Making cawfee - April 26, 2006 -
How do you know that you are a total and complete cawfee addict…..a freak of giganticus proportions?
When your 2yo daughter does not immitate you cleaning, but knows the sequence one must follow in order to produce the perfect cup of macchiato because she has seen it more times than she has seen you clean the house.
She starts with the perfect jadeite cup
Add coffee to the brewing grouphead
Spill the grounds
Play in grounds
Spill more coffee
Clap grounds off of hands onto the floor
Tamp the grounds down by banging the very heavy grouphead on formica counters, causing numerous dings
Add powdered sugar to top of macchiato
Add more, and more, and more
Thoroughly lick top of powdered sugar shaker
And….Ta da!!!
Isn’t she talented? ;*)
The little skateboarder - April 25, 2006 -
You know, the photo montage down below that I posted a few days ago……..there is a little snip in the middle with some video of a little skateboarder. It seems slightly out of place with the photos. Well, that was Quinn. The significance of it is that he was using his clubfoot to push himself. (Tears). This was huge. His foot had just never worked right on its own for things like walking up stairs, pushing a scooter/skate board or hopping on it. In this clip, I asked him to try putting his “clubbie” down on the ground to push…..he had never been able to do it before. The video speaks for itself….it was immediatly e-mailed to his therapist and doctor.
Last week Quinn had an appointment with his doctor. He had something special to show Dr. W. at this visit. We practiced in the examining room while waiting for the doc. Much noise radiated from our closed door. Laughter, clapping and a bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump sound could be heard. When Dr. W. came in, I told Quinn, “Okay, show him”. My son proceeded to balance on his clubfoot leg and hop across the room on it. He made it 6 whole hops.
It has taken him 4 years to accomplish this feat, and I will remember it forever, right along with his first step.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
My honey - April 24, 2006 -
I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun it is to be with my husband. He is such a good time. Surfing, swimming, soaking up the warmth and laughing ’til our faces hurt.
I feel lucky to still be so damn deep in love with my husband after almost 19 years of togetherness.
*the “okay, stop it boys” in the video was because the boys were kicking the back of the seats to the beat of “Another One Bites the Dust”. edited to add, we were so tired, it was unreal. The silliness and goofiness were overflowing.
The time of my life - April 21, 2006 -
Another turning point
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist,
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test
and don’t ask why.
Its not a question
But a lesson learned in time.
It’s something unpredictable,
but in the end its right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
Thank you all for sharing in my life.
*Click on the adorable surfer to view
Contest Part II - April 19, 2006 -
Okay, so! If you answered “C”, you may move on to Part II! As much as I would like to say that my daughter did not play in her poop, you can only imagine my relief that she did not eat change. She had raided the boys piggy banks and there was a pile of change on the floor next to the nasty diaper. She pushed about a dollars worth of the change into the doody.
Question 2:
After finding the diaper with the $ embedded poo, I determined it was not ingested $ exiting into her diaper, washed Mama Mia’s hands, then turned my attention to the smelly, value inflated poo poo diaper. I:
a. payed one of the boys to remove the stinky $ from the diaper and let them keep it.
b. because I am wasteful and lazy and refuse to dig through my daughters poop for $1, rolled the diaper up with the $ in it and threw it in the outside trash
c. because I am keen to the value of a buck, I removed all of the coins, washed them and placed them in Bill’s change tray on his armoire. “Here’s some change for you pocket, honey”.
Those who guess correctly will go on to the drawing. Have fun!
“My mother is telling stories again! Do you think this face is the face of a child who plays with her own poo? I mean, come on? It’s me! Miss Mimi. I would NEVAH do something like that………..and get caught.”
My heart beats for them - April 17, 2006 -
“Don’t worry Mom, we climb down this way every time. Just watch for snakes.” said to me by my oldest as I peered down into the vine and brush filled slant toward the creek.
After sliding down the leaf strewn hill, this old chick and her 2 boys climbed along the ground under a barbed wire fence. As I slid under it, the boys kept yelling, “Lower Mom! Lower!” I yelled back, “I can’t get any lower!!! I am just thicker than you!!” Sheesh!
The day is bright and clear. It is 93 degrees, but a nice breeze is blowing. The creek is glorious.
The boys are so excited. We have come to the creek in the early evening to hunt for green grass snakes. They saw a dead one in the road, so they are certain we will find one. They also want me to see Bob. Bob is a snake that lives in the waterfall of the creek. He lives in a crevice and is there every time the boys come to explore. We find Bob without a problem. He even came out of his cave to pose for a few shots:
Bob is non-venomous and completely harmless. I am amazed at how tame he is. I told the boys to never try and catch him or bother him. Don’t violate his trust. I told them how lucky they were to be able to see Bob in his natural environment.
The creek was teaming with fish. No wonder the boys love to come here to fish. As many as there are, they rarely catch anything. Catching them isn’t the point though…..just being there with friends is.
We wandered down the length of the creek, seeing perch, bass and large bull frogs. Cody led the way, with me in the middle and Cory bringing up the rear. The path wound along the creek edge, and then slightly up a hill around some trees, sloping back down to the creek. We were chatting and laughing, but in a heart beat, Cory’s tone changed to alarm and terror and I hear him scream “Watch out!!!!!” I spun around and looked to where he was pointing at Cody’s feet, and about a foot from mine.
Time has a way of blurring and accelerating at such moments. Could it be that when our hearts begin to race, they can actually warp time too? All I know is that my adrenaline kicked in as I gazed down at what we later identified as a 3 foot long water moccasin that my 8yo was STANDING ON!!! Cody screamed and jumped back. In the flurry that insued, when my racing heart accelerated time by some kind of quantum physics, I recall grabbing his arm and screaming “Oh my GOD! Stop!!!” He was dancing around and the snake was striking and hitting his shoe. Cody finally flew threw the air, either from me lifting him with one arm and throwing him, or an angel lept from heaven, plucked him from the chaos and set him down 5 feet from the snake.
The terrified, confused snake raced down the embankment and flew into the water.
I grabbed Cody by the shoulders and looked at him. He was shaking uncontrollably, saying “It didn’t bite me. I’m okay.” I stripped his pants off and rolled down his socks. Snake bites are strange things. The initial adrenaline rush can sometimes mask a snake bite. The victim is so hyped up that they are not aware of the pain yet.
In this case, by the grace of God, there were no bites on my son….the little one I call Teeter Totter because as a baby he loved a song by that name. While we were dancing with the devil, my mind whirled back and flashed to images of days with him in diapers, lying on a quilt in the sun listening to that song.
When we recovered and our legs became solid under us again, we wandered down to the creek edge to see the snake and identify it. It was in the creek next to a rock. I poked it with a very long stick and it swam out and down the creek. It was a Western Cottonmouth. A viper whose venom would kill a small child. It was approximately 2 1/2 -3 inches in DIAMETER and about 3 feet in length.
God…..he does not rest on Sunday. He never rests. He has plans for these boys. They must grow up and tell this story over and over again to their children and grandchildren……the snake will get bigger and bigger with each generation.
My heart? I have learned this weekend that not only is it capable of effecting time, but its capacity to hold love for my children is 1000x what I thought it was.
A message from Miss Mimi - April 16, 2006 -
Our Easter was simply mawvelous, dahling. Simply mawvelous.
How about yours?
Because it is not about candy and bunnies - April 14, 2006 -
Please turn the volume up on your computer and visit this site.
May your Easter weekend be filled with the love of Christ.
Much love to you all,
Jody, Bill, Cory, Cody, Quintin and Amelia
A contest - April 13, 2006 -
This will be a 2 part question. I will post Part 1 today. Part II will be posted after everyone has had a chance to guess at Part I.
You must answer correctly the multiple choice question below to move on to Part 2.
My daughter came into the room while I was writing an e-mail and, pulling my arm, said “Mommy, nice poo poo with money in it on the floor”.
She:
a. Has to bribe me with cold, hard cash to change her poo poo diaper, no matter how “nice” it is.
b. Has eaten some change and to my horror (because I had no idea she ate it….bad mommmy) is passing it in her poo.
c. Has taken off a poo poo diaper and has embedded a dollars worth of coins into the smelly, disgusting poo.
Those who answer both parts correctly will have their name put into a drawing for a very cool T-shirt.
Weird Meme part II - April 13, 2006 -
I have been tagged by Black Belt Mama for the Weird Meme.
Meme’s are new to me. I used to make fun of them, but this one was fun to read from others, so I did it…..I’ve actually completed it before, but can easily find 6 more weird things about myself, so here goes…6 weird things about myself:
1. I fell out of my crib when I was a baby, landed on my head on the rock floors of my parents house, and experienced some damage to my brain…the part that controlled my breathing. From then on, when I would get hurt, I would stop breathing. Anything from a skinned knee to stubbing my toe would cause me to stop breathing and I would pass out. I once jumped off the coffee table, landed on my butt, and when I came to, the Fuller Brush man (who was there trying to sell my mom some stuff) was giving me mouth to mouth. *
2. I once helped another trainer teach a dolphin to masturbate…….it is tough for them to do without hands, but it can be done. I’ll betcha no one reading this has experienced that ( edited to add: I was a dolphin trainer and our park also did research on cetaceans).**
3. I had a Mitred conure parrot named Lucy whom I potty trained. I could hold her above the toilet and tell her “Lucy, take a sh*t” and she would.
4. I lived in Galveston, Florida and Arizona between the ages of 18 and 23. I traveled by myself and was quite adventurous.
5. I have tube fed a baby dolphin.
6. I used to show Miniture Pinschers.
So now I tag 6 people to tell 6 weird things about themselves. According to The Pajama Mama, “after YOU get tagged, you have to go back to the blog of the person who tagged you and let them know you have fullfilled your tagging obligation and put up your list of six things. That means you have to come back HERE and let me know you put up a post with your six items.”
Okay, so I tag:
1. Kokernot
2. Actual Unretouched Photo
3. Our Life
4. Dooce (shoot, why the heck not)
5. Our Deer Baby
6. Rocks in My Dryer
* I grew out of the problem and no longer experience it…the brain learns to re-route. So, no, I can’t claim that brain damage is why I am like this today ;*)
**the vet who treated our animals needed sperm samples from dolphins, so the trainer invented a “Blow up BarbieFlipperette” for dolphins and trained the animal to…um…use the apparatus. ‘Nough said. (I was a dolphin and sea lion trainer)
Heart and soul - April 11, 2006 -
It is not our anniversary. Nor is it his birthday. Nothing special. I am just thinking about him.
He is my heart and soul. I love him more than I will ever be able to show.
I wait with excitement for him to come home.
I catch myself staring at him.
I WANT to be with him.
After almost 19 years together, my spine tingles when he kisses me.
He is genuine.
Kind.
Affectionate.
He works hard for his family.
He is dependable.
He does the laundry.
A sleeping newborn fits just right on the curve of his chest.
He is present. 100% in my life, and the kids.
On November 7th, 2004 I wrote “50 Things I Love About My Husband Bill”. I could easily think of 50 more today.
No. There is nothing special about today. Nothing on the calender.
See, every day is special in my life with this man.
That hateful bunny is on his way - April 10, 2006 -
It was time. Time to hit the stores and venture down the Easter section at Target, Walmart and Walgreens. I had avoided it long enough. If I waited any longer, my kids would be getting the combed over remnants, which included sugar free chocolate rabbits (the horror) and Peeps (gagamaggot, this years new Peep is red).
I saw all the bright packages and colorful foil. All the grass in pastel shades.
Don’t let all the pretty packaging fool you. It is hiding within. Calories. Large numbers of calories.
Let’s face it folks. Hippity, Hoppity, Chocolate is on its way.
Break out your treadmills, dust off your running shoes, because it is time for “Sneak the Candy Out of the Trusting Childs Basket” in 5 days.
Never fear…..last year we decided this, so have at it!
Oh, and please pass up the Peeps. There is just something VERY wrong about red Peeps.
The apocalypse - April 8, 2006 -
Our water heater started leaking……..actually, it has been leaking drop, by drop for at least a month. The boards were wet under it, and it was slimy and icky. Bill extracted the heater yesterday afternoon, bought a new one and installed it. It leaked too. Then he had to go into work for a meeting…..then take the boys to a baseball game. Meanwhile, we live in tiny rural Texas, and all the stores close at 5pm. Which translates into no heated H2O at Chez Jody2ms.
Not a problem…..the real issue is that Bill also decided to bomb the attic for the palmetto bugs in the midst of the water heater fiasco. I had 7 kids at the house, and it was 97 degrees outside. He let the bombs off, and we sat on the patio in blue jeans, sweating like pigs. We had to move all the aquariums outside as well.
Not a problem….what he didn’t tell me is that he let off 6 bombs. 6 people!!!! What the hell was he trying to kill??? He said to trust him. What scares me is, what did he know about the attic, that I didn’t?
Not a problem….except when the bugs evacuated the attic and came downstairs where the air conditioning and clean, pure air was free for the taking. Invasion. By BIG ASS, NASTY BUGS. The kind that FLY!! They came into my house to die. Even the cat was freaked out.
Not a problem…except that Bill had already left for the ball game, and I had to be at another ball park to work the concession stand. I was picking up dead bugs left and right. They were very traumatized, and were purging themselves and miscarrying on my wood floors. That gross you out? Yeah, me too.
I ………..was…………..freaking…………out. I can pick up snakes, crickets, hand feed newts and frogs. Show me a palmetto bug, and I disolve into a screaming, shreeking Barbie. Show me 10 and I need a straight jacket. Show me 15, and well, you can only imagine.
I got in my car, 6 bombs blowing toxic fumes into the attic, and drove around the front of the house, fully expecting to see hundreds of palmetto bugs pouring from every crack and crevice, with the ghosts of homeowners pasts swooshing out with their big “O” shaped mouths howling “Whoooooooo! Look ouuuuuut, its gonnnnnnnna blooooooooooow. Goooo to the light!! NOOOOOWWWWWW.”
After 6 bombs in about 800 square feet, I would imagine the attic is much like the dead sea at this point.
My house, is another story all together. As I made my bed in preparation to go to sleep, I looked up and one was pearched on the ceiling right above my bed. Screaming and Barbie dancing ensued, until Bill cornered the beast…who by the way was about as big as a mouse, Ikidyounot.
This morning I went to throw something in the stainless steal trash can that has a tight fitting lid, and when I opened the lid, a huge one was poised at he top of the pile, resting itself (insert theme from Psycho). Much screaming and Barbie dancing again. Yes, it was almost dead, but the horror, people!!
Lesson to be learned…………..we are extremely clean people. We never leave dirty dishes out. All food is put away in containers. The problem is, that in south Texas, if you leave the window in the attic open to ventilate it, for, oh, say, a year, Palmetto bugs are going to find their way in. Trust me on this.
Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all don’t have nightmares of giant bugs crawling all over you tonight! I know I did!
**edited to add….THIS is a palmetto bug…although I haven’t seen any of the ones here do the moonwalk yet…only the death crawl! DIE SUCKA”S!
Playdough - April 4, 2006 -
You want to do something fun for your kids this week that does not involve paint, scissors or glue?
Make some playdough with this recipe. This will make 4 good size balls of dough*:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
6 tsp cream of tarter
3 cups of water
3 tablespoons oil ( vegetable is fine)
gel food coloring
Mix all ingredients, except food coloring, in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until stiff. Allow to cool, then knead. Divide dough into 4 sections. With gloved hands, knead in gel food coloring of your choice into each section. Then knead in 1-2 tablespoons of your choice; almond, peppermint, vanilla or coconut extract, into each section.
It is THE BEST playdough. It is soft, smells good, and lasts forever if stored in an airtight container. Best of all, it doesn’t dry up and crumble like store bought playdough. I bought some cute, colorful tupperware containers and put each color in one. My kids love it!
Now go make some, and post pics on your blog. Let me know in the comments if you do. Have fun!
*I doubled this recipe and made 8 different colors.
Blame it on Sunset Crater - April 1, 2006 -
I am picking up, picking up, picking up, picking up, picking up all of the adorable kitchen play stuff that Mia got for her birthday. I find it all over the house, and by the time I finish, and head back to the kitchen, it is everywhere again.
Today was especially bad. The boys had clothes everywhere, blocks were on every square surface area of their room. The Brio train set was out and the tracks were elaborately set up from one room to the next. Scattered throughout this were the wooden fruit, vegetables and assorted kitchen items.
I picked up until I was so aggravated, I needed medication. Bill came home from work (he works 2 Sat. mornings a month) and I was in rare form. I was stomping around, bitching and moaning. I picked up a pamplet off the floor and read the cover aloud:
Me: “Lava Flow Trail Travel Guide. Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. Where is Lava Flow Trail?”
Bill: “It is in Sunset Crater”.
Me: “Yes, but what is Sunset Crater?”
Bill: “It’s a National Monument”
Me: “I KNOW that, but where is it?”
Bill: “In a volcano”
This is how he frequently answers my questions, because he is a professional smart-ass, and thinks it is funny. Which it is, but don’t you EVER tell him I said that.
Me: “Forget it! I just wanted to know where this place is and where the pamplet came from, smartass”.
So I stomp off in search of more wooden vegetable pieces that are missing . I find 1/2 of a piece of fake corn, and ask Bill:
“Where is the other half of this damn corn”?”
His reply: “The same place as Sunset Crater”.
I feel a perpetual joke coming on with this. From now on, everything will be blamed on Sunset Crater.
Welcome to my world.
