Drop In On...

Kick up your heels. Pass the jug.

Big City

Head Out On The Highway

Good friends up and moved out of town. Way out of town. After years of talking about it they finally did it. From Georgia to Wisconsin in one fell swoop. We all headed over the last night they were in their apartment and those of us who didn't help move furniture, told funny stories, drank beer, ate granola rice cripsy treats and laughed laughed laughed. They will be sorely missed and I hope they ease the pain of their absence by sending us lots of cheese.


And now to set up one of the best stories of the night - A guy is hanging out with friends, drinking and becomes convinced pouring gasoline out of a cup into the top of a chiminea is a good idea:

This Man's Words

You may not care for his voice or his delivery but his words are amazing.

When In Rome

 

I took this photo last week at the REGRANDOPENING!!! of a local grocery store. I'm not into samples of prunes and sausage. I did not go for those things. I needed meat and produce. And this is the place to get it. I DO hate to shop for anything but junk. I'd hoped the photo would make it all so much more worthwhile but it didn't. I DID get my meat and produce which should be reward enough.

I returned to the same store today for milk and bread. And lo and behold the cow was still there but this time, (Boy, do I wish I'd had a camera this time!) there were two small children sitting on the trailer beneath the cow. And what were they doing? Suckling her cow teats, Romulus and Remus style, for all they were worth. 

Bless their bones.

Such Is Life

I wish I could say the complexities of LIFE let up a little after last week.

I made better plans for better days.

And now, Sam will do a reenactment of our week:

(Disclaimer: This boy is completely pulled together
90% of the time. He's allowed a fit here and there.
And this fit was precipitated by his sister throwing a
ball into a cardboard box. He wanted to do it but she did
it before he could. He crawled all the way down the drive
to his Grandma's, crying. He was wearing brand new jeans.
He could not be redirected or consoled so I did the only thing
I could. I filmed him. And snickered a little. When he arrived at
Mom's she had his favorite dinner waiting on him.
All was not lost....)

Splendor & Glory

Spread The Love

He outdid himself this year. 

He received a lovely (diet) Chicken Marsala for his troubles.

The Wheels To Ride And The Wheels To Run

Road trip on April Fool's Day to see these guys.

Usually much faster, you can ride this one right into the sunset.
Ahem. And the tempo change is fun.
I love the brothers a little.

Yay! Let's GOOOOOOOooooooo!

The Kind Of Day You Can't Wash Off

What a week.

A nasty viral something causing large amounts of sneezing, coughing and snottiness came upon me and my children. The stomach bug is still making the rounds at school. One morning a little guy produced such foul things, it pushed my buttons and I spent a few seconds retching. I'm a nurse. I don't retch. But I did. The unrelenting mucous forced me to take my Zyrtec-D. Joe begged me not to do it. But I did. By the end of that day I'd picked a fight with a co-worker who happens to be the most unstable person I know anymore. And if you can believe it, we tied up over the sale of candygrams to benefit Relay For Life. And then the candy showed up a day late and I had to tell over 300 elementary school children they had to wait to profess their undying love for their BFF until Monday!

I've had trouble staying awake in the evenings because of the antihistamines and wine. The house isn't looking so great. My office isn't either. I've been so irritable. Joe confirmed that by saying, "Why don't you go to bed? You're very irritable and I can't handle you, the kids and your irritability all at once." The man speaks the truth. And I've been loopy. I spent way too much time on Thursday figuring out the laptop and brand new speakers weren't broken. I tried desperately to turn the volume up and just couldn't! I could barely hear my itunes! Then I realized the music wasn't coming from my computer at all. It was the radio beside the bed playing. Opening a can of beans was virtually impossible. I berated the old broken down opener. Then I noticed the can was the pull tab variety. Which sort of brings us back full circle to the irritability. 

It snowed Wednesday night. It was picturesque. It was breathtaking. I felt renewed for a couple of hours then around 2 am, Sam was crouching naked in the corner of the kitchen and laughing maniacally. I put him back to bed. More stripping, more laughing, more Tom & Jerry theme music and finally naked and wrapped burrito fashion in a pink fleece blanket and lying in the hallway. I was up all night. He was terrible the next day at school. Which might explain my loopiness on Thurday. No more Benadryl for him will be more Benadryl for me.

Friday sucked the hairiest balls of all. Friday was something nasty in the woodshed. Friday will stick with me forever. I can't talk about it due to legalities so I will just ask you to love your children extra-special hard. Love hard and you won't ever have to hit hard. 

Now I am ready to share some good news. 

Something fun. Something bright. 

Let's see what I can find....

Good Morning, Wild Women

I trust you gals are taking care of business 

and if you aren't, I suggest you shake it around a little.

Francine doesn't lie and a woman who EVER rocked

that headband ( is it hooked to the earrings?)
and that dress would not steer you wrong.

Ripped From The Headlines

Look at her.

No, not her!

The other girl.

Who is that? I really do wonder.

Who knows? And also? 

What is that expression? 

What is she saying with that look? 

What is she thinking? 

I think she's pretty. 

I think she has a bold spirit.

I like her.

OMG

Laser Skeet Social 2010: The Night Of The Living Loko

Can't believe it's taken this long to get the pictures of the day before Thanksgiving up!

Good times. Good times.

 

And don't worry about this man down. 

By his own admission he was was not sick, only "cooling his tum-tum."



I should add this evening included experiments regarding Laser Skeet, bowls and bowls of nondescript food (SO nondescript I can't even remember what I served), a plaid clothing theme (I was unaware but the ghost of Annie Oakley allegedly appeared to a number of guests the night before...), charades and deconstructed poses. It was a whole heck of a lot of fun.

Signs Signs Everywhere There's Signs

It's been a rough week but luckily it's over. 

Coming Up Roses

I fed the kids a bunch of junk on Friday night before I shipped them off to Grandma's. Zoe still had powdered sugar all over her face when I said goodbye. Kiss my sweet lips, she said. I couldn't help myself; I did it. When the girl gives me The Love, I run with it.

Grandma called at 8 am on Saturday to report Zoe vomited just before breakfast. She laid around until noon and then reported home for the promised picnic lunch in the park. Zoe blamed me for all of it. She announced to everyone who would listen, "Sweets should never be given to a child for dinner because it will make them sick and people can't live like that!" For your information, there is a vicious stomach virus enveloping the county and I sent a classmate home with the same symptoms on Friday. I did not want to go to the park but they insisted. I figured a little fresh air wouldn't hurt them. So we headed over around 2pm. They did not have any interest in eating the picnic foods nor did they care to play. They lounged on the quilt. Then they asked to go to the restroom. In my infinite wisdom, I'd chosen the one park in town without facilities. I just hope the Dairy Queen doesn't hold a grudge against us now...

Everyone seemed to be well on the road to recovery Sunday night but around 11 pm my stomach was in the lurch. I crept off to bed and curled up on my side. Joe stood by the bed and teased me a little as he undressed. He mentioned he sure was glad we could get that hot lovin' out of the way the night before. I told him not to touch me and not to shake the bed lest God get him and Walter for it. He complied but within the hour, I was lying by the toilet praying death would take me quickly. Joe joined me in the trenches around 2 am. Boy, that was something. It helped me put our ability to survive in the face of physical suffering to the test. I'm not fooling myself and I won't lie to you. It was man overboard and every man for himself. It was you can't help someone if you can't help yourself. 

We will never be able to defend ourselves during the zombie apocalypse. We weren't even able to go to work on Monday!