Name that Offspring...Results 2/21/08

Good Morning and Hello to all. Thanks to all of you for the great participation in Name That Offspring this week. The offspring below is actually Atlee, which thirty percent of you knew. Sixty percent of poll-takers thought it was Greeley, which was why I picked this picture. Aren't I the sly coyote? I particularly enjoyed Michael's keen detective work this week in determining his vote. Dick Francis would be proud. Judi, let me know how that whole triplet thing works out for you...

Works for Me Wednesday...

Hello there. It's Wednesday, so it must be Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer. It was challenging to pick just one domestic tip for today, because you see I have so many. (My mom might be rolling on the floor laughing right now.) I toyed with telling you all my secret tip for cleaning the kitchen floor. Oh- what the hay, I'll tell you anyway. Take one cute baby who is not quite crawling and dress him/her in a fleece snuggle suit. Place on crumb filled kitchen floor and let the baby go crazy. It's like a Swiffer Sweeper, only cuter. And the big chunks that don't stick to the suit? Those are picked up by the always roving hands. It's tricky, you have to intercept those pieces before they make it to the mouth. And you can't use the crawling kind of baby for this tip. Once the tummy is off of the floor, there's not enough surface area to be truly effective. (I can almost hear people calling child services....)
So, my second tip is for cleaning bathrooms. I hate it. I just can't get excited about scrubbing toilets, sinks and floors. So, we have a party. The knowledge that 35 people are going to show up and drink lots of liquids and then...then they are going to want to pee... that's enough to make me scrub toilets at 7:30 AM. It motivates me. This is a shot of our bathroom. We just had a party this weekend, but it's already dirty enough I didn't feel comfortable sharing it with all of you. Not that we're not great friends... I mean, I like you and all....

Moving on... trust me when I say this painting is in our bathroom. And that bathroom? It looked great this weekend. But now it's Wednesday.... so, this is all I'll show you. Have a great Wednesday!

She Likes to Party...She Likes to Get Down...

She's officially four. We're sorry that some of you couldn't be here to celebrate with us- but we have a few photos for you. Let's do a quick birthday tour, shall we? Let's start with the cake. Atlee requested a Nemo cake. I'm going to abandon all pretense of humility and say I rocked the cake. OK, not Nemo's tail. That's not so rocking, but the rest of it? Nemotastic!
The crowd wants cake. I shudder to think how ugly it might have gotten if we had denied them that cake.

Atlee had a few presents to open. Thank you again to everyone!

Here she thought our friends, Pete and Amy, got her cookware. She was confused and greatly relieved to open it and find a giant dinosaur instead.

Greeley and our friend Melissa hung out for awhile.

Atlee loves the hungry hungry hippos.

Here take a look around. It was a good party... sorry you couldn't have been there.

Celebrating Four Years of Atlee...

I've been so busy booking the ponies and clown (oh how I jest...) for Atlee's 4th birthday party that I haven't taken any pictures lately. So here are some shots of her from the last few months.

Did I mention she's thinking of cutting her hair?

She wants to donate it to Locks of Love. This shot below is her and her frog. She really wanted all of you to see this bathtub toy-frog.

This is one reason there were no pillowcases here. Sometimes a girl needs a cape.

Sometimes a girl needs to tell the cat what to do while wearing a cape. It lends an air of authority to her that almost overcomes the lack of pants.

Name that Offspring.. 2/21/08

Shea, Atlee or Greeley? And if you were thinking about buying us patio furniture, this set that our friends have is wonderful! Because everybody was thinking about buying us patio furniture, right? No? Huh.

Name that Offspring...Results

So I'm getting some grief in my email inbox for not having posted the results.... sorry. Last week's offspring was once again Shea. Seventy percent of you knew this. Thirty percent of you thought it was Atlee. The Atlee voters need a bit of offspring brushing up- could I interest you in babysitting for an evening (or two or seven)?

Works for Me Wednesday...

Hello and a happy Wednesday to you! So, for longer than I care to think about we put Atlee's and Shea's books on a bookshelf. Atlee loves to read. Atlee would look for a specific book and pull out half the books from the shelf in her quest. The discarded books would lie (lay?) on the floor all discarded until I came along and picked them up. At some point I read this suggestion in a magazine and it has made such a difference. Younger kids have trouble putting books back on a bookshelf. It's a coordination thing. The smart mommy will instead offer them a box for books. Now when she is done with a book, she actually puts it back in the box. (OK, OK, it's a fifty-fifty shot, but it's better than the odds I had going before.) Not having a giant pile of discarded books on the floor so works for me. Regular readers (ummm...Judi, I mean you) who are not here from Shannon's Rocks in My Dryer should head over there for other handy ideas.

So, I Love Him...

I was going through some old photos today and found this picture from our third wedding. This was the wedding we had at the golf course outside of Saranac Lake, NY. I love this picture for so many reasons. I love that my oldest brother, John, and Rich's oldest brother, Gene, are both in it. John because he and the fabulous Monique were also tying the knot for the third time that day. Gene because he was serving as the official reader of vows. I love that the picture shows the forests of the Adirondacks, because I sure miss mountains. But, mostly I love how in love with my husband I look. I know what a wonderful man and father I'm marrying.

I can look at those sideburns and that goatee, and still look at him with that much love. That should tell you what a wonderful father and husband he is.

Greeley Gallery...

I am shamelessly head over heels about this baby.


Shamelessly.

Head over heels.

Wouldn't you be?

In Case You Thought He Wasn't Serious....

Hippie Soap and the She-Demon...

My husband made me laugh this morning. He sent this email to me and his family. It made me smile sooo much, I had to share it. Happy Valentine's Day...

" So a few days ago, I get into the shower to cleanse myself of all the construction debris and sawdust that I accumulate every day. When I get the shampoo in my hair, I reach, still with eyes closed, for the soap, only to find an odd, sharp edged block of something in my hand. Oh, Sue must have gotten a different soap. Must have been too good of a deal to pass up. As I lather myself in soap, I begin to smell something strange. Something that doesn’t quite smell like shower smells. As I rinse the shampoo from my hair, and take a look at the bar of soap, it hits me. Rosemary. In shampoo?? Wait a minute, I’ve heard of lavender, chamomile, shea butter, among various other odd things to put in soap, but not rosemary. Rosemary is something you cook with. Hey!! That means someone is trying to season me up to cook me. And who put the soap in here? That’s right, my loving wife. But she wouldn’t cook me and eat me, so she must be doing it for a monster of some sort. Maybe a demon. But if she’s consorting with them, she must be among their leagues. A SHE-DEMON!! Well, it’s going to take a lot of showers to season me up to taste good enough to eat, so at least I’ve got some time. I’ll just confront her about it.
When I asked the she-demon, er…, I mean, my wife, about it, she played it off flawlessly. “oh, yes, your brother Michael sent that, and I was out of soap, so I put it in their, isn’t it nice?” I suppose, if you like your people to taste like leg of lamb. So, he’s in on it as well, huh? Makes sense, I guess. I’m a pain in the ass to the family, she’s sick of putting up with my tirades and bad smells and getting the sheets dirty, her parents are doing pretty well, she could sell the mountain house and make enough money so she wouldn’t have to work for a while, and I’m sure my family would help her out if she needed it.
A couple of days later, I received a package in the mail. Books from Michael. Cool, I always like getting books, and they are usually very good ones. Having given up my worries about being eaten(because really, I am so dirty and smelly all the time, I don’t think there are too many demons out there that could deal with the taste, even after a lot of showers), I didn’t really think about it. That night, as I lie in bed reading “Insomnia” by Stephen king, way past the time I should have been asleep(because this book gives people insomnia), It hit me. The books were another part of the plan. Of course!! How could I have missed it?? I’m supposed to read books all day, so I get fat and tender and juicy!! That would explain why he only sends really good books that he knows I won’t be able to put down!! Having discovered this, I decided never to read another book again. Nor would I ever shower again. Life would be great. The demon would die of starvation, or find some other chump, and I could keep working and being dirty.
So after deciding I had better get back to work right away, so I could get smelly and dirty as quickly as possible, I go to D.C. to work for the weekend with Et, Pete, and Buster. Eight hours later, frustrated with the way things are going, arguing with the guys, I realize there must be more to life than work, and I sure could use some time off. Still wary of the she-demon, I return home and begin reading my book again(jogging in place while I’m doing it, so that I don’t get fat and lazy). While reading this Stephen King book, I stumble across the part about ‘Ka’ , the purpose, and the random. Thinking hard, I decide maybe it is my Ka to be demon food. Maybe if I am to sacrifice myself to the demon and go along with it, he will spare my children, although Shea doesn’t eat enough to be much of a meal, and the girls still have a few years before they would even be snack-worthy.
Having made my decision, I have blocked all this out of my mind and forced myself into the mantra…”it’s just hippie soap, it’s just hippie soap, it’s just….” . You get the idea.
So, If I disappear suddenly, PLEASE, STOP showering and reading books. You might be next."

Name that Offspring...2/13/08

So, Shea, Atlee or Greeley?

Missing My Camera...

Rich has been working out of town this weekend. He took my, er, our camera with him to get pictures of the job site. Which meant many missed photo opportunities. So, I don't have pictures of Atlee and Greeley putting their heads together over a toy or Greeley saying, "Dadadada" AGAIN and AGAIN... or Greeley waving.... But I do have Atlee in a bathrobe.

And I do have video of Greeley playing and getting up on her knees, but still not crawling.

Name that Offspring...Results

Sorry it's taken me so long to post the results... pesky kids... So, last week was indeed Shea. The photos, if you didn't know, were us and our co-nuptialists John and Monique, filling out paperwork for our marriage licenses. What's that? We have a nine month old in our wedding photos? Oh- so we do... what? You don't?

Huddled Masses....

When my husband yells, "Honey, could you please come here and smell this?", it's rarely a good sign. Yesterday's request was brought on by the odor of natural gas in the garage, lingering around the furnace. I couldn't offer any sterling advice about whether or not we had a gas leak, other than to mention I definitely did not want to get blown up. Rich then remembered he had a tool for this, which seems better than trusting my nose. The gas sniffy meter said it could sniff gas, so the girls club was under evacuation. Where to go? Where else but to the Gap Outlet to shop for Shea. The school recently sent home a note about appropriate winter attire. Shea and the other kids have to wear long-sleeved shirts to school in case there's a fire drill. The concern is the children won't have time to grab jackets and will all suffer hypothermia. It's supposed to be 71 degrees here today, but I had to buy him long-sleeved shirts.

I had some concerns that the employees at the Gap might wrestle Atlee from me in an effort to give her some toddler-style makeover. They didn't. Maybe she wasn't the only shopper to come in wearing a faux-leopard coat and utilitarian mud boots that day. (There aren't any pictures, but trust me that Mama wasn't looking all that great either.)

Post-Gap, we had time to read a book in the car.

We stopped at Kennie's for some groceries. Have you seen our new local grocery store? It's beautiful!

So, we decided to do a drive by and see if the coast was clear at home. The plumber's van was in the driveway. We see our plumber a lot. He's my brother-in-law John's friend, but we see him much more often that John does.

The coast is clear. Below is our box of fasnachts. These are a Pennsylvanian tradition. I didn't know about this tradition since I'm from Upstate New York. However, I can adapt readily. Particularly for donuts. Mmmmm....donuts. See the little red thingamabob behind the donuts? That's the gas meter that started all of this in the first place.

Works for Me Wednesday...

Good Morning Everyone! Unless it's afternoon or evening...so-er- hello! This weeks Works for Me Wednesday, by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer, features on-line sites. I like to use the computer for daydreaming. I frequently daydream about my husband and me on a tropical island drinking margaritas with no offspring in sight. This daydream has been painted with much detail due to Tripadvisor. I don't want to be wasting my time daydreaming about subpar accommodations. But am I destined to sneak away anytime soon? No. So, sometimes you need a domestic daydream. As a result, more recent mental wanderings happened while on Whirled Yarn. Mmmmmmm......such yummy yarn. Do you see that yarn? Mmmmm. Anywho, these sites work for me.

Bloggy Giveaway Notes...

A few end of Carnival Notes... Thank you to everyone who participated! (Hey Jana...what happened?) The winner of the Gettysburg Family Giveaway was knitdaisyknit. The postcards will be rushing to her as soon as I orchestrate the trip to the Post Office today. In other Bloggy Giveaway News, I won something. And I don't think it's like the time my ex won dinner for four at the Hotel Saranac and it turned out to be a dinner sales talk for fire detectors. Whew! That was a fun night. I won a copy of The Notebook and two movies, The Holiday and The Prince and Me, a Kathryn Norman CD and stamps! Thanks to Goddess of the Home! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. Thanks Again!

Did You Know?

Did you know you can't kiss a baby's face clean? I've been trying all morning and it's not working. Guess we'll have to get a washcloth...