I TOLD You I Was OLD

Conversation I had two weeks ago when I set up my level II ultrasound (which is tomorrow, say a prayer if you could, please?):


Scheduler: Okay, so, you know that this will be a two hour appointment, right?

Me: Oh, okay, I thought it was only about an hour...is it still okay that I bring my three, older children?

Scheduler: Oh yes, definitely! Okay now, it's two hours...the first hour will be for "genetic counselling"...

Me: What FOR? I don't really have any genetic issues in my family and I really don't think I need...

Scheduler: Oh, well, we always do "genetic counselling" for women of...

(ready for it?)...

"ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE".

Me: uh, uh, uh

Scheduler: Yes, I see here that you are 35, is that right?

Me: Um, Yeah (still in shock) but I JUST TURNED 35 this week!

Scheduler: Heehee, okay, but we do the "genetic counselling" everyone who is advanced maternal age, which is 35 and over...

Ugh. Not fair. SO not fair.

If I Had A Third Thumb

...I would stick it (along with the other two) firmly in the air for Dan In Real Life.

My super-cool-most-wonderfulest-awesomest-bestest husband in the whole, stinkin' world made me go out to a movie tonight with my sister. We laughed, we cried. I went into the movie not really knowing what the plot was going to be about (I recommend this for this particular movie) and I was so pleasantly surprised!

All of the characters were wonderfully cast (maybe with the exception of the 15 year old daughter, she was a bit overdone...but so was her character, so maybe that was right) and I love the fact that it all took place in basically one location. No supercrazy camera angles, no gratuitous you-know-what scenes, just a lot of laughs and a couple of good crys without anyone dying or getting in a horrible accident...I hate it when they put a child in danger in movies, it rips my heart out!

There are a couple of suggestive things, but I think I'm going to let my 13 year old see it because it will give her a good view of what it's like to parent willful teen-agers who act superdramatic and don't always listen. It shows a man who is pretty realistic (and I know that Steve Carell is usually so over the top, but I really believed him in this movie) and admits to his mistakes without getting all girly in the end. That's pretty hard to do!

Oh, and Juliette Binoche is, quite possibly, the most beautiful woman in the whole world. She just gets better with age. Dang, she's pretty. That accent is to die for.

I think Dane Cook is crude, disgusting, and a little hard to take but he was just perfect in this role and I ended up liking him a little more after this movie.

Dianne Wiest was also perfectly cast as the understanding, firm, but realistic matriarch of the family without her usual character's trait of being kind of wishy washy or doubtful. She was not trying to outshine all of the other actors and I loved her in this movie.

I really think that if Bella isn't playing yet in your town, you should check out this cute, diversion of a movie and don't be afraid to laugh really hard and get into it. The six other people in the theater were so quiet tonight, that it got me and Anna thinking that we were maybe liking it too much or something...but then we came to the conclusion that other people aren't as animated and fun as we are so it's definitely THEIR problem. If something is funny (even if it's not "realistic" enough for you) you should LAUGH. If something is poignantly sad, you should really cry and not be ashamed about it or afraid it will mess up your makeup.

I just saw Evan Almighty about two weeks ago (we bought it) and we all loved it. My favorite line in that movie was when he was in full Moses mode and he casually asks his quickly-growing-impatient-with-his-antics wife if "we have any unleavened bread?". I just found out that Steve Carell is a life-long Catholic. I don't know anything about his faith life, but he is a REALLY TALENTED actor that is very good at making fun of situations, himself, and NOT at the expense of other people. He shows much humility in his acting which I think is the funniest part of all.

I Lied

Okay, so it only took a day to get everything off of my computer and to start over! That guy is a wiz, I tell you! The only thing I haven't gotten fully restored yet is my beloved "favorites" list! If you could just take a second to say even "hi" in the comments box, then I could get you back into my favorites (especially you who I had to email to get your blog address, could you email it to me again...you know who you are!). I should have just written them down, but I didn't have time and my list was getting kind of HUGE!

Now, whilst I'm re-compiling my list of must-read blogs (I should really investigate one of those "bloglines" things I have heard about)...

We went to the 101 market on Friday (Matty: It's soooo boring there. There's NOTHING to do. Just leave me home alone!!!!!)

We met Katrina and her kids, and my mom and dad.

The kids were sooooo bored:









Mari calls them "kumpins" and she tries to lift EVERY kumpin she sees. She just tries (with a cute grunt) and says, "Nope!" after she can't do it and walks to the next one. I think she really believes that one of these days, she'll actually be able to lift one that is three times bigger than her. I wish I had an ounce of that kind of hope and confidence.

Teeny, Little, Blog Break

Howdy. My computer is going to get a "Fall Cleaning" so it can run faster and smoother (and we can get all of the junk that the kids download OFF of it!). I won't be getting email for a few days (what am I going to do? AhHHHHHHHHHHH!) I have a "computer guy" who is a whiz at this stuff (he's an old, family friend). Butch is going to help him finish his basement in return for his computery services. He and his wife are expecting their first baby in December so, while you are at it, could you say a little prayer for them for a safe delivery and a healthy mom and baby?

Thanks!

Bocker-isms Make My Day

I was cleaning up in the kitchen after lunch on Wednesday and I heard Niklaus down on the floor, below the breakfast bar, making a swooshing sound, out of my sight.

I asked him, "Niklaus, what are you doing down there?".

"Nothin'" He said, "I'm just makin' a 'food angel'.".

Obviously, I hadn't gotten to the sweeping part of the cleaning up process.

Kids are SO weird.

Well, MY kids are...And I think it may be genetic.

Some Things Can't Be Fixed By Duct Tape

The usually crazy, rambunctious, almost four-year-old boy ran up to Mama after his bike ride yelling, "MAMA! Come QUICK! There's a BUTTERFLY OVER HERE!"

Mama ran over to the side of the house where Daddy usually parks his work truck and saw what he was pointing at and jumping up and down about: a monarch butterfly with curled up, faded, useless wings. At first, she thought she could just maybe bend them straight, or wait until they spontaneously healed, or the butterfly could maybe figure out how to fly with them with a little practice. In the meantime, she picked it up with her bare hand (an amazing feat not unnoticed by the boy) and brought it over to the porch until they could figure out what to do.





The little boy crouched and watched the creature flitter and falter for about 5 minutes and wondered if some intervention would be helpful. He tried "feeding" it a leaf.



He tried to see if maybe it would get better by "sucking on a mini-pumpkin" but got really upset when Mama suggested that maybe the butterfly might not be able to do that since it was so weak from trying to fly.



He tried to feed it some jelly on a spoon but the butterfly just got all sticky and then it tried to fly away with broken wings AND sticky feet.


The boy's sisters were desperately trying to help too, but Mama finally had to explain that the butterfly probably came from the grill of Daddy's truck, and even thought his body was still okay, his wings were no good. This kind of butterfly should be on his way to Mexico by now, but with his wings like this, he may not even get to find shelter this night because he can't even fly a foot at a time and he's struggling so much that he will get tired and probably die before the day is done.



It was a really sad time for the little boy (who, incidentally, finds great pleasure in squashing OTHER insects like grasshoppers and beetles). He just couldn't figure out why it wouldn't do any good to just put the butterfly in a bucket and give it some water, leaves, and rocks like you do for caterpillars and toads.


I wish I could say that this story has a happy ending for the butterfly, but it doesn't. The boy finally realized that sometimes there are sad things that happen and we can't fix some problems but life goes on and you can just go in the house for a snack for things to get all better.

He went outside the next morning to look for butterfly, but it was all gone. Maybe it figured out how to fly with it's broken wings? Maybe it died quietly and went blowing in the wind down to the pond and got caught in a tree where it's pretty wings will decorate some birdy's nest next spring? I guess not seeing the dead butterfly was some comfort for him because he didn't seem quite so upset as the day before. He and his mama went for a walk later that day (it was windy so he wanted to walk instead of ride his bike) and they went (along with little sister in Mama's backpack) to visit a neighbor boy who is the same age.

It was a nice day but it was too windy to see any more butterflies...and too late in the year to squish any grasshoppers along the way.

One of These Days...

...me and that copy-cat, Amy Caroline will stop cross linking to each-other's blogs, I swear!

Today is NOT that day.

I saw this post and I felt her pain so I had to give an explanation of how I handled that particular problem.

Now, my methods may not be yours, but I like to gather the mess together, and attack it like an animal. I don't stop (or if I have to, I don't LIKE it) and I don't let anyone touch my mess until it's allllll done being organized.

I had the same problem as Amy. I had a huge, storage box FULL of pictures, plus random hidey holes of them all over the house. Finally, one day, I collected them ALL. I gutted through them (made quick decisions and didn't spend a lot of time reminiscing...there is time for that later when you put them in albums or have the older kids help you put them in place), threw away all the ones that didn't have any relevance or meaning, or were underexposed, and put them in the following categories:

1. Children (for their own books, the rule was that THAT child had to be central in the picture and that if an auntie or uncle or other relie was in it, then it could just be included in the child's album-albumS...oh yeah, and don't feel bad that Becca's pile is ten times huger than Liam's pile! It is natural to take a bajillion pictures of the back of your first baby's head or her naked butt and almost NO pictures of subsequent children. I spend about a minute lamenting the size of the piles and then made a vow to take more of ALL of them for their future, viewing pleasure!).
1.(B) the children all together-at all stages, or with me and butch. I thought it would be nice to have a "family" album (of just US) that I could keep and we could look at together.
2. Butch from childhood
3. Laura from childhood (both through high school and pre-each other)
4. Laura and butch party/dating days.
4. (B) Laura and Butch wedding, and wedding related pictures (parties, honeymoon)
5. Random relatives
5. (B)Christmas throughout the years with the relatives (if it was just one child, I just put it in the kid's albums.)
6. vacations or special trips to special places
7. building/renovations projects (wondered why I took all of those stupid pictures! They are kind of fun to look at now!)
8. special, beautiful pictures for framing or working with (editing, scanning, black and whiting later pictures)
9. pictures of things...like birds, objects, pictures the kids took of their toys or animals. There weren't a lot of these, but they deserved their own category.

This was SUCH a fun and faster than I thought project. It only took me a couple of days (because I needed my kitchen table back!) and I put each photo stack in those hingey plastic boxes so if I got distracted or whatever, I could keep them sorted (the special photobox/card system didn't work because I couldn't see how many pics I had and it was too hard to "file" I just threw them in their own boxes!). I bought a BUNCH of super cheap photo albums at walmart and target (3 bucks or less) along the way and started filling them with the pictures. I got about half way done, but they are all sorted and ready to be put in albums (the kind that have a space in the middle for words if you want to write about the pics. I don't have time for scrap booking so this was a great way to keep everything organized without having to exactly finish it. I keep a shoebox size box of the pics that come in and when it gets full-it's purging time and sorting time.

Oh, when I finally got to put them in an album, I would try to get as chronological as I could, but left some open spaces here and there for forgotten pictures or pictures that maybe someone else would give us in the future. I also threw away doubles or photo garbage (ads, envelopes, papers) and put ALL of the negatives in one box. All of them. That way, I figured, if I ever had a fire, I could just grab that box and at least have a bunch of pics if the ones I had in albums (or still in their sorting boxes) got burned or water damaged.


In this picture, you can see that the top, two shelves are all albums (about half of them still empty!) and the middle shelf has my storage boxes with my sorted pictures in them. The bottom shelf has our church, photo directories and high school year books and the one above that has my shoebox of to-be-sorted pictures and those little albums that might come in handy for the kids, or for gifts someday, and also some more albums.

I had to clean off a book shelf for this project (maybe you'll have to clean off TWO or buy one?), but it's worth it because now I have easy access (and so do visitors!) to my "project", plus, it helped me to purge a lot of books that I didn't need or that someone else might enjoy (but storage boxes work in the meanwhile for those...one project at a time!).

On the left of this picture are some of my kid's books (the short shelf), and to the FAR left is all of my school books and extra reference books. I got rid of a BUNCH of books that were nice, but that we never used or that didn't work for us for school. It's amazing what you can get rid of if you have no room for and you realize that maybe someone else could use!

Okay, now you know...go sort!

When Laura Met Butchy

(This picture was taken right around the time we got engaged...six months after we met! It's also one of the ONLY pictures I have of Butch with a beard! He never grows it because it itches him WAY too much and he can't have one at work. I just got this from my grandma the other day. She's moving and gave us grandkids our albums she lovingly made for each of us. I had forgotten all about this picture!)

I have told this story so many times that I feel like every one's heard it! Shelly just requested it in my comment box, so here goes:
(stop reading if you've heard this one!)

ONCE upon a time, I was eighteen and just graduated from high school. It was the lovely month of June and I was looking forward to a summer of work before I started a technical college in the fall with the hopes of becoming an LPN (or something...wasn't quite sure about that one) and enjoying my freedom.

I only had one trip planned for the summer and that was to go to North Dakota where I would spend a week as a camp counselor (my third year) at an Indian reservation (2nd and 3rd graders).

My friend, Jen called me out of the blue and asked me if I would like to go out with a friend of her new boyfriend (she had fixed me up like this before and it had resulted in a nice, but ultimately wrong relationship that lasted a few months the year before).

My answer to her went something like this, "UGH! NO! I am going to my cousin's wedding on that weekend and I really want to go to the reception. It's going to be so fun and the music is supposed to be awesome! What is the deal with this guy anyway...is he cute?"

She proceeded to tell me that he was cute, that he was her boyfriends best friend and neighbor since childhood, and that he had recently broken up with a psycho girlfriend who, incidentally, came over to his apartment while Jen was there with her boyfriend visiting. Psycho came knocking on the door (according to Jen) and, drunk as a skunk, demanded Butch to give her a ride home or it would be on his conscience if she died in a car crash. Butch didn't give in to her psycho-ness and told her to leave (I think he called a cab, it's a little sketchy at this point). So, Jen figured he could do much better and she was trying to fix him up with ME!

I gave in, just because Jen kept after me and making me feel guilty (it wasn't hard to do that back then) and we got ready that Saturday night (after I attended the wedding...I'll always remember my cousin's anniversary was June 15th, 1991!) for our "big date" that supposedly the boys were in charge of planning. Mmmmhmmm. We called them and they said, "We thought YOU were making the plan.". So, we went over to Butch's parent's house (he still lived in the cities then and was visiting for the weekend), planless, to meet this dude I didn't really know anything about except he had a psycho ex-girlfriend and that Jen thought he was cute.

Not very promising sounding? I was NOT happy with the situation, and I wanted nothing more than to bag the whole night and join my family at the reception that I wanted to go to in the FIRST place!

So, I sat and grumbled the whole way to the house (he only grew up about 15 miles from me in a town about two towns away) and kicked myself for suckering into the guilt-fest given to me by my friend.

When we arrived at his house, Chad and Butch were playing cribbage at the kitchen table and I was introduced to them both. They finished their game (I was both repelled by the cribbage game-because my dad never taught us girls that game...only the boys and that always made me mad...and attracted-it was cool that he did the things that the men I loved knew how to do. WOW, was that kind of a strange revelation there? It played perfectly into my theory that I have now; that we look for the things we love about our family in our spouses and friends!) and I stood there stupidly forgetting which one was "Butch"...you know...the one I was supposed to be hooked up with? I was hoping it was the "cute one" (no offence to Chad, they were both cute, but I thought one was more my type: tall, dark, and handsome!) so I took a deep breath and asked again who was who. YAY! Butch was the cute one!

We all hemmed and hawed about what we should do on our "date" and we came to the conclusion that we should watch a movie (Butch's mom was a movie-pirate galore...she had hundreds of movies on VHS at the time!). We watched "When Harry Met Sally" which I had never had any interest in before, but found absolutely HILARIOUS and perfect for a first date that night. It is a classic, don't you think?

During the movie, I was acutely aware of the fact that Butch was sitting across the room (due to the movie viewing arrangement) and that, in retrospect, a movie wasn't really a good idea for a first date and getting to know one another! I had my hair up in a "do" for the wedding, so I took it out of my pins to be more comfortable. Did I know what this would do to Butch? You darn tootin' I did! Yeah, I didn't know him yet...and yeah, it was a little mean to put that temptation in front of a guy when he didn't even know if I would last through ONE date, but I was feeling kind of brave and more than a little "I don't care" about what happened with my life at that point. So, I decided to (literally) let down my hair. I knew what that move did to any red-blooded dude and I didn't CARE! I was pulling out all the stops that night, I tell you (heehee, I didn't have any "moves". I was a good girl so I had to keep the fire going, if you know what I mean. Us good girls didn't just "give it all up" so we had to learn how to be mysterious!)!

You see, I had had lots and lots of dates and boyfriends in high school and I was TIRED of it all. I had looked into maybe becoming a nurse so I could have a useful skill when I went to Guatemala to be a missionary...or something like that. I was even thinking about becoming a nun because it seemed like there was no boy/man who could really be the "one" and I was always dissatisfied by something in their personality. I really thought it was me. I never blamed any guy for my problems with their personality. I rarely came across any true "jerks" it's just that, after "going with" someone for a while, I would get bored, wonder what it would be like to "go with" so-and-so (a different guy I was attracted to at the time), and then break up with the guy knowing that it wasn't fair that I was having feelings for someone else. That was very fair of me, don't you think?

After the movie, Chad and Jen went out for a walk to have some "alone time" and left Butch and I sitting there like a couple of dorks, wondering what the heck to talk about. Well, it turns out that he likes to talk almost as much as me, so we had NO problem in that arena! We chatted nicely about many things, including the stuff in the paragraph above! We went for a walk, too, to continue the conversation and it was such a nice night. I don't remember the other things we talked about, but I DO remember that we both expressed that we would probably never get married (to anyone...we weren't really together, remember? so we were just talking about ourselves!) and we would most definitely never have kids!

Okay. I'll give you a moment to stop laughing your head off about that one...

After Jen and Chad met up with us again, we chatted a little more, then Jen and Chad said "goodbye" to each other in private (winkwink) and left Butch and I again. Standing there. Feeling pretty dorky. Soooooo....I did what any good, proper, modest, devout Catholic girl would do. I sidled up to him and gave him a huge smackaroonie!

He was shocked (but I didn't find that out until much later!). He was a VERY good kisser! Looking back, I think I did this impulsive thing for three reasons:
1. He looked so goofy there, wondering what would be proper to do, so I decided to take the pressure off of him.
2. I wanted him to know that I really liked him and that I was available for future dates.
3. He was flippin' cute, but it didn't matter that much if he was a bad kisser...so I had to just figure it out asap.

He tasted like strawberry yogurt (I think it was the beer he drank, and the fruit we were munching on earlier). It was nice.

So, the next weekend Jen and Chad called for a second date...this time to the actual movie theater. We went out on our own the following weekend...and the weekend after that...etc., etc.. We outlasted Jen and Chad (Chad eventually married Jen's sister!) and we live, most happily, ever after.

The End

She Did It To Me Again

Why oh why do I ever bother to go to that woman's blog? I always get in trouble when I do.

Fine.

I don't feel very nice about myself right now, and here, she goes and give me THIS STINKIN' MEME!

Actually, it's probably the best time for it, because I've been dwelling entirely too much on my faults. So, I'll make it quick and painless. You don't have to read it if you don't want to.

1. I love how I attracted my husband, and still do. He's a sucker for me and I love it.

2. I love the fact that I'm a reader (stolen from Amy). I know it formed me into who I am and I am loved (so even if I don't love myself too much right now) so I know it works for me.

3. I love the color of my eyes. Green is an interesting color and it goes with a lot of clothes and makeup.

4. I love the will power I can find when I put my mind to it.

5. I love my eyebrows when I pluck them. They are a nice shape.

6. I love that all of my limbs are in working order.

7. I love my uterus. It works, doesn't cause me too many problems, and it produces really, nice babies when it wants to.

Happy?

Daddy's Home!

This has been a very trying three months (or so). Butch has been gone for the better part of the late summer and early fall. He is working, which we are thankful for, but it seems that most of his jobs have been all week long, overnight, and even in some far away states! He drives his work truck, so he comes home on the weekends, even if his job doesn't end on Friday. At least we have the weekends to look forward to, and we do keep in touch every day by phone, but that doesn't make it any easier. This past Friday was his last day out of town (for a little while, at least!) so we are somewhat back to normal now.

Because I was pretty much at the end of my rope mentally, I took last week off of workbooks and sit down stuff and we had a week of field trips. We went to the apple orchard, the arboretum, to a local park reserve, to the cast party (they re-did the Fatima play last Sunday), played a lot with friends, and did some shopping. I didn't work all week because my brain couldn't take it and I didn't want anyone to have to deal with these nutjobs at night. They had fun this week, but I think I'll/they'll be glad to get back to routine.

The pictures of the park reserve are on Anna's camera (she went with us!) so I'll have to post them later, but I can show you some of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. We went there with my mom and we also brought my niece, Gabby. I have been trying to include her in stuff with my kids because they live so far out in the country and don't really have any friends her age to play with. Her siblings can get a little much sometimes and since she calls her cousins her "friends", it's nice that they can bond this way. I wish my brother's girls lived just a teeny bit closer, too. They are about 45 minutes away and we do get together quite a lot for parties, but these individual times together are so nice for family bonding.

I was raised with most of my cousins and I called them my "friends" too! I want that for my children. I want their childhood friends to carry over into their adulthood seamlessly like mine did. It's so much easier and more stable that way.

I usually don't take pictures of non-persons because I think they are boring. I was walking by this tree and I just loved the little bridge in the background, so I just couldn't resist taking a "nature shot". God did all the work with the beautiful colors. My camera is an absolute piece of junk, but this picture turned out so pretty!


They had a scarecrow display (I think it was some sort of artistic contest) and there were tons of really unique, weird scarecrows. The kids got a kick out of all of them!


In one part of the arboretum, there was an interactive area with these cool boxes that spelled out words from every angle. I think there was a letter for every one's name. Here's Niklaus on HIS letter.


There is just something about these gardens that brings out the contemplative side of the children. (Heehee, Trina saw this bench next to a stream and some twisty trees and thought it called for some fake meditation! Gabby and Weasy are only too happy to go along with any sort of funny pose. I think they'll be models some day!)


There weren't too many flowers left but they still had some rose bushes that were hanging on and a lot of dahlias. I can't wait to go back there in the height of summer for the flowers and the best of spring when the flowering apple, cherry, and other fruit trees are in bloom. I'll bet it's stunning!



Apparently, all benches are hard to resist. Some for just resting, and some for just clowning!

The arboretum is a cool place for learning. I told Matty it would be sort of a science lesson. He didn't believe me because there weren't any explosions or dangerous chemicals (that he could see, anyway). In most of the gardens there are labels for all plants and lots of opportunity for education about the history of the plantings, and the uses of some of them. We went on the "three mile drive" which is a one way, labelled path through the whole arboretum with opportunity to stop in the individual gardens, mazes, and play areas. We didn't stop, but it would be fun to try the maze with the older kids someday. It was a feast for the eyes, and good exercise to boot!

Rare Pictures of The Crazy Mama

I turned 35 on the feast of St. Francis (which I always thought was funny, 'cause I don't particularly like animals. I like them from a distance or for dinner but, other than that, not really.).

Anyway, I have been feeling really old and wrinkly lately. I spied some weird wrinkles along the SIDE of my face (that's just wrong, I tell you!) the other day and those worry lines between my eyebrows (I hate wearing sunglasses, but I squint so bad all the time...I catch myself in the rear view mirror!) are so deep, I'll have to spackle them soon.

Butch was out of town for my birthday and I was busy getting ready for Anna's surprise/welcome home party so it almost passed unnoticed (well, it almost passed unnoticed by ME! Everyone kept reminding me with calls or cards!). Butch's relatives from Colorado were in town so his mom and dad, sister, a cousin (and family), and his uncle and aunt took me and the kids out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was super funny when they came out with a birthday cake and a big ol' sombrero! I didn't really get any good pictures of it soooooo...

I decided to have a little fun with the camera after I got the kids into bed. It's amazing what you can do at night, bored, husbandless, and feeling a bit queasy from the Mexican food (although it WAS delicious!). Since I never take pictures of myself (I really do hate my nose now that it's growing from getting older), and since I'll be really fat and puffy soon, I will now present you with the fruits of my boredom:

(Ignore the stupid date stamp on the pictures, my battery case keeps falling open and re-setting it. These were all taken on 10-04-07)

I started out trying to take "normal" pictures of me to capture what I actually think I look like. They just all looked funny to me, so I had to go another route:



Ew. I just checked this one out after posting it. I DON'T recommend clicking on this one (above) to get a closer look. Let's just say that we had a lot of sticky candy when we were little and I have yet to get those fillings switched over to the white ones. Oh well, I'll keep it on here because it's getting close to Halloween and I want to get into the spirit of the holiday!


Yes, this is an inherited ability. Not many people have this talent. My dad can do it and some of my children can also. I'm thinking it is one of my "stupid human tricks". Can YOU do it?





Since I will never get professional pictures of myself, I had to play around with some to get as pretty a picture as I could for the kids to say, "Oh, this old thing? That's mom on her 35th birthday! Ah, just how I remember her!"-hopefully they'll be talking about the nice ones and not the goofy ones! Just squint your eyes a little, stand at least 10 feet from your computer, and imagine I have Photoshop to blur the wrinkles and narrow my nose!


I liked this one because of the smile wrinkles on the side of my mouth. They remind me of so many of my cousins whom I love. I've noticed in the past that I sort of talk out of one side of my mouth and this weekend, I saw one of my cousins doing that. I thought it was so funny that a lot of us have that same trait. It's a familiar thing which, if looked at objectively, I might think is unattractive. But, because it really reminds me of my family, I really like it!

I know you know better and that I usually look more like some kind of hobo woman in a stained shirt, cutoff workout pants, and frizzy fuzz balls sticking out from under my dirty baseball cap!

A Visit From The Blog Fairy

Do you like my new look? Should I keep it? I don't ever really change it but I had to because of my sidebar issues. My good pal, Amy Caroline fixed 'er for me. If you think it's nice, give her some kudos! If you don't think it's nice, don't say nothin' at all, 'cause I DO!

One Of Those Days

I've warned them and warned them but somehow, someway, the bright purple nail polish bottle found it's way into the 1 year old's cute, dainty, little hands. She was so nice and quietly sitting on the couch and when I looked over at her, I saw why:




What did she have to say for herself?
"Mama! Pretties!"

Uh huh.

I didn't mention to her about how the purple polished actually clashed with the pizza sauce smeared on her mouth from lunch.

Oh well, I guess I should thank Bocker for putting the rootbeer within her reach earlier. See, she spilled it on her clothes, I figured I might as well leave her naked for her messy lunch, then she got into the polish shortly afterward. At least I didn't have to throw away any clothes, right?

Blog Look

Sorry I confused you with that ugly template for a few days. I still can't figure out how to get my page elements back to the sidebar (scroll wayyyyy down to see them). So, maybe when I make a few posts without photos or something it will automatically fix itself. Yeah, I keep thinking the same thing about my oven but THAT hasn't happened yet either, so don't hold yer breath! Can anybody give me a quick fix for this problem? Also, I want to post photos and videos because that's what this blog is really for, so I just wish I could fix it without too much trouble.

Where's the blogfairy when you need her?

Curse these goofy quizzes!

Thanks A Bunch Amy Caroline!

(You must know I can't resist me a silly quiz!)

Blogger Cry For Help!

Does anyone know why all of my "sidebar" information is now "bottombar" information? I look at it in my "customize" format it looks fine. What's the dealio?

Pray!

(This was the email I just got for our little buddy, neighbor...please offer a prayer for Brenden's safety tomorrow!)

Good morning to everyone. I just wanted to ask you to say a prayer for Brenden today. Please ask for his eye surgery tomorrow to go smoothly. (He is having surgery tomorrow morning at 7:30 am to cut muscles on the sides of his eyes to try and resolve his crossing.)



Thanks.



Laura, Eric and Brenden

On The First Try!

Your cafeteria is 100% closed!

 

Wow! You're really cooking and I don't mean in the cafeteria! You're on fire for the Catholic faith and really know your stuff! Congratulations!

Are you a Cafeteria Catholic?
Take More Quizzes

Alright, seriously, is anyone REALLY that surprised here?

H/T Amy Caroline

Fixed It!

Okay, I tried to fix the pictures in the Viking post. Check it out now to see the pictures! I don't know what happened. I saw them for a few days, then just "x"s a few days later. They are such cute pictures, I was SURE someone would comment and I was beginning to be super disappointed in you people. Now, of course, I just realize it was Blogger's fault and my kids really are cute so you'd better make some comments or I'm not gonna grace this blog with any more pictures of my stunningly gorgeous, well behaved, model citizen children!

You can stop laughing now.

What's In A Name?

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)

Wheaties Express

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)

Vanilla Oatmeal

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME:(first letter of first name, first three letters of last name)

L-Nie

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Green Piglet

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

Maria Minneapolis

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

Niela

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)

The Pink Wine

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers

Richard Rudy

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )

Ann Roman

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)

Loftus Los Angeles

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)

Autumn Mayflower

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)

Apple Pantsy

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)

Raisin Bran Red Maple

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)

The Reading Still Air Tour