For a quick rundown of wtf I’m tracking, read about my summer goals.

#1 Yeah, two strikes against me, and I almost didn’t bother this week. But. Follow. Through.

#2 Am passing my classes. Home work done on time. Which reminds me, I need to go do that tomorrow night.

#3 Is looking more unattainable every day.

#4 Yes, have managed to do this. So yay!

#5 Failure all the way around. Blah.

#6 2lbs. In 3 weeks.

#7 Read two books not worth mentioning.

Here’s to hoping next week is back on track.

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Dear Canada,

Today is Canada Day. I am not Canadian, but I appreciate many of the things you have given us. While you could have kept Celine Dion, Pamela Anderson and Justin Bieber for yourselves without hurting MY feelings, you did give us Dan Akroyd, Margaret Atwood, and Ann-with-an-E of Green Gables, to name a few.

You’ve also provided maple syrup, use of the word “eh”, a ton of hockey-related updates, and many jokes related to the word beaver.

Oh, Canada, what’s not to love about that?

So, to the many Canadians I adore, Happy Canada Day!

Love,

Jen Thepsychobabble

PS: That’s a VERY abbreviated list of the Canadians I adore. Teh Internetz tends to blur borders for me, and I struggle to remember who’s from where!

PPS: Speaking of things that should be celebrated, you should head over to BlogHer@Home, read Kim’s sexy post, and enter to win RIGHT NOW!

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List of summer goals, for reference

#1 eh…half points. It’s technically still Monday, but not by much.

#2 my substance abuse nearly killed me this week, but I have survived ~cue Eye of the Tiger~

#3 Two words: Brick. Wall.

#4 check and double check. Trips to the park, walks around town, spoiling with the 50 cent ice cream cones, we totally covered this one.

#5 Not so much. The $$ factor. ‘Tis harsh.

#6 2 more down.

#7 Almost. Done.

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There are things that I need/want to get done this summer. So consider this sort of a mini-bucket list.

My plan is to start June 1st,yes I’m already late…. June 7th, and make September 1st 7th my deadline.

This list is in no particular order as far as importance or urgency. I’m just writing them as they come to me.

#1 Weekly updates as to my progress on the list (yes, this one seems like a gimme, but it’s my list darnnit)

#2 Take (and pass) 2 classes over the summer semester

#3 Get caught up on the bills, and sort out our financial situation a bit.

#4 Do at least one little trip/thing (park, library, beach etc) with the kids weekly

#5 Do at least one “big” thing (zoo/amusement park, camping etc) every other week, for a total of 6 things this summer.

#6 Lose an additional 15 pounds

#7 Read 6 books this summer

So viva la accountability! Let the summer begin.

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The only difference between an extraordinary life and an ordinary one is the extraordinary pleasures you find in ordinary things.

- Veronique Vienne

Sometimes, it’s hard to see past the mundane routine, and catch those glimpses of extraordinary. When so many things are competing for your attention, when so many things are weighing you down, even the special moments can lose their shine, and become ordinary and dull. In a conscious effort to not lose sight of those extraordinary moments, I’m listing a few that I nearly missed enjoying.

1) The sound of my kids giggling at the crack of dawn, when they should be sleeping.

2) The way my son’s first thought as we pull out of the daycare and head to home, is that his sister’s bus is almost home.

3) My husband doing drop-off, because he can see I needed that extra 30 minutes of sleep that it afforded me.

4) The wonder of my poor Jeep limping home with next to no coolant, and then recovering beautifully.

5) The way my 4 year old daughter pores over cook books, sighing at the wonderful food she could be making.

6) My brother-in-law scrubbing the kitchen and living room, even though he hadn’t been home in 2 days, and the mess certainly wasn’t his.

7) My daughter’s sense of responsibility and nurturing attitude towards her brother, her pets and even her tree.

8] That the job I found, when in my desperation I would have taken most anything, turns out to be a job I really enjoy, with coworkers who are (mostly) wonderful.

9) The way my parents have gone above and beyond, many times over, to ensure that not everything comes crashing down on top of us.

10) Connecting with an old friend, and finding that in many ways, we can pick up where we left off.

11) Feeling like I could sit here and make this list go on and on and on….

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Heh. That makes it sound like we’re a bunch of axe murderers, or evil scientists plotting the unleashing of zombie hordes.

Mmm….Braaaains…..

Anyway. Moving. On.

I don’t have much to say, and there isn’t a lot of time…mostly because I spent it messing around with my blog theme. Sorry.

So, for your reading pleasure-

STUFF ON TEH INTERNETZ NOT BY ME

• Who Am I? from A Life Less Ordinary
• Some Shape of Beauty from Her Bad Mother
• Five Star Friday- A collection of reader submitted favorites
• Got a tough question? Ask TheBloggess
• Regretsy- Where DIY meets WTF??

There. That should keep you entertained for a bit!

Catch you later!

Jen ThePsychobabble

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Things I’ve Learned from Blogging Experts

10)Write for your audience

9)Write for yourself

8)Tracking your stats lets you know how you stand

7)Ignore your stats, they’re just numbers

6)Share EVERYTHING! YES, everyone wants to know what happened in the bathroom today!

5)Share some things

4)Share nothing, make up names, locations and random events. People love that.

3)Be controversial-talk politics, religion and sex

2)Avoid controversy, and politics, religion and sex.

1)Have fun with it!

Argh. I’m just frustrated. And very tired. But the semester is counting down in weeks now. So soon, yet so far….

For a much better post, check out what I wrote over here

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It’s that time of the week again, and look, it’s not after 4pm! Yay me! Of course FAIL for not posting since Monday. But…moving on, shall we?

This week, I’m listing the people who must think I’m *entirely* indecisive. For some reason twitter keeps unfollowing me from these guys. And then I re-follow. And then twitter unfollows them, and then I follow them…and so on. Twitter clearly doesn’t approve. Oh. Well.

In no particular order, this week’s follow Friday list is:

@UndomesticDiva

@TastelikeCrazy

@PBandJazz

Ta-Da!

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Not only are you getting completely random thoughts here, but they’re in a LIST. With NUMBERING. Brace yourselves.

1)My sort-of-(it’s-a-long-story-don’t-ask-)brother-in-law is going to be staying with us for awhile. But he does dishes, so I’m cool with that.

2)Being outside in the sunshine makes it REALLY hard to read the laptop screen. This could be interpreted as a sign to either put the laptop away OR to hide indoors more often.

3)My daughter daughter, who is four, is now routinely using words like “toxic” and “putrid”. As in, “That is dinner? I am not eating that, it is TOXIC!” (was not) and “Mom. I can’t eat bratwurst. This saur kraut is PUTRID!”(okay, I bought the wrong brand. That one was my fault.)

4)It’s bill paying time, and I’m short on cash. Think I could pay with pie instead? I’m pretty good at pie. I’m even better at brownies. Anyone want to buy one of my special brownies??~wink wink nudge nudge~

5)On the same day that my daughter got kicked in the face, my son smacked his head riding the 4-wheeler with daddy. He put a good sized dent in his forehead. Later that day, the cat tried to kill me. He tripped me on the stairs with my arms full of crap. My face and shoulder are all black and blue. TheMan joked that he is NOT going out in public with us until we heal, and no longer look like someone beat us.

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Many thanks to PrincessJenn for the badge and idea. If you’d like to play along, head over to her site to link up!

Right, well, I’m still all excited about BlogHer@Home this August. So today’s Twits to Follow are all connected to that. But honestly? I’d follow ‘em anway:)

@BlogHerAtHome-Official twitter account for BlogHerAtHome updates and so on.

@MasMom- My brilliant co-host. Chock full of quirky humour. Plus she’s a garlic fiend, like your’s truly, and has an affinity of all things odd.

@PrincessJenn- Founder of BHAH, and host of last year’s party, she’s also our (awesomely talented) site designer and tech guru. She’ll be in New York this year, at the official BlogHer conference.

@MybottlesUp- Nic is the other half of the founding team for BHAH, and is a very high energy lady fully of quirkiness!

There you have it. My reccomendations for today, and I promise to not wait until Friday is nearly over next week.*

*Promise void in IL, MI, Canada and where otherwise prohibited by law

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