A New Sweatshirt

The other day at the mall they were having a big sale.

So I sent Middle Child over to look at the Young Men clothes

and he found a sweatshirt right away that he Just Had to Have.

And then he showed me what it does when it's all zipped up and I couldn't say No.

Now you know who to turn in if someone looking like this

knocks off a gas station or bank or pizza place.

Who Tied that Tie?

Middle Child had a Choir Concert he needed to attend in dress up clothes for full credit. Of course Olaf wasn't home from work yet, so guess who got to Tie the Tie? Yours Truly. I searched the internet, I had done this one other time for Calvin and knew there was some easy cheat sheet somewhere in Google. But it wasn't as easy to find this time. I typed in "How to tie a tie" and got a million answers and several ways to Tie a Tie. I had no idea there were so many different Tie Knots. After many tries and lots of cursing I finally found the easiest knot and got it tied.

Look at how nice and straight it is. He looks so handsome.

I know it's nowhere perfect but it's good enough for full credit for class. I dropped him off at school, he had to be there 1 1/2 hours earlier than we did. I did come back almost a half hour early and still had to sit near the back. But that's ok, until it started I had short people in front of me. And then at the last minute an abnormally tall kid came and sat right in front of me! I had to keep peeking around him.

And then when Middle Child walked out to the stage I saw what had happened to his Tie in that 1 1/2 hours. He had played with it. Anyone that knows Middle Child knows that he can't keep his fingers still. They must always be playing with something, which wreaks havoc on his Ties.

I couldn't believe how crooked it was! All that work for naught!

But someone must have noticed because when he came back on stage for the final song it was fixed. Thank heavens someone saved his butt.

The Green-Eyed Monster

No, I'm talking about Jealousy. And you should all be ashamed of yourself, because you will be indulging in a little bit of jealousy as I show off my pics from Central Florida. While everyone here in the Cold and Snowy West (and almost anywhere else in the US) were enduring the snow, I was cavorting around in the Warmth and Sunshine that only Central Florida and Walt Disney World can bring. We were lucky enough to have a nice three day vacation without children. (Thank you soooo much Grandma and Grandpa!) I won't tell you what I really called it because this blog is family friendly. But it was so wonderful to have time just to ourselves. And we were treated so wonderfully. We got lots of free food and the Hosts rented the Magic Kingdom Thursday night just for us and the other 6,000 people there for the same thing. Imagine all the free food, soda, liquor, and rides you could possibly want for four hours! And it was finished off with our own personal Fireworks show!

Welcome to Disney World! Look at the blue sky!

Me and my Honey at Downtown Disney

It's always Christmas Here

Unfortunately this was the only alligator we saw

Olaf and the Pirates

Helping the Pirate steer the boat

The Lego Dragon

The Jellyfish is attacking Olaf!

Careful! We thought we only had to watch our for alligators!

The view of the resort from across the lake around which the resort was centered

The cute Bungalows

the Mulch, Sweat & Tears Band at Magic Kingdom welcomed us

after we walked the Red Carpet to get into the place

Me with Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross

Can anyone Bail us out?

The Fairy Tale Castle, with a DJ on the front steps

Everyone's favorite Characters

The Pirate Band with some Wenches

Me with some free Ice Cream and Diet Coke, Food of the Gods. I may

have abused the free food but I promise I stayed away from the free booze!

The wonderful Fireworks show, started the same time as the rain storm

And it rained! But don't feel bad for yourselves because we came

home the next day to a snowstorm that we drove home through.

The Land of Sunshine

See ya suckers! I am going to Florida for a few days and am going to ignore this silly blog while I am soaking up the sun and warmth with nary a child of mine to be seen. I hope you are enjoying your snow and clouds. Don't worry, I'll be back next week sulking in the snow with you.

The Dinosaurs are Back!

The Dinos are Back! And they've gone on a rampage!

This poor Snowman didn't even have a chance.

No legs. Not enough snow left after their creation.

He couldn't get away fast enough!

Hopefully the Dino doesn't find your neighborhood.

I'd keep your eyes peeled.

The Catacombs

The other day some cute young Fireman stopped by my office. (It's a dang good thing I don't work in the Public Safety Building which these guys frequent much more often than my corner basement office.) He needed some payroll stuff, probably for taxes since it's that time of year again.

I explained to him the person he needed was out to lunch and wouldn't be back for another half hour. He almost begged, "Is there anyone else that can do it?" Sorry, no such luck. We have these things we call Controls in Accounting to prevent embezzlement and fraud.

I mentioned he could come back or he could email her with his request. He mulled it over and decided he would call her later. He thanked me and headed out, but peeked back around the corner with one more witty comment.

"I know I'm not getting back in here. You're pretty locked down here in the basement, what with key pads and retinal scans!" And then we both laughed. He's not the first firefighter in search of Payroll who's been lost in the basement catacombs with keypad locks on every door, trying to find any way out.

Why I Should Bring Olaf Shopping with Me More Often

When I go grocery shopping I make a menu, make a list, go to the store, buy all the things on the list and a few other things we need that I forgot to put on the list, cringe at the checkout lanes lines, check out, and finally Go Home.

When Olaf comes a lot more crap non-nutritional stuff gets put in the cart. I always spend a little more than I wanted to on food. So I don't usually bring the man. I usually leave him home with the kids. Or better yet, I go while the kids are in school. But while I hurry through the store Olaf peruses and finds things I didn't even know existed.

For example:

I would have never in a million years even picked up the Coconut Oil bottle.

But then I would have missed the good laugh we had about "The Beautiful People Know."

It's Getting Close to 40

And I don't mean 40 degrees which would be Heaven in the winter. Maybe I need to move South of here, somewhere warmer. But then it'd be hot in the summer and we all know I don't like the heat even more than I don't like the cold.

But back to 40. My age. I'm almost 40. I'm not sure what happened. Do you know? I sure don't feel like almost 40. I feel like...maybe 24. 24 was good. I'll take that any time. At 24 my back didn't hurt.

Yes, my back hurts. Not cramps. Just a good old-fashioned backache. Probably from sleeping wrong. Which wouldn't have been a bid deal when I was 24, I would have been fine in a day. But this was a horrible backache.

So I called my Mom. I knew her back had hurt her at times and the doctor had given her some exercises. And as I was laying on the floor doing the simple, but almost impossible, exercises, I realized I AM OLD!

And so now I will be posting only about the Bingo games, Polka dancing, and Weather. I AM OLD.

So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Bye

It's a sad farewell. It's been 15 years and about 3 weeks. But our old Saturn finally inhaled for the last time and it's engine pumped one last time. It's been a good car. We've put over 200,000 miles on the car with less than $1,000 in repairs. It's old. It's falling apart. But the engine was doing pretty good until the engine block decided it had had enough and cracked.

See it sitting in the morning sun? It's sad and lonely. But soon it will retire to the auto old folks home and be able to chat and visit and have coffee all day long with other retired cars.

Goodbye old car! We'll miss you. You've been good to us over the years.

Oh, but wait, hold on... Say hello to our new car. We got a slightly used Ford Fusion to fill the void. Where would we be without two cars?

It's a Blue Christmas

I had some wonderful visitors this year. They are wonderful! They are Christmassy! They are Blue! They are Small! I already have some of their relatives that come for Halloween.

They came through the snow to visit our house. No smurfing their duties!

Not to make a Mountain out of a Molehill, but this guy had no choice. They had to climb over snow pebbles/mountains just to get here.

They smurfed hard and got here just in time to make everyone happy.

See those big smurfballs they had to trudge through on that little red sleigh?

They were so happy to get in the house and warm up.

Smurfs compliments of Sister-in-Law Nurse, who must really love me to bring me this wonderful present!

Some of the More Awesome Gifts Received Christmas Morning

Skullcandy Headphones for the ipod. Love how Big is back in style!

My own Poker Chips! Half the neighbors think Face Cards are of the Devil
and the other half thinks Poker is a great Family Night Game!

Nerf Wars!!!!!

Karate Punching Bag

Marine shirts from the kids' Marine Uncle. They loved them!

His own rifle.

My own 3 C's Necklace. (You know: Calvin, Clayton, Cole)

A Flesh-Eating-Zombie Play Figurine set. Now on display in his office.

And of course, a Gillie suit for Baby!

And we couldn't forget Calvin.
We decorated the grave for the holidays.
It looked really nice.

My neighbor took this picture on Christmas Eve.
I thought it was really beautiful.