Ideal Dinner Party Podcast

On rare occasions parents have the opportunity to have their children out of the house and they get to drop the mantle of parental responsibility (kind of) and enjoy the company of other adults. This podcast details one of those few and far between times.

My Granny

June 23rd would have been my Granny's 91st birthday and she has been on my mind. 

This is my sweet Granny when she was 20 years old. I just love looking at pictures of her, old or young. She makes me happy. She and my grandfather had 11 children in 15.5 years. She was amazing!  My mom and I moved in with my grandparents when I was about 9 months old. 

My Granny gave the very best hugs in the entire world, you just knew you were safe when you were with her. She died in 1993 when I was 22 years old. I felt as if I lost my mother. I still feel like it was yesterday. 

My greatest regret is that my children never got to know her. The best thing I can do is tell stories about her and keep her memory alive, make them feel as if they knew her.

Go ahead and paint it

I love to paint! Furniture and rooms in my house have been subject to my paintbrush. There is not one single room in my 3 story + 1/2 finished basement home that have not been repainted. Some rooms have been painted more than once in our 14 year history at this address.

Mostly my daughters rooms have received the repeat treatment, and my kitchen/tv room. Both my daughters rooms I painted a bright sunshiny yellow when they were little. Then my oldest daughter, Michaela wanted something a bit cooler. Brown and pink were very popular, so I added a couple of twists. A magnetic wall and 3 walls of the room I painted brown below and pink above while on the fourth wall I flipped the colors and made the demarkation line diagonal.

It has changed again since, the girls keep growing up and evolving their tastes. I have also painted coffee tables, straight back chairs, desks, dressers, table legs, shelves, really just about anything.

Something I learned along the way that was super helpful, buy Glad Cling Wrap and line the paint tray with it. Then if you have to take a break or in between coats you can take another layer of the Cling Wrap and cover the paint tray and the paint won't dry up. Also keep those old plastic grocery bags and you can wrap your paint roller or brush in them and they won't dry up either. Makes a big big difference. Also wash the item first but the biggest tip is to use primer. Every single time. It might take two coats of primer before color and don't rush it. Trust me it will be worth it.

A great place to buy gently used and sometimes even new furniture at decent prices is Bates Furniture 610 SW 6th St. I have gotten a dresser, a desk, a set of four mid-century modern tables, shelves and a couple of mirrors. The owner is very fair and friendly.

What is your best dream?

Do you have a favorite dream? I do, it has changed a little bit over the years, but it is ultimately the same.

photo from Family Guy

I win the BIG money lottery. Then I imagine all the amazing things I can do with the money. I usually set up my church and my kids school pretty nicely. After that I find my home. I used to want a big compound for friends to have homes in and I would have a mongo-huge house.

Now I think what would be ever so much nicer is lots and lots of land maybe in Argentina. I would build a main house, nothing too crazy. A central kitchen with four bedrooms each with a nice bathroom and big soaking tub. A large office for my craftiness and for Mike for his what-nots. We would have another decent sized building that I imagine to be an entertaining area, not unlike a reception hall. A big kitchen with bread warmers, plenty of sinks and counter space. It will have a large eating area that can be very versatile from eating to dancing, playing or watching movies on a large projector screen.

There will be a decent sized bunkhouse and showers, because you know friends and family will want to come visit and you will want them to feel comfortable, buuuutttt you don't want them to be so comfortable that they don't leave ;-)

My dream varies on a few ideas, but what stays constant is all the good things we could do for others. Never for the bragging rights but for the sheer joy of helping someone achieve what they are meant to be. I have shared my dream with my family and it has become a collective dinner table 'what would you do' discussion. I love hearing the amazingly generous things my daughters would do with the money. I am a very proud momma.

What do you dream about?

Making a Fairy feel at home.

I have a tree in my front yard that is begging to be made into a home for a Fairy. My two younger daughters and I have been making plans this week on how to do just that. I love making memories with my girls. This will not only involve planning, and togetherness, but will allow them to use and develop their own style.

We have searched on Pinterest for some ideas of things we like and don't like. We have found items that we think are within our skill range. Clare has even drawn out a plan of maybe how it might look. In this slideshow are some of our inspirations as well as the tree we will use. We plan to get started the day after my MM Boot Camp final.

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Father's Day is coming up, don't blow it off.

STOP! Do not buy another lame tie for Father's Day. Do not wait until Saturday or next Sunday either. 

So what should you do for Dear ol' First National Bank of Dad? 

1. Recreate a photo from your childhood
2. Buy him a gift card to Herman's Beef & Sausage House in North Topeka for a steak (Yummm)
3. Offer to provide & make dinner
4. Have a movie night with his favorite flick
5. Buy a big glass jar at Hobby Lobby and then go to the Dollar Store and fill it with candy. Put a note towards the bottom that when notified you will fill it again for the res of the year.
6. Buy a bunch of small, different flavor ice creams and sit around figuring out which is the best.

This works for dear ol dad, grandpa, husband, step-anybody, the neighbor next door when has always been there for, whoever. Just cherish the time.

 Our last Thanksgiving 2011, my sister Kate, our Dad, me

   

Do the kids need something to do in the summer?

Helen Hocker has some of the most amazing opportunities for kids in town. And to think the city almost shut it down, thankfully Topeka Civic Theatre bought it and still allow it to operate as almost its own unit.

All three of my girls have gone to Helen Hocker summer camps since they were itty bitty. It is an awesome value, $200 for three weeks of camp. You can't beat that with a stick. They get to run around make friends, play games, sing songs, learn lines and really just be kids. At the end of the three weeks they put on a usually original play and the shy kids get to do what they feel comfortable doing with only a tiny bit of a push and the over the top kids get to be over the top. Everyone wins.

My girls have become such theatre nerds that they now listen to Pandora Broadway stations, they audition throughout the year with the Topeka Youth Players of Helen Hocker through the school year.  They have made lifelong friendships with kids from allover the city. It has been a lot of fun driving them around to the other middle schools to their camp finds in plays and then get invited to cast parties.

Another thing I love about Helen Hocker is that its not just plays by kids or just for kids. They do great shows. Here is a bit on a past show they did.

What my kids talk me into watching on Netflix.

The things I do for my kids...
My two younger daughters and I are self proclaimed nerds. We do it all The Avengers, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, Dr. Who, and the focus of this post Supernatural.

Have any of you watched it? I hadn't. I had maybe, kinda, sorta heard of it. It wasn't on my radar though. My niece binge watched the all nine seasons that are on Netflix and kept telling my middle daughter, Liz (13), "YOU HAVE TO WATCH SUPERNATURAL! They are BAE!" So Liz started hounding me to let her watch it.

I don't think that Mike and I are super restrictive, but we want to know what the girls are up to and they know it, and I appreciate that.  So we made a deal to watch it together. We don't do scary movies at our house and the first season was a little creepy.

The show is on the CW about two brothers, Sam & Dean Winchester hunting the demon that killed their mom when they were kids and along the way they have bizarre adventures. You name it and the show has probably covered it, urban legends, vampires, angels, demons, purgatory, leviathans and they manage to be a bit sassy and poke fun at themselves along the way.

Clare then 11,  got scared JUST into season two and quit watching and Liz and I continued. At first I did it as a bonding thing but it has snuck in a bit and I have found myself saying "Hey Liz, are you up for Moose and Squirrel?" These are pop culture references that she taunts me with as she has become obsessed with the fellas on the show. They are a bit of eye candy for sure. Clare has since decided to try it again, but only in the daylight. So Clare and I are on season 2 episode 10 while Liz and I are on season 7 episode 2. My husband just laughs at me. Oh well, my kids love me and I get to snuggle with them and feel relevant. lol I am including a few pictures just so you understand.

links for pictures
http://wallpapers111.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jensen-ackles-wallpaper-8.jpg
http://wallpapers111.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jensen-ackles-wallpaper-1.jpg
http://wallpapers111.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jensen-ackles-wallpaper-3.jpg
http://www.spoilertv.com/2014/09/supernatural-season-10-poster.html

Hey, what are you listening to?

June is audiobook month, are you a fan?

I love real books. I love holding, buying, borrowing, stacking, even smelling real books. I have hundreds on several bookshelves in my home. This will never change. I have also come to value the the ebook. My daughters and I can go anywhere and if detained have dozens of books to choose from depending on our current mood. What I have really developed a fondness for though is the audiobook.

It started with a difficulty falling to sleep, I had way too many thoughts spinning around in my mind. So I logged on to iTunes and for $41.95 downloaded my first audiobook, A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1 (Unabridged) I justified the price by it being 54 hours and 3 mins long.

Since then I have developed a bit of an addiction. I listen in the shower, in the car, between classes, and at work. However $42 per book is just not in the budget. I have figured out a few other ways that I would like to share.

Audible is a subsidiary of Amazon. They offer a couple of levels of service. I have the basic plan at $15/mo I get a credit which equals any book they have, regardless of the list price. If I don't use that months credit they add up, you don't lose them. Here is the link www.audible.com

Another perk to having audible is that if you also have an Amazon account you can buy a kindle ebook (to be read on many different devices) for maybe $4.99 and then add whispersync for $1.99. Whispersync adds narration and lets you listen to the book through the audible app. When you take a break the app saves your place and when you want to 'read' you pick up your tablet and open the kindle app and it opens to where you finished listening. Then suppose you are going to drive somewhere, you hop in the car and open the audible app again & lo and behold it opens where you finished reading. Magic? Maybe. Here is the link  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_9?url=searchalias%3Dstripbooks&fieldkeywords=kindle+whispersync&sprefix=kindle+wh%2Cstripbooks%2C313

If you have a Topeka Shawnee County Public Library Card check out this link https://tscpl.org, select the DOWNLOAD IT tab and it will open a huge world of FREE ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies, and magazines. My favorite is Hoopla. Hoopla has music, audiobooks, movies and tv. www.hoopladigital.com(Unabridged)

I have listened to countless books and love all of these versions. I hope you try at least the library options. enjoy.

This is what I do ...Keeping It All Together

I'm a busy mom with busy kiddos and I'm back in college. I would like to share a few helpful tips on how I am trying to stay on task in MM Boot Camp this summer.

First I read through the assignment block for week one. Then I discovered that there were more tips and requirements outside of the week one material... hahaha, oops.

Now, I read EVERYTHING, multiple times.

Then I copied the weeks assignments into a document. Each item is numbered and when I complete that item I strikethrough it. This helps me a lot.

I also copy and paste the written articles into the same document and that way if I am in a situation without wifi I can still read the document. (A hard lesson I learned while I was in Ireland last week with sketchy internet service).

I then copied the whole glossary sheet into its own document and then take a portion of it and paste it into the current weeks assignments.

Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully I am catching it all. I have lots of things on my 'Need to get done' list and I have to use my time wisely.

Any other helpful tips?

If I were to do it over again, traveling to Ireland with a group of 15.

My Mom just took her four kids, three d/s-in-law, and her seven grandchildren aged 10 months to 21 years to Ireland. We left on Friday, May 22 from Kansas and arrived bright and early on Saturday morning. Our own bus and driver, Mick took us to the most wonderful spots you can imagine and the weather cooperated beautifully. We were busy a lot, we traveled in and through 20 of Ireland's 32 counties.  Overnights were in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Adare. Oh so many breathtaking sites. But we loved Glendalough, Cashel, Yeoghal, Cobh, and Broadford. Blarney Castle, Bunratty Village and Castle, Guinness, Jameson, Dublin Zoo and The English Market.

(l-r) back Finley Weber, Declan Brennan, Elliott Weber, Liz Emmert, front Clare and Michaela Emmert. Abbey Tavern North Dublin, Ireland, Sunday, May 24, 2015

(l-r) Me, Michael Brennan, Mary Brennan, Patrick Brennan, and Kate Weber at the top of Blarney Castle, Ireland, Wednesday, May 27, 2015.

What would I do differently?  I think our little family of five packed well, but there is always room for improvement. We packed for layers as the weather goes up and down. That way we could add or subtract as we went through out the day and be more comfortable.  I think we should have tried to stay better hydrated. Traveling can really wear a person down and if you aren't drinking enough water it can be rough on your mood and then things can degrade quickly from there.

We seemed to have plenty of familiar snacks for the plane trips and it was fun for the kids to see what their aunts had that their moms didn't. Airports and hotels can be ridiculously expensive and why not take one less pair of shoes and pack a few more yummy treats. It makes your traveling Euros go farther too when you aren't buying snacks all day, then you can buy one more pint in the evening.

I think the hardest part of the trip was the traveling with the little children. It wore on their little nerves. They just wanted to run and play and squeal, you know, like kids.  What anyone traveling NEEDS to take with them though is a plug-in adapter for charging your phones, iPads, iPods etc. If you have any of these devices I highly recommend bringing a surge protector and then you can plug in several items at once. We only brought one adapter and had devices and power banks that were forever needing a bit more charging.

It was the trip of a life time for sure. If you ever have the chance to go to Ireland, take it.

Sláinte (good health)

Who Am I

l-r Clare (12), Liz (13), The Momma (Me), Mike The Pop, Michaela (21)                                                                              My Little Family off the Coast of  Youghal, Ireland.

I am Jenn Emmert. I retired last summer after a 20 year career as funeral director and embalmer and decided to go back to school.  My parents and I opened Kevin Brennan Family Funeral Home in 2001. I worked many, many long hours and missed a lot of fun things that my kiddos were doing. I am pursuing a B.I.S in Web Utilization, fancy phrasing for graphic arts, mass media with a small dash of computer science. I hope my postings will be of use and even a bit fun.