Yesterday's flurries gradually transformed into a mini snowfall of an inch or two, which mixed with rain and left everything all icy and crisp. And today was 70 and sunny. Hello virus season.

The Bruins game was fun, uneventful - but fun. The kids were on the jumbotron which always makes for big excitement.

I usually spend my Sundays worshiping at the House of Belichick. But this morning I was going to stand on my pulpit (I have a pulpit???) and proselytize about a little something that might be referred to as a MIRACLE. My friends, the miracle of silicone bakeware.

Let me preface this by saying that I cannot bake a cookie. Not a good one anyway. I follow the recipes. The directions for non-stick. I purchase new baking powder and soda. And yet? Flat cookies that always, ALWAYS stick to the cookie sheet. Sometimes they burn othertimes undercooked. Even when they're in the oven for the exact same amount of time. I mean, really, was I doomed to make brownies for every bake sale/family event forever???

And then....

I have been drawn to the red for some time now. The color of the devil you say? HAH. Well then it was the devil that made these cookies slide off these sheets like newly sharpened skates on freshly zambonied ice so grab me a pitchfork, I'm heading to Georgia with my new friend. The cookies were browned to perfection and just about jumped off those pretty red sheets. And the cleanup? What cleanup? A quick wash in warm soapy water (you can dishwasher 'em but they're awfully floppy) and done. Roll them up and stuff them in a corner of the cabinet.

***LALALALALA**not hearing yesterday's warning from Susie Sunshine ***LALALALALA**

But now? Warnings are meant to be heeded. Especially if they might make sense. Solid chemicals + heat + food could be a pretty potent combo. So they will stay rolled up in the cupboard, at least until I can no longer resist their siren song. Which I swear will NOT be tomorrow. I swear. But Christmas cookies....I may be powerless to resist.

*Update: But wait...what is silpat? Sili-something. Maybe there is light at the end of my tunnel.

You guys...thank you. It was a big crappy ass decision to have to make and the support I got from all of you made it that much easier. So thank you.

So you all are fans of the quilt? Or were you just being kind to my wounded spirit? Either way....here are the details.

1. I ordered it from Plow and Hearth. I can't even thread a sewing machine and if I can't use that iron on stitch witchery it ain't happenin'. This is the quilt I almost ordered instead. I still love it, so maybe some day.

2. I make my bed like this every day. I can't sleep in an unmade bed. The sheets feel all weird and somehow different if they haven't spent their day covered up nicely by blankets and the quilt.

3. I do, however, keep my old comforter underneath the quilt and I take the quilt off every night, you know, so sleep germs don't get on it.

Today is being spent in a sports related blur. Hockey (my son's team is 5-0. yee-haw Mites C-2!), soccer (in the snow today people. It was flurrying! yee-haw for the first snow of the season) and a Bruins game tonight (no yee-haw for prohockey but a night out with friends and free tickets for the kids does score it a bonus).

Tomorrow the fall cleanup day in the yard is on the schedule. Snow today and 65 degrees and sunny tomorrow. um. okay. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank whoever schedules the ice time for the hockey league. There is no where I'd rather be at 5:45 on Christmas Eve morning than at the ice rink.

I'm off to whip up some cookies and try out my new silicone baking mats. I'm still an unbeliever in the whole silicone movement although I did buy some basting brushes based on a recommendation by this lady and I'm enjoying them. We shall see...

For Blackbird, my show and tell. Here's my bed. Not terribly comfortable but will do for now. The quilt though, I love my quilt. Flannel and cordury, with plaid. I love plaid. Anyway, it just reminds me of fall and winter and makes me feel cozy and homey with a passing glance.

I dropped Fred off today. Last night was tough, telling the kids he had to go. Disagree with me if you want but I lied to them. Instead of telling them he was going back to the shelter (which my son knows might mean he may not get adopted as we had many discussions about it after adopting Fred from there last year - although he doesn't know what happens to the dogs that don't get adopted - it never got that far, but this time he just might ask) I told them that a friend of a girl I work with was taking him in. And that she doesn't have children so there will never be any worries that he might bite or get growly at any other little ones. I have created quite a picture in my own mind and can almost convince myself that he might end up in a home like that. Denial is my friend.

Working for the town, and having a lab that's been picked up four or five times I kind of know the Animal Control guy, Dave and told me that he'll make a few phone calls to rescue leagues and other places that he knows as they are more likely to help him out than they were to help me out. I was honest with him about the biting and food issues. He didn't seem too worried but I also told him to never tell me what happened to Fred even if I come in there crying and begging him. Which I wouldn't do. But I wanted to cover all my bases.

I'm totally okay with this, really though. It had to be done. But I'll miss him.

Thirteen on Thursday

Thirteen Things about Jenny 1. Today my daughter has her six month recheck on her eye surgeryed eyes. Just last week, as she looked at me, kind off to the side as I was sitting next to her she told me that I was all blurry. yipes. 2. The geek in me filled in my 2006 calander with color coded entries. Different for each person. GEEK. But check back with me in May to see if I'm keeping up with it or if every single thing is scribbled in pell-mell in whatever color pen I can dig up. 3. We got firewood delivered two days ago and I am loving the wood stove smell on these cold and wet days. 4. The little girl on the Amazing Race sort of scares me. 5. I get those blogger comment words, those spam blocker things, well...I get them wrong enough to give a little cheer every time I get one right. And I KNOW it's just copying but it's copying gibberish and I have enough trouble with actual words. 6. My son cut his over the door basketball net in a fit of anger. It still would be fine with just the rim and backboard but because he did it out of anger I made him pay me the $15.00 it cost me to buy it. Too tough? 7. Blackbird inspired me to clean up the ole blogroll yesterday. I fixed links and used that delete button quite liberally. It was enjoyable. 8. That little hockey picture next to my comment line? That's my son's hockey team from last year (in the black). I'm crazy for Mites Hockey. 9. I already have my Christmas Cards but I still won't have them mailed out before the third week in December. Which is especially foolish because I'm one of those annoying people who always puts a picture of my kids in the card so that I can share their supercuteness with the world. And I already have the picture picked out. My middle name is Procrastinator. 10. I steadfastly refuse to have any formal portrait pictures done of the kids. Especially at those Picture People places in the mall. Or any photo place for that matter, but especially with the goofy props. Plus why take a chance and get a fakey smile/eyes half closed/mad face when I can get those on my own. I find if I let them take a goofy picture or two they fully cooperate with a good smile later on. 11. Except for school pictures. And this year the son's? It's awful. And he won't do the retake. At least I bought the cheapest package possible. 12. I just bought these and I love them. But while trying to find a good link I found that I could personalize my own Sharpies. And now I know what I want for Christmas. Keeping in line with number two...Geek. 13. I went to the card making class last week, totally against my better judgement. And I liked it. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Mommak's Thirteen 2. Jen's Thirteen 3. Better Safe Than Sorry's Thirteen 4. Interstellar Lass' Thirteen 5. Jen's Thirteen 6. Sallwood's Thirteen 7. Jak's Thirteen

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Last week after an especially LOUD discussion about just how mean I actually am I had my son write five things he liked about me (and I wrote five about him, just to be you know, kind of fair). He got three done in a quick minute and then complained that there were only THREE good things about me as I was just so mean. Well, take a look at the third thing on the list. Yeah. Um, okay guiltmeister. The worst part? At this point he knew nothing of the whole move to turn Freddie over to the shelter/rescue league that we've been working toward. We'd mentioned it in passing right after the whole bite incident but have kept mum since then because I didn't think it was fair to tell the kids and leave it openended with no real resolution.

So that was an unsolicited statement of luuuuve. Super. And the Grand Prize Winner in the category of Mother Who Will Crush Her Son's Heart into Tiny Little Pieces is.....

Maybe I will just take him places and buy him stuff. He seems to like that too.

Here you go Melissa...five random things about me...

My parents kept the newspapers from the day I was born. I've done the same for my two kids.

When I was sixteen my mom dropped me and two friends off outside the Hartford Civic Center with some money, in hopes that we could score U2 tickets from a scalper. No supervision, pockets full of money, business dealings with less than reputable men...good judgement call mom.

I have a good sense of direction.

Since I've had my kids I cannot even ride the teacup ride at the fair without wanting to die and my former favorite: the roller coasters? won't go near them. I've become the mom who holds the stuff.

I cannot reach under my bed headfirst because I start to hyperventilate.

Hey, we're off to Maine for a day or two. I have no medicine cabinet so the show and tell was a no-go for me anyway. Well, I could've shown you my messy drawers in my sink/cabinet thing but oops, sorry ran out of time....

Thirteen on Thursday

Thirteen Things about Jenny 1. My son found his christmas gift, the big gift, in the back of my car. Completely on accident. Damn. 2. The stink bug from the previous post crawled away over the paperwork on my desk as I was finished typing and is now MIA. Damn. 3. Thursdays is the day I make a big breakfast for the kids and today I have no eggs with which to make french toast, pancakes or waffles. Damn. 4. My boss just told me I'd never work twenty hours a week and therefore be eligible for benefits at the job I have now. Damn. 5. My son was offered a spot on the winter dome soccer team and cannot accept because of hockey. Damn. 6. The son learned to play chess last night in like fifteen minutes and is now giving a lesson to his friend. Is it really that easy? Because I STILL don't know how to play. 7. We're heading up to Maine tomorrow for a few days. 8. My keyboard or blogger is very slow to show what I'm typing here and it's making me crazy. 9. I just got my 2005 calendar and can't wait to write all of our stuff in. 10. My parents live nearby and my mom cannot go to work because the entire downtown area of her city has been evacuated due to a potential dam break. Here's a pic of the 173 year old wooden dam. They're pumping water out and rerouting it but we're supposed to get four inches of rain on Sunday. So they might be right back where they started. 11. Ah, crap. I'm supposed to go to a card making class tonight and there is no place I want to be less than a card making class tonight. Good-bye non-refundable deposit. 12. As one of the many benefits of being five my daughter got her library card today. 13. I think I'd like to get this quilt, for no specific reason as I just got a new one last year but it's green and corduroy. And those are reasons enough for me. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1.Interstellar Lass 2. MommaK 3. Jakapk (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

You get by with a little help from your friends

I never even, for one moment, thought when I started this site that it would be anything more than a whim. And to be truthful I'm the queen (or at least a princess) of not lasting too long on the whole hobby thing.

But now?

I've seen your bathrooms, your cars, your kids and your doorknobs and in some cases, the view from your pillow int he morning. I've laughed so hard I've cried, I've been moved to tears and worried over you and yours, sharing your stories with my family.

This internet is an amazing thing. Thank you all so much. For birthday wishes, good thoughts and virtual hugs. For recipes, movie recommendations and survivor recaps. For words of wisdom and html help. You've all had such an unexpected impact on my days...and I don't even know what most of you look like. Which I find even more amazing. Invisible friends...who knew?

I really can't say it enough. Thanks.

And just so you know, I typed this entire post with a huge freakin' stink bug perched not two inches from the 'esc' key on the keyboard without running away. That, my friends, is dedication and shows you how much I really do care.

Enough with the weepy...Testing a New Blog Toy

Meet the Family.

During the daylight hours I am calm and somewhat rational. Why is it that in the dark of night my imagination runs away with me?

We must get rid of Fred the Beagle. Not only has he made a mockery of being housetrained but he bit me. Hard. Funny, because there's really not an ounce of aggressiveness in him unless you get him near food. He had broken into the trash can (after ripping apart the child safety lock) and was eating the contents when I returned home (from the busstop?). I gave him a push to get him away from the trash so that I could begin cleaning and instead of staying put he charged right back in. Another gentle push and he turned and bit my forearm, breaking the skin (as if that even matters...he isn't rabid or anything). He's been growling at me now when I try to pet him as he eats, something I was always able to do.

I am not worried about him biting me again. I would keep him anyway and work around it because it is only on a rare occasion and he's otherwise very docile. But it's the kids. And the visiting kids that I worry about. But I must MAKE myself worry about it because I will let it slide to the back of my mind so that I can take a sail down the river of denial. If I sound as if I would put my kids in harms way I don't really think I am. You have to know Fred to appreciate him and they respect the whole food issue and we are watchful.

But. The fact remains that he must go. And I know, that by making this call, he will most likely be put down. It is a very hard phone call to make. I spent a long time crying and petting him last night. Every time I closed my eyes to try to sleep I could only picture him in the shelter kennel shaking from the chilly cement and wondering where I was. *fuck* and now I am crying again.

My son, always kind of unsure of the large spazzy lab, loved Fred at first sight. Calm, no jumping or barking. And he'll follow you to the ends of the earth if you pet him and scratch his belly. He feeds and walks Fred mostly without complaint. He sits on the floor with him, absently scratching his ears as he watches TV or talks about school. Fred was the dog the boy needed. And now I must break not only my heart but my son's.

I know, it's for the best and all of that. I DO NOT want a child, visiting or living in my home to be bitten by him. And logic and rationale must win out over love this time. But this is a fucking shitty decision to have to make. And it has been made, the question is when. I keep procrastinating. The rescue leagues don't want him. He's too old, they say...too hard to adopt. Again, fuck. There is more crying to be done. And I must find the perfect time to lie to the kids about where he is to go. Off to a home, with a big yard to walk in and only grownups. (My kids know about the biting and that he must go, but it's been an abstract idea unti this week). Can I just pretend that's where he'll be going? Can I convince myself? Maybe. Until I shut my eyes.

I am recovering, slowly, from the party weekend.

Friday, the real birthday, was spent with two friends at Build a Bear. Meet Nellie.
A dog, not a bear. With many accessories. I figure, why save money for college when you can buy cleats and a backpack for a stuffed animal? But the fun...oh my. The choosing and the stuffing. Picking a heart and a name. And did I mention the accessories? And Nellie has a baby that she can carry around in her mouth. Which is practically a necessity, along with the matching hair bows.

I'd like to thank this opportunity to thank Nellie. Named after Laura Ingalls' nemesis she has been our constant companion since Friday. And now? My daughter does not require us to lay with her until she falls asleep. She's got Nellie. I'd been prepping her for a few weeks about the whole 'we will lay with you for a few minutes and then we'll be tucking you in and leaving the room' thing. She was NOT thrilled by the idea and I only mentioned it in passing after that. And along comes Nellie. I sense the opportunity and POUNCE. "You've got Nellie now" I whispered to her, "She's here to keep you company" (while mommy watches survivor and regains what's left of her sanity).

And she said, "Okay." and asked for her nightlight. She's not too happy about it but she's doing it. And while one part of me is happy that I'm not laying down for a half an hour with her part of me feels like I just lost a tiny bit of my littlest girl.

*sniff*

Okay then. Friday night was the family shin-dig. With dinner and cake and presents. Holy PollyPocket explosion. And Saturday was the party for a few little friends and a mistake I won't be making again...the older brothers of little friends. It was a little too chaotic for my taste, the boys were kind of spazzy and wanted to take over the whole thing. My house is tiny and with a rainstorm raging outside it was claustrophobic. The girlie had a good time with her buddies for the most part and fell into bed exhausted.


The boy scored a hat trick during his game on Sunday. For all of you non-hockey aficionados that is a whopping THREE goals. I was stunned. Who is this kid? The smallest one in his class, who weighs 50 pounds, fully dressed? Whose elbows and shoulder blades are what you see most when he's running away from me on the beach...

I'm not raising a natural born superstar but he's decent at the game and loves, loves, loves it. And parents are coming up to me asking me about him and congratulating us. The best part? My 'too cool for momhugs at the busstop kid' he ran out of the locker room and forgot himself. He jumped into my arms and hugged me tight laughing and whooping it up. That was the best part by far.

Things that annoy me...show and tell

This. The shortcut road to the cheapest and best stocked grocery store. It has been coldpatched to death and is this is how it looks when it's in good shape. In the spring? The holes will swallow one of those little Prius things right up. Why can't they just fix the whole road???? WHY???

And this. Damn Nextel. My neighbors have them, my friends have them. Listen people, I don't want to overhear even one side of a cell phone conversation and now I get to hear the other person too. And that annoying little 'tweep' it makes. ugh.

October 14

Today she is five.

She

prefers salad over cheeseburgers.

plays air guitar to Green Day.

can snap.

loves to play dolls.

will help you with almost anything you ask from stacking firewood to making banana bread.

is boy crazy.

can make herself burp.

thinks peanut butter is the magical hiccup cure.

gift wraps her toys to give away to her friends.

takes care of anyone who is sick with popsicles and backscratches.

has beautiful eyes.

can't pronounce animal or backwards. It's aminal and backwabs.

knows where almost everything is. Lose your keys? She knows where to look.

melts my heart.

Happy Birthday Girlie.

Thirteen on Thursday




Thirteen Things about Jenny WARNING: I AM SCREWING UP MY COMMENTS ON EVERYONE'S THIRTEEN WITH MY FEEBLE ATTEMPT AT LINKING THIS POST. SORRY. 1…. The construction paper I bought is all different. Only 5 colors, no blue or yellow(?!?!?!?) and only the red, black and orange are actual construction paper. The green and pink are like colored copy paper. How's a mom supposed to make feathers for indian headbands with that? 2. Survivor this evening. And work. I'm on the verge of graduating from VCR to DVR. Is it worth it? 3. I purchased some tickets for a Bruins game awhile back for our family and another family. The tickets are mailed in a plain white envelope. They came, I remember opening the envelope. And now? Missing. Damn ticketmaster and their plain white envelopes. 4. Am driving my son to school today because now, with typing these thirteen things, I'm running late. 5. My husband drove to Maine for the day yesterday, to pack up the gas grill and stuff and get some firewood. It was sunny and warm up there. And cold and rainy down here with no break in the forecast apparently. Lucky guy. 6. I have an old copy of The Prince and the Pauper, published in 1909. The binding needs repair. Badly. There must be places that do things like that I would think. The book has a stamp inside that says Mary Immaculate Lending Library, Sts. Peter and Paul Parish. My parents stole must've "borrowed" it from our church at one point. Nice, no wonder they refused to let me get confirmed. 7. This new card making hobby I'm attempting to start? Well, I still kind of suck but I signed up for a class and I'm in love with all of the products, the paper, pens, glues, etc... 8. My neighbor's are finally in their house and are no longer living behind us, hooked up to our water. Phew. I might have mentioned this before, but really...phew. 9. I know most of you would be sort of in agreement with my thinking the lady in yesterday's post was out of her mind. I reread it and it sounds rather holier-than-thou but I was mostly just stunned and typing it out sort of gets it off my mind. 10. I am taking the girlie to Build a Bear tomorrow for a no holds barred, spending way too much money on a stuffed animal adventure. We are very excited. 11. I broke down and bought each of my kids a lunchable this week for lunch. 12. Ususally there are family members who cannot make it over for the girlie's party (hey, for the first time I started to type her name instead of "the girlie") due to work schedules and what-have-you. This year, because it's supposed to pour? Everyone's coming. 13. My kids have had enough of mom typing and are now fighting. *Sigh* I'm done. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Jakapk 2. Better Safe Than Sorry 3. Mommak 4. Leanne 5. Sarcasmom 6. Maggie 7. Interstellar Lass 8. UziQ 9. Antisocial Butterfly


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Things that annoy me...the photoless edition

If you participate in the Friday Show and Tell that's the theme this week. Things that annoy. If you don't...well, you should.

In the quest for a very cheap suction cup bow and arrow set for the upcoming Indian Birthday Party I found myself at the local mall. I'm not a big fan of the mall in general, especially this one but I was told I could find exactly what I needed at the dollar store there. A dollar for two bows and eight suction cup darts....perfect.

Well, any trip to the mall with the girlie usually starts or finishes with Camp Bucky a climby thing in the middle of the food court for wee-ones. So she's climbing and sliding. I'm looking around. A little girl walks into the area and sort of wanders out...stopping to look around when she does. She is about 3-4 years old with no parent in sight. She hangs out outside of the entrance for a few, waiting for her mom and then walks away. Looping in and out of tables. She turns towards the bathroom, walks a ways and then turns back. She stops to look at the lower level and then walks away. At this point I'm alternately watching her and looking around for the sure-to-be panicking mom. No dice on the mom and now the girl is almost out of eyesight. I tell the cleaning lady that that girl has been looking for her mom, because it's too far for me to run with my own girlie and could she please go get her. Not the best solution but I kept my eye on both of them.

The cleaning lady sets off. And comes back girl in tow. Still no mom. It's been a minimum of five, maybe seven or eight minutes. Well, the lady brings the girl over to the ride-on things next to the climby area and is hanging out there. Here comes mom. Burger King bags in hand and a nice vacant 'hmmm, if she's not here I wonder where she could've gone to look' in her eyes. She puts her food down, parks her empty stroller and wanders over thru the climby area, around some chairs and then finally to where her girl is.

I stew for awhile while my own girl plays. I'm not ususally confrontational. I hate it. But I would've exploded had I let it go. So I walk up, and tell her how lucky she is that it was I that was watching her daughter and not some skeevy pedophile. She explains she "was just..."
I cut her off with a "I know...you were at BURGER KING, but you had NO idea where your daughter was...I watched you look for her. She was gone and returned before you even knew."
She is not at all apologetic, instead she looks at me like, well, what do you expect I was in line - not rude just with out any idea that what she did was asinine... She says..."I know, but I was..." I said, "you don't deserve her. Next time hold her hand."

And I left. I know, kids escape. They run, they hide, you look away and they are gone. It happens. But generally, you panic. You call their name and hug them tight when you get your hands on them. You don't wait in line for your french fries hoping they'll still be there when you're done.

I am just home from work where I consumed an entire 20 ounce diet Mountain Dew. At 10:30 p.m. I am jittery. And SO not tired.

But the husband is and so blogging is done for tonight.

Did I get anything accomplished this weekend? No, no and no. Dammit, how did three days escape from my clutches? I got a few things almost done but have managed to lazy my way through this entire weekend. Read some Vanity Fair, played gameboy with the son and my little pony with the daughter, put up some fall decorations - but not all of them because, eh, didn't feel like it, didn't even START the daughter's birthday party stuff even though I 'm working two nights this week and meh, what's a little pressure?, fell asleep really early and didn't do any of the work I planned on finishing up.

I'm thinking of switching up the girlie's pre-school because this year it's basically morphed into a daycare with lots of love but little to no pre-school structure. School wise, the girlie is set...she can write all the letters and can spell our names and knows her colors, shapes, address, birthday, etc...all that stuff. I'm wondering if the lack of Pre-K will hurt her at all next year. She's pretty bored at this place and switching her out will require MAJOR rescheduling next year when she's in Kindergarten.

we have a half day K, which will either be morning or afternoon - no way to tell as I live on the 1/2 way point in town and my street isn't decided until the bus company finalizes their route in August. And then if I do get, say, mornings? It switches to Afternoons in January. Why? Well, because apparently they THINK that everyone wants mornings and it's not fair for some people to get mornings all year...so to fuck with all of us who have to work they switch it up. Thanks, because that just makes everyone's life easier. NOTE to all parents who think things should go their way ALL OF THE TIME: Suck it the hell up. You get afternoons? Deal with it. All year even.

The preschool dilemma remains. Switch her out and pay more money for undoubtedly a better program but one that will NOT meet any of my needs next year and may require her to return to her original place or leave her where she is and hope for the best.

Am I being an overacheiving freak? Is preschool THAT important? As I type this I'm thinking not, but when I rifle through her stuff and notice that once again she hasn't done anything at school today I feel kind of negligent.

Okay, so this post has turned into a ranty type thing, and I should so be working. And now it's late.

Wow, you guys...there was so much love for my kitchen items. I would gladly cook each and every one of you a big 'ole banana bread. If you were here. And you're not. Plus I'm out of bananas.

Update: My mistake, the orange bowl is NOT Tupperware. It's Rubbermaid. It's was around before I met my husband which makes it a minimum of 15 years old. There are newer models out there, see thru versions of the same thing, made by OXO I think, but I'll be sticking with rusty orange.

It's only supposed to be grey and rainy for the next six days. Fun.

My daughter picked out her Halloween costume. She's going for the standard black garbed Grim Leaper. A sad frog? No. She just thought it was Leaper and not Reaper and I refuse to correct her. Somethings are too cute to be messed with.

I would most certainly die without these.

The great honor of Show and Tell Chooser was bestowed upon me this week. Actually, last week but someone, and she knows who she is, was just a teensy impatient. Or A LOT impatient but that is neither here nor there. And really, I've been a blogging slacker lately, asleep behind the blog...so to say, and I wouldn't wait around for me either.

And now...

Kitchen Item(s) I cannot live without. And yes, I'm posting two.

First is my cast iron skillet. It's about ten years old and almost seasoned to perfection. It cooks everything from quesadillas to bacon to the best pork roast in the world. Wait, in the world? I meant in the UNIVERSE.


Pro: Doubles as handy weapon.

Con: Stored in the oven, have preheated oven 3 million times with pan still inside.





This beauty? It was a staple in my mother in law's kitchen for many years. I coveted this rust orange tupperware bowl. Heavy duty, handle AND pouring spout...many years before they were standard features on lesser brands. It was her gift to me at my bridal shower. I treasure it.








What we made today using my lovely orange bowl. Banana bread anyone?

What's going on...

So. It is apparently still summer. But the pond is fuh-reez-ing. So not really.

Barbie Jeep Bonus: Your lawn will get all matted down and mowing can be postponed.

There has been mention, by my husband, of heading south for the big rebuild. There is alot of money to be made by working long hours far away from home. I'm not sure if this comes because of the recent troubles at his company or because he sees it as a genuine financial opportunity. I'm thinking ther will be much discussion on this. As far as the recent troubles at his company go...there is very little information disseminating down from the top. My husband plans (or planned, I'm not sure quite what he's thinking) on working there unless it is no longer an option so I guess it's okay for now. Federal trials take some time to get going don't they? I get nauseous if I think about it for too long.

The son as goalie? A star. I'm not sure what came over him but he was saving shots like a pro. It was amazing. My heart was racing every time the puck even went near him and he just blew me away.

I think I'm taking those videos off because I'm sick of the songs (and have been since, like, two days after I put them up) and I keep my speakers off now. But Tessie, how can I get rid of Tessie NOW? The Sox are in the Playoffs so just bear with me awhile longer, 'kay? I checked and they didn't even have Sweet Caroline...heretics.

Update: I changed the songs. But Tessie remains. Sing along...you know you want to...

"Tessie"

Tessie is the Royal Rooters rally cry
Tessie is the tune they always sung
Tessie echoed April through October nights
After serenading Stahl, Dinneen and Young
Tessie is a maiden with a sparkling eye
Tessie is a maiden with a love
She doesn't know the meaning of her sight
She's got a comment full of love
And sometimes when the game is on the line
Tessie always carried them away
Up the road from "Third Base" to Huntington
The boys will always sing and sway

Two! Three! Four!

Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only only only

The Rooters showed up at the grounds one day
They found their seats had all been sold
McGreevey led the charge into the park
Stormed the gates and put the game on hold
The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright
Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from "Third Base" to Huntington
They'd sing another victory song

Two! Three! Four!

Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only only only

The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright
Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from "Third Base" to Huntington
They'd sing another victory song

Two! Three! Four!

Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted
We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only only only
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Boston, you are the only only only
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Red Sox, you are the only only only