MORE Vehicular Issues. Or just issues in general

Seriously. I tempted fate by posting that pic of the shopping cart stuck on my car.

On Saturday I started off having a great day. Ella was at her Mimi's for a sleep over, and I never realized until she wasn't here how fabulous sleeping in is. I'm used to her dragging in screaming screeching and yelling at me to get her some milk and turn on her cartoon!! ech, I digress.

So I left big Josh and litte Josh and headed to town. I did some errands and shopping, yet another lady asked me when my baby is due (um, 6 months ago) I got to visit my dad and run by the grocery. I got home in time to get ready and go to a baby shower and Josh realized I had not brought home the meat and beans he requested for his man-gathering. Well, I bought the stuff! Call HEB, Josh has to go back and pick it up as I was getting ready to go. ugh.

So it's time to go, Josh's buddies were very gracious and did the obligatory "you look nice" thing, and I almost forgot the pregnant thing. I suddenly remembered that a guy had flagged me down in town and told me I had a breaklight out. Silly me, I thought he was going to rob me, but then I remembered I was in MY car. Any-who.

I decided to take Josh's truck, to minimize the probability of getting a ticket since that seemed on par for the day. No ticket, but I was called out of the party when one of the neighbors backed into the truck! Seriously! Luckily it wasn't bad, but it did kill off any semblance of a festive mood I had, thanks to the yummy bellinis.

So, I returned home, plopped on the sofa, had a Bud Light, chips and watched a bit of football. Who was playing? No clue.

I think as much as I need it from time to time, spending the day withOUT the kids hanging off me throws me a bit off kilter...

As I type this Josh is likely at the repair shop dealing with his truck. Oops.

Lolli-Salad

Seriously. She eats some nasty stuff. But nobody tell her that- I think it's better just to let her eat whatever she wants and figure out what she thinks is gross. Or great. Whatever. I promised Josh a long time ago I'd even serve her ham. Blech. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

So anyhow. We went out to dinner the other day, obviously it was after Halloween, and she was doing her part to work through her candy stash after her kids' meal.



I guess orange tootsie-pop isn't flavorful enough on its own. But really, of all the condiments Wings 'n More provides, and she chooses the potato salad. Uch.

Vehicular Issues

One good, one bad.

I went to Target this morning and as I walked out in the lot to go to my car, I saw this!



Bummer! As if my car isn't already the glaring banged up tin can that most of my inner circle tries like hell to avoid riding in. Now it's being randomly accosted by inanimate objects in half empty parking lots, too. Poor car. Oh, well. It serves me and the kids well!

I was also very pleasantly surprised today! I went to fill up since I'd been rolling around all morning with the fuel light on. I stopped at the Kroger, and filled up for: drumroll please....



Awesome, huh? I've been waiting for prices at the pump to drop and I was so excited! My whole tank of gas was barely more than $30 !!

Cheesecloth Ghost

Well there was ZERO room for discussion regarding Ella's Halloween costume this year. No, not a princess or fairy or ballerina. A ghost. No- correction- a "scary ghost, that scares people."

I make no secret of the fact that I mildly despise Halloween. I don't think its a holiday, and generally view it as an inconvenience with little reward, I mean really- who needs a bucket of candy and plastic spider rings? But Ella was super excited this year, and our neighborhood did have a kickin' party, so we worked on making her the perfect ghost costume.

Last week at the grocery I was looking for a melon baller, and it hit me - cheesecloth! So easy, and cheap! So two packs of cheesecloth we cut, and carefully draped it over her, and even made a long "hood" with carefully placed eye and mouth holes as per the ghost herself.

She wore it intermittently thru the night, and I think it was perfect because it was easy to get on and off, and she wore her cute Halloween outfit underneath... anyhow, I think I am going way too into detail here, so heres a couple pics

Urgent Update

I know everyone is enraptured and awaiting an update... Well, at long last, the kite has been retrieved. (see This Post) With the help of daddy, a ladder, a broom stick and a rake, the kite was recovered. Although, it looks like it spent a week down in our garbage disposal, and Ella was devastated to learn it will never fly again.

So- I guess we'll be headed to the Dollar store to find a replacement sometime soon.

RIP Pooh...

How To

A detailed guide to the ultimate Jack-o-Lantern.

First, three year old will design the aesthetic, determining the mood, feeling, aura, and general artistic vision to be executed. 

Then, proper materials and resources must be gathered.

Never mind the pumpkin patch, we needed a place you could get a pumpkin, milk and candy. 

And, since we are pretty "kuntry," we used a serving spoon, a drywall knife and a dog's shedding blade. Yeah, I had to look up what the loop is called. Josh is the dog groomer 'round these parts.

Then, we got to work. Ella drew the face on with a Sharpie, I cut a little, Josh cut a little, Ella refused to touch anything, my mom stood by watching, bemused. Finally, after Josh gave up and went to the backyard to do something in the backyard, I convinced Ella to get her hands dirty and hep me clean it out. After 3.2 seconds she went in to wash up and I finished cleaning it and cutting the face out alone.

It took me a while to convince her to be photographed with it, then she decided she was hot and needed to help daddy fix the sprinkler system, so she threw on her 'kini. I mean, it was 85 degrees out.

Only in the south, huh? 

Why Mommy should definitely have her turn last

It was a nice afternoon, and early this evening a bit of a front blew through. Ella noticed the wind and ran to get her Winnie the Pooh kite for it's maiden voyage. 

We spent about 5 minute getting into the dang pack (why do they pack kids' toys like that? I need a screwdriver, needlenosed pliers and some loppers to get any frickin toy open...) and then 5 seconds "assembling" the thing, and off to the front yard we went. The front because we have

 these three barely living 15 foot trees in the back. WAY too much of a hazard.  

Well, luckily Ella and daddy tried first, and got it to fly for several 45 second periods of time before it slammed nose-first into the street again and again. Ella didn't believe that you have to move away from the kite instead of walking closer to it while flying. I sat on the tailgate and chatted up the guys cutting down the neighbors dead tree in the back, trying to talk him down on getting a stump ground out of our yard, but I digress. 

So after several nose-dives, one jaunt all-the-way down the cul de sac, and several screams from Ella, I demanded a turn. I shouldn't say much of anything regarding anyone else's kite-flying expertise or lack there-of (ahem), because about 12 seconds after I grabbed the string and took over, this happened:

Man, was Ella ever mad. She decided we needed Clifford (the Big Red Dog) to come over and get it down for us. We're still waiting on a call back. Or a BIG gust of wind. Whichever works. 

I hate plants

Well, no not really. I hate planting plants. It is not incredibly difficult, but man it takes forever! I have been working on our "landscaping" for two days now! It still looks like I let Ella do it, though. Maybe after today it will look a little better. I'd post pics, but I promised a long time ago I wouldn't show our homefront online. You know, for security reasons. 

Anyhow- I am bored out of my gourd waiting for the baby to wake up from his nap so I can go to the store and buy the last few plants and some Scrubbing Bubbles for my shower. I think I need one of those steamers. A girlfriend of mine was talking about how great they are, and it's been in the back corner of my brain ever since. 

I do have a few interesting pics from life in Norton-Ville: 

Baby Beds

A good ole fashioned Shadow Puppet show as performed by Ella and her lovely Mimi. Don't tell Ella it's supposed to be dark and there are actually supposed to be shadows...

Very carefully stacked tower 

And as I type this Ella has decided to show me how to "juggle apples." She took two apples and put them in her shirt- you know, "like a grown up lady," and started laughing hysterically. I'm not even going to take a picture of that. 

Maybe you're a Trashcan

"What are you doing mommy?" 

"I'm going to start dinner, I'm hungry"

"Hi, Hungry, I'm Ella"

And the sarcasm begins... 

Portrait by a 3 year old

No, it's not me.

She drew this, and informed me that it is a picture of Spongebob's Grandma! Of Course...

Engineering Marvel

We were driving to dinner the other night, and went up a sort of alley/side street. Then I saw this thing and started laughing. It is hilarious. I am guessing some civil engineer got paid at least a few grand for the analysis and design of this marvel of modern engineering. 

The thing is about as tall as Ella, the little tiny culvert/hole at the bottom is about 5 inches in diameter, and the little tiny notch/trapezoidal weir at the top is about 7 inches across by 6 inches deep, and the rip-rap/rock path is about a foot wide. The large gouges out of the earth on either side of this drainage fixture, where the water actually passes, were obviously the work of mother nature. 

I imagine it's one of those things where a mom sees their kid's science project out on the table after they've finished and gone off to bed, realizes its unfortunate state and inadequacy, and then tries to subtly make changes in an effort to at least save face for the chid. Like in this case, I'm sure the parking lot doesn't flood- not because whoever designed/built this thing did their job, but because the water flows out around the marvelous thing. 

I just love seeing things like this. It makes me laugh and then I get mad, because really... 

Hair

"I like your hair mom."

"Thanks, Ell!"

"Maybe I can cut it off and wear it around today."

Yeah- Forget it

Nevermind all that mess about the oldie-but-goodie camera. It really does suck. After trying desperately to catch shots of Kyle's face, and Ella being herself and trekking to the Walgreens to pay $6 to have the film put on CD - well, they suck. 

This one is arguably the best, and really it's only cute because Kyle is so damn cute.

There are a couple shots worth keeping, and maybe I just am a crummy photographer, but I guess I'll stick to my pocket-cam. 

I did catch these at our church festival this past weekend: 

On the horse she was SO excited to ride 

With the face paint we waited 20 minutes for, and immediately had to wipe off because

"Mommy I don't like this paint on my face"

I Prefer the Term "Vintage"

I was telling someone the other day that when I am finally done being 22 (sometime in the next couple of decades), I'd prefer the term "vintage" to old.  I do like old things though. Maybe not as much old things, as basic things. 

Y'all know we just moved, and I STILL cannot figure out how to work the timer on my stove. It beeps this one tiny little beep that you have to be standing in the kitchen to hear, and that's it! Well, my old (cheaper) stove had that nice repetitive fog-horn timer, and there was no missing out on your cookies or casserole or shrinky-dinks being done. Not that we ever did shrinky dinks, I would love to find some... but that's beside the point. So, my counter looks like this: 

Anything look a little off? Could it be the $1.00 wind up timer I use in place of the exquisitely engineered Whirlpool Gold oven controls? Hey, the thing rings loud enough for me to hear, and It never cuts my oven off before the food in it is done cooking. I love it. 

My other favorite as of late, is the ancient camera I stole out of my dad's coat closet. It is an old Minolta 35mm camera, and it takes such wonderful pictures! 

I don't even mind the trek to Walgreens to have the photos burned to a CD, or the fact that I need another stroller to push this monstrosity around it. Because, let's face it, I am WAAAY too cheap to purchase a comparable digital SLR. I am recently re-discovering the joy of taking pics of my kids because, well, to be honest, I have time!  

Hopefully I'll have some decent pics of the kids to show you at some point here. My digital Canon is great in that it fits in your pocket, but the pics it takes are not really blow-up and frame quality, and that's what I love. I am not much of a scrap-booker. Although that might be fun, too... 

The New Colossus

I don't know why this is on my mind- on my heart- today. Totally random. I guess that's the old post partum crazy kicking into gear. I think the FREE Mocha I got at the neighborhood McCafe did me in for the day. 

Take a gander, and let it sink into your soul...

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, 

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame 

Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, you storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, 

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these homeless tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Serenades and Spaghetti

A lucky little girl got a new guitar last week! Well, actually it is pronounced "Cut-tar" in case you didn't know. She plays me songs all the time, and I totally busted her doing the cutest thing yesterday! 

I was unloading groceries, and okay, I admit it, I leave the baby in his car seat while I unload groceries. Yes, he cries a little, but I hate taking him out of the seat as soon as I walk in because I am all grocery store grimy and have to wash hands, and then if I set him in his little rocker chair he wants entertainment and then I still have groceries melting in the car.. it's just redonkulous. 

Anyways, as I was saying, I was pack-muling the small fortune's worth of groceries it took us 3 hours to fight evacuees for, and of course the baby started crying. I got a little more pep in my step and tried to go faster, and then, all of a sudden, I realized: "That's not crying! It's singing... and strumming!" 

So I grabbed my phone and snuck around to the other side of the kitchen, so I could snap a picture. 

The song went: 

And there is baby Kyle 

and he was happy

and he was walking like a grownup

but I gave him a spanking because he can't walk in the street without mommy

I love baby Kyle

I swear, I did not make that up or embellish it. All the while she was vigorously strumming on her Cut-tar. 

Quality music. 

And, on a less entertaining note, I thought I'd share our delicacy of the evening. My favorite "leftover" trick, Spaghetti eggs and cheese, all cooked up with a generous dash of Maggi.

You should definitely try it, it's AWESOME

Back to School!!

Ella went back to school last week! She had her first ever homework assignment. How fun! 

It was to make a collage all about herself and what she likes to do. So I let her dig around in the craft drawers and get out whatever was small enough to fit on construction paper. In spite of free-flowing tears, I was able to limit it to ONE pot of glitter, and only the small fuzzy balls. 

So off she went. I helped her write, obviously, although she did write a few things herself, and she glued the rest. She is actually scary good with scissors, too. 

Summertime!

Summer was fun this year. We put in some serious hours at the pool and splashpad. Here's little Kyle enjoying the cabana...

Ella is soooo close to finally being able to swim. We just have to get her over that final hump of knowing she can. The last two times we've gone I refuse to tie the noodle on her and just let go at random times, trying the "old fashioned way" as I like to say. Allegedly it's how I learned to swim. We'll see. So far she just screams, dunks under, swats around and sort of keeps her face near the surface. It's so cute the way her little eyebrows turn pink when she's sort of terrified. 

I think she's ready for the cold weather, though... 

Random Ella and Kyle Moments

Ella and Kyle: July 2

Kyle: July 4

Watching Spongebob: July 4

Getting an Ear-full: July 2

Ella's first time fishing: June 22

Ella at the Dairy Queen: June 18

Stars and Shooting Stars and Nemo

I love to get catologues in the mail. I never buy anything out of them, but I pour over them and pick all the things I'd like to order, and then "tsk" at the outrageous prices. So Ella is quickly learning from me. She gets the Toys R Us circulars every now and then, and has taken to picking out what she'd like and then showing me... 

This time around she came and pointed this out to me: 

So I asked her what it is, and she twisted her lip and cocked her little red-head to the side. So I asked her "Well, what do you do with it?" not thinking she really knew what it was, and her reply was : 

"You put your eye on one side and the sky on the other side, and you can see stars, and shooting stars, and more shooting stars . . pause here . . and Nemo!" 

I thought it was a pretty cute explanation, myself. 

Is this a bad sign?

Lately Ella is learning the fine art of cleaning her room. Art, you say? Yes, in our house it has become a very creative and crafty endeavor. As in, "where can I hide this 2x3 ft. book so nobody can see it, but it is not where it belongs?" or... "How can I parlay this 30 minute stretch mom has locked me in my room to put toys away into a watercolor extravaganza?" and even "What areas of my room have I yet to color with crayon?" 

You know, the usual. 

So, a week or so ago, I went in to check on her "progress" -and I use the term loosely, and I happened to see this out of the corner of my eye: 

 

So we had another talk about how we can be silly and goofy with baby dolls, but not baby brother. 

She is so doll obsessed right now it is amazing! Her favorites are named : Plastic, Rhymie, Pootie, and of coure, good ole Baby Alive. My personal favorites are Plastic and Pootie. As I am typing this and asking her to tell me again the names, she told me that "One of them is for sale" hahaha... So much like her daddy...

A Conversation with Kyle

He "talks"  with us sometimes... 

He is six weeks old today! He is as good and as easy as Ella was as a baby (barring that one horrible hospital stay). He's sleeping 8 hour nights, eating well, and generally happy! Well, I mean, he cries, obviously. Ella likes to explain "That's how babies talk- they cry." 

Well, I plan to get back into the blog-o-sphere soon, so I'll be back! 

I'm Baaaaack...

Hello my Loves. Has it really been two months? I'm so sorry. I know you have all been missing me...

Well, big changes around here! We have lots going on, what with my transitioning from one "career" to another, we'll be having a baby, God willing, in the next couple days, and then we're moving in the next couple months! Wahoo! Aren't we just the most sane people you've ever heard of?

At any rate, we are really excited. I am so looking forward to this summer, I have secured our pool passes, and gotten the perfect beach bag (thanks, Lori!)- I mean, really, what more is there!?

I am loving the prospect of just being mommy this summer. I can't tell you all how excited I am! (Cheese, I know, but it's true!)

I had SO SO much fun this weekend seeing so much of my family, actual and honorary, and some friends we don't see too often. Ella was divine all weekend, she really did well considering her life has been in turmoil for months now!

Here she is playing the part of mommy (me) the other night...

Cute, no?

SO Baby Brother is on his way. Well, not RIGHT NOW or anything, but hopefully soon. We finally DID decide on a name, and just decided to go public with it so people would stop asking, really... Drumroll please...

Joshua Kyle

Ella digs it more than we expected, and it's the cutest thing to hear her little voice saying "Kyle." I've taken in a couple things to be monogrammed already, so that means it's final :)

So, I don't really know what else I can tell you about right now. Life has been a nit overwhelming to say the least lately, but all in a good way; We've got so much going on right now that is just really awesome, I can't help but feel like a lucky duck! (I know, cheese again, blame it on my being 27 months pregnant)

Well, I'll be back soon... And most definitely when Kyle makes his arrival, we'll get some pics up for everyone to enjoy

Making Way for Coffee Cup!

Well, I have come to the stark realization that in less than 60 days we are due to have another little one in our home! YAY! and HOLY CRAP! all at the same time. I am so excited I can hardly stand it, and at the same time a little sad that Ella will have to share the limelight. She's just so fun! Anyhow- We are finally getting ready for baby.

I was just thinking today as I was wiping down the carseat-to-stroller adaptor, and all that stuff that has been gathering dust for two years now, that at this point in my pregnancy with Ella I was ready at any moment for baby's arrival. This time, however, we would be in a lurch! Obviously, I've got a couple things to finish up before he makes his grand entrance wink, wink.. and we are totally convinced he'll be almost as late as Ella was.

So, in order to feel fully prepared, I went online and ordered the cutest little cotton set for his "coming home from the hospital" outfit, and a matching hat (which will likely never touch his head) and I feel much better now. The carseat came a couple days ago via my old pal the UPS man - we're cool like that since he stops by about once a week. The baby has shampoo and a crib. No sheets yet, much to Ella's dismay, but the bedding should be here this weekend YAY!

And that, ladies and gents, is how we've prepared. I'm not sure if we'll need Newborns or 1's so I haven't bought diapers (Walgreens is open 24 hours, right?) and my mind cant handle any more than that.

This weekend, Ella turns three- and she is just as happy as can be that it is her birthday. All she wants are "roses and flowers." And then she's usually quick to add "and cake with pink frosting, and probably some presents." That's more like it, huh? I'm sure she'll get everything she wants, we're having a tiny "party" for her. I think it's still a party, we invited the ten or so people she sees most in her life to all show up at the same time for lunch and sweets, and that's going to be it. To her, it'll be the best party yet, I'm sure :)

Well, I know, this has been the most boring post ever. But cut me some slack. We've been ill, and I'm on spring break.

Much love!

Baby Alive - No, that IS her name!

Ella got this doll for Christmas. Ever the smart shopper, Mimi scored it half price on Amazon.com, because apparently the bilingual dolls are not in demand this year. So it is the funniest thing! It says "Hola, Mommy!" "Tengo hambre" and "(sniffing noises) Mi pueno es mal" So obviously I don't spell in spanish, but I do have a rough idea of the meaning of these phrases. I like to think that Ella is on her way to being bilingual. If only that were all you ever needed to know! "I'm hungry" and "My diaper stinks, change it!" (roughly translated, of course)

So, she loves this baby. We tried helping her come up with a neat hispanic name for the baby, we tried Rosa, Catalina, Pilar, and my favorite Lucia. Nope. The doll's name is Baby Alive, for the love. Or more true to reality "Baby A-WIVE." Ella will not hear of any other names. So there goes my whole feeble attempt at some multicultural integration in our family.

Although, it does remind me to toss in a few spanish words now and then. Poor Ella, I teach her about random words and phrases when I am bored, so now she knows things like the meaning of the word "reserve" and "spare" and what it means when someone says "adequate" and stuff like that. I know. The apple and the tree thing, huh? There's no hope for her...

Anyhow- back to the point... So, Mimi got her this fabulous doll that poos green goo into preemie Pampers, and now that they have heard all about it, her Grandma Sweetie Pie and Grandma Hearn (they constitute the Californian branch of our family) send her little outfits for Baby Alive! Not the overpriced goofy ones they sell at ToysRUs, real baby clothes. Well, preemie clothes! It is too funny. Baby alive has a great little wardrobe going, and I am often called in to assist with the "napping" of her onesies and skirts and shirts...

So anyhow- Ella is in love. Although last night I walked in on her trying desperatley to shove Baby Alive into a shoebox (which was WAY too small), I'm not really sure what that's all about. I'm sure it's just a phase...

Here she is in a more loving way:



And yes, we are working on her holding technique. I'm sure when The Baby Brother gets here, she'll be over that whole "cover the face with your hand" thing... Another phase, I'm sure...

Spitballs and Bagels

Okay, my pretties, I know it has been a long time since I hacked around on here- Sorry! What can I say? I am in demand... namely in the confines of my own home, but a girl can dream, no?

So, what's new with us. Ella has developed some new skills lately. She has also become extremely fond of bagels, which is kind of random, I know, but she asks for them all the time so I figure it's worth mentioning.

Spitballs- her new passion. She has always adored playing with straws, and in spite of the constant warnings of my own parents that she'd likely poke her eye out, I let her play. They're free! How much better of a toy can you get?! And you can grab like 20 at a time at restaurant, and nobody cares. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the perfect toy.



Anyhow- hubby introduced her to the wonderful world of rolling and thumping them, which makes a huge "pop" sounds- which of course she loves. She calls it "napping" the straw. Then, the ultimate- she learned how to blow bits of bagel/bread/danish/napkin through the straw, usually into mommy's face or in my hair... She adores this. So anytime we are out to eat, our table is a blur of crinkled straws, popping sounds, and flying of carbs. That's just how we roll...

Basketball Jones

Ella is a lucky little girl. She pretty much gets whatever her little heart desires, thanks to all her grandparents. Really, I cant complain, she is not rotten yet, and is the sweetest thing, of course! So she is always cycling through her "favorite" things. One minute it's a certain doll, the next a beanie baby puppy; There are a few standby items, like Baby Alive, and her iron and ironing board. This is a newer addition though. I went to wake her up yesterday morning, and this is what I saw:

I had to laugh. It made me start singing "Basketball Jones" and that stupid thing is still in my head. Well, I tried to rouse her, and her first move was to frantically look around for the ball and then just to make sure mean old mommy wasn't going to take it, I guess, she pulled it close and drifted back into sleep like this:

I love it. She is just so cute!

And for any of you not familiar with the phenomenon that is Basketball Jones... you should be ashamed! You have got to check THIS out. Well, be warned it is not the most politically correct thing in the world, but if you get too hung up on that this probably isnt the blog for you :)

More Monkey Business

So, after reading my post about the baby monkey for sale, my mom reminded me that she, in fact, once had a wee monkey as a pet! I don't know how I forgot about that story. I didn't really get the details on how this arrangement came to be, or the legality of it and all, but hey, it was the 70's!

It was a Capuchin Monkey. Seemingly very cute little creatures, have a looksie:


Apparently it looked more like this a majority of the time, though.


She has told me some stories about the true nature of having a monkey for a pet. Apparently they stink and screech and scream and throw their dung at you and all over... I have this funny mental image of a huge metal birdcage in the middle of their living room, with a crazed monkey shaking the bars and screeching... I'll draw a picture and post it at some point. Note the splattered poo that monkey has thrown about, and the cool retro 70's lamp is the standout fixture I remember from that house...


Apparently it got out a couple times, and they toyed with the idea of letting it stay gone, but the threat of someone tracing it back to them was too great. Plus I think it only ever went up a tree in the back yard, so it would still have been there, taunting and terrorizing. I am just fascinated by this. How they got a monkey, why they got a monkey, what did they do with it when they DID actually get rid of it (from the tone of the stories, I gather it was a short term arrangement).

Anyhow- just an interesting story...

You Never Know...

... Where your bare @$$ may show up...

I'll just say this is a person I know. Pretty darn well. He is a bit of an eccentric, I think he prefers to be referred to as an "aspiring curmudgeon,*" he's an adventurer, a naturalist; Even still, I was a bit taken at seeing his bare @$$ on the internet. But then I thought about it, and really it's not all that shocking.

From what I understand, this photograph was distributed to a small list of people, emailed to like 12 people, and it soon appeared on a national website, posted by some kid at Penn State (huh?) which I think is beyond funny.

I pulled the picture with the tag from the website, to prove it. The caption posted with the photo was "To the true swimmer, water is water, it doesnt matter what state it's in." It's followed by over a hundred and twenty comments, of varying nature and crudity, and a couple people even claimed to know him (but were way off on the geographical location of the photo-shoot). I will admit that for my blog here I gave him a pair of trunks, because, well, he needed them. It's cold out there...

*-yeah, you'll have to Google that for yourself, it's a post in its own -

Yeah, but can it make coffee?

So, the funniest thing I have seen in a long time definitely merits a post here. I actually didnt see it, my dad did, but when I saw the photo I promptly emailed it to myself from his phone, and now I'll just use it at will... Thanks, dad, by the way...

I know I talked about the infamous Frank's Country Store before. Although I must admit, after all the talking I did about their catfish plates on Fridays, we went to the fish fry at our church last week, and we'll be transferring our weekly reservation there, instead! It was REALLY REALLY good, where Frank's only gets one REALLY. Okay totally beside the point.

So, apparently this gem of a sign showed up on the window at Frank's place, and my dad was smart enough to immortalize it on ?film ?file eh-we'll just say iPhoto:

Can you imagine? I took the liberty of blacking out the phone number there, since I'm not really sure of the legality of selling baby monkeys at convenience stores in small towns across America, I don't know the people that are selling said monkey, and they have since taken the sign down. Maybe it was an issue, or maybe they already sold the little bugger and don't want any more calls. I can imagine they got some interesting "prank" calls on this one.

So anyways, just thought it was too funny not to share. And people, take care in choosing your pets.

Celtic Woman

My dad scored some tickets to a really neat concert, and he took me along for the show! It was Celtic Woman, a group of, well, celtic women, that have angelic voices and one spunky little fiddler. Or violinist, I suppose.

The music was just incredible! It's the kind of show you watch, and then it makes you wish you could sing, too. And then, your three year old tells you to stop, and you get back to normal, only singing in the shower or in the car with the volume up a couple notches too high to drown out the sound of you.

So, back to the Celtic Woman show: They were all these beautiful women in full on bridesmaid dresses, and really it was just neat :) I'm glad he took me along with him, I'd have never known about them otherwise! Plus, I like the spunky one's hair, I think I'm going to try for that "style" next time I get my hair did...

I highly recommend the show, if you ever get a chance to see them! The only drawback was really more to do with the facility; I spent the ENTIRE 20 minute intermission on line for the "ladies room," and, did I mention said line was actually on a stairwell? Yeah, 7 months pregnant on a 6inch step for 20 minutes = not fun... Plus the woman behind me was insufferable. It was one of those times when you accidentally make eye contact, and then they talk and talk and talk. You know? I mean crazy stuff, like guestimating the average time for each woman to pee, taking into account whether they "zip while they're in the stall or wait till they get out of the stall" and then counting the number ahead of us in line and multiplying for the most accurate estimate of how long we'd be there. Oh, it was really something. I don't know about you, but sometimes you just stand and wait your turn, and you're done when you're done. And now I'm done.

The Love Bus - Are you on it?

So, Valentine's Day- not my favorite day of the year. I don't really have any bad experiences per say, I just oppose it on principal. Plus it is really kind of a hassle. Take yesterday evening; I had to make a tray of brownies for the hubby to take to work, a veggie tray for Ella's class party, and make little valentines for each of the 13 kids in her class. Which really, it doesn't sound too bad, I know, but I would much rather have spent the evening normally, since a trip to the grocery, making dinner and getting the house picked up were also on the agenda for the evening. Can you guess which one we skipped?

The brownies came out a little overcooked because we were distracted from pulling them out by our work on Ella's little valentines, which I must say are VERY cute this year... We dubbed it "The Love Bus," and I thought they were kind of appropriate, not gender specific, and school themed, kind of. We put a strand of maroon and white beads (really left over Mardi Gras beads, that's not tacky, right?) in each one, to complete the sugar free, gender neutrality of it all.

Our little fleet:

And a closer shot of a few:

Too cute, huh? I pulled them off of my new favorite website for kid crafts: The Toy Maker

Ella was really excited about taking them to her little buddies, and I hope they have fun playing with them :) She looked extra cute today in her little pink sweetheart tee, courtesy of her BFF's crafty mommy, Aunt G, and the adorable little (well, it's kind of big) Valentine bow she got from her cousin Maddie. Love it!

As for the rest of us, I got a fabulous pair of earrings to match the couple of pearl necklaces I have, so I no longer have to wear the plastic pearls I got at Claire's 5 years ago :) Hubby kind of got the short end of it, he only got a card. And no fancy dinner, he'll be out of town for the evening. Maybe next year I'll get into the spirit. Not likely though.

So, Happy Valentine's Day everybody. I hope the love bus swings by your place...