T-T Winners/Answers

The winners of the Silly Goose Award are.....

The Chief:
nudibranch is obviously any branch that appears in public without its bark in place and is willing to display its bush.

Diane:
Numen - the opposite of oldmen.

Usage - I'm tired of these oldmen. I wish we'd get some numen around here!

Diane is also the winner of the Smarty Pants Award as she knew the correct definition of nudibranch.


numen - n. divine or supernatural power of presence. esp. as associated with a particular place or objet.

nudibranch - n. any shell-less marine gastropod mollusk of the suborder Nudibranchia, having external, often branched respiratory appendages.

OK, that's what my good ol' Webster's College Dictionary says...Wikepedia is easier to understand:

Nudibranchs, also known as sea slugs, are soft-bodied marine snails belonging to the suborder Nudibranchia, the largest suborder of the order Opisthobranchia. There are more than 3,000 described species.

Here are some pics...






My pet nudibranch has incredible numen!

A Big Day at Our House!

So, Subvet calls out, "Gator, stop playing with your balls and come over here!"



I give him a look...you know, that look.




"What?....He is playing with his balls!...All three of them!"










Since my high chair was absolutely as clean as it's ever going to get this morning... (reference previous post about my eventful day yesterday)

I decided that we'd go on and move Gator to the table and Sugars to the high chair. I was glad as she was getting a bit big to keep feeding in my lap.




Sugars is pleased with the new eating address.





Gator-boy couldn't care less as long as there's food.




He is not, however, pleased that MOM (Mean Old Mommy) hid a bunch of vegetables in his Kraft Mac N Cheese!!

If you enlarge the photo you can see that he's lining up the veggies on his placemat!

What can YOU do to end abortion?

Join the NATIONAL LIFE CHAIN!
Sunday Oct. 7,2007 2-3 p.m.


LIFE CHAIN is a peaceful and prayerful public witness
of pro-life Americans standing for one hour praying for
our nation and for an end to abortion. It is a visual
statement of solidarity by the Christian community that
abortion kills children and that the Church supports the
sanctity of human life from the moment of conception.


􀂙 Stand with thousands of pro-lifers throughout the USA!
You'll be a light in a darkened world as you
help put an end to abortion through prayer!
􀂙 Bring your whole family! Rain or shine!
􀂙 Water, lawn chairs, umbrellas and strollers are welcome!
􀂙 Signs proclaim “Abortion Kills Children,” “Adoption the
Loving Option,” “Jesus Forgives & Heals,” “Lord, Forgive Us and
Our Nation,” “Abortion Hurts Women,” “El Aborto Mata Ninos,”
“Life – the first Inalienable Right” and “Pray to End Abortion”
􀂙 Donations are accepted to cover the cost of the signs. All proceeds
after expenses are given to the area crisis pregnancy centers.
􀂙 Stand 25-30 feet apart. Do not park in front of an open business.
See www.LifeChain.net for more than 1400 locations
in 1250 cities and towns across the United States and Canada.

Show and Tell

Kelli is hosting show and tell Friday again

So, here's mine.




This is a money saving tip.

What you are looking at is the inside of the door to our outside freezer. All of those mason jars are full of spaghetti sauce.

Subvet makes up a couple gallons of sauce at a time, then divides it into these quart & pint jars for freezing. He made a double batch this time. You are looking at 4 gallons of sauce, ready and waiting for one of those way too busy to cook days.

It's much cheaper to make your own rather than buy the jarred sauce, plus you can control how much of each ingredient is in it. For example, the recipe says to start with bacon grease...I don't like bacon. So Subvet starts with ground beef, and we have meaty sauce. :-)

It's Thursday...again!

yikes! Where did the week go? Didn't I just do one of these posts??

Well, my evening was eventful.

I'll spare you the details but just say that it started with fever and vomiting and ended with me wielding my old yarn mop over the kitchen floor. (Sometimes Swiffer just doesn't cut it!)

Now, the up side to this is that my kitchen floor is cleaner than it's been in longer than I want to admit....

The down side is that when you suddenly decide to start cleaning things you realize just how dirty they are (ie how terrible a housekeeper you are). All I have to say is that dust bunnies make cheap pets.


As I was outside hosing down the high chair at dusk tonight, I noticed that we have lightening bugs!! Seems late in the year for em, but I guess everything's gonna be weird after this cool rainy summer.

So, I spent some time weighing the fun of chasing lightening bugs against the not-so-fun of getting eaten by mosquitoes. Since anything that will repel the mosquitoes will also repel the lightening bugs I guess they're a package deal.

I counted 5 bites by the time I went inside. I am not a mosquito magnet, nor do I react badly to them...however, Sonshine is both. So, I decided that the chasing lightening bugs experience will have to wait for another year. After the kids get big enough that they're actually bigger than the mosquitoes...

SO, now, on to the real purpose of this post!

words, words, words.

Without further Ado.....Here they are:

nudibranch

numen

As usual, put all your made up definitions and guesses at the real definition in the comments.

I'll post the real definitions and winners for the Silly Goose and Smarty Pants awards on Saturday.

I got an award!

From Heather K at The Zoo

~Mighty Mom...she makes me smile because of her incredible patience and good attitudes with her little sweetie pies that love to mattress surf, curtain climb...etc! She keeps me entertained with these tales of adventure!


I have to say that this award means more to me than any other one out there. It means I'm doing something right.

When I started this blog I realized that I had a choice, I could either gripe all the time, or I could intentionally NOT gripe at all. I mean, we all have stuff we can gripe about. But does the world in general and my life in particular need more griping??

NOPE!

What I need is an attitude adjustment. A regular daily attitude adjustment.

It's all about perspective and how you choose to look at things.

So I started this blog for me. And I decided that I would ONLY post things in my life viewed from an entertaining/uplifing/inspirational and sometimes downright funny perspective. Which of course means that I have to FIND that perspective first!

Truth be told, I crack myself up. My kids crack me up. My husband really cracks me up.

And I am thrilled to hear that we crack you up too! Thank you Heather from the bottom of my funny bone for this very meaningful award.
Laughter is the world's best medicine. Well, right after Chocolate (which we all know cures everything)!

So, now to pass this award on to my fellow bloggers who've help spread a bit of that wonderful medicine to me.

Blowin' San #1

The Cook Shack

Diane's Place

Pen of Jen

Smoldering Embers in a Mohawk Campfire

aaahhhhh, a deep sigh

Well, I don't know whose children are asleep in the room next to me, but I'm not giving them back!!

I guess my hooligans could sense that after last night I was on the verge of leaving them out in the next snowfall (by which time they'll be grown, I'm sure---this is Central Texas...) because this afternoon I had 3 perfect little angels.

Sonshine even sat down, in his chair and read a book while I manned the britches brigade. When he was done he put it back on the shelf....without being asked!

Another cycle has revolved and the tide is back in.

I believe that all things in life are cyclical. I do truly mean all things, on every scale. From the earth's temperature (remember Global Cooling of the 80's?) to a person's hormone levels. A man's hormones cycle over about 24-32 hours, a woman's over 24-32 days. And yes, even the moods and behaviors of my children are cyclical.

The best marriage advice I've ever heard came from the pastor who married us (the first time). She said that being "in love" (which she described as the fireworks and fun, being infatuated with each other) comes and goes like the tide and you have to have "love" (the commitment to each other and the marriage, the deep in your bones love) to get you through the times when the tide is out.
The second best marriage advice I've ever heard was that being and staying married is the hardest job you'll ever hold.

Know that the tide always comes back in. The problem with our society is that we focus on the fact that the tide is currently out, rather than anticipating when it will come back in.

Our lives are on a cycle. As one generation dies out, the next in line takes its place. Each life is also on a cycle. Yesterday was awful, today was wonderful.

Just keep looking for the tide to come back in.
And when it does, stop, take a deep sigh and say a prayer of thanksgiving.



Circle Of Life

From the day we arrived on the planet
And blinking step into the sun
There's more to be seen than can ever be seen
More to do than could ever be done

Some say eat or be eaten
Some say live and let live
But all are agreed as we join the stampede
You should never take more than you give

In the circle of life
It's the wheel of fortune
It's a leap of faith
It's the band of hope
Till we find our place
on the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life

Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars

There's far too much to take in here
More to find than could ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round

In the circle of life
It's the wheel of fortune
It's a leap of faith
It's the band of hope
Till we find our place
on the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life

It's the wheel of fortune
It's a leap of faith
It's the band of hope
Till we find our place
on the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life

On the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life

Attention Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to direct your attention to Cookie tonight.

He has asked for intercessory prayers for his dear friend.

Now, I know my group of blogging buddies to be good hard pray-ers so I'm sending his plea along to you.

Thank you and God Bless.

MightyMom.

T-T Winners!!

Diane:
Hetaera = Pertaining to head trauma.

Usage = Stop hitting me over the heteara'll sock you in the nose.


Chief:
St. Odge He musta been Catholic!

you folks just crack me up!!

hetaera-n. 1) a highly cultured courtesan or concubine, esp in ancient Greece 2. any woman who uses her beauty and charm to obtain wealth or social position

stodge-v.t. 1) to stuff full, esp. with food or drink; gorge ----v.i. 2) to trudge ---n. 3) food that is particularly filling.


Linda gets the smarty-pants award for knowing stodge!!

Y'all have a good weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

my day today

Well, we had an entertaining afternoon. Had us Rolling On the Floor Laughing!


Those boys decided that they really didn't need naps today...again....


as the slides (ummm beds??) were just too much fun to pass up.




They also decided that those curtains just didn't go with their overall decor and must be removed!!

As a matter of fact, they felt so adamantly about it that they pulled ALL of the hooks out of the curtain.

So, MightyMom heads up a britches brigade, gets all 3 hooligans in clean diapers, Gator out of the backwards jammies, and sets Piglet's Big Movie to playing and heads back to their room to repair the damage.

After turning the slides back into beds and returning all their clothing to the dresser I had a slight problem....


NO HOOKS

I could not for the life of me figure what those hooligans had done with all the hooks for their curtains.

I finally found them:



They were all stuck between the wall and the head of Gator-boy's mattress.

OK, so about 4-5 min had passed since I'd last checked on the boys and I figured I needed to check on them.

Here's what I found in the living room.



YUP, it was a day to forget to remember for sure!

Show and Tell

Kelli is hosting show and tell Friday again

So, here's mine.


Well, I'm continuing my series on my "pretties." Y'all seemed to enjoy hearing all about some of the music boxes my darling Subvet has given me over the years so today I'm going to show you a few of my wedding related pretties.

This picture shows one of our wedding photos, the frame/photo album was a wedding gift.



aaaaaahhh, we were skinny then......




In the center of this picture is our cake topper. The open book says LOVE...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.




The white photo album holds all the pictures from the wedding and reception. I did a fun thing at our reception. I wanted more than just the photographer's still shots, but had listened to too many friends complain that the cameras they'd put on every table when developed had 50,000 pictures of the same thing...that first dance and the cutting of the cake. So instead, since my reception was a stand and chat affair and there wasn't much for the 7 or 8 teens to do I came up with this plan. I bought 5 disposable cameras. I then asked for 5 teenage volunteers or pairs of teens. From a "hat" they drew their instructions to go with their camera. The instructions were:(1) pictures of people eating. (2) Pictures of people talking. (3) Crazy/silly posed pictures. (4)Nice posed pictures. (5) Pictures of the house. (my reception was held in an old Victorian House that was elaborately decorated). I have fabulous photos!!



And finally, this is the wedding gift that Subvet gave to me.



The lid is a music box that plays the chorus to "I will always love you" of Dolly Parton and Whitney Houston fame.

The watch and keychain belonged to my Grandma.

Thesaurus Thursday

Well, it's Thursday again.

And it's been a LOOOONG Thursday!

Good news is another hour and a half and it'll be Friday!

Our words for this week are.

stodge

hetaera

If you're new to these parts then the game is to make up a silly definition to these words and put it in the comments.

If I feel up to it, I may pick a winner this week ........

So, have fun and I'll post the actual definitions on Saturday.

Guess who decided he didn't need a nap today!

Here's an email I received from Subvet, I thought it made good food for thought.


Found the following quote at a Catholic website, it references "God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life" by Pope Benedict where he has this to say of the real meaning of the pro multis (the Latin phrase that means, literally, “for the many”) which is used in the consecration of wine during Mass. The thinking expressed goes beyond that into how Catholics should deal with non-Catholics:


We cannot start to set limits on God’s behalf; the very heart of the faith has been lost to anyone who supposes that it is only worthwhile, if it is, so to say, made worthwhile by the damnation of others. Such a way of thinking, which finds the punishment of other people necessary, springs from not having inwardly accepted the faith; from loving only oneself and not God the Creator, to whom his creatures belong. That way of thinking would be like the attitude of those people who could not bear the workers who came last being paid a denarius like the rest; like the attitude of people who feel properly rewarded only if others have received less. This would be the attitude of the son who stayed at home, who could not bear the reconciling kindness of his father. It would be a hardening of our hearts, in which it would become clear that we were only looking out for ourselves and not looking for God; in which it would be clear that we did not love our faith, but merely bore it like a burden. . . . It is a basic element of the biblical message that the Lord died for all—being jealous of salvation is not Christian.


So the next time someone says the Catholic Church condemns to Hell all non-Catholics, they might be advised to read this quote.

Hard Days

Oh I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener.
Cause that is what I'd really like to be.
For if I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener
Then everyone would be in love with me!


Well, I had a hard day yesterday. In a nutshell, Sonshine's teacher thought he didn't know his colors. In reality he not only knows all his colors, but also all his letters, some letters' sounds, all his shapes, left/right, can count to 10...and a whole bunch of other stuff!!

It hit me very hard that I will be spending the next several years convincing everyone else of how smart he is, because he doesn't tell anyone but me. He's very shy and his "Asperger's like" traits are mostly just coping mechanisms for that shyness. It's much easier to repeat what you say than to actually respond to you. Having been a painfully shy kid myself I can understand.

So, what do you do to relieve stress?

I break out in song.

Used to drive this one doctor I worked for crazy (not that she had far to go...)

But I mean really, here we are in the middle of a Pediatrician's office and there are kids running around, do you really want me yelling and cussing?? Cause those are the only options.

Usually, I sing either the Alphabet Song or Zip-E-Dee-Do-Dah, but today it's the Oscar Meyer Wiener song. Don't ask me why.

The most frequent reason for me to break out in song at work was when parents would call in with a question. Then ARGUE with me about my answer. I mean really, who's the nurse here? If you already knew the answer, why did you waste our time calling?

These days I break out in song frequently! It's usually to do with something either child-related or husband-related. Seeing as how we are all suffering (and I mean SUFFERING) from terrible allergies this week, songs are just echoing through the house at all times!!

So, if you ever see me singing some silly little ditty then walk quietly and quickly in the other direction.

Story of my Life!

OK people, Cookie sent this to me in an email.

Now, not only am I telling you DO NOT DRINK ANY BEVERAGES WHILE LISTENING TO THIS SONG, I am also telling you MAKE SURE YOUR BLADDER IS EMPTY and also SIT ON THE FLOOR BEFORE YOU CLICK TO AVOID FALLING OUT OF YOUR CHAIR!!

Go here and listen to the song, then read my true-life story below.







My boys are chips off the old Subvet block. I want you to know.

One lovely Sunday morning I was sitting up in the choir loft and Sonshine (an infant at this time) was quietly sitting in Daddy's lap. During one of the quiet times in the service there is the wonderful sound of ghost poop echoing across the sanctuary....I RECOGNIZED IT AS MY SON'S!!

If you can recognize your child by the sound of their farts, you MIGHT be a Mommy.

Now, fast forward a couple of years and one child later.

Here we all are standing up at the alter of the church to baptize my infant Alligator. Everyone's watching and smiling, baby is flashing his show-stopping grin (yes, a crowd pleaser even at 2 months). Preacher says, "Let us pray." Every head bows,
Preacher says, "Dear Lord,"

"TTHHHBBBBBBBBTTTT!"
Oh yeah, the guest of honor just made sure to let his presence be known right there in front of (literally) God and everybody!


Oh and I should tell you that one of Sonshine's first phrases was "Good rip daddy, good rip"
Guess where he learned that!!

hooray!

My new Bible study on Romans started last night!

It's 9 weeks long. Our group consists of 6 ladies (counting me)
That's not counting Sugars, who had an awful lot to say last night, so maybe we should put her name on the roster too!!

All 6 of us are mothers and there are 2 grandmothers. I think this is going to be a really fun and interesting study!!

So, question for the day.
Where is your favorite place to kiss a baby? Yeah, I know, they're kissable anywhere, but do you have a real favorite spot for sugar?

I kiss the bridge of my kids' noses, right between the eyes.
My step-mom loves the back of the neck sugar.

Ahh, it's Saturday again and time to reveal the answers to this week's Thursday words.


madtom n any of several small North American freshwater catfishes of the genus Noturus, having a poisonous pectoral spine.

poil n a yarn or thread made from silk, used for ribbon, velvet, and as the core of gold, silver, and tinsel yarn.

Funny story,

When I was 12 I got to spend 2 weeks alone at my Grandma and Grandpa's house in a tiny town outside of Lafayette, La. My Uncle lived across the street. He has 2 ponds/small lakes on his property and keeps them stocked with catfish. So, I grabbed a pole and basket of crickets from his house one day and was out there alone, fishing off his foot bridge. Darned if I didn't catch me a catfish!

I had no idea what to do next.

I was afraid to touch it's "whiskers" cause I thought they might, just might be poisonous...and I couldn't figure out how to get the stupid thing off my hook without touching it.

I don't know why I didn't think to just break the line and let him go.

I ran all the way across the street and up to Grandpa's house to get Grandpa to come and take this fish off my hook. I'm surprised the poor fish didn't float when he threw it back...it'd been flopping on the bridge the whole time.

After that, I kept fishing......just didn't bother putting any more crickets on the hook. They were too hard to catch anyway.

Years later I heard the phrase "Do you go fishing for the fish, or for the fishing?"
Guess y'all know the answer to that one now huh?

When I came across "madtom" in the dictionary I thought see now, there is a type of catfish that's poisonous!! So HA!

Show & Tell

Kelli is hosting show and tell Friday again

So, here's mine.


I thought I'd take the next few weeks to tell you about some of my "pretties"




Today I'd like to tell you about the things on this shelf, and the man who gave them to me.




I love music boxes and angels.

I turned 23 the March before Subvet moved to Texas. Hard to believe it's been almost 10 years!! For my birthday he sent me the angel music box that's on your far left. It plays the chorus of the song "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Pardon, also sung by Whitney Houston. You can't see the angel and baby's faces in this picture but they're quite beautiful.


I graduated nursing school in December of 2000. For Christmas that year he gave me the statue on the far right. It's a "medical personnel" (could be a nurse or a doctor) holding a baby with an angel watching over them. The days that I was home while Gator-boy stayed in NICU I spent a lot of time looking at this one.

I can't remember which year he gave me it, but the small globe music box to the right plays "Silver Bells." One of my all time favorite Christmas Carols. It's second only to "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" which I MUST hear or it simply isn't Christmas!

The statue in the center is incredibly special to me. He gave it to me about this time last year for no particular reason. He said "When I saw this I just thought of you."

But my most prized possession on this shelf is the one you can't see. It sits behind the center statue and holds that fake ivy. It's a pretty, plastic urn looking bowl that originally held a dozen red roses. I had just started a job as Director of Nursing at a ratty and terribly run nursing home in a small town close to us. This job had staffing problems the likes of which I'd never imagined. Nurses and aids alike would just not bother to show up, and they didn't care if you fired them because they knew you wouldn't be able to hire anyone else. The temp services wouldn't even return my calls. I didn't go 6 hours straight without my beeper going off in the entire 3 weeks I worked there. The State inspectors showed up on my 3rd day. The paperwork was in a terrible mess, literally strewn over my desk and piled 3 feet tall. I was in way over my head. In the midst of all this Subvet sends me a dozen roses, the card says "Remember to kick butt and take names, if you get busy don't bother taking names!"

Just gotta love that man!

Get in the Ring!

OK, well let's see what you make of this.


Actually, I'm of two minds here.

a) Ms Barber is right, equal means EQUAL. Pump as often as you can, buy formula for the rest.

b) Many employers won't allow a woman 10-15min to pump every 3-4 hours...but WILL allow smokers breaks to go outside and have a cigarette....which Subvet (a former smoker) tells me takes 10-15min every 3-4 hours....

Oh, and

c) This lady is a nut that I don't ever want working on me. I mean really.....special consideration for dyslexia and ADHD so she can take the test over 2 days instead of the usual 1, then wants 60 extra min more than the 45 min break to pump?? How is she ever going to be a good MD? She should be a lawyer instead!

As an aside, I've worked with nursing moms who only pumped on their lunch break and were able to nurse their baby just fine.

PLEASE, don't anybody bring up this lady's argument that she needs extra time to pump "or she risks medical complications." If you do I'll have to wrap my head in duct tape to keep it from exploding!

Remember, we're not even talking about a job here....just ONE (ooops, now it's two) day(s) to take a NINE HOUR test.

To quote Sonshine's latest fav phrase, "Oh, my goodness!"

Q & A

Diana asked me "where did gator boy come from, anyway?"

We'll leave the obvious answer alone and tell the origins of this boy's nickname.
Also, someone asked once if these are my kids' real names or just cyber names. The answer is neither. The names you know my kids by are not their real names, however, they are the names that I call them by most often. Unless they're in trouble that is. You folks all know my kids by mamma's nicknames. Do you have special nicknames for your kids?


Gator-boy...

well, ever tried to wrestle (pronounced rassle) an alligator?

Ever seen someone do it?

From, oh, BIRTH. Whenever this child wanted to be put down he would lay down on his side like a nursing infant, grab my shirt and start rolling over and over in my arms.

As an infant before he could crawl he would roll to get across the room to whatever he wanted. And he never liked to snuggle (although that has changed). He always wanted to be put down so he could GO!. I used to call (and still do) holding the babies "Alligator wrestling" because he was soo hard to hold rolling over and over like that.

I've learned, the only way to hold a kid like that and NOT let him get out of your grasp is to hook one arm between his legs (stabilizing his hips) and the other arm around his neck over one shoulder (stabilizing the upper body) grasp your hands in front of his trunk and hold him to you.

Really ticks him off because he can't get away.

This little man is STRONG too! And determined as a bull penned next to a couple of heifers in heat.

You'd be amazed at the upper body strength I've acquired in the last 4 years!!

Thesaurus Thursday

aahhh, it's Thursday again.

Subvet took the boys to school and he's not back yet. Baby girl's asleep..the house is MINE ALL MINE!!!

I wanted to share a funny story from last weekend.

OK, you know we're having neckedness issues with Gator-boy. Real life clothing malfunctions! Well so far they have been curbed by wearing zipper jammies backwards during nap and bed times. He has 3 sets of these jammies, 2 are 4T and 1 is 5T because I just used what I already had from Sonshine's old clothes.

Well, this weekend he was in the 5T set. I get him up from bed one morning, jammies are on, all is well. I get his breakfast then we go in the bathroom for their baths.

I unzip the jammies and see


A BARE BOY BUTT!

I guess the 5Ts were baggy enough for this Houdinni child of mine to reach up and get that dad-gum diaper off through the legs.

Obviously those jammies hit the trash can quickly.

This child never ceases to amaze me, and I don't think that will end any time soon!

OK, words are

madtom

poil

I can't wait to see what funny definitions you come up with for those!!

stilll sick....

But I'll leave you with a couple of things I stole in the hopes that they'd improve my marriage!

miss me???

I've been sick!

Sorry about the delay, just in case there's someone out there who didn't grab their own dictionary and look up the words from Thursday they are:

passe-partout, this is a noun and it's origin is French. I'll try to give a pronounciation..../pas'par too'/ The second accent mark is stronger and there are 2 dots over the a and a line over the 2 oos.....does that help?

1. something that passes or provides passage everywhere, as a master key. 2. an ornamental mat for a picture 3. a method of framing in which a piece of glass is placed over a pictue and is affixed to a backing by means of adhesive strips of paper pasted over the edges. 4. paper prepared for this purpose.



porrect this is an adjective, Latin in origin /pe rekt'/ the first e is the schwa e (upside down)

extending horizontally; projecting.




I got this in an email an found it hilarious!

Diane worked on the bad words for me but couldn't get one of them to change.
Thanks Diane!!






Now, where's that dang duck?

Show and Tell

Kelli is hosting show and tell Friday again

So, here's mine.




You know those commercials about "keep the change banking"??? Well, I've been doing just that ever since my mother first gave me $2 to take to school to buy the $1.80 hot lunch. (ut-oh, I just dated myself huh?)

Here's my deal....I HATE to pay with exact change! Don't ask why, I just do.

So I always have a bunch of change hanging around. I have always ear-marked this change for some purpose. When I was young it was to buy a Walk-man tape player WITH auto reverse! (YIKES, did it again!!), Then it was whatever thing I wanted but didn't quite have the money for.

Nowadays we have the mason jar you see above on our kitchen counter-top. All our spare change goes in it. We'll dip into it occasionally for drinks and treats, but this is what we've accumulated over the past 2 months. When the jar is full (umm I'm past due here) I will roll all the change and deposit it in a special savings account I keep for the kids' schooling. We average about $30 a month in spare change.

Now, I always play a game. I guess how much money is in the jar before I begin. My guess today was about $60.


Let's get started!


TA-DA!!






I got $65 in rolled change, plus there is still quite a bit that wasn't enough to roll. Monday I will be off to the bank :-). One thing about rolled coins. They don't allow them in the drive-through. Something about not having enough vacuum to pull the heavy coins....I keep telling them to just hook my checking account up to the tube and the vacuum in it is guaranteed to pull all the money out of that tube...but no one will try it.

Here's an odd thing I found in my jar today.



This quarter has a hole in it. I don't know how or why someone would poke a hole in a perfectly good quarter...but here it is!

And folks, don't ever buy the rolling papers. Any and all banks will give them to you for free. (even through the drive-through)

Thesaurus Thursday

Yes, it's Thursday again.

And, believe it or not, my house is QUIET!!

AAahhhh, the joys of preschool.


So, before we get on to our words today I need your input. Or my kids strange or what? Dropping off the boys this morning I saw two different sets of parents trying to pry their screaming/clinging kid off of them. One poor Dad couldn't hardly get his kid in the front doors for the writhing and thrashing.

Subvet and I looked at each other and said wow, that's different!

Our kids barely stopped to hug us goodbye, they were much more interested in all the TOYS!

I do remember last year when taking Sonshine to school those first two weeks. He did throw a huge fit.....

when it was time to go HOME! I literally dragged him from the school screaming and kicking.....

he threw an equally big fit the next morning when I wouldn't take him back!
That was when I started the pictoral calendar I showed y'all last week.

Anyway, On to our words for the week.

passe-partout, this is a noun and it's origin is French. I'll try to give a pronounciation..../pas'par too'/ The second accent mark is stronger and there are 2 dots over the a and a line over the 2 oos.....does that help?

porrect this is an adjective, Latin in origin /pe rekt'/ the first e is the schwa e (upside down)

have fun making up silly definitions and I'll put up the real ones on Saturday as usual.

More from my life....

If you can come up with more than two potential reasons for an "emergency bath".....you MIGHT be a Mommy.


If you've worked hard to change all your swear words to repeatable phrases such as "God Bless America!"....you MIGHT be a Mommy.


And this one's for my wonderful husband:

If you've ever been woken from much needed sleep by the sounds of an emergency bath...you MIGHT be a Daddy!



Do these give you an idea how my day has gone?

I must say though, my day was NOTHING compared to this mom! Read her description of why she's auctioning Pokemon cards. No beverages warning on this one!! I must visit her blog sometime soon!

Makes me appreciate AGAIN, the fact that my wonderful, loving, caring, thoughtful, perfect, ....... husband does every last bit of our shopping! He goes on the weekend nights when he's the only one in the house up. And if we need things during the week he'll stop on his way home from work. Hooray for 24 hour Wal-Marts!

Tagged again....

Diana tagged me on this one.

So here's how this one goes...
It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers. Try to make your tip general.

After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends! Just think- if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. ****- http://www.neonscent.com/

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. *****- http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! **- http://www.therandomforest.info/

4. Always reply to your comments. ************- http://chattiekat.com/

5. Link liberally — it keeps you and your friends afloat in the Sea of Technorati. ******- http://chipsquips.com/”

6. Don’t give up - persistence is fertile. ***- http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/

7. Give link credit where credit is due. ***********- http://www.sfsignal.com/

8. Pictures say a thousand words and can usually add to any post. ********- http://scifichick.com/

9. Visit all the bloggers that leave comments for you - it’s nice to know who is reading! *********- http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/

10. Make a blogger template unique: change the background colour, or add a background picture to your header. *- http://chris-book-a-rama.blogspot.com/

11. Write positively even if the situation is seemingly negative — spread joy and not gloom. You can do it!*****- http://www.aliceteh.com/

12. When you find something that interests you, write about it. Sharing yourself with others is one of the best things about blogging.*****- http://jhthomas.blogspot.com/

13. Start draft posts to capture ideas for future posts, so you don’t lose track of them.- ***http://charmingdelightful.blogspot.com/

14. Be helpful to new bloggers. Remember when you first started blogging and didn’t know how to post a link? Or was that just me?*****- http://islandlife808.com/

15. If you have a question about blogging, don’t be shy, go ahead and ask. There are so many bloggers happy to give you help if you need it.***-http://www.arewethereyetmom.com/

16. Remember that blogging is a community - don’t be afraid to comment on the blogs you read. Reach out and make new friends, you’ll be glad you did!***- http://debmomof3.blogspot.com/

17. Try to blog daily, this is the only way to build up a “cyber following”***-http://mylifeasmamajodi.com/

18. Check that box on your profile so your bloggy buddies can reply by email to your comments, it makes life so much easier... and by all means PLEASE make your profile public so when you click on your name it doesn't say profile not available. There's no way to reply to you or visit you when you aren't public!*http://mylifeasannie.blogspot.com/

19. Be REAL and don't put up a false front. We want to get to know the REAL you. **-http://penlesswriter.blogspot.com/

20. Leave a comment. If you've taken the time to read the post, let the blogger know you did by leaving some kind of comment. My advice is an encouraging one.* - http://www.sunshine-on-my-shoulders.blogspot.com/

21. Keep your blogroll active. Keep on it only those blogs that continue to interest you, add new blogs as you come across them. http://www.texassiren.blogspot.com/


Well, if you haven't figured it out yet, I tend to break rules whenever I'm given them. Most of my regular pals are still working to complete the last few tags I've sent out.

So I'm gonna give almost everyone a break.





I said almost.....





I'm only going to tag one blogger.....





but since she has (at least) 10 blogs then I'm counting her 10 times!





That and the fact she's 10 feet tall to me!!



Jen, PenofJen, Jennifer, All Hail Lady Jen, Tall Mama

aarrrrgggghh!!!!

Well, it doesn't happen just real often, but I'm good and mad! Here is my comment on Catholic Dads, a blog that Subvet frequents, regarding this "news" item.

Having nursed all 3 of my babies...still nursing the youngest I will say a few things.

1) Plan ahead. When you know you're going to be out and about at meal time take a bottle.
2) It is possible to nurse a baby without anyone knowing that you are doing it, learn to be discreet and modest.
3) Who the heck carries copies of their state's breastfeeding laws with them out to eat? Was she out looking to stir up trouble? And why did she immediately go to a lawyer to have a letter written to Applebee's? I'd be able to write that letter all by myself (IF I'd deemed it necessary)
4) I live in Texas. Even in 100+ degree weather I ALWAYS have a blanket in the diaper bag..if for no other reason than to have something clean to lay the baby on for changing diapers. And as stated, cloth diapers/burp rags make great covers too!

Seems like folks are wanting to claim discrimination for anything! Get a grip.

And a "nurse in" is just nothing more than a publicity stunt....on the same level as "Paul is Dead." Really, this sort of crap in our media when there are so much more important things that DON'T get reported just makes me sick!!

BTW, I'm more inclined to go visit an Applebee's now.....I think to boycott is stupid too! I mean really, why boycott Applebees for trying to help keep their restaurant bare boob-less in a time when Hooters and Twin Peaks are so popular. We should be rewarding them for having standards. They didn't kick her out unceremoniously, they requested she cover, then offered her a blanket, THEN mentioned going outside to finish nursing...I really really would have liked to have been a fly on the wall and seen the whole escapade from start to finish...I just believe that there is probably more here than is reported.

If someone came up to me and said "I noticed that you're nursing..would you mind covering up?" I would be EMBARRASSED and would find me a cover immediately and thank the person for telling me my boob was hanging out for all to see!!!


And here's something else I didn't add...

Having been to my fair share of Applebee's restaurants and others of the same caliber, I will put out this question.

Have you EVER seen a "corner booth" that was secluded??? NOPE! Every spot in that restaurant is out in the open...it ain't candle-lit dining folks. She requested that corner booth so she could seat her SEVEN KIDS comfortably...it just sounded good when the LAWYER wrote the letter!!!

You Might be a Mommy

OK, not wanting to be responsible for any untimely deaths, I'm adding a no beverages and no carrot eating while reading warning to this one.

Also, I wrote this one, so if you steal it, please name me as author.


If you have to make an intentional effort to take a shower at least every 48 hours...you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If you go out for a dinner alone with your husband, hear a kid scream and have to look over just to make sure it isn't one of yours...you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If you no longer put "laundry" on your to-do list because by the time you get it folded, the hamper is full again.....you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If dressing up means you put on a bra...you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If someone asks your favorite time of day and you say "nap-time"....you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If it takes you more than 5 minutes to decide if you want to eat supper or go to sleep...you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If you've considered getting a dog to help you keep the kitchen floor clean....you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If you plan what's for dinner based on whether or not it's bath night for the kids...you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If you've ever hoped for someone to put you in time out for 1 min per year of age.......you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If you've ever written your shopping list in crayon....you MIGHT be a Mommy.

If this is your idea of multi-tasking...




You just might be a Mommy!

Have a good Holiday folks!

T-T Answer, kid stuff.

Immure vt 1) to enclose within or as if within walls. 2) to imprison 3) to build into or entomb in a wall.

oriel n. a bay window, esp. one cantilevered or corbeled out from a wall.

your answers were, as usual, quite hilarious!


Thought for the weekend I'd leave you with a picture of what I usually see whenever I go to get the boys out of their room.




One or the other and often both mattresses are like this...half on and half off the box springs.


One day I walked in on this site and Gator-boy was standing on the box spring. I exasperatedly asked (not expecting any answer) why on earth they kept taking the mattresses off their beds.



In response,


Gator slid down the mattress on his belly.


YUP! EVERYTHING IS A TOY!!


BOYS!!!!