Lifting Pics Off FaceBook

It's interesting what you can find on FaceBook when you are 'friends' with your children.

Austen got a tattoo on Monday and I have yet to see it...he didn't mention the new black hair. And where the hell did all these muscles come from?

I wish he had waited a few years on the tattoo...I told him I hope he liked what he got because it's there forever now! But seriously, where did my little Austen go? Who is this man staring at me in the picture?

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Can you tell what's wrong with this picture?
Take a closer look...

Texas summers are too damn hot! Get me outta here!

Grammie's Home For Wayward Pugs

We visited Grammie a few weeks ago & got to meet Maddie, the newest addition to the pack.

How could you not love this goofy girl?

That tongue is not mid-lick either. Most of the time it's out like that :) Silly pug...

What's The Deal With Trader Joe's?

I've always wondered why so many people rave about Trader Joe's...we don't have them here & I always thought I was missing something good.

Apparently, I am...



I want a Trader Joe's!

Win A T-Shirt Quilt!!

We all have t-shirts that hold memories, right? Kid's jerseys...vacation souvenirs...you name it.

So what do you do with all of them after they're no longer wardrobe-worthy?


Hope over to BurbMom.Net and enter their contest! The winner will receive a quilt, made from tshirts, to keep forever. But that's not all...check out the examples on the Texas T-Shirt Quilts website. Number 6 is my favorite...check it out!!

Things On My Kitchen Counter..

Feeling really random today...which is what my kitchen counter looks like. What's there?

*A bag of chocolate donuts, half eaten (mmmmm!)

*My camera that needs to be uploaded to my computer, but the cord isn't unpacked from vacation yet

*Jessie's glasses

*Geometry In A Box game that I pulled out for Reese but haven't done anything with yet

*A rock

*The 3rd book in the Twilight Series, half read...waiting for time to read more

*McDonald's Diet Coke

*The manuals for all appliances in our home. The fireplace pilot was out & wouldn't light, so Hubbs fixed the problem for us after I found the manual. Thanks Lovey!!!

*4 bars of Ivory soap, for making laundry detergent tomorrow

*A broken Star Wars ship of some sort. Need to put the cockpit cover back on for Reese

*A wine glass filled with hyacinths...thanks Jessie!!

*A toy shotgun (we live in Texas, so that's not too random, right?)

*Three bags of Halloween-themed foam pieces, destined for Freecycle

*Jug of bleach

*Cherry pie I baked this morning

*Electric skillet from pancakes this morning

*Lid to the trashcan...got distracted while planning to empty the trash. Must empty trash. Must put lid back where it goes!

*Bin of stickers

*Giant Hershey's kiss, a Valentine treat from Jessie

*Red, glittery heart cutouts from Valentine's Day (see, I'm so bad about putting things away!)

*A bag of magazines that are free at the FM Library

*A big hat box that had a bunch of fun Valentine gifts in it from my friend T. Again--bad about putting things away! I did empty the box, but it still needs to be put away!

*Han Solo

*A Sharpie. Can't live without my Sharpie! I even have one in my car :)

*Folder full of insurance claim stuff. Some to file, some to follow up on. Some have been paid. You mean it doesn't belong on the kitchen counter?


*sigh*. What a mess. Must get busy cleaning things up & putting things away. I'm the worst about just setting something down & leaving it there for a week! I hope you're less cluttered than I am!

Things You Don't Say To Your Wife

Ice Cream Hooters

My Mom is lucky I document her visits...so she can have shots like this to show her friends...
Thanks, Cracker Barrel, for the awesome dessert!!!

Seeing The World Through Different Eyes...

I Stumbled upon this website that has tons of pictures of Earth. The above picture represents the life expectancy on different parts of the planet. Isn't that a neat way to look at it? Check out World Processor to see lots more unique ways to look at statistics!

That's One Scary B*tch!

We all have those childhood memories...that one teacher who sent chills down your spine.

For me, it was a wonderful woman who taught Computer Lit in middle school.

You see, if you were a 6th grader at CTMS, you were at the bottom of the food chain. As if it wasn't bad enough having bad hair...

bad clothes....

bad skin....

and trying to find your way around this ginormous new school, we had to deal with her. This teacher brought fear into the lives of 6th graders school-wide. You didn't dare cross her path, because she would spit fire and eat you alive.

OK, maybe not eat you alive.

But she sure as hell delighted in rubbing your face in the dirt. See, she taught 8th grade Computer Lit, and in our school, 8th graders were the shizz-nit.

It was rumored that She would drag you into her classroom full of 8th graders and yell at you in front of all of them. Yay for quality teachers!

Surely, this had to be a rumor. I had straight As. I was a cheerleader. I was perfect in every way. (maybe a *tad* bit of exaggeration here)...

The purpose of my life at 11 was to please everyone on Earth around me!

So imagine my surprise when I was walking to class & was jerked backwards by my arm. Apparently, I was going in the out door, and for that I deserved a Royal Thrashing.

She pulled me down the hall by the arm, into her classroom full of 8th graders, and poked fun at me. For going out a wrong door. I remember feeling SO small, so humiliated.

She had to have been a truly horrible, miserable woman to feel the need to treat children that way. Or maybe her underwear were shoved up her ass. You decide.

**As a side note...can you tell what generation I'm from? The Christmas door was decorated with Reagan, Gorbachev, & Santa. Yeahhhh...**

People Do Stupid Things

Oh, how I LOVE the video montages of people doing things they KNOW are stupid!! This video is full of people doing less-than-intelligent things, along with some really funny accidents :) Humor me...I'm easily amused!

MiceCube: A Review!

A few weeks ago, I found some mouse droppings in both garages & was less than thrilled to know that we had been visited by a rodent. However, I can deal with a mouse or two outside. We back up to a big field and are surrounded by fields and a golf course...plenty of places for little critters to live!

However, when I found droppings in Jeff's office and in the laundry room behind the dryer, that was enough! Mice are not welcome in the house!

I set out to WalMart to find something to trap our guests. I didn't like my options much.

*Poison: I didn't like the idea of a mouse eating the poison and having to walk around the house before it died. What would it touch with it's poison-laden feet & poop?

*Sticky trap: Completely inhumane. Even though I don't want the mouse in the house, I also don't want to give it a death where it must starve over a period of days.

*Traditional snap-trap: I couldn't bear to find a squished mousey. And Reese is very curious...I was worried he would just need to touch it. Even though he's a big 5 year old now, the bones in his fingers are still very tiny!

Then I stumbled upon the MiceCube. This is more along the lines of what I was looking for...a live mouse trap. Something to catch them & then I can take them to a field far away and let them go.

The MiceCube is about the size of a stick of butter, and is made of gray plastic. There is a little trap door at one end, and when the mouse enters, gravity closes the door and traps the mouse. To release the mouse, you simply turn the trap upside down, the door opens and the mouse can be set free.

We set the trap according the the instructions: Put peanut butter on a little part of a cracker and place at the back of the trap. Put a little peanut butter on the outside of the trap door to leave a scent trail. I placed the traps in the places I had seen mouse droppings.

Sure enough, it only took 2 nights to trap this:

He was the tiniest little thing and had a big cracker snack before I took him far away from our house and let him go in a field!

To clean, I filled the trap with hot water & dish soap and let it soak.

We're waiting to see if any more mice come to dine. The first night the traps were set, the mouse (mice?) had licked all the peanut butter off the trap doors but didn't enter the trap. The second night, we caught 1 mouse. Nobody has licked the peanut butter off the trap doors in 3 nights now, so perhaps he was the lone mouse in the house?

I would highly recommend using the MiceCube if you've got a rodent in the house & you'd like to consider an alternative to killing it. The MiceCube worked exactly as it was supposed to!

It probably seems odd that I'm writing this review, but I was so excited at the success of our MiceCube that I just had to share!

Reaching Into My Circle Of Friends For Advice...

Reaching into my circle of friends for advice is likely to get me injured or perhaps contract rabies.

Take, for example, my friend Holly. A sweet little birdy was trapped in her house. Instead of opening the door and letting it fly out, Holly first grabs the camera, which also means she grabbed an accomplice and then proceeded to make an instructional video on how to catch a bird in the house!

The final result was a success, but you'll want to watch the video for finer aspects of achieving such great feats. And then watch it again 'cause the music is funny. Silly Holly, thanks for the laughs!

Me Loves A Bargain!

Oh how I love a good bargain!

I ran to Hobby Lobby on Saturday for some Christmas gift supplies, & their entire stock of Fall decorations was 90% off!

I found this adorable little signs, and with the 90% discount,

I paid....

$1!!

I soooo love a good bargain!

Doin' The Happy Dance!!

Ohhhh....I'm so excited today! When I got home from WallyWorld, Jeff had brought in the mail and my Favorites Thing box arrived today! I was partnered up with Shar and she and I must share some of the same taste, 'cause I love everything she sent...

I've snapped pics & will do a big post about what was in the box. My favorite thing off the bat? LOVE the foot pummice thingy! I battle rough feet constantly. What am I most excited about? She sent two delicious smelling hair products that I can't wait to try!

Thanks to Shar for sending such fun gifts, and thanks to Dandelion Wishes for organizing such a fun little swap. I can't wait to post my pictures :)

Would You Rather: Day 2!!

The Tattooed Minivan Mom put up her second installment of "Would You Rather", so here are my answers below. Want to see my answers for #1-#16? Click here!

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17. Would you rather walk across hot coals or drive a nail through your foot?
I would rather drive a nail through my foot. With one swift WHACK of a hammer, it would be done, like piercing your ear. But hot coals? First, it would take a long time to walk across, and then you'd have to deal with the burned feet. Do, definitely the nail through the foot. And I'm up to date on my tetanus shots, so I won't have to get one!!

18. Would you rather have city street water splash on your bare feet or lick a shovel from a horse barn?
City street water on my feet please. Licking a shovel from the horse barn is GROSS and it's your MOUTH. The water on your FEET is just a no-brainer for me.

19. Family blog...go see Tattooed Minivan Mom if you want to see this question!


20. Would you rather have to go pee ALL the time, or have to go pee really bad but never be able to go?
Pee all the time. 'Cause my kidneys hurt when I have to pee bad and can't go. And you can always pee behind a bush if you couldn't find a toilet!

21. Would you rather drown in Coke or Pepsi?

Can it be diet? 'Cause then I'd choose Diet Pepsi. But both would burn your nose when you sucked in that last breath...but you're pretty much dead then anyway so a burned nose is probably the least of your worries.

22. Would you rather eat a bar of soap or drink a bottle of dish washing liquid?

Drink the soap. The bar of soap would get stuck in your teeth, right?

23. Would you rather be stranded on an island alone or with someone you hate?

Someone you hate. 'Cause you'd have someone to eat once you killed them. Wait...did I say that out loud?

24. Would you rather papercut your eyeball or step on a nail?
Step on a nail. Again, tetanus shot covered already. You could go days without walking if you had to, but not to see? I assume if you papercut your eyeball you'd have trouble seeing...

25. Go see Tattooed Mini Van Mom for this question :)

26. Would you rather lick a frog or drink rusty water?

Lick a frog. Can't be that bad. Rusty water would hang around your guts for long enough to do damage I would think...

27. As a blogger, would you rather be famous like Dooce and too busy to really connect with bloggers, or not so famous and have connections? (Good one CW!)

I guess not famous?

28. Would you rather live without water or electricity?

Electricity. I could get into making my own candles and lighting fires for heat. Cooking over the fire would lose it's novelty I'm sure, but to live without water would be a PAIN in the arse...

29. Would you rather shave your head with a cheese grater or be audited?
If you're honest (or creative, says Jeff) then an audit would be a cake walk. So I say audit.

30. Would you rather drink a gallon of dirty hot dog water OR a shot glass of foot sweat?
Definitely dirty hot dog water. Just really salty probably. Foot sweat...UH gross!

31. Would you rather loose your 4 front teeth after bouncing your head off a cement curb OR get a paper cut on your eye?
What's up with people wanting to papercut my eyeball? This time, I would choose the eyeball paper cut. I have a real problem with loose teeth, missing teeth, bumping my teeth, that sort of thing.

32. Would you rather have explosive diarrhea OR uncontrolled vomiting?
I think vomiting is more socially acceptable than pooping everywhere, so I'd go with that.

33. Would you rather have a Permanent Yeast Infection or Permanent Hemorrhoids?

Since I've never had either one I have no idea what they feel like. I can't answer...I really have no idea!

34. Would you rather be able to read your husband's mind? Or have him be able to read yours? (Good one!)

I'll be selfish and say I'd want to read his mind.

35. Would you rather suffer from incurable baldness, everywhere, or wolfman's disease, everywhere?

Baldness. You could choose some kick-*ss hats to wear, but it would be hard to hide the hairy man problem. And never have to shave again? That would be GREAT!
36. Would you rather share your house with a skunk or a porcupine?

Porcupine for sure! Skunk stink gets EVERYWHERE!
37. Would you rather eat opossum roadkill (that's been jacked up) or bambi.

Sorry, but I say Bambi. Roadkill can have all sorts of diseases & bugs. You didn't say I have to SHOOT Bambi myself...so I could eat Bambi if I didn't see her alive first.

Would You Rather?

The Tattooed Minivan Mom asked everyone to submit their questions for her "Would You Rather?" segment. She got so many fun questions that she's got TWO day's worth of questions! Today, here's my answers to the first part...what fun!!

1. Would you rather eat a cockroach or a bull nut?

I would rather eat a bull nut. I don't do bugs....I don't do bullnuts per se, but I'd imagine they'd taste more like my normal fare than a roach.

**EDITED: Ok, I don't EVER eat any form of nut, so when I say "normal fare", I'm speaking of being a carnivore and not eating scrotum!**

2. Would you rather not shower for a month or not brush your teeth for a month? (Remind me not to hug you should we ever meet in person someday.)

I would definitely choose not brushing my teeth. I can't stand not taking a shower for more than a day. I could always rub my teeth with a washcloth & eat some gum.

3...Not sharing #3 on a family blog...go see Tattooed Minivan Mom's site if you want to know the question to #3!!

4. Would you rather find true love or 1 million dollars?

I have both...but only one will last forever.

5. Would you rather always have to say everything on your mind or never speak again?

I'd rather not speak again. 'Cause I could write to communicate, or learn sign language. But I'm afraid I'd scare people away if they knew my mental commentary all the time!

6. Would you rather know it all or have it all?

I'd rather know it all. Although, if you knew it ALL, that would be a big responsibility...so I'd want the strength to know it all.

7.Same for #7...family blog...go find the question yourself if you're curious!

8. Would you rather skip Christmas for a year or skip your birthday for a year?

I'd skip my birthday. Christmas is a big family celebration, and I wouldn't want to take that away from anyone!!

9. Would you rather be followed by a cloud of dust or a cloud of gnats?

Probably a cloud of dust. But where could you go surrounded by either one?

10. Would you rather eat a toenail omelet or a hair sandwich?

Toenail omelet. I guess. Gross.

11. Would you rather lick the discharge from a cats eye or lick the dried spit from the corner of a teachers mouth?

I can't even answer that question....isn't there a "none of the above" choice? I guess if I had to choose, it would be the spit because cat-eye-discharge? Vomoot.

12. Would you rather have dinner with the Obamas or go on a date with George Clooney?

Uh, dinner with Obama...so I could tell him what I think of his policies. Politely, of course. :)

13. Would you rather be paralyzed or blind?

I would choose blind.

14. Would you rather blog or sleep?
SLEEP! I never can get enough of that!

15. Would you rather take a cheese grater to your sunburned back, or pour alcohol in a new hole in your toe:)

Pour alcohol on a new hole in my toe. Assuming the hole was already there by some other mistake & I wasn't making a hole for the purpose of pouring alcohol into. You can sleep without putting pressure on your toe. I can't sleep without lying on my back for part of the night...get your minds out of the gutter....

16. Would you rather use the woods or a port-o-potty?

Definitely the woods! Port-A-Potties are sooooo nasty and stinky and in the woods, you don't have to see anyone else's left over business!!

Ah, Hidden Talents

Thanks to the genius at Navel Gazing who posted this video, I am able to share it with you! I'm in awe of his silly talent! For all those Star Wars fans...this is for you...

Vacation Reading

I tend to over plan my vacation reading, but I'd rather have too many choices instead of not enough! The way I figure it, we'll be in the room for a good 3 hours each afternoon while Reese naps. He tends to take BIG naps on vacation, so that's 21 hours of time to read. Plus the plane ride there & back...another 5 hours total. So I figure three books should cover it!


I'm bringing:





*The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard. This was on our library's "Oprah's Book Club" list. Not that I care about Oprah's book club, but I was looking for a good emotional story and this seemed to fit the bill. The Amazon.com synopsis reads:





The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old Ben Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a journalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been there.





Perhaps reading a book about an unsolved missing child case (fictional), while on vacation with a child seems stressful. I hope it's a great book! Apparently, it was made into a movie, which I never saw, so the book won't be spoiled for me.

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*Her Last Death: A Memoir by Susanna Sonnenberg. I love the search feature on the online catalog of our local library. By searching for "Memoir", I have found so many great stories...one of my new favorite genres! Amazon.com's synopsis:

Susanna's mother gave her a copy of Penthouse when she was a ten-year-old, cocaine when she was 12, and seduced her boyfriend at 14. Sonnenberg recounts "the true calamity of being daughter to this mother." The glory of this memoir is that the author survived her traumatic childhood and somehow navigated her way to a deftly written book capturing her dismantled youth. The daughter of a glamorous, falling-down addict of a mother and a gifted, self-absorbed father, Sonnenberg never falls into the trap of attempting to analyze two people never meant to be parents. Instead, we are allowed to feel the strange and powerful familial currencies running between mother and daughter through the keenly observed writing of Sonnenberg. The writing is razor-sharp and raw, a significant feat considering the untethered early years of this immensely talented writer.

The beginning description reminds me of Drew Barrymore's story. I'm drawn to people's life stories....

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*Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. Another book I found in the "memoir" search word in the online library catalog. I've wanted to read this for years, & when it popped up in the search results, I was excited to grab it! From Amazon.com:

"Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood," writes Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes. "Worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." Welcome, then, to the pinnacle of the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to recent Irish immigrants Malachy and Angela McCourt, Frank grew up in Limerick after his parents returned to Ireland because of poor prospects in America. It turns out that prospects weren't so great back in the old country either--not with Malachy for a father. A chronically unemployed and nearly unemployable alcoholic, he appears to be the model on which many of our more insulting cliches about drunken Irish manhood are based. Mix in abject poverty and frequent death and illness and you have all the makings of a truly difficult early life. Fortunately, in McCourt's able hands it also has all the makings for a compelling memoir.

This is another one that has been made into a movie, but I have not seen it! I've thumbed through all three books & they all look so good. Where to begin, where to begin.

The library also had the National Treasure DVD checked in, so we rented that for movie night on Thursday. National Treasure 2 will be shown on the cruise, and we've not seen the first OR second movie...so we'll catch up on the first movie to prepare for the on-board viewing of the second.

Can I just say I LOVE the library? There are two local libraries that we have cards for, and there are so many DVDs to check out. Which obviously costs nothing. For vacation, Reese picked out The Incredibles, Muppets Treasure Island, & Honey I Shrunk The Kids. Chicken Little was on his request list, but it's still checked out. It's so much cheaper (obviously!) than renting them from somewhere, & you get to keep them for TWO weeks! Love me some free library videos!

Stupid Bird

Reese, Jessie, & I were sitting on the couch Saturday afternoon & as I looked at the cabana out back, I saw this land on the roof:

An egret or heron I believe....how pretty!

Hey, you! Don't do that!
Do what you ask?
Hey...it's still dribbling down the roof. Gross.
Stupid bird.