(No, I’ve never read it before. Yes, I know it’s amazing.)

0.01×10^2. What was your best/worst day in math class?
I think the best days I had in math class was when Mr. Stark woke people up by slamming his yard stick on the desk right next to their head. It was always a treat. My worst day was EVERY SINGLE DAY in my college calculus classes.

20×10^-1. Who was your favorite/least favorite math teacher? Why?
Mr. Baacke. Not to be confused with Mr. Baacke who was my biology teacher. They were brothers. Well they still are brothers actually. They both love teaching and they love to see people learn… which kind of makes you love to learn.

3×10^0. Is it okay to be bad at math if English is more your thing?
Sorry but yes. If my children ever ask, I will deny that I said this. Brains work all sorts of ways and sometimes people who are awesome at math, are not so awesome at English. And vice versa. We can’t all be awesome at everything.

0.4×10^1. How does this video make you feel?
Well I thought it was going to be a sad video with stupid answers, but it’s a parody so it didn’t make me feel anything. Two of those girls are from the Girls Being Boys video.

500×10^-2. What do you like/not like about math?
I like simple math but hate not-so-simple math. Yes I think that people need to learn it in school but NOT BECAUSE THEY WILL USE IT ALL. Mr. Baacke (see above) said that the reason we had to learn calculus in high school isn’t because we’ll use it in “real life,” but because it develops our brain. I’m all for brain development.

0.006×10^3. What makes someone a nerd?
Liking Star Wars.

Oh lookie there, I just offended everyone.

Kidding.

I have no idea what makes someone a nerd. I don’t really know if you can put that into words. It’s just a quality that some people possess.

7×10^0. Who is the nerdiest person you know?
Sheldon Cooper. I wish. I wish I knew him! There is a guy I know from college who is quite the nerd.

80×10^-1. What is the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?
When I was in elementary school I was a Math Triathlete. Yes I was. Also, I was on the Spin Jammer team. Google it.

0.9×10^1. Do you think GraphJam is funny?
Sometimes.

10×10^1. Have you ever used math outside of school?
Well yes. But only the easy kind!

This weekend we went to Galveston for Mardi Gras with the family. Galveston has several parades throughout the weekend, some with themes like Barkus and Meaux (the pet parade). It’s a good time!

Houston got hit with a monster storm this weekend and this is the view looking out of the beach house on Saturday around 10:00am. The brown areas is supposed to be a sidewalk, instead it is a lake.

So much rain that there wasn’t even a parade to rain on. All the activities were canceled until the Saturday night parade. LAME!

Despite my two headaches, the storm, my son’s inability to fall asleep in this crib on his own, and my nail polishing chipping LIKE WHOA, we had an excellent time. Jansen is such a trooper. He had a few meltdowns, but that’s to be expected from an almost 18 month old child. They just do that… they are slightly bipolar. And I don’t blame him for not wanting to go to sleep in the crib. His crib was about 5 feet from our bed and it was in a strange room… it seemed like a much better idea to sleep in mom and dad’s bed.

And the headaches? Well that’s my life.

The nail polish really ticked me off though. I don’t know why it chipped! I usually have fantastically long manicures. I sure hope it’s not because I used the Maybelline stuff instead of my OPI, China Glaze, or Essie ones. It got good reviews!! I have another color in that same brand, I’ll give it another shot. Do you have any favorite brands that aren’t $8? Not that I’m opposed to spending $8 on a bottle of nail polish. I NEVER pay to get my nails done so I definitely get my money’s worth on my nail polish purchases. But if there is a cheaper option out there, I need to know.

Oh oh oh! Also! In totally unrelated news but also HUGE news: Toms came out with the crochet style again! My mom gave me money for Valentine’s Day to buy the ballet flats so I was on their site on Thursday night picking out the style I wanted. I chose the one I was going to get and then (as usual) decided to check to see if they have any crochets listed. I check for them EVERY SINGLE TIME I get on the site. EVERY TIME. I was under the impression that they were gone forever. I seriously almost had a heart attack when I saw them! So I opted out of the ballet flats (maybe eventually) and bought the crochet ones in cream/ivory/whatever instead. I am ridiculously excited. They should be here on Wednesday. I probably won’t sleep on Tuesday night….

2.
I introduced Jansen to bubble wrap yesterday. He pretty much thought it was awesomesauce. I pretty much think it is awesomesauce.

3.
I welcome any and all advice about Disney World. We don’t plan to go to Disney Land… I went there when I was younger and wasn’t much of a fan. We plan to wait until fall so it isn’t 110 degrees outside and there aren’t 17,000 children at our feet. I’M SO EXCITED!

4.
My husband is watching Grim. I don’t care for it. Too scary for me.

5.
So the verdict is in. I tried one of the cheaper nail polishes on Wednesday night. It’s Maybelline Express Finish. The first coat was pretty thin so you’ll have to use at least 2, I actually did 3 coats. But it’s a beautiful color (Grape Times), much prettier than I thought it was going to be! I painted them and loved them but decided to take it a step further and add some glitter tips with China Glaze Techno.

6.
Have a great weekend!

…that I have a slight nail polish obsession? I did some Googling to see what the best brands were since OPI is so expensive. There was some article I found with the top 10 ranked nail polishes. Did you know that China Glaze was ranked #1? Also there were several under $4 polishes on the list. I’ll be the judge of that!

…this weekend is Mardi Gras? We won’t be going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans (who do you think we are?!) but we will be going to the one in Galveston. I’m excited since it’s always a good time. Though, it’s just another one of those events that remind me of Lucy. She used to live in New Orleans so she thought Mardi Gras was super cool. She and her boyfriend came with us last year. She caught a giant stuffed cow for Jansen. And Stephen and David kept trying to throw footballs into tubas in the marching bands. We had so much fun that night.

…that we may be considering a different trip than a cruise. We started thinking and talking. Disney World. This is something we have talked about doing sans kids and this may be our last chance. Can you imagine if we waited a few years and we were like, “Kids… mommy and daddy are going to Disney World. Have fun with Nana and Gramps!” Yeah, that’s not kind. So we are going to crunch numbers and see if we can make it work! I LOVE Disney World and would love to go with Stephen.

…that my child is beautiful?

Today there are no words, just Instagram pictures!

1. How do you feel about Valentine’s Day?
I feel okay about it. I get annoyed when people are like, “Blah blah it’s a Hallmark holiday blah blah they just want us to spend money.” No. You’re wrong. Obviously companies want you to spend money… they want you to spend money every day, THAT’S THEIR JOB. But Valentine’s Day isn’t all about spending money. It’s about love and about SHOWING your loved ones how much you card. You don’t have to spend a dime… we don’t!

Basically this is how I feel: A holiday made to encourage people to tell others how much they love them? That’s good. Yes, we should do it more often but the truth is that we don’t. So Valentine’s Day is an annual reminder to do something extra special for the ones you love. And I feel pretty darn good about that.

2. Are you in love?
Absolutely!!

3. What is your favorite love song?
Steven Curtis Chapman, I Will Be Here

4. Did your parents do anything for you on Valentine’s Day when you were a child?
My mom always bought us little gifts. We always got cards and something fun. In fact, we still do! I play to do fun stuff with our kids too. We won’t start this year. Jansen is still too young and we don’t need more crap in our house. But in the future we’ll do something fun like surprise them in the morning with a living room full of red and pink balloons. Or only eat heart shaped food. Or a love note scavenger hunt.

5. What is your love language? (Click here if you want to take the quiz.)
If you don’t know your love language, you seriously need to take the quiz and so does your spouse. It’ll blow your mind. I am acts of service and words or affirmation. Basically I feel loved when Stephen does things for me… like the dishes or mows the lawn or rubs my feet. Or when he writes me sweet notes, tells me I’m a good wife/mother/cook/etc.

These same things can be tied to friendship. The surprise Glamazon weekend? Totally an act of service for them to plan and coordinate and make it all happen.

6. How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Gifts? Dinner?
We make dinner together. Stephen makes the steak, I make the dessert, and we make the sides together. We aren’t doing that this year because we have Bible Study on Tuesday nights so we’ll be going there. So we’ll probably have something super awesome like corn dogs.

7. What is your favorite flower?
Any flower that doesn’t smell. Smells give me a headache. I’m a Texas girl so I love yellow roses… and wild flowers. And I like any flower that someone buys me since I think it is a nice gesture.

8. What is your favorite love story? (Book and/or movie.)
You’ve Got Mail. “I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly.”

9. What is the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you? Or you have done for someone?
In college Stephen took a Thai Foot Massage class so he could learn to give me amazing foot massages. I think it was a trick to prove himself invaluable and make me marry him. It worked. :)

10. How did you meet your spouse/significant other?
Stephen and I met in Bible Study in college. I joined the Community Group by myself, which is SO out of character for me. He went with a friend after requesting to go to an all-male group so there wouldn’t be any distractions. His friend brought him to our co-ed group and I distracted him. The rest is history.

Link up!

1. Hanging With Friends. See also: Wheel of Fortune.
2. Mail outs. Seriously. I can collate, stuff, and seal envelopes like a champ.
3. Painting my fingernails. I’m not too great at my toenails but my fingernails look like I’ve had a professional manicure when I’m done with them.
4. Making cute babies. Well, actually I only have 1 piece of evidence… but he’s darn cute.
5. I have skinny legs.

See. I know I’m awesome.

But the thing is that I have, at my fingertips, all of the smartest people I know. You, Dear Internet, are a beautiful mess of all the smartest people I know. Which FINALLY leads me to my point.

Help.

Stephen and I need a vacation this year. We will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary (whoo hoo!) in July and we think we need to acknowledge it. We are thinking about a cruise since they are fun, cheap, leave from Galveston (40 minutes from our house), and all-inclusive. However there is some weirdness going on down here and the only cruise line leaving from Galveston this summer is Carnival.

We’ve cruised Norwegian and Royal Caribbean, both of which are known to be higher class than Carnival.

So what should we do? Should we remember that we aren’t fancy-pants and just cruise on Carnival? Should we go somewhere else? Where? Do you know of any awesome all-inclusive places? Keep in mind that we are allergic to spending money so this is going to need to be something super cheap.

This isn’t rhetorical, we could really use your advice. What you’ve done that you loved, hated, recommend, etc. If you want to email me directly, feel free! chelsea (at) rootsandrings.com

Excuse me while I go stuff some envelopes.

2.
I made a really REALLY disappointing dinner Wednesday night (that we had to have again Thursday night). It was pasta with feta, onions, roasted red peppers, and pine nuts. It sounds SO GOOD but it wasn’t. I don’t know what went wrong. Maybe the whole wheat pasta? I don’t know… I just know that it was gross and we both choked it down TWO nights in a row.

3.
It’s almost Mardi Gras. Does anyone besides Louisiana and Texas celebrate Mardi Gras?

4.
My throat is getting sore. UGH. It seems like there is something going around right now and I’m really hoping I’m not the next one to get the junk. I hate the junk.

5.
Dear Jansen,
On Saturday morning we are sleeping until like 10. GOT IT?
Love,
Mom

I got a video!

Cute. I love the eyebrows and the look of concern.

Thank you for allowing me to be the mom that shows you home videos. I wish I were ashamed BUT I’M NOT!