing is more annoying than when you clearly get to a stop sign first, and the person going the opposite direction waves you to go as if they are doing you a favor.

- I don't know about you, but when I'm paying for gas at the pump and it tells me to "remove card quickly," I yank that thing out at lightning speed. I take that s**t seriously.

- I try not to be as hard on myself as I am on other people.

- I thought I had mastered that look both ways before crossing the street thing back in kindergarten. Then I went to England. Turns out I've gotten lazy and have only been looking in the direction I expect cars to be coming from.

- Nothing makes me listen to something harder than lowered voices a couple cubicles over.

- The moment you tell me that you want to customize the order we're about to call in for takeout is the moment you've won the privilege of telling them so yourself.

- I just got an email announcing our new staff assistant, Brinkley. I'm not sure if they're a girl, a boy, or a Golden Retriever.

Friday Favorites

1. Mine are only 7, 5 and 2, but I can already tell that Chris speaks the truth: 7 Universal Truths about Raising Teenagers
2. Bakerella's posts usually make me smile, and this one was no exception: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ...
3. Simply because it has a happy ending: Susan (that doesn't tell you anything about the post, I know, but it's the title anyway)
4. When I was a kid, I would have answered ALL math questions this way if I could have gotten away with it: Answer WIN
5. Amanda's recent simple cabinet overhaul makes my heart sing, AND makes me jealous: Kitchen Cabinet Organization

Friday Favorites

I had a whole post ready to go on Jake giving up his pacis, but I guess I'm just not prepared to publish it ... not ready for potential criticism over letting him cry out his frustration some nights, not ready for negative comments, period. I guess I feel like it's already been difficult enough, and I don't want anything else to pile on top of that. Not that you guys are judgmental or anything. I just thought I'd save it for later, maybe, and pass along some of my favorite reads of the week instead.

- I LOVED this post from Sarah of quesarara, via Dooce. It's always affirming to know that you weren't the absolute MOST difficult teenager on the block. It's long but (in my opinion) worth the time.

- I read all about this book on Nesting Place and plan to add the book to my Amazon Wishlist. I want to entertain more often and care less about what people think about all the hairballs they might find under my ottoman.

- I've only been reading Kelle's blog since Nella was born (and if you haven't read this post, you are truly missing out), so I don't have the "history" with her that I have with some other bloggers I've read for years. So I was SO happy to read this anniversary post that included some older pictures of Kelle and Brett and a lot of good, old-fashioned reminiscing. At some point I need to make it a priority to go back and read her blog from the very beginning. (And I will. She's totally worth it.)

-  I don't know if this is right, but I know it's the way I feel. Sometimes I take a little flack for going too easy on people or apologizing for things that may not literally be entirely my fault. I knew there was a reason I did it; I just didn't know how to verbalize it. (Thanks for doing it for me, Abraham.)

- Lastly, I'm not going to link to a specific page of Ruminations, but will instead just link you to the home page. Because there is simply no reason that you shouldn't visit every day. It is a giggle factory.

If there's anything out there on the World Wide Web that you think I need to see this week, please leave it in the Comments!