Smellyann Strikes Again

Friday Fragments: Episode 6.7.13

Here I am again, two weeks in a row. Go me! Link up here to join Mrs. 4444 in blowing out all the fragments of your brain today.

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So I've been trying for months to achieve the ombre nail polish look seen here:

which, admittedly, isn't the best example, but you get the idea. Instead, though, I end

up with this (these are mine, right now):

which looks like total crap. You can't really see it from the picture, so perhaps I should've retaken it without the flash, but what you can see is the total crappiness of my ombre paint job. What the heck? Why can't I do this? If you've ever succeeded at this look, which I adore, please fill me in your special little secret. Unless it involves eleventy-nine weird little tools that I probably don't have. Not doin' that.

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I was so, so terribly excited for Rob (Hubs) to go to my alma mater, the University of Miami, but we found out yesterday that he didn't get in. I am super bummed, probably as much as he is. I can't figure out why not, either. I assumed he was a shoo-in for his 20 years of military service, and I never even considered the possibility he wouldn't get admitted. Major suckage.

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I've been listening to the Elvis Duran radio show in the mornings lately, and the show is absolutely hysterical. Have you ever heard it? Today, they were discussing what everybody's victims would have in common if they were serial killers, and I immediately thought of mine: the people who take an hour to make a right turn in front of me while I'm driving. If I were a murderer, I would follow those people and kill them as slowly as that damned right turn. Ha! What a morbid conversation. I asked Rob, and his answer was a simple "frat boys." Too funny. I get that, too.

So what would yours be? C'mon, play along - it's just a joke after all.

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I am still trying like hell to quit my awful Diet Coke addiction, but it's so hard. I'm trying again now, for about the tenth time in the two+ months since we've lived here in Miami, but with a renewed earnestness. What keeps happening is, I'll buy some, drink it all up instead of parceling it out slowly, and then run out and be miserable. I'm talking severe, prolonged headaches, total crankiness, and sleeping endlessly. I hate it. I've been stocking up on K-cups and Crystal Light to help me alternate with the "last" batch of Coca Dieta that I have now. I have got to kick this!

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I feel kind of bereft since quitting my mystery shopping gig. I miss it; I really do. I don't quite know what to do with myself. It opened a lot of doors, brought a lot of opportunities, and most importantly, got us up and out of the house!  Without that, we've been housebound pretty much all the time, except when I'm out restocking our larder. So I've been collecting ideas for things to do this summer on the cheap - that's how we roll now that Rob's retired - and plan to make the most of it.

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So I guess that's about all that's on my mind today. Shortest one ever from me!

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Fin.

Friday Fragments: 5.31.13 Edition

I'm linkin' up with Mrs. 4444 for the first time since before we moved to Miami! Friday didn't sneak up on me for once, so here I am. Link up here if you're fragmenting today. Let's go!

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As if we didn't have enough critters, Sophie brought home a cupful of tadpoles from the park after our picnic Saturday. We don't exactly stock adolescent frog food on a regular basis, so... Rob fed them some canteloupe. Guess what? They ate it. They're still eating it. I haven't run out for tadpole feed since they joined the homestead, so they're stuck with melons. It works.

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This is Chloë's "kitten," Pepper. Those of you with stellar memories may remember that last Fall, after we rescued him, he nearly died and needed several blood transfusions. We didn't know if he'd make it, yet here he is, alive and, as she calls him, "fluffy"! Pepper is one big cat. He's beautiful, though, and is probably my favorite feline of the bunch. I love him, the sweety. ♥ So glad he's here.

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I was at Michael's on Monday, looking around like crazy for buttons, when I came upon this "Craft Supplies" department. Um, hello? It's Michael's, for Pete's sake. Doesn't that describe the whole store??!

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After I made the Presto Chango sweater for Stephanie's son Vinnie, who is allergic to darn near everything under the sun, I needed some instant gratification. I had this ribbon yarn left over from a wreath I made, so I cast on 20 stitches and just knit every row. No pattern needed, and it turned out pretty cool. Sophia watched me make it with keen interest, so after I bound it off the needles, I handed it over to her to keep. She was shocked and delighted! I made her so happy, which thrilled me endlessly. It's the little things. ♥

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So I think I'm going to change the name of my blahg from "Smellyann Strikes Again" to... I'm not sure. Just "Smellyann"? "Smellyann's World?" No, that's lame. I need thoughts and suggestions. Only my nickname appears in the URL, so no harm, no foul

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After I read this post from Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day, I knew we needed to make these Shrinky Dink crafts for Rob and the kids' two grandfathers for the upcoming Father's Day. I hustled over to Michaels for tie tack backings and inkjet Shrinky Dink paper, but I only found the latter. No shocker there. So I subbed earring posts and backs for the tie tacks, and I think that'll work. Sometimes good enough is good enough, right?

Are these not adorable?! Yes, we gave the presents to Rob some three weeks early (we'll still do more for him on his actual day, don't worry), because we needed his help finishing the presents. Yeah, that sucks, I know. But though the tie tacks worked, the keychains didn't. We put holes in the paper pre-shrinking, and they closed up in the oven! D'oh! I gave Rob the task of figuring out the hole-making for those. Hee. Still, all five of us loved this project and are going to do it again in the future. Thanks, Jordan!

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Since the Sophie scarf, I've had bad knitting juju. First there was this gorgeous yarn. I haven't looked at it in natural light in a while, but I'm pretty sure it's tomato red or even orange, not the cherry red it looks like here in artificial lighting. Anyway, whatever. It's fingering weight yarn, which is pretty fine, and it kept tangling up on me. I have a lot of yardage, meaning I can make a good-sized project for Vinnie, but I could not find a good pattern to go with it to save my life. Finally, after a prolonged search, I found one. Whew.

This was the project. It was as complicated as it looks there with all ten stitch markers. I didn't get much farther than that before I ripped it all out. I couldn't make heads nor tails of the pattern after that and was completely irritated afterward. Bah!

Then I pulled out this Madeline Tosh yarn, which is absolutely gorgeous and, let's face it, pretty spendy premium yarn. For what I paid, you'd think it would wind beautifully from the hank into a knittable cake. Not so. It knotted up, wound back on itself, and was a complete mess. I bandied about lots of bad words and had a black cloud hanging over my head. In the end, Rob wound it into a ball for me, but I still couldn't find a decent project for it. Double BAH!

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I did finally pull out another hank of yet another beautiful yarn for a new Vinnie project, and it's going well so far. Still, it's on circular needles, and I hate circular needles, so the going is slow. I'm determined to make this one stick, though!

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Oh, hi again, Pepper! Sorry to bother you while you're doing your business. That wasn't the plan.... we have a bunch of cats, so the litterbox is an ongoing issue, with the cleaning and the changing and the sweeping of tracked litter all over the floor. So I was excited to get a deal from PetSmart.com on these Tidy Cats Breeze litter systems, which uses pellets instead of litter - no tracking! And there are pee sheets to change in a drawer under the main poopy compartment so... am I really telling you this? Let's just say, these three thingamabobs should simplify our lives greatly, and I'm a wee bit excited about that.

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So, I've mentioned before that I play a lot of Words With Friends. I have a new 'friend' onboard with me, and, well, it's obvious that she cheats at the game. It pisses me off! I still think I'll win, but that's not cool. What do you do? Continue the game even though you know your opponent is a cheater? Or call it a day on them and end the game?

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Jack, Sophia and Chloë love their new Kindles. We got them the 7" HD Fire versions, ostensibly for school, but they play games on them all the time, too. They adore them so much, it's become difficult to get them to put them down. So we've had to institute a new rule: chores first, then Kindles. No chores, no Kindles. It works. I do find it amusing to see the five of us sitting around together on our various technological devices. Of course, we get plenty of book time, face time, and outside time, too, but I think this is great!

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And finally, speaking of Stephanie, I've had this vintage lace and rickrack for about 13 or 14 years. I got it from my boss's mom, who was being put into a nursing home, and I've never used it. Stephanie sews, and while I've tried, I'm no good at it. So I'm rehoming the goodness with her. I can't wait to see what you make with it, Steph!

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Have a good weekend, y'all. Thanks for stopping by!

Fin.

Building A Legacy

Tuesday was another whirlwind day of mystery shopping, of which I seem to be making quite a career for myself here in Miami.  The first assignment - of nine or ten, which maybe be a days record for me - was at an organic burger restaurant. Rob delighted in grass-fed beef, while I noshed on a delishamus veggie patty. The kids shared with us. The place was spendy, but if you're in the market for the sorta thing, this was your place. 

After a few more shops, we headed over for yet another one on the University of Miami campus. It's obviously a favorite destination of mine; I have always felt at home there. Once the kids jumped out of the van, they found these adolescent ducklings that weren't the least bit squeamish about close contact with miniature mankind.

Jack walked along behind the ducks for a little while, with Mama Duck peering over her birdly shoulder every so often to make sure he wasn't getting too close. I'll tell you a secret, though. I touched three of them when she wasn't looking, just to see if I could. I could.

I wanted to see if my old Marine Sciences advisor was still in residence, so we headed over to Cox Science Center to find him. We stopped by my 2^nd favorite fountain on the fount-heavy campus for a dip (Sophie) and a sprinkle (Jack) before heading thataway.

When we arrived at Cox, there was no "there" there. My old Marine Sciences office was a goner. I was a little verklempt, until we looked about nine feet to the right, and, lo and behold, there was my old lab. It still looked pretty much exactly the same: full of aquaria, mounted fishes, and, well, labby things. Home sweet home. Dr. D. wasn't in that day, but we'll be back. Oh, we'll be back.

Checkiddout! Britto made one just for UM. Ohai, that's awesome. We found this at the Bowman Foster Ashe building, AKA administration. Why were we there, you may be wondering? Maaaaaybe it was because Rob wanted to visit the VA office and inquire about matriculating as a Navy vet. And maybe the meeting went superbly well. And maybe he's not even required to take the SAT, and maybe the Yellow Ribbon program there makes up for 100% of what the GI bill does not cover, and maybe, just maybe, he'll be going there come Autumn.

I could be just a leetle bit excited. I think he is, too, which I find utterly delightful. We'll be his'n'hers alums!

Okay, let's not get carried away. Back to the post at hand.

A few more shops later, we found ourselves at a wicked cool bowling alley with wicked bad service. The atmosphere was super fun, but no. Don't go there.

And yes, I know, about Chloë's outfit. She's eleven, and she dresses herself, and I think she looks just fine, thanks.

So I had to drink for this shop, and wow, they made some seriously strong-ass drinks for me. I was unfit to drive, to say the very least (so I didn't); I was pretty much unfit to walk straight, either. I don't enjoy that so much.

After the bowling, there was miniature golf. That wasn't part of the shop, but it was there.

Sophia, 8

Jack, 10 (!!!!)

Chloë, 11½

Chloë was being a boogerbutt by that point, so she didn't get in on the sibling lovefest (that doesn't sound good, does it?) that happened on the way back to the parking lot after bowling. This was spontaneous, natural, totally unforced. Love it.

I had to snap a shot of this car we spotted in the lot. Because overkill.

{~*~ I have nothing exciting to report from today (Wednesday), because it was a lazy, homeschooling, pink-eye day. I made a bunch of doctors' appointments and took a nap. Exciting, right? But more on-the-go tomorrow and Friday ~*~}

Fin.

The Mystery Is History

You know what? I have been mystery shopping like crazy lately and have learned one thing I never really picked up before about living in Miami and surrounding cities: There is a ridiculous number of malls here. I've been to more shopping centers than I can count lately, and they're starting to blend together. But it's fun, I'm learning my way around with Siri's help, and hopefully I'll be helping pay the bills when my fees start rolling in...

Another thing I've learned is this: I can usually fill Oscar the Pouch and the belly of at least one of the smaller children (not Rob's or Sophie's - the two of them are never full) by walking around the mall's Food Court during peak hours, sampling everything that's handed out, and save some money on buying actual meals. They don't seem to care whether you plan on buying there or not, or even if you listen to their sometimes long-winded spiel about everything that's on offer, but I usually try and stay. Unless I can't understand them. Then I just say "thank you" and bounce. 

So when we found ourselves at Aventura Mall on Wednesday evening, with not a clue on the planet where the expensive kitchen boutique was that I was supposed to evaluate and four hungry bellies (and a pouch), we headed for the Food Court to do my trick. Only, we were there at a bad time, apparently, because no one was out with their red tray (it's always red, I wonder why?), giving out samples in dixie cups. That's another thing I learned: no one here uses toothpicks for the samples. I wonder about that, too; did a guy stab someone at the crowded table next to him for some teriyaki chicken?

Anyway.

We bought some delicioso Thai mango chicken and something-BBQ chicken (I seem to be having as much trouble returning to full-on vegetarianism as I am giving up my Diet Coke habit), lo mein, flied lice, and fried platanos (yum!) for dinner. Chloë surprised me by completely chowing down, even more than Sophie did, I think. Once in a while, Chlo can really pack it away.

So I couldn't find the boutique, left the mall to go across the street, walked around for about ten minutes, went back to the mall, and finally went into Nordstrom (or "Nerd Storm," as Sophia has hilariously dubbed it) to ask for help. I thought it would be in there, knowing how much the coffee machines I was to evaluate cost, but I was wrong. Argh. More walking, and I have a huge blister from Orlando on my left pinky toe.

Rob and the kids were still out in the car by this point, having gone all over Aventura to track this damn shop down, which really cut into my mileage and per-hour fees, y'know? It's a good thing I ended up getting a perfectly brewed cup of coffee and a pretty big fee out of that shop, or I'd have been more upset. I still haven't shut up about that coffee. If I didn't have the Keurig, I might be tempted to buy one of these guys, outrageous price tag notwithstanding.

After the coffee boutique, we headed NW to Sawgrass Mills, a freakin' enormous mall with everything from Old Navy and The Gap to Jimmy Choo and other lux brands. Sawgrass Mills is to the left of Fort Lauderdale, if you're following along on a map. I had to go there to do three valet parking and one retail shop. One of the valet stands no longer exists, though, so it's anyone's guess whether I'll get my fee for a 'closed' shop (sometimes you get paid even if the place isn't there anymore) or not. After we parked at the first place, we had to wander around the mall a little bit to kill time. There were these cool spiral-shaped fountains there, and this one was empty, so we let the kidoodles walk around on top of it. I love the stance and look on Jack's face, like he's in Jurassic Park or something.

We happened across an arcade, Gameroom (which Sophia amusingly decided should be called "Gam-er-OOM" instead of the real pronunciation), so after checking that prices weren't outrageous, I decided to load a game card with a little cash and turn the kids loose. We were the only people there, so they had the run of the place. It's like a giant, grown-up Chuck E. Cheese's in there or something. I've not been to a Dave & Buster's yet, so I can't compare.

We went around, sliding the card for one kid after the other, for about a half-hour. Each kid won a ton of tickets at their games. Here, Sophia was on a machine where she had to jump when the light was on "STOP" to win lots of tickets. Not shockingly, she was great at it. This kid is good at pretty much everything she attempts. Except cleaning her room, but I'm starting to think that's a conscious effort on her part...

I told Chloë, "I don't know why you guys love playing the Claw Game so much. It's almost impossible to win anything!" but they don't care. They'll care when it's their money, I'm betting.

Jack loves to prove me wrong. He won this humongo ball from - you guessed it - a Claw Game. A gigantic Claw Game, one of four adjacent to each other. He was, to put it mildly, thrilled. So was I - we can use it for P.E. class! Never mind that the thing is as big as he is.

Speaking of huge games, Chloë found this big Connect 4 and had to play that. She won, too, but it's a pretty easy thing to do when you have no competitor...

When Rob helped the kids feed their earned tickets into the redemption machine, they'd gotten 209, I think, for their little bit of money. I showed them all the things that could be gotten for 200 tickets, and they weren't impressed, so I showed them some things they could save up for, and which would they rather do? Miracle of miracles, they decided to bank their tickets for another time. You could've knocked me over with a feather; they've never gone that route when I've tried to convince them in the past!

::SNIFF:: My little babies are growning up.

Anyway.

We went and did another parking shop at the same city mall, as well as the retail store I mentioned above. It was silly, because that store has a similar name to a much more well-known, popular brand (see photo above for hint), and I had to ask in the no-name shop if they were the big-name one. Kind of embarrassing, but I love to embarrass myself, so I didn't care. I like to play games with these shops when they don't give me a specific scenario: I make up something ridiculous, just to gauge the reaction I'll get. This time, I went in there insisting that I had to have a yellow tank top; no other color would do, because I simply did not have enough yellow in my wardrobe. The guy who helped me cracked up; he couldn't help it. If you're crazy and you know it, clap your hands!

We headed back East then to Fort Lauderdale to do a really fun (or at least it was supposed to be) shop that the kids had been anticipating for about a week. I expected a much more professional, business-like outfit than the disorganized, badly-in-need-of-my-services one we encountered, however, which meant a long report was going to have to be written. I love doing the shops themselves; going home and doing the reports is another matter. I don't mind doing them, but I do, admittedly, seem to have a problem getting them done in a timely manner. I make sure to write kick-ass reports to make up for it, though!

We had time to kill, once again, between portions of this last shop for the night, and once again everyone was ravenous, so I checked in to our location on Foursquare to find recommended places to eat. We were in the Las Olas Shops section of Ft. Lauderdale by that point. All of the recommendations were too far to go in order to eat and be back to the place where we needed to return in an hour, so we looked around for inspiration. At first, I thought we'd go to the crépe restaurant - who doesn't love skinny pancakes?! - but then we spotted a cheese-and-whine bistro next door, and yeah, they had me at 'cheese.' I love cheese. Jack, who doesn't, was less than thrilled and refused to eat, so I promised him something else when we got back to Penelope.

If you're looking around for a place to eat in Las Olas, I recommend the Cheese Culture. The food was outstanding, and the ambiance was really cool. It's not a place for kids, and they don't have a menu for them either, but it sufficed. Especially since we ate outside on the otherwise-deserted patio, away from the rest of the grown-ups. People seem to get grouchy when their fancy date nights are disrupted by bickering little ones, for some reason... I want to go back sometime when we have a babysitter.

The girls shared an "Ultimate Grilled Cheese" sandwich, with gruyere and Emmenthaler cheese melted on a delicious ciabatta, and I had a bite. It was splendid! Rob and I each had a "Build-Your-Own" sandwich. I forget what he got, except for the greens on the side that were good but got left behind when I told him we had to dash off to get back to our shop location on time - bummer. I had turkey, fresh mozzarella, baby greens on a baguette with garlicky basil mayonaisse. I don't usually like mayo, but it sounded (and was) good. The food delivery had artistic flair to match the out-of-this-world flavor. The server was a little dingy but sweet, and she agreed we should return on a parents-only date night. I bought a bottle of wine from her, a sweet Moscato that we have yet to open, and she gave me a discount for which I didn't even ask. Nice place.

Kilwin's, a chocolate shoppe in Las Olas, was just a few store fronts down from Cheese Culture, so I stopped in to peruse the goods. I am first and foremost a chocolate fanatic and second a chocolate-coconut truffle fiend, so I'm forever on the hunt for the perfect one. I found it once, at a candy store on the Jersey Shore, but its match has been elusive ever since. They had huge coconut chocolates at Kilwin's; I bought a couple, and they were all right, but definitely not perfection. Alas, I'll keep looking.

I purchased some more truffles while I was there, though, about ten or twelve. Obstensibly for Robert, though I don't think he's had a single one yet. I bought him the raspberry ones, which he tends to love, along with some mocha, mint, and other delicious goodness I can no longer remember. These chocolates weren't cheap, being in the neighborhood of $23/lb and up, so imagine my chagrin when I woke up the next morning to find the cats had knocked them off the table and used them for hockey pucks!

We returned to our previous location to finish the half-begun assignment and go home. It was late by then, about 10:30 PM. Obviously, we weren't in NYC, but there's a hint for you. The return was more pleasant than the first leg, but they still blew it. Like I said, they need me. Desperately. I'll fix 'em, I will!

Apropos of nothing much, Rob told me recently that I should open my own mystery shopping company. I don't know. I doubt I'd do it, though it would be fun.

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I had reports to write when we got home, but I was cold and exhausted. I decided to treat myself to some JAFRA Spa pampering, and it was just the right call to make. I was in smelly-good heaven, relaxed and soft of skin and hair. It felt amazing. I even tried to nap in the bathtub, but I didn't want to pull a Whitney, so it didn't take. Sorry, that was crude.

Ahhh... so refreshed! (That's unretouched Instagramography, there. Thanks, JAFRA!)

If you want to win some awesome JAFRA products, by the by, friend me on Facebook. I'm having a fun FB party online this week and yes, there will be prizes!

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On Thursday morning, Rob unfortunately woke up with a pretty nasty cold, so it kinda sucked that we had about 10 hours of mystery shops to do in the Keys that day. And yeah, he is totally playing the part of military retiree these days. Hanging out in the Keys, fishin', growin'a  beard... people are always like, WHAT. is THAT. on his FACE?! Haha. Although, one of my friends did say he's kinda smokin' with the beard, and of course I agree. I ♥ my little Fur Face...

The first shop in Key Largo was interesting. It was inside an exclusive, gated village, and the words "hoity-toity" come to mind. Now, I've been in exclusive, gated villages before (and I don't mean gated apartment complexes like the one we live in now), in places like Hilton Head and whatnot, but this was something else again. They had a whole town in there, with grocery and fishing and shoe and other stores, and it was definitely an Old Money community. I felt spectacularly out of place. The gate guard took my driver's license, called up the shop where I ad to evaluate the service, and asked them permission to let me enter. I wasn't expecting that. I'm not a gawker or anything, not too much, but I gawked, y'all.

I had to do a high-end fishing store shop. Rob is a fisherman. He knows what he's talking about. Me, I don't collect and kill animals as a general rule (no offense) (maybe a little), so I had no clue. I tried to inveigle him into coming into the store with me and running the show, but he wasn't down with it. So I had to go in there and wing it. I played up my scenario thusly: I'm getting gifts for my fisherman husband and I don't know what I'm doing, so please help me out. It worked. I bought him four clouser saltwater fishing flies - though he doesn't have a saltwater rig yet - and he was happy with them. Win.

I had to drive south to Marathon after that and evaluate the company there that, uh, well, see the picture above? I can't exactly spell it out for you, because that would give it away. Anyway, the guy I talked to there was amazing. He completely blew me away with his keen interest in environmental initiatives. Y'all know I'm a raging environmentalist, so we really hit it off. I'll probably go back and talk to him some more on my own and have him give my kiddos a tour of the facility someday, too. This guy was GREEN, folks. True green. I loved it. Also, he gave me a way cool "welcome to the neighborhood" gift of 4-5 reusable canvas bags, an electronics charger that shuts down after the device is fully charged to stop vampire electricty suckage, a nifty keychain, lots of information printouts, and more. Color me impressed.

It had been storming like the dickens in the Keys between the first two assignments, and there came a point where Sophia and I really had to pee. Water rushing down the windows didn't help that situation much, you know? So Rob drove us right up to the door of a Hom Depot, and in the ½-second it took us to get out of Penelope and into the Depot, we were completely drenched. Which meant we were freezing when we returned to the air-conditioned van after emptying our respective bladders. That's probably what helped along my cold, from which I'm now suffering. Anyway, it was quite the tropical storm. When we got to Key West a couple of hours later, the roads were all rivers. Lakes. I haven't seen that much rain since 1995, during Tropical Storm Gordon my freshman year at U-Miami.

We arrived in Key West much earlier than we needed to be there, so we drove around a while and returned to the souvie shop where I'd bought my red wrap dress/skirt/thingy the week before. I think I showed it to you? If not, here it is:

It's amazing versatile and, I think, pretty flattering, depending on how I tie it. For twenty bucks, I can get several styles of dresses, skirts, and tunics out of it, so I wanted to get a yellow and a teal one, too. That I did. I accidentally bought the floor-length ones, though, which is okay but not ideal. I'll just have to tie them the other ways that don't work with the red one, right?

After that, Rob wanted to go fishing. He knew we'd end up down there way earlier than my assignment required, so he'd brought down a few poles, a cooler, and a bucket to prepare. We drove around on a wild goose chase for a while, trying to find a decent place to fish, before someone in a Circle K just told us to go the marina. You're not supposed to fish there, but he said they were cool about it, since it was the end of the charters' day. Worse thing that could happen was they'd tell us to leave, so we went.

The fish weren't biting for him, though. I think he was disappointed. I was, I know that much. I may not like to catch 'em and clean 'em - although back in my Mote Marine Lab days, I was pretty good at filleting the snook for the grouper and snapper - but I don't mind cooking and eating them these days. I'm trying to quit... but not that hard! ;) 

After an hour or so, he packed it up, and we went off in search of dinner and gas for Penelope. We didn't want to eat out anywhere, needing to save our cash, so we ended up at the Publix nearest my next assignment. Rob and the kids stayed in the car while I shopped for sandwich fixin's on the cheap. Bologna and American cheese it was; I splurged on good rolls. I got back in the car and told the kids, "Here are your choices: You can have boloney and cheese, or you can not eat. That's it." Guess what? They ate.

Finally, it was time to head over to one of the movie theaters on the island for my last assignment. Sophia was my date, having won the title of "Best Behaved Child" (can you believe it?!) after our trip to Orlando earlier in the week. We had planned to see The Croods for her sake, but it was 3D, and no upgraded movies were allowed for the job, so we went to see Iron Man 3 instead. It was the only one left that was semi-appropriate for an 8-year-old. I wasn't terribly excited, not having seen IM or IM2, but I was happy to have my fun baby as a companion. She did not disappoint.

The movie turned out to be really entertaining. It held my interest from start to finish, and hello?! I knew this already, but the movie reaffirmed it: Robert Downey Jr. is farking HOT. Oh, my word. I may have drooled. Cute butt, too. I think wardrobe did a really good job with him (as did his parents' genes). Honestly, though, I didn't expect to NOT be bored throughout the movie, and there wasn't one single second of that. I don't normally go for superhero movies - not since Christopher Reeve as Superman, anyway - but this was extremely well-written and -acted. In a nutshell, I liked it. Go see it. I'd even watch it again. And not just for RDJ. Much.

*~*~*~*~*~*

We got home from Key West at something like four in the morning on Friday, and I had all those reports to do. But I didn't. I tried, man. I tried. I was beyond exhausted by that point, though, and went to lie down "for a little bit." You guys, I didn't even get up until 9 PM on Friday to pee or anything! Crazy. So I missed a bunch of shops that I've since rescheduled, all my reports were late (ahem, but what else is new?), and I had a killer migraine. I needed that sleep, though, so it's all good, I guess.

And now? I have more shops to do. See ya!

Fin.

Not-So-Wordless Wednesday: Earth Day 2013

It's super-annoying that Typepad doesn't seem to wanna auto-save anymore, and I lose almost an entire kick-ass post when the screen freezes. But anyways...

While I was going about my business preparing for our Earth Day picnic on Monday, Rob came out wearing this Navy-issue peacoat, with the Meerschaum pipe in his mouth, saying, "Picture me on the bridge of our boat, steering across the Atlantic..." and I totally could. Can you? Course you can. It's still our dream, y'know. In a heartbeat, we would...

I had been searching on the old innernet for Earth Day activities and crafts when I came across The Nature Conservancy's All Hands on Earth picnic website. The idea, in a nutshell, is to foster sustainable food-eating practices by buying local and in-season to reduce, you know, gas and energy consumption from the production and distribution of worlds-away, out-of-season, uh... I said that way better the first time, but you get the gist, right? Right.

I had no fundage available at the time to run out to the Farmer's Market and pick up some deliciousness, so I figured I'd just use what we already had on hand to reduce waste, live frugally, and other great things we try to practice on a daily basis. I had cooked a bunch of chicken tits in the Crock-Pot the night before and still had half a -Pot left, so I tore that up and added some gorgonzola cheese crumbles leftover after our salad fixin's were used up, along with some apples I diced to add some sweetness and crunch. Along with some seasonings and Miracle Whip (Rob's fave), it was aces all around. Total yummo.

We chose Biscayne National Park as the nearby destination for our picnic because, despite the fact that it's too far to walk or ride a bike for us, the idea of Earth Day connotes (to me, anyway) surrounding oneself in the beautiful precious natural resources of our planet, and so it seemed a fitting locale. The last time we were there, I'd gotten a wicked bad sunburn from being too stupid to put on SPF before lying down on a towel with my library book. I just discovered what appears to be a melanoma - for which I'm going to the doc in about 7½ hours - on my chinny-chin-chin Monday morning, so I wasn't taking any chances with those harmful UV rays. We took along everything from SPF 30 all the way up to 85+. Although, really? Is that fo'real?

 

Aside from our afore-mentioned chicken salad on both spinach and sun-dried tomato wraps (also already on hand), we had mango cubes (I'd searched for a YouTube video on cutting them perfectly:

 

and it was spot-freakin'-on. Worked like a charm, after many failed attempts on my part.)

Plus, I threw in a bunch of bagged cereal for snacks, and Sophia snuck in half a pound cake for good measure. We served everything on reusable napkins and wrappers, and a pitcher of fruit punch was served in regular ol' plastic kids' cups. Leave no trace, leave the place better than when you found it, and all that.

When Jack dropped a piece of his cereal, this duck walked boldly up to him and looked askance. Not in the "how dare you?!" sense of the word, but "how dare you not feed me?" sense. He stayed there, quacked a few times, and made Jack squirm and squeal a whole bunch. It was hilarious.

We really laughed out loud a moment later when the two ducks on the bottom and left waddled up in perfect unison, speeding zip-zip along the sand to get their pieces of the proverbial pie. They didn't get any from us, although I noticed Sophia "accidentally" dropped one or two their way. Soon a fourth joined the flock, and by then we were surrounded by Muscovies looking to join our Earth Day picnic. Fun times.

After lunch, I sent the kids off on a Nature Treasure Hunt geared for kids aged 8-11, which, hey, is perfect since that's what range my kids all fall into, hey? The first one (of ten) was: "Find a place where an animal made a home," so off they went toward the mangroves to find nests or burrows. The three quickly spotted deep, wide holes in the ground and decided something had dug its way in, and I couldn't argue with that, so I gave them credit.

The second one directed them to make fairy homes out of natural objects, so Sophie had the idea to make teepees out of dried-out palm leaves. Chloë and Jack quickly followed suit; all but Chloë got them to stand without being held.

3. Find a seed - Easy! They just had to look up at the big palm trees everywhere to find them hanging out like so many, um, testicles. (What can I say? It's where the mind automatically goes.)

4. Make a tool, like a hammer or drawing stick. Jack, not being terribly imaginative, picked up a stick and started drawing. Okay, fine. Sophia, surprisingly equally unimaginative, picked up a stick and started hammering the top of her fairy teepee. Okaaaay, Chloë? She picked up a stick and pretended it was a screwdriver, driving, er, screws into the dirt. Better, but totally uninspired. Still, we moved on.

5. Find or name two things that all living things need to survive. The kids shouted out things like, "A home!" "Air!" "Food!" "Water!" etc. This one was too easy for this age group, IMO.

6. Listen for five sounds, including both human ones and otherwise. They listened to birds singing, people shuffling their feet on a nearby path, folks talking, boats' engines starting up at the marina next to us, and the wind whispering through the trees. That last one was my favorite.

7. Find a place where a plant-eater would be happy. Again, in a national park, way too easy.

The eighth one was super-cute. They had to spy on a bug. Jack crouched down first and watched an ant go ten ways to Sunday, all over the sand. Sophia and Chloë traced their own insects, and soon they all met up, head-to-head, with their daddy. I was thinking he probably wished he had a magnifying glass to light 'em on fire, because that's just the kind of Bob he is, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe.

9. Find a pattern in nature. They all came up with A-B-A-B-A-B patterns, so I challenged them to find something other than that. Jack was the first to do so; he found spirals projecting out from the center vein of a leaf, and I was proud.

10. Find something other than an animal that can live in water. First, they named about 3400 different animals before noticing us crossing our arms over our chest, tapping our feet and rolling our eyes all over the place. "Ohhhhh! Like seagrass?" Yeah. Duhhh.

We were done with that, and rather than do sunprints, they decided to go swimming again. Fine and good, but I was freezing and wasn't joining in. The lifeguard came over to speak at us about letting them go too far out without a parent right there (in zero waves, with a lifeguard spitting distance away, but whatevs), so Rob went in while I lay in the sun and fried a little more. My SPF 85+ was failing me, y'all! I reapplied.

Then, Rob rigged up his fishing poles and took us to go fishing. Well, took the kids, while I followed along for some Instagramography of whatever they caught (big fat nothin', it turned out). But check this sign - crocodiles?! In Florida? Gators, sure - we'd seen an 8-footer the last time out, in the canal near our house - but crocs? Who knew? Not I, not me, not us. Jack was determined to find one, but we didn't.

Also, I'm pretty sure they stole that croc drawing from Peter Pan.

 

Rob didn't have any bait, so he used a Sabiki Rig to try and catch some. He cast waaay far out, and then near, and then far again... but not even the pinfish were biting. So the kids and I went exploring while he kept trying.

We went up to the end of the walk, which culminated in, like, a pier, and looked out at the water. Another fisherman was next to us, so they meandered over to him to see what he was doing. "Fishing." What do you have on your hook? "Bait." He amused me. The kids kept pressing. My kids are pressers. So we learned this about him: He was originally from Ithaca, New York, now lived in Texas, and was here in Miami on temporary extra duty. He had never fished here before and insisted that pinfish couldn't be used to catch snapper, grouper, or larger fish, but Rob taught him how to rig the baitfish for better success (not that he was having any, but he had on previous outings, after all). He was fishing with live shrimp. I had about seventy-nine more facts about him on the tip of my brain, but they all just scattered because of course, I need them right now. Oh, and he gave Rob a beer. That was nice. Maybe it was a consolation prize, since neither man was having any luck with the fishies that day.

 

Rob gave up for a while, and just then, a manatee came into view, swimming toward the harbor. Another, smaller (I'm guessing female) sea cow swam toward him, and they met nose-to-nose for a few moments before the female turned, and they both swam away in the direction of the marina. It all happened too fast, just like with alligator the other day, for me to get a good picture, so all I have is this one of the four of them looking and pointing. It was SO breathtaking, Chloë was near tears, Sophia couldn't stop exclaiming, and my heart was racing. What wondrous things we've seen in our month here so far!

 

And then, if that weren't enough, a pelican flew in and landed near us. The kids thought that was just fantastic; they walked over and got in the big bird's face, not knowing how aggressive those things can be. They want fish, and they want it now. The pelican squawked, flapped its wings, and moved toward them. They yelped and jumped back, while I laughed. A third fishergent caught a pinfish - at last! - and threw it in the center of the pier. The kids gawked while the pelican stormed over there and gobbled it up. Only, the fish was spreading its rays, and the bird couldn't swallow it. We all watched, helpless, as it gagged and regurgitated the fish repeatedly, struggling to get it down its gullet with no success. What to do, what to do? Call a park ranger? Finally, with one loud gulp, the fish was choked down and bulging in the pelican's neck. Whew! What a relief.

We went home, exultant in our beautiful day, reliving all the amazing sights we'd seen.

Hope you all had a happy Earth Day, recycling and reusing and reducing. Remember to link up here if you're wordless - or not - today, too!

Fin.

A Day (And A Half) In The Life...

It was Road Trip time again for the four youngest members of Team Odette this past weekend. Rob couldn't go, because he had duty and had to stand watch. Suck. I was hoping he'd be able to join, but alack and alas, no such luck this time.  I'm going to present the 36 hours in chronological, timeline format, which I hope is interesting and not dreadfully dull. If it is, be sure and tell me, and I'll go weep in the corner with self-pity. Um, yeah. So away we go!

Friday

1230: The children and I set off from our home in Portsmouth, VA, to points northward. Washington, D.C., to be specific. The trip should've taken 3-3½ hours, but ends up taking a little longer because of some heavy duty weekend traffic out of Hampton Roads.

1630: We arrive in downtown D.C. Because I've been chugging beverages all along the route, and despite a rest stop, my enormous bladder is full to burstin'. I finally find somewhere to park and then realize I have zippo change for the bloody meter, which doesn't take the $1 coins I received for change from my $20 bill at the rest stop vending machine. Arghhh!

1630-1700: We race around, finding plenty of signs like the above, first to get change for the meter (18 minutes' worth for a buck, ugh) and then find a place to make weewee. Nowhere. Nowhere to GO! Finally, at last, and por fin, I found a restaurant that would allow us to use the facilities. How do you spell relief?!

Relief. Get it?!!

1700: I now have exactly one hour left to complete the mystery shop I'm there to do, which necessarily has to take a full hour. I'm cutting it short on time. It takes me five minutes to find a parking space in the zone of my shop, which I'll explain more about later, and it is a pay-by-app or -phone spot. The app won't download - no signal in D.C.? Really?! - so I call the number. I have to give my license plate info first: CARE PKG. I spell it once, twice, thrice, and the system hangs up on me after successive failures. Repeat once more. The third time, I get smart and spell it phonetically: Charlie Alpha Romeo Echo Papa Kilo Golf. Success! But then... after setting up my credit card number and getting an account established, I input the parking meter number, and the system tells me that I cannot park there after 4:00 PM on weekdays. Then,

LOTS of them.

1725: I call my scheduler, give him the lowdown on the sitchy-ation, and ask if I can come back to do the evaluation on the 'morrow. He shuffles around some assignments, 'cause it matters whether it's done on the weekend or a weekday, and gives me the green light. Whew. We head out of the District, north to Maryland.

1820: We make it to the hotel where I'm doing a mystery shop that night, check in, throw our stuff in our room, and head back out to go do yet another mystery shop.

1955: After stopping at McD's to grab the kids some dinner and getting lost a few times, we arrive due west for our next mission: three games of laser tag! The kids are overjoyed; I've surprised them with this gig. They LOVE laser tag, having played it for shops twice before, and are now downright giddy. I have another surprise in store for them, too:

 

My old college pal Play-Doh, from our joint alma mater,

works nearby and met us there to play, too! The kids LOVE Play-Doh, and now they were brimming with the energy of crazed children that only comes out when the excitement is extreme. You parents know what I'm talkin' 'bout! They were all over him, jumping on him, climbing on him, etc., in a heartbeat, and I could barely get in a hug. The five of us had a blast playing laser tag (I kicked PD's arse 2 out of 3 times, woot), arcade games, snacking, and hanging out, until my shop was complete.

2215: We parted ways with PD and headed back East to the hotel. I got lost again a few more times. Dang, I miss Sue, my GPS! I had my iPhone GPS, but it just ain't the same.

2330: Tired - nay, exhausted - and gross from the long day in the car and games, I quickly do what I need to for the shop that night, before plopping the kids in front of the tube (because they're waaaay too wound up to sleep at this point), while I go soak in the tub. Ahhh.

Saturday

0015: I'm still working on getting my as-yet-hyper babes to sleep, while trying to get some work done on the laptop. I'm unsuccessful at both, so I give up trying. All the lights get turned out, I set my alarm, and crash. I assume the kids do, too.

0830: I wake up just in time to go have breakfast before they shut it down, then head back to the room and crash some more. I'm soooo tired still.

1200: The kids and I finally rouse ourselves, an hour past check-out time. I've totally slept through my alarm and wake-up call. Whoops! We take 15 minutes and race around the room, getting dressed, packing up, and movin' on out. I go check out at the front desk, where I obviously don't look as shabby as I think I do, because the clerk is practically undressing me with his eyes. He's cute, so I let him. Ha.

1340: We arrive back in the zone of my evaluation of the streets of D.C. and park. I can't really tell you too much about it, other than that I'm basically mystery shopping the city itself. Yes, I'm that badass. I kid, I kid. We walk around my assign streets, doing what I need to be doing, and the kids all develop blisters as we go. The streets are clean enough, so I let them go barefoot. In downtown Washington, D.C. In the summer. On hot sidewalk granite. I'm an excellent mother. :\  We come across this little pond, an oasis in the desert city, and they look longingly at it. I look around, see no one in authority to stop us, and quickly let them dip their feet in the pondlet. They gab on and on about how good it feels. On we march, to finish the job.

When we come back across the Washington Monument, which the kids easily recognize in such a monument-filled ciudad, the kids insist on having their picture taken in front. Note that I'm still camera-less, save my iPhone, so quality is less than awesome.

1520: I finish my assignment, and we get back to the vicinity of the car park where Penelope is waiting. I know Play-Doh is busy studying in Georgetown for a major upcoming exam, so I call him up and offer to bring him some lunch for a study break. He happily accepts.

1610: After getting lost a few more times (!!!), we finally find la escuela where PD is studying. Immediately, the kids jump out of the car and begin climbing all over him again. PD is child-free, so far, so I offer him a few of my own. He laughingly declines. I try to get a decent picture of the kids and Play-Doh and end up with this lovely work of art:

Gee, thanks for putting the sammich down for 30 seconds, Jack! Sheesh!!

A little more chit-chat, a few more hugs, and PD is off to get back to studying.

1630: We head back out of the District, back into Virginia, for our next destination in Williamsburg, for another surprise mystery shopping assignment for the kids.

1845: We arrive at our destination at last, to the kids' total excitement. They are having way too much fun on this trip! We head in and go look at a bunch of weird, wild and wacky shiznat.

Like, this maneless, albino male lion, which the kids insist over my protests is a tiger...

... and this two-headed calf, which Sophia obviously thinks is wicked crazy.

I let them play the target-shootin' game, and it turns out that Jack is quite the ace with a BB gun! The girls each get a shot or two in, but Jack manages about ten! Nice. Maybe he'll grow up to be an expert marksman like his daddy is.

Sophia was busy looking at this slow-fast-slow-fast motion demo, when Chloë hollered at her to come try the laser obstacle course room. Oh, and we went through this groovy tunnel on a bridge, made with an optical illusion effect so you think you're spinning around and going upside-down instead of just walking straight through it. I loved it; meanwhile, it made all three children CRY. Yes, cry. Group hug time.

Feeling badly, I let the kids do the claw machine, which we all know never works. You never win these things. Ever. But guess what?! On the first time, Jack and I tag-teamed that bad boy and won these kids a one-eyed stuffed puppy they named Ripley. Woot!

Before we leave to go next door and watch the 4D movie, I insist we all get in the photo booth for a group sesh. Here's the result. We so crazeh!

2020: Finally, we're done with our shops and are ready to head home. I text Rob and tell him that we'll see him in about an hour. Ha. HA! I say.

1159: Over 3½ hours later, because the main Interstate (64) from the Peninsula down to the Southside of Hampton Roads is closed for the weekend at the same time as another alternate route in what can only be described as the most brilliant fecking move EVER, leaving the entirety of Hampton Roads to bottleneck through the last remaining resort, we get home. That, up there, is a full bladder. All of us had one, though mine had to have been about 90x that size, I swear. I barely made it!

That brings us to the end of our journey. But one more thing. You may have read a recent Friday Fragments post in which I challenged you, my readers, to play me on Words With Friends? Well, one such soul decided to take me up on that, and I spent the weekend being positively TROUNCED by such individual. My pride is wounded. I rarely get beaten, and never so badly, so I have a message for you, KO:

Imma gonna getcha! May take me 100 games, but when I do, well... Imma put a hurtin' on ya! ;)

Have a great week, pals!

Fin.

Product Review & Party: Bobble Bots Moshi Monsters

Disclaimer: We were provided with a huge party pack from MommyParties and Bobble Bots in order to have a giveaway party with our friends and write this review. No monetary compensation took place. All opinions are, and will always be, my own.

A long, long time ago (like, six months ago, no lie), we were sent this really awesome party pack from the sponsors mentioned above, but because of circumstances beyond our control, we weren't able to have the party until my birthday cook-out this past weekend. Better late than never, right?! And LOOK at everything we received: Four playsets worth $19.99 each (the Bizarre Bazaar Store, Gross-ery Store, Ice Scream Store, and Yukea Store), two Starter Sets worth $9.99 each (I'm not sure which two, honestly!), TEN individual Moshlings worth $5.99 each, and three spare packages of batteries for the Moshlings, which we didn't actually need AT the party and divvied up amongst the four families in attendance. WOW!! What a great pack.

(And yes, the awesomeness of said pack made me feel guilty for taking SO long to have the party! But I digress...)

Before long, our guests arrived, and it was time to start the Moshi Monster Bobble Bots battle for global domination!!! Er, um, I mean, split the kiddos into two teams and let them quite literally "go to town," setting up their designated Monstro Cities and be the first team to get all their Moshlings to go into both Stores. It was quite a scramble for victory, amidst cries of, "I need help opening this!" and "I want this one! I want that one!" Yup, we let 'em duke it out, just like that.

(Click collage to embiggerate.)

There was a great deal of running around, clamoring for parental attention to small pieces and parts that needed help being separated from their packaging, but it was fun times for all involved. NO TEARS, thankfully, as every family ended up getting a piece of the party to take home for later. But first, who won?!

Team A got their Monstro City set up and their Moshlings vibrating and bopping around from store to store, claiming victory about 20 minutes or so into the game. But wait! ...

.... At the same second, Team B declared their own victory over Moshi-land! Well, it was a good thing the prizes were the playthings themselves and dinner was ready at that moment, because I had to declare it a tie. And what kid likes a tie? None I've met. Hee. NO TEARS, people, that's the important thing to remember. They really, really liked the Moshi Monsters party, I say in my best Sally-Field-wins-an-Oscar voice!

But guess what else?! That's not the end! Oh, nooo...

There's a whole Moshi World online, here, where the Moshlings can be "adopted" and played with in educational games and activities, much like Webkinz World, for those of you familiar with that site. And, of course, it's FREE!

Here's what a couple of the parents had to say about Bobble Bots:

Saritah: "Moshi Monsters Bobble Bots were a lot of fun. The kiddos really enjoyed reconfiguring the setup with the litle decorations and having their moshlings run all over them. We had never heard of them before, but now my kids are all talking about who is going to collect more moshlings!"

Gotcha: "My three year old loves his Moshi Monster Bots.  We created an online account and he enjoyed choosing his monster and setting up its home. The games so far are too hard for him, but it gives us time to spend together and he enjoys tickling his monster. He has played nicely at the table with his Battle Bots Gross-ery store many times over the last couple days and is really enthralled with them. As expected the batteries have already started to fail from the heavy use, so we are grateful for the spares! 

"I did look for more Battle Bots at the store but only found collectible figurines of the Moshis which he did not seem as interested in, he likes the vibrating/running around aspect of the Battle Bots."

Alodeuri: "The kids enjoyed the Moshi Bots, they are a tad noisy and the small pieces have to be monitored because of the baby, but they did enjoy them. They mostly just focused on the little bots and not the town part. They have been playing with them."

As for me and mine, we haven't had a chance to set them up either in person or online yet, because we homeschool and have been busy with that (though all three of the other families do as well, so go, you guys!), but we definitely will! I'll be looking for more Moshlings in store and/or online as well, because I know they really enjoyed playing with them at our party!

Moshlings and their playsets can be found at Target, Toys 'R Us, online, and other fun retailers, so let me know if you check 'em out and what fun you've had, too!

☼

Thanks, MommyParties & Bobble Bots for the fun Moshi Monsters party!! We're sorry it took us so long - forgive us?

Fin.

A Quick Jaunt to NoVa

On Friday, the 1st, we had to do a hotel mystery shop in Fredericksburg, and a laser tag shop an hour's drive north, around the D.C. area. So we left early in the afternoon to check in to the hotel, I did a quick survey of our (very nice) room, and we took off again for Alexandria.

Needless to say, my kids are getting to be quite excellent little car travelers. An hour's trip is nothing to them, now. "Is it going to take long?" means "Will it be five or more hours?" these days!

Anyway.

 

All of these pictures are from my iPhone, as I didn't feel like lugging around the big Nikon and then risking it getting stolen while I was playing the game. So they're kind of hazy, because it was dark in there. Sorry 'bout that. 

When we arrived around 1820, I learned that it's all-you-can-play after 2000 on Fridays, so I called up my old college friend, who now lives in D.C., to let him know. He decided to show up a little later to play. While we waited, the kids and I had some munchies, played games, rode the rides, and did all the other things that, unbeknownst to them, were part of my shop requirements. They didn't care, as they were having loads of fun!

 

Chlo was all excited to have won this squishy ball thingy. She is still playing with it constantly. It's like a stress-reliever ball for her. Hey, whatever works - she needs it!

 

Soph stealing a sip of my Diet Coke in between playing games and running around the arcade

I said, "Raise your hand if you're having fun!" and in response, they all lay down on their backs and raised everything. Goofballs, all three of 'em!

Finally, the kids made it over to the Skee Ball games - my favorite! I'm kind of good at it, but they wouldn't let me throw one, single ball. Stinkers. I coulda gotten them more prize tickets, but noooo... I'm just the Moneybags 'round here. Humph.

Finally, Clay arrived, ready to play Laser Tag. I wish this picture had turned out better, because it would have been pretty cute. Sophia really took to Clay, and I think he had a good time with all of my kiddos, too. He was one of my best buds at U.Miami, so of course I was happy to spend a few hours with him, too! (Plus, I kicked his ass at Laser Tag, big-time!!)

 

Is that thing a dog or a bear? We couldn't decide. This was when we were heading in for a briefing of the rules, before actually playing.

The game was so fun. We've played it before, but it was just the five of us, never a huge bunch of people like it was that night. Good times! Chloe completely deceived me. She came up to me, whimpering that she was scared (we were on opposite teams). I came closer to her to help her out, and she said, "Haha! I just wanted to get you!" and tagged me with her laser. That snot!!! I had to hand it to her though, it was a pretty good gag.

Our last game of the night, Sophia decided to sit it out because she'd developed a painful blister on her foot from all the running around. Of course, I couldn't leave her out there by herself, so I sat it out with her. Clay took the older two kids into the laser tag arena for me, and Soph snuggled with her Mama. She piled herself into my lap and played on my iPhone while I stroked her sweet (long!) hair and rubbed her warm self. She wanted to send kissy pictures to Daddy via Facebook, so we did that. She's my little look-alike! I keep meaning to get out pictures of myself as a kid and put them up next to her, to show how close we look. Or have I already done that? I swear, I have Alzheimer's.

In the briefing room of the laser tag game, Jack did what Jack is always doing these days: one of his awesome head stands. He learned how to do it at gymnastics class a month or two ago, and he's forever on his head. I mean, always, all the time, that boy is upside-down. He does a fantastic job, staying up for two or three minutes on a good one. I told him I'd give him five bucks if he could stay up there for five minutes, but he hasn't yet made it. 

So we said our good-byes to my old friend, and drove the hour back to Fredericksburg. It was nearly midnight by then, and the kids were starving. We ducked into the grocery store across from the hotel (the very awesome Wegmans, which I was shocked to find in Virginia, since I know them from growing up in New York) and got all kinds of nummies for a midnight snack, before heading back into our hotel room. 

The kids were SO wound up from all the excitement, that I thought they'd never sleep. They even outlasted me; I fell asleep around 0100, and they were still up watching TV. Finally I woke up an hour or two later and put the kibosh on the telly, and yes, it was quite fun trying to wake them up for breakfast the following morning. They barely kept their eyes open while they ate. 

And then, we checked out and went home - and the whole trip only took one tank of gas. Whee!

Fin.

Building A Legacy

Today was the annual Pinewood Derby race for my son's Cub Scout pack. The boys (Jack and Daddy) spent a lot of time last year on Jack's car, but this year it was rather rush-rush after the hustle and bustle of the holidays and then Rob's 8-day hospitalization. They made the car all in the past week, with Jack changing his mind about the design features several times in the process. We didn't have very high expectations for this year, after last year's First Place win in the Tiger Den! 

(And yes, I got on his case about what they were doing in the above picture!)

 

Last night, Rob took Jack to have the car weighed and impounded, as is the night-before custom. (The girls and I had some lovely time to ourselves, and we quite bonded, but that's for another time.)

 

This morning, none of our children wanted to get out of bed, after staying up super-late last night. Happily, we managed to make it to the church on time for the opening ceremony. Jack walked in the color guard - he's the one in the yellow neckerchief and mis-matched blue shoes above! So funny, he put on different shoes...

 

Cubmaster J, giving the announcements and rules update - isn't he a cutie??  Sadly, this is his last year with the pack, as his youngest son is moving up to Scouts soon. Rob was thinking about taking over the position, but he's relieved someone else stepped up for the job. Now he's thinking about what he'll do instead. (Meanwhile, I volunteered my services today as Treasurer, Awards .. uh, person, or Events Chair... we'll see what I end up doing, but I want to give Jack equal time in scouting).

After the opening, we moved upstairs to the room where the track was located, which is the same room where Jack's Wolf Den meets weekly. The Tigers had their races, and it was so cute to watch them in the same place where we were just last year. Soon, the Wolves were up. We had no idea what to expect from Jack's car, but lo and behold, it consistently came in first for each heat! That's his car with the red/black fade, above, in the lead.

After the six Wolf heats, the older boys started to race, so we went down the hall to do some crafts. I had brought my knitting, which I really need to finish for the intended recipient, so I asked Rob to be in charge of helping with the crafts. Jack went by himself in the next room to build the Twinkie car he was SOOO excited to make, while the rest of us sat in the room where they were making clothespin neckerchief slides. Here they are, just getting started... I don't have any more pictures of those activities, because I was busy knitting. Sorry.

One of my Daisy girls has an older brother in Jack's den, and their dad (another cutie!!) was busy being the computer tech guy for the races, so he asked me to look after G during the day. I was happy to; she's a little sweetheart. Here are the girls waiting to be let into the lunch hall for pizza and snacks. Little G was SO excited to have one of the doughnuts her daddy had brought!!

After lunch, Cubmaster J handed out the Popcorn sale awards to the pack. Jack earned himself a fishing pole, so he and Dad will be doing lots of that together come Spring. (Rob is an avid fisherman, though he hasn't had a chance to do a lot of it in our decade together.) Cubmaster's Webelos 2 son sold about $2700 in popcorn, so I quickly hit up his mother for tips for next year!!

We had already done the crafts, so after lunch, the kids got into the Derby poser thingy and had their pictures taken. 

Sophia had the next turn.

I barely remember taking this picture, so I have no idea what's up with Chloë's expression!

The races seemed to go much faster this year, and soon is was time to announce the winners for each den. When the Wolves were announced, we moved up front in time to see Jack declared the winner for his den. Woohoo!!

Cubmaster J handing Jack his participation ribbon and First Place trophy

 

Jack barely had the patience to sit and watch his car race today, but he was really excited to be getting another trophy!

 

 

After all the den winners were announced, the first- and second-place winners from each one raced against each other to see who won for the pack overall. There was one super-fast car on the tracks which couldn't have been beaten without a wreck, so we knew that First Place was out of reach for us. So, what would it be? In the end, Jack happily came in second for his pack!

For the next trophy picture, I couldn't get him to take his eyes off the prize for even a second! He was so excited.

Jack posing with his Wolf den leader, who's fantastic

I managed to snag a very busy cubmaster for another pic with the two trophies, and he asked me if he was going to be reading about this on my blog again this year. Uh, whoops - I always get so embarrassed when I find out people I know in real life, locally, have read it!! So here you go, J!

We helped clean up the church when the Derby was over, and then we took our happy boy home. He asked me if he could put his new trophies upstairs on his dresser, but I told him no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks! Sophia would have them broken by bedtime. So they live on the mantel for now, where we can beam with pride at their growing collection. Now the boys have to get the car ready for Districts. Maybe this year, he'll have a chance! (Last year, his car broke.)

Go, Jack, go!

Fin. 

The Virginia State Fair

On the first of the month, the kids and I drove up to the State Fair, just north of Richmond. I woke them up at the buttcrack of dawn, because I had four early-morning mystery shops to do along the way. (Actually five, but we didn't make it to that last one in time.) En route to Doswell, we drove through Gloucester, Tappahannock, and Richmond. Those first two towns looked liked they'd be really cool to go exploring on another visit, so we plan to do just that.

After those four breakfast shops, I had lots of coffee, sandwiches and hash browns that none of us wanted to eat, so I put on my thinking cap to figure out where we could deliver them. Aha! What about the local fire or police department? Seemed like a good plan, so I did a quick search on my trusty iPhone for the nearest one, and a fire dept was nearby.

 
A half-hour and four false starts later, we finally arrived at the fire house. I had three little ones in PJs and me, all carrying a bag of food. When they opened the door, six fire fighters (including a female captain, woohoo!) all greeted us with smiles and curious looks. I explained why we were there and how I came upon all this unwanted food, and they were happy to take it off or hands. I did have to apologize for it not being as hot as it might have been, since I got lost so many times on the way there, but they didn't seem to care.

The chief who was visiting asked if we had time to take a tour of the trucks, and even though the Fair was now open, I said sure. Why pass up a chance to have a personal tour, even if they've all been before? One can always learn something new.

Unfortunately, I'd left my camera in the car, so I have no proof of this visit, but the kids had a blast trying on gear, talking into the trucks' headsets, and exploring all the equipment. The chief even gave them each a plastic fireman's hat to take home. When they were finished, we went back inside to say our good-bye's, and they thanked us for bringing them breakfast. All-in-all, it was a pretty cool impromptu visit.

  

We got to the Fair early enough that traffic and parking weren't so bad. We got right in, bought our tickets, and headed up to the area where all the animals were. After all, this was a school day, and technically I wanted to count this as a field trip, so it had to be at least partly edumacational. The first thing we ran into - after I spent a small fortune on a slice of cheese pizza for each of us, and Sophia promptly dumped her entire piece upside-down on the ground, to my extreme annoyance, that is - was the farm equipment. Jack, of course, was thoroughly delighted. He really wanted to climb up and see each machine, but that was definitely not allowed. The best we could do was get up close and take a few pictures.

This thing was massive! Jack was in awe. One nearby vendor's booth had models of many of the farm machines for toys, and Jack was enraptured. I'm definitely getting him one of them for Christmas, either a combine or a tractor. He hasn't decided which he wants for sure, so I guess I'll just pick one myself and start a collection for him.

After the tractors an' sech, we went into the first big tent, which was full of all kinds of farm animals on exhibit. We found some adorable bunnies, which immediately set the kids talking about missing Bounce and getting another pet rabbit. I'd love to, but we just re-homed our dog because she was one too many mouths to feed, so getting a bunny wouldn't quite make sense right now!

Besides, if I do get another pet wabbit, it's going to be one I can harvest for the fur! And then I'd have to learn to spin it...

Sophia made me nervous the whole time, because she just couldn't seem to hear me (and various other bystanders) saying, "Keep your fingers out of the cage!!" Thankfully, she didn't lose a single one. That time.

 

You can't really tell from the picture, but this bull was ENORMOUS. I couldn't stop looking at him.

 

Ass ass

These nursing piglets were sooooo cute!!! ♥

Thankfully, there was plenty of hand sanitizer all over the place in there. We used a LOT of it.

The kiddos were really excited when we went over by the alpacas and the owner had food for them to share. Sophia and Chloë kept laughing about the tickling sensation when they ate!

They're just so funny-looking! I really need to learn how to spin; alpaca fiber is among my favorites.

The chicks were also a big draw for my spawn. On the other side, there was an incubator with some still in the shells, some just emerging, and some fresh out of the shell. Those newly-hatched birds were flopped over, slimy, and unable to walk yet. The kids were so upset, thinking they were all dead! So I had to explain to them about that, and now they know. See? I told you a trip to the fair was going to be educational!

Big ol' pig boobs. I thought I had a hard time finding a bra that fits!

 

We don't have any floor fans, so the kids have never really had that classic experience of talking into a high-speed fan. When we walked by this one, I couldn't resist the opportunity to yell into it before inviting the kids to do the same. It was hard to pull them away, but we had so much else to see!

The next tent housed nothing but rabbits. They were all entered for ribbons and whatever prizes, so there was specimen after perfect specimen.  This guy was a blue ribbon winner. I don't know what happened to the other pictures, because I really wanted to show you a Lionhead rabbit, and I can't find them. Wait, there's always Google Images:

 

So silly looking!! I'd love one of this kind too, please.

 

After the bunnies, we visited the Pigeons and Doves tent, and Sophia, our resident bird-lover, was in seventh heaven. She would have stayed in there all day. I forget what this kind of pigeon was called, but they were really pretty. Sophia spent the rest of the entire weekend cooing like a dove. It was cute - for the first 19 hours...

We looked at a few more animal tents before heading back to the center of the Fair for one of those ice cream cones that is squared and covered in chocolate & nuts. Remember those? I used to love those when I was a kid. They were about $4 each, so I bought only one for them to share, and they were quite annoyed with me for that. When I told them it was either that or rides, though, the choice was clear. On the way to the rides, we found these posing boards, and they had a bit of fun there. My favorites were the Sesame Street and King Kong ones!

 

I hadn't planned on taking the kids on any rides until after 9, when Daddy had joined us after work and when ticket prices went down to 60 for $20. On our way out of the animal exhibits, however, a nice older couple stopped me and asked if we were going to go on the rides. I told them we were, and they handed me $50 worth of tickets!! They said they weren't going to use them and thought we looked like a nice family, so take them and have fun. I about kissed their feet. Thank you, nice older couple!

After we used up all the tickets they gave us, Chloë was absolutely begging for a funnel cake. I tried to talk her into fried dough instead, but she stood her ground. They wanted cherries on top, so this is what we got. Waaaay too many freakin' cherries, and none of us wanted to eat them. In the end, the four of us were only able to eat about half of this, and it killed me to throw the rest away when I knew Rob would have tore it up. 

Of course, I shouldn't have eaten a single bite of it, and Oscar (my pouch) proved it by making me run to the (very far away) bathroom to puke it up. Ugh. I still do it at least once a day, but it never fails to exhaust me. Since I hadn't slept the night before, I immediately needed a nap. I'd gotten the kids up so early, and they watched movies instead of napping in the car, and their feet were killing them... so not one of them complained when I said I needed to go back to the van for a nap. 

And so we went. I turned on a movie for the kids and immediately fell asleep myself. I don't know if any of them slept at all, but I think they did for a little while. The next thing I knew, a policeman and some other guy were rapping on my window to wake me up. It took me a minute to come to my senses enough to be able to roll down the window! They were just checking to make sure everything was okay, since the kids were awake and moving about the cabin by that point, and I was passed out in the front seat. I explained and thanked them for checking on us, and they left. 

By that point, the kids were restless, hungry, and tired of waiting for Daddy. I'd expected him around 1700, but it was 1900 by then. He didn't end up arriving until 2100, because of traffic, so that sucked. I should've just made him stay home!

 

To kill time before Daddy arrived and the ticket prices went down, I took the kids through the Expo halls. They didn't really like the arts and crafts one, because I wouldn't let them touch anything. I was annoyed to find at least three or four crocheted and knit pieces entered for prizes, made from famous patterns I recognized. Really? Aren't they supposed to be your OWN creations? Or am I misunderstanding things? Because if you can use famous, established patterns, then I'm totally entering next year.

Anyway. They love fish tanks and are always begging me to get one for them. I would, but where on earth would we put it? Tinkerbell and Star would love one too, I'm sure.

After the more educational hall, we went to the last one, which was all the cool stuff different vendors had for sale. The roasted nuts were right in front of the entrance. Tricky, tricky. I made a beeline for them, and they gave each of us a yummy sample. Sold! I bought us a small bag, and the kids pretty much inhaled them before I could blink twice. Hungry, much? Right next door was the Virginia Lottery booth. We couldn't do much with the kids there, until we came across Lady Luck here, ready to pose with the children. Jack wanted no part of that, and the girls were confused when they couldn't keep the magic wands. Kinda lame. Oh, well.

Jack was thrilled about this race car, but he doesn't look it here because he was absolutely starving. And I think maybe he was mad that he wasn't allowed to get in it, too.

In the same hall, we came upon this guy selling these cool hair wraps, made by hand out of polymer clay. The girls were all over those, so the guy convinced me to let him wrap the girls' hair with them. We didn't buy them, but I got his card and am going to get them some for Christmas from their website, here.  The had a whole bunch of different charms for the ends of the wraps at the Fair, but I don't see any online, so I emailed them about it. 

Sophia was up next. Isn't this exactly the kind of guy you picture doing little girls' hair?!

I thought it was sufficiently cute that I whispered in the guy's ear to give me a card so I could order these for Christmas. I don't know why I bothered to whisper, though, since I've since had the girls pick out which colors they want, off the site!

This guy's whole exhibit was these balls of goo that went SPLAT! when you threw them down or at the wall. My kids loved it, but there was no way I was plunking down even a dollar on that stuff. Makes me wonder if he even made enough money to pay for his booth. (Sophia loved it, though. I had to grab her arm mid-splat after the 15th time, to get her to move along.)

Finally, we left the exhibits and went outside to use the bathrooms. I think it was after nine by then, so I bought a sheet of 60 tickets for the rides. The kids were chilling in this Ferris Wheel seat, set up just for this purpose, when Rob called and said he'd arrived. At last! 

He couldn't find my van in the throng of cars, so the poor guy had to carry his motorcycle gear all over the fair with him. Less than fun.

 

The kids were excited that Daddy had come for more fun on the rides. We spent the next couple of hours all over the Midway (well, the "Kidway,") since they're not big enough yet for the "real" rides). Sophia, ever the bravest, coaxed us onto the high-flying, fast-soaring ones that she was tall enough to on, while Chloë and Jack continued to play it safe. We made ourselves sick on cheesy fries (YUM, my favorite fair food) and other stuff I can't remember, and generally had a really great time.

 

 

When the Midway finally closed, we were among the last people there. We yanked Chloë out of the bouncy house she was in, and were headed out, when she reminded me I promised they could play ONE game. Oh, yeah. You remembered that, huh, kid?

 

Of course I picked the balloon darts, because they were a guaranteed-win game. I thought I could do the 3-for-$5 and have each of them throw one dart, but then we would only have been able to get one prize. Shoot. So I had to pay two bucks per dart, which is just outrageous IMO. The fair these days... whew. Those guys are making BANK.

They all popped a balloon, which is great, but check out this lady's face when Jack threw his dart. Hee! That makes me laugh every time I look at it.

And so, we close the place down. During the day, I had made an unplanned stop to the fire department, thrown up, gone completely broke, been questioned by the police, and gained about three blisters... and it was fantastic. I LOVE THE FAIR!!!!

Fin.

P.S. The rest of the story wasn't so great: I was nearly falling asleep driving, so I pulled into the first rest stop I could find for a short "nap." Only, I ended up sleeping the whole night through, as did the kids, never realizing I'd forgotten to turn off the lights! We were broke, starving, and I was still so exhausted that it didn't occur to me that there were other options besides having Rob drive back up to jump the battery with his motorcycle. D'oh!  

Merrily We Roll Along

On Thursday afternoon, I took Jack back to see Dr. A (whose name you can plainly see there on his uniform) to have his ears checked again. And yes, Doc is approximately 14 years old. I called him Doogie once or twice before, to his amusement.

Doc could still see bubbles of fluid in both of Jack's ears, which is why I'm surprised and happy to tell you that as of that very morning, Jack could hear clearly again! He didn't tell me this himself; I 'tested' him as I do/did every morning, and when I whispered his name from out of sight, he answered me! It was a joyous discovery. When I questioned him about his hearing, he seemed delighted to report that everything sounded normal again. Phew! And without a milligram of medication!

Jack didn't particularly like the exam... poor babe!

At that point, Jack commandeered my camera, so the next couple of shots are from him. 

This was probably the last time we will meet with Dr. A., because he and his family (wife and two kids) are moving to Italy. Such is life when you go to a military clinic: you get attached to your provider, develop a rapport over a year or three, and then either they or you move on to the next station, and you have to start all over again.

It's the second time since we've been here that I'm really sad to say good-bye to a great doctor. The first time was the doc we had when Jack was first born. Both were 'great' in that they took their time with the patients AND the parents, listened to what we had to say, and included our input in the treatment plans. Neither made me feel "lesser-than," because I don't happen to possess a medical degree. I appreciate that immensely.

I often make this face when one of the kids takes my picture. I don't know why; it's just a habit. And I hate having my picture taken from down below. My friend E taught me long ago that it's better to have your photo taken from slightly above; the result is more flattering. So when I don't like the angle, I make a face!

I look skinny though, huh?! Hee. This is Rob's Harley shirt that I'm wearing! And look, it's not supah-dupah tight, either! (My husband is a VERY thin man, so it's exciting to be able to wear his clothes!)

 
  

Jack is always curious about the things in the doctor's office, so it was no surprise when he pulled out the stirrups. After he lay down like this, I asked Doc to perform his Pap Smear. Doc snorted and says he avoids doing those at all costs!

********

Somewhere between the doctor visit and the following morning, my new camera got jacked up. Just the lens cover. Half of it won't open, and the other half won't shut! Awesome. I think I need to add a fund for repairing my old camera to the budget, somewhere, somehow. This new one is just a piece of crap; I hate it so.

Anyway, here's Jack eating a batch of scrambled eggs that HE made from start to finish, next to the plate of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (from another mix that he found in the stockpile bin) that HE mixed, and near to the bowl of being-prepared pie crust that HE helped to measure and mix. He was a very busy boy in the kitchen on Friday, and I do declare that cooking and baking are now one of his favorite things to do. I can tell he takes pride in the results, too!

Of course, he had to help roll out the pie crust. That's always the kids' favorite job to do, isn't it? I showed him how to carefully wrap the dough around the rollilng pin and lay it out in the pie pan, to avoid breaking it. He did a perfect job!

Then he fluted the ege of the crust, after I showed him how to do it. He did the whole rest of the crust without help.

He did a nice job, don't you think?

 
  
I showed him how to pierce the crust with a fork to keep it from bubbling up, and he had a good time with that. See how he concentrates? I love his devotion to doing the job right.

He insisted he wanted a cup of coffee after that! The boy does like coffee... so I slipped him the decaf and brewed him up a cup, with sugar and cream. He drank two sips and decided he didn't like it. I'd have drunk it, but I can't have sugar, so it went to waste. *le sigh*

After a while, it was time to get the girls off the bus. We had to rush Jack right out to Chesapeake for a Cub Scout friend's birthday party after that, at a popular bouncy house place. I'd lined up some errands to run so that the girls wouldn't have to sit there and watch him having fun, because I didn't have a spare $16 to let them play, too. Sophia was really disappointed, so I promised her I'd take her sometime this summer.

After dropping Jacky off, we stopped at the FedEx shop so I could ship a package. It didn't cost me anything; it was for a mystery shopping project I'd done the week before. Chloë waited in the car and read her book; Sophia came inside with me so she could use the potty. I've been pricing papers, just to know what things cost in case I need them for home-schooling, so I was surprised when they told me that theirs cost $10 a ream! Uh, no.

Then we stopped over at Babies 'R' Us, because I knew they carried the Snikiddy brand of snacks, for which I had three "Free Product" coupons. Snikiddy is all-natural but not organic; I decided that in this case, it was close enough for me. "Natural" doesn't really mean anything, so I did my research on the company and decided it was okay to consume. But while we were at BRU, I was thrilled to find a wonderful array of organic foods and drinks at reasonable prices. I'd love to buy all our organic goods at the shop at the Farmer's Market, but she's very expensive, so I'm having to find deals where I can. The emphasis is still going to be on buying local, though.

Our last stop was at the TAPS near BRU, to see if they had the Daisy Leader book. Our local store didn't have it, so I was chagrined to find they were out of it at this one, too. Tha hell?! How am I supposed to know what to do if I don't have a book? I NEED my book. We spent another few minutes looking around at all the cool stuff, but again, I didn't want to spend any money that I didn't have, so we bought nothing. My creative juices really get flowing in a store like that, though!

Unfortunately, all these errands only took an hour, so we still had to go back and sit for another hour at the birthday party site. They had some toys in the waiting area, so that kept the girls busy for 20 minutes while I was able to do some knitting. I spent a quarter on a bouncy ball for them to roll around to each other, when they tired of the toys and limited books available. After that, it was all go-go-go, because every time I looked away for a second, Sophia had shucked her shoes and was in one of the bouncy structures!! Illegally. Inwardly, I was laughing, but of course I couldn't show that I was amused by her antics, or she'd take that as acceptance. So I kept the stern look on my face as I dragged her out and back to the waiting room, hating all the while that I didn't have that spare $16.

One time, Jack had climbed halfway up the highest structure and would neither go up nor down, so all the boys came rushing over to get me. An older boy, the birthday kid's older brother, had tried to rescue him, but he wanted Mama only. I tore over there and shoved his butt up to the top, and then we slid down together. I completely understand his reluctance; I am the same way. When we slid down the steep slide, I got that sick feeling in my stomach that thrills some people (Sophia-types like my sister, Stacey) but which I don't enjoy at all.

And of course, when I returned, Sophia was nowhere to be found... until I looked in a corner of the big warehouse, where she was happily bouncing away with a new friend. She is such a stinker!

After the bouncy party was over, we went back to the Farmer's Market for some supplies for dinner. I had promised a celebratory dinner for Rob, for getting his motorcycle license, but we still hadn't done that yet. I found one restaurant in the area that was reported to be "organic," Crocs at the beach, but when I called them, it turned out they only had "some produce" that was actually organic - not their whole menu. Suck. (Attention, entrepreneurs! I see a niche needing to be filled...) Jack had wanted to make pizza, so we decided to make that for Daddy's dinner, instead.

The stop at the organic market was meant just for some organic sauce for the pizza(s), but the kids talked me into some fresh fruit, including Chloë and Jack's kiwis, above. I tried a slice; it was definitely the most delicious kiwi I'd ever tasted! I also got some organic bananas from Ecuador, which just smell amazing, for more smoothies. Or something, I don't know. Oh, and a package of goat cheese for one of the pizzas, since we don't particularly care for Organic Valley's mozzarella cheese. (It tastes very dry, like cheddar. Which is fine, if you're expecting cheddar, but not if you're expecting traditional mozz. I'll just have to learn to make my own!)

We also stopped at the Creamery I'd mentioned in a previous post, to get some ice cream and that fresh cream top milk. Anything to fatten up my skinnies!  The milk is already gone; it was SO good. The ice cream was excellent, too, but we really didn't care for the mint chips in that flavor, so we'll probably not buy that flavor again. The strawberry, though... mmmmmm! It all tasted so good, and since this working Maryland dairy farm is the apparently the closest such one to this area, they consider themselves to be "local." In fact, earlier this morning, I signed up for their weekly delivery service, for milk, cheese, and such. Not their eggs; though; I'll continue to get those from Polyface Farms at the organic store. 

(Have I mentioned Polyface? If not, look it up - it's Joel Salatin's family farm. He's the guy Rob and I love from Food, Inc., and he's going to be giving two talks at the Homeschool Convention in a couple of weeks. I'm going to meet him!!!!)

By the time we got home and got the kitchen cleaned up so I could start dinner, it was past 8 o'clock, and Jack had no interest in helping me make the pizza. So I made it myself: organic dough, sauce and goat cheese - doesn't it look SO good? And it was. Especially after I re-cooked it; the dough was raw when I first served it. Oops. Jack and Sophie didn't care for the goat cheese, so Chloë ate theirs. I adore goat cheese, though. Yum!

For dessert, I pulled out the pie Jack and I had made earlier in the day. It's got a mostly-organic crust, with the fresh-picked strawberries on top. The cream filling is made of organic eggs, yogurt, and cream cheese, plus sugar and a little bit of Cool Whip. I had a little taste, and it was SO yummy. I wish I could have dove in, but I'd really have made myself sick.

Our neighbors to the right came home when I ran out to the car for something, so I mentioned that Jack had made a special strawberry pie, and would they like to try it? Of course they would, so I served some up for thme and brought it over. I made her promise to tell me what she thought of it, even if it wasn't good, because I can't eat it and don't want to make it again if it's yucky!

 
  
In the mail yesterday, I'd gotten a new game for the Wii, "Just Dance," along with a cursive writing workbook for Chloë. I paid $1.33 for both, after using my Swagbucks money for the rest! The Wii game turned out to be SO much fun - and a great workout! The kids and I took turns doing dances, and I danced along behind them when it wasn't my turn. I was sweating up a storm and feeling great.

The kids' dancing was so funny! I'm sure mine was as well, but of course I have no pictures of that. And I wouldn't show you if I did!

Poor Jack. He has inherited his father's dance skill - or lack thereof - but he sure tried!

Rob sat there like a bump on a log the whole time, refusing to play with us. He wouldn't even dance once! Butthead. :P

No, she's not drinking a beer - it's an organic root beer! Delicious. (I am loving this organic stuff; can you tell?!) But look at her feet! This kid is so bendy and flexible. She amazes me! I think it will be a good fit when she tries gymnastics again later this year. 

We danced well into the night, past 2300, and then I tried to go for a run around our lake. I got about a third of the way along when I just collapsed, unable to breathe. (It was embarrassing, because a man was fishing right there!) I tried to catch my breath so I could start running again, but I just couldn't... and I ended up throwing up violently. It was very upsetting. I'll have to take it more slowly... but I'm ready to fly like the wind!

On a positive ending note, I've lost 4 lbs since Thursday! I'm now well into my fabulous 50s - as in, I'm at 157.3 lbs! Yay!! Less than 7½ lbs until I reach my doctor's goal!!

Fin. 
  
  
  

Garden State

Before I forget to tell you, I wanted to let you know now that I have created a new blog for our homeschooling efforts. You can see it here. Don't forget to add it to your reader!

Saturday was a dud, despite a multitude of plans, because Rob had a migraine, and I was super-exhausted. Chloë was supposed to go to overnight camp with her troop; we were supposed to go to the She-Crab Soup Classic down on the beach; we were supposed to take the kids to a Mother's Day Bead Craft at Michael's; we were supposed to take the kids to an Earth Day event at the mall; we were supposed to go to church. None of that happened. Instead, we took it super-easy today and did practically nothing. Hopefully, Sunday will be more productive, but every once in a while you need a day like that, so I don't feel too bad about things.

Instead, I'll tell you about Friday, which was a pretty great day.

Rob didn't have to work, for whatever reason, so we spent the day together. Once again, I had stayed up all night, this time doing homeschooling research. He got up with the children, while I showered and got ready for the day. After they were on the bus and he showered, we got started.

First, we went to Harris Teeter, since it's still triple coupons week. This picture is from Thursday, though. If you'll remember, I went on Wednesday and got a bagfull of groceries for 11¢! On Thursday, I got all of the above for 13¢! So all that stuff for under a quarter. Pretty great.

For Friday's shopping trip, I had Rob got to Customer Service to get his own VIC card, so he could use 20 additional coupons (their daily limit). We had two carts. In the end, we bought all of the above - and more, mostly cleaning stuff, that I forgot to put in the photo because I didn't see the bag - for less than $40, saving about $110 in coupons. If you want more specific details on this shopping trip, please comment or email me, because I don't want to focus on that in this post.

 

After we went home and put everything away, we had to go out and do a couple of mystery shops. The first one was at a gas station, where I had to buy gas, coffee and a soda, and do a number of observations. Unforunately, when I started to do the report today, I realized I forgot to take an essential picture. It's still up n the air whether I will need to just go back for that picture, or entirely reshop the thing. Obviously, I hope it's the former.

The second shop was at the fast food chain where I go all the time. Throughout the day, whenever we were in the car and traveling to our various destinations, and during this fast food shop, we talked about home-schooling the kids. Rob hasn't been reading my blog this week, so he was completely unaware of my plans. I wanted to bring him into the fold, of course, because I want him to be a vital part of this process, this experience, this adventure. I want him to come home and hear all about what we learned that day, but I also want him to be part of the teaching, and the learning, himself.  He readily agrees.

As part of our discussion, we talked about the hypocritical nature of this particular fast food shop, in which I'm not allowed to purchase certain foods. That pretty much leaves beef and pork, which I don't eat, which leaves him and the kids to eat the food or throw it away. That really sucks, because he doesn't want to eat beef either, and I would be happy if the kids didn't as well. Unfortunately, these shops pay well, so I'm torn. I can get a meatless sandwich, but I've been told not to order it every single time, less they identify me as The Shopper, and then I won't be able to work for them anymore. It's a slight conundrum. In the end, I'm sure I will quit doing them, but maybe not immediately. We'll see.

 

Finally, we headed to the Farmer's Market, to get me some crab cakes from our favourite fishmonger, Uncle Chuck. He's an awesome guy; I just love him to bits. And he makes great crab cakes. All of the rest of his seafood is wonderful, too - and it's fairly local. If it's not caught here, then he gets in from the Outer Banks or the Eastern Shore. The fish that he was fileting that afternoon was brought in on a boat at the oceanfront that morning. We chatted with him and one of his other customers for a little while, and then we headed next door to a new garden shop that has joined the Market since the last time we were there.

One of the things that I stayed up all night researching was composting and the garden I want to install in our currently-horrible backyard. Here are the first 14 things I would like to start growing four ourselves, with apologies in advance if the pictures make you drool on your keyboard:

 

Cherry Tomatoes (Super Sweet 100 variety)

 

Spinach - Teton variety

 

Summer Squash - Saffron variety

 

Lettuce - Black-Seeded Simpson Variety

 

Cucumber - Bush Champion variety

 

Sweet Pepper - Carnival hybrid variety

 

Beets - Chioggia variety

 

Carrots - Danvers Half-Long variety

Radish - French Breakfast variety

 

Swiss Chard - Fordhook Giant variety

  Pole Bean - Kentucky Wonder variety

Eggplant - Rosa Bianca variety

 

Super Sugar Snap Peas

Zucchini

Those are the specific varieties I want (when mentioned), and I can get them all from the Burpee website for about $50. I want to peruse local vendors for cheaper sources, though. Hopefully I can spend a little bit less than that, but that's not really too bad.

At the garden shop at the Farmer's Maket, we started out by looking at the vegetable plants, but I wasn't too impressed with the varietes available or the prices. We found container garden planters shaped like giant feet that we both loved, similar to the ones above. They were $65 apiece (!!), which I found outrageous, but I can't seem to find them anywhere online. Not that shipping wouldn't be substantial... However, when an employee, Eileen, came over to ask if we needed help, we ended up getting into a wonderful conversation with her about how to start our vegetable garden. I'm so glad we did; she was a font of useful and practical information. We were going to rent a rototiller and tear up the whole backyard, but she advised us to save our money and build the raised beds I already knew we'd need (bad soil, poor drainage) right on top of the grass, instead. Hopefully we can all design the garden and build the beds ourselves, and we'll certainly work the garden together. I'm completely excited; I can't wait to start.

It will be costly, though. With all those seeds, the soil and whatever (organic) fertilizer we end up buying, lumber for the beds, the composting system, watering, etc., gardening isn't the cheap thrill I thought it would be! I'm so naive. Between that and the curricula I want to buy for the kids, the belly-surgery money is going to go POOF! I'm disappointed, but that doesn't mean I'll never have the surgery. It just means I'll have to wait another year, at least. Maybe by then, I'll be ready to have all of the surgeries I want to have (arms, thighs and boobs) and can pay for them all at once with our 2010 tax refund. I don't look quite as bad as the poor guy above, but it is how I feel, especially when I look in the mirror, so I don't want to leave things as they are. And I am pretty happy with how I look in clothes, except for my underthings and bathing suit. With summer coming, that stinks a bit - but what the hell, I didn't look any better before I had my gastric bypass!

It was just about time for the kids to come home from school by then, so we headed home. I was all set to relax while Rob took the kids across the street to the lake to run around, but then Rob came racing back to tell me about the newborn ducklings I had to see. Sophia came along beside me on the Big Wheel that she's about two years too old for, but she didn't care.

This mama had her hands full with no fewer than TEN ducklings trailing along behind her, wherever she went. I can relate, but ten! All at once! Phew. She is a brave woman bird. We found one egg whose inhabitant didn't make it out, so that was sad, but it's nature. It's what happens, all the time, even in people. I try to be that philosophical about my own loss, but it's obviously very hard! Anyway, these little critters were terribly cute, and I stood there and took about a dozen pictures and a video of them. I loved it when one little guy kept daydreaming and getting behind, only to look up and realize his mother and siblings were two feet away. Then he'd swim as fast as his little legs could carry him back to the pack. Adorable!

My feet. I took this picture by accident, with my iPhone, but I liked it.

Stim and Luke were headed over a few hours later for Game Night, so I had some cleaning up to do after the ducky visit. The kids helped me straighten up the office and living room, while Rob worked a little bit on the kitchen. It wasn't spotless by any means, but it was a damn sight better than what it was before we started!

Just before they got here, Chloë started pitching a fit about going to camp the next morning. She just did NOT want to go, but she could give no reason why not, so I was insisting that she go. She was furious and in tears. I brought her over to me to try to talk to her more calmly, when I noticed her poor, infected finger. (It was our second finger mishap of the day: I'd shaved off the top of my finger - a piece of the nail and the nailbed under it - in the shower that morning!) A week or so earlier, she'd had a large hangnail, so I cut it off with nail clippers. A couple of days ago, I noticed it was infected, so we put triple-antibiotic ointment on it. Well, we forgot about it, and it was a billion times worse when I noticed it. Immediately, I knew she had to be taken to the doctor. She burst into tears afresh, but there was no question about it. It was really bad. Rob jumped up and got her into his truck.

 

Stim-fam arrived while I was getting The Littles ready for bed. I was about to send them up, when they reminded me they hadn't yet had dinner! And it was after 8 PM! Whoopsy-daisy. I gave them each a half a bagel; I was just not in the mood to cook. It was hot, and I do NOT cook when the kitchen is fully clean. I just can't. Can't. They were satisfied, anyway.

Soon enough, Chloe and Rob returned from the ER. Poor girl! She'd had quite a bad time. They gave her a shot in the finger to numb it, and then sliced open the oozing infection to drain it. Yuck! And OW! It hurts a great deal, now. She keeps telling me she feels her heartbeat in her finger; I tell her I feel the same thing in mine. I feel bad that I wasn't there for her when she was going through that, though. Poor little one!

 

Once we got all the kids to bed and Steph had nursed baby Luke a few times, we started playing Quelf. To loosen us up, we girls each had a winecooler, and Tim had a beer. Maybe. I can't actually remember whether he had one or not, but alcohol definitely helps when playing this game. It was a blast!! I wanted to play a second game, but they had to go. Too bad, because we had all been laughing our asses off during play. Good times, good times. (I was Mrs. Picklefeather, in case you were wondering.)

After they left, I crashed. Hard. And that's all there is to it!

Fin.
 
 

 

The Blue And Gold Banquet

The Cub Scouts are celebrating 100 years of scouting this year, and we celebrated at the annual Blue & Gold on Friday night. We (the kids and I) got there about 20 minutes late, because of:

my Girl Scout's first cookie booth of the year ending at the same time the Blue & Gold started. (The booth went okaaaay, but not fantastic. We barely sold half of what we did at our first booth at the same time and location last year!)

The Brownie and I ran home after packing up the booth, to pay the sitter (Linda) and collect the Tiger Cub and the little girl. They were, apparently, STARVING, as I'd left specific instructions not to feed them, since they'd be eating dinner at the banquet. Poor kids.

Dinner was in full swing when we arrived at Jack's old school (where he went to preschool) cafeteria. The Tigers had already gotten their food, and so had the other levels - whose names I don't all know yet - and the Webelos 2 (or is it II) were getting in line. So we joined them at the end and were among the very last to eat. I figured, since they were so hungry, of course they'd eat a really good dinner, right?? Wrong. The Littles turned up their noses at the chicken fingers that were served, though I made them take a piece anyway. Chloë took two pieces and ate it all, plus some of the other kids', at least. There were veggie platters, chips, something else I forget... and at the end of the table, scores of all different kinds of cuppy-cakes that the older dens had helped make.

Jack had spied a cupcake on the way in, that had a cherry on top, and he reeeeaaaaaallly wanted one of those. So I used that as leverage to get him to eat his chicken. Same with Sophia, who chose a chocolate frosted with multi-colored sprinkles. (And she's so sweet: whenever she gets any kind of treat, she tries to offer some to me, and then gets genuinely sad when I tell her I can't have any. Aw.)

Anyway, so we sat near Miss Beth, the Tiger Leader, and her son and husband, and the rest of the Tiger Den. (See, now I understand the difference between a den and a pack. At last!) The Tigers had decorated tin cans at their last meeting, to be used as the weights for balloon bouquets. As soon as Jack saw his, he wanted to take it. Right then. And not leave it for a decoration at the table. Hello, son, you must wait!

After the eating, the announcements began. Did I mention we signed him up for sleep-away camp? So there was talk about that, and the arena racing that's coming up in a week or two (hopefully Dad can take him to that), and the Districts for the Pinewood Derby. He'll go to that; I forget when it is.

And then the fun part.

It sucks, but I can't show you the pictures of the whole part where Jack earned his Bobcat! I had to get up on the stage with him and paint his face like so, and then he painted mine, so I had to leave my camera with Beth. Well, apparently she didn't feel like actually getting up and walking over to the stage to take the pix, so of course none of them turned out. I'm disappointed; that was a lot of fun. He actually made Bobcat months ago, in the fall, but we missed the Pack meeting where the Tigers all got painted up and got their Bobcat badges. Now he has to wear his parent pin upside down with it until he does a good deed, and then Rob will get to wear it upside-down until HE does a good deed. I figure Rob should do it, since he's listed as Jack's "official" parent scout or whatever they're called. Yeah, I'm still learning the lingo...

But we're so proud of him! He is confused, continually saying, "But I'm not a Bobcat, I'm a Tiger!" and really, I'm at a loss to explain it to him, other than being able to tell him he earned it for learning the oath and promise and all that good stuff. I'm sure Rob knows better, but he wasn't around to tell him!

After that, the new Webelos got on stage to rip off the shirts they'd painted and show their new khaki uniforms!

Jack paused for a moment to show off his face painting that Mama gave him. The newest little Bobcat!

The Leaders all got up then, to get their awards for their various years of service to the pack. Here's Beth walking away with hers. She's a cutie-patootie!

The Boy went to go get a refill on his limonada, and when he walked past the Webelos table, they gave him this noisemaker. I finally had to take it away from him, because he kept blowing it and disobeying the "quiet" sign. I don't think I've given it back yet...! 

After that, it was time for the birthday presents. There was a huge stack of them on a table, and each Cub went to get one... but that wasn't all. Pack Leader Jeff read a fun story that used the words "left" and "right" a lot, and each time he said one of those, the boys would have to pass their present in that direction in a big circle. The little ones needed a LOT of help with this. We parents kept shouting "LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!" and everyone laughed a bunch. It was a huge relief when he finally got to the end of the story and the boys could rip into the packages they'd ended up with!

LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!

Jack ended up with a couple of construction crafts, and he was really excited to make them IMMEDIATELY. He ended up swapping the submarine one for a jet, with another Tiger, and he has been hounding us to make them ever since!

More games ensued.  I didn't get a picture of Jack playing pin the tail on the Cubmaster, because he barely wanted to play, and I was too busy watching the hilarity of the older boys batting at piñatas for candy. The sweets were flying everywhere, all over us, and we kept having to duck for cover to avoid getting hit in the face!  Meanwhile the poor cubmaster's nuts were covered in "tails"... hehe.

Then it was the little guys' turn to do their piñatas.  Poor Jack had the weakest at-bat, and they let him take a few hits at it before moving on to the next kid. He didn't care. But another little guy ran up when a third Tiger was swinging, and he got a wallop in the arm. All the parents were shouting at Jeff, "WE'RE NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!!!" but he just laughed, saying the boys were having fun and that's all that counted.

When the candy broke, all the boys - but ESPECIALLY Jack - dove in there and scooped up as much as they could into their paper bags. He really grabbed a bunch for such a little feller! I had "glued" my girls' tushies to their bench, because they weren't supposed to join in any of the reindeer games, but when Jack was finished, I looked up, and there was Miss Piggy Sophia scrambling to get some candy, too. I thought it was hilarious. Typical Soapy! (I didn't care, either, because I thought it was kind of unfair to invite siblings and then not let them do anything but watch for 2½ hours!)

After that and a few more quick announceys, we were free to go. And go we did, because it was already half-past bedtime, and we still had to do a bowling mystery shop that night!

So, we went bowling, and that was fine. Chloë and I bowled while the Littles played around the arcade games. Even though I don't give them any money, they still have fun pretending to play everything. I was lucky to get a lane right next to the arcade, so I could keep an eye on them the whole time. And they had hot dogs and fries and cookies, so of course they were content. After barely eating at the banquet, they were happy to get a  little more food in their hungry bellies.

So with the bowling, and the banquet, and the booth sale, and the party store mystery shop we rushed to do before meeting Linda at our house... Friday was quite the crazy-busy night!

Fin.

 
  
 
  
  
  
 
  

 

 

The Blue And Gold Banquet

The Cub Scouts are celebrating 100 years of scouting this year, and we celebrated at the annual Blue & Gold on Friday night. We (the kids and I) got there about 20 minutes late, because of:

my Girl Scout's first cookie booth of the year ending at the same time the Blue & Gold started. (The booth went okaaaay, but not fantastic. We barely sold half of what we did at our first booth at the same time and location last year!)

The Brownie and I ran home after packing up the booth, to pay the sitter (Linda) and collect the Tiger Cub and the little girl. They were, apparently, STARVING, as I'd left specific instructions not to feed them, since they'd be eating dinner at the banquet. Poor kids.

Dinner was in full swing when we arrived at Jack's old school (where he went to preschool) cafeteria. The Tigers had already gotten their food, and so had the other levels - whose names I don't all know yet - and the Webelos 2 (or is it II) were getting in line. So we joined them at the end and were among the very last to eat. I figured, since they were so hungry, of course they'd eat a really good dinner, right?? Wrong. The Littles turned up their noses at the chicken fingers that were served, though I made them take a piece anyway. Chloë took two pieces and ate it all, plus some of the other kids', at least. There were veggie platters, chips, something else I forget... and at the end of the table, scores of all different kinds of cuppy-cakes that the older dens had helped make.

Jack had spied a cupcake on the way in, that had a cherry on top, and he reeeeaaaaaallly wanted one of those. So I used that as leverage to get him to eat his chicken. Same with Sophia, who chose a chocolate frosted with multi-colored sprinkles. (And she's so sweet: whenever she gets any kind of treat, she tries to offer some to me, and then gets genuinely sad when I tell her I can't have any. Aw.)

Anyway, so we sat near Miss Beth, the Tiger Leader, and her son and husband, and the rest of the Tiger Den. (See, now I understand the difference between a den and a pack. At last!) The Tigers had decorated tin cans at their last meeting, to be used as the weights for balloon bouquets. As soon as Jack saw his, he wanted to take it. Right then. And not leave it for a decoration at the table. Hello, son, you must wait!

After the eating, the announcements began. Did I mention we signed him up for sleep-away camp? So there was talk about that, and the arena racing that's coming up in a week or two (hopefully Dad can take him to that), and the Districts for the Pinewood Derby. He'll go to that; I forget when it is.

And then the fun part.

It sucks, but I can't show you the pictures of the whole part where Jack earned his Bobcat! I had to get up on the stage with him and paint his face like so, and then he painted mine, so I had to leave my camera with Beth. Well, apparently she didn't feel like actually getting up and walking over to the stage to take the pix, so of course none of them turned out. I'm disappointed; that was a lot of fun. He actually made Bobcat months ago, in the fall, but we missed the Pack meeting where the Tigers all got painted up and got their Bobcat badges. Now he has to wear his parent pin upside down with it until he does a good deed, and then Rob will get to wear it upside-down until HE does a good deed. I figure Rob should do it, since he's listed as Jack's "official" parent scout or whatever they're called. Yeah, I'm still learning the lingo...

But we're so proud of him! He is confused, continually saying, "But I'm not a Bobcat, I'm a Tiger!" and really, I'm at a loss to explain it to him, other than being able to tell him he earned it for learning the oath and promise and all that good stuff. I'm sure Rob knows better, but he wasn't around to tell him!

After that, the new Webelos got on stage to rip off the shirts they'd painted and show their new khaki uniforms!

Jack paused for a moment to show off his face painting that Mama gave him. The newest little Bobcat!

The Leaders all got up then, to get their awards for their various years of service to the pack. Here's Beth walking away with hers. She's a cutie-patootie!

The Boy went to go get a refill on his limonada, and when he walked past the Webelos table, they gave him this noisemaker. I finally had to take it away from him, because he kept blowing it and disobeying the "quiet" sign. I don't think I've given it back yet...! 

After that, it was time for the birthday presents. There was a huge stack of them on a table, and each Cub went to get one... but that wasn't all. Pack Leader Jeff read a fun story that used the words "left" and "right" a lot, and each time he said one of those, the boys would have to pass their present in that direction in a big circle. The little ones needed a LOT of help with this. We parents kept shouting "LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!" and everyone laughed a bunch. It was a huge relief when he finally got to the end of the story and the boys could rip into the packages they'd ended up with!

LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!

Jack ended up with a couple of construction crafts, and he was really excited to make them IMMEDIATELY. He ended up swapping the submarine one for a jet, with another Tiger, and he has been hounding us to make them ever since!

More games ensued.  I didn't get a picture of Jack playing pin the tail on the Cubmaster, because he barely wanted to play, and I was too busy watching the hilarity of the older boys batting at piñatas for candy. The sweets were flying everywhere, all over us, and we kept having to duck for cover to avoid getting hit in the face!  Meanwhile the poor cubmaster's nuts were covered in "tails"... hehe.

Then it was the little guys' turn to do their piñatas.  Poor Jack had the weakest at-bat, and they let him take a few hits at it before moving on to the next kid. He didn't care. But another little guy ran up when a third Tiger was swinging, and he got a wallop in the arm. All the parents were shouting at Jeff, "WE'RE NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!!!" but he just laughed, saying the boys were having fun and that's all that counted.

When the candy broke, all the boys - but ESPECIALLY Jack - dove in there and scooped up as much as they could into their paper bags. He really grabbed a bunch for such a little feller! I had "glued" my girls' tushies to their bench, because they weren't supposed to join in any of the reindeer games, but when Jack was finished, I looked up, and there was Miss Piggy Sophia scrambling to get some candy, too. I thought it was hilarious. Typical Soapy! (I didn't care, either, because I thought it was kind of unfair to invite siblings and then not let them do anything but watch for 2½ hours!)

After that and a few more quick announceys, we were free to go. And go we did, because it was already half-past bedtime, and we still had to do a bowling mystery shop that night!

So, we went bowling, and that was fine. Chloë and I bowled while the Littles played around the arcade games. Even though I don't give them any money, they still have fun pretending to play everything. I was lucky to get a lane right next to the arcade, so I could keep an eye on them the whole time. And they had hot dogs and fries and cookies, so of course they were content. After barely eating at the banquet, they were happy to get a  little more food in their hungry bellies.

So with the bowling, and the banquet, and the booth sale, and the party store mystery shop we rushed to do before meeting Linda at our house... Friday was quite the crazy-busy night!

Fin.

 
  
 
  
  
  
 
  

 

 

Friday Fragments: Happy New Year!

Fraggin' on Fridays is brought to you by the lovely Mrs. 4444 over at Half Past Kissin' Time, so be sure and visit her and the other lovely fragmenters for more fun on this special New Year's Day, 2010!

☼

 

Mrs. 4444 gave me the FFF award again! This time, it was for Sophia's remark that I would never die, because she would take care of me. And that I wouldn't spin her around and throw her out into the world, blindfolded. Thanks, Mrs. Fours!

☼

I was in a bread-baking mood late last night. The first thing I did was mix up this beer bread mix from William-Sonoma, using one of Rob's special beers from his beer-of-the-month club box. I don't know why I got him that damn membership, and I'm glad it's long over. He's still got a ton left and never drinks it! Too bad I don't have more of this delicious mix...

Here's Chloë, 8, enjoying the first piece of beer bread. Yum! 

☼

Last night, I started the dough for this challah - I wanted to make a French bread, but I decided to make a challah instead - but I fell asleep, and it rose all night. Whoops, it was mushrooming out of the bowl this morning like crazy! I really had to punch it down.

Normally, I do a three-strand braided challah, but I wanted to attempt the four-strand braid this time. I don't think I did it quite right... but it still looked purdy.

Right??

Unfortunately, I forgot to set the timer on the oven, and I was enjoying the smell of the challah baking for far too long before it dawned on me - that smell means it's DONE, dude!  I ran into the kitchen, and sure enough, it was way past "golden brown." Oops. But it's not burnt, and it tastes awesome. I'm not really supposed to have much in the way of bread, but look at that gorgeous loaf! Who could resist?

I forgot the raisins I meant to add, too, though. Bugger.

☼

New Year's Eve was a pretty quiet day at the homestead for us. Our good neighbors, nice Japanese lady and her husband, Navy-turned-Army, moved away with their kids today, to Texas. Here is their last hurrah, riding Power Wheels cars around our driveway. There were lots of hugs and promises to write. And check it out, Sophia (not pictured) has been asking for  Barbie Power Wheels Jeep for a LONG time, and they had one that they were leaving behind - and gave it to her! She was ecstatic!

(Sorry for the crappy picture. Rob took it through the window! Why he didn't...oh, I don't know. Whatevs!)

☼

(Ignore all the boxes in the background, I have lots of packing and shipping to do!)

The kids have been bugging me to let them play the games they got from my sister, their Aunt Stacey, since Christmas Day. It just never seemed to be the right time, but today was the day! First Chloë and Jack, 6½, played Connect Four, and then Chloë played it with Sophia, 4½. Neither of the two little ones really "got" that the point of the game was to get your four in a row WHILE BLOCKING the other person from doing so, and poor Chlo was getting quite frustrated with it!

The next game, Chutes and Ladders, was more their speed. Except Chloë kept winning that, too! (How, I don't know - it's not like there is skill involved!)

☼

Shout out to my good friends Shana and Kevin! Shana dropped a New Year's Eve baby at noon! She had a little girl, 8½-lb Jaden Heather, an absolute cutie. I'm thinkin' if the pink kimono I'm working on turns out really well, it'll be a present for Jaden instead of going to CARE Package. Since I won that yarn fair and square, it's not officially designated for the charity, and I can do that. ;)

Yay for newborn tax write-offs!

☼

After the kids' game-playing, I was really cold and had the chills again. Oh, did I mention? I woke up at 0600 Thursday to the sound of a helicopter landing in our backyard. Turns out it was the motor on the HVAC going crazy. Awesome, really awesome. Not.

So anyway, I went to take a hot-hot shower, and Sophia joined me for some sudsy fun. I love her soft, squishy little body, and I just held her and squeezed her tush for a long time in the shower. Then, like I used to do long ago when the kids were babies, I gave her an all-over massage. Got my warm fuzzies in for the day! ♥

(Yes, I have an obsession going on with my kids' butts. So does my sister, with hers. We get it from our grandma, who used to be all over ours!)

☼

After the shower, I fell asleep, for, like, four hours. What a great nap! It was almost 2200 when I woke up. Time to prepare for the midnight festivities! Only, I came downstairs to find Rob hadn't even given the kids any dinner yet! Naughty Daddy. So there went my plans of midnight snacking (see yesterday's post for the foodibles), since he quickly cooked up some pasta for them that wasnt' ready until nearly 2300. Sheesh! I'd have still made the spanikopita for myself, but I ended up eating some unfinished pasta off their plates and then yakking it up. Not exactly tummy-ready for spaniko, nope, nope, nope!

☼

After watching the ball drop at midnight, and a nice long smooch with Rob, we took the kids outside to annoy the neighbors bang pots and pans and shout our New Year's greetings. Then we popped the top on the bottle of sparkling cider and toasted each other to the dawn of 2010. Cheers!

☼

Sophie getting silly on cider!

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And now, time for some cute quotes:

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I asked each of the kids, before handing over tonight's Dad Dollars, what they were most looking forward to in the new year. Their answers?

Jack: "Shakin' my booty!"

Moody and sullen 8-going-on-15 Chloë: "I don't know. Nothing."

Sophia, who practically fell asleep standing there waiting: "Zzzzzzzzzzz..."

☼

Sophia hurt herself. This conversation ensued:

Soph: "I think I spread my ankle!"

Chloë: "Sprained."

Sophia: "I think I sprung my April!"

☼

Jack, watching a toy store commercial, shouted, "Toys 'R Us! Toys are not YOU!"

☼

Chloë asked me, "Why do you do such crazy things like that, Mom?"

I replied, "Uh, like what?"

She rolled her eyes at me and answered, "Put my Finding Nemo shirt that's not fancy with my fancy pants!"

Oh, gee. I'm so ca-raaaazy like that!

☼

I overheard Chloë telling her younger brother, "I'm older than you, so I'm the boss of you. I'm supposed to be bossy!"

☼

Sophia coughed a little and then whined, "I'm getting the swan flu!"

☼

We were reading a book called Actual Size about the actual size of things, and the crocodile page said that the crocodile was a man-eater. Upon hearing that, a wide-eyed Jack queried, "Can it eat ladies?!"

☼

And with that, my friends, I leave you 'til another week. May 2010 bring the best to you and yours.

Fin.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

 

Working Title

We've been busy.

I was, ugh, up again (more than) half the night again Friday into Saturday, so I was pretty groggy when the kids woke me at ten or something. I found Rob was gone with my van, without his phone or a note left, and I had no clue where he went. I was exhausted and annoyed. This didn't bode well for the weekend... but it wasn't too bad.

Rob and Jack to the Lowes on Holland Road at noon, to sell popcorn with his Cub Scout pack or troop or whatever it is, for two hours. Apparently he did really well, politely going up to everyone and asking if they'd like to buy some. Probably because he's so tiny and cute, they couldn't resist! Overall, they sold $860 worth of popcorn, which is $10 for a very small canister - that blows my mind! People buy that?! Apparently they do. I never even heard of Boy Scout popcorn until maybe two years ago. Nuts.

While they were gone, I set the girls on various tasks around the house (cleaning up their room, or whatev) so I could catch a few zzz's here and there. At one point, I gave Sophie an entire M-shaped stickie pad that I was never going to use, and told her to go crazy sticking it around the house. So she did. Next thing I knew, I had two or three on my arms, face, you name it... and they were all over the house.

Did I care? Nope. Harmless.

So they eventually came home and we all went out to do a bowling mystery shop. We always play two games, with the kids the first game and by ourselves the second game. I had a picture of Rob helping Chloë bowl, but I can't find it, so you're stuck with this one of Sophie, 4, lifting Jack, 6, up to the water fountain. She's as huge as he is tiny!

Bowling was a ton of fun. Rob finally broke a hundred, and I bowled a much-better-than-usual 87! Not much to be proud of, but for both of us, it was an achievement.

Found it!

Sunday, we (I) slept in a little late and had to rush around to get to a popular boob-themed wings restaurant for a lunch shop. We got there in time, though, and it was fun. The waitress talked me into buying a themed "I'm Kind of a Big Deal" pink shirt for the girls, which is cute. It'll fit Chloë for a while, and then Soap.

Then we went over to the AT&T store to switch Rob's phone to an iPhone. See previous post about how awesome they are.  The kids did NOT behave in the store until they came to the big iPhone display, and then they were thoroughly engaged in playing with those so Rob and I could conduct our business. Phew.

When we got home, we were supposed to clean up downstairs (me, the bathroom; Rob, rip up the living room rug), but it was so late by that time that we didn't have time to do anything but get ready for our special date. We had a dinner shop at a fancy-schmancy steakhouse, obstenibly for Rob's "birthday," which isn't really 'til the end of the month.

 

They brought Rob out a special dessert for his birthday, and the server took our picture together with it. We had a really nice time, and dinner was absolutely perfect. It was the best visit we've had there so far. I absolutely love spending time with my husband, just the two of us. We had fun, lots of laughs, and I was just so happy that he was happy about his new phone. Makes me glad to make him glad, you know?

I ♥ my Bob

After dinner, we went to the bar for a couple of drinks. Normally, there, I have the German chocolate martini, but this time I went for the pineapple upside-down one. Both are pretty damn good. Next time I think I'll have the mint chocolate martini - in a year when I'm eligible again. Of course, now I can only drink a sip or two and then I'm drunk - and done. Rob gets the rest, but it's nice to get a taste!

So that was Saturday. We were going to go get massages after dinner (for free!), but the place was closed when we left the restaurant. Bummer. Oh well, next time.

We went home to relieve Steph, so she could get home early and get to bed and off her feet to stop the painful BH contractions she's been having lately. Nobody better be having any preemies on my watch! The kids were just eating dinner when we got there (we'd gone to eat really early), so she helped get them fed before taking off. They went to bed shortly after, and Rob and I just played around with each other and our phones the rest of the night, not really accompishing anything. Oh, well.

Today was a lot of running. I'm so tired; I can't believe I'm still awake! I only got four hours of sleep or so before my phone woke me up with incoming text messages, and then Sophia was downstairs before I even shut my eyes again. Early.

But that was okay, because we had a fast-food breakfast shop again. So once the other two woke up, had a little something to eat and got dressed, we headed out for the day. We did that shop, and then we went to the library to return the 9 books they picked last week and rent out 10 more. I didn't get any new ones, because I'm still only four chapters into A Thousand Splendid ... oh, shit! I'm reading the Kite Runner, not that! Hahaha, I returned the wrong book. D'oh! Well maybe I can go switch 'em later in the week. Dummy. Ha.

Next, we headed out to Lynnhaven to do a pretzel shop at the mall there. I had a teensy-weensy bite (required) and split the rest amongst the kids. They were so thrilled to get the treat. I kind of forgot about lunch then, because Steph wanted us to come out and go the movies with her and her niece. So we got some gas and drove out to EBF to hang at her house for a while before the movie.

The kids started watching Night at the Museum, which we'd never seen before. Steph showed me how to do stove-popped popcorn, because I'd never learned. It was fun, except when we caught a potholder on fire! Hehe. I'm going to get some stuff and do it like that next time. Less waste!  The kids ate a ton of popcorn while I started teaching Steph how to crochet. She did really well with chaining and is now working on single crochet, which is going great, too. She's a fast learner!

Soon it was time to go to the movies. We loaded four kids and the crocheting into Vanna and headed to Greenbriar for the $1.75 movie at Cinema Café. This was Night at the Museum II, which was really funny! We laughed a lot, Steph and I. The older two girls sat well and quietly, Jack was so-so, but Sophie was pretty restless until I let her play with apps on my iPhone. Thank God I thought of that, or I'd have had to take her out and have us both miss the movie we paid for.

Rob was home when the movie ended, so we said good-bye to Steph (whose husband, Tim, had joined her at the mall by that point) and headed home to Daddy. The drive took over an hour; traffic was so bad. I should have used the Traffic app on my phone to avoid that, but I didn't think of it. 20/20 hindsight...

So that's it until tomorrow, when the running begins again!

Fin.

The Game Of Life

Whew. It has been a busy day, fo' sho'.

I was up 'til 0600, knitting on the Bandaid Blanket. I could finish it in about 10 more minutes, but I haven't had the time. So, I woke up late this morning, which was fine because the kids were gracious enough to sleep really late, too. Thanks, kids.

After I got up and got the kids fed and settled, I got down to work. July is going to be an enormously busy month for me, both with mystery shopping and otherwise. I had a lot of work to do today, prepping for today's shops, travel planning, doing the bills, making calls and appointments, etc. I spent four hours at the computer, working nonstop except to feed and take care of the kids. Hated that. I wanted to finish my blanket.

I was still working when Rob came home at 1600, and I had another hour after that. After a quickie shower (and wearing more clothes I never have before!) it was time to hit the road.

Oh, let me backtrack a minute. Earlier this week, all three kids hit the 1,000-point mark in The Game of Life. They each got to pick a prize out of the bucket! Chloë picked $5, and she was thrilled with that reward. Jack earned a special date with Mommy, and Sophia won the chance to do some baking with Mom.

So.

 

When it was time to go out and do all my shops, I integrated that with Jack's Mommy-and-me time, and took him with me. I made sure that the kid CD was playing for him in the back seat, and he sang along sweetly to the music. I really need to get more kid CDs; most of ours are worn out and we've been listening to the same one over and over. I really want a Veggie Tales Silly Songs one!

Anyway, our first stop was at Pembroke Mall down the road, where he spotted this double-decker bus and wanted to take a ride. It was 50¢, which I happened to have on me, so I agreed. It was his date, after all! He had a good ride, and then we continued on to my first shop at the cookie store in the mall. I let him pick the cookie he wanted, another thrill for him, and we went on our way.

I was going to stop at Zales and get my engagement ring examined (it's due in June and December), but we can't find the paperwork anywhere. Eek. I don't know what I'm doing to do now! So we skipped that, and went to Bath and Body Works. I had a coupon for a free anti-bacterial hand sanitizer with any purchase, so I picked up a teensy trial size item and gt my full-size product free! Woot! Cucumber melon, love.

 

Jack happily skipped out of the mall with me, eating his delectable cookie and chattering away.

After that, we stopped to get an oil change. My oil indicator thingy had been flashing the evil eye at me for a week, so it was past time. Jack visited with an old man in the waiting room while I read my forms for the next shops. Well, more like, the man visited with him, while Jack tried to claw his way through me out of extreme bashfulness. So unlike his sisters in that respect.

We drove to the next two shops, both gas station convenience stores. Remembering my gran'pappy had a doctor appointment on Monday for the growth he's had in his throat for months now, I tried calling. No answer. Same with my sister's line, and then my dad's, and then Rob's. I was getting paranoid until Stacey finally called me back and confirmed my suspicions that it was she tying up Grandpa's line.

The news isn't good. They couldn't do a biopsy yet until he's off his Coumadin for a week, but they are pretty sure it's cancer. I'm trying not to cry thinking about it. He smoked a pipe for years but quit and threw away all his (expensive) pipes the day his dentist told him he was "working on 'the Big C'," as he puts it. That was 25 years ago, and here he is now at 83, staring throat cancer in the face. I'm trying not to worry. I eventually got ahold of him, and he sounded positive and upbeat, so that was a relief. We'll just take it one step at a time, I guess...

Jack and I did those two shops, during which he whined incessantly about wanting this or that junk food, driving me nuts. He'd just had a huge cookie and didn't need anything else to upset his little tum, and besides, I wasn't allowed to buy anything else but my required purchase.

Finally, we made it to Toys 'R Us, where Jack has been wanting to go since we began playing The Game. I want to make playing it worth his while, so I relented on stopping there. Can you see the shit-eating grin on his face?? We walked in planning on getting a couple Hot Wheels cars,. but right inside the door were these huge "Battle Rigs" on clearance. Deep clearance. What the heck, why not?

 

Jack could scarcely wait to get out to the car and buckle up before he tore into that box. He was beside himself with glee, which made me happy. I had promised him ice cream, since I had a shop for that tonight, too, but he didn't want it anymore. He just wanted to get home and play with his new prize!

 

We stopped at home to switch out the kiddos. I told Rob to offer the ice cream shop to Sophie in lieu of her baking-with-Mom prize, and she happily accepted. What kid wouldn't? She waited patiently on this bench while I stood in line to reach the window.

Sophie wanted chocolate AND strawberry AND a gummy worm, please. That thing was bigger than her head!

 

I had a fantastic time watching her eat this thing. It was a hoot. And I was very grateful to have a pack of Wet Ones in my purse! Oh, the kid was filthy when it was all said and done. And she didn't even get down to the cone before throwing it away!

 

Yummo!

Soap wanted to stay out and do something else after that, but it was nearly 2100 and we needed to get home. I had yet another shop to do, a pizza delivery for dinner.

 

Jack was all into his new truck thing when I got home. He kept showing me all the bells and whistles. I had to admit, it was pretty cool.

 

Chloë was delighted when I finally forked over her five smackers, even though it wasn't in the $1 denominations she requested. Best I could do, kiddo!

 

At last the pizza came, and I did all the nitpicky steps required of me. The chillens were starving by that point, and they really dug in, thanking Mama for the pizza.

After Sophie ate, I ran her to the store with me to get some milk and a few things that I had coupons for, making them almost-free. She was hilarious in the store, yelling "Hi! I'm Sophie and I'm FOUR!" to everyone who passed us by. They were all charmed by her.

And I had a WOW moment at the register. I was wearing one of the new magical bras (of course; I haven't worn any others since I got them) and a tight t-shirt, my hair up in a ponytail for once. On of my Farm Fresh peeps, Nicole who always works there at night, came bounding over to the register, demanding, "Okay, girly, what's your secret?" I was confused at first, thinking she was talking about that weird girl who fondled my groceries that one time, but no. Nicole said, "You have lost a TON of weight, and you look amazing!" I was so happy!! That's the first time someone not "in the know" said something to me! I told her I'd lost 100 lbs, and she was stunned. I admitted to the surgery, and she said she had 3 family members who'd had it, and she knew what a lot of work it was. I was so excited, grinning from ear to ear for at least an hour after that conversation. She told me my face and body look completely different - and I have to agree!

We went home, and the kids took a bath while I've spent the last, oh, three or four hours working on my reports. I still need to get on the Wii tonight, since I've vowed to do the WiiFit every single night in July. If there's anything left in me after that, I guess I'll watch my DVR'd So You Think You Can Dance from earlier tonight while I finish that blanket...

Fin.

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Today was a really great day for Team Odette, save for one really dark spot that I'll get to later.

Well, I slept until after 1:30 PM, so I can't speak for the first half of the day, but Rob and the kids went out and played outside. You see, we were watching Harvey Milk late last night, and Rob brought me my pills. I haven't taken my sleeping pill in at least a week, because I've been tired and able to sleep without it, and I didn't check what he was giving me. You guessed it. So I zonked right out and didn't wake up for 10 or 11 hours!

Oh, before I forget, here's the picture I promised of the kids in their finished-thus-far jammies:

 

I'm loving them - so cute! So I really need to do the shirts, starting tonight or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow.

 

Sophie's Crepe Myrtle Hopi is doing really well, and there are a few flowers! She's so excited about that, being a major lover of both pink and flowers.

Anyway, after we got up and showered, we piled the kids in the car for a surprise adventure. They had no idea what we were going to do. I decided last night that I wanted to do this, but it was already late by then, so we had to wait 'til today: we drove down to the Virginia Aquarium and parked the van. Then, starting from the Marsh Pavilion and working our way northward on the beach, we rode the the busses and trolleys, stopping at all the penny presses on the oceanfront for those wonderful, cheap souvenirs that we (I) love to collect! (Holy sentence, Batman!)

 

There were four pennies to make at the Marsh Pavilion. We'd gotten a roll of quarters - and the six bucks it took our family of five to ride the trolleys all day - at the store before hitting the beach. Here's Sophie with her hand out for the coins, so she could turn the crank next.

(By the way, now that I edit all my pictures with the Creative Memories software for digital scrapping, you'll probably only be seeing the unedited versions. Sorry!)

Those hand cranks were really hard for all the kids near the end of the pressing process. Sophie, being the strongest, was the only one who could do it without help.

 

While we waited for transportation over to the main Aquarium building, we spotted this little garter snake along the wall. The kids were fascinated, and I enjoyed telling them about serpentine movement vs. concertina, to which they didn't listen at all. Rob wanted to keep the little bugger. He checked back for it when we returned hours later, but it was gone, of course.

 

The people on the bus go, "Shh! Shh! Shh!" *ahem* Sorry, we had to listen to kids' songs all the way down to the beach and back!

 

Our kids really like taking public transportation. I do, too, although I'm kind of an airhead when it comes to figuring out the routes and schedules. I used to love riding the MetroRail around Miami when I lived there...

We pressed four more pennies at the main Aquarium building.

 

Rob had some Tic-Tacs in his pocket, so he told the kids to close their eyes and open their mouths. For some reason, they actually trusted him. Usually, he makes them smell his stinky shoes or some such!

 

Rob took the kids over to the pinniped tank while I waited for the Trolley. Here it comes! "ROOOOBBBBBBB, come baaaaaaaack!!!"

 

The kiddos really got a kick out of riding the trolley - their first time, I think? - and kept commenting on the old-fashionedness of it.

 

Chloë, incessantly posing, on the trolley. She always insisted I sit next to her. I didn't mind. Sophie couldn't keep her butt in a seat for anything, though!

 

This picture cracks my ass up! Here we are at the next stop, the 15th Street Fishing Pier. As you can tell, it was much too sunny for proper picture posing! Luckily the penny press was before the turnstiles, so we didn't have to pay to go on the pier to get it. Just one at this stop. Sometime, we'll need to bring the rods and crab traps and actually come back for a day o' fishin'.

It was a hot, gorgeous day in Virginia Beach, so we decided to huff it along the boardwalk for the five blocks to the next stop, rather than hopping the trolley. There was a lovely, cooling wind coming off the ocean, so it wasn't unbearable at all. There were many swimmers and sunbathers down on the sand, and I yearned to join them. Well, the swimmers anyway. Of all the kids, guess who keeps asking to go back to the beach? Jack, surprise of surprises. We'll have to go again soon.

 

The kids quickly finished off the water bottles I'd brought along, so it was a good thing we finally found a bubbler that worked. Until Jack's turn, and then it quit! He was miffed, but Daddy kept at it, and finally the water flowed again. Phew!

 

Well, five blocks up, there was supposed to be an Oh! Fudge shop with a penny press. In its place was a sports memorabilia shop, but they directed us up to 22nd street where the other Oh! Fudge was located. And it had two penny presses, for a total of eight more pennies. I don't know what the kids were more interested in, though - the pennies, or the candy. We didn't buy any...

 

And the penny press inside... By the way, if you're looking for the penny press at Beachland at 21st street, it's gone. I doubt any of you are, though! (And Steph, there isn't a single penny machine in Chesapeake. Bummer.)

We caught the trolley again to ride the six blocks north to Forbes Candies at 28th Street. It was our last penny press of the day, so we had to make it a good one. We found penny collector books there, too, so we picked one up for six bucks.

 

The Flower Girl was at it again - she picked someone's flowers! Rob tucked them behind her ear while we rode the trolley some more. Naughty thing.

 

Unbeknownst to me, Rob never gave the kids lunch earlier in the day, and by this time it was dinnertime. So they were ravenous. Luckily, I'd brought along the Entertainment book, just in case. Unluckily, we chose to try Abbey Road on 22nd Street for dinner, with a BOGOF coupon.

 

Daddy and Sophie goofing around during the interminable wait for our server to come

 

My little buddy sat next to me, and we got in lots of cuddles.

So, the rant review of Abbey Road: It was horrible. Our server, Paula, was a huge bitch, and the service was abysmal. The food was only mediocre, so it really wasn't worth the huge shouting match we got in with both her and the manager when it turned out she'd brought the wrong meal to me, with an overcharge of six bucks. Which is a big difference when you're trying to keep the spending down. I ordered the Broiled Scallops - $12.99. She brought me the Deep Sea Scallops, $18.99.  Their argument was that they are both "broiled scallops," and if I'd wanted the $13 plate, I should have specified it was on the Lite Menu. Um, no. First of all, I pointed to the one I wanted when ordering, second, if I'd wanted the samn Deep Sea Scallops, I would have ordered "Deep Sea Scallops" instead of saying "Broiled Scallops," which is exactly how the menu differentiates between the two, and thirdly, I barely ate any of them, so take them back and eat them yourselves! (And she did take them back, hehe.) 

Also, you're not allowed to order sandwiches between 5 and 10 pm, which is stupid as hell. It specifies that on the adult menu, so fine, but not on the kids' menu, so I pitched a fit when my kids couldn't order the hot dog and PB&J sandwiches they wanted. The manager later told us that, in fact, kids sandwiches can be ordered any time of the day, so the server was wrong about that. And she was very inattentive - we waited over a half-hour for her to bring us the check, after we finished eating! Ridiculous. In the end, the manager gave us what we wanted and was very apologetic, but I was royally pissed. I will say that the bathroom is nice... but Steph, you'll probably want to cross that one out of your Entertainment book!

Ugh. What was supposed to be a wonderful, happy day was very soured by this experience. There was more, but I'm forgetting right now, and I don't really want to think too hard about it!

 

Jacky-boy and his dad getting in a nice snuggle while we waited for the check to come

 

All-in-all, it was a super fun day, and we really wore the kids out. (I love that Jack fell asleep with a shoe on his hand!) We have one more penny left in Virginia Beach, but it's not really on the oceanfront, so we'll save it for (hopefully) next weekend.  There was a free (American Idol winner) David Cook concert on the beach tonight, which I would have checked out if I was really a fan, but I'm not. So don't hate.

One more thing about today: We have begun something we call "The Game of Life" here at Chez Odette. I read it as a suggestion in this month's Family Fun magazine. The kids will be earning points for things like doing what they're told (the first time), cleaning up, helping out with other chores, eating healthy foods, etc. The point values are kind of arbitrary; we're just making this up as we go. But when they get to 1000 points, they get to pick a piece of paper out of the prize bucket. Those are things like "you get special time with Daddy," "you get to pick out a piece of candy at the store," and other fun stuff. They are really getting into this game! And incessant whining? Makes you lose all your points for the day. The kids were really fabulous today, and they earned an average of 95 points each! If you have any suggestions for the prize bucket, or anything else, please share!

Fin.

Smug

Today was A-OK, yo.

It didn't start off so great, though. I woke up 15 minutes late, and then I couldn't wake up the kids for school. They just weren't budging. I don't know what Chloë's problem was, but Jack? He was still up and playing with Sophia, who was in his bed, when I went upstairs at 2 AM. Rascals!

And then, I turned to go downstairs and stepped in a giant, heaping pile of dog shit.  My whole foot was covered, and it was in between my toes... ugh. So freaking gross. I hopped all the way to the bathroom and turned on the shower. It wouldn't knock off the poop, though, so I had to  yell for Chlo to bring me a washcloth. Then it wouldn't go down, so I had to scrub it off the shower floor.

And where was the dog? Why, she was locked up in her kennel. Which meant that she had already pooped there this morning before Rob left for work, locking her on her way out. Oh, yeah. I was MAD.

I napped for two hours (yay!) until Sophia woke up at 10:00. I hadn't slept long or well enough the night before, so I really needed that.  She had breakfast (oatmeal, which she somehow managed to get all over like a 10-month-old) and then was ready to play.

She colored. She played dress-up. She cooked in her play kitchen. We read several stories, until I lost my voice. Oh, she was into everything. I wanted to bake or something with her, but the kitchen was an absolute disaster.

Oh, speaking of that. Two things occurred to me last night: One, that Barbara is not coming back, and no one is going to knock on my door and offer to clean my house for free, and two, my children deserve to have a clean house. And so do I. 

I used to keep a clean place. I really did. But, as much as I love him dearly, I can honestly say that my husband is the biggest slob I've ever met in my entire life. I fought against that tendency for several years, and then I found my standards more and more relaxed until the low point they have reached today.

Well, no more. I am going to spend some time cleaning up this place, every single day, until it is no longer a source of embarrassment to me, or disgust, or stress. When Brownie moms come over to pick up cookies, I am ashamed to let them in my house. I can't have that anymore. The kids should be able to play in a clean environment.

Now, I'm not talking crazy talk here. I'm no germaphobe, and I'm not going to sterilize everything with which they will come into contact. It's not good for them to grow up that way, anyway: it jacks up their immune system (to put it scientifically). And I probably wouldn't ever pass a white-glove test, because I absolutely loathe dusting. But I will do my best to keep things tidy and clean enough, if it kills me!

Anyway.

So Jack came home, and after they had some lunch, we watched a little PBS Kids. They keep begging for Noggin, but personally I think PBSK packs more cerebral nutrition into a half-hour show. Even if it does mean watching that damn Sid.

 

Darn him for blinking! This would otherwise have been a really cute picture. And he wouldn't stay still after that. Sophie wore the cowboy hat pretty much all day long, until Chloë came home and usurped it.

Anyway.

So finally, I decided it was time to actually DO some of that cleaning, and I wanted to start upstairs. I didn't get as much done today as I wanted to, but then that is pretty much always the case, isn't it? To get started, I took my shower. I pretty much have to shower before I can be productive. I'm just not ready to start anything until I do. Are you the same way, or can you go out/clean/exercise/have sex/ etc. without showering first?

Then I sent Sophie and Jack in to clean their bedrooms, which always causes Jack to have a fit. "You want me to clean this mess by mySELF?!!"  Um, yeah. You made the mess by yourself, Buster...

I started in on the laundry. I folded about four baskets full and washed about three more loads. When Chloë came home, and when Sophie's room was finished, they worked to help me put kid clothes away. I had to make Chlo stop to change for Ballet, and then Rob came home and whisked her off to class.

Notice I never said I got dressed? Because I didn't. So when a Brownies mom came over to pick up some cookies (we had no designated time), I threw on the nearest pair of pants and a sweater, and hurried downstairs. "Sorry the house is such a mess! We were gone all weekend and I was sick yesterday and now I'm cleaning but I'm starting upstairs and blah blah blah" was my hello. I always  have to apologize for our house! Ugh, I'm sick of it. Anyway, we completed the transaction and I sent them on their way. Back to my laundry.

By the time I finished folding it all, Rob and the Dancing Queen were home again, and she helped me finish getting everything put away. Sophie, too. Jack had fallen asleep after cleaning his room, while searching for Chloë's missing glasses. Rob did some cleaning up on his atrocious filthy messy side of the room, and then I started vacuuming.

I did our room and part of the hallway. I'd have done the kids' rooms too - they realllly need it - but I didn't want to wake the sleeping monster. So I started the stairs. I'm still on heavy-lifting restriction, and our machine is not light, so perhaps I should have abstained. But they needed it, and, well, I'm stubborn. By the time I got to the bottom of the stairs, I needed a break! But they looked much better.

Chloë was working on her homework then, so I helped her while Sophia, and then Jack when he came down, cleaned up the living room. It was a sty. Last week, the Littles had dumped Chloë's bowl of Perler beads all over the place, and since Rob never carried the vacuum downstairs for me despite mucho begging, they were still there. Driving me crazy. When Chlo was finished with her math, I vacuumed the office and then helped the kids clean the living room. Finally, I vacuumed that and... Gawd, what a boring, blathery blahg. I'm sorry.

But the point is: it's clean! Yay! Time for Wii!!!

I broke out the stuff and eventually got it all put together and set up. Then I opened the Wii Fit and set that up. Finally, it was time to get down to bidness.

I created my Mii. It's a short and rather rotund little thing, just like myself.  But that's okay. She will shrink, as will I.

And then! I got on the board. This time, it did not kick me off for being too heavy! This time, it was actually nice to me. Sure, it told me I was obese (pbbtthhh) and that I needed to lose weight to be healthy, but it wasn't snotty about it like I expected. But it also told me I weigh 12 lbs less than my kitchen scale says, so I wonder what's going on there. I wish!

I did the Body Test next. It measures your posture and stuff, and gives you a Wii Fit age. Guess what my age was? Guess! Really!! Okay, okay, it said I had impressive posture and... dun dun DUN... my age was 32!!! Which is my REAL AGE! I know some people (wink, wink) whose Wii Fit age is MUCH older than their actual age, especially on the first try, so I was really excited!!  When it told me I was in great shape, I almost fell over laughing. Noooottttttt!

I did some exercises after the test. I started out with Step Aerobics (♥love♥) and did really great. Lots of "perfect"s! I did that twice and actually found myself working up a sweat. (Do any of you that have Wii Fit know if the pattern, intensity and duration of the work out changes as you get into it more? Oh, I hope so.)

Then I did some hula hooping (pretty good), yoga (great!), and slalom skiing (suck). The worst for me was a game where you had to change your center of balance to get your little Mii balls through the holes in a table. I was SO bad at that, but at least I was laughing and having fun!

I worked long enough to unlock two new games, which I tried, and finally, when my feet were killing me, I quit. I can't wait to do more tomorrow! Maybe twice!  I want to rack up lots of time.

That's it for me. I was hoping to have an FO (Finished Object) to show you, but I still have to knit the sleeves of the kimono. I'll do that now.

Oh! Did any of you catch the Jimmy Fallon show last night? It was just okay for me - lots of room for improvement. Good guests, though I had not a clue what Van Morrison was saying.

I'm out.

Fin.

Denial Is A River In Egypt

For a while now, I've been pushing back the idea that I'm getting sick. It's been SO long since any of us have had the slightest cold, and it's been wonderful. I noticed myself loading up on the OJ lately, but I refused to feel sick.

Then Jack started his cough, and  he woke up croupy one morning. Thankfully, he didn't miss any school yet. Last night, Chloë came downstairs at 0300, croupy and crying. Great, I thought. It begins. And then today, it hit me. Finally, there was no denying it any longer. I am sick. I feel like poo. My body hurts.

Too bad, so sad, though. Rob had to stand watch all day today {damn Navy}, and these kids just don't quit!

Thank God everyone slept in late this morning, because I was up 'til nearly 0500 on my charity thing.  When we were all up, it was nearly time to go to my appointment, so we dressed quickly and left. I was gross and didn't get a shower, which I hate. But no turning back, or we'd be late.

Our first stop was at the "cupboard" for Fall Product stuff. I had to pick up the remainder of our order - the stuff people had ordered from me after the deadline. That took only a few minutes, as the cupboard keeper lady is really well organized and prepared.

Then we drove all the way to downtown Norfolk to deliver 8 tutus to the dancewear shop! That was really exciting for me. Too bad I felt and looked gross and delivered my goods in a big, black garbage bag! The owner said, "That's okay, we don't stand on ceremony here!" She was super nice, and I really liked her. She was excited about the tutus and thought they were really cute. She loved how I decorated and embellished them, and I was proud, because I really like them, too. I know from crappy, and if something I make turns out crappy, I don't pursue it. So that was a nice little payment to get, and I've decided just to include that money as part of my table fee for the big craft show next weekend, which means it's almost covered! Yippee.

We came all the way back to town to deposit that, and more tutu money from a few other sales I've had lately, at the credit union. The kids are so silly: whenever we go to the bank, even though they know I go through the drive-thru, they start bugging, "Can we come in? Can we come in?" Just because that one time, we went in and they got lollipops... they never forget!

[Side note: I just washed my face in vinegar. Don't ask. Rob's dying of laughter.]

Everyone was starving by then, so I called out to ask what people wanted for lunch. The girls wanted Wendy's, but the boy wanted to go home and have yogurt. All right, good enough. We swung by Wendy's and got a hunk of chicken on a bun for me, and some nuggets for the girlies, and home again, jiggity jog.

Fast forward through lunch and naps and Rob calling to say he was on his way home, at last, and then it was time to go to the school for the annual Fall Carnival. Joy. I still didn't shower. Big mistake. I was - am - really gross, now. Remind me not to do this non-showering-and-going-out-in-public thing again. It exacerbated my not feeling good, of that I am sure.

 

I had already bought the tickets on Monday (AND Tuesday, did I tell you about that fiasco? Whenever I send money with my children to school,  they always come home shortchanged. Pisses me right the ^(*& off), so we marched past the ticket booth and headed for the food.

Jack had a bag of popcorn, Rob and I had nachos, and the girls split a hot dog. Three sodas. Twenty tickets. That was a big wipe-out of our 50 total (but someone was nice enough to hand us some more later on)!

 

After the food, we headed into the cafeteria to play games. All games but the cakewalk were 1 ticket, so we had plenty for each of them. Here, they chose a lollipop, and the color of the stick determined their prize (hey, not a lot of skill goes into these kiddie games). They were happy just for the candy, but they got little toy pieces of crap, too.

 

The next line was super-duper long, so I suggested Rob and Chloë go do the cakewalk while I waited with the Nons. Sophia, who dressed herself in last year's Christmas dress for this occasion, spent the waiting time spinning and watching her dress twirl.

 

They didn't win the cakewalk, but after the littles played, Chloë came back and knocked over all the little bottles at miniature golf. Of course, all the games had cute little Halloween-themed names, but I can't remember them. More little crappy prizes!

 

The third game was tic-tac-toe. Of course, Sophia and Jack have no clue how to play it, so we had to coach them. More loot for their treat bags, win or lose. Everyone's a winner!

 

At the next table, there was coloring. No contest, they got to keep their pictures, and they also got a sticker and a piece of candy. They liked that!

 

Sophie loved being able to hold her own ticket for the games. "Mom, see me! Take this picture!"

 

At the next game, they had to throw a ball through these hoops, five times. The girls actually made a few, especially because the carnie kept moving them forward of the line!

 

Chloë just looks cute throwing. I had a picture of Jack, too, but it was really blurry.

 

The girls each won a necklace at that game (Chloë chose purple, of course), and Jack got a skateboard keychain.

 

This game was hilarious. They had to throw some huge coins into the bucket head for their prize. There was a tape line to stand on, but the kids kept inching forward until, finally, they were pretty much right in front of the table and dropping it in. Sophie would skip, hop and jump forward and then slam-dunk them in. Rob and I just stood there and laughed along with the carnie. He was a really nice guy, really sweet to them. I just love nice people!

(I don't know why all the pictures are of Sophia, I thought I had more of all of them, sorry!) The next game was a beanbag toss. Again, they all made one or two, even Sophia standing back at the line. That was exciting; she was so thrilled.

 

After all the games, we had enough tickets left for Rob and Chloë to go through the Haunted House in the gymnasium. When we got up to the entrance, the Littles decided they wanted to go through, too. Ugh. So I had to go buy three more dollars worth of tickets, since it was a four-ticket event, each.  No sooner did I pay the 20 tickets than Jack and Sophie got a good gander at the spookiness and high-tailed it out of there.

"Um, we changed our mind," I told to an annoyed Kris B. "I'm so sorry," I said about 30 times while she handed me back our tickets. Oh, well. We went to the Boy Scouts booth while Rob and Chloë entered the Haunted House. There, I asked questions about signing up Jack, and we filled out a card for them to call us when it was time for him to join, or whatever. They gave us some papers and things, and Jack eyed the give-away truck on their table. He asked for it, of course, and I laughingly explained that it was a prize for a raffle or something, and he couldn't just have it.

Just then, Rob and Chloë reappeared, with him loudly telling anyone who'd listen that they got a quarter of the way through before she chickened out. Judging from the look on her face, it was scarier than she expected. Oh well, maybe next year!

So then we went to the Face Painting area, but the line was really long. My back just couldn't hack it, so I said we'd have to skip it. Oh, Chloë was so upset, but I just couldn't stand there for half an hour. (I'm actually feeling incredibly blessed with the way I was able to get around, doing so much walking in Europe this past summer, considering how bad it was before and since then. Thank God for such favors.) She teared up, but we were moving on to the next thing.

The next thing: more cakewalk. We had enough tickets left for us all to do it twice. Since we were all in it at once, the Vice Principal running it (same one we ran into at the store the other day) announced on her microphone that she would run it five times in one round, for the five Odettes. That was embarrassing; the whole gym was staring at us and I hadn't showered! Nasty. But none of us won it!

The first time, I had held Sophie's sticky lollipop hand, and Rob had held Jack's. Chloë walked alone. The second time, Jack wanted to switch to me, and Sophia, well, she didn't. So in the picture above, she's calling out for Mommy and trying to break away from Daddy!  Jack ended up winning a brownie, and Sophie won three cookies. Chloë lost again, and I could see the lip quivering.

We were out of tickets by then, but walking back toward the exit, I noticed the face painting line was empty. So I handed Rob a buck and told him to buy me more tickets. When he returned, I sent him and the Littles to the van, and told Chloë she could have her face painted. Oh, she lit up. She was overjoyed. The art teacher was doing the painting, and she made my little girl this butterfly:

 

She was thrilled with it, especially all the glitter. I had one last dollar in my pocket after that, so I let her go over to the PTA table and buy one thing, anything she wanted for a dollar or less. She chose a really cool pen with a jumping, moveable skeleton on the end.

So we went home after that, and Rob noticed he only had two bags with all the kids' loot and prizes and good stuff. Chloë immediately remembered that she left her bag behind at the face painting, but it was too late by then - the school was closed. "I'm sorry," I told her. "You have to learn to hold onto your things and bring them home!" She is really bad about that. Lunchboxes, coats... things don't come home. She had a meltdown.  A real screaming, stomping fit. I'm kind of worried about her lately; she's not really in good control of her emotions. I've been talking to her about it, but I'm still concerned.

I'm hoping that, because her coloring picture with her name on it was in the bag, someone looked through it and will find that and return it to her on Monday morning. I know that would make her week.

Anyway, that was our day. Two more things:

 

 

These were the lemon cupcakes. I have about five super-huge cake tips that I wanted to try, so I just used them on these. Again, not for pretty, but for practice. Maybe the next time I'll actually make a cake that looks nice? Either way, the kids don't care and they taste the same!

Finally, don't be concerned about my "list" (did you go check it out?) - Rob has his own. It includes Tina Fey, Jessica Alba, Lauren Holly, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and, of all people, Annie Potts!!! Apparently she gave him major bonage during her Designing Women days.

That is all, folks.

Fin.