Thursday, December 30, 2004

Well, an update...

After the hysterics died down (mind you, he's seven years old) we ate dinner and jammied up to watch Scooby Doo 2. There was much cooperation, manners and all around good naturedness.

Today, after breakfast we allowed the return of three toys, his choice, with the exception of any video games. He chose three lego sets, finished one, played memory with his sister and got to work on another set. Still-with the politeness and manners.

And get this, his cousin is coming over and he is so VERY excited because he gets to choose two more toys this afternoon (barring the return of any negative/rude/uncooperative behavior) to play with his cousin, who is also seven. If only you could see how stinkin' happy these additional two toys are making him. Later today, the son and I are going to go through the stuff from his room to weed out the stuff he doesn't really like. Which, by the way, I did the week before Christmas and at the time I thought I did a really thorough job.

Now, the cousin is a video game junkie and plays with virtually nothing else. I'm sure he will be less than impressed when he's denied use of the new Gamecube and I know he'll come with his gameboy so I'm curious to see how my son handles the fact that his is put away. I have prepared him but he's knows his cousin as well as I do. Alas, my girlie has a doctor's appointment and while I suffer the joy of pinning her down for her shots - my husband will be here with the boys.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Cry Me A River

Okay, so will I be on record as one of the meanest mothers who've ever walked the face of the earth.

The boy has a friend over for four hours, they play magnetix, game cube and snow wrestling. Good times. The friend leaves.

*whine*can I play with *S* now? (the neighbor kid, who at 16 is really one of the best teenagers I've ever met)

No hun, he had some chores to do and you've had a friend here all afternoon, find something else to do.

*whine*there is nothing to do and I'm going to sit here (on my lap) and complain until you tell me I can play with S.

Ah, legos, magnetix, yugioh. How 'bout those? Marbles? You could read.

*whine* THERE IS NOTHING TO DO. I HATE THIS HOUSE AND I WON'T STOP UNTIL I CAN SEE IF S CAN PLAY.

Up to your room, I've had enough.

Commence with the crying and screaming from the bedroom about how totally terrible we are and how there is NOTHING TO DO and his toys are boring.

15 minutes elaspes. More of the same. Repeated requests for quiet. Ignored.

Into the bedroom we go and we empty it of virtually every toy. The toy box, the bins, the lego sets. All moved out. Now, lest you think he has nothing, there are about 10 matchbox cars, marbles, books and a few games left.

It's called a breaking point kid. And you've reached mine. Now, don't worry I won't be listing these things on ebay but right now (I'd find the link of the dad that did just that, It's on American Blogger somewhere, but I'm not into doing it now) I'm making him write a list of ten toys he got for Christmas. He's halfway done.

And sure, the toys will find they're way back in ... slowly. And I know, this was drastic. But apparently I've raised a spoiled brat. I'm disappointed in myself. Maybe I'm taking my failings out on him, but this has been brewing for awhile. And quite frankly, maybe I was being obtuse, but it took me by surprise - the depth of his selfishness. Really, you should hear him. And still he's being fresh (although he just handed me the list).

April asked what things we really wanted for the new year I said organization and patience. Hah. Little did I know.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Shhhh....it's so quiet in here....

Well it's happened again...

I just got home from work - and the house is empty. They are sledding. I did a quick victory dance but the house is only kind of clean today- much, much clean laundry is piling up. So with the laundry that should only give Lisa the dry heaves instead of making her sick. :)

The husband has gotten snowed out of work so he's home for today. I'm praying he doesn't get laid off. Not only would it be a big bite out of our income he would drive me certifiably insane. He works outdoors and it is always an issue, this yearly layoff thing, but it hasn't happened yet to him. He's one of the bunch that they like to keep around all year. He's well liked where he works, for the most part and according to everyone I meet who has ever worked with him - he's really good at his job. Sometimes it means taking four day work weeks and missing 1/5 of your paycheck every week for two months but that's the price you pay for actually collecting a paycheck instead of unemployment and keeping your wife relatively happy by leaving the house every day for eight hours instead of standing over her shoulder while she cooks and making 'suggestions' on how to improve her kale soup.

Monday, December 27, 2004

Sweet mother of god.....I'm alone....in my house - and it's clean. What more could I ask for????

The boy. See the smile? Me too, and thank god, because he went to bed Christmas Eve crying
"I'm on the naughty list and it's too late for Santa to change his mind" and then he proceeded to tell me that all he wanted was a PlayStation 2. Super, because the Game Cube was already wrapped. He has since forgotten the PS2 demand. And how couldn't he? Have you ever played Mario Cart Double Dash? If so, you know what I mean. :)Posted by Hello

The girl. Posted by Hello

The new room. Note how good the cabinet looks.

Especially the second coat of poly :) because the next day after the refusal of assistance he politely mentioned that if I had time I could throw on a second coat of the stuff because he could use the help. So generous of him. What girl doesn't have time to help her man one day before the big Xmas Eve festivities? And two days before Christmas? This girl that's who.

But did I do it anyway? *sheepishly* uh-huh. Just to prove a point, a 'see how busy I am, but I'm still willing to do it' point though.

All of the crap has been rearranged in that tiny little space with the exception of the bee-you-ti-full cabinet now that the Christmas Tree is gone - that's right -GONE. I took down all of my Christmas decorations today. Why? Ida know, usually I leave them up until New Year's Day or so but this year I was dying to get everything back to normal.

The Christmas Tree, as decorated by the four year old girl.  Posted by Hello

So, now it's snowing. And I mean SNOWING. Between 8 and 16 inches expected. Woo-hoo. One negative though, well, make that two...we keep losing power. No power = no furnace and no water. There are candles all around, a couple of oil lamps, two flashlights and pans of water in the sink just in case. Second negative...husband is plowing. And he'll be gone for a long time. Hold on there, don't get me wrong I'm not desperately missing him - but now I'm on solo shovel/play in the snow duty. Those are duties best shared. :) Posted by Hello

Taken about 15 minutes before this post. Brrrr. Posted by Hello

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Channeling Donald

So you want me to poly that tonight so you can start on the ceiling?
*Silence*
You DON"T want me to do you, you don't trust me not to mess it up - is that what that *silence* was? Huh?
she said incredulously

Look, Jenny - you're second rate.

Just because you paint two rooms doesn't mean that I'll trust you with the poly on this fine piece of workmanship.

You think I want brush marks or worse - a drip? No way, I can't have someone polying for me that can't be trusted not to leave a drip. If you want a job done right I guess you've got to do it yourself.

Excuse me, Mr. Tr.. uh, I mean, husband - you think I might let some sawdust or a doghair dry into the fine,sanded surface of your cabinet? Well, I wouldn't sir, (I mean you - guy that is so anal I cannot believe it) I'm a fine assest to this project, sir. But...But...

No more buts. It was a hard decision the two times you were project manager the rooms were painted but brushmarks were evident and you got paint on the ceiling - in both rooms. It's unacceptable. And even though you were the one who volunteered to help me and I previously accepted - I've rethought it. Now you get to go upstairs and watch a movie on the couch with a fleece blanket and pillow and some warm popcorn or Butterfinger hot cocoa (recommended by The Impulsive Buy, thankyouverymuch) maybe uh...where was I? Yeah, well, tough decision, but I can't trust you. I'm sure you'll do well elsewhere, but here it is....

You're fired
.

Update: He said that like it was a bad thing. :) I popped some corn, put Whalerider in the DVD (which is a movie I highly recommend by the way) and did zilch. Hurray for unemployment.

Duhn, Duhn, Dunh....Here it comes...

Okay, my head is officially spinning. The cleaning, wrapping, food shopping, cooking, baking, laundry. The countdown has begun. The husband is finishing off a room (I use the term room lightly, more like a large closet at 6'8" by 10' 9" but I digress....) and making this really spiffy corner cabinet to hold the Game Cube and TV. It's all coming out wonderfully but could we be any more last minute? Yours truly will be doing the polyurethaning tonight while he paints the ceiling things.

I am the Christmas Eve hostess with the mostest. We will be dining on salad, some sort of bread and a most delicious lasagna, my specialty. And while I can really cook a great lasagna the reason I'm doing it Friday is because I can make it in advance and then just pop it in the oven. The less kitchen time the better. There will be fourteen of us and that is my indoor limit. There is literally not enough room. Oh well, I can't sweat a detail like chairs. More eggnog please *hic*.

Christmas dinner will be prepared by the mother in law. Lord knows what we're having but she's a good cook and huge spreads are her thing so no worries there. And she only lives a mile away so there isn't any long travel in my holiday plans. Thank goodness.

Well, off to breathe the lovely fumes of polyurethane and wish my husband started this project two weeks earlier than he did.


Sunday, December 19, 2004

He shoots - HE SCORES

One game, two goals. He is positively beaming.

Friday, December 17, 2004

Yay, Free Photohosting!

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What is something that never fails to grab your attention.
A man talking rudely or demeaning his wife in public.

Soup
Who was the last person who gave you money, and what was it for?
My husband's aunt, for another freakin' hockey fundraiser.

Salad
If you were a Smurf, what would your name be? Immature smurf.

Main Course
Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not?
Y'know, I'd like to say I don't but that wouldn't be entirely true. I believe that your personality traits could be generalized by astrology but predicitng the future and stuff, no way.

Dessert
Have you seen any snow this year yet? What's the weather like today in your area?
Yep, we had four inches of it last month and only flurries since. Today it's sunny, windy and about 40 degrees.


Fred the overly hungry beagle. Gives a whole new meaning to 'finger' sandwiches.  Posted by Hello

Up close and personal with the trim and window blinds. Posted by Hello

Another side of the room. Sorry, no pictures up on the walls yet. Can't find them.  Posted by Hello

The bathroom in lightbulb light Posted by Hello

The bathroom in natural light. Posted by Hello

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Fred is getting an evaluation at a training school tomorrow night. I spoke to our vet and a trainer yesterday and they were cautiously optimistic. Actually the trainer was pretty sure he could help. I've also found a rescue league that I can contact that'll hopefully take him. The thought of sending him back to the shelter sort really makes me miserable and because he's not really aggressive, only around food and then only because what he's actually biting is the food, the fingers are just in the way. But seeing as I love my kids and their fingers we can't be having that.

The hockey party was a huge success. My son told his friends is was the best party of his life. It probably was. Thirteen boys from his team, a HUGE playroom, two boy bedrooms, a garage with a ton of sporting equipment and parents who were willing to let them all play outside until 11:00 p.m. What's not to love?

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Well, Fred struck again. The girlie was sitting in the living room, having a little picnic with her tea set and a cupcake. He jumps up, grabs the cupcake and her pointer finger. Broke the skin. Left two welts. The husband wants him gone - tomorrow. I've had a little talk with the kids, how he might go to a home with grownups where he won't have to worry about the whole food agression issue. I was going to take a day and talk to a trainer and the vet, see if this can be addressed. If not, I'm not under any false assumptions, he'll have to go. But tomorrow? Damn.

Friday's, er, Sunday's Feast

Appetizer
Make up a word and give it's definition. Blah, blah, blah. Not up for thinking tonight.

Soup
What is currently your favorite song?
Green Day, Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Can I stop singing it? Not a chance.

Salad
What's at the top of your Christmas wish list this year? A Willie McGinest jersey.

Main Course
Name a scent that reminds you of someone special in your life.Johnson's baby shampoo. When I lay down with my kids at night after they have a bath or a sho
wer, I could just eat them up.

Dessert
Who is someone on television that you feel probably shouldn't be, and why? Kelly Ripa. Sure she's cute but I can't stand the whole, self effacing act she puts on.


Saturday, December 11, 2004

Well, Fred hasn't taken anyone's fingers off yet, so that's a good thing.

My best friend and I had a huge misunderstanding. No argument or anything, just hurt feelings compounded onto other hurt feelings. And mature adults that we are, we never spoke of it, we just kind of started avoiding each other. Well, she sends me our usual 'how are things going with you guys' general email yesterday and I just sort of spilled my guts about the hurt feelings in response.

Turns out she felt the exact same way (we had made a new 'couple friend' and she felt all left out and then her and her boyfriend had made a new 'couple friend' and I felt all left out) but never wanted to tell me because she felt silly and selfish. I cannont believe the relief that I'm feeling, it must have been weighing on me so much more than I thought. And now I feel like I got THE best Christmas present I could've hoped for.

I'm off to make brownies and some chocolate covered strawberries for the hockey team Christmas party, see ya!


Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Taking a Bite out of, well, out of everything

Fred. The beagle. So sweet and cute, sitting on the cold cement floor of the animal shelter. He was so well behaved for the first 4 months or so. To anyone who doesn't know we think he's between ten and twelve years old, we just got him in June though.

He has occasional peep accidents in the house. I can deal with that. When you try to feed him a little treat, he snaps at your hand and scarfs it down like he's never seen food before. I can deal with that. But he is learning not to snap when I offer him the treats, it's taking some time, my dogs don't get treats alot, but it's working a little bit. I don't think he's ever really been a pet. Probably a hunting dog, part of a group, with no kids around. He's done pretty well adjusting. Until recently.

The girlie, she treats him like a personal plaything. With the hugs and the dragging by the collar and the hugs. He gets tired of it and after MUCH antagonizing has snapped or growled a few times. Does she learn? No. That would be problem number one.

Number two would be that you cannot have any food anywhere near this dog. He'll snatch anything right out of your hands and quite possibly bite you in the process. Which is what he did to the girlie tonight and the son last week (both were nipped). And he's a beagle/basset hound mix so he smells Kate cooking dinner over in LA. We punish him, with a little swat on the nose or butt and mean looks. I might add here that Fred is deaf or very nearly deaf so yelling must be loud and obnoxious - A stern voice won't do. He's getting enough to eat, what is the deal and how do I fix it? Or can I? I do not want to send this dog back to the shelter but on the other hand I cannot have him nipping at everyone for a piece of cheese either. Plus he's ripping into the trash because it contains food and he's ripping apart anything he finds that at one time contained food. Remember the fundraiser gifts? No, well, that's okay, it's not a test. But it is getting obnoxious. And the dog is TEN. And I love him. And he loves me. He sleeps at my feet and follows me endlessly. Wah.

Well, blog happiness aside, nothing much is going on here.

We have instituted a one hour time limit on all electronic games on school days (with the option to earn bonuses for certain extra special things, like, say getting your flouride treatment at the dentist for the first time in three years - the last few times this son of my fought like a wildcat - Dude, it's grape flavored goo, Chill out.) because he gets a little bleary eyed and grouchy. So no more of that.

And we're using the old soap in the mouth trick to the girlie who talks more like a 47 year old sailor man. Seems to be working but time will tell. Knowing her she'll probably decide that calling her mom a "dummy fat head" is worth the taste of Dawn dishwashing soap.

We took the pictures for the Christmas Card today, down by the pond. I don't use my digital b/c the regular camera is WAY better for these type of shots so I can't share. Oh, and you all may never see my bathroom. It's bad, it's worse than bad. Well, maybe not worse than bad but I'm not thrilled by it so we'll see. Have a good night, I'm off to work.

Just for the Record

Well, the blog has been Christmasized and I have to tell you, I LOVE IT! I also had nothing to do with it. This was all Lisa and she did an awesome job. Thank you Lisa, this is perfect.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Fisher Price Dollhouse Crap and other things..

Okay, so who knew that they've discontinued, like, 95% of the Fisher Price dollhouse crap? And if you did know why didn't you tell me? And Amazon, I know it's Christmas and you must be busy but please, keep your site up and running. Thank you.

Ugh. Still sick. Only coughed for 6 or so hours last night.

Can you see the juggling snowmen at the top of the page or was that a colassal waste of time?

Wow, who's a bitch from lack of sleep? Hmmmm....let me think? Oh, I know. ME!

Must go to cough, uh, I mean sleep. I'm shooting for three hours tonight. Wish me luck.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

The bathroom, she is a-painted

Holy freakin' purple. Somehow I lost the curtain rods so my new curtains remain all wrinkled up in the shopping bag and because I can't put up the curtains I refuse to put up the shower curtain and all the rest of the bathroomy stuff.

I'm sick, coughing with a 'tuffy nose. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with standing outside in the rain at the Patriot's game last Sunday for 3 and 1/2 hours. It's the girlie, she climbs into our bed every night and shares my pillow. Plus I am always freakin' kissing that girl. And seeing as she's been sick you'd think I'd lay off the smooching, but no way. It's the dimples man. A mommy can't resist the dimples.

Well, on that note, with 1 hour and forty five minutes of sleep under my belt from last night I'm off to bed. Well, maybe a movie or part of one first but then bed. G'nite.

Saturday, December 04, 2004

Trees


Some interesting trees from a hike (well, a walk in the woods really) we went on earlier this fall. Posted by Hello

Friday, December 03, 2004

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
Tell about a toy you remember from your childhood. Fisher Price Happy Houseboat (which I still have by the way). Ah, the times I spent with Mad Boy and Cowboy Dad diving off the diving board while Cute Blonde Girl and Old Fashioned Mommy lounged on the deck and the Captain, all dressed in white plastic finery, who steered the ship safely through mountains of Mr. Bubble.

Soup
If you could make one thing in the world absolutely free for everyone, what would it be? Airfare. Wouldn't it be great to just be able to jump on a plane, like a free ferry, and just go wherever the heck you want?

Salad
Approximately how many times per day do you think about your significant other? 3.14. What the hell, I can't count the licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop and you want me to count thoughts???

Main Course
Name something you believe in 100%. How much my mom loves me. I could never have imagined how much you could love your children and to know that she feels the same about me, well, it kind of knocks me over.

Dessert
List 3 things you did this year that you would consider a "good deed." Good deeds, eh? I hate to sound crass but I don't know what exactly constitutes a good deed and even then I don't keep a tally. Or maybe I'm just a bitch and have only done two good deeds all year. Could be.

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Deep Breath & Bed Time - The Perfect Elixir

Ah, things are looking up. The kiddies are sound asleep, yucky Ami was voted off the island and my mother in law is taking the girlie for a special day with Nana tomorrow. And not because I called her begging and crying, although the thought did cross my mind.

The playdate chitchat with the mom was okay. Just not my type of girl, can't love everyone - y'know? And her kids, YIKES. Terrors. The boy threw, not one but three FITS, not just throwing a little attitude around, but all out fits. And then after the boys were asked to clean up the fort they made and he flat out refused (excuse me while I brag, but the son jumped right in on the clean up) I went out to help b/c some of the stuff was heavy and he gave me a bunch of attitude with dirty looks. Now, you can disrespect your parents to some degree, everyone needs to blow off steam, but I do not tolerate my kids disrespecting ANY other adults. So that might be the last we see of this kid.

But it was the two hours of the day where my girl was a total angel and seeing as it's all about appearances it was perfect.

Things that are pissing me off today...

1. Lowe's refund policy. Tuesday I went and picked out some new crap for the still to be completed bathroom (sheesh, I know I'm slow, but hey the house is all Christmasy and I only have 3 presents left to buy so I've been doing something.) Well, got the stuff home and didn't like it. At All. Drove the 1/2 hour back to Lowe's where the kind gentleman tells me that he can give me a store credit. Store Credit???? Well, see, I wrote a check and according to this damn store I can come back in 15 days for my refund. This is not written anywhere on the receipt, I checked. Why with all of the computer gizmo-y crap we have can we not program a cash register to print out the applicable refund policy on the receipt. Now I get to go back in thirteen days.


2. Inviting my son over to play and then expecting me to stay with my girlie who will only want to continuously interrupt my son and his friend. Lady, it's two hours. And I don't even really like you. And the only reason my son is going over there is because, well, because I have no backbone. Could've said no but didn't. We are in the 'her son likes my son way more than my son likes her son' (got that?) area of friendship. So now I get to spend my afternoon running interference. Yay. Hurray for spines.

3. CBS. Why in the hell is Rudolph on from 8-9 p.m?!?!? My kids go to bed at 8. But god knows we all love that reindeer. So I broke the bedtime, let them snuggle in and watch. My girlie is hell-on-wheels today.

Carried her out of Lowe's

MOMMA, I want a map
But girlie, the store entrance is separate from the refund entrance
I WANT A MAP
no, I'm not going to carry all my 'nonrefunable at this time' items over there
IWANNAMAP
No, *heave kicking girl over shoulder and leave*

Carried her out of Filene's

*Moves Fiestaware around*
Me : Patiently waiting for employee so I can pay my balance off - because that's all I needed to do dammit.
*Moves more Fiestaware*
Please don't girlie, it's glass
THIS IS MY DESK
Okay, I'll ask you again, please don't it's glass.
IWANNA
Me: Directs girlie over to stand next to me without first noticing the stack of boxes next to the register on top of which, placed delicately, is a glass tray with six glass shot glasses balanced imperfectly.
*Touches glasses*
Please don't girlie, last time I'm telling you
IWANNA
I pay and again with the carrying out of the store.

Thank you CBS.

Think happy thoughts for me.

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Infection & Breaking News

Well it happened, I knew you could get a virus from an email but I didn't think it was possible to get the croup.

My girlie woke up *bark bark* around midnight and loved the way she *bark bark* sounded. This only a few short hours after some email stuff to Jennifer about her son's croup. Coincidence?


And this just in..... Sophie's got a sweater!

Monday, November 29, 2004


The rain makes it's debut. But we had just the right mix of alcohol in the veins or something because this was a total blast. Granted we looked like hell. Camo is NOT my best color. I was kind of surprised at the number of 'hey I can only see your face the rest of you is invisible' jokes I got but I was so warm and totally dry so what the hell did I care?  Posted by Hello

Tom Brady and Matt Light.  Posted by Hello

The view from our NINTH ROW seats. I don't care if I can only afford to see a game every two or three years (who am I kidding? I am SO going next year) I will never sit in the top cliffhanger section. Please note, the apparent lack of rain. Thank YOU well wishers. It held off the major rain until half time. Posted by Hello

I'll give you a hint....I do not at all match the others. (and I am not the guy :) )  Posted by Hello

Here's one of those turkeys in a tree. He was probably about forty feet up or so. Posted by Hello

Saturday, November 27, 2004

I am ready for some football

And the huge predicted downpours.

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Patriots game. A game I've been waiting for all season, my first very expensive ticket to the Pats - in the ninth row even - and it's supposed to rain and not just drizzle...heavy downpours. Hurray.

The upside would be the tailgate party in the RV that we're going to have. Food, alcohol, food, alcohol, cards and well, food and booze. I'm going with my husband's cousin and aunt two HUGE Pats fans so even with the deluge it should be a good time.

Wish me luck and pray for cold and overcast! Thanks Lisa, for the new pic, I hope it worked!

Friday, November 26, 2004

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
How much money do you plan to spend this upcoming holiday season? Less than usual on gifts, we're doing over a very small room and making it a Game Cube room.

Soup
What was the last television show you watched, and was it good? Can't remember watching any TV this week but I did watch Bruce Almighty and it sucked!

Salad
If you had to paint the walls of your living room tomorrow, what color would you choose? Pillar for the walls and Potter's Clay for the trim, both by the lovely Ralph Lauren. Oh, wait, that's the color they are...well, I love it and would do it again tomorrow. :)

Main Course
Name something clever or practical you have thought of that should be invented, but hasn't yet. The laundry putterawayer. Don't ask me how they'd do it, but truly, it SHOULD be invented.

Dessert
List 3 things you would like to receive as gifts this holiday season. The Sims Urbz for my Gameboy, The Coleman Outrider Flashlite (never needs batteries) and 8X8 square cake pans, nice ones - no stinky baker's secret.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Turkeys and Crisps


Em, Here are the turkeys! Posted by Hello

Ever since I switched over to Firefox the pictures up there haven't been posting. Grrrr. But I guess they just don't show up for visitors because they show up on my screen so I have no idea who sees what.

*Idea* If you are visiting and don't mind leaving me a comment could you let me know if you can see the picture (not the one in this post) above the blog title? Much appreciated. :)

The cranberry crisp recipe:

Pour three cups of cranberries into a 10" pie plate. Cover with 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of nuts.

In a seperate bowl mix 1/2 cup of melted butter with 1 cup of sugar. Add 2 eggs and 1 cup of flour and (very important ingredient coming up) add 1 teaspoon of orange peel. Pour this batter over the top of the cranberry mix and bake at 325 degrees for one hour.

This is delicious served with whipped cream. Might be good warm with vanilla ice cream too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A shot of Wild Turkey(s)

I took that picture of the turkeys (That one, up there in the blog title) a few weeks ago. We were at the bus stop and I looked back toward the house and there were like twelve wild turkeys crossing the road.

I ran home, grabbed the camera and snuck up on them and took the pic. I took one more step and those friggin' birds took off in every direction. There were turkeys flying everywhere. And you know what...they landed in trees and high up in trees I might add. So I chased them again and scared a few of them enough so that they took off out of the trees. Limbs and leaves were falling and the girlie started to cry she was so scared. Oops. I did get a pic of this huge turkey in a tree though.
Phew. Two coats of paint on the bathroom walls. Done. Now all I have to paint is the trim but I HAVE to use painter's tape because I'm too impatient to take my time and try to go all nice and straight on the trim boards. So anyway, can't put the tape on until the paint cures and that will take a few days. This wouldn't be such a big project to most people but the husband has previously accused me of being a totally half assed painter so I'm trying to do a whole assed job.

Thanksgiving is just about here. One thing I'm thankful for *waiting for lightening bolt from the heavens to strike me down* is that my mom isn't cooking. The very definition of half assed in the dictionary has a picture of her Thanksgiving Dinner right next to it. She is queen of the 'good enough' dinner. Canned sweet potatoes and corn. Ew. And stuffing so soggy my stepsister and I once threw together a box of Stove Top as dinner was going on the table. We have been saved this year by an invite from my stepfather's brother and his wife.

A bunch of my inlaws are either working on Thursday (restaurant types) and so we're having dinner on Tuesday evening. Which by the way will all be totally delicious and all fresh and homemade. I'm making a cranberry crisp for both occasions. Very easy and yet so harvesty.


Friday, November 19, 2004

YAY! At least I'm not Beaker.

statler jpeg
You are Statler or Waldorf.
You have a high opinion of yourself, as do others.
But only because you are in the balcony seats.

ALSO KNOWN AS:
Those two old guys in the box.
SPECIAL TALENTS:
Heckling, complaining, being cantankerous

QUOTE:
"Get off the stage, you bum!"

LAST BOOKS READ:
"The Art of Insult" and "How To
Insult Art"

NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT:
Their pacemakers.


What Muppet are you?
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Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What do you think is the perfect age to get married? To have a first child? To retire? Ideally I'd say 25 to get married, 25-27 for the baby and I'd want to retire at 60, that is, if I had a real job.

Soup
If you could change occupations tomorrow, what would you want to do for a living? A movie critic. To watch movies all day and then throw my opinion out there and *kaching* a paycheck. Sounds heavenly.

Salad
What does the color green make you think of? Shit, I almost wrote salad before I realized that this was the 'salad' portion of the feast, subliminal suggestion I think. I have to clear my mind, which shouldn't take long, let me move on... Okay, back now, I'd have to say leaves, nature, the outdoors. I'm looking around my bedroom which is a shade of green that I absolutely love and I'm thinking it's a color that sort of relaxes and calms me.

Main Course
What is something that has happened to you over the last year that you didn't expect? Well, I didn't think I'd ever keep any sort of journal for longer than two days, so this blog thing is kind of a surprise. Not to mention the blogfriends I've met.

Dessert
How old were you when you had your first kiss? Well, first kiss or first real kiss? First kiss, First Grade. Mark L. was the kisser and I was the stunned Kissee. If I had known how absolutely gorgeous he would grow up to be...

Big Painting Update

Okay, a quick note again. ...

Watched Survivor last night and I cannot think of a more hellacious place on earth than being that last guy stuck on that island with all of those women. Ugh. And that one of them will win a million dollars is even sadder.

I know, painting this room is taking me forever. But the darling husband decided to joint coumpound all of the ceiling to wall edges, so I had to wait for it to dry. I'm doing the second coat for the walls tomorrow. Then I'll start the trim. I sure do know how to have some fun, eh?

I have a book club thing tonight. I blew off my regular one (they picked Toni Morrison and I kind of just refused based on the fact that I find her whole heartedly annoying) and am going to the one my mom just started. She chose a book that was my pick a few months ago and she asked me to come to help with the chat. It's all older women and kind of a conservative bunch. Should be a ball. :-P

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Quick Note

The girlie just told me as she climbed into bed that she felt

Like an icky flower with a head-rake.


Sunday, November 14, 2004

This kind of old house

We've been pretty much working on this house from the moment we moved in eight years ago and have finally replaced each and every window. Not that this was the only project we've undertaken but we are now on Bathroom Redux #2.

The first major project we did was the bathroom. It had a shag carpet, which I steadfastly refused to walk on, a half sized tub caulked with masking tape (surprise!) and plastic panel walls from the 80's. Plus it was small. Like smaller than small.

Well, a friend was having a Mary Kay party (*gag*), but being a friend I went. Halfway in I get a phone call "Don't buy a thing" the husband warned me. "We have no water left in the well."

The well ran dry? Literally? Yes and not only did it run dry, the pump pumped silty sand through our entire plumbing system. It was like the lottery, only what we won kind of sucked. Unlimited sand is never as fun as money.

The entire plumbing system was junk, we had no water and the bathroom needed fixin' and so SLAMMO with the sledgehammer a wall came down and the big bathroom was born, well, not born, sort of conceived because god knows these projects take forever to be done.

My husband spent many hours down 25 feet in the well (Baby Jessica, if you're reading this and have a flashback you have my apologies) with pumps trying to stave off the influx of silty sand and installing various well pieces which in fact bought us about 6 years of water, used conservatively. The sand he pumped out made the kiddos a helluva sandbox though.

So now, with the install of the final windows we needed to paint the bathroom and I thought "Perfect time for a change and dammit I want a purple room." The husband leaves the color choices to his lovely wife and here's what I ended up with Spokane Falls & Rhodedendron (sp?). This time he is also leaving the painting up to his lovely wife (by lovely wife I do mean ME you know) as I have, to his surprise last year, proven myself to be an okay painter. The first coat is done and I'll be doing the second coat and trim this week. The blogging might suffer but I will post pictures when I'm done and make it all worthwhile. :)



Saturday, November 13, 2004

And if you've no place to go....

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Well, the snow is here. Those pictures I've posted down below were taken at 7:20 a.m. because god forbid we don't just throw our snow pants on and get the hell outside to run around and make snow angels. :)

So nice that the first snow wasn't a wimpy dusting that just barely coats the roof and grass. And even better that the husband was home to take a shift outside with the kids. He generally plows and I get to wrassle with the snow clothes all by my lonesome.

The pictures I've been posting in the header are ones I've been taking of the pond we live on. I'm trying to keep with a seasonal theme, sort of, until they get really boring and plain, like say with no snow and no purdy leaves.



 Posted by Hello

Three happy snowy kids.  Posted by Hello

One happy, snowy boy.  Posted by Hello

Friday, November 12, 2004

Ripped From the Headlines

TWO TO FOUR INCHES ACROSS

NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND AND INTERIOR SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
AND BLOCK ISLAND...AND THREE TO FIVE INCHES ACROSS SOUTHERN
RHODE ISLAND AND SOUTH COASTAL MASSACHUSETTS. SOME EXTRA TIME
AND CAUTION IS ADVISED AS THIS WILL BE THE FIRST ACCUMULATING
SNOW OF THE SEASON OVER MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA.

I just got the kids their snow boots today!
Please let it be true, please, please, please.
The only bad thing is that they are still in my trunk, meaning I have to run out
into the sleet in my PJs to grab them.


Well, yesterday there was no broken glass. Today's casuality was one ceramic
pumpkin tealight holder thing.

Can't win 'em all.

I just got "Supersize Me" from Netflix and I'm going to bundle up on my couch with my Ghirardelli hot chocloate, which I highly recommend by the way, a fleece pillow and blanket and my new furry purple socks and I will wait for the *tink tink tink* of sleet to turn into the quiet of the first snow.

I'm not sure about this whole Firefox thing, the fonts and margins on this typing page are all screwed up along with the appearance (on my computer anyway) of the sidebar. I'll mess with it another time. I hear fleecy things acallin'.

Foxy Lady


Well, shove over Jennifer, I too am on the Firefox bandwagon. It's so fast. Like Lightening. What's up with that? Ah well, I can no longer see Lisa that well so I'll have to ask her about that.


Thursday, November 11, 2004

Why did the monkey and pickle cross the road?

To eat a basket.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Monkey.

Monkey who?

Monkey you.

Chris Rock, you better watch your back. HAH! For the love of god girlie, stop with the jokes. Sure they were amusing the first 78 times but it's time to freshen up the routine. :)

Thanks to everyone who chimed in on the Santa advise. I was leaning toward keeping on with the party line so it was nice to get some new phrases to throw in with my usual goop.

Well the holiday has begun, Veteran's Day. So a quasi-holiday. Not to belittle anyone's service to their country but y'know what I mean. The boy is having a friend from school over and I have to run interference for him with the girlie so I'm making cookies with her and whatever else will keep her out of their Yugioh, beyblade, playstation free for all.

I took the boy to The Incredibles last night. Has anyone else seen it?

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Thank God It's Wednesday!

Ah, the weekend is here. Not your weekend probably but mine has just arrived. Working only two days a week has its advantages. TGIW!

Yesterday the girlie goes into the bathroom and after doing what she needed to do she flushed. Well before flushing she plucked tissues out of the box one by one and made Mt. Kleenex in the toilet. After the flushing she comes running, I put a tissue in the toilet on accident she says to me.

A tissue, Singular and on accident i.e. accidentally.

Mt. Kleenex didn't flush, infact its peak was above the rim. I double checked the water (clean, the toilet had just flushed) handed the girlie the rubber gloves and a plastic bag and told her to dig in. She looked at me with a Mommy's gone off the deep end - me+rubber gloves+toilet?!?!?" kind of look and threw on the gloves and got to work.

Score one for Mommy. Now I'm only losing by 40,232.

Today I dropped the glass mayonnaise jar and it broke into forty batrillion pieces all over the kitchen floor. I'm barefoot, the kids shoes are in the shoe cubby thing which means walking over the shards of glass to get a pair of shoes and the dogs are tag teaming me with their dumbass attempts to grab and lick the bigger chunks of glass that were covered in mayo. Hey Dogs - It's Glass.

Naturally I had about five minutes before we had to leave for the bustop, preschool and work. And Fred, the scavenger Beagle, would have eaten that whole damned pile of glass if it meant ingesting 12 oz. of Helmanns or he would have licked the floor and cut his tounge with a shard of glass that I missed and would have bled all over the rug in the living room. So we missed the bus and I was late for work. Yesterday Fred the Beagle from Hell tore into the trash bag my husband left out in the cellar and spread it all over the floor for me. *love him* Really I do love him but grrrr... at least my husband has been kind enought to refrain from the "You're the one who wanted this dog speech." so I guess I'm thankful for that.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

What's next? The tooth fairy?

I have a question for all of you out there.....Santa. When to fess up?

Last year we were headed to my mother in laws for Christmas dinner and presents with them. My son (six at the time) while getting in the car, pipes up with

There's no such thing as Santa Claus.

I proceed to ask why he would think that and what does he believe (who fills the stockings, etc) about Santa, etc. Hoping that I'm keeping the panicked look in my eyes from showing through. He doesn't really say anything specific so I stomp that filthy lie right into the ground with a lot of

Honey, I believe in Santa. The stockings are filled, the cookies were eaten and it's Christmas, baby.

He didn't look convinced but he let it drop and never brought up the doubt again, in fact this year it has been nothing but Santa this and Santa that. Some of that was perpetuated by my stories of the Magical Good Behavior Snow Globe he can see them through and other explanations regarding the physics of flying reindeer.

I must say that I'm paralyzed with the fear of the second lie. Or do I bother? He's only seven and lord knows I don't want him to stop believing but do I keep on with the lie if he's really unconvinced?

Oh, the trials and tribulations of motherhood.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

The Grudge Report

First a disclaimer: I'm not a Star Wars geek. Not that it's a bad thing because it SO isn't. I just really love the movies. I only have one toy. It's a little R2-D2 that makes cute beeps when you press it's buttons.

Onto The Grudge. Eh. It has alot of those eye-squinting, cringing, what are they all going upstairs for? moments but not alot else. I don't regret going, my friend was so freaked out she said she only saw about half of it, she spent the other half with her eyes closed and her ears blocked, but the acting was pretty uninspired and the movie itself was really drab colorwise. All in all, a fun night out because it doesn't happen that often and we laughed alot at the whole anxiety thing.

Tonight was the big Shrek II premiere at my house. There was popcorn and fleece blankets and lots of kiddo giggling. The farting, they can't get enough of the farting.

Star Wars Geek Alert

Yep, I'm one of them. And it opens two days before my birthday. Mr. Lucas is so thoughtful.

Here's the trailer. Enjoy.

http://www.tribute.ca/player/enhancePlayerEngine.asp?types=WMLG&filePath=Trailers&fileName=starwarsep3

Friday, November 05, 2004

Negative Nelly

Wow, enough negative political crap from me. Blech. I can't stand reading it on other peoples blogs but found I couldn't resist throwing my two cents onto mine. Sorry.

My weekly highlights:

Buying Pokemon Ruby for my Game Boy.

Making my best homemade meatballs ever for dinner the other night.

Watching Rory get kicked the heck off the Island.

Tonight after hockey practice I'm headed out to dinner and a movie with a good friend of mine. We're seeing The Grudge, partly because everyone in Kate's comments thought it was wicked scary, partly because I have no idea what else is playing. My only concern is the stress factor. I actually walked out of Scream 2 for a few minutes to get my heart rate down and to wipe my sweaty palms.

*Bock, bock, bock* makes the pecking poultry neck move

I wish I could take a picture of the pines trees blowing around outside. I'm on the second floor of my house and these trees are like 85 feet tall and they're swaying all over the freakin' place. Time to skedaddle!

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Thursday

I guess the election hoop-la is over. Thank god for small favors and for the fact that the Daily Show will continue to be crack-me up hysterical for the next four years.

Although, seeing as American soldiers are paying the price with their lives over there in Iraq and stem-cell research will not be the status quo, it hardly seems worth a funny one-liner or two or seventy six. A shout out to my friend Julie whose mom died from ALS and to Josh, my husband's cousin serving over there in Afghanistan. Wish we could of done more to help.

*ouch* I just tripped stepping off my soap box.

On to sunnier thoughts and well wishes to all you NaNoWiMo people, *tick,tick,tick* it's already the 4th, you should have about (thank you Mr. Calculator) 6,667 words written (if you didn't delete any..eh-hem, Lisa:) )Which is so why I didn't do it. That and my creative side is totally lacking.


Tuesday, November 02, 2004

The Birthplace of America -Admission $15.00

I skipped work on Monday to chaperone the son's field trip to Plimoth Plantation. I had a group of four boys that were so well behaved, their mothers would be proud.

While I would never think of Plymouth as a vacation destination (one of those places we locals totally take for granted) this was actually fun. What boy doesn' t love meeting real indians (Native Americans to those politically correct people who also coined the term 'pretzel legs' for sitting indian style) who know how make and throw spears. And sitting on deer skin beds while they listen to the women talk about the work (Good God-The work!! I would've been one of those faint at heart women who stayed back in England, thankyouverymuch) while in a hut with fires burning inside and rabbit cooking in the pot.

Kind of steeped in history round here.

A view from the fortress. Posted by Hello

A leopard frog for Kate's science test. Posted by Hello

Butterfingers for Breakfast?

Halloween has come and gone, but the sugar high remains.

"oh, you ate all of your breakfast? Then okay, one piece of candy"

That'll last for about a week and then the forgetting about the candy starts, so one week out of fifty two, I figure that's not too bad.

Today is election day. Ho-freakin-hum. Explain the need for the electoral college one more time please? How is it that the popular vote counts for naught? Oh, yeah, DON'T. Two candidates, one I don't trust at all and one that I have absolutely no opinion about (and sadly enough he is MY senator). Hmmm. Lesser of two evils? Better the devil you know than the devil you don't?

I'm all for smaller taxes Mr. Bush, but seeing as we didn't get any break from this last hoo-haw you bestowed upon us, the poor beleaguered middle americans, and instead you can say, spend less on freakin' VETERANS who fought the fight and which group you are NOT a part of. You are willing to give fewer benefits to those fine men and women who will lay their lives on the line in a war we have no business being in. And speaking of Iraq...the mission is not accomplished. Families are buying walkie talkies and kevlar for their relatives over there while we pay Halliburton millions, if not billions, to rebuild. Oh Mr. Cheney, how much did you make on your stocks and dividends? And if Mr. Colin Powell states that genocide is taking place in Sudan and we do nothing, well then, that's just wrong too. No oil in Sudan you say? Ah, well, that explains it.

And Mr. Kerry...zzzzzzzz. Hmph. The debates. Clearly yours. Why can you not captivate a nation? Your wife is atrocious and really, what would you have done differently. Details please. I would have done things differently too I bet. But I don't have to offer an intelligent explanation because I AM NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. And then you are on TV and start to talk again and zzzzzzz.

Okay, that will probably be one of the last rants of the political nature for a long while. And yes, I'm voting. Scary isn't it?

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Carve-a-thon 2004

The pumpkin carving festivities are over. The seeds are roasting and the kiddies are sleeping. I've been reading other blogs where the kids are celebrating, with costumes and candy in school and I have to say - We're getting gyped over here! We got the memo from the principal, "No candy, no costumes, no parties." No fun.

And a Sunday Halloween sounded great until my son got his hockey schedule. Game at 5:50 a.m. Huh? So, now he'll be up for 12 hours before he can even go Trick or Treating. Ugh. I suppose we could go out during the day, but that's just not the way things are done around these parts. And to even mention skipping the hockey game would be heresy.

I can hear the sounds of screams and ghoulies coming from the Haunted House at the camp next door... so spooky, I love it, it's like our own Halloween soundtrack.


Mine. Posted by Hello

The son's. All his own. Posted by Hello