Whatnot Wednesday

I've spent a lot of the last week with Harry Potter. I'm about to start the fifth book in the series. But, I need a break. I need some real people - some that don't attend Hogwarts. So, I'm taking a break to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" - again. Cause who's more real than Scout, Jem, and Atticus, right??

I realized as I planned a day trip to the beach tomorrow with a friend and her son that it's July and I haven't seen the beach AT ALL this summer. This summer has been so different for so many reasons, but that's just NUTS! If not for tomorrow, I literally would have seen the beaches of Haiti before I saw the Florida coast this year. I'm guessing there are going to be differences between the two.

-Speaking of Haiti, there are apparently all sorts of precautions you are supposed to take before you go there. You know, shots, pills, things like that. Honestly, I'm a good traveler and I don't get nervous about it. I get it's a third world country and all, but they told me I didn't need to wear my TOMS because they weren't protective enough and I was just like "whatever..." I may pay for that, but overall, I just don't get nervous about traveling and really don't think much of "extra" precautions. So, when they told me like six months ago that I needed to visit the health department on two to three different occasions to get my shots, I thought "whatever...." So last week (at the last available appointment before my trip:), I went and had about 100 shots in both my arms (more like 5 total, but it FELT like 100). Seriously, it's been a week and I still can't sleep on one of my sides. I also just got my malaria pills today (that I should have been taking for three weeks). I now have to take them while I'm there. The side effects should be fun in a country with little to no plumbing or sewage systems, huh?

- An update on couponing: I've gone bonkers for it. I totally made fun of those people that bought like 100 tubes of toothpaste just b/c they could get it for free. I was like "Why?" But I have about seven bottles of mustard and now, I get it. I really do.

- We've never really worn red, white, and blue for July 4th. I'm just not the Mom that can pull all that together (or the Mom that wants to). But, in honor of my new "part-time stay at home Mom" status, I decided that we WOULD be that family this year!! It took about four screaming fits and going through several drawers worth of clothing, but we (I) did it. Here's the proof:

Feel free to call me Super Mom! There's even a little camo in there as a shout out to the troops. WHAT UP??? (Super Mom that loves Barney:)

- If you didn't get the reference above, Barney is not the purple dinosaur (who by the grace of God, Jack never liked), but Barney from How I Met Your Mother. We went and saw Cars 2 the other night (that premiere was a BIG deal in our family) and the Smurfs preview came on. When Neil Patrick Harris came on the screen, Jack said, "Look Mom, there's Barney. He's how I met your mother."

In other 4th of July news, this picture is funny:

and so is this one:

- After celebrating the birth of our country, we came home and Jack's superheros were fighting each other. After a while, I heard "FATALITY!" I think that may be enough Norville Come Back (aka Mortal Kombat) for a while, kid. We are going to move on to Tiger Woods' Golf for a while I think.

Link up with The Wonderful Happens for more Whatnot Wednesday fun!