letting the sap slide

My dear friend Sheri and I cannot do movie nights together.  She would want something based on a Nicholas Sparks novel and I would want ...well, how about anything else?

She goes to the theater; says "What a dud", and that's my cue to shuffle off to get my front row ticket.

She loves sap, sap, and more sap.

I say sap is whack!  Oh, I hope I don't ever actually say that out loud...

Basically I'm right, she's wrong.  

...She would boldly say the opposite.

And NO, Jane Austen is not sap.  It's the anti-sap.

So no surprise she called me a liar when I admitted my love for stupid, corniest-of-corny made-for-tv Christmas movies.  ...Any other time of the year I'd rather trim nose hairs than sit through a I'm-gonna-make-you-cry-with-some-bad-acting-and-predictable-plots-and-sick-puppies-and-lame-heroines-who-learn-a-deep-lesson-on-life-while-saving-said-puppy-and-getting-the-hot-guy-with-too-perfect-hair movie.  ...You know the ones.  But there's something about this season that allows terrible movies to amuse me.

(cue picture of Sheri and I shaking hands)

So this is for Sheri-

I'm watching "A Holiday Heist".  

(The acting is horrendous but it is November 29 and I'm shloshy on eggnog so...)

OH!  How can they save Christmas now??!?

And this picture is for Monica,

who also thinks me incapable of enjoying some Christmas sap-

I better keep these tissues close by...

There ladies.  Proof?  I think so. 

lack of supervision?

Suzie's artistic expressions are expanding.

The explanation of her family portrait is...

..."Daddy, Mommy, Suzie, Mario.  HOORAY!!!"

Let it begin!

Us gals got together the other day for some custom holiday creations.

It's about to get all Christmas-y up in here!

Sometimes I can be girly.

The great thing about shoes is that no matter what your waistline is doing, your shoes are there for you.  So I didn't mind bringing home these babies today.

they're brown.  lovely brown.

Will I actually ever wear these?

And I don't feel a shred of guilt.  None.  (Because these cost me a combined total of 7.50?  ...perhaps.)

I'm not too proud to dig through the bins at the Goodwill Outlet.  Monica and I walked out of there with shoes, jackets, and 3 prom dresses that we paid for by the pound.

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The prom dresses are not for me.

...or Monica.

early Thanksgiving

After a delicious Thanksgiving meal last Saturday I sat with my Grandma and talked about kids.  Grandma joked that I should never say I'm done having kids.  Saying that just gave her more.  8 total.  I laughed and said I didn't know if I could handle more.  She patted my hand and laughed with me.  I told her about seeing the old farmhouse that she and Grandpa had bought and fixed up when first moving to Oregon.   She sighed and said how much she loved that house.  Then asked again how many kids I have.

We talked about Grandpa, his 4 heart surgeries, and what a trooper he was to make it to 85.  I remember being young (maybe 7?) and going to visit him in the hospital.  He had seemed excited to show me the staples in his chest.  He had laughed at my wide-eyed reaction.

My dad's parents- 2005

I had a moment feeling sad that my kids won't remember my Grandpa, and may not have many memories of my grandma.  But then realized they have some equally wonderful grandparents in both my parents and Mike's.

And someday Suzie might sit with my mom and talk about what she remembers from her early years.  I doubt she'll remember Saturday, how my dad broke out some awesomely-powerful nerf guns and declared war on all of us.  What a great memory that would be ...sitting safely with Grandma watching the rest of us tear through the house with war paint on our faces yelling death threats and battle cries.

If she remembers anything I hope it's that I won the final battle.

Yeah, that's what this post was all about and I've got the scars to prove it.

Can you feel the endorphins?

Let's start with today:

I stood at the window watching the cold rain and wind and mumbled, "I really need to run today".  Mike sighed and said, "Well, guess I should give you your Christmas present now."  (I swear, I am the calm and collected one when it comes to keeping presents on the down-low.  Mike is another story...)

He jaunts to the other room and comes out with two packages.

My husband bought me cold-weather running clothes!

SO comfortable- I was torn between running and just taking a nap!

Well I did run.  A fun, fast 5 miles.  And at one point when I was tempted to slow down just 'cause sometimes running is hard, I thought- I can't go slow when I look so cool!

Good run.  Thanks Hun.

Now Saturday:

I had the absolute pleasure of assisting in putting together a charity run for a most worthy cause.

 I didn't do much.  Just helped brainstorm, set-up, and take pictures. 

We had an exceptionally nice crowd, good vibe, and perfect weather!

The discussion of next year's run has already begun.  Both the successes and the not-so-successes of this year gave us ideas and inspiration for next.  It is going to be AWESOME.

THANK YOU to those of you who participated!  For more info on the charity go to this site.  (Pictures from the event will be there soon!)

With Dad's lens

I captured Brenda's odd little gathering...

Occupy ..something.  Am I right folks?

..and then I just kept shooting.

I've had people come into my house and say "I'm surprised there aren't pics of your kids all over your walls.  Aren't you a picture-taker?"

I say, "Get out".

No I don't.  I just shrug and say I'm just lazy or something.
 

But honestly, my philosophy on munchkin pics is that a few good ones are WAY better than a bazillion everyday ones. 

I'm talking about display pics, not digital files.

With digital I say let that trigger-finger fly...

spread the word

Every school-day morning at 7:25 a small bus pulls into our driveway.  Brenda goes tearing out with her backpack bouncing hither and thither.  Garret stumbles down the walkway leaning on me for support, trying to get just a little more sleep before getting to his classroom.  There is a cheerful "Good morning!" from their kindest-of-kind driver, Janet.  She and I always chat a moment about RV trips, running, weather, cookies...

Around 3:15 in the afternoon this same bus pulls up to the house again.  Brenda comes tearing out, eager to get to either Mario or her legos.  And I jump on board to unbuckle Garret who is usually giggling.  His classmate, Katherine, often exclaims, "Garret's Mom!  Garret's Mom!".  She'll take my hand and want me to sit with her.  Janet says goodbye to the kids and sometimes apologizes if the bus is late.  Usually it's because the wheelchair lift was acting up again.  Suzie insists on standing at the open front door to wave.  "Bye-bye bus!  BYE!!!"  Janet waves and shouts out her window, "Hi Suzie!  Bye Suzie!!"

I'm not someone who gets all peeved when people use handicapped rhetoric in an insulting way.  The r word (retarded) is shifting in meaning and I say lame but whatever.  When people use "special" as a rude tease rather than a condition description, I just let it go 'cause people say stupid stuff and life is short.  So it surprises me how much "short bus" being used in a derogatory way just gets me steaming.  You'd be lucky to ride that bus.  So just stop it.


Sorry.  This probably doesn't apply to you.

But if it does....

We are family

...Get up ev'rybody and sing!  


ummm, how does that song go?

Anyway, I'd like to point out the many accuracies in Brenda's Sunday school drawing.





1. Mommy is a scraggly mess .


2. Suzie is pictured with sippy cup in hand.


3. Garret is on the move holding a blade of grass wrapped in a sock.


4. Mario is listed as a family member...


5. ...as is a lego piece.

Thanks Brett and Bethany!

Today I did some laundry, sipped cocoa, changed some diapers, perused Goodwill with SIL Anna and our 6 kids, played on my floorplan computer program, made sandwiches, read books to Suzie and made appropriate animals sounds, cleaned some suspicious brown stuff off the dining room wall, bathed 2 of my 3 kids, did some more laundry...

...and worked on some illustrations.

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'Cause I've been asked to illustrate a children's book!

nervous laughter...

11-11-11 mystery

The creations from Brenda's bedroom floor continue to baffle me.

Despite the grilling she wouldn't give me any information.

 She was even irritated that I took pictures...

Yes, that's a money piece on top.

Any guesses?

Far too many zombies and not enough Travolta...

So how about a compromise?

original picture from here

Sorry, just needed a break from real work...

P.S. This is my 250th post.  The next 250 will probably be just as odd as the first.  (Until I get that pony, then things'll pick up a bit!)

If this were a cooking blog...

...you'd be mostly reading about sandwiches, cereal and soup from a can.

But today?

Ahhh today.

Well, I made pizza.

Not just any pizza, but gluten-free pizza.

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It was pretty easy with a mix.

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OK, so that's not so impressive...

"3 am Garret" in the flesh

In case this post needed more fun...

 ...there ya go.

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Isn't he beautiful?

Halloween 2011

Gosh darn it.  I am the worst hum-bugger when it comes to holidays.  I would have been content to just buy a bag of candy and sit around the house Monday night watching Shrek do something gross in the current holiday setting.  But this little costume-lovin' lady was wielding a gun-

 So off we went to my parents' house for some neighborhood prowling.

Suzie lasted maybe 4 houses before she had had enough of the dark, cold, what-on-earth-is-wrong-with-that-kids-monster-face evening.  Garret stayed with Grandpa enjoying the quiet, warm comfort of the indoors.  (Smart kid)  And Brenda stormed that street like the beaches at Normandy.  ...Until she got a boo-boo and that was enough.

Mike found time to sit between the constant visitors.

And I?  I don't know...  

I probably ate the most.