Fun Monday - I so quirky

The lovely Lisa of Lisa's Chaos wants to know if we have any quirks. According to BN, Quirk is my middle name. As usual I have no idea what he is talking about.

Here are a few of his favorites:

• I stack my Christmas presents. After opening them, I stack them neatly. Wazzamatta wit dat?


• I like ice. Milk, soda, tea, whatever. lotes de hielo, por favor!
  


• The pant legs of pajamas cannot ride up. I been known to ask him to reach under the covers and pull my pants legs down in place, pretty please.


• I prefer not to sweat...ever. Not even when working out. BN bought me a deeeluxe fan that sits right in front of my BowFlex treadmill. And the fan needs to point towards my face.


• The soap dispenser has to be on the sink next to the faucet. BN likes it behind the faucet area and the boys leave it all over the counter. Soap has its place, people.


• Every food product I order is special. No onions, no tomatoes, etc. BN refuses to order at the drive-thru for me. He always goes in to make sure they get it right. Such a darlin' man.


• I refuse to put down the car window next to me, no matter what! Anyone with hair longer than a Dorothy Hamill can vouch for all the little wispy hairs tickling your nose and lips when the wind blows.


• Lip Balm! I must have one tube in every purse, drawer, nook and cranny. Need I say more?


• I think that is enough for now.

Thanks, Lisa for a fun topic. Although I don't see any of these as quirks, but rather life necessities.

~R

Round Robin - Weeds

Two weeks seems like a lot of time when it is ahead of you. Then, the night before the two weeks is up, you realize it goes by so fast. I only had two photos in my warehouse of photos to show for this assignment, but may add to this later because I had a few weeds in mind.

The flower boxes on my back deck railings have had many things planted in them and sometimes a stray old planting resurfaces. I can never remember what I've planted and therefore I have to give them a week to convince me they are not a weed.

This one did not convince me even though it may have been something other than a weed.



And this little fellow thought it was yummy regardless of its plant status.



Although, embarrassingly enough, he had a dingleberry.

Go visit some more Robins.

~R

Crazy Bag Lady

My MIL calls her purses pusses and I couldn't resist that as a title. The first time I heard her say, "Where's my puss?" I about died on the spot. So funny!

Anyhoo, Kaytabug asked if I would show all of my purses made by Sushi. I have five so far and I prefer the large pusses. Okay that was bad, but if I were you ordering one of her bags, I would definitely spring for the large. One of mine is the medium and I love it, but I always need my organizer on hand and it just fits better in the large. So here they are.



They are all my favorites and if no one buys her current bag on ebay, that will be my purchase in July. I HAD to limit myself to one purse per month or I would buy them all!!! She just delivered the floral one on the right last week. I love it!

I have to admit to being a Vera Bradley fan, but with her you are limited to paisleys and little florals. With Sushi, the sky is the limit. She can find almost any fabric that interests you. If you want stripes, she'll find 'em. You love salon scenes, she's got 'em. She's supportive that way. :-)

So there you are K. My bags.

Love,

The Crazy Bag Lady

MOTY

I am so happy my oldest will be in day camp next week. After 742 consecutive days with my sons, I need a break. That's one of the drawbacks to homeschooling for me. I love my children, but I am an introvert. I NEED time alone to regroup. And wouldn't you know that I'd have two sons who need to be around people to regroup.

1 introvert + 2 extroverts = Mommas going crazy.

Sign me up for Mother Of The Year. (MOTY) Voting has begun and I am clearly the winner!!!

~R

Elvis and Me

Okay is it Elvises or Elvi? I haven't a clue. And I think he was trying to grab my boob!

The Skydiving Kings

Virgina Beach always has fun things lined up on the weekends during the tourist season.

You can check out this season's lineup here. BeachStreetUSA

~R

Fun Monday - Clothing

The Hula Girl has decided we need to show clothing that we just can't part with.

I didn't even have to give it a minutes thought. I already knew exactly what I would show.

Back in 1993, BN went to Thailand. While there he purchased a short set for me made of Thai silk. He was so proud of that purchase. He thought I would be just as thrilled. He was so wrong and now he only buys me jewelry. He's a quick learner.

Back in 1993, I was a size 5/6. I had a 24 inch waist. This outfit was labeled "One Size Fits All".

I spread the outfit across the bottom of our KING SIZE bed to show just how big this thing is. Even now at a size 10, it still doesn't fit me.

Everytime BN sees it hanging in the closet, he reminds me that I have never worn it. I remind him that I never will, but one thing is for sure, I'll never part with it.

~R

RePete's Pet

We went to Sonic yesterday and RePete got this bug catcher in his meal. Thankfully, the bugs did not come with it!

At my sister's house, he caught a bug and showed it to me. It's a beetle.



Repete: Mom, Mom, Mom (his new speech thing), I have a pet.

Me: Really (resisting urge to say it two more times), what's its name?

RePete: Bug.

Me: Oh that's great!

RePete: Look at his little head. It's tiny.

Me: Yep, it's a beetle.

RePete: Oh. He's my pet.

At this point my sister and I, and later BN and I, laugh our asses off (when he can't hear us of course) as we borrow lines from "Dumb and Dumber". "Pretty bird", we say as we stroke an imaginary bird head.

I forgot to mention that the beetle was dead. I love that kid.

~R

Speaking of Poop

After 3 days of hiney squeezing and tippy toes dancing, RePete, at the ripe old age of 4 years, 4 months and 16 days crapped on the pot.

A very welcome ending to this chapter in my Mommy Book.

~R

Don't hate me because I am beautiful

***Sadly, all comments were lost in the moves back and forth between blogger and wp (all tho many were retained in wp).***

Okay folks, I love the loyalty! You followed me from Blogger to Wordpress and back to Blogger.

Guess what, starting Monday, it's back to Wordpress. Half of you still have the Wordpress linked anyway so I only need to say I feel your pain to the other half, so, "I feel your pain!"

Other than losing my ability to spruce up the place, there just isn't anything in blogger that I love. I still don't want to pay for anything because every other day I am quitting blogging for good. I need a free service for when I am not quitting blogging. Comprende?

I've already moved my posts and comments to wordpress and it is so lovely that it is importing these posts as I write. I'm still figuring out the widget stuff so it may be bare, but hey, I probably need to lose some of that stuff anyways. I'll put them in the new "pages" feature they have (as soon as I figure that out).

And the support at Wordpress is phenomenal! I posted a question yesterday and had replies this morning. They called me Moron too, but I'm okay with it because they said it with a smile.

Stop by for a visit today at http://robinellablog.wordpress.com/ It's the same post, of course, but whatever - show me some love.

And thanks for the friendships,
~R

Round Robin - I Made That!

This time around we have to show things we've made, whether that is food, crafty things, kids, whatever. This is a tough assignment because I usually give away what I make - except for the kids. (insert nervous laugh)

Back in November/December timeframe, I started a Robinella's Craft Corner Series. (hmm, I should start that back up) Anyway, you can see what we made here, here, here, and here.

As photographers in this ring, some of you may be interested in this post about building a light box. I ended up cutting the box down so that it was square and that helped with the lighting tremendously.

So let's see what I might have hanging around or any photos of things I've done.

View photos of old artwork here.

Here is an antique bureau that I refinished and that wild fruit laden tree on top is one of my creations. I'm not so good with the fruit - but I really liked how it turned out and it made a great vignette for our foyer.

This little stool was done by special request for my neighbor who is petite - only 4'-10". Her daughter is equally petite and needed a stool for the potty. So I made this:

And finally, in our first home (originally built 1914), the chimney could not be used without extensive repairs, so the previous owners covered up the wood stove openings in the chimneys. It was hideous. BN ripped out all the tacky plaster covering the fireplace opening and I faux finished it.

Before:

And after:

I don't how big this will click up to but on the mantle shelf is a model I made of our first home out of cardboard. It became an ornament for our tree - which my first son tore to pieces as a baby.

Enjoy the rest of the Creative Robins out there.

~R

Forrest Gump

That's my new name for RePete. No matter what we call it, he calls his ass a but-tock (complete with that little separation.)

~R

Hillbilly Hell

I'm in it. and deep.

Once we cleared out the flower beds, our porch railing's eyesoreness became even more apparent. So we decided to go ahead while the beds were empty and install new rails. BN started them almost two weeks ago. Here they are today. Gosh that sun is bright.

My husband, who is damn near genius, cannot figure out the rails going down the stairs. He has the angles done, but it's lining up the top and bottom stiles that he can't seem to get.

You may be asking yourself why he's doing it when we can afford to have someone else do it. I know I am. BN's answer, "why would I pay someone else when I can do it?" ???? So he's scheduled to complete it tonight. I actually have faith he'll figure it out, he just needs to look at it a bit longer. (smirk)

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We've been in the 100's for the past 5 days. Our upstairs has two skylights. I'd like to beat the shit out of the person who decided this house needed them. Anyhoo, I went to Lowes to get the film that blocks heat. I don't want the blinds, we actually have a pretty view of...the sky and...the trees and they do bring in a lot of light.

Unfortunately, they also bring in all the heat. As it turns out the film I need to put on the windows requires two sets of hands and BN has not been available the last two days since I bought the film. So I tacked towels over the windows to help with the heat. T-A-C-K-Y. Yeah, I know, but it has helped quite a bit. Hopefully, after the railings are done, BN can help me with the film. Cause these have got to go.

Next thing you know we'll start storing extra appliances in our yard.

~R

Anonymity

When you are new to blogging or perhaps like me and in way over your head with all the technical stuff, you start at point A and somehow point B pops up and before you know it you are in the DDs and have signed up for and put avatars or pictures of yourself all over the internet.

I laughed at this post of Joy's about how even when you lurk, they still know you are there. Not because they go to some place like Sitemeter and see that Robinella from Norfolk, VA (which is funny, cause I'm not) is on their site lurking. NO it's like Joy said. you are reading and look ever so casually to the sidebar and see your smiling mug. I laughed at her post and then yesterday I was directed yet again by Google to a popular kid's blog and ever so casually looked left and there I was. I immediately clicked on back button like that would do anything. I felt so cheap.

Apparently somewhere along the way, I signed up for MyBlogLog I have no idea when that happened or where. But there I am. I saw this big box of "social stuff" on Joy's site and MyBlogLog was on the list, so I clicked on her big box of p0rn and voila, I do indeed have an account.

This is the part in all of my Techno Challenged Posts where I throw up my hands and ask you how this happened.

Today? I give up. I'm on it. It was my own doing. And in Willowtree's own words, "put the bat down". You'll have to go back to this post and see his comment to get the full effect of that advice.

~R

School Is Out

It is with mixed emotions that I post about the end of the school year.

Yesterday, we visited with friends and heard about award ceremonies and I was shown all the awards that my kids will not be getting since we home school. I thought about making some for them, like perfect attendance. Everyone who home schools gets perfect attendance, right. But I didn't make any. Maybe next year.

Today, I passed the high school on the way home and saw kids driving away from school for the last time this year. Everyone was laughing and I imagine the ones that are seniors must feel...exhilarated. Do you remember that day? Your last day of high school? Signing yearbooks, laughing, crying, hugging. It was like the air more filled my lungs when I stepped out of that building for the last time. I can still feel it even 20 years later. (gasp)

Tomorrow, I'll be over the nostalgia part. Because tomorrow the parks and museums will be crowded. The zoo, the mall, and the beach will be crowded. And the pool will be crowded. One of the benefits of home schooling, and one that came as a surprise bonus, was being able to go to any of those places during the school day and have it all to ourselves. No waiting in long lines or not being able to see my own children in the sea of laughing faces.

So here in Casa de Robinella, we look forward to the next school year. At least I do. What are your summer plans?

~R

Techno Challenged Post #8

I generally click on my blog and sign in and then log into my gmail accounts to check mail. I have a personal one and a blog one. And I check them in that order.

Then I mosey on over to my blog. Only my blog is nowhere to be found. It's not on my dashboard. I have the homepage saved on my toolbar so it's a one click deal to get there. Next I usually click "sign in", except this time it said, "sign out". That's weird, I think to myself. So I click dashboard again and again no blog.

I repeat the last paragraph about 4 times and start panicking as usual. On the sidebar of the dashboard is a Q and A and number two is "why isn't my blog on my dashboard?" Oooo, that's exactly what I was thinking. So I click it and it says, "hey moron, you probably have more than one google account and you are logged into the wrong one." See order of viewing emails in paragraph one.

I originally, in all my naivety, signed up for this blog on my personal account so I'm tied to it. I keep my blog email account open because I usually have an email or chat conversation going on while blogging or reading blogs - and that causes me tons of grief when my blog or my google reader (both on personal acct) logs out on me. More turmoil.

Anybody know how to resolve this? I tried following some instructions on the "ask blogger" thingie and my contacts melted right out of my eyeballs trying to follow that conversation.

So anyhoo, anyone? please? with a cherry on top?

~R

Crud, Zohan, Blogs, Drowning

I've had the crud for over a week now. I can't decide if it is getting better or settling in my ears. The pressure alone is enough to make me want to stick the baby blue bulb up my nose and squeeze til I start to see brain matter.

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BN and I saw the a free early showing (meaning first-come, first-served) of Zohan last night and it was funny. I'm not all gaga over Adam Sandler but get his humor. It would have been more enjoyable if some people in line didn't hold spots for 10 of their relatives - complete with garbage bags full of cheaper-than-movie-house-food. Or if those same people didn't have a toddler and 4 young girls of about 7 or 8 years old in a movie where the restriction states Crude and Sexual Content THROUGHOUT, Language and Nudity. Um HELLLOOO. I'll gladly give you the money to take those kids to a Disney movie or something. Some people take FREE a little too far in my opinion. Or if the guy sitting next to me didn't smell sour and have a hacking problem. Otherwise, good times, good times.

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I am faithfully reading everyone on bloglines, even if you don't see me comment. This crud just zaps my energy and I only have so much time that I am up for doing anything. I'll get back to commenting soon and I appreciate all who have read and commented here.

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Yesterday, I took the boys to meet some friends at the pool. RePete can't swim yet so he wears a vest when in the water and I am always in the water with him. Well, he decided he didn't want to wear the vest while playing in the splash park area and I was fine with that. Soon, he and a boy a few years older start playing in a fountain and the older boy decides to push RePete out...repeatedly. So I go over and nicely let the boy know I don't want him pushing and that they both can share. The pushing continues and then the boy chases RePete around the splash area - RePete thinks they are playing a game. So I intervene again. The little boy leaves. His Mother? Nowhere in sight.

RePete continues to pretend he's farting and the water is the noxious fumes coming out of his rear and the bigger boy comes back and begins the pushing thing again. Before I can get out of my chair, they take off, but instead of running around the splash area, the kid chases RePete over to the pool. I finally get up and out of that low-to-the-ground-strappy-chair-that-sticks-to-your-skin and take off running myself. RePete, scared, runs, flies down four steps and jumps straight into the pool. Flashbacks of his first near drowning nightmare (in my lost files) are happening as I see him struggle to get his head above the water (four feet here) with no success before I finally get to the edge and jump in and bring him up. He's coughing and sputtering but fine and I looked at that kid and said, "Where is your mother? And don't you ever come near my son again." I'm not real big on reprimanding other people's children but when safety is involved, it's another story. He took off while I was consoling RePete and I didn't see him again.

A few things about this tick me off.

• Where was his mother?
• Why did the lifeguard not even move?
• What is wrong with kids today?

The lifeguard motioned me over and said something about me being able to be in the pool with RePete, if I want to. Um, duh. Didn't you just see my kid jump in and almost drown - which is exactly what I said to her shocked face.

Thank goodness swim lessons start in a week. And thank goodness Pete is such a great swimmer. I don't think I could take them both to the pool by myself if not.

~R