Speaking of...

I have been terribly neglectful of my poor Polish blog lately. Partially because my computer and iPhone still hate each other and I can't edit my photos. But also because I've been busy reading and quilting and prepping for class and lots of other things. Let's see... some things going on in the Kubatski life....

Meesha officially moved in. The boys are in love with her, especially Seeger who always wants to know where she is and when she'll be home. She has two jobs on campus, she's an assistant for a class, she's taking two online classes for her MPH, she babysits two days per week, she's volunteering for the Boys and Girls Club, she's volunteering for the Red Cross and she's joined two student groups. So we don't see her much. When we do, it's nice to have a happy, cheerful person around.

Speaking of happy people... I have been in an exceptionally all around good mood lately. Despite some not so great things that have happened in my life, I've managed to stay positive and go with the flow with a smile on my face.

Maybe the all around positive feelings are a result of all the quilting I've managed to achieve lately. I spent two weekends ago hanging around the house and I finished a quilt top while watching the first half of the first season of Gilmore Girls. (Never underestimate the power a Gilmore Girls marathon.) I also spent last weekend at Quilt Camp where I managed to quilt and bind the top I completed the previous weekend, quilt another quilt that's been sitting in queue for nearly a year, and start two new projects that I'm excited about. I spent the weekend with my quilting friends and managed to relax and take it easy (a massage helped with that) and I even treated myself to a gorgeous bundle of beautiful fabric. I also got to better know a new addition to the quilting group. Her name is Betty and she's 83 and a pretty amazing person and I want to be just like her when I grow up. (Never underestimate the power of hanging out with people who share a common interest/passion.)

So the smiles and general good mood has continued - through several great IU basketball win's and now even some losses. Speaking of IU basketball, I have two tickets for the game on Sunday.

This has been a busy week for Nicklas. He spent Monday and Tuesday in Detroit with his Papa where they cheered the Redwings on to a 5-0 victory. On Wednesday, he had his first Strings Concert and we enjoyed watching him and rest of the 161 fifth graders play Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns. The concert also featured the sixth graders, the middle school orchestra, and the Hoosier Youth Philharmonic (orchestras from both Bloomington high schools.) I thought the evening would be long and boring but it was really cool. I enjoyed hearing the progression of skill with each group and was amazed at how well the high school did. Despite the issues we've had with transporting the cello, I do hope Nicklas continues to want to play. (The director of the high school program also mentioned that the group goes on a tour each year during spring break. They are playing at Carnegie Hall this year and they've also gone to Hawaii and Paris and so you know, that helps entice us to keeping Nicklas with it.) He's getting better at reading music and it's so good for his fine motor skills. I asked Nicklas if he liked the cello or if he wished he played a different instrument. He said he likes the cello because it's big but he can still sit with it (unlike the bass players who have to stand).

Back to his busy week... We didn't get home until after 8 last night because the family took me out for my birthday dinner (hibatchi!). Tonight is his tae kwon do test for his orange belt promotion. Saturday, he has rehearsal because he's in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jr., then he's going over to a friends house. Despite all this, we haven't felt stretched too thin with all the running around. Hopefully he doesn't feel that either.

Seeger is a little less busy though he had a friend spend the night on Monday (the kids were out of school Monday and Tuesday), he's also going to TKD and a friends out tomorrow, and tomorrow evening, we're having our friends over who have a boy Seeger's age and I'm know they'll be excited to play together. Seeger has been drawing so much lately. He loves his art desk and he's really in to drawing robot dinosaurs. He's also been playing Life (the board game) with Meesha and his Mimi and I promised that I would play with him this weekend. Two weekends ago, it was nice enough outside that I taught him how to shoot his BB gun. He enjoyed trying to hit the soda can but now he wants to buy actual targets.

In other news... I'm teaching another class this semester. Like last semester, this is only 8 weeks and fortunately, it's the first part of the semester. I have a few more students than my last class and it's a 300 level (versus 200 level) and I'm pushing them a bit more with assignments. Their first one is due on Wednesday and I have high hopes for what they'll turn in. I may be overly optimistic.

Random thought.... I have my favorite music on my iPhone and often when I'm getting ready in the morning, I listen to it on shuffle. I'm always happy with what it plays (afterall I wouldn't have a song on my playlist that I didn't like) but it seems like the iPhone plays Gettin' Jiggy With It EVERY TIME. I don't mind some Will Smith mixed in here and there but I think I'm going to have to delete the song from my play list because I'm tired of hearing it nearly every morning.

Speaking of music, Fitz and the Tantrums are playing in Superbowl Village next week and I really want to see them but it means A) making a trip to Indy, B) fighting the traffic and crowds while actually getting to Superbowl Village, and C) it's outside and a concert in freezing temps isn't that appealing. I still may try to go through.

Product updates... The Polack bought my a Soda Stream for Christmas and I wasn't convinced I wanted to keep it. (He told me I was more than welcome to take it back to the store but I wouldn't have felt horrible about returning a gift he put so much thought in to.) Turns out that I love it. It's so easy to use, the flavors are available at several stores, and we've been able to adjust the recipe to how we like (less sweet and more carbonated). The one down side is that it's hard to be consistent with the recipes but overall it's a great product. I want to purchase a few more liter bottles for it and I want to get some of the flavored water drops so the soda consumption gets cut down a bit but I can still have a carbonated beverage.

I purchased a beauty product from Sally Hansen and it was TERRIBLE. It didn't do what it was supposed to so I sent an email to the company about my dissatisfaction. They responded right away and sent me a comparable product that's much better. Yay for great customer response.

I also sent an email to Lowe's to express my displeasure for pulling advertising from TLC's American Muslim tv show. It's been a month and I haven't received a response. Boo on Lowe's. (For the record, I'm not upset with Lowe's for choosing not to advertise; I'm upset that their decision came after receiving threats from the ultra conservative Florida Family Association.) This behavior on the part of Lowe's means the Polack and I won't be shopping there anymore. (Super bummer because it's also been our go-to home improvement store.) Our boycott business list also includes BP and Chick-fil-A. (Neither are as inconvenient, but still a bummer.)

Sometimes you gotta take a stand, yo.

Moving along... I was relishing the fact that we don't have any upcoming weekends where we're traveling anywhere which translates to weekends spent at home chilling BUT we do have friends coming over Saturday, we may go visit friends in Indy next weekend, and we have another group of friends visiting us the following weekend. So my time to chill is slowly diminishing but I'm not complaining about this, just stating a fact. I'll take my being with friends time over chill time. I just wish I could have both. Darnjobthatmakesmeactuallyhavetoworkinsteadofchill.

Last thought and then I better end this rambling post.... I've really started to enjoy reading young adult literature. Luckily, I do so under the guise that I have an 11 year old and I can read what he's interested in so we have some common things to discuss. (Since, you know, everything with him is about sports and I can't hold an intelligent sports conversation.) In reality, I've read more of his books than he has but hopefully he'll catch up soon. My current book is H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden. Nicklas is reading it for his school book club; I'm reading it for fun.

Hunger Games the movie comes out in March. HOLLA!

P.S. I changed the title of this post after reading how many times I wrote "speaking of".