Oh Snap! Goofy Good Pics

Just recently, I took a look at the overloaded memory card on my digital camera and came across some goofy good photos that I took with the intent of sharing them on this here very blog. Then, I invited Brian to join me in this endeavor, so here goes nothing:

Sue

2. One day I spilled some water on my kitchen counter and it looked like a bunny!

3. Some of the letters on my laptop wore off, and I am too cheap to pay $5 per key for replacements so I stuck on some scrapbook stickers. The missing letters didn't bother me so much, but T and the kids kept complaining!

1. Miss O's well-loved polar bear needed a bath, so here he is soaking in the a bowl of warm water. He's been her BBF (Best Bear Forever) for almost 10 years thanks to my good friend Robin who gifted Polar Bear to her when she was just a tot!


Brian

I on the other hand have selected pictures that I did NOT intend to share here. I had to go through my iPhoto pictures to find some that I have not posted on facebook or elsewhere. I'm not sure about these, but I think they are a public debut.

2) Uh Oh! Emergency Underpants. Who doesn't need these from time to time?




3) Is this a tiny dessert... or does my friend Steven have huge hands?




1) It's us! This is Sue and me - and Cindy... and a bunch of other people's hands... but I needed to use my own fingers for the rabbit ears. This is probably from our sophomore year of high school around Christmastime.



There ya have it - five goofy good pics, and one blast from the past that was posted without my permission (not really, I had the final edit) Do you have some photos stuck in your camera, memory card, phone, or a big box somewhere in your attic or basement? Post a comment below or send your photos to threegoodthings@att.net, especially if you have goofy good shots of Brian! Thanks so much! Happy Friday!

Branching out to a Vlog

Brian kick-started the blog again last week, after we both took a bit of a summer hiatus. We hope you missed us! Now, we are in the midst of the autumn season, and before you know it - BOOM, winter will be here! With that in mind, we would like to share with you good things about fall. I know what you're thinking if you've been a long-time Good Things fan, they did that last year. You're right! We did. But if you missed it, you can read this ol' post. If you rather not, or you're just too lazy, you can simply watch these videos. That's correct, I said videos, or as they say in the blogging world - a vlog!

Enjoy!

I will begin, but first a disclaimer: I am an amateur without fancy equipment or editing software and I'm camera shy. Just think of me a Howard's mother from The Big Bang Theory or Wilson from Home Improvement.



And now here's Brian's 3 good things about Fall:

Falling Into Goodness

Aside from the obligatory autumnal pun, I hardly need to point out to those of us in the northern hemisphere that the equinox has passed and we have fallen into Autumn.

Sue and I haven't written anything in quite a while. Sue posted last on August 15, and I haven't written anything on my own since Memorial Day. Apparently, I took the summer off. Oh I've been writing (check out the notes page on my Facebook) just not here. Recently however, I've had some stresses happen in my life that reminded me I need to write about good things. So, here goes.

I moved to a new apartment. Moving is supposed to be one of those top-10 stress-inducing things.

I lost my job. Yeah - that's no fun either.

I got a cold. But it's a Man Cold!




So, please allow me to use Scripture to turn that around a bit. My view of the world comes from this place.

We know that God's plan for us did not include brokenness; broken finances, broken health, broken lives, broken homes, broken relationships, and the brokenness of our own sins. When that brokenness occurs, we can be sure that he will use whatever happens to create something good.

We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose,
Romans 8:28 (CEV)

Paul wrote that from prison. Yeah... kinda helps me put my life into focus, don't you think?

Right! So, now let's talk about the good things.

2) I have a new place! I get to rearrange furniture, hang pictures, organize cabinets, and try new things. This is fun for me. It might not be your favorite thing to do, but it's really fun for me.

3) I'm financially OK - though I don't have a job right now. I have an amazing opportunity to explore what I want to do, and what I might do. I don't have to run out and get another job right now. That's a pretty amazing feeling and I know what an extraordinary opportunity this is. Please pray with me that I don't waste it. I'm exploring building my own Social Media Consulting business and doing more voiceover work than I have before. I can strategize about that all day - actually doing it scares the crap out of me.

Jesus looked at them and said, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.”
Mark 10:27 (CEV)

That's just it, I may be gifted in certain areas and those give me some opportunities, but without God's intervention, I'm not going to be successful.

1) With my cold... I sound sexy... Like when Phoebe had a cold.



So, look for a Good Things About Fall post coming next week!

Good Ol' Childhood Games

"With a dirty, dirty dish rag on your toe . . ." Sometimes random thoughts pop into my head. This ending to the IT-identifying chant came to me as I washed the dinner dishes a few weeks back. It's one of those childhood sayings that sticks with you for a gazillion years just like, "I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me, and sticks to you" or "Not IT!" Of course in my mind, one random thought leads to another, and before ya know it, a Good Things post is born.

Well, it sort of works that way. In this case, I needed a little help from my friends, and Brian's friends too. With the magic of social networking, I recruited contributors to tell me one good outdoor game from their childhood. The graphic above is the product of their responses. Some games are familiar like Dodgeball or Hopscotch, others are not so well known like Dr. Tangle or Hunt for the Ol' Gray Woolie?!?

In this tech age, kids are most likely to be attached to something digital or electronic, rather than gathering up the neighborhood gang for a friendly game of Kick the Can, which by the way was the game mentioned more than any other in my unscientific poll. Wacky!

What was so good about these outdoor games from our childhoods? I'll tell right now:

3. Little or no special (expensive) equipment needed: A ball, a can, a flashlight, a stone and some chalk, a doorbell . . .

2. Mom or dad did not have to drive any kids here or there to take part: Go outside. Find some friends in your neighborhood on foot or by bike. Round them up in a backyard, an empty lot or field, or in the alley if you had one. Play a game or two, or more. There ya have it - no seatbelt required.

1. These games were actually fun despite the potential risk for injury. (I'm not a big fan of Dodgeball for that very reason) Good times were had by all, OK, maybe not by the kid who always was IT, but heck yeah, simple summertime fun!

Unplugged.

Kudos to the following folks who shared their favorite childhood games with me, not in any particular order: Kevin, Deneen, Kristen, Jeff, Kelly, Joe, Beth, Donna, Joan, Narda, Marianne, Donna, Kim, Daphne, Greg, Ruth, Connie, and Dana. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now get out there, grab some friends, and go play!

Oh Snap! Summer Vacation Photo Fun

It's mid-July, and our summer vacations have come and gone. Me, T, and the kids recently took a trip to the northwoods of Wisconsin, about two hours north of Green Bay (that's right ~ Packer country, sorry Bears fans!) At the start of summer, Brian spent his vaca cruisin' in the Caribbean. A cabin in the woods vs. a cabin on the sea. Here are some highlights for your viewing pleasure:


Sue

2. Fish tales: You should have seen the next fish I caught. It was yay big! Actually, it was about the same size as this one which was much, much bigger in real life than in this photo. I think I might have hooked the same fish three times!

3. Just Beachy: If you give my kids a body of water and a sandy beach, they can play for hours.

1. Happy Trails, Happy Campers: T took the kids on their very first horseback ride . . .

and we enjoyed family time around the campfire.




Brian

2012 is the year of "free" vacations for me. I used points to book a cruise, and I'm getting ready to visit my family in Gulfport next month using airline miles. Not everything was free, but I'm getting rid of those points! So, let me bring you up to speed.

2) I put my feet up.



3) And put my feet up... on a cruise, and went to the highland games at a Celtic festival.

1) I went to a Cubs game in NY.

And ate a wonderful pastrami ruben.






Tada!




* Hey, now it's your turn! Please send us a GOOD vacation photo, and we will post it here on this very blog. Please tell us a little bit about the photo, in other words, write your own photo caption and we'll take care it from there. You can email your photo as an attachment to threegoodthings@att.net. and include you name, city, state or country, Please remember this is a family-friendly blog, so keep your Vegas vaca shots to yourself. Thanks!

Free Good Things

No, Free Good Things is not Three Good Things with a speech impediment. Today, we're celebrating good things that are free. We could easily go down the road of smiles, air, sunshine and so on, but we're going for a little more commercial than that.

Here's mine:

Brian

2) Rita's Day - On the first day of Spring, free regular size ices at Rita's (Northeast chain).

3) Free things on your Birthday - I just had a birthday and didn't nearly scratch the surface of all the free things you can get. Here's the list: Birthday Freebies.

1) 7.11oz Slurpees on 7/11 at 7-Eleven - the annual free Slurpee Day from 11am to 7pm.

Sue

I'm going to go with two free things I've received recently, and one good place to find more freebies:

2. A small make-up bag with free samples of beauty products and coupons from Target.

3. A free iTunes download of the song "Beautiful You" by Trent Monk. Love it!



1. Just like a person wishing for more wishes from a genie, if you would like to find more freebies, browse the Frugal Girls website. I've scored laundry detergent, coffee, tea, beauty samples, music and e-book downloads, and more. Check it out.

Getting free stuff makes me smile, and of course smiles are free. So here's some for you, and Brian too.

Oh Snap! Father's Day Food Fest

My hubby T, super dad to our two awesome children, did not want anything for Father's Day. He had just one request for his special day: homemade deep dish pizza. He refused my offer to take him downtown for Pizzeria Uno pizza, his favorite. Too crowded, too much traffic, too expensive. He gave me all the excuses, so I gave in. Then, he suggested we take a trip to the Elburn Market for fresh Italian sausage for said pizza, and here's where the Father's Day food fest begins.

One does not make a special trip to a quality meat market and leave with just Italian sausage. Oh no! There's pork chops, ground beef, chicken, deli meats, and of course, steak - t-bone steaks. Change of menu? Nope! Because he is such a great father and loving husband, T had his deep dish pizza, and ate his steak too. And there were muffins - not store bought, not from a mix - homemade raspberry muffins accompanied by his fav hot beverage: chai tea latte. We are the best wife and kids ever! Well, at least in our minds we are.

So here in photos, is the Father's Day Food Fest featuring three good meals which actually started on Saturday night with . . .

2. Homemade deep dish sausage and mushroom pizza







3. Made-from-scratch raspberry muffins for Sunday's breakfast







1. T-Bone steak dinner with baked potatoes, grilled veggies, baked beans, and salad with fresh lettuce from our garden, with a Leine's Summer Shandy











Oh, let's not forget dessert - ice cream from Brenda's Frozen Custard in nearby Sandwich, IL. There's always room for dessert!





               Please pass the Tums.