Fun Monday

Peter at Holties House is such a generous man. He is letting us fun it up on this last of 2007 Fun Mondays. How awesome is it to end the blog year on a Fun Monday and have such an entertaining assignment. He said,

I want you to tell us your favorite joke and/or show us our favorite cartoon, don’t worry if there is some
duplication that just means more than one person found it funny. So come on and regale us with your best joke and/or
cartoon, remember its New Years Eve and we feel like a good laugh, before 2008 comes along and does its thing on us.

I used to be able to remember and vomit jokes like crazy. These days, I'm lucky if I can remember to wear underwear each day. Wait, do I wear underwear, oh yes, I've already gone over that!

So Jokes...my all time favorites involve elephants and blonds. Not together you dirty little things. And btw, gag me with a spoon for even allowing that image to come up. I shared my shoulder pad blond joke already. Let's see.

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This blonde decides one day that she is sick and tired of all the blonde jokes and how all blondes are perceived as stupid, so she decides to show her husband that blondes really are smart.
While her husband is off at work, she decides that she is going to paint a couple of rooms in the house.
The next day, right after her husband leaves for work, she gets down to the task at hand.
Her husband arrives home at 5:30 and detects the distinctive smell of paint. He walks into the living room and finds his wife lying on the floor in a pool of sweat.
He notices that she is wearing a ski jacket and a fur coat at the same time. He goes over and asks her if she is OK.
She replies, "Yes."
He asks what she is doing.
She replies that she wanted to prove to him that not all blonde women are dumb and she wanted to do it by painting the house.
He then asks her why she has on a ski jacket and a fur coat.
She replies that she was reading the directions on the paint can and they said, "For best results, put on two coats."

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How do you keep a blonde busy for hours?

Scroll Down. --->

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Head back over to Peter's to laugh a little more and while you are at, SIGN UP TO BE THE NEXT HOST/ESS.

~R

This kinda made me feel better.

My Kubi Girl is a total Biotch which is of course her prerogative and her right as a feline. Sometimes she takes it too far. Like this Christmas we thought it would be fun to include her in the merriment.

Here's how she looked when I told her the news...

Click the picture to see just how well she took the forced festivities.

~R

the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good - I finally "met" a reader who just lurks. I was looking for a specific email and decided to check my spammed ones and I came across an email from Linda.

The Bad - Linda was emailing me about being a December Birthday Buddy and her birthday was December 5th, hardly over 30 years ago. All of the DBBs must immediately go over and visit and wish her a belated as is stated in the DBB decree. Her blog name will crack you up. Straight Up and Slightly Dirty
So HAPPY BELATED TO A NEW BLOG FRIEND, LIINDA.

The Ugly - If you visit Linda, in the top left side of her blog she has this image. I'm hesitant to even mention it because of NaBloPoMo...buuuuuttt, it's this little thing that reminds me of the November ordeal buuuuuttt it has a certain number on it. Again, I probably shouldn't mention this...buuuuuttt, the number rhymes with tree hixty pive. I clicked on the durn thing and couldn't get it to take me anywhere special. Maybe Linda is cuckoo and made it up herself. I don't know, buuuuttt it got me to thinking, I can do it! Yessireebob, I can.

So Linda darling, in addition to accepting my sincerest apologies for losing you in the spam bucket, please enlighten us all on this little doohickey you have on your blog. I love stirring up shit and this is just the thing we all need. A good swift kick in the arse to get our blogging back on track. I'm just sayin' - I'm just the messenger.

~R

Last Ornament Post, I Promise

...at least until next year.

I received two each of these. They are also Shiny Brites but they are made of plastic. These are the ones I remember the most from childhood. Probably because it had shiny stuff and a hole that I could poke my fingers in and play around...and err, um, anyhoo, here they are.

~R

Rabid Red Fox

We have an adorable bushy tailed red fox living somewhere behind our house. Our house backs up to the marsh and is heavily treed in the back. Our kids love playing out back and have a playset and use the lean-to on our shed as a fort. "I" love that they love playing out back. I can let them loose, open the back windows and clean the kitchen, prepare dinner, do laundry or go out with them and snap photographs. It's been great having RePete old enough that I can feel safe letting him out back, knowing that he won't go down to the marsh.

Just before Christmas, Pete's friend who lives just off the end of our street on the main road going through our neighborhood had to witness his two lovable labrador retrievers getting carted off by animal control. Apparently, when they were let out for potty time the night before, in their fenced yard, they were attacked by a rabid fox. Thankfully, they killed the fox, but in the process both dogs were bitten. Unfortunately, they were not up to date on their shots and they had to be put to sleep. I think if they were up to date, they would have received a booster and been quarantined for a period of time and probably would have been okay.

It's so sad they had to be put down. Those dogs were good pets, were mostly indoor dogs - which is probably why the owners didn't keep up the shots, and it's just a shame. It's also scary for me because we know for a fact one lives out back somewhere. We've seen it traipsing through our yard late in the evenings. We haven't seen it lately. In the news, there have been 4 reports of rabid animals, and I just wonder how many more we might have in our neighborhood.

Does anyone know how this works? How long do we need to be worried? Even though we've only seen our fox late at night, if rabid, I doubt time of day really matters anymore, if it were crazed. Aghhh!

~R

Bah Hum Bug and the Year Legos Took Over.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did but this year didn't feel right.

I took down all my Christmas stuff today and I actually started feeling better. I think I am going to break our tradition of putting up the tree right after Thanksgiving and wait until after my birthday on the 11th. Maybe having it up so long detracts from the excitement.

Maybe it was because it was 70 degrees outside or because we told Pete about Santa.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad we had that talk. We also didn't play it up with RePete like we did all those years with Pete. We just made a quick reference to the fact that he needed to go night-night so Santa could bring him a present (notice I said "a") and we could all open presents when we woke up.

Maybe it was the fact that nobody wanted to watch Miracle on 34th Street with me or that we didn't set out cookies for Santa. They wanted to watch Star Wars (again!) and when I mentioned the cookies to BN after the boys were tucked in, he said he still wanted me to set some out for him. :-) So I got up and made peanut butter cookies for him before wrapping all the boys presents. Tasty. And so were the cookies.

Pete woke up and asked BN, " oh my goodness, Dad, did you see all the presents?" like BN wasn't up with me wrapping them all night. Almost as if he still believed in Santa after all. And RePete really got into it this year. After opening each present and seeing the contents, he would raise one hand like a cowboy riding a bull (in the yeehaw kind of fashion). He was really excited.

Have I mentioned the Legos? Oh Lordy the Legos...

~R

Robinella's Craft Corner

I saw these on Dallas' blog and fell instantly in love. I had to make them.

Problem: I don't know how to do embroidery!

Solution: The internet. Don't cha just love that you can click click click and whammo, you know how to embroider. So here's my little birdie. I made these for family and friends and they loved them...at least that is what they said to my face.

And I commented on somebody's blog about making reindeer ornaments as a kid and they asked about it, so here it is. I took this photo over at my sister, Doodah's, this weekend. It is from our Mom's tree, I think she stole it! just kidding, and we made these when we were kids. I can't believe one survived all the moving we did. We also made toy soldiers using the same clothespins but unfortunately, they all died in the moving battle. We enjoyed looking at this and reminiscing so much that we've decided next year, we'll get together and have our boys help us make more.

~R

Nostalgia

Remember when I mentioned Shiny Brite ornaments? The same ornaments my Mom had on our trees growing up? I loved those little baubles. Did you check out D.U.M...err, ummm, maybe acronyms are not appropriate here?

Anyhoo, I went on ebay and started bidding, well actually started watching because the ones I really wanted didn't end for five days. One ended in 3 days and I patiently waited and waited and waited and woohoo, won the auction. It only costs me a total of just over $7 and here's what I received.

and this...

and this...

and...oops, Pete stuck his thumb through the fourth one. Thankfully, no boo-boos to mend.

The ones I really really wanted ended two days later and I forgot about them. I was out shopping and Pogo calls me and says, "hey, there's only 20 minutes left on these ornaments, and someone else has placed a bid. Do you want me to bid for you?" I said, "thank goodness for friends like you and YES, bid, bid, bid." (I have a problem - that whole bidding and winning process is intoxicating) So she did and we won! And at just a few cents over $3, I was ecstatic. I won't get my hands on those ornaments until later this coming week and will post them then.

This really is my last transmission. Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!

~R

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little something that my friend Sushi sent me...

(well not really, it's a funny little email flying around and she forwarded it to me)

I won't be blogging, I don't think, until after Christmas, but will sneak up here and see what you are writing when I get a chance. Of course, if I sneak up here, I'll probably have something to say, so it's hit or miss whether I'll be writing anything. Oh poop, I do still have my ornaments to show you. Okay, maybe I'll be back this weekend for a quick post - and that's it!

~R

Christmas Tradition

(circa 1976)

Okay, there's a couple a things wrong with this picture. First, my Mother cut my hair and she was not trained to do such things. Secondly, even though I was never a "sleep til noon" kinda kid, I at least wanted to sleep until the sun came up. In this photo, my baby sister was an early riser and so on Christmas morning, we were all dragged out of bed. My Mom thought it funny to snap photos of me. She did this every Christmas that I can remember.

So now, I do it to my sons. This was Pete on his third Christmas. Whoo boy, bustin' a gut here!

~R

Bloggy Love maintenance

Katie from Kitten's Homeschool and Kaytabug from Lady K both felt I deserved this award. Kitten 'cause she's just started checking me out and kinda likes me (okay that sounded weird, but you know what I mean) and Kaytabug 'cause she thinks my new blog in still in transition and this lamp would be a lovely addition to my award decor. Thanks to both of you for thinking of me and my obsession with Pretties.

My Mom gave one of these to Doodah for Christmas last year (the real lamp, not the fake blog award-duh). It was adorable and quite funny too, but right up my sister's alley.

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Some time ago, Miss Kaytabug also tagged me with this: (wow it was so long ago that I had to dig through her blog to find the rules)

The Rules are: Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It's more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you'd also like to take. Tag 5.

I really loved her first class and will be signing up right away...

Time Management Strategies Do you find yourself running out of time? Do you feel like you never get everything checked off your to-do list? Have you ever looked at the clock and exclaimed," Holy shit where the fuck did the time go?" Then this class is for you! - kaytabug

Brazilian/Bikini Waxing - There will be only one topic - Tea Tree Oil. That's all folks.

Procrastination - (Co-requisite of the Time Mgmt Strategies) If you've ever wanted to just let things go, then I can show you how. This year alone, I waited until December 13th to mail Christmas cards and I am still working on hand-made ornaments to give my friend in two days and family in three days. Pictures forthcoming, of course.

How to drive yourself crazy with silly Christmas drivel - if you ever thought having an Advent calendar that you have to fill with stuff is right for you, then so is this course. And since you don't want to rot your children's teeth with candy every single day because it's the only fricking thing that will fit in the teeny tiny little boxes so you decide to buy little trinkets that will end up under your sofa and refrigerator and you forget to put them out and have to run around in the morning because they are all about what's in the box...

Discipline - No, not for the kids. For you, or in this case me. When your laptop is just about broken in half and the screen will no longer illuminate properly for normal eyesight, give it to your husband to "tinker with", he is a software engineer afterall - what harm can he do?, and when it comes back and no longer illuminates AT ALL, you are forced to walk upstairs to the office and sit by your lonesome to visit friends and write silly crap like this. This really makes it hard to "check in" all day long.

I'm not passing it on and I think the semester ended already anyway.

~R

Geminid Meteor Shower

Pogo and I should not be allowed to operate heavy machinery.

One of us gets an idea and that's all she wrote, as my late stepdad used to say. Actually this story has nothing to do with heavy machinery, but we are spontaneous women and there's no telling what would happen if we were behind the wheel. Beware any who makes women driver jokes!

This year, Pogo, whose sign is Gemini, tells me about the meteor showers. She only pauses for 2 seconds when I blurt out, "we should get together and see it" or maybe she blurted it, whichever. She then tells me the story of a few years ago that she and her family and her sister and her husband drove out to BFE to watch another meteor shower event. It's about 45 minutes from my house and it is in the middle of nowhere. She talked about how it was pitch black and so many stars twinkled. She also mentioned the twinkling eyes of critters just beyond the clearing.

It's obvious to us at this point that we need to drag our kids out into the middle of nowhere, in the pitch black, during hunting season, with critters eyeballing us in the distance. That's right, folks...another k1d k1ll1ng spree Adventure of Pogo and Robinella.

Actually, we were saved from certain doom and hunting misfires by a few things.

• lack of sleep
• clouds
• lack of enthusiam
• big hunkin' husband

The day of the big event, we were to call each other and finalize our plans. When we finally got a hold of one another, Pogo informed me that her astronomer source said it wouldn't be as great a show as was predicted. We'd still see "falling stars" but at only the rate of 1 per minute. Both of us being stay-at-home Moms, we were pooped on a Friday evening and the sky was clouding over. So, after much hemming and hawing, we got our second wind and decided to go for it, but on a smaller scale.

Instead of driving 45 minutes to risk seeing a cloudy sky, we decide to drive 20 minutes to a local park (it's in the country so darker than most areas). Pogo's hunkin' husband decides to come with and act as our protector - he's six feet something and he's a man - and that's what our men do - protect us from ourselves. The sky is only partly cloudy and they are moving.

We found a pretty dark spot to park near a radio tower and we all hunkered down in the back of the pick-up with blankets and Cheetos. I've got my new camera and unbeknownst to me, the fiddling my sister did with the buttons, probably wasn't good. I couldn't get a steady shot. I had my tripod but some of the shots I wanted were straight up. I've had this tripod for 5 years but have never taken a straight up shot, so wasn't able to adjust it properly in the dark. The standard preset for pictures in the dark and the steady shot button should have helped, but I think the button fiddling was too much to compensate for.

And no, I didn't get any meteor shots because they happened so swiftly that you recognized out of the corner of your eyes that it was flying past, but they were too fast to focus on them.

Here's my lame attempt at taking photos of the night sky.

The brightest star of Canis Major (I think):

The belt of Orion:

~R

ps "BFE" = Surry County (Just an FYI - it's close to where a certain dog fighter home is currently being auctioned and someone set up an SPCA donation bucket during the auction *snicker* Nobody would bid high enough, so they closed the auction with no sale. Now he's going to list the house and maybe remove some of the dog houses *jerk*)

The Adventures of Pogo and Robinella

At least once a year, Pogo and I try to mame or otherwise k1ll our k1ds. Not on purpose, mind you.

Last year, I discovered Letterboxing and shared my enthusiasm with Pogo. Luckily, she is as romantic as I am and we decided this is something we'd like to do and drag our kids along on the pretense that is all for them. The adventure. The discovery. Yeah, right, more like the whining!! So we picked the hottest day that summer and picked the longest hike - 5 miles - to search for these stamping treasures. Her children drank their water supply rapidly. Pete watered the thirsty flora with ours. About 2.5 miles into our trek, the whining began and the water well was dry. We made the decision to keep on moving as it was 2.5 miles back to our cars backwards or forwards.

The whining increased, RePete starts to look drowsy. Now RePete still took naps at this point and it was high noon (actually it was 3pm but high noon sounds more dramatic) and his little sippy cup was empty. I started to panic at this point because I am not sure if he is just sleepy or dehydrated and ready to pass out. So, I grab his street stroller and run. Poor baby was on the ride of his life - tree stumps, tree roots, man-made steps, you name it made our path out. I reached the buildings at the entrance of the park - pretty sure I ran 5 minute miles - and the first one I came to was an office building and it was almost empty. I searched until I found a kitchen and an employee and explained that I just wanted to use the sink to fill our water bottles. Instead she raided the employee fridge and handed me several water bottles and a Diet Coke - the choice of dying people everywhere - and RePete and I were on our way back to meet up with the rest of our crew.

They were coming out of the clearing, red-faced, sweat-stained, dragging their feet.

We passed the bottles around and Pogo and I decided to wait until the Fall to restart our adventures in k1d k1ll1ng Letterboxing.

~R

Poetry Monday

Want this button?

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In Robin's own words, "Ahhhh, cinquain--I can see the gears s l o w l y revolving as you try to recall exactly what that is. Why, writing poetry couldn't be any easier than this--it's a simple formula. The only problem is, after a little investigation, I realized there are multiple formulas for writing cinquain."

(1-2-3-4-1)

Meteors
dark, moonless
shooting, flying, falling
warmly wrapped in darkness
Mesmerizing

(2-4-6-8-2)

Pictures
blurry, zigzags
shaky tripod teeters
frigid fingers need some warming
Abstract

~R

Cooking with boys is a joy...

especially when then boys are mine and we are making cookies. I read on another blog (forget where now) about these cookies. Pure genius. Who woulda thunk to paint the cookies first. I don't know who first decided this was a good thing to do, but if you do, please pass on my thanks.

To think of all the time and energy spent making all the different colored icings and having them get all botched up in transport, you know stuck to the cellophane or each other. Not anymore. This egg paint dries in the oven.

First you roll and cut the cookies. Then paint and in our case add lots and lots of little sprinkles. Lots and Lots.

Then you watch them carefully whilst they cook. "Look mom, they're getting poofy."

Find your special plate. We made this plate using Pete's hands (he was 4) and RePete's foot (just a few months old).

Now enjoy!

~R

Fun Monday

Kitten at Kitten's Homeschool is our wonderful hostess this week for Fun Monday. She wanted us to talk about our house and she's having a contest for the oldest one. It's a Two-Fer!

Today for Fun Monday I thought it would be neat to hear about the story behind your home and the road you live on. It doesn't have to be historical, maybe just something that stands out to you. It would be nice to have pictures to go with your little story. I also would like to know who has the oldest house. Whoever has the oldest house will get a little Christmas treat from little ole me.

Too bad we don't live in our very first home. It was built in 1914 and we just loved it. We carefully made repairs and made it very cozy indeed. Then we had Pete and the neighborhood wasn't the best so we built our first home. And I quit working to stay home with Pete, and the housing market sky-rocketed so we took advantage of that and sold our new home to buy something not as big, in a great location, to take some of the strain off of BN and our sole source of income.

We've lived here for 3.5 years. We bought it when Repete was just a little thing and now that he's bigger, WE NEED MORE SPACE. We kick ourselves in the hiney daily for selling our bigger home. So now this home is for sale. And the market SUCKS! So we're stuck. Anyone want to buy a home? HA. It's a lovely little thing, 12 years young, at the end of cul-du-sac in a very family-friendly neighborhood. We'll miss our neighbors when we finally sell but the extra space will be so worth it.

MMVII

The sum of ...

the Star Wars collection

PLUS

Mom's cool Eco-Drive watch

EQUALS

A tangible understanding of Roman numerals.

~R

ps Pete's just learning so don't freak out if it doesn't look exactly right - we pull it all together and learn a few more shortcuts tomorrow.

He was a Jolly Old Soul

When BN and I had Pete, we talked at great length about Santa Claus. We debated whether to even bother with the ruse, because we didn't want to lie and we worried about Pete, being very intense from day one, having a meltdown when he found out the truth. We went back and forth, and forth and back until Pete's first Christmas. He was 10 months and the Commercialized Christmas Spirit that we both knew and loved overcame us.

We took him to sit on Santa's lap. He was not happy.

Per BN's wishes, all the presents were from "Santa" and not us. Everything had to be wrapped in special Santa paper, etc. etc. From that day forward, Pete has been asking all the right questions. How does he get down the chimney? How does he carry toys for everyone in his sack? Are the elves paid for their work? Are the reindeer girls or boys? Can I go to the North Pole for a visit? And each year we've dodged and hemmed and hawed and the fibs kept mounting.

This year, Pete made his list (the boys sit down with scissors, glue, one sheet of paper and the store ads and cut and paste the pictures on the paper for their list) and I swear if you added everything up, it would have been close to $4000.00. He loves Legos and wants them all. So I said he needed to pick a few he really, really wanted and circle them. He did this but then added that he wasn't worried about the rest because Santa would be sure and get them all since it doesn't cost him anything.

That was when it hit me that we made the wrong decision or at least we went about it the wrong way somehow. We should have put limits on what Santa could bring, or maybe only given 3 presents from Santa and the rest from us (I was overruled on this in the beginning). So I told BN this story and asked him to let Pete down gently. I am very matter of fact about things, but BN has a softness about him when it comes to his boys and he just always says things the right way. I knew Pete would feel less hurt by the lies if BN handled it. And he was.

I think he already had an inkling about the truth anyway, but like the Tooth Fairy, wanted the magic to stay with him a bit longer. It's funny now because he doesn't seem to mind at all and it's even better for us because he knows WE will hold the old "You Better Watch Out" bit over him even if Santa let it slide. We'll be doing things differently with RePete now that he's curious about Santa. He still doesn't have a clue who Santa really is in this charade we call Christmas Spirit, but he's catching on.

~R

Am I good or what?...

AFF gave me this award and I don't know what it means exactly, except that she mentioned DBB, so maybe it's an award for talking in acronyms. I had a roommate in one of my Navy schools who just loved, loved, loved her some acronyms. She was from Massachusetts and in addition to speaking in acronyms, she would take a perfectly good word and add an "R" to the end of it. Take our other roomate, Tina. She became Tiner. So basically, Tiner and I never really knew what the hell Carrie was saying.

Is that what you are saying to me, AFF? If so, that's okay, because I don't know what I am saying half the time either. Ever hear that joke about why blonds wear shoulder pads? Then the blond bops her head from shoulder to shoulder saying, "like, I don't know". Yeah, that's me. Thank you darling, AFF!

I also want to say a big THANK YOU to Joy T. If you don't know her, and you'd be the only one on the blogplanet who didn't, you should get to know her. She gave me an honorable mention on her Linky Love post. It has handcuffs on it. She likeys me crafts.

There's some theme going on here. Handguns and handcuffs. Didn't I do something wrong and the rest of you aren't telling me about it? Should I be running for a border?

Thanks to you both, cause I love ya!

~R

3rd NASW Awards

Wow, I feel like I need a distraction. I was going to wait until after the first of the year to award these again, but just like a little kid at Christmas, I can't wait!!

Joy at A Spot of T. She cracks me up. In a such a way that I need Elmer's Glue to put myself back together again, like Humpty. She is Woman, hear her roar. I really love that she takes what is deep inside and vomits it out to the rest of us. A Stepford wife would never.

Ami from Ami.Mental. I love a girl with chin hairs and erasers. She does nice things like pay attention to other people's children and is highly entertaining. If she lived near me, I'd ask her to be in one of my craft videos.

Holly from Anglophile Football Fanatic. She is all sugar and spice and everything nice, but she's edgy. She also spends time trying on suitcases with her son, in her jammies, on the internet. Why, I never have used so many prepositions in one sentence in my life, before today, I swear. Besides, who am I to argue with this!

Dallas from sallad.net is someone new for me. I saw her way back in a FM post and then lost her url, then just found her again and left comments on about 3 months worth of posts. She's a newlywed and I figured I better taint her up real good and fast. She's giddy about her first married Christmas but no SW would post pics of her hubby like these. (the ND reference almost made me pee my pants.)

And there you have it. Check your seating area for loose articles prior to hobnobbing with the other celebrities. You don't want to leave that purse or fancy jacket behind.

~R

My new camera.

Well, how could I not post about it. Here it is.

I love it! The reviews compare it to the Nikon D80, which wins, but mine is wonderful without the big price tag of the Nikon. BN did good! Besides, he's a Sony whore and I expected nothing less. AND since Sony absorbed Minolta, which was the make of my old camera, I am sorta familiar with it.

I've been playing around with it, of course. My old camera took great photos, it just wasn't digital and it didn't have all the doodads that this one does. So I have some learning to do.

And don't 'cha just hate it LOVE IT when someone with a new camera takes so many pictures and feels the need to share? I'll spare you. Well, maybe just two. These are from our zoo. We'll go with a macro and the Bob shot.

Gratuitous Flower Close-up

Hi! I'm Bob!

Sorry,
~R

Could it get any better?

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea today would be THE day. I always wake up thinking it'll be a good day, but today...Whoa!

EVERYTING was going along as normal until I tried to print my family photos for our Christmas cards (I dragged my family down to the boat slip and pier yesterday). For whatever reason, our printer wasn't cooperating so I went online and uploaded the digital prints to Ritz, our local camera shop and also the store where I purchased my new camera. They have one hour photo developing and I figured I'd just run in on my way to taking the boys to the park.

When the boys and I arrived and I gave the girl my name for pickup, she became all apologetic because..

She said, "I tried to call you at the home number."

Me, "Oh, why? Is something wrong?"

Her, "Well, we have this release form you have to sign due to copyright laws."

Me (all confused), "Copyright laws? For my own pictures?"

Her, "You took these? Not a studio?"

Me (getting all giddy cause I'm loving my new camera), "Yep. I took them with the new camera we just bought from you guys."

Her, "Well, these are great! Let me get them printed up real quick for you."

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THEN this evening after I drop Pete off at gymnastics, I ran to the store to pick up picture hangers (since I had 11X13s printed of the boys) and then I stopped by Taco Bell to grab a drink. When I drove up to the window to pay, she said, "no charge", me, "no charge?", her, "Nope." me, "well, have a great evening and thank you."

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THEN as I was catching up on the Fun Monday posts, I read Nikki's who stated that Dirty Uncle Mark stole her ornaments. So I clicked on his blog to see these stolen ornaments and my breath caught in my chest. He had some of the same vintage ornaments that I remembered hanging on my Mom's tree, but were now all broken, except the two I have packed away. He even had a box with the name of the manufacturer. So I looked these up and am bidding on a few that were particularly amazing to me as a kid. I want my kids to see what I saw each year on the tree.

I couldn't be any happier. Oh, and it's my birthday in a few hours.

~R

What is Christianity?

Don't let that question run you off. This is not a sermon.

Recently, this question was asked of BN, "Are you a Christian?" I'm not planning to talk about BN's beliefs but I will talk about mine and how this relates. I went to Methodist Church as a youngster until the ripe old age of eight. When my parent's divorced, that was the end of church. I tried to go to the "Bible Bus School" with my friends, but it was at night and we lived in a big city and my Mom was afraid to let me go off by myself like that. I was so upset I didn't get my free bible. I'm over it now.

So there you have it. I don't go to church. I don't like being preached to. I always ask questions like, "But how do we know the Bible isn't some piece of fiction written by some delusional schizo?" I'm sure I'd go to hell for thoughts like that, if I believed in hell. For the record, I do believe in something bigger than me. Call it God, Allah, Buddha, the Earth Goddess herself, what have you. I don't think the name is important. I don't think pigeon-holing yourself into a particular sect is important. I've met plenty of hypocrites.

So back to the question. It's important concerning BN because his old band is going the way of Christian Rock. I can see where this question is important. If they ever made it big, they'd be scrutinized about their beliefs. They'd have to identify as Christians. So what does it mean to be a Christian? (rhetorical question)

The crazy part about this whole thing is that the scrutinizers will start looking into the band members. Then they'll start looking into the families of the band members. (this is the part where you hear the needle scratch to a halt on the spinning record) What's this Robinella? I can see it now. They hit it big and I end up in the tabloids.

~R

**I have to add a disclaimer**You should all know by now that I am only serious about half the time. Don't think on this too much. It's the weekend. Take a day off. That's all.**

Fun Monday

Kaytabug spoke. And when Kaytabug speaks, we all listen. Here's what she had to say:

In the spirit of the season I would like to see your favorite Christmas tree ornament. Not to be confused with the WHOLE tree. I want you to zoom in and show me one or a few(you know I can't choose just one!) of your favorite ornaments. If you don't decorate a tree, show me your menorah or dreidel, Kinara, or Yule Log. I want to see your favorite decoration for this holiday season.

Because my boys are only 7 and 3 and overly rambunctious, I don't pull any nice ornaments out at Christmastime just yet. Those nice ones are newer since I just started collecting glass ornaments so I can't really say any are my favorites yet. I do have a few that my Mom used on our trees growing up but those are also put away for safe keeping and if I am not mistaken those old glass bulbs were made using lead or mercury products and I don't want those near my boys anyway.

The only thing I can say for sure is a favorite, I have shown you on FM before. It's my Angel that tops the tree. Oh and while you are here, wish her a Happy Birthday 'cause she turns 39 this Christmas. If you didn't see the story before, long story short, My Mother bought her for her first Christmas with my Dad. The next December, I was born. Mom gave her to me several years ago and one day, if she is still working, I'll pass her on to one of my sons. She's not fancy and she wasn't expensive, but she's been there for all of my Christmases. That makes her my favorite.

Now head on back over Publish Post to Kaytabug's and see what others hold near and dear at this time of year.

~R

I've Got Blog

I've noticed that I hardly check my email anymore. Not that I was ever that excited about it anyway - not in the way Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were in the movie. Of course I didn't have some mysterious man emailing me behind my significant other's back either.

I don't get excited to "hear those three little words, You've Got Mail", so I don't use it much. I don't know how to use the text function on my phone, so I can't keep in touch that way. I don't like talking on the phone for very long, so other than my Mom and BFFs, my phone time is nil. I can't get into all the MySpace, Facebooks and the like. Too much time that I don't have to invest. For me, it's my blog and the ones I read. That's all I need. I find out about politics, weather, new craft ideas, relationship struggles, photography, etc. What more could a girl ask for?

So what do I do when I have a few spare moments? I do run giggling like a school girl to my computer like Meg, especially after the kids are in bed and BN runs out for his nightly Starbucks fix. I hop on my blog and I can't wait for it to load. I can't wait to see what you've left for me and I can't wait to see what you are writing about.

I've Got Blog.

~R

Bye Bye Bloglines

That's it! Because of the wee bit slower DSL (and if you don't quit acting up, you are history too, DSL) I thought I'd try something to help me along in my blog reading habit. Unfortunately, many of you have not had this beside your names (1). So, because of this I assumed you were just pooped from Nablopomo and didn't bother sharing your world with the rest of us.

I was wrong. And I'm sorry I neglected you for the past 5 or so days. If you haven't seen me, don't worry, I'll be around soon and you'll get 5 or so comments from me in a row and you'll be sorry I figured it out.

And now back to doing things the old fashioned way...clicking. I guess that old saying holds true. If you want something done right, do it yourself.

~R

p.s. Joy found the button. And yes, darling, you can have it. If you want my nifty Bday button for your very own, just click and save as. I made it for my December Birthday Buddies (DBB), but I don't see why every month can't get some luv! Take it! It's free.

Is this Normal?

Okay folks, I am going to show you something. But, before I do, I need you to take a deep breath and then hold it. Don't let out a single wisp of breath or ...
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...it might fall over!

In case you can't see it, there is a second basket almost as high behind it.

Personally, I think my job is done. Although, I would bet big money that if I leave that pile there, it'll still be there a week from now.

~R

It's been a good day.

Things that made it that way:

• I finally finished reading all the FM posts. Phew, I'm tired. THANKS to everyone who stopped by and who played.
• I finally mailed the package I tried to mail yesterday - and there are no fist fights to report.
• I finally cleaned my bathrooms after I think a month of not cleaning them. Because of course, nobody else in this house would even think about it.
• I finally swept under my washer and dryer AND swept and mopped the kitchen floor. Again, the month thing is feeling familiar.
• I got to talk to Pogo without too much commotion in the background. She's my crack.
• My boys have gotten along really well today. Minimal fighting.
• Pete and I completed the math and reading assignments I meant to do yesterday and he didn't complain. He also got the math concepts right away AND read faster than previously. Because of this stress free school session, the fact that he seems to have over active saliva glands and most of the words started with "sp" or "st" or "spl" and he "sp"otted up the table and book, didn't bother me at all.

The pessimist in me is saying, "yeah, but it's only 4pm and they don't go to bed until 9pm".

The optimist in me is saying, "ahhh, but I feel so relaxed and it's been quite awhile since I've had this euphoric feeling".

I'm going to ignore the pessimist and go vacuum or something since they are playing outside so nicely.

~R

Fun Monday (Dec 3rd)

First, thanks to everyone for signing up. Did anyone else who has hosted worry whether anyone would want to play your game? I realize it's a once a week regular thing, but depending on the theme, some might not want to participate. So it was a relief when people starting shouting, "I'm in." I don't have a problem posting my thoughts to the world, but to ask the world to come over and play is another thing entirely - very daunting. You love me Fun Monday, You really love me it! Anyhoo,

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Since most of us participated in Nablopomo and we are exhausted, I wanted to make this one easy. Since it's December and most of us are starting to decorate and make things colorful, I too wanted to make things colorful. And lastly, because we are bloggers and consider what we post to be down right hilarious or informative or brainy and we like to showcase ourselves, I wanted to let you do just that!

Take a moment in this last month of 2007 to reflect on the past year. Okay? Done? Now...

In honor of exhaustion, color and self-love, I present you with this week's assignment. I want you to dig through your blog files and show us your best effort. Why you consider it your best is up to you. C'mon, you know you have a favorite - show it to me one more time.

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IF you have a December Birthday, Click Here.

Please check out the following players:

Hootin Annie
the Other Robin
Karisma
Blue Momma
Min
Sandy
Bren
Sayre
Sauntering Soul
Junebug
The Rotten Correspondent
Susan
Janet
Peter
the Other Other Robin
Kaytabug - Dec. 10th, Hostess with the Mostest
Dallas
Willowtree
AFF
Cynthia
Joy T.
Cathi
Terri
Kitten
Nikki
Debbie
Beckie
Lisa
Karina
Kamryn
Alix
Monica
Dawn
Beth
mjd
ThePearLady
Ann
Sirdar
Debbie
Ami - New to FM. Welcome!!
Bethany
Lisa (food snob)
Laurie
Tiggerlane
chrisb
Jill
Christine
Fianna
Emma
Swampy
Gattina
NLM & NLL at Nekked Lizard Oxymorons - New to blogging and FM. Welcome!
Jenni
Jo Beaufoix
Jenny Oops, it's on her OTHER blogging venue.
Serina
Kaycie
Amanda
PixelPi at Motes

I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Have fun reminiscing,

~R

Fun Monday

**Click the FM link on the left to go straight to the participants.**

I chose this post because it shows the craziness I'll go through for my kids to make their world "rock", and it's now almost 6 months later and Pete no longer believes. I'll post why sometime this month. So it's somewhat bittersweet for me and will soon become one of those fading memories.

Just like the original

The 60 second Tooth Fairy Shuffle

May 11, 2007

Last night we ate at the Mexican restaurant and Pete had his favorite Mexican dish - chicken fingers and french fries. About half way through dinner, BN looks at Pete’s mouth and says where’s your tooth? Pete was unaware he’d lost it, but it was definitely in there when we arrived. Pete ate his tooth! Which ultimately led to a discussion about, you guessed it, poop.

Fast forward to today. While eating pancakes this morning, Pete suddenly jumps up and yells I forgot to look for the money. I choke on my pancake as I decide what to do. You see I forgot to put money under the pillow because 2 certain someones did not fall asleep until about 11pm and I was too tired to remember the Tooth Fairy money.

The first thought that comes to mind as I hear him running up to his room is that this would be a great time to tell Pete that there is no Tooth Fairy (TF). But as I hear him tearing his bed apart, I realize he wants this charade to continue a bit longer, so guilt adrenaline sets in. I run into our bedroom and raid BN’s change for $2 in quarters (guilt prompts $2 instead of the usual $1) and then hightail it up to the office to get a little baggie out of my scrapbook supplies and a piece of card stock to jot down something clever from the TF. I then casually waltz into his room and pick up his pillow while ever so carefully slipping the little baggie into his pillowcase. Then as I shake the pillow, I ask if he is sure he’s checked everywhere, he hears the jingle jangle of money. He gets all excited and dives into the pillow case head first.

Pete finds the baggie, immediately counts the change, then jumps up and down with glee. It was so worth the 6o seconds.

~R