A little goes a long way.

1. Cayenne pepper
2. Perfume
3. Dog poop

I just came in from cleaning up dog poop and continued to smell the nastiness inside....sure enough a dime-sized piece was stuck to my shoe. Barely visible, yet potent as ever.

Neigh!

When the kids were little....around 4 and 2, we piled in the car to go look at Christmas lights. For some reason, each kid brought a stuffed horse. Every time the kids saw a pretty light display, they would Neigh! Neigh! extremely loudly and make their horses act crazy. For the past seven years, we've continued the neighing tradition. Brian and I do it far more often than the kids....our neighing is usually met with a "Ma-ohm" or a kick to our seat. It has to be a really amazing light display for the kids to neigh.

Last night I was driving a friend home and passed a brightly lit house. Yep. I started to Neigh and quickly caught myself and turned it into a throat clear.

It's a Holly Jolly Season...

This evening Kate and I went to our small downtown which just happened to be during the time of the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. (No wonder I couldn't find a parking spot.) Downtown was very festive with lights, decorations, carolers, a horse drawn carriage and Santa arriving via the fire truck. Shops were open late giving out treats and our favorite bakery was handing out yummy chocolate peppermint cake. Kate quickly gobbled hers down, while I savored mine. She asked for a bite and proceeded to take a huge bite, leaving me with just icing and crumbs. I retaliated by shoving the rest of the cake in her face. She was a super sport about it and we had a good laugh. What a fun time with my girl.....she was a pure joy tonight.

Thanksgiving Dreams....

Here's what I remember from my dreams last night:
1. Peeling potatoes.
2. Mopping the floor.
3. Screaming at the kids and the dogs for tracking in mud.

Fun dreams, eh? I'm willing to bet that my dreams become a reality.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May your day be filled with good food and good fun, shared with the ones you love.

Puberty.

Telephone conversation between Brock and one of his friends who had a sleepover and stayed up too late:

Brock: Dude! You've got to take care of yourself. You're going through puberty.

I suppose it's a good thing that Brock isn't embarrassed about puberty. He throws the word around all the time. Like to the waitress, "I'll have the cheeseburger and fries. I'm really hungry. I'm going through puberty."

Have you heard the Good News?

When I was a recently married 22 year old, my groom and I moved hundreds of miles away to a small town in Virginia. We were fresh out of college and didn't know anyone. I had a hard time adjusting to life out of college....I didn't have a friend in the town and I was frantically searching for a job. Both things didn't do wonders for my happiness.

One Sunday, Brian and I decided to visit the local Presbyterian Church. It felt good to be around other people and during the part of the service where you "Greet your neighbor", we met a very friendly couple. I briefly talked about how we recently moved to the area and how I was searching for a job. Later that week, we received a phone call from the couple. (I can't remember their names....let's call them Deirdra and Darren.) Deirdra asked if they could come visit us. She mentioned that she had a job prospect for me.

I hung up the phone and was on cloud nine. Visitors! Job?! I scrubbed our apartment from top to bottom. I got out our recently received china. I filled the sugar and cream bowls. I baked brownies. Mountain Dew and Diet Coke were the extent of my caffeine experience so I sent Brian to the grocery store for coffee. We broke out our new coffee pot. I followed the instructions to a T. Everything had to be perfect.

I lit candles. I turned on classical music. I waited for our visitors to arrive.

They arrived. I poured coffee and sliced brownies and made pleasant small talk.

Then Deirdra asked me if I'd heard of Amway? I hadn't. "Oh it's this wonderful company that sells amazing products. You would be a wonderful addition to our sales team." She opened her bag and brought out detergent and cleaning samples.

Even my naive 22 year old self could see through this load of crap. My hopes crashed. I spent how much time and energy preparing for their visit? And now they are asking me to be part of their pyramid scheme?

We curtly ended our visit and ushered them to the door. I was fuming. What right did they have? They must have gotten our contact information off of the "Friendship Registry" at the church. The nerve.

I often think about this story and every time my heart sinks at the blatant deception. But was it deception? Deirdra was very excited to share the "Good News" of Amway to me...she just picked the wrong person to share it with.

Happy 6th (or 42nd) Birthday~

(one week old)




(three months old)



(six years old....getting ready to eat her Birthday Pupcake)

Dear, dear Lucy.....you turn six today. When we brought you home, you were mainly white with one solid black ear. Over your first year, you developed many black spots and grew into a beautiful dog. When I'm out walking you, I'm often stopped and asked what type of dog you are and people always comment on your beauty.

You have a sweet disposition and have become a great big sister to Tupelo. You are kind, gentle and patient. And even though you still don't sleep through the night and you have scratched the crap out of our front door and you get your kicks out of barking at absolutely nothing, I still love you and am glad that you are part of our family.

Happy Birthday little Miss Lulu.

Caulk and I don't mix.

Get your head out of the gutter....I'm talking about CAULK as in "I re-caulked the bathtub today". Holy mess maker. It didn't matter how careful I was, I couldn't make the caulk look pristine like the professionals do.

Guess I can scratch Professional Caulk Installer off the list of possible future careers.

Story of my life...

I always seem to have such good intentions but lack the follow-thru to complete the idea. Case in point: Last year at the Day-After-Thanksgiving Sale at Macy's I purchased a new shower curtain for the kid's bathroom. The shower curtain completely clashed with the bathroom's paint, but it needed a fresh coat so I purchased it anyway. Fast forward almost 350 days and I am just now getting around to painting the bathroom.

I'm painting it Misty Moor. Any idea on the color of that one? I'll post a picture once I'm finished. Hopefully, that will be before Thanksgiving 2010.

It brings me back...

Nothing smells like childhood for me more than a plastic pumpkin full of candy....there is something about the mixture of Kit Kats and Smarties that makes me feel like I'm ten again.