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28 August 2009

Do math

First watch this little video





Do math. That's what I thought of when I saw this video. I hope they did math before trying that!





Robert says it looks fun and he wants to do it - sure hunny, just make sure you have life insurance first. And lots of it. My new trophy husband needs a Porche.



* * * * * * * * * *


In other news, things that also made me laugh and choke on my drink or laugh and nearly - I said NEARLY- piss my pants this week, in no particular order:

1. Dooce and her post on her washing machine troubles. As well as probably 20 of her other posts that are just downright HILARIOUS!

2. Adam getting Carus to smell his stinky-been-wearing-to-practice-all-week Under Armour shirt which caused her to back into the doorknob (not the funny part) and then tried to whine to me that her brother made her back into the doorknob and I laughed and then she cried (again, not the funny part). Holy run-on sentence Batman! Anyways, she now knows (I hope) that you don't smell everything someone hands to you and says 'smell' - I hope.

3. Adam laughing his head off for a good solid 5 minutes because Robert tossed some almonds and pecans at him and said, "Put moms nuts in the freezer." hehe - Yea, I share the immature sense-of-humor Adam, Robert and most other males have. And because of this I get to laugh a lot! Yay for us passing immature humor and smart ass-ness off to our kids. Its great to laugh.

4. Dimitri and his total hotness loving on the elegant woman Olga (did I finally spell elegant right? I hope so).

5. Watching Yoda chase his tail in circles trying to itch it and not really succeeding. Its hard being a pug with a flat face. Normal doggy duties (hehe I said duties) go neglected because of his flat face.

6. Every time Yoda goes down the stairs he slides at the bottom and skids into the door. i.e. the flat face? You'd think he would learn to not hall-ass down those stairs so he could actually stop when he steps off the carpeted stairs onto the slick laminate and not slide right into the door. But no, he likes to make me laugh.

7. Dude, you will never guess what I found in my washing machine!! Seriously I found a spider - a daddy long legs and I was like aah, poor spider, died in the washing machine.

Wait, does a spider with a spider web in my washer mean I don't do laundry? What's your problem DLL? Talking all sorts of crap about my making sure my family has clean clothes issues. Yeah, well, well....Jerk! Oops, sorry tangent there.

But then I poked DLL with one of Adam's dirty socks 'cause I may be okay with DDLs over other spiders but I still ain't voluntarily touching one! And he moved!

Holy crap he's alive - and no I don't think Adam's sock stunk bad enough to even make a dead spider move. Well, maybe. But I learned LONG ago that you do not smell boys gym/workout clothes, socks, or underwear. That's what you get with having three brothers, especially when one of those brothers have Bud's feet. That boy can clear a room 2 seconds after taking off his shoes. But anyways, DLL totally ran off up under the lip of the washer. So I loaded it and started it and now he is having a jaccuzi or like the bestest spider carnival ride EVA! I hope he don't puke on my clothes.

8. The fact that the second we say bedtime, Adam goes to the bathroom and proceeds to sit on the toilet doing a #2 for like 2 hours! Take that bedtime!

And then....

NO AND THEN!

Sorry, that's a common quote around our house. It was started by Robert and our friend David.

I thought for the longest time that it was just something they came up with, and then I was told that it comes from the movie 'Dude, Where's My Car'.

I still haven't seen that movie - be we say this all the time, in a funny accent. If you wanna hear it, just give me a call and say, "And then" and I will answer "NO AND THEN!"

We quote other movies too - mostly Disney movies. If someone says "And Daddy they took my boot!" You will be met with "Oh, those are the ones I bought you" in our very best british accent (which isn't that good).

Ha! Name that movie!

So anyways, where was I. Crap, don't remember. I know it was witty and funny and deep and spiritual and I was like Oh, I have got to write that down. So I started, then had to go do something and I came back and was like crap, what was I writing...

I need my own transcriptionist because my ramblings to myself are really funny and then I'll go to write them down and I don't remember them. And then I'm sad, because I wanna be funny. I want people to laugh with me - key word there being WITH. Not AT. And then because I made you laugh you will like me.

Maybe tomorrow I will have the same thought and go OOOh, I've got to write that down and then you will be blown away by the awesomeness of whatever it was.

27 August 2009

Happy Birthday Gramps!

Happy Birthday Gramps!

You are my favorite Gramps! Gramps turned 77 on August 27, 2009.


Gramps has a great sense of humor, sometimes with a quiet approach that catches you by surprise cause you don't see it coming.



And he is a great photographer!

We love you and miss you Gramps! Hope you have a great birthday.

Shoot me now!

Please! Please someone shoot me now!

I have 11 days, 18 hours, and 14 minutes (and counting) until I kick my kids out of my car in front of their school and drive away laughing like a manic. Oh, and I will be laughing - and then I will treat myself to a super duper extra big white chocolate mocha from Coffee Station who hasn't been getting a lot of business from me because I'm stuck at home drinking my homemade coffee.

By the way, I did not just do the math on that countdown. I totally cheated and googled it. God, I love Google.

Now back to WHY I need to count down until school is back in.

The fighting and bickering and arguing is DRIVING.ME.NUTS!

All day I hear:

"Mom, Carus won't get off of me!" "MOM! Adam won't let me sit on the couch." "Mom! Carus needs to shut up!" "Mom, Adam is not helping me!" "AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!" "NNNOOOO!!!!!" "SSSSTTTTTTTTOOOOOOPPPPP" "MMMMMOOOOMMMMMMMM" (right now, this second - it is "GET.AWAY.FROM.ME!")

And I spend all day shouting:

"Knock it off!"

"Carus GET OFF YOUR BROTHER!"

"Adam, do not be mean to your sister! She can sit next to you on the couch, IT IS BIG ENOUGH FOR BOTH OF YOUR SCRAWNY ASSES!"

"Carus, seriously! STOP.CLIMBING.ON.PEOPLE!"

"I swear to god, if you two do not stop fighting, I will ground your butts to your room for a month!"

"Yo, Adam! Stop it!"

"DDDUUUDDDEEESS! I'm TRYING to work"

And so on and so on.

Please please Oregon, do not have any more school budget cuts and have to add in extra days off that were not planned. This summer was WWWAAAYYY TTTOOO LLLOONNNGG!

26 August 2009

Mommy FAIL!!!!

And I failed bad.


I failed toothfairy duty.

Carus lost a tooth the other day and forgot to put it under her pillow that night - or forgot to check the next morning, I'm not sure because I didn't remember it. BUT first thing this morning, she comes out of her room holding the plastic zipper bag with the tiny tooth in it with the most scandalized look on her face.

"The toothfairy didn't come!"

"Oh, uh, well I bet she is super busy with all the back to school teeth that are being lost." Said with my best I'm-mom-so-I-know-everything look on my face.

'Cause yeah Becca, that makes sense. Everyone knows that kids collectively lose the teeth when its time to go back to school. Like duh! *rolls eyes*

Carus bought it though. She agreed with me looking at her bag and turned to go put it back under her pillow.

"Hey Carus, put that on the fridge so we remember to put it under your pillow tonight."

Which roughly translates to: 'put it on the fridge because your failure of a mother needs a reminder to do her duty.'

This isn't the first time I've slacked on my toothfairy duty. I have (more than once) snuck in there to make the switch in the morning before they woke - one time Carus was even starting to wake up.

Robert asked if maybe it was time to come clean. I don't want to. I'm pretty sure that Adam has it figured out, and I love that he is keeping up appearances for his baby sister. Plus, with how fast Carus is getting older and all that is discussed in school yards I'm sure that it won't be long until she knows.

I have a theory that kids handle the truth of Santa, Easter bunny, and Toothfairy better when they have figured it out on their own. At least I did.

I know several people who chose to never start the 'lie' with their kids claiming its because of the trauma they suffered as a child when finding out the truth. And I don't get it. Seriously, what trauma?

I hope she will laugh with me over this someday. I hope she will not be mad at me for being spacey and forgetful . . .

20 August 2009

Happy Birthday Peter!

Happy Birthday Peter!

Peter is one of my favorite brothers! He turned 23 on August 20, 2009. Wish we could've celebrated with you.
I love that Peter is very loyal to his family. I know he will ALWAYS be there for me if I need him. He has a great green thumb and I have a gorgeous palm tree because of him. I would have 2, but I killed one.


He can catch any lizard or snake with ease and will try anything once. Be careful with your dares, Peter shows no fear!

He is a great brother and uncle. Very nice!
We love you and miss you Peter!

19 August 2009

New Obsession

I've found a new obsession.

The Outlander series.

I finished Outlander Monday after starting it last Thursday, and I was only able to finish it that quickly because I spent probably 7 hours reading on Sunday. I used the excuse that I needed to catch up on laundry - which I did (10 loads and still I didn't finish).

Robert is concerned so I'm going to have to work at better hiding this obsession than I did with Twilight. The 7 hours with the book planted in front of me didn't help my case.

Not buying the books this time (yet, gotta convince Robert first - he's scared). But since I'm not buying them I have to wait for them to come available through the library. There are waiting lists, but thankfully most are not that long.

I have book #2 and #3 requested so that transition will go better.

I'm #81 on the waiting list for the new-soon-to-be-released book. . . .

11 August 2009

Football Practice - Day 1

First day of practice went great! Pics over at Flickr.

He got stung by a bee when he accidently kneeled on it doing lunges. Didn't phase him much.

The hand-me-down cleats were a bit small so he was uncomfortable.

The weather was warm and sunny - but there were breaks from the sun with the clouds and a nice breeze. Thankfully the 106 degree temps from a couple weeks ago didn't stick around long.

The sport goggles we bought him just do not work with the football helmet. We can't keep them in place when putting the helmet on so hopefully he will be able to see well enough without them. He spent most of the practice yesterday without them and did just fine so. . .

He wasn't as wiped as we thought he would be and still was VERY excited about football so no worries here :)

Oh wait, I do have a problem. Practice will be from 5:30 to 7:30 and we would still like to keep the kids bedtime of 8:30 (Adam 9:00) especially when school starts in a few weeks but we still have to do dinner. I am a menu planner and I'm trying to plan quick to make or easy to prepare ahead of time dinners on practice nights, but I do have some problems.

How do I get something cooked and on the table within 30 minutes of getting home so the kids have a reasonable amount of time to eat, digest, bathe, and get ready for bed?

I can't put things in the oven to bake while at practice, even at a very low temperature, because of my possessed oven. And some things just won't cook fast enough to be on the table soon enough...and we do not need any more junk food/fast food/take out in our diet then we already do (and I'm trying to get rid of it all together).

I can bake ahead and warm up later, but would prefer not to do that often since I will have to store the already cooked food in the fridge and sometimes, there is no room - like right now, 2 days after grocery day and its stuffed with fruits and veggies before they are consumed.

Ideas please?

Oh and crockpot ideas would be appreciated too. I have a few recipes, but not many (and some picky eaters too) so more would be greatly appreciated. Last night was crockpot lasagna which was great and will be made again.

10 August 2009

Let's get ready for some....

FFFFOOOOOOTTTTBBBBBBAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Today is Adam's first day of football practice. Today is the HARDEST day he will have.

We've heard stories.

We've been warned.

We are excited (and I'm a little nervous for him) but we are ready to go!

The first day of practice is hard because they run the them and run them and run them some more. We've heard they have kids puking from all the exercise. But they have to be strong for the games.

At the parents meeting last week we were warned that the coaches yell at the boys and the president doesn't want any moms coming to him whining "but he's yelling at my baby". Its time to let your boys grow up. I am determined to not be that mom. I will not embarrass him. Or Robert. I will let him grow up and I will not cry - in public.

Holy crap! Adam is almost 11. This is his last year of elementary school. He is a preteen and is beginning puberty. He is in tackle football this year, and he isn't small so he will be doing tackling and will be tackled. What happened to my beebo, my Adamhead, my baby boy. Yeah, don't tell him I said all those mushy embarrassing things on the internet. Don't tell Robert either.

Pictures to come tomorrow!!!!!

09 August 2009

Vacation posts #4 - The wedding and heading home

A lot happened, and I'm slow getting it all out. I should probably separate the wedding post and the heading home post into 2 blogs, but I just want to finish up. Other stuff going on, and I procrastinate enough without adding excuses to do it more.

All the pictures we took from the wedding are over on my Facebook. Robert had the camera most of the time since I was running around helping to get stuff going.

As with all weddings there were things that 'went wrong' but it wasn't much. The sound system at The Peacock House didn't want to work properly so there wasn't much music. And things were a tad unorganized leading up to the wedding which was rather stressful. I won't talk about all the drama, but lets just say I've had my drama fill for the year.

The Peacock House was lovely. It is an older estate and I love the history you can feel in older homes. I absolutely LOVED the kitchen and the house, and did daydream about it being my house and my kitchen. I do that with houses that 'speak' to me, they're usually older houses. Unfortunately they do not have a web page. They have a myspace page, but that doesn't show a lot of information about the house.

The day was very busy start to finish and I ran around a lot checking on things, getting stuff needed, doing hair (maid-of-honor's and the flower girls). By the end of the day I was seriously pooped, and we still had to drive back to Orlando for our flight home the next morning.

After the wedding and clean up (Which was silly in my opinion. If you rent a place and pay extra for decorating, the least they can do is clean up the decorations, do dishes, and throw out your garbage bags from the event for you.) we headed back to Papa's house to clean up and say our good-byes. Our flight was at 11 am from Orlando, which was 5+ hours away. We left around 12:30 and I was determined to stay up with Robert so he wouldn't have to make the drive alone. But I have a problem. I fall asleep very easily in the car on long drives. I'm not sure if it would be different if I was driving, but in the passenger seat I don't make it long. The kids passed out within 30 minutes of us driving. I made it 2 hours. Adam woke up and stayed awake for a bit talking with Robert as I was dozing. I was fighting it so I didn't even get too rested - and I was able to stay awake when Robert woke me to help with directions around 4 am. But other than that I failed. I feel bad about it still.

We made it to the airport about 6:30 and headed to the food court for breakfast. Ordering from McDonalds when you're exhausted is hard. My brain would not function, but the nice lady was patient and helpful - and probably repressing a laugh. The food court in the Orlando airport is nice, and it has this ginormous beautiful aquarium to enjoy...and amuse children.


After breakfast, we went to our gate. Carus and I cuddled. We were sleepy. Adam played his DS.

Poor Robert passed out. At that point he had been up over 24 hours.
On the plane we split up again - Adam with Robert so Robert could sleep the most. Carus with me - and I still got some sleep too. Our kids are really well behaved and I remind myself that when they start getting frustrating or trying. We got to New Orleans for our 2-hour layover (the airport smelled like a nursing home), had lunch, browsed the stores, waited and waited some more and finally got on the plane - our last plane for the trip, but not the last stop. There was a small stop in Pheonix for an exchange of some passengers. Thankfully not us because it was 112 in Pheonix that day. And then it was to home. I have never been so excited to see Oregon. I know I complain about this state sometimes, and while I'm still not feeling this state, for now it is my home and I'm fairly comfortable here.
Oh yea, my flip flops broke just before boarding the plane in New Orleans so I rode barefoot all the way home - and our attempt at fixing them didn't work and I had to walk through PDX barefoot. I felt so redneck. As soon as we got our baggage I yanked some shoes out and felt better, even though like 100 people were looking at me funny.
Barbara picked us up - after she found the arrivals line - and took us home where our house sitter/my friend Tara had dinner waiting for us.
And these:
I cried. Tara is a good friend.
I try to think that from each experience you learn something and the most stressful/frustrating experiences teach you the most the quickest.
From this trip I learned:
  • Outdoor weddings are not always a good idea; bugs, heat, and humidity suck when in dressy clothes.
  • Two 'planners' are not good for one event. I was trying my hardest to surpress my urge to plan since it was supposed to be in the hands of someone else. However, that planner wasn't much of a planner. She wanted to plan, but couldn't quite get organized enough to get things done (until the last possible moment).
  • It isn't my responsibility to make sure things that are supposed to be taken care of are taken care of.
  • Try not to travel by pulling an all-nighter.
  • Great friends are hard to come by, don't let go of them when you find them!
  • There is no place like home, even if home isn't all you want it to be.
  • Always watch where you stand - do not stand near fire ants or other biting bugs.

07 August 2009

Happy Birthday Chuck!

Happy birthday Charley!

Charley is one of my greatest brothers. He turned 21 on August 7, 2009. I wish we could've celebrated with him.

He is always good for a laugh - he is very funny even when he isn't trying to be.


Charley with bed head and making faces.


He's a great cook!



And he is a great uncle! Carus misses her Chuckie.

We love you and miss you!

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