Yesterday I drove across the city to my friends home to watch 3 of her kids while she took the fourth to an emergency doctors appointment.

Tonight as I sat at the kitchen island sipping ice water, surfing online and enjoying my quiet home with all three kids gone (babysitting and hanging out with friends) I could hear my 6 year old neighbor and her parents, entertaining house guests outside. Listening to their voices carry for about 30 minutes, I smiled at the perks of having 'older kids'.

Oh, I loved having infants, toddlers and preschoolers - (LOVED IT!) at the time - I had three kids under the age of 5 and it was the literally the best time of my life - but I smile now because that part of parenting is so far behind me. I have a 17 year old going off to college next year and my 'baby' is in Junior High now!


And so... with a grin I write just a few brainstorming reasons "I'm glad I'm the Mommy of Teenagers" and not preschoolers.

• Watching Strawberry Shortcake and The Wiggles videos
• "Hey Mom, watch this!" "Hey Mom, watch me again!" "Hey Mom, watch me!"
• Changing wet sheets at 3:30 am
• Finding sour milk bottles behind the couch cushion that are a week old
• Cupboard door locks
• Refrigerator door locks
• safety plugs in all the outlets
  
• "Eeeee! Mommy, I gotta go potty.... right now!" While you are going 70 on the interstate
• "Get back in bed." "Get back in bed." "Get back to your bed!" "Stay in bed!"
• Picking up the Legos and Barbies for the 17th time that day
• Diaper Bags
• Strollers at the amusement parks
  

Labels: Friends, kids, neighbors

I was reading the entertainment news the other day and came across this question to "Dear Margo";


DEAR MARGO: Each night I lay awake wondering what I'm going to do down the road when my daughter starts questioning her parentage. While she's still young, not even 2 years old yet, I know this is going to come up eventually. She has a wonderful, caring, loving father figure who is planning to adopt her once we get married. My unease is that she will eventually figure out that he isn't her biological father. There is no father named on her birth certificate. I became pregnant by rape, though I never went so far as to press charges. I don't want to lie to my daughter about something as important as this. But on the other hand, I don't know how to explain the truth without her losing some part of herself in knowing that the man who helped create her did something that terrible. She is by far the most wonderful creature to ever come into my life. There is not a single regret in my mind. But I was young once, too, and I know that my rationale that it was all worth the pain may not go over with her. Is there a third option I'm not looking at? A suggestion? My fiance is open to support whatever decision I make.

--- ANXIOUS





What do you think?

I turned "halo" comments on so you can comment if you'd like.

I have a friend who went through this exact situation.

My friend was a strong Christian who was semi-sheltered, very naive and a little unsure of herself because she was overweight. She graduated college and got a job working at a church with children and was/is very friendly, outgoing, warm and just... wonderful. She was asked out on a date and in the end, suffered through date rape. She was a virgin and was too emotionally damaged to press charges at the time and just wanted it to go away. It didn't.

She found out she was pregnant.

Her boss (the pastor of the church) called her a liar, shunned her and made life so miserable she was forced to quit. She moved back home with her parents and had the baby. With their help she got through it.

About 10 years later she remarried a wonderful, wonderful man and they had another child together. How did she handle the situation with her oldest child? She's known from birth and all her life that her mother was date raped. It's never been a secret. My friend decided that there was no reason to be secretive about it. SHE did nothing wrong. HE DID. That baby grew up being adored by her mother and her Grandparents!

She is a very warm and wonderful, healthy and extremely happy 18 year girl with no qualms about the way she was conceived. She knows she has a mother and step-father who adore her and that her Mom was a warm and trusting person who was raped... but something wonderful came from it. She did.

Labels: Friends, News

Well, it's the first time in years... forever?... that we didn't get to go see fireworks!

We went to the Boyfriends family's house and when dusk came we were sitting around the fire but they made no comment about going to see fireworks. I had mentioned earlier this week when we planned the evening that I wanted to make sure we got to go to fireworks - I didn't care which town or suburb, but that we needed to make sure we saw them for our kids.

The sky got darker and they commented they could see the fireworks of a suburb about 8 miles away (across corn fields) behind me - and they were watching them while we sat there, but all hints about seeing some in person were side-stepped.

I personally didn't really care but I felt bad for our 12 year old who was decked out in red, white and blue from head to toe to show her spirit and had been 'alone' all night with no one to talk to, no one her age and nothing to do.

Luckily at the last second my daughter and the Boyfriend took off to drive to a nearby town to see some fireworks and took the other kids with them but by then it was already pitch black out and I knew it would be hit or miss if they got to see them. Sure enough they were back within 20 minutes and although my 12 year old said, "Yeah..." when I asked if she got to see fireworks, I saw her glance at her sister before she answered. So I pushed a little harder. "Did you get there in time?"

"Uh huh."

"Did you only get to see a couple minutes of them?"

Sigh. "Yeah."

They got there just as the last ones were bursting.

I could tell she was dejected. And so was I.



So... last night was fun overall but there were a few bumps along the way. Our sons, although the same age and in the same class, have very little in common and didn't really talk the whole night. Kat and Boyfriend were inside on separate ends of the couch watching Harry Potter most of the evening and poor Bianca... tried to entertain herself the best she could. Had not one person to talk to or hang out with.

Coffeehusband and I had a great time but the uncomfortable feeling that came with the uncommunicative kids and our youngest one missing the fireworks... etc. Overall I was left with a yucky feeling in the pit of my stomach instead of loving it. Sigh.

I still feel bad she missed fireworks.... really bad.

Labels: Friends, rambling

In the end, I'm going to blame it on the sandals.

I make him wear flip flops to the pool and the mall, he comes home with 3 girls numbers and the next thing I know I have a couple 'new' girls at my house three times this week.

Coffeekid and his best friend have hung out with the 'new' girls they met last weekend. Yesterday at 2:30 they came over to watch a movie in the basement family room. In the middle of the movie another friend came to the house so I sent him downstairs as well. Later he came up to use the restroom and made the comment; "I think I'm the only one actually watching the movie!"

I made a couple stops downstairs for 'things' I 'needed' as did my oldest daughter who was having a heart attack that 'those girls' were here again. We also sent the 12 year old down to 'get a soda' from the basement fridge. All things to make our presence known. LOL.

About an hour later, when I made pizza for dinner and brought it down I was... well, surprised that N had his shirt off.

Oh yes... he did!

Now, "N" is like a second son around here. He is my sons best friend and he all but lives at our house. He stays over at least one or two nights a week at minimum and it's completely normal and typical for him and Coffeekid to take off their shirts. (Remember they are almost 16... and believe me, 15-17 year old boys just don't wear shirts if they don't have to! I don't know what it is... showing off newly gained muscles and six-packs maybe?) anyway where was I? Oh! So it's normal for N to have his shirt off around here.

But not when there are girls here!

"N... put your shirt on."

"I got hot!"

"Of course you did. You were making out. Put your shirt on and watch the movie."

The kids - busted - laughed. Thanked me for the pizza and I went back upstairs.

Later, after everyone left Coffeekid and I sat out on the deck and talked, laughed and talked some more. He agreed to have a talk with "N" to let him know that I expect him to actually watch the movie when he's at our house... and to keep his shirt on if girls are present.

I've decided I may have to make a crafty little decorative sign for the basement;

Labels: coffeekid, Friends, Happy Housewife, kids

When I saw the June 26th issue of Rolling Stone Magazine I did a double take... not that I really cared about who was on the front cover, but more importantly; what does he have on his wrist?




Here is a closer shot - and why I then smiled and shook my head.


See those little wire bracelets? Dude, I was soooo into those... back in 1978. LOL.

I moved to a new town in February of 1978. I was 7 years old and in 2nd grade. One of the first girls to befriend me was a girl named Debbie whose mother worked for the telephone company. We were friends but a couple months when she showed up at school with a huge brown bag of ... wire. Multi-colored fabulous wire in every shade of the rainbow and then some. She showed us how she twisted it around each other to make these bracelets.

Soon these bracelets were the new 'in' thing to have at school. Color coordinated with your outfits too! Soon we were sporting matching wire rings and even earrings although for those we would wrap the large wire hoops around our ears or hook them to our regular earrings. I don't remember any of us being stupid enough to shove the wire through our ears... although looking back maybe we did. It seems like something I would have done. Our families couldn't resist the temptation of bundles of wire just sitting in front of them so you would often see my Mom or Dad 'doodling' with the wire as they sat and talked on the phone or to each other. We also were busy making sculptures and people and little baskets...

So... in the end, this magazine cover caught my eye not for the articles or the cover photo, but for the tiny little wire bracelets he is wearing the memories it brought of a little 7 year old girl 30 years ago.

Just for fun I g**gled for the phone wire. It seems other people know the joys of recycled telephone wire as well as I found many instances where it's being used to make and sell baskets;


and sculptures;



I haven't seen or played with coils of recycled telephone wire for years... almost 30 of them! Was this a fad in your area of the country at some point too or did I just enlighten you to yet another weird part of my childhood? LOL.

Labels: Childhood, Friends, rambling, Useless information

Tonight my Dad called to let me know that a friend of ours had her baby yesterday. A beautiful little boy, he was 13 inches long and only 1 & 1/2 lbs. My Dad said they sent a picture by email of him and he had his Daddy's wedding ring on his arm. That little itty bitty ring went all the way up past his elbow.

So tiny! He wasn't due until the end of September. To help myself picture just how little he is I did an internet search for photos - these obviously aren't him but you get an idea of how little he is. Still, Mom and baby are doing well.





The Mom is actually a 'little girl' I used to babysit back when I was about 14 years old. How strange to think she is all grown up and now has a baby of her own! And at 13 inches long... well, he's just about as long as the flower stem I cut from the backyard today and have in a mini vase right next to me. God Bless them!

Labels: Baby Fever, Friends, Inlaws and Outlaws, rambling, Useless information

Yesterday my friend and her new baby came to visit. The other three kids were with Grandpa and Grandma this weekend so it was just her and the little guy and we had a great visit, although I wish it could have been longer.

As she was getting ready to leave the conversation turned to the projects she was hoping to get done this weekend to possibly list their home on the market on Monday. This led to a brief conversation about money and income and she said that this little guy, at age 3 weeks, already had life insurance and annuities. That was so surprising to me, but she said things like that stress her out and keep her up at night. That she is always thinking about term life insurance, savings, etc. and if they can't put money away each month for each of the children she stresses out.

I told her that my stress came from making sure the money for mortgage and bills was paid on time but rarely have anything left over to sock into savings, much less for each of the kids! She laughed and told me she doesn't even think about the mortgage or bills and usually both are paid late whenever she remembers them.

I just smile. We are so very different!

Labels: Friends, PP, rambling, Useless information

Today was another whirl wind day of just being busy with the typical summer schedule I'm learning to embrace... (it's either that or go certifiably insane) starting at 5:30 am when I have to get kids up and to the high school for weight lifting class and ending sometime around 11:00 - 11:30 on average.

This afternoon I drove to a nearby suburb to pick up Bianca and three of her friends at the swimming pool. As I drove in I had to make a decision to turn right into the pick-up/drop off area or turn left into the parking lot. Since we made plans to do a pick-up at 4:00 but I hadn't been able to reach the girls so I decided to turn left and park.

Suddenly a green minivan stopped literally in the middle of the lane and the side door started to open. I was forced to stop quickly and looked behind me to make sure no one was going to slam into me from behind. I was thinking to myself; "What a dumb place to stop, you're right in the middle of the turn lane and you're letting your kid get out the side door? Why didn't you use the drop off area!?"

And then my second thought; "I know that girl..."

And my third thought; "OMGosh that's Liberal Catholic Best Friend!"

ROTFL.

Yes... in this city of a couple hundred thousand people I have never 'ran into' my best friend anywhere since she lives 'in' the city and I live a hop, skip and jump away in Mayberry. But today, I managed to run into her since she decided to venture to 'my' side of the city where she doesn't normally come. And... almost literally run into her! Ha.

But... after I recognized her I just laughed. Yes, leave it to my best friend to be the woman that stops in the turn lane of a busy parking lot (remember her flighty, unorganized tendencies?) In the end, what did I care? We both parked and I got to see her adorable new baby!!!

Still smiling about finally running into her after 3 1/2 years of living in the same city.

Labels: errands, Friends, Happy Housewife, rambling

Even though I know what I'm doing right now is a bad thing... a very, very bad thing; I'm doing it anyway. Yes I'll regret it but it seems like the right thing to do at this moment.

What is this bad thing?

Coffee.

Coffee at 7:30 pm.

Today I left to pick up my son and his friend from class at 9:00 am and then dropped them off and started on my errands. I returned home from those errands at.... 4:pm. How in the heck does an entire day disappear like that!?

Super Target, JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels, Dollar Tree and the grocery store were all marked off my list as well as stopping by my friends home to drop off her baby gift.

She asked me if I wanted to hold her little glow worm.

Sure enough, he glowed!

You see, years ago if your newborn showed signs of jaundice the doctors would tell you to place their little bouncer seat in the sunlight, in your home and let natural phototherapy help their little bodies to get their bilirubin counts back down. Nowadays however, insurance will pay for a phototherapy technician to come to your home with a big old machine and tubing like this one;


and hook it up and show you how to operate it. Then the nurse comes to your home and wraps your little newborn bundle of joy up like a burrito... that is, if your burritos actually glowed (which, I really hope yours do not or I'd question the radioactive properties of those refried beans!).


My friends little glow worm actually just had the 'back pad' version on today which I found a g00gle picture of here;

The babies usually need phototherapy for about 3-4 days and their levels should be low or normal. My kiddos all had a little jaundice but the only babies that had to lay under lights that I knew of were preemies! They sure have changed things in the last few years!


I've currently got 3 chocolate cakes baking with 24 chocolate cupcakes waiting on the counter to go in next and then when those are done I have 2 more white cakes and 24 white cupcakes to go in next.

Now do you see the need for the coffee? LOL.

Labels: Friends, Useless information

I woke with a start at 3:00 this morning for no reason whatsoever that I know of but with a since of dread (?) in the pit of my stomach. I told myself it was nothing... to go back to sleep but tossing and turning I was too hot and too thirsty and sleep just wasn't going to happen.

I had to peel back layer after layer like an onion to figure out what was bothering me and in the end I think it's because Coffeehusband and I went out to eat for dinner and we really should not have spent the money to do so - and it really wasn't that good so in the end it was a complete waste of money and in hindsight left too big a tip for the service we received as well so basically it was throwing a couple $20 bills into the wind and watching them blow away. We didn't really enjoy each others company either and it seemed a complete waste of time and money. Thus; me waking with regret at 3:00 am.

But on the flip side, we went out to eat after we stopped by the hospital to see my friends new baby! Yes, my very pregnant friend finally had her fourth child; first boy after 3 little girls. He's a cutie too!


It ends up she was in the same hospital as fellow blogger, Jody from Iowa Geek was - so this time around we knew where we were going a little bit better than we did the first time! When we visited Jody we got lost (oh so lost) in that stupid hospital but this time we managed to find available parking in the first lot we chose and got right inside.

Baby Boy has no name yet - much to the chagrin of one of my readers (S...) who excitedly emailed me last night to ask. Poor little guy! My friend said all day she had a hard time talking to him because she wanted to call him 'something' but instead found herself saying things like 'baby' 'sweetie' and 'honey' in place of _____. Originally they were looking for a Scottish name that started with an E but never found any that they liked or that seemed right that weren't already used by extended family or she had had as students and ruined the name for her.

I suggested switching to an A name... and gave her one idea. I'm waiting to see what she and her husband decided.

While I was completely in love with my best friends little baby and he had the most adorable little face and feeties and his cry was so cute (!) I have to say that baby fever didn't hit like I thought it might. I've actually been getting over that these past few months and have accepted that we won't be having more little ones... it's rather nice actually. It's the first time in 25 years I've not had that overwhelming feeling that we females get that makes your stomach flip flop, a lump form in your throat and your heart ache with an inner pain with the longing for an infant. I've wanted a baby since I was about 12 years old... LOL. I figure it was Gods way of letting me know I was made to be a Mommy. Now? The urge rarely hits. Whew!

Labels: Baby Fever, Friends, I should be sleeping, rambling

Brain Fart: Pulling weeds in the garden and realizing I planted baby lettuce there. Those weren't weeds.

Proud: Coffeekid calling from school to let me know his teacher says he passed English class. When asked; Are you sure? Teacher assured him he did.

Strange: The family that Kat is babysitting for this summer called to let her know the husband was laid off. Still need her to babysit but he'll be home during the day working on the basement and such. Waste of money when the kids are old enough Dad could watch them and work at the same time.

Lazy: The fact that all I've done all day is weed the garden and 2 loads of laundry. Little else.

Blessings: My Best Friend (the Liberal Catholic) had her baby last night!!!! A baby boy. 9 lbs. 5 oz. (from a woman who is a size 6 with skinny chicken legs!) Ouch.

Glad it's Not Me: Coffeekid is heading to the local minor league baseball game tonight. Glad he's glad.

Speedy Gonzales: Bianca got 1st place in the 50 yard dash, 2nd in the 100 yard dash and 6th in the long jump today at 6th Grade Track and Field.

In the Spotlight: Kat is down town in 'the city' doing a full costume dress rehearsal at a major auditorium for the big recital this weekend.

Labels: Bianca, coffeekid, Friends, Kat, rambling

*photos of me looking at the camera removed after 1 day as usual for personal photos. I left the 'frog' face and sneezing photo though as you can't see my eyes. LOL.


It's a good thing I can laugh at myself.

This morning, since I was up bright and early at the crack of dawn before the sun even thought about rising, I decided upload the pictures I took of the kids and my husband and The Boyfriends parents as we hung out and played horse shoes.

I started to laugh when I saw that my daughter had at one point, grabbed the camera and captured me attempting to blow bubbles with a dollar store variety (read; cheap and useless) bottle of bubbles from a multi-pack that I bought and got like, 8 for a buck.

To start with, the stick was so skinny and short that I couldn't get it out of the bottle!

Then I realized it had the smallest opening I've ever seen in a bottle of bubbles in all my 38 years.

Once I got the stick out and dipped it into the solution, it still didn't work well.

The opening in the stick was approximatly 1 centimeter in diameter. The solution was weak.

Bubbles were few.

I finally started to get some good Lawrence Welk bubble action going when.... I had to sneeze.

She caught that on camera too.

She was sneaky. She was holding the camera at her chest nonchalantly, and when I looked up to talk to her and voice my frustrations at the cheapo bubbles I bought I had no idea she was snapping photos.



This morning as I uploaded them I laughed. At myself. And now you can too.

Labels: Friends, kids, rambling, Useless information

Don't forget to sign up to win a free Neat Receipts Scanner by clicking on the Scanner graphic in the sidebar!) One winner chosen at random on May 29th will with this awesome device that scans, reads your receipts and documents and organizes the data into easily read spreadsheets for ease of bookkeeping.

I don't think this falls under the heading of 'irony' exactly... but I'm not sure of a better word for it. 'Odd' 'Funny' 'Weird'? Or yes... maybe ironic.

*Important Thing Number One* Last night I dreamed... (I know, I know - I hate to read about other peoples dreams too - I SWEAR I'm not going to go into long details, but it's very pertinent to the story) that I had to get ready to go to work. In the dream it was a 'church secretary' job and my boss was my (real) old boss "Pastor V" from when we lived in Nashville, Tennessee. (Remember; I've worked at 3 churches in real life....).

In the dream I did not want to go to work. Not at all. But I had to get ready so I drug my feet, but I did. I was supposed to be there by 2:30 but soon the clock said 3:00 and I still hadn't left. I then did more things in the dream, talked to more people and before long the clock read 3:30 and then 4:00 and I still hadn't left for work. I remember thinking how I just didn't want to go in soooo badly and I knew I was really late but I kept thinking, that was ok, I didn't have all that much work to do that day anyway and I could get it done but boy... I did not want to work today.

*Important Thing Number Two* This morning when I woke up the rain was coming down and the thunder rolled. I laid in bed and smiled the biggest, happiest smile and said a small prayer that went something like; "Thank You God that I don't have to go into the office today! Thank You!"

And *Important Thing Number Three* I made coffee and sat down to check my emails. I had two emails from my best friend. It was a job. Their church is looking for a full time Parish Secretary. The most perfect job for me (*except for the Full Time part as my regular readers know I'm pretty much a single Mom of three busy kids that just happens to have a husband once in a while, which makes for double the work and zero 'help'.)



So, I found it 'odd' 'funny' 'weird' and 'ironic' that I would dream about having a job as a church secretary and not wanting to go in to work sooo badly that I kept putting it off until I was 2 hours late and then wake and first thing this morning hear the thunderstorm and Thank God (literally) that I am able to stay home to be a full time wife and mother right now... and then not 20 minutes later get a heads up on the 'perfect' job for me at her family's church where she is very, very well known and active - and also taught in their parish school for years.

Isn't it ironic?

Labels: Friends, Happy Housewife, rambling, work

For about 2 weeks my husband has wondered what was happening to our 11 flowering pear tree's that were planted last year. They all came back this Spring but one by one the tips would turn black and die and the leaves were incredibly droopy. He trimmed away all the black tips last week and mentioned it to me, but I never really paid attention. On Friday we discussed it for about 2 minutes and the words 'blight' 'grubs' and 'soil' all came into the conversation. I went outside yesterday to water my garden and walked over to investigate them. One by one I walked to each of them and inspected the tips and the leaves. I then took the hose from the garden and watered each one, a long slow drink 5-15 minutes each. Last night my husband came home from work and looked out the patio door at his tree's. "Did you see the leaves on the tree?" he asked, "They really perked up today!?"

It seems tree's need water. Who knew?

Yesterday was a day almost completely without being on the internet. Oh, I didn't suddenly have a revelation that I needed a day free from the 'net. My 17 year old needed to do a power point presentation for school work and my computer is the only one that has PP on it. So my laptop was held captive in Kat's room all day. (So... if you wondered why I wasn't posting like normal, that would be it!)

Right now I'm waiting on a call from my 9 month pregnant friend. We are supposed to go buy some cheap landscaping flowers and then plant them at her home, followed by a rousing morning of painting the shutters, front and back doors. She is due with her 4th child in about 6 days and they are hoping to get their house on the market in oh, about 1 day. I'm betting the house won't go on the market for another week or two.

Ooooo... coffee is ready!

Labels: Coffeehusband, errands, Friends, Kat

The paperwork for my 20 year high school reunion is sitting in the 'file pile' and has been for oh, 5 or 6 weeks now. I've glanced at it a couple times but I really don't know that I'm going. Part of me would like to - just to see the 4 or 5 people that I really might like to see. But the other part of me? Uh, not so much. I didn't have much in common with them 20 years ago and somehow I doubt we'll have much in common now.

Then again the visual of all the 'almost 40' year old cheerleaders sitting around discussing the best wrinkle cream or how to color the gray in their hair might be worth while... ya think?

Na.
Me neither.

Labels: Friends, school, Useless information

I think bloggers that have small children have so much more interesting fodder for the blog. Once your kids older like mine, and you work inside the home instead in an asylum... err, I mean office building, you have less to work with! LOL.

So this is a story from my best friend last week that is just so cute I have to tell it. Of course I won't use names to keep it anonymous.


My best friend is 9 months pregnant and not only working full time but also very, very active with her church, her three girls schedules for everything from softball to choir to dance, but also holding bridal showers for her niece and a million other things including putting her house on the market the week her 4th baby is DUE. Needless to say she is usually exhausted but there is no time for slowing down!

So she found herself in the house alone one evening last week while the older daughter was at softball with 'Dad' and the younger two kids ( 7 and 4) played in their backyard. As she laid there trying to rest she heard them start to argue when the 7 year old was pitching the ball to the 4 year old, who was getting disgusted that she couldn't hit it with the bat.

"You aren't throwing it right!"

"I'm throwing it FINE but you aren't hitting it!"

"You're doing it on purpose!"

"NO I AM NOT!"

As my friend groaned to herself she thought; "Oh crap. They're pretty loud... I'm sure the neighbors can hear them bickering... that sounds nice (not!) should I go intervene?"

"SEE? You can't throw!"

"You can't hit!"

She thinks; "Crap. I think I'm going to have to intervene." Suddenly, louder than ever she hears;

"I HATE YOU JANE!"

"You don't hate me!"

"YES I DO!"

"You aren't supposed to say that! You aren't supposed to say you hate someone!"

"I. Don't. Hate. Someone. I. Hate. YOU!"


ROTFL...
The end of the story (for those wondering) is that my friend drug her huge bellied body up to go see if she could help them work it out when she heard the 7 year old say;

"You don't hate me Allie. You are just angry because you can't hit the ball. Try taking 3 steps ahead so you are closer to me and then let's try it again."

My friend heard silence for a few seconds and then....

SMACK.

The sound of bat hitting the ball! The 4 year old hit it!

She peeked out the door to see the girls hugging each other with huge grins on their faces. "SEE!? I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!!!!" "Good Job!!!"

"I love you Jane!!!!"

Labels: Friends, kids

Last night I posted that I was heading out the door to meet my best friend 'Flan', and another friend from high school that I hadn't seen in years. I thought it was about 18 or 19 but I remembered that I saw her briefly about 15 years ago from across the room at a friends wedding, but since we never actually talked I won't count that. LOL.

Well, you know my dearest and oldest best friend Flan is the one that is unorganized and flies by the seat of her pants. The plan was to meet at Starbucks at 4:00 after they finished with her nieces "Pampered Chef" bridal shower but I KNOW my best friend so as I left the house at 3:46 I grabbed my cellphone to call her and say "So... how late are you running?"

NOT - "Are you running late?"

because I knew darn well she would be! LOL. However, it was worse than normal. Ha. She not only was NOT on her way to Starbucks, she was still at the bridal shower, they were still trying to finish up the ordering and she hadn't even taken her 3 kids home yet. In other words; "Hey, why don't you just come here?"

"To your sisters? But... aren't you in the middle of a bridal shower?"

"Yeah, come to the bridal shower."

"I'm not coming to a bridal shower for someone I don't even know!"

"No... it's ok, they're having a 60th birthday party here too so there's a lot of people."

"Oh, that makes me feel better! I'll crash a bridal shower AND a 60th birthday party... for people I don't know!"

LOL.

But in the end I did.

And actually how I made my entrance ended up to be rather funny and only a tad bit embarrassing for me but my laptop is running on battery and it's only got a third left so I'll skip that part.

I got to see my best friend and our old high school friend who looked and talked and acted EXACTLY as she did in high school... so it was great fun to see that really, none of us had changed a bit except for the fact we were all married, had at least 1-3 kids each and had all put on a few pounds.

We sat on the front porch and talked and talked and talked... and finally, started our goodbyes. The visiting friend left and I was saying goodbye to Flan when the Birthday Boy came out to the garage and yelled at me for leaving. He insisted I get back in there and eat a burger or brat, have some food and some cake. I declined, and he insisted. I declined again and he swore at me and insisted I get my ass back there.... so I did. LOL.

Now - you have to understand this whole family is a PARTY family. There are 10 kids on one side of the family and 6 on the other and they all have kids and they are loud and love to drink, kick back, have fun and they NEVER MEET A STRANGER... everyone is a friend and part of the family instantly. Always laughing and having fun - they even had Captain Morgan (complete in full dress with a hook for a hand) crash the party.

Flan, her husband, the Birthday boys elderly mother and his sister were all eating at the inside table as the rest of the crew converged on the deck. As Flans sister (the 60th Birthday Boys wife) came to our table to put the candles on the cake she showed us that she found the candles shaped in the name "PATRICK" (his name) for the same price as "PAT" so she decided to buy his whole name. I suggested that if she just used PAT (that's what he is called) she could wait and use the rest of the letters for RICKS birthday next. At that point Flans brother walked through the patio doors and said, "OR you could just spell out 'Prick'" and we all laughed. She said no, she couldn't do that... but we all thought it was funny so I told her to just do it for a picture - take the picture and then do the 'real' name and show him the picture later.

So with everyone rooting her on and laughing she replaced "Patrick" with the word "Prick" in candles on his cake and took a picture. At that point her brother swooped his hand down on the table, picked up the extra letters and smashed them in his fist so she couldn't use them and change it back to Pat!!!

LOL.





He LOVED it. He laughed for about 5 minutes straight.

In the end I stayed until about 9:pm. Had a blast and loved seeing my best friend. She only has 3 more weeks to go before that baby comes! I brought our cradle and cradle bedding to her last night to use for the baby for the first 2 months as they are hoping to put their house on the market in about 2 weeks and a crib in their tiny house would take up too much space.

This morning... I have orange caramel cinnamon rolls freshly baked and sitting here for you as well as plenty of hot, strong coffee. Welcome! Have a seat.

Labels: Friends, rambling

I don't know if you've noticed the addition of "Twitter" on my sidebar to the left, but it's something I saw on another bloggers site, tried... didn't see a need for an got rid of, only to pick back up and try again and find that I kind of like it. LOL. I update it every so often and if you noticed a few minutes ago, I updated to say that I'm on my way out the door in less than an hour to see an old friend I haven't seen since high school!

She is in town to give a Pampered Chef party themed bridal shower for another high school friends niece... this high school friend however, happens to be my very bestest friend (the one I mention often that is flighty and due with her 4th child soon.) Dang. I need to come up with a name for her don't I? LOL.

Well, anyway - we are meeting at one of the million Starbucks in our metro area and it will be the first time I see this particular friend in over uh, 18 or 19 years? We weren't extremely close in high school, but we were friends and hung out and did things together. Lost touch after I moved to Los Angeles. If they don't tar and feather me I'll try to convince them to let me take a couple pictures! LOL.

Labels: Friends

A few months ago friend and fellow blogger, Kel, emailed me the now-famous video of Randy Pausch's lecture on achieving your childhood dreams. At the time I had never seen it, nor did I know what she was sending, but as I sat down to watch I was drawn in. What a powerful message and what a sad story! To know that this college professor was diagnosed with cancer, his last lecture held even more power as you listened to his words about overcoming obstacles, enabling the dreams of others and seizing every opportunity given to you.

It was so powerful to me that I shared it with my high school daughter as well as my husband. Now, I just found that The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch is available in book form. I couldn't wait to let Kel know, but also, all my readers as it's not only a great book to have yourself, but I realized it would make a great graduation gift for any student graduating high school or college this Spring.

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
Randy Pausch

Labels: Friends, Gifts, rambling, Useless information, YouTube

It's May 1st! May Day! A time to surprise your neighbors, co-workers and friends with a tiny little basket of goodwill and Spring. Whether you have time to make little basket shaped cone-goodies like cream horns;

Or you purchase little plastic baskets from the dollar store or even use a tiny little plastic 'berry' basket from the grocery store with a pipe cleaner handle...

Or add some stickers, foam cut outs, ribbon or glitter to a plain paper bag;


Be sure to do something for May Day! Here are a couple SIMPLE and QUICK ideas for easy May Baskets I found on the internet since I didn't have time to make each style and take pictures of them myself. (The photos above were mine... but they are the only ones I had on my laptop files right now.)



The quickest and easiest May Day Basket EVER - a simple paper cone. A piece of paper twisted into a cone shape and either glued, taped or stapled. Use a paper plate, construction paper or decorated paper and then finish it off with a few stickers and a ribbon handle. Filled with flowers, popcorn or candy it's sure to please and oh-so-simple!





Another paper plate idea but it's not in a cone shape - and still just as quick and easy! One plate for the back of the basket and half a plate for the front. Stapled together and filled with goodies or paper flowers... add a ribbon or pipe cleaner handle and you're ready to ring and run!


Instruction Source



If you have a tiny bit of time, please try these! They are so cute and so fast and easy as well! Simply wrapping a piece of fabric and topping with pipe cleaners. So cute when filled with little yogurt covered almonds or jelly beans.

Instruction Source


Bring back May Day! Surprise your neighbors! Do a fun craft with your kids! Let's enjoy this first day of May.

Labels: Childhood, Friends, Frugal, Gifts, Happy Housewife, kids, neighbors, supermom, Useless information