My Week Off-Day Five

Same format: got chores done, went to a local body of water. I was lax in my picture taking, sorry.

While we were at the pool a family I knew took a table near us, and the mom (whom I know because Nat and her son went to preschool together) set her sleeping baby in her little car seat in the shade and got into the pool with her visiting sister and her other children.

A short time later her little one woke up and let out a squawk so I went to check on her and was greeted by a happy little face that was ready to play, so I unbuckled her and brought her to my table. My friend saw me and I gestured to her that she was ok. A little while later my friend came out to check on the baby and make sure that the baby wasn't inconveniencing me (hah! I didn't mind getting my cute baby fix at all!) She then told me her sister (from San Francisco) freaked out a bit when she saw some strange lady playing with her little niece. She came over to my friend and said, "Do you KNOW that lady?" Yeah, it's one of those small town things.

Later Sis and I went shopping for Nat's birthday. Sis has worked on her high school video yearbook for the last 2 weeks so has missed out on most of our fun outings. Sis loves to play Slug Bug, even at her age, plus she likes to yell Banana! when she sees a yellow car, and it works the same way as Slug Bug, whoever spots it first gets to slug the other. The driver (me) is at a distinct disadvantage since I can't scan the horizon and every random parking lot for yellow cars and VWs.

Because of my sunburn on my shoulders I told Sis she could not punch me there any longer, that she would have to find a place below my shoulders and above my thighs to aim. Well then she would hit me in the boob and laugh her hiney off, especially because it would startle me and I would let out a scream. It was a fun trip, let me tell ya!

I also found out there is yet another car game, as if Slug Bug and Banana are not enough to keep one occupied (or defending oneself, as the case may be). Apparently when you see a yellow light you yell "Jorge!" and hit the ceiling of the car, and the last one to tap the roof has to take off an article of clothing. Hmmm. As if teenagers need another way to get into trouble in the car!

I had no idea that this was a game, so the first two times Sis did this I thought she had seen someone she knew named Jorge and had accidentally hit the roof trying to wave to him. Oh, silly me!

Today it's back to the old grind, I mean my NEW grind. I thoroughly enjoyed my week off. It was so peaceful around here without extra kids, and I feel my nerves returning to normal. Plus we had a blast. Yay.

My Week Off-Day Four

Day four. We didn't do anything productive. We skipped right to the fun outing instead.

We met our long time friends at a local lake. My friend's kids are 22, 20-the boys, 17, 15-the girls, 11, 8-girl and boy. We met when our oldest boys started t-ball together long, long ago. Then our oldest daughters became friends. Then she had #5 and I had #3 (Shelby) and then she had #6 when Shel was 5 months old so the three of them grew up together too like our older ones. Then along came Nat, the baby of the group and I don't know why my friend didn't have another to give Nat a playmate. What a slacker!

We had 3 years where we were neighbors which was a lot of fun. Since we moved down the hill a bit we don't get together like we used to, but this summer we're going to try to remedy that since I don't have a herd of daycare kids tying me down.

I picked up my little niece to give my big niece a break. Baby Zach is not fond of sleeping at night and his apnea monitor goes off a lot, so she has been really run down.

I've got a thing about taking pictures of little girls holding hands and walking away from me. I think it's the cutest thing ever. Here is Nat and her little cousin Emma.

Fun in the boat.

Grandpa Rocky stopped by with frozen treats for everyone.

Yum!

Shelby and Sarah fishing. They were inseparable.


File this under "At 43 you should know better". Yeah, I was just sitting in the shade so I "didn't need" sunscreen. Duh. and OUCH! Just be glad that I spared you a photo of my shoulders and cleavage!

And lastly Suey got dressed up in Shel's rash guard.

My Week Off-Day Three

On day three we took the best of the girls' outgrown clothing to a consignment store that I frequent. I've had good luck dropping off clothing and toys and making a little money on them there. I let the girls each pick out a new outfit and I found 2 nice pair of jeans for me. Total bill $25. I love that store.

The girls show off their "new" outfits.

We then had to go get some of life's necessities like sunscreen, Motrin and toilet paper.

Then it was off to Kung Fu Panda. The fight scenes were a bit intense for Nat, but we all enjoyed it. I think Nat ate her weight in popcorn. Who knew she could hold that much?!

I've been enjoying my week so much that I even forgot it was my dance night. That's extremely unusual for me as that's a night I look forward to all week. It dawned on me as we walked in to see the movie. Oops!

As soon as the movie was over I took the girls home grabbed my dance bag and headed back down the hill. I was only a little late. The ladies I danced with at Rakkasah came this week and we had a wonderful time chatting and teaching them one of our dances. Hopefully they will begin dancing with us on a regular basis now.

My Week Off-Day Two

On day two of our 5 day extravaganza, we went through Nat and Shel's closet and dresser drawers. Not a task for the weak of heart!

Shelby is really good about getting rid of whatever she doesn't like anymore or that doesn't fit. Nat however is a whole different story. It seems every article of clothing has some sort of sentimental tie for her and it's so hard for her to get rid of anything. She is SO like her father. Sigh...

I can be pretty cunning though, so with a little distraction and a lot of hiding her outgrown treasures amongst Shel's we were able to make a considerable dent.

We followed up that chore by cleaning Baby's cage. I know, we're supposed to be having fun this week, but there are things that have to get done too, and we usually end up even making our chores fun somehow. The girls like to rearrange his cage and give him special treats after the dirty work is done (mostly by me, big surprise).

For our special outing we went to visit baby Zach and gave him the present the girls picked out for him a month ago and have been anxiously waiting to deliver to him.

They were all thrilled to get their chance to hold him especially our resident baby hog, Sis. I really didn't get my fill, but I guess it's ok if I share him a little! (I'm so generous, I know.)


My niece had to show us his tiny fanny when she did his diaper change. He really has no butt. It's pretty hilarious. Poor Zach though, he had all his girl cousins standing around giggling over his little hiney. I'm sure that constitutes some sort of baby abuse.

I love his little preemie outfit. The pants were just too darned cute.

After Shel and Nat were in bed, Sis and I stayed up and watched 27 Dresses. It was good chick flick fun! Oh man, that James Marsden is very easy on the eyes, that's all I'm saying.

My Week Off-Day One

So on the first day of my 5 days off, this is what we accomplished:

Shelby attended her first day of summer school, and LOVES her math teacher, plus one of her best friends from school is also attending, so she has a buddy.

When Shelby got home we went through all the shoes and the dress up clothes in the girls' closet and got rid of at least half of each.

I then tackled the Mt Everest of laundry, and the dirty dishes.

Then we went to the pool.


Since I'm not much of a water person, I took along a knitting project that I haven't touched in about a year. I knitted Nat a poncho last year then started on Shelby's and it ended up on the back burner. Well now come fall she will finally have her poncho too.

Then baby Zach stopped by on his way HOME! Yay! My niece had to drop off her surplus milk to be stored in our freezer. Let's just say she's been VERY productive. She said the doctor and nurses kept pulling more and more bags out of the freezer, and everyone was surprised at the amount she had stored. I'm sure the NICU is glad to have the freezer space back!

Little Zach came home on his 5 week birth day. His due date is still a month away--July 4th. He looked tiny in his little car seat, and the girls were thrilled to catch a glimpse of their new baby cousin finally!

After the girls had their bath, we had ice cream sundaes. Yeah, I could get used to this whole having days off thing...

Pageant Time

Last night was the first time I attended our county's Miss Podunk County pageant. I've lived here almost 20 years, and never been to the pageant that kicks off our county's fair festivities. Sis on the other hand, has attended almost every year since she was probably middle school age with her friends. She and I went together last night, and it was a lot of fun.

Two girls from my bellydance troupe were competing, so I made going to the pageant a priority this year and I'm glad I did.

First the theme was "Kill Bill" based on some weird movie I've never seen. The girls did a martial arts inspired opening dance, and let's just say it was interesting. What a strange theme for a pageant, but what do I know.

Next came the Health and Fitness category, again I didn't really get it. They came out one at a time in karate type outfits, took off their white jacket top to reveal a colorful tank top and sashayed around the stage posing. I like how they had to walk with their head turned over their shoulder as they exited the stage so they never at any time, lost eye contact with the audience. Now that takes coordination!

Then came the talent portion, and it was very entertaining. Some girls were truly blessed with talent. Others tried REALLY hard, and for that I say, "Good effort!" My two friends were the ones that had talent, and I swear I'm not even being biased. The winner of my own "You don't see that every day award" was the gal that did rifle drilling. It was a bit repetitive but I've got to hand it to her for flinging that heavy thing around.

Now during this, Sis is telling me she might like to enter the pageant next year. She was trying to come up with a talent. So we were brainstorming: Singing, not so much; dramatic monologue, maybe; musical instrument, no; dance, probably not... Then it came to me. Talking. She does it all the time, all day long. Ever since she was tiny, if she was awake, she was talking. I told her she could get up and just tell her random funny stories and people would think she was hilarious. I thought I was on to something, but she shot me down. I guess it's back to the drawing board...

Finally, the best part: evening gowns. We had our opinions of each one. Some were flattering and glamorous, some were too over the top, one we labeled "too middle school dance" and one was made out of duct tape. I kid you not. This girl designed and made her dress out of orange duct tape and it was fabulous. Sis is friends with her, and she had also made her junior prom dress out of duct tape along with her date's tuxedo. Amazing, no?

The cheesiest part was after they sauntered in their gown, the girls got to thank their sponsors, etc, etc, then had to say, "I believe..." with their own sentiment. They were all VERY cheesy, there was just no avoiding it, but the one that sticks out to me is, "I believe every life is a fairytale written by God."

Well, after all was said and done, a girl from the rival high school won the crown, but one of my girls won first runner up. I thoroughly enjoyed my first ever pageant and all it's cheesy over-the-top goodness. I'll definitely be back next year.

My 100th Post! aka Beware Long Rambling Post Ahead

In honor of my 100th post, and in following with the great blogging tradition, I am listing 100 random things...some about me, some about my family, and I sincerely hope it doesn't turn into the most rambling and inexplicably boring post ever. So here goes nuthin'...

1. I was a 9lb baby with chubby cheeks and a full head of black hair.
2. My mom had a best friend who was a hairdresser, so my mom's hair color changed on an almost weekly basis. Sometimes she was a platinum blonde, sometimes a bright redhead, sometimes a brunette, she always kept us guessing!

3. My mom's hairdressing friend used to try out new techniques on my mom before she used them on the paying customers. My mom remembers having her pulled through a frosting cap, and commenting, "Ouch, this will NEVER catch on!"
4.Fast forward 25 years to her and I frosting each other's hair at our dining room table. Mom never really got the hang of going into the holes at an angle with the crochet hook, and I swear she pulled half my scalp through the cap in the process. Ouch indeed!
5. My sister got stuck with the "pixie" hair cut as a child. Again, I think this had to do with mom's friend and the popularity of Mia Farrow and Twiggy.

6. My uncle committed suicide when I was 6. I still remember being in our living room when I was told about it. I don't think my dad was ever the same after that.
7. My favorite number has always been 7.
8. When I was little I thought the perfect age to be would be 17. I figured you were grown up, but not yet "old". My thoughts changed when I actually experienced being 17.
9. My parents took us on wonderful family vacations when we were growing up, such as:
10. Banff, Canada
11. Jackson Hole Wyoming, and the Grand Tetons
12. Yellowstone
13. Glacier National Park
14. Zion and Bryce Canyon
15. The Grand Canyon
16. Disneyland!

17. One of the highlights of our trips would be when mom and dad would let my sister and I go to a souvenir store to buy a memento.
18. I was horse crazy. I could take or leave the boys, but dreamed of horses all the time.
19. My parents probably spent the equivalent of a decent college education on giving me horseback rides at riding stables.
20. I say it was money well spent!
21. I wanted to be a boy when I was little, and enjoyed playing with the neighbor boys more than I did their sister.
22. We almost always played cowboys, and when the sun would go behind a cloud, we would pretend that it was nighttime.
23. I had a ratty old cowboy hat that I would tuck my long hair under.
24. When I was 6 my mom let me get my hair cut short like a boy's.
25. It was not attractive.
26. I didn't care.

27. My sister and I had to share a room until I was 13 and she was 17.
28. She was always neat and tidy, I was, shall we say, NOT.
29. It's a wonder she didn't kill me and hide my body under the disaster area that was my half of our room.
30. My dad worked the swing shift as a railroad engineer, so during the week it was just mom, my sister and I together in the evenings.
31. We would often have "catch as catch can" for dinner, as my mom would call it. Sometimes this meant baking a batch of blueberry muffins and eating the entire dozen, or fixing soup and a sandwich or even a just bagels and cream cheese. I liked these low-key nights.
32. We would often go out for soup and half a sandwich at our favorite pie place. The soup and sandwich was just a formality and the sooner we got that out of the way the sooner we could do what we were really there for -- eating pie!
33. My dad lived to embarrass the heck out of us.
34. When we would go to the mall, he would hang back, so we wouldn't have to be seen walking with our parents, but then would kick off his shoe and send it flying by us. Oh, the horror!
35. He would also stop in front of the Hammond Organ store and dance to the goofy music that the salesmen would play. Oh, the horror, part II!
36. I think it's hilarious now, and following his example, enjoy embarrassing the heck out of my own kids!
37. I am deathly afraid of water. Especially deep water and fast flowing water.
38. I really don't even like taking a bath. It's completely irrational.
39. I am not afraid of snakes however, and think they are one of the coolest creatures ever.
40.100 is a lot of things to think up.
41. I was a painfully shy child.
42. I finally broke out of my shell a bit after the birth of my first child, when it became easy to make small talk with people about my baby boy.
43. Shyness held me back and because of that I missed out on a lot of fun things and was quite lonely as well.
44. I quit playing the saxophone in 6th grade when I found out that we would have to perform a short piece on stage.
45. I never went to a school dance (with the exception of my 8th grade graduation dance where I actually shared a slow dance with my crush, and then returned to the wall where I stayed firmly planted the rest of the evening).
48. I avoided teen parties at all costs, even going so far as to choose sitting in my boyfriend's truck for 2 hours rather than go in and attend the party with him.
49. I've made great strides since then and done things I thought I never would like:
50. I became a La Leche League leader and conducted meetings.
51. Danced in public!
52. Taught dance classes.
53. Said the opening and closing prayer at church (though not without some difficulty!)
54. I had a serious boyfriend at the age of 14.
55. He lived two houses down, my sister's future husband was our direct next door neighbor. Tracy and I met them within a couple months of moving into our new house.  
56. I dated my boyfriend from age 14-20, and he was 3 years older than I was. We were both transplanted from the mountains to the city and instantly bonded over that and spent all our time camping, 4 wheeling and dirt biking.
57. I considered him my best friend, and preferred hanging out with him and his buddies working on cars and doing guy things rather than hanging out with girls and dealing with their cattiness and drama.
58. I was WAY too young to have a serious relationship, and my mom said much later, that she didn't really want to allow it, but he seemed to be the only one that could make me happy at the time. I was a troubled teen before I met him and definitely not headed in a good direction. My parents adored him and he never failed to get me home on time (despite any misadventures, truck stuck in the mud, broken down vehicle issues we had).
59. When we first got together we had to bump start his pickup, so I would happily get out and push that thing any time so we could get on with our adventures!
60. I gave up alcohol at the ripe old age of 17.
61. After trying to fit in and drink with the others in our group for a couple years, I decided that I really didn't like the taste of alcohol, and I really didn't want to be in an altered state of consciousness--ever.
62. I celebrated my 21st birthday completely sober and I have no interest in drinking alcohol whatsoever.
63. My grandma Lou had a saying, "You're meaner than cat crap under a bed!"
64. My mom's housekeeping advice to me when I moved out was, "If you keep your dishes done and your beds made, everyone will think you're a good housekeeper."
65. My dad's housekeeping advice to me when I moved out was, "Clean the pee out of the bathroom, and cook the snot out the eggs."
66. I'm better at following my dad's housekeeping advice.
67. The first and last time I went to Yosemite I was 5 years old.
68. I live 2 hours from Yosemite and am beginning to feel guilty for not visiting it, since people travel from all over the world to do so.
69. I hate scary books and movies.
70. As a teenager I read Steven King's Salem's Lot, and have not picked up one of his books since.
71. I wanted to be a forest ranger when I grew up.
72. If I could start my career path over I would pursue midwifery.
73. We had a big orange tabby named Poopsie when we were growing up. I think my mom named him.
74. We also had cats named Marshmallow, Weebs and Bussy. I'm at fault for naming the last one.
75. Twenty-five more to go...who's still with me?
76. Poopsie would actually play hide-and-seek with me. I would put him in the laundry room, then run off to hide, and then call him. He would then come find me, usually by attacking me.
77. During my afore-mentioned angst-ridden teen years I became a habitual truant.
78. When my parents found out, they told me to just stay home, because they'd rather have me home and know where I was, than to have me cutting school and doing who-knows-what.
79. I took the proficiency exam at 17 and got my diploma.

80. After I received my diploma my parents told me, "Now go get a job".
81. The first job I got was washing dogs at a dog groomer. This is when reality set in.
82. I then decided to go to Beauty College and got my cosmetology license when I was 18.
83. I never worked in a salon, but I would go to people's homes and do their hair, and I had a fairly large clientèle of customers.
84. I put myself through junior college by working as a printer and getting scholarships.
85. Even though I got married and had a baby during my 2 years at college, I still graduated with my class.
86. ...and I graduated with honors, which is still one of my proudest accomplishments.
87. I began belly dance classes at the ripe old age of 38.
88. I was so lame and uncoordinated, that the instructor kindly suggested that maybe I should take a few private classes with her before continuing with the beginner's class.
89. For some reason I didn't get discouraged, and I followed her advice.
90. Part of it was that I was intrigued by the dance and really wanted to learn, the other part was that it was an hour and a half (including driving time) all to myself.
91. Almost 6 years later, I am a confident dancer, and more importantly, a confident person.

92. I refuse to go on roller coasters and thrill rides. They're in the same classification as scary books and movies, which I deem unnecessary torture.
93. My most overused phrase is, "For the love of Pete!"
94. One of the only good things to come out of losing my mom was that my sister and I are now much closer. My mom used to be our unintentional "go-between" by relaying to me what my sister was doing and vice versa so that we rarely talked to each other.

95. A long phone call with my sister is now one of my favorite things.
96. One of my favorite quotes is from Eleanor Roosevelt, "Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water!" I liken this quote to childbirth. I didn't know how strong I was until I went through the birth of my children.
97. I definitely felt empowered and proud after childbirth. I have had all 4 without any medical interventions or drugs, and 2 without the so-called "luxury" of a hospital.
98. Another quote I love, that I just recently discovered on another blog, Cairnsliving, is from CS Lewis, "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." Truer words were never spoken.
99. I love to ride motorcycles, but am refraining because I need to stay in one piece for my children.
100. My kids are my greatest inspiration, my greatest blessing, and have been my greatest teachers. How lucky I am to be their mom!

And now a hearty pat on the back if you made it to the end of this post!

SAA-Solitaire Addicts Anonymous

An evil little game lurks on my computer and calls to me when I'm at my most vulnerable. I'm sure you're familiar with it. Yes, that innocent looking card game is out to suck away your precious time. Avert your eyes and click at your own peril! I know. I've been there.

I seem to go in spurts of solitaire playing. I can leave it alone for months at a time, but then I get a little bored and decide one game won't hurt, and before you know it I'm hooked again.

Sis and I were in a little competition at one point. She would get a high score and I would beat it, then I would get a high score and she would beat it. Back and forth it went until I plateaued and she kept beating not only my high score but her own. She would leave me braggy little sticky notes on the computer such as, "New high score 7986, Ha ha!" to which I would leave a little sticky note in reply saying, "Whatever", or "Cheater" and the like. When it just got to be ridiculous and I knew that in my wildest dreams I could never touch her high score I left her a note that said, "You suck" (aren't I the model of good sportsmanship and parenting combined?) Sis laughed her butt off. Her high score is now 9431. We play the timed version of the game and honestly I don't know how she does it. She's a solitaire shark. You never want to play her at Mancala either. The kid is ruthless.

Well after that I kind of gave up on solitaire. It just wasn't fun anymore when the highest score I could get was in the low 6000s. I moved onto spider solitaire and that kept me busy for quite a while until I got about the highest score possible on it. It just wasn't challenging anymore.

So back I went to regular solitaire. Instead of playing against Sis, I decided now I would play against the computer. It would give me a percentage of games won along with my own pathetic score, so my new goal was to raise the percentage. I started out at about 25% because of my own bad habit of quitting a game that wasn't going well to go on to another. Now I was determined to win at all costs. Even to the point of hitting "undo" 50 times in a row to see if I could get the cards to go my way.

I'm convinced the computer is aware of my strategy and deliberately gives me unwinnable games. Sometimes it just gives me all the same color, like it conveniently forgot to shuffle in the other color. Yeah, right, I ain't buyin' it. It knows I want to get to that next percentage and it will do anything to trip me up. It lets me win just enough to keep me hopelessly obsessed. It's playing me like a fish on a hook. Sis thinks I've lost my mind, but hey, I'm up to 41% now!

I heard Larry the Cable Guy doing his shtick on owning a computer the other day. He said he might as well just bought an $1800 deck of cards. I tell ya, I'm kind of feeling the same way!

Extreme Attitude Makeover

So I was watching Extreme Home Makeover tonight. I love that show. I mean, what's not to love about deserving families getting a new home. It always makes me cry in a good way.

Tonight they had a family of 7 who were living in a 600 square foot house. They showed their tiny round dining table and they asked if the family ate there and the mom said every night all 7 of them sit down to dinner together. They must have shared chairs because there were only 4, plus a plastic lawn chair. This mom saw their small home as somewhat of a blessing, because she said that it was a way of keeping her big family close to each other. How cool is that? Instead of complaining, she saw the positive in it. Usually they build an unbelievably huge house, and this time I noticed that the kids had shared bedrooms and the home itself wasn't over the top, well relative to what they usually do anyway.

So I'm going to think of this mom's attitude when I'm feeling down, or that my life sucks. We're really struggling financially right now, but I'm going to start looking at what I perceive as a negative and see if I can find the positive twist to it. And if Ty Pennington wants to come knock my house down, build a new one and pay my mortgage off, well that would work too!

Wait For My Signal...

A while back Sis and I had a mother-daughter shopping trip to the valley. When it came to have lunch, Sis wanted strawberry waffles from IHOP. Who am I to refuse her that? OK, I admit, they also happen to be one of my favorite things in the world.

When our plates finally arrived both our jaws dropped when we looked at her waffle, because sitting right in the middle was by far the biggest strawberry either of us had ever laid eyes on. The thing was the size of an apple. By strawberry standards it was a mutant freak of nature.

Well, just the sight of it set us off into a fit of laughter, and we joked about how they must've waited for just the right customer to give this special berry to.

I start eating my delicious waffle while Sis contemplates how to go about eating her mammoth berry. Her timing is always impeccable when it comes to making me laugh and this day was no exception.

So with my mouth full of waffle, she says, "I wish I worked here and got to be in charge of who to give the berry to. I would watch carefully, and the other workers would ask, 'Is it time?' And I would say, 'No, not yet.' I would tell them, 'Wait for my signal!'"

I'm starting to chuckle, and trying desperately to chew fast and get it down.

Then she continues, "When I saw just the right person to give the precious berry to, I would yell, 'RELEASE THE BERRY!'"

Oh no! I didn't eat fast enough and she got me! Now I'm going to release the berries in my mouth because I'm laughing and choking at the same time. Somehow I manage to swallow, and commence to laugh so hard that I snort. Sis is pleased. Anytime she can make me snort, especially in public, is a good day.

The Day O' Valentines

My day went like this:

1: Go help in Nat's class. Help kids distribute their Valentine's and give them candy hearts to sort by color and count. Have lunch with Nat. Help Nat and 20 other kids get the ketchup on their tray for their chicken nuggets.

2: Received pretty flowers from Mike delivered by a guy in a tux. Thought about what a fun job it must be to drive around making people happy.

3: Made Funfetti cupcakes for kids with sprinkles on top. Attempted to pipe a red heart on each one. Much harder than it looks! Luckily kids aren't picky when presented with a cupcake.

4: Fed Funfetti cupcakes to nine crazy kids who just came from their class Valentine's parties. They say sugar does NOT make kids hyper. You can't prove it by me! Note to self: next time spike frosting with tranquilizers!

5: Went to dance rehearsal after Mike got home. We only have a little over a week until our performance, so I couldn't skip. Met Mike and the girls afterward at the pizza place just in time for the pizza to arrive!

6: Came home and finished off the vat o' chocolate I've been saving (leftover luscious Belgian chocolate from the chocolate fountain at the church chocolate extravaganza.) Decide that a graham cracker dipped in chocolate and then topped with mini marshmallows may be the greatest taste sensation ever invented. Dipped until we were fat and happy! (If there is such a thing as a chocolate hangover, I have one this morning!)



(Yes that is the dog's feet in the background. She's getting away with being on the couch and thoroughly taking advantage!)

7: Put girls to bed at 9:00. Can hear girls still up giggling at 10:15. Again, the theory that sugar doesn't make kids hyper is busted!

Hope you had a happy Valentine's Day too!

My Spec-ee-al Kitty Boy

It all started with a spelling list and the word "special".

Shelby was being her procrastinating self about getting her homework done one night and had to finish doing a sentence with each of her spelling words. She was being kind of a pill about it so I decided to lighten the mood when she said she had to use "special" in a sentence. Since my big lovey cat was sitting next to me I suggested, "I have a spec-ee-al kitty boy." Shelby of course rolled her eyes and chose her own sentence, but thus began a weekly ritual: she tells me a spelling word and I use it in a sentence along with "spec-ee-al kitty boy", she rolls her eyes and chuckles then does her own sentence.

Now I look forward to spelling sentence night because I get to be a huge goof-ball and she gets her sentences done without grumbling. It's a win-win.

She did get the last laugh on me though, because when I checked her sentences I noticed when she had to use the word "problem" she came up with the sentence, "My mom has a problem with cats."

This is my "Spec-ee-al Kitty Boy", Opie who is also a champion bed warmer.

Snow Day

Our school district called a snow day this morning after yesterday's snow storm decided to hang around all night and make a mess of the roads. We don't get snow days very often, only on occasions like today when it snowed so much overnight that the plows couldn't get the subdivisions plowed out in time. The roads in our neighborhood have still yet to be plowed. We got a good 6-8" of snow here at the 3500 foot level, so I know they are doing some serious digging-out up the hill. I lived for many years 12 miles up the road at 5000', so I remember those days quite well!

(I was trying to get a shot of the gorgeous HUGE snowflakes that were falling yesterday afternoon. It looked like feathers were falling from the sky. Unfortunately this photo doesn't show it very well.)

The high school (which is 20 miles down the hill) didn't call a snow day so all of the kids up here still had to get to school this morning including Sis. This is really her first year of snow driving, so it's a little nerve-wracking to have her on the roads.

(Never underestimate two cute little girls dressed in pink--they are double trouble!)

All my daycare kids canceled so it's just me and the girls. Hooray! We spent a lot of time outside playing and one of Mike's friends underestimated two little girls dressed in pink and started a snow ball fight with them. He finally had to raise the white flag and surrender. Those two are relentless! We found a little sledding hill and spent some time doing that, and now we're back inside having hot cocoa. Ah...snow days, what fun!

Snow Boots Are For Sissies

Sis and I went to the valley and did our Christmas shopping on Saturday and I splurged on myself and bought myself some new shoes. I don't think I've bought a pair of shoes for myself in at least a year, with the exception of flip flops. The shoes I had were a pair of slip-on clunky shoes, which I fondly referred to as my clown shoes. Let's just say they really didn't flatter my foot size, but hey they were super comfy. Kind of like baggy sweat pants for my feet.

So here's my new shoes:

My first pair of Chuck Taylor All Stars...ever. I'm very proud. And they are so darned cute that I don't want to take them off. Plus I got the coveted Teenager Seal of Approval so I know for a fact that I'm COOL.

So anyway, today we got a little snow. The first decent snow we've had this year, but only about an inch or so. I took Nat to school and proudly slogged through the slush in my new shoes, hoping everyone would notice that I wasn't wearing big clunky snow boots (or even my clown shoes), but that I was braving the elements in what may be the cutest shoes ever. Snow boots are for sissies people! True mountain women wear cute Converse sneakers and laugh at Jack Frost. Ha! Ha!

Vote Early, Vote Often

I didn't have time to blog yesterday. I was busy voting, and voting, and voting, and in my spare time, voting. What could possibly have been so important to vote on? High school football of course!

The local major tv news station runs a poll each week on which high school football game to cover as the "Game of the Week". Our county's only 2 high schools, and fierce rivals, for oh, about 100 years, were up for contention. There were 7 other choices, most of which were valley schools who get their share of media attention anyway, but one other choice was our neighboring tiny county and their two schools.

There was no limit as to how many times one could vote, and I received in my email a plea from another parent to visit the news channel's website and vote for our schools, and the kids were hyping it on their myspace pages. On Tuesday I decided I might as well get in on it, cast a vote or two and see how we were doing. I was surprised to see our schools at 64,000+ votes with the other county right on our heels, and the other choices still around 1000 votes. I thought it was funny that the amount of votes exceeded the population of the counties. Our county has a population of about 47,000, the other county's population is close to 39,000. As our community's news website put it, "Pets, toddlers and possibly even the deceased are voting in this poll".

It was kind of fun voting and seeing the numbers jump ahead. The two counties were only about 200-400 votes apart at anytime I happened to check. Sometimes the other county would be ahead, sometimes we would be. Every time I checked I would vote until we reached the next 100, but soon I made my goal to vote until we reached the next 500. On Wednesday, with the poll closing on Thursday at 9pm, I would vote until we reached the next 1000. The way the numbers were constantly climbing that didn't take long.

I woke up on Thursday and we were 600 votes ahead. I spent an hour voting, took a shower and then spent another hour voting. I'm not kidding. It was ridiculous. Then I had to pull myself away and go help at Nat's kindergarten class. I saw my friend who works there (and has a kid on the football team) heading for the computer lab during her break to vote. She was just as obsessed as I.

When I got home we were trailing by 200, and the votes now numbered more than 110,000 each! I was getting a bit crazy, mumbling to the other voters through some sort of cyber-telepathy, cursing whoever was voting for the other county, and imagining who else could possibly have this much time on their hands! By Thursday afternoon we were still trailing, but I was still plugging ahead, trying to hold our ground until the teenagers got home from school and helped me out.

When Sis got home from high school, she said during one of her class periods they were released early to go to the computer lab to do some "research". Gotta love those competitive teachers!

I had to leave during the evening for my dance rehearsal and got home in time for the last hour of voting. We had jumped ahead by 2000 votes! Hurray! Not wanting to let my cyber team down, I voted like crazy for the last 60 minutes. The end results had our county teams at 139,000 and the other county's teams at 135,000. On the evening news they said the voting broke all records of their online poll by more than double.

I have to say I'm pretty proud of our little county and the other county as well. We are often ignored because of our remote location and small communities, but I think we all showed them that we are a force to contend with because we are a close knit bunch who are used to coming together for a common goal. Now I'm off to go ice my carpal tunnel I developed....

A Snake Charmer

My sister and I have always been snake lovers. Well actually we're just all around critter lovers. From the cute and cuddly to the big and slimy, we both are crazy about "all creatures great and small".

When we were young we would often catch little blue belly lizards, frogs, toads and water snakes. Our poor dad is one of those people who cannot stand the sight of a snake. It just really gives him the heebie-jeebies, and here he was blessed with two little girls who thought bringing a slithering reptile in a coffee can into the house was more fun than Barbies any day. I can only imagine how many times he must've jumped out of his skin coming across one our precious pets.

Mom, on the other hand was more like us. In fact she had a couple toads who lived under our house that she was quite fond of. One day some neighbor boys were playing in the yard and took one of these toads. Well, Mom caught wind of it and she was pissed! She was especially upset to think of what these boys might do to her toad. She immediately got on the phone and called the boys' mother. As Mom told it, the poor woman on the other end of the phone got an earful from her, as Mom demanded, "Your boys took my toad and I want them to bring it back right now!" We lived in a very small town, so the crazy toad lady episode was probably the scuttlebutt for some time afterwards.

Well, I can be a bit anal about the reptiles in my yard too, and it's good to know I come by it honestly. I do not let the kids play with my little frogs that live in the flower beds unless they are just going to handle them gently and put them back. I am also on the alert when I see one of the cats messing with something, and have saved quite a few snakes from a torturous death. I always get a thrill from holding a snake and feeling it slither through my hands--yes, I have the crazy toad lady's genes.

A few weeks ago the kids came running into the house all excited to tell me there was a rattlesnake in the yard. I figured that it probably wasn't, and that I would be saving a garter snake from the cat again. However, when I reached the front steps and saw Mike poised with his shovel, I had a feeling the kids knew what they were talking about.

As I got closer I could see the little guy trying to hide under the wooden border that separates the lawn from the driveway. He was obviously a rattler, though he wasn't rattling at the moment and I couldn't help being completely fascinated by him, and crouched down to observe him a bit closer. He was the coolest snake ever, and to think I was lucky enough to have him right in my front yard! I was apparently the only one who felt this way because about this time Mike lifted his shovel up and said, "Now everybody step back." This caught me off guard. What? He can't be serious. He wants to kill it? I tell him, "You can't kill it!" And now he was the one caught off guard. As he processed this bit of information, I could see the realization hit him that he should've just killed the dang thing and shown me the beheaded body.

I tell him he needs to find a bucket, get the snake into it and take it out to the forest and set it free. He is beyond thrilled to hear this bit of news, but reluctantly heads to the garage to find an empty garbage can. Isn't it amazing what a guy will do for a woman? He is able to get the bucket and a long stick and he very carefully starts jabbing at my sweet little snaky friend. My little friend is not happy about this and starts rattling like crazy. I've never seen a rattler this close up. Wow, it's so cool!

It only takes Mike about 3 tries to get him in the bucket. He has a look of relief on his face and is ready to take my little serpent for a walk. I tell him, "Wait! I have to get a picture of him!" and I rush to the house to get my camera. I'm pretty sure I saw Mike's eyes roll back into his head at this point. After a couple photos and a few more admiring glances I let Mike take him across the street and out in the woods where he can be safe from shovel-wielding maniacs.

I think this is a great lesson for the kids. They got to see what a rattle snake looks and sounds like and they also learned that just because you're afraid of something that you don't need to kill it. I tell the kids that they need to be careful around animals that can harm them, but if it's possible to save the animal, you should. After all, these creatures have a place in nature too.

Mike also learned a lesson that day. I think it goes something like this: Act first and tell the crazy lady later, or be prepared to spend your afternoon pretending to be Steve Irwin.