Weekend Update with...

eh, just me.

Friday's parade got rained out and rescheduled for this Wednesday. I keep hearing differing reports as to whether it's going to be on the "Best Bank" or the East Bank. We did make it to Alla today, which is not one of my favorite parades. Today reminded me why. It dragged on and on and on. Jeepers - 10 floats of maids. Ugh. The kids were bored until the "real" floats came by. I got my Harry Lee magnet!!! I didn't even know they would have them this year - yay!!! I have one extra one I might try to get onto Craig's List to see if someone would trade me a 2008 for a Harry Lee buddah (don't know what year). That's the one I really wanted and didn't get.

In other parade news, Ian's going to have a school chum over for Thursday's parades. Friday looks to go as planned. Saturday I may have a glitch. The Hannah Montana movie is out for one week only. If I can get tickets I may take BB. Only BB. (*cough, need babysitter, cough*) But as of today Moviewatcher doesn't have next weeks movies up yet. Sunday I assume will go as planned. Ian's friend may come. H2 and GF may come. I really need to talk to the other people in our "annual group" and see if they're plans have changed this year or if we're business as usual. Monday I have to work but will not miss Orpheus - that's one of my faves too. Although, I heard a rumor they're having financial issues, I hope that's not the case.

Here's one you haven't seen in a while - BB's Quote of the Day: Bridget was in the living room with her dolls all spread around. J walks by and grabs a few just to mess with her. "Daddy," she yells, "I was having a press conference!"

Oh, I think M has a black-ish eye (more red and puffy). Suspicious circumstances - BB says she "slid" on her face on the carpet. Whatever that means. I also noticed at bathtime she has a 3 inch scratch on her tummy. All I know is she was playing with BB, started crying a "real" cry - you moms know what I mean- I consoled her and put her down for a nap, and when she woke up she had a wonky eye and a scratched belly. Hmmmm....

I play by my own rules.

I've been tagged. There are a bunch of rules, but since the only blogs I know are family blogs, I'm not following the rules. So, here you go:

1. I have giant feet - before I had Molly I wore a 9 1/2, after Molly I'm now in a 10.

2. Ever since I read Anne of Green Gables I've wished I was a redhead.

3. My secret love is refinishing furniture but I never have time to do it.

4. I married my high-school sweetheart (love ya' babe).

5. When I was a kid, when we would go to Disney, I would sit on the Monorail and pretend I didn't understand the announcements in English.

6. I think it would be fun to be hypnotized.

7. When I was a kid, I would cover my ears before flushing the toilet. Yes, that's right, I could cover both ears AND flush at the same time. Try it.

Hope that was random enough for ya'.

Can you hear me now?

This is gonna be cool. Pepsi is not my drink of choice (I'm a diet coke kinda gal), but I hope it works out for them. I think it's a great story!

Also, I'm wondering if I can do this. Anyone who's spent any amount of time with me knows about the airplane that flies over our house every 6 minutes. Sometimes early morning (I'm talking 6 am, folks!) or late in the evening, weekdays, weekends, etc. Sometimes they fly really, really low, and everytime I hear them come closer I'm sure they're gonna hit the house and it's a real effort to stop myself from gathering the husband and kids up with me into one room so that if we die at least we'll all be together. I assume it's a flight school which makes me even more nervous. I have no idea where to begin looking into who to call to complain, so I just seethe silently and wait for the next fly-over.

Since no one else wants to entertain me, I'll entertain you for a while:

First of all, this. That's just wrong.

Then there's this. That's pretty messed up.

Then, take a look at this. WTF?

Okay, this is weird. Can you get that from a hotel glass? (images here)

Okay, I know SIL(H) already did this, but I couldn't resist:

So, believe it or not, I have to go and look up Disney Princess Breakfast info for my boss! I love my job!

Senseless Sensibility

Am I crazy for wanting this? The book, eh, whatever - it's the action figure I want. While I admit, it is cool (to a big nerdy book lover like myself) I'm wondering what's next - Bridget Jones action figure? Thelma and Louise action figures? I was going to make a Hillary Clinton joke, but here you go. PBS is having a Jane Austen marathon but I have missed the first few. I see on the above-referenced link that the episodes are for sale, and just found the schedule (Sundays, channel 12, 9pm) - but also found THIS!!!! Oh yeah, baby - VIP all the way!!!!!

I tried posting this the other day but our internet was down at work (you mean I'm supposed to work at work? Hmmm...novel concept.) - watch the whole thing! I am really grossed out! You can't tell me that no one noticed that many glasses not being washed (#of glasses/room (x) # of rooms occupied). It's a cost-saving thing I'm sure (save on water and glasses and soap and labor costs/time) and they pretend they don't know until it's "exposed" on TV. Yuck! I am bringing my own in 2009. Your welcome for posting it BEFORE your trip to Dallas and not after!!!

Game on!!!

Well, our cancelled dinner was un-cancelled, so we did not go to the parade but instead had a wonderful dinner with ChiaMomandPop (Happy Belated Birthday to you both). While at dinner, we were discussing recent blog posts and this came up again. After much discussion, I have made this decision: When I die, if I am cremated I want my ashes here. If I'm not cremated, I guess my loved ones will just have to hurry and cut off a finger or two before they shut the coffin and drop them off during their next visit.

While we were at dinner, H2 kindly stopped by after work to check on the kids for us. While he was at the house, BB asked for dessert, which H2 knew she was not supposed to have, so he said no. She threatened to call H2's GF and tell her he sleeps with teddy bears. Ok, he thinks, and gives BB the phone. "GF," BB says, "H2 is cheating on you with his old GF-A". Holy shit - DJ grabs the phone and says it's not true, etc., etc. Luckily for him GF is pretty confident and knows what BB says is not true. I don't even know where to go with this. I talked to BB for quite some time this morning explaining why that wasn't funny and was actually pretty mean. She cried and cried and wrote an apology letter (and picture) to GF. The whole thing was about food - H2 wouldn't give her food, so she decided to fuck with him in a major way. But she's 6 years old!!! This is the kind of crap a teenager would pull, not a 6-year-old. So I'm upset that she did it, and upset it was about food. I just can't articulate all the scenarios going through my mind. I mean, we always joked about her being the Antichrist, and she's been so good lately, but Damn! I just don't know. I'm worried that throughout her life BB will come up with stuff like this. I feel sorry for her "enemies" when she's a teenager, 'cause she's brutal.

I've just escaped from one of Dante's circles of hell -the 10th circle - the Mardi Gras shoebox float circle - specifically "Mardi Gras Mermaids" and I must say it looks pretty good. We made pipe-cleaner palm trees w/coconuts (hot-glued mardi gras beads) and we even made tiny necklaces to hang in the trees (a nod to St. Charles Avenue). We put some crabs and fish and of course Little Mermaid on the display. I'll try to get a picture.

And, finally, I've got to go to work tomorrow but my whole family is off! Waaa! It's okay though, I don't mind too much...we had a lot of days off over the holidays so I can't really complain. And the babysitter is back from her 3 week vacation. Yay, life is back to normal!!!

Take me for a ride in your car, car*

Had a delicious Sahara Bread dinner with Chiamomandpop last night. Yummy! On the way home we stopped at a red light and BAM, (well, really more of a bump) the car behind us hit us. Not hard, a hard tap really, but did crack one of my rear lights. The guy was really apologetic and kept trying to hand us $20, but we ended up pulling over and getting his info. No one was hurt, but it was rainy and wet, so we were all in a rush to go home. J looked up the part online and it's pretty cheap, hopefully installing it will be easy too.

Just when I think they're gonna fire me for playing on the internet all day - along comes a buttload of work (thank God!!). I worked through lunch Thursday and Friday, so I'm always a happier woman when I've got stuff to do. Billable hours, people!!

Nothing else going on, just wanted to say hi!!! Oh, since Mom and Dad had to cancel, we might be headed out to our first parade of the season tonight - yay!!!

*anybody know who did that one?

Baby Love

"IAN!!! IAN!!! IanIanIanIan!!!" Those are Molly's favorite words. She loves her some Ian. She wants him to hold her and play with her and talk to her. Lately she's been asking for him before she gets out of her crib in the morning. She is in L-O-V-E. I know she is too small to remember it, but I hope when Ian gets older that he remembers this "hero worship". He's growing up so fast. I don't see him as often as I'd like to, he spends a lot of time in his room (as every teenager alive does). As he grows older, I wonder if he remembers the stuff we did when he was little. The soccer practices, learning to ride a bike (I still haven't taught BB to do that yet), fish frys at the KC hall, watching Star Trek in my bed together while Daddy worked nights, birthday parties (I think Laser Tag was the most fun!), going to feed the ducks at Brechtel Park; the older he gets the harder it is to remember when he was small. This weekend might be a good weekend to pull out the photos. When he was small, I was the major presence in his life, but now that he is older and has two younger sisters pulling my time and attention away, J has stepped into that role. And that's a good thing - a boy needs his father to be a role model, but I miss spending time with him. I wonder if he knows how much I love him, that I'm proud of him, and how badly I want for him to be happy. I think he does, but with teenagers you never know. Even though he's a teenager, he's still my baby.

His name is Batman. He lives in a Lair.

Every morning when I drop BB off at school, she comes around to my side of the car and looks in the mirror to see if she has any crumbs on her face. (Because I am a bad mother, I usually give her breakfast in the car) Today, she looks in the mirror, sees no crumbs, then turns to me, chin up, nostrils flared, and says:

"Any bats in the cave?"

It wouldn't be Catholic school without:

Raffle tickets. If anyone is interested they're $1 each (we need to sell 50). 1st prize is $1500, 2nd prize is $300, 3rd prize is $200.00. Deadline and drawing is January 23. Once again I put myself at your mercy!

Let me just say this:

I know, I know, you guys think I'm a feminist (I'm not). Mom thinks I'm gonna vote for Hillary (I'm not). But, I will say this:

I was reading through my February issue of Glamour magazine (don't ask) and there was a small blurb about a New York Times Op-Ed writer we sometimes get in our local paper - Nicholas Kristof (you'll have to google him, I'm too tired to search for link I like). He has been doing international "women's stories", and made a very thought-provoking comment: "Countries where the women are marginalized produce a disproportionate number of terrorists." He goes on to say "Women's inequality is the moral challenge of this century".

Chew on that for a while.

Grandma got run over by a King Float....

Well, it's that time again. Time to hunker down and plan our Mardi Gras Parade Schedule. This year it is so early that I'm sure most of these parades are gonna be cold - hopefully they'll at least be dry!!! So get out your rolling coolers, parade chairs, and ladders, 'cause here's what I'm planning (with a little help from Arthur Hardy):

Friday, Jan. 25 - Cleopatra (West Bank) @ 6:30pm
Not sure if I'll do any other parades that weekend, probably not.

Wednesday, Jan. 30 - Druids @6:30 (maybe)

Thursday, Jan. 31 - Babylon @ 5:45, Chaos @ 6:30, then my favorite: Muses @ 7:30 (it's gonna be a late night!!!)

Friday, Feb. 1 - Hermes @ 6:00, followed by Le Krewe D'Etat (always good for satire) @ 6:30 and Morpheus @ 7:45

Saturday, Feb. 2 - Iris @ 11:00 and Tucks @ noon (yes, I always skip Endymion, and yes, I know that I could be tarred and feathered for saying that)

Sunday, Feb. 3 - Okeanos @ 11:00, followed by Thoth @ 11:30, then Bacchus @ 5:15

Monday, Feb. 4 - Proteus @ 5:15 followed by Orpheus @6:00

Tuesday, Feb. 5 is Mardi Gras!!!!!!! Now, I take this day to recover from all the parading I've done up until then, but if you do go to the quarter - I wanna see pictures!!!


Hmmmm...that doesn't leave much time to plan a Lenten resolution!!

Cash Flow

BB: "I don't have any more loose teeth."

Mommy: "What's the matter honey, you're afraid you're not going to get any more money anytime soon?"

BB: "No, I'm not going to get any more money. Except from DJ, he likes to give me money!!"

Also related to cash flow (at least my cash flow), it looks to me like my office building is leaning. The next time you're on the westbank facing the eastbank, look at my building compared to the other high-rises and tell me if it looks that way to you.

I neglected to post that BB had straight A's on her report card last week. Way to go BB!!!

And did anyone else hear about this? Should I be having second thoughts about our trip in 2009, 'cause this could really gross a person out. "Keep your arms and legs in the car at all times" not because they think you're gonna lose a finger, but because you might find one!!!

He's Baaaack!!!!

J - welcome home!!! Thanks for holding my hand, I love you.

This is not going to be relaxing.

Well, we decided to okay the spa party. I've gotta tell you, I am really having fun with this. Her party is still approximately 6 weeks away and I'm already working on invitations and goodie bags. It's too much fun! So, for the next few weeks you'll probably want to run when you see me coming - I'm just warning you now as a courtesy.

I don't know if this is funny or sad.

I came across this today. My first reaction was to laugh. My second reaction was to laugh harder. But then I thought about it...Karma is a MFer and the guy got what was coming to him. BUT, it's kinda sad that the woman was trying to earn extra money and her husband showed up to SPEND that money. Am I taking the woman's side because I'm a woman or because the guy is a pig?

You can call me McLovin'*

First: let me start by thanking H2 for taking Ian for his back-to-school haircut. I did try to call but didn't leave a message when I didn't get you, so please don't think I'm not thankful for your help while J is out of town. Muchos Gracias!

B: Has anyone else noticed that Chia has been a bit ornery lately? I think he's on a mischevious streak and it's so cute!!! Not only did he tease Uncle Mick, but he got in a few at me at dinner last night! Someone must be feeling better (typed in a sing-songy voice)!!!

And lastly: BB wants a Spa party for her birthday. I'm torn between "it would be so much fun" and "it's a bit pricey" and "do you think it's over the top for a 7-year-old" and "it would be a great way for her to bond with her new friends" and "should we do it at home or at a spa". I do think it would be fun and really the spa is not any more expensive than Build-A-Bear and if we did it out there would be nothing to clean up at home (always a plus!). I just really hate the skating rink and I know I'm too OCD to have a bunch of kids at the house but we did B-A-B for her 5th birthday (her 6th B-day kinda got overlooked and there's that guilt too) and the bowling alley is Linens N Things now and there's no way in hell I'm taking a bunch of 6/7 year-olds to an alligator farm!!! So that's where I'm at with that.

And 4: Many thanks to Mom and Dad for their invaluable assistance shuttling the kids around while J and the babysitter are out of town. Hmmm...that didn't come out right. How about while J is in Tampa and the babysitter and her husband are in India? Either way, there's no way I could collect all three kids in the afternoon without your assistance. A very sincere thank you to you both.


Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I got a letter today from the Army Recruiting office. Addressed to me (married name) at my current address, basically telling me my senior year is almost over and after I graduate from high school I should think about joining Army ROTC in college and possibly a career with the Army. Now, considering my 20th high school reunion is this year, that's an interesting bit of Army Intelligence, don't cha think?


*Okay, I loved the movie! I liked that cop character way better than his character in Knocked Up. And that kid was so cute - AND something about the name really struck a chord with me....McLovin'....I love it! (and as an added bonus the name has an apostrophy in it- who could ask for more?)


To steal a phrase from Chiapop, I think I have keyboard diarrhea today. Hmmm.....I don't know if that's good or bad.

Dr. Jekyll, meet Mrs. Hyde

There is a monster living inside of me that I didn't know was there. I knew about the "clean" monster, and I knew about the "don't F with me before my first diet coke" monster, I even knew about the "if you fart where I'm eating I'll get up and cork your ass with my foot" monster, but I didn't know I had a "pimp my ride" monster.

It all started innocently enough. J gave me a kick-ass stereo for Christmas. Mine was starting to sputter and die, so he hooked me up with one that plays CDs and has an ipod hookup. I love it! As an added bonus, the LED (I guess that's what it is) display is blue - my fave color!! Now, let me go back a few weeks...to our trip to Houston. I've never been in SIL(H)'s car before. Sweet ride! She's got cute seat covers, nice blue neon at her feet, AND....H1 changed her gauge backlight from orange (I assume it was originally orange, or green maybe?) to blue. Now, I've always said I love my car, and I do. But, it's five years old and three kids later it's starting to show a bit of wear. It's clean (come on people, it is MY car), but the stains that were little are starting to merge into bigger, uglier ones. So, I googled today: seat covers (I may have found back seat ones too, which I REALLY need), floor mats, and a gear shift knob. I'd also really like to know how H1 did the dash backlight, but if that was something special for SIL that they don't want to share I'll understand.

If anyone else has any ideas/hints/tips/suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Scent of a Woman

I read somewhere that scent is the human body's strongest sense as far as memory is concerned. I don't remember where I read it, and I don't know if that's really true or not (although I'm sure I read it on the internet so it MUST be true), but I kind of feel like it is. Take my last post, for instance. As soon as I smelled the stuff, it was like I was at Grandma's house. There is a certain cologne that is not as popular as it used to be, but whenever I catch a whiff I'm immediately transported back to Jerrod as a 16-year-old kid (hint to J: I'll never buy it for you again because the bottle broke in your backpack when we were kids and anything more than a whiff gives me a headache, but my-oh-my what memories that whiff brings back!). Sometimes, if I walk into an old building (gee, there are none of those around HERE) I'll suddenly be mentally sitting on the stairs in G'ma H's house. It's weird how you're just minding your own business and suddenly you smell something familiar and are transported back in time. That is why I always use the same soap, Dove Pink. I might switch it up and use a B&BW scent from time to time (a girl needs variety), but I always go back to Dove Pink, and in my mind I hope when I'm old and/or gone and my kids smell that scent they'll think of me.

I'm pretty sure I don't have any negative scent associations but if I do it's been a long time since one popped up. Oh, wait, I lied...bathroom spray. We'll use the same scent for a few months, then eventually I'll have to switch to something new because that scent (island breeze, fresh linen, etc.) has become permanently linked in my brain as "poo". If I smell it in someone else's house or car, to me it says "poo". Weird, I know, but there it is.

This one's for the Smith girls.

OMG!!! I bought some dish soap at Target last week - Target brand (Method), cucumber scent. Today I finished off the old soap and started using the Target cucumber soap. As soon as I put it on the Dobie (scouring pad, whatever), the smell of grandma's kitchen hit me! Now, since I've been in my kitchen a few minutes sniffing the soap (can you get high from that?), I can't decide if it's her front porch or her kitchen that I'm smelling, but Yowza! That's the 3rd time in 24 hours I've thought/been reminded of her.

Anyway, next time you're in Target, sniff the dish soap and report back to me!

Everybody's workin' for the weekend.....*

Interesting weekend...didn't do anything yet got a lot accomplished. Went out to dinner with BMW (you know who you Coloradoans are!) - it was great to see them again, even if only for a short visit. Got my Christmas present installed in my car (pioneer stereo that plays my ipod)- yay!! FINALLY got my wedding ring back from the jewelers - yay!!! Took BB to a skating birthday party (yawn). Took down all the Christmas decorations. Had a nice dinner with the family at Chiapop/mom's house - yum! Skipped Church -bad me!! Went to Best Buy to replace J's ipod that he lost on the WB Expy last night - ugh - I guess it's becoming a family tradition to lose your ipod!! AND...I've been searching for Absolut New Orleans for months. I've looked on the internet and tried their webpage and fancy booze stores, no luck. J happened across 2 bottles at Wal-Mart (WTF?) yesterday!!!

See what I mean? Nothing planned, but got a lot done. Which is good, because J leaves tomorrow for approximately nine days. Ugh. That's nine days without my wonderful hubby. That's nine days of me, alone with the kids. This is all just a bad dream, right? I thought when he graduated last month that was the last time he'd go out of town. Shit. When he gets home I'll be ready for a straight-jacket for sure!!

Tomorrow is gonna be a b!tch at work. Well, not really AT work, more like before and after work. The BCS game is at 6 or 7:00 at the Superdome and LSU is playing Ohio (sorry Buckeyes, better luck next year). Downtown is going to be awful!!! We already got a letter stating that we can't park in our lot tomorrow (my guess is because they're gonna charge $25 a spot tomorrow) and we're not the only lot having that problem, so parking is gonna suck. They've promised we can park in another lot owned by the same company but it's not as convenient and hopefully won't be full by the time I get there (still taking Molly out to N.O. East while babysitter is in India). I'm going to bring lunch to avoid the lunchtime crowds (and raised prices, I'm sure) and hopefully they won't need me to leave the office tomorrow and lose my parking spot. The newspaper said some companies in my building are letting their employees leave at 2 or 3:00 to avoid the traffic, so I'm holding out hope for that. Wish me luck!!!

Oh, and, does anybody know how to get a CD out of a car stereo that's no longer attached to a car? I wouldn't worry about it but it's a good CD (U2 18)!

*I know it's Loverboy but I got nothin' else.

Now taking Requests

As per SIL(H)'s request, here is my shark story (It's not much of a story, but here you go):

When J and I got married, we went to Destin for our honeymoon. One of the things we decided to do was ride those jet-ski things. I think they rented them for 90 min blocks of time. So we each get one, and of course J is much more daring than I am. I'm just puttering around out there, afraid to really hit the throttle because I'm afraid I'm gonna fall off. J meanwhile is all over the place, literally riding circles around me. So, probably around 1 hr into it, I am getting a little braver and venture out a bit deeper and faster. J is still zig-zagging all over the place having a great time. At one point, J fell off his jetski and I had stopped to talk to him. Just as I started to give it a bit of gas to take off again, I catch a glimpse of a fin above the water. So, with J still in the water, I yell "SSSHHHAAARRRKKK!!!" and high-tail it back to the shallows - full throttle. Leaving J back there in the water. With the shark.

Truly, in all probability there was no shark. I was nervous about being out there and probably imagined it, because no one else saw one, but it sure seemed real to me. And here we are, 15 years later, and J is still giving me shit about it. Which, all things considered, he is entitled to do.

I love it when a plan comes together!*

Wow, what a weekend!!! It went by so fast, but we had a great time...I FINALLY got to see M/Hs apartment (very cute) and generally just hang out. I'll start with the food - went to a great Mexican restaurant (Papasitas), had yummy kolaches for breakfast (twice!), ate at House of Pies (but we didn't have any pie), and Dave & Busters (even I played a few games there), and Mike BBQd twice (yummy). We also visited the Galleria (twice - the 2nd time for the kids to go ice-skating), and did some other shopping (which of course involved taking the baby to the liquor store!).

On a funny note, when we arrived Saturday, J wanted to go to Panchos for dinner. I don't think M/H frequent this establishment often, so Mike programmed it in his GPS, and J programmed it into ours (two different brands) and away we went. We both ended up at the same location, but there was only one problem - there was no Panchos there!!! But, that's how we ended up at Papasitas so it worked out okay.

I think everyone enjoyed their time with M/H, Ian spent Sat and Monday night at their place and BB stayed Sun night. On the way home, I asked BB if she had a good trip and what her favorite part was....I figured she'd say Dave & Busters or ice-skating, but no, she said her favorite part was visiting Uncle Mike and Aunt Hannah! So sweet!!!

So today, it's back to work (not back to school yet). Molly is at her temporary babysitter - seems like a nice lady and a nice place. I arrived at the place, went inside, and the lady took me on a tour. I put Molly down and she immediately went to playing with the other kids. She didn't even notice that I was gone, so I think that's a good sign!

On the way to the babysitter's house, I made a wrong turn and ended up on the road underneath the interstate instead of up on the elevated road. I was surprised to see a "tent city" set up there, underneath the overpasses. It stretched a few blocks and was full of tents, personal belongings, and trash. I don't know how many of you have followed the local news here but there was a huge controversy about displacing the large group of homeless who were camped out across the street from City Hall. Lawmakers from other cities and states got involved...it got pretty ugly and amid cries of racism there were protests on both sides and threats of violence towards wealthy residents' homes. In the last week or so there was a big announcement about how they found apartments or hotel rooms for all the homeless, and problem solved, and we could be a model for other cities to follow, etc., etc. I'm not sure if these are the same people in a different spot or if they really did find all these wonderful places to live and these are new homeless people? I'm not sure what's going on.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.


*Murdoch, The A-Team