SPF: Truly Random And Odd

Yeah, I know, it's been awhile since I've played. Just think of it as an opportunity to build up the suspense. You're all a'twitter that you've happened upon my Stuff Portrait Friday today, aren't you. Okay, thanks to Kristine for hosting this this mind bender.

Today's assignment:

1. Something with a story behind it. Photograph something that has a story behind it. And yes, you might have to actually write a little bit on this one. Good, sad, funny, made-up….does it really matter? It IS the internet. Be creative.

2. A Random and Odd photo. Pick anything. A picture you’ve taken, one that you’ve found on the net. Doesn’t matter. I’m making the rules, so don’t tell me what your usual blogger tells you to do! For this picture, the reader on your blog needs to write a story or caption for your picture, so get something unique.

3. In keeping with the recurring wedding theme, a photo of something borrowed. This is pretty self-explanatory.

Something with a story behind it












This do-dad is something my father-in-law got for us years ago when we moved into our first house. I always thought it was a little odd, but Papa didn't want to get rid of it. Okay. It made it's way around the first house and we brought it to this house I managed to make it yard art.

Recently I went over to another mom's house and I saw the same do-dad. I asked her about it and she was so excited to tell me that they got it on some trip and how much she loved it. I didn't say I had one at home that I've been hiding because I loved it in her home and I didn't want to seem like a copy cat. Which I totally am in this case. So I came home that night and dug it out of the back yard, cleaned it up and gave it a prominent place in my living room. Papa made mention of the fact that the do-dad was back now that it had The Mommy Mark of Approval.

Damn straight.

A Random and Odd photo















So you tell me, what's the story behind this little guy?


A photo of something borrowed















The kids aren't borrowed. They're mine. It's not the tree that's borrowed either. It's the lights. Or rather the *idea* of the lights. My good friend, Di, gave me the idea of the holiday tree. Every month we switch out the lights to reflect whichever holiday is going on at that time. We have Peeps chicks for Easter, flags for Independence Day, flamingos and palm trees for June and bats for October.

Tell me you played!

-e

Thirteen Thursday: Munchies

I had Bunco here at my house last night. As it happens we had thirteen women came to play. Part of our Bunco is that everyone brings either a dessert, appetizer or drink. So for tonight's Thirteen Thursday I'll let you know what everyone brought.

1) A black forest cake. Looked good, but I didn't partake.

2) Chips with guacamole and salsa. Pina colodas.

3) Fruit and wine.

4) Spinach dip with crackers and chardonnay.

5) Ice cream pie. This one I did indulge in...yum-o!

6) Two pitchers of margaritas.

7) Shortbread and chocolate cookies.

8) Boston cream pie and seasoned oyster crackers.

9) Garden pizza.

10) Lemon cream cheese pie and chocolate silk pie.

11) Another kind of pie, I don't recall the flavor.

12) Mimosas.

13) Blueberry crumb cake.

I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it! Shoot on over to the Crib Ceiling and let her know you want to play too!

-e

Musings From The Stream

I'm considering getting a Food Saver. I've been doing the coupon thing so in order to save on our grocery budget. Sometimes that means buying extra if something is on sale and this Food Saver thing is supposed to really help with keeping food fresh. I know all the coupon divas say this is the way to go, but I wonder if ziplock bags would work just a well?

*******

I was pondering the whole Star Wars at The View. I'm thinking this whole thing reeks of timing. She's a lawyer, it's all about strategy. Why in the world would she make announcement like that if she didn't have plan? I mean, she knew since the Emmy's that Rosie O'Donnell, her arch nemesis, was coming to The View. If Star had known "for months" as Baba Wawa says, then I'm betting Star does have an offer on the table for another gig. I smell an exclusive in the next few days. The View was hoping to be able to announce what Star would do next, but she's probably saving that for her new digs. That's what I'm thinking anyway.

*******

I want a digital SLR. I've been thinking about this for quite some time, but I can't decide *which* one. I've always been a Canon girl, but lately the Nikon holds some appeal. Enough so that I've delayed my purchase while I continue to ponder. Any feedback from the masses?

*******

I'm going to buy a new pair of "running" shoes. No, I'm not going to run, but I'm going to walk with the hope of running soon. I've been doing those Leslie Sansone DVD workouts, but I'm hoping to work my way up to running. I just feel like such a dork when I run that I'm intimidated to get out there without some training. I'm hoping to take a clinic at RunTex.

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I think I'm going to buy the new Dixie Chick's CD. I'm don't care if they don't think they're country. Whatever they are I do like the new sound of their putting out and they live here in Austin so I feel like I'm supporting the local economy.

*******

I need to clean up around here since I'm having 18 women over tomorrow for Bunco and debauchery. Should be a grand time!

-e

A Shitty Day

I bet you think you're going to hear me complain. Not so. Today we are speaking in the literal sense.

At work this morning on the kids comes to us with her Cinderella undies around her knees saying she pooped. Great. Okay, chin up teachers, accidents happen. After assessing the damage, we teachers had to wonder what happened to the "load". The tracks just didn't look right. So we ask her, "where's the poo poo?" She doesn't know. Awesome. We can't leave excrement on the playground, because one, the park police would be after us, and two, it's just not nice. So there we are, four teachers hunting down a pile of crap.

This was SO not is the job description.

We never did find anything so we can only assume that she didn't have a full download. Ah, the joys of working with small children. In case you were wondering, this is why I drink.

-e

The Tide Has Turned

The Professor, J, seems to be well. He's back to eating us out of house and home. He still likes something really cold with his food, but that seems to be more about residual mind pain than actual pain.

The Professor wants to get back into activities so we went to the sprinkler park today. It's not the big, fancy one up in the swanky part of town. No, rather it's our East Side, scaled back version that has fewer sprayers and fewer people. I talked to a guy there that at first looked like a hoodlem, but I found out after talking to him he's a stay-at-home-dad caring for the kids during the day and getting his degree at night. Can't judge a book by it's cover.

Also the boys got a free lunch while we were at the park. Apparently there is a grant that provides kids 18 and under a sack lunch during the week. Typically it's a bridge for kids who are on a lunch program during the year, but it's open to everyone. Who knew? And even though we had brought our own lunch we got a little bit extra which we are using for dinner. Sweet. The recreation center lady was passing out programs they have and they've got great activities for cheap. Like a sewing class for $5 a month. Wow! And ballet for 3-4 year olds for $5 a month.

Anyway, we had a great time and plan to make this a regular outting. Especially since Papa works just a few blocks away and he can join us for lunch sometimes.

-e

Thirteen Thursday: Papa Is The Best

Today is the day we offer up 13 things about ourselves in order to get to know one another a just a little bit better. Krisco emcees this show so check in and let her know you played. In honor of a belated Father's Day I wanted to share 13 things I think are great about Papa.

1) He's so easy going. Yes, sometimes that translates to loosey-goosey, but for the most part his even keel compliments me very well.

2) He takes the boys walking in the rain. This is NOT something I would do since I worry about them keeping clean and warm - I'm a mom, it's in the job description. Papa will take them out and let them get wet and muddy and they LOVE it.

3) He makes breakfast every day. It's easy stuff during the week, but on Saturday he gets up and prepares a morning feast to rival Emeril.

4) He is willing to not only to wrangle his own kids, but others as well. Most of my mommy friends at one time or another have had the benefit of Papa keeping an eye on the kiddos while we got to talk. There is something about Papa that kids feel comfortable about him. I guess it's because he's 1 of 7 kids and the second to the oldest so he's had plenty of practice. It also has a great deal to do with he is a kid at heart.

5) He hates to order at Starbucks. One of the ways I get to tell him I love him with out actually saying it is to bring him a fluffy SB drink. He loves, loves, LOVES the drinks there, but is intimidated by the ordering process (tall, venti, with, frap, double, chai, blah, blah). It can be overwhelming if you don't do it often enough so I love to bring him a grande, cafe vanilla frappachino, with whip and caramel drizzle. ;)

6) He drops the boys off at school so I don't have to leave the house in the morning. Last year is was just The Professor, but this fall it will be both boys. I will have the house deliciously to myself after 7:15 a.m.

7) He kills bugs for me.

8) He fixes my sandwich just the way I like it. Mustard on meat, mayo on cheese. It took a long time to get this process down and he's a champ at it!

9) He *encourages* me to go on Mom's Night Out. Notice I say encourage and not tolerate. I know a lot of moms that get toe shuffling and hemming and hawing when they want to go out. With Papa he says every time, "have fun, we'll be fine." There is nothing better for a mommy than to have that kind of peace when leaving her young.

10) He's a great provider. Oh, we don't live in the lap of luxury and we've had our fair share of rice and beans weeks, but we've always had a what we need and then some. Whatever needed to be done, he did it to make sure we were taken care of, including working two jobs while he was helping me get through school.

11) He tells me what a great job I'm doing at home. I have this complex that we spend hundreds of dollars a month to pay for the tens of thousands of school loans for our education and I'm not using mine to fetch a paycheck right now. He tells me I'm doing the most important job ever and he doesn't have to worry that if something happens to him I can take care of the boys. Morbid, but sweet.

12) I like that he can talk to people he doesn't know. If he goes to an event with me or if we're at a new place I don't have to make sure he's okay. He'll find someone to talk to and connect with. He will also talk to my friends and make them *his* friends.

13) Papa laughs and encourages my crafting hobbies. We turned the guest room in to My Space and he has helped me make it my home office. I don't have to share with the boys...ewww...and it can be as girly as I want it to be. I have Hello Kitty trinkets, bright colors on the walls and Lifetime on the TV. He thinks that's great!

All rightee. That's it for another week. You should play. It's a great insight into your own mind and heart and, heck, it's free. ;)

-e

Fool Me Once

I understand mistakes happen in the business world. I get it. I can even be gracious and patient when correcting errors, some of which were due to just plain sloppiness. However, when I've called and asked very nicely for clarification and I am beyond kind considering it is the company's fault, do me a small favor and not be so surprised when I ask for confirmation of the correction. Case in point, my newspaper subscription. I get the your-subscription-is-up notice and I dutifully call in to renew. I asked for 26 weeks of one-day-a-week on Sunday. I even got a discount for paying up front. So I got the receipt in the mail and they applied the payment to the 7-day-a-week subscription.

*sigh*

So I call up and ask them what's the dill, pickle? Oopsie. They fix it and I ask for a confirmation. He tells me they don't do that. Really? You sent me a receipt for my initial payment why can't you send me a corrected one? Then he tells me that I can call back this afternoon to make sure it updated.

WTF?

Y'all messed up and I call your attention to it. For that I get the privilege of waiting on hold to follow up with you? Bah! Give me the kind of customer service my friend got. The store she was at forgot to give her her postage stamps. She called and they were so apologetic that they delivered the stamps to her. Now that's what I'm talking about.

-e

Procrastination Update

It seems just writing things down can get you moving. Once I committed all my procrastination issues to my blog that I had to knock it off my list. So here's where I'm at on my list:

2) I took the flag down...Finally. We are flag free until I get the Independence Day flag up.

4) I finally found a dentist. I love the administration and my friend at work used to work there so I feel confident.

5) Zowie! Papa's shirts are expensive to clean. He made a change in job and he's using dress shirts more so our laundry bill has gone up. I need to find a special day or coupons to bring this bill down.

11) I started walking again! Woo hoo! I'm also trying to get together for play groups where the kids play and the moms do an exercise video.

Let's see what else I can get done!

-e

Thirteen Thursday: Procrastination

Today is the day we offer up 13 things about ourselves in order to get to know one another a just a little bit better. Krisco started this line dance so head on over and let her know you played.

Thirteen things I'm procrastinating about:

1) Calling Papa's eye doctor and requesting a duplicate receipt for insurance. Easy enough, but it's a process. I've got to find out *which* doctor it it, find the number, call the office and request the receipt be mailed to us or I have to go pick it up....gas prices!.. when it would have been just as easy for Papa to get a receipt while he was there and put it in my "in" basket. I'm just sayin'.

2) The Critter's birthday was last month. In point of fact it was almost a month ago to the day. We put up a festive Happy Birthday flag to mark the occasion. It still flies today. I asked Papa to take it down, but I think I must accept it won't come down until I take it down.

3) Working on the Parent's Manual for next year. It's not hard, but I need to have thinking time and with interruptions every 10 minutes from the peanut gallery it's hard.

4) Finding a new dentist. I haven't been in almost 2 years because of a bad experience. I know I need to go, but the process of finding on and making an appointment is daunting enough to me that I keep putting it off.

5) Picking up Papa's shirts at the dry cleaners. He has a funeral tomorrow so I may need to get to steppin' on that one.

6) Updating the Scouts binders for the events we are in charge of this year. I still feel like I don't know what the heck I'm doing in this organization.

7) Taking the recycling in the kitchen out to the cart on the side of the house.

8) Calling people back who've left messages.

9) Getting together with the person who took over my PTA position to pass along this year's information.

10) Mopping the kitchen floor.

11) Getting back on my walking program (I got off track when J had surgery).

12) Taking in the desktop to get the DVR/CDR drive fixed.

13) Laundry.

Okay, take my list or feel free to make up your own. Catch y'all cats later!

-e

Whew! All Is Well

We came though the surgery okay!

I have to say that CHOA is the best! If you're 'round these parts and have a choice, I highly recommend this facility. They really do their very best to make it as easy of experience as surgery can be for all involved. We took the Skippy Tour yesterday so we felt pretty well prepared and thought J got an idea of what to expect.

J chose cherry flavored "air" - the mask they give them to knock them out on the OR table. He got to play video games while waiting to go back for his surgery. We were the hospital at 6:00 a.m. and home by 1:30 p.m. I hope he'll recover more quickly in his own home. He seems to be pretty aware of his limitations so that's a good thing.

I'll keep you up to date.

-e

What Boys Do When Let To Their Own Devices

Yeah, the dog really loved this...NOT.

Actually she didn't mind it nearly as much as I thought she would. Or at least as much as *I* would have minded it were I in her shoes...er...paws.

That boat she's in is an inflatable drink cooler that we used for the Sponge Bob themed birthday day party for The Critter. Maybe she does think she's on a tropical doggie island?

-e

VROOM!

Our little cub participated in his first Scout cub cart race. He did really well and even The Critter got to practice with the bigger boys. I'm hoping our den size increases. We lost two to moves and two to other commitments so we're a little small right now. Summer is not as busy with activities, but there is still a good deal of planning that goes on to make the fall run smoother.

Next stop the Back to School Swim Bash!! Of course it's our den's job to plan and coordinate so we may end up playing in the sprinker in the backyard with a bag of pretzles.

-e

Worries About Monday

In light of J's surgery on Monday I'll relay to you all my fears of what that day holds.

1) Death. I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm scared I will lose my baby. I realize that a tonsilectomy and anoidectomy are possibly two of the most common -ectomies known to man, but we're talking about a boy. MY boy in point of fact and I want nothing to happen to him.

2) Complications. What if he has a reaction to anesthesia? What if they take out too much? Not enough? What if?

3) Hunger. He can't eat after midnight on Sunday and I don't want him to be hungry. Or thirsty. I'm a mom, and therefore my job to want my child to eat. To be told *not* to feed him is just wrong.

4) Pain. I do not want my child to be in pain. I'd rather gnaw off my arm than have him hurt even a moment. I want them to give him something to take away any pain or I'll have to go all Terms of Endearment on them.

5) Recovery. I want him to bounce back quickly so he can enjoy the rest of summer.

-e

Thirteen Thursday: Suburban Crap

It's that time of week again when we take the time to get to know one another better. Krisco leads this challenge, but gives us quite a bit of free reign. After spending an inordinate amount of time looking for The Critter's game boy in the back of our truck I decided I'd report on the crap I cleaned out of my truck.

The third seat of my vehicle is just disgusting. I never get back there so it's very hard to police what my kids are taking, using and doing back there. Ewwww. The list of nastiness will send even the most insensitive cootie-o-meter off the charts.

1) Goldfish carcasses abound. The little fellas that didn't make it to be snack died a terrible death-by-crumbs.

2) Seven mateless shoes. How does one shoe make it out and one not?

3) Five DVDs that the boys swear they had no idea where they were if they weren't in the DVD book. Yeah, okay.

4) Eight lollipop sticks. Sticky lollipop sticks. Whenever we go to the bank the tellers send lollipops to the boys with my transaction.

5) Two Leap Pad cassettes. The books are MIA, but at least we have the cassettes.

6) Eleven empty juice boxes and juice pouches.

7) Two Sports Illustrated Kids magazines.

8) Three kid's meal toys still in the packaging.

9) Eight ground-into-the-upholstery fruit chews.

10) Four craft projects from Spring semester.

11) Nine fountain drink straws.

12) Too many to count playground pea gravel and piles of sand in the crevices and on the floorboard.

13) Ironically enough, one empty garbage bag.

Did you play? C'mon play...you know you want to. Okay, then go clean your car so that you don't have to have a list like mine.

-e

Buyer's Remorse

Today we got the boys roller skates. Well, there those tennis shoes with wheels that pop out the bottom. We made sure they were outfitted with the safety equipment, but I'm still worried. And I have no idea why. I mean I remember fondly my tennis shoe roller skates. The were bad-ass and I was bad-ass on them. I could do the backwards skate, the leg cross over around the rink, hell, I could even squat down with one leg in front of me. None of these moves would have been possible without my own set of skates.

So we're good on health insurance come what may. The boys seem to be okay and I do want them to be active, that's the reason I agreed to buy the skates.

I'll let you know...

-e

Thirteen Thursday: Things In My Pantry

More thanks to Krisco who brings us this game and encourages us to get to know each other a little better. This week I give you the thirteen things I've got in my cupboard.

1) Vanilla Wafers
2) Chicken noodle soup
3) Wheat Thins
4) cake mix - milk chocolate
5) Goldfish crackers
6) Hill Country Fare French Vanilla instant oatmeal
7) sugar
8) flour
9) rice
10) beans
11) can of sweetened consensed milk
12) cans of corn

Oh sure, there's lots more, but I only needed thirteen today...LOL. Okay, so did you play?

-e