Typical year ending saying

Have a Happy, Safe, & Prosperous NEW YEAR!

It'll be year of growth, of change, of learning, of living, and of loving. I hope you relish in the moments. The good and the bad. Cherish those moments where YOU have the power. Those moments where you get to decide which way your life will turn. The moments where others have control? We can only hope that a good decision for all is made.

You all caught me post a couple wine coolers. I'm philosophical. I'm buzzed. But I do wish you all the best. My brightest hopes for you all to SHINE in this coming year of 2006.

The growing artist

Most of you know the Princess and her art. That she is a budding talent. Like I'm not biased or anything, right?

Anyway, I do believe that my little guy is learning to find his own 'voice' in art. At daycare, they did quite a few holiday pieces. And I know that these things will probably not last the test of time. SO....I've taken photos of all the items he's brought home. And now? I share them all with you!




I just LOVE it all!

A new season begins soon!

I'm a geek. I know it already.

But I am so excited that Battlestar Galactica is going to be starting a new season on January 6th! ARGH!

I just LOVE this show. It's a lot different than the original but that's fine. I love the spaceflight scenes. The camera work is a lot edgier than the regular network shows (cut here - cut there).

Come on you SCIFI geeks! Let me hear ya!

It's what captured their hearts

We didn't go the expensive route on gifts. For the most part. We mainly got inexpensive items for them. But stuff that we knew they'd be interested in.

The jackhammer and googles for the Bear? Instant hit. He's been wearing the googles quite a bit. That jackhammer is just about ready for a new set of batteries. Cost? Less than $5 at Tar-jay on Dec 24th.

The barn, horses, and accessories for the Princess? Instant hit. She's played with it for two days. She's incorporating all the My Little Pony items into the barn. The barn with all it's accessories? $15 at Tar-jay.

The two work-out bags? One for each of them. So they can punch the bags instead of each other? $5 and $3. But really PRICELESS! They've been pretending to fight 'bad' guys today.

I'm really glad that these inexpensive gifts have caught their attention. No flashy items. No huge technically difficult items that we had to assemble. Basic stuff.

I just had to get it all out of the boxes. HA!

But I know this type of thing won't last long. My girl is in school. My little guy in daycare. They're being exposed to things without my knowledge. They're interacting with kids who watch Nick Jr, Nickleodeon, and Cartoon Network. I know the expensive stuff will be requested anytime now. I know. But I can relish can't I? Relish in the fantasy that the thought of a gift (no matter what is inside) is awesome enough.

Exhibit A

I had to show you all the gift that has surpassed all others in the last few days.

Here is my little guy after he got us to open the box.Note the look of glee on that face.


Here he is the next day before breakfast arrived at IHOP. He's got the safety glasses on. Thankfully, the jackhammer stayed at my Mom's house.


After he got a couple swigs of water he was back to work. Coloring. With the safety glasses back in place.


Oh my boy!

As secure as a bank vault

Some parents might take issue at putting toys together.

My issue? Getting items out of their boxes.How parentproof do they had to MAKE those containers?

There's the box. There's the tape at each possible opening. There's the plastic twist ties at every crevice imaginable to hold the toys to the additional cardboard piece inside the box. But then they have tape to hold down the twist ties?

I felt like I needed a tactical plan to get the toys free. FREE!

Each box was a mission. I was amazes at how even My Little Pony was secured onto a molded piece of clear plastic. I needed a pair of scissors every gosh freaking time I opened something.

But then there's the battery compartment. I had to find the tiny little screw driver to open up all those compartments. To throw in 2 or 3 or 4 AA batteries. Batteries that'll only last a week or two. Then I'll have to break out the screw driver once more. That is...until the toy breaks. OR when the kidlings lose interest in the toy. Whichever comes first.

MAN! I'm sure there's someone who gets paid to think of how manufacturer's are going to package these toys. And secure those toys so well that we parents end up silentlyl swearing (or not so silently swearing) as we open up each twist-tie.

My plan was foiled

Remember how I wanted the Hubs family to give him the kids' gifts when he went up there with the kidlings for his Mom's birthday celebration?

None of them gave him the presents. Apparently, the Hubs told his Mom that we'd be up there for New Year's Eve and we'd all open gifts at that time. Then my MIL sent emails to their side of the family telling them of this fact.

So my idea of coming home to a tree filled with presents from Santa? FOILED!

Like I already knew. No one in that family listens to me. I can stay even keeled. Not harm a fly. And still get no respect out of that family.

I really have to say that I dislike his family right now. Not hate. Hate is a horrible word. They just think of themselves all the time. And that frustrates the HELL out of me.

Trying to be slick & failing...

My daughter is too smart for words.

Or is it me that forgets that she knows a bunch of things?

We stopped by a neighbor's house the other day to drop off a holiday gift. We found that they had a new family member. A little white dog.


Me: "Oh, you got a dog?"

Neighbor: "We've been thinking about it since we moved in. We just got it a month ago."

Me: "The Hubs and I have been contemplating either getting a C-A-T or a D-O-G."


I stopped. I looked at the Princess. She had an all knowing grin on her face. She knew EXACTLY what I had spelled. I forgot that she knows those words! I shake my head.

My neighbor and I chatted for a few minutes and then the Princess and I walked home.

Later on that night, the Hubs and I were talking.

Me: "Oh yeah. And Jeff?"

Hubs: "Okay..."

Me: "Jeff got a perro (that's dog in Spanish)."

Princess: "Yeah Daddy! It was a WHITE perro."

What am I going to do now? She knows how to spell AND speak bits of Spanish????

Children of the Weird: Strange things they do

I've been tagged by Brett over at DadTalk on this list. A list of the weird things the kids do.


1. We received a acrylic fuzzy blue with cloud blanket at the Princess' baby shower. We liked it. It went along with the Star/Moon/Sky theme we had in the bedroom we created for her. When she was first born, we used it as a second blanket over her. My daughter is now 5. She STILL sleeps with that blanket. The blanket has a name. FUZZY. When she goes to sleep it has to be right next to her head. She snuggles with it before she drifts off to bed. When she first wakes up? She rubs her face into it.




2. When we brush his teeth, the Bear will scrunch up his eyes while his mouth is open. Why? I dunno. Maybe because he thinks we're going to poke him in eye with the toothbrush? That the toothpaste bubbles will pop in his eyes? I dunno.




3. My discrete and sweet little girl has a crazy routine when she comes home from school. As soon as the Princess gets home, she'll take off all her clothes. Then she'll pull any kind of hairtie or clip(s) out of her hair. She'll shake her head around so her hair gets crazy. By then she looks like she's been living in the jungle. Then she'll go upstairs and run around for a while. Naked as a jaybird. Hair all askew. Maybe she wants to feel the air against her skin? Maybe she's running off the rest of the school energy? Whatever. Then 15 minutes or so later, she'll come down. Fully dressed, yes. But in shorts and a tank top. Even when I'm in long sweats and a sweatshirt. Brrr...




4. When my son finishes eating. He'll hop down from his chair. Then he asks one of us to help his "washa-hans?". Then he'll do a side-walk-saunter over to the kitchen sink. His hands in front of his chest with his elbows out. His shoulders will swish right-left-right-left as he's moving with his elbows going forward right-left-right-left. Then his little booty. His hips swish right-left-right-left. And then instead of leadng with his knee forward, he swings his feet out to the sides. And he's not walking people. He's trotting/running like this. [he-he-he-he...]




5. Then there's this business of my son and his pull-ups. He HAS to wear Buzz Lightyear pull-ups. No other character will do. The kid had a FIT at daycare when they tried to put the ones with Pooh in front on him. He just had to have Buzz guarding his crotch. Yes. A slight obsession with Buzz Lightyear. Anytime he jumps off anything he's got his arms out in the 'plane' position and he says "To in-fin-nee an beyon...."





But my kids? With all their quirks and foibles? Makes them oh so more endearing ot me.

Now...as for the rest of you? Who will I tag? No pressure. Just do it if you want to. So I'm tagging my buddies at: Summertime, Baby Faith, The Special Project, The View from Here, & The Kidlet Chronicles

Doing more to finish up my 'list'

This afternoon, the Hubs and the kidlings are going up to see his family. It's my MILs birthday this week so they're all going out to dinner to celebrate.

Me? I'm staying here. I plan on buying some general stuff. Contact solution. Kids bath soap. Then, I'm going to try to finish buying Christmas gifts. Then I'm going to wrap presents. And STASH the presents out of site.

Then...I'm going to a Mommy party! One with wine and cheese! [doing the happy dance]

One of the ladies nearby is celebrating her birthday. She's invited all her Mommy friends. The theme for her party? Wine tasting with hors d'voures. YUMMY!

It's going to be a nice afternoon. But I'm not sure if I have enough time to fit all my errands in. But I'm going to try my darn-dest!

What're you doing this last full weekend before Christmas????

Sappy heart

I must confess.

Now that I'm a Mom, I'm way more emotional about things than I used to be.

I cried yesterday. I cried alone in the car.

Tears streaming down my face. My eyes hidden by my sunglasses.

Why?

Because I heard a song. That song about Christmas Shoes...

It broke my heart to listen to this song. To hear the words. To think that a child could show this man the true meaning of the holidays. That a child could lose a parent so close to the biggest kids' day of the year.


It was almost Christmas time
There I stood in another line
Trying to buy that last gift or two
Not really in the Christmas mood.
Standing right in front of me
Was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing around like little boys do
And in his hands he had a pair of shoes .
And his clothes were worn and old
He was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn't believe what I heard him say.
Sir, I want to buy these shoes , for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her style
Could you hurry Sir? Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while.
I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonight.
They counted pennies for what seemed like years
And the cashier said, Son there's not enough here
He searched his pockets franticly
Then he turned and he looked at me.
He said, Momma made Christmas good at our house
Though most years she just did without
Tell me Sir, what am I gonna do?
Some how I gotta buy her these Christmas shoes .
So I laid the money down, I just had to help him out
And I'll never forget the look on his face
When he said, "Momma's gonna look so great."
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her style
Could you hurry Sir? Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while.
And I know these shoes will make her smile
I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonight.
I knew I caught a breathe of heaven's love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy to remind me
What Christmas is all about.
Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Momma please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her style
Could you hurry Sir? Daddy says there's not much time
You see, she's been sick for quite a while.
And I know these shoes will make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonight.
I want her to look beautiful
If Momma meets Jesus tonight.

Dumb and dumber

Picture a man.

A man who doesn't get along with his significant other.

The man hits his significant other with a newspaper. A tiny local newspaper that HE published.

Think it's an issue?

Well, this man continued to hit his significant other on a regular basis until she got sick of it. And because she found out that this man was married. To TWO other women.

That's right folks. A polygamist.

She broke it off with him.

And he used his newspaper to talk trash about this woman.

The woman put a restraining order to try and stop him from publishing slanderous statements about her.

What did she do? She called the local investigative reporter.

The local reporter did a story on the man about how he used his so-called newspaper to talk trash about people and things he didn't like.

The man? He retaliated and wrote a story about the local reporter.

Talk about an idiot of a man, eh?

It gets better.

The story on the local tv news caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security.

The man? He is now in federal prison.

He wasn't born here. He may be deported!

So he's locked up in prison.

All because he couldn't stop hitting that woman with his newspaper.

[snort-snort-snort]

What an IDIOT!

Still got my little guest

It's 9:37am. My girl? She's passed out cold on the couch. And she had a solid night of sleep too. She was in our bed by 8:15pm. She was asleep by 8:35pm. She woke up from some dream about 5am. I tucked her back under her blankets. She does NOT remember waking up. She slept until about 7am. Now she's asleep again? WOW! She's feeling better. Not nauseated. She's just tuckered out.

As for me? I started feeling nauseated about 2pm yesterday afternoon. I finally forced myself to visit the porcelain goddess around 6:30pm. I oh so HATE feeling nauseated. Felt much better. I took 2 Tylenol and then a long hot shower. My body was creaking and achy. My head was fuzzy and pounding. We got the kids ready for bed after some cuddling on the couch.

I was in bed with the Princess by 9pm. I slept solid too. I got up for the day at 6:30am. My body was still aching. I threw down 2 more Tylenol to start out my day. I have to be able to concentrate for work. Got a big job to finish todya.

The Hubs had made breakfast for the Bear. He was happily eating when I walked into the kitchen. Right now he's probably playing outside at daycare. Happy as a clam. I hope he doesn't catch our yuckiness...

I've got a guest this morning

My daughter is home today.

She should be at school. But unfortunately, she blew chunks last night. Yes. She vomited. In the middle of the night. And I didn't know about it until this morning.

After he found her awake and saw what had happened sometime during the night. The Hubs took action. He stripped her bed and placed all the soiled bedding on the floor in the laundry room.

When I saw her at the breakfast table coloring, she looked fine.

"Honey, what happened?"

"I vomited last night. I coughed real hard. But no one heard me."

"Oh honey. When you vomit in the middle of the night you should just come get Mommy."

"Okay. But I tried to clean it up myself."

Did you hear that? My 5 year old tried to take care of it herself. She pushed the soiled linens to the bottom of the bed. She took off her yucky jammies and washed her mouth and hands off. Then she put on fresh jammies and climbed back into bed.

Right now she's in the other room with a Pooh DVD on. She's making holiday cards for her friends at school. We both agreed school would not be a good idea today.

"I don't want to give my sick germs to any of my friends."

She's such a sweetie. Today will be a relaxing day for her. I want her to be healthy for their holiday concert tomorrow night and their play day on Friday.

They won!

I can't believe how HAPPY I am. The LINZ siblings won the Amazing Race!

They did such an awesome job working together. They have fun. They treat each other was respect. They joke. They smile like crazy. Friendly to all (except for the crazy family).

Definitely a fabulous group of adults. Such a tribute for the world to see what a great group of kids (and there are 3 more) that their parents have raised.

I couldn't believe that they had to do a map puzzle at the end. Talk about pressure! Wally was giving Nick (was it Nick?) a run for the money.

Now Wally? He is an awesome guy. All his girls were in tears at the end when his voice broke. Oh! Broke my heart! You could feel the love passing between them by the look in their eyes.

Even though this particular show wasn't the GREATEST of all the races....it was a change of pace. The end was great.

But I can't WAIT for the new season in February! Bring on some international flair people!

Holiday decorations

Help me understand.

I'm a basic girl who doesn't know much.

For my Jewish friends, how do you decorate for the holidays?

The reason I ask is because I have a Jewish neighbor across the street. You know. The guy who has had a lot of problems with his house? Well, he's decorated on the outside of his house.

The first decorations to go up? Two moving lighted reindeer in the yard plus a lighted snowman at his front door.

The second bunch of decorations to go up? The lights along the roofline of his home. The light bulbs alternate red and green all along the front of the house.

On Saturday? I heard him building something. I heard a saw. I smelled the scent of freshly cut lumber. I looked at his yard before dinner. He had a bunch of black iron candle holders in a row. You know. Those ones that you use in the summer with citronella to keep the mosquitos at bay? Anyway, he had those all lined up together. All lined up like a menorah. That night I looked out and he'd strung blue lights in the front of it in the shape of the Star of David.

I'm from one religious background. So this fascinates me. Now in the homes out there that have different faiths in your home. How do you explain Christmas and Chanukah? Do you have both sets of decorations out at once? Teach me! Enlighten me!

Men who wear buttondown shirts & a wish list

This might sound silly but I need advice. On undershirts.

I'm serious.

Now what brand and style of undershirt do you wear under your button-down shirts?

Crew neck? V-neck?

Loose fitting? Body hugging? Why?

What brand lasts the longest?

These are the questions in my mind. Yes. I'm going to buy my husband some undershirts but don't know what to get.

Come on. I'm the practical gift giver. Actually, I also ASK for practical gifts.

In the past, I've asked for the following:

An iron. It was a Rowenta. About $80.

A toaster. It was a DeLonghi. About $60.

Make-up brushes. From MAC. And you women know how much those can be.

On Thanksgiving, for the Hubs' side of our family we select a name out of a hat. Then we each buy presents for the one person we picked. So the "list" I give out each year goes out to one person. As you can see from my past, I'll put pricey items that I'd never buy for myself. I would normally just buy a $20 iron or toaster. I'd normally buy brushes that are less than $5. But for the holiday wish list? Pricey items.

Demanding? I'd say not. The Hubs' family are the ones who started the gift exchange. They are the ones who said to make a list. They are the ones who put a dollar limit each year. Since everyone has a good job it's up to $150!!!!

What was on this year's list?

A 5 to 8 cup rice cooker (I've got a little 3-cup one that isn't quite enough for a family of 4)

DVD/VCR combo (so the kiddos can use the old DVD player and the old VCR player upstairs for their shows)

Fuzzy slippers (the ones I've got were from 2 Xmas's ago and are WORN out)

BIG coffee mug (since I'm working from home and the small cups I have aren't cutting it)

Boring? Some might say so. But it's stuff that I'd like to get. I didn't put specific brands on anything because it doesn't matter for the stuff on the list. In the past, I did put down specifics. It's especially important when it comes to clothes. I would put down the store (if it's exclusive to one location), the size, the various colors, etc.

I tell you. My style of "list" has caught on. I selected my BIL out of the hat this year. He put down a brand of shirt that is only sold at one store chain. He also put down a pillow. A pillow? Yeah. From that $elect Comfort place. The Hubs and I could NOT believe the price points of stuff in that store. But it was on my BIL's 'wish list'. Stuff that he'd never buy for himself! So the Hubs and I didn't bat an eye when we paid for it.

As for my side of the family. We get the kids the gifts. All the adults get a 'couple gift'. We're all paired off now. Remember that LilSis and Shorty are engaged? They get ONE gift. HA!

Now what does YOUR family do for the holidays? Do you buy every child and every adult a gift? Do you have a price limit per gift? Do you only buy for the kids? Do all the married adults get only a 'couple gift'?

It must be nice...

The other morning I received one of my many online orders.

The Fed-Ex guy was surprised when I opened the door. Wearing my big blue plaid flannel jammies & pink fuzzy slippers.

I cheered when I saw the box. He looked at me with a funny little smile.

"Must be nice to be in your jammies at this time of day."

"I work from home."

"I wish I could."

"Well. I also work late a lot. Midnight. 3am."

"Oh..."

First of all son. It was only 10:30am.

Second of all. I don't know why you were commenting on my outfit. YOU were wearing shorts when it was 35 degrees outside!

Third of all. Working from home doesn't mean it's a piece of cake. I work my kanoodles off.

Who knew that stream would make me happy?

A stream?

Yeah. A stream of pee-pee!

Ha! Those of you parents who are dealing with or have just dealt with potty-training...you can relate.

My little guy has been learning to urinate on the toilet. He'd push and push. Then when he'd see a little bit come out he'd freeze up. One little squirt.

"Aw done!"

He'd be hopping off the toilet. Finito. Done.

The last couple days he's been making STREAMS come out. Two nights ago he had 4 LONG squirts. Kind of like "ahhhh...." It was FABULOUS!

Like I said in my title...who knew a stream would make me happy?

The smell of newness

My ever faithful readers know that my folks have lived in their home for over 22 years.

Yeah. It's a long, long time for today's standards. But for their generation, it's typical.

Just this year they've finally made changes to their home. Remember the changes over the summer?

Well, last week they got the flooring in all the bathrooms changed out. I think they went with more vinyl. They couldn't do tile upstairs because of the sound issue. Their house isn't soundproofed so well. So if they had tile in the bathrooms it would be mighty loud downstairs if someone would walk in the bathrooms.

This week they were having new carpeting put on the 2nd floor. The second floor has ALL the bedrooms. I'm sure it was a huge mess. Lots of dust and gunk in the air. This was the FIRST time they've had those carpets changed out. Yeah. Over 20 years of use out of that orange/brown carpet.

I don't know what the new carpet color is or what kind of pile they decided on though. I'm not going to ask either. I'll just see the results when we visit for Christmas. I'm sure the house will have that "carpet" smell still in a couple weeks. It'll be like see a whole new house. I can't wait to see it all!

Progress report

Tree: up & decorated

Accessories in the house: up & displayed

Outside: Not even touched

Presents: 25% purchased

Gifts wrapped: 0% complete



Now how are YOU doing with your holiday progress?

Making Mommy Laugh

Bear: "Uh oh...spaw-geh-ee-oh!"

I wonder where he learned that expression from?

****************

We were headed off to school the other morning.

Prin: "Mommy? What is your car called?"

Me: "What do you mean honey?"

Prin: "Tia's car is called a Pathfinder."

Me: "Oh. Mine is a Freestyle. That's the name of the model of the car. The manufacturer of Mommy's car is Ford. That's the name on the little oval thing in front of car."

Prin: "Oh yeah. There's a lot of cars made by that manu..."

Me: "Manufacturer."

Prin: "Manufacturer. So what's Daddy's cars manufacturer?"

Me: "Daddy's truck is manufactuered by Dodge. So is his other car."

Prin: "Really?"

Me: "Just like your Tio's car. His is a Dodge too. A Dodge Durango."

Prin: "Hmmm...Durango. Durango and mango rhyme."

That's how our conversation ended. I was too busy chuckling in my head. I mean. She didn't skip a beat when she said that.

****************

Bear: "OH NOoooo!

silence...silence...silence...

Bear: "Hewp!"

I run over and there he is. Standing with both legs through one hole of his knit shorts. He's pulled them and can't understand why it's SO TIGHT around his legs.

Me: "Bear. You have got both legs in the same hole in your shorts."

He looks at me and smiles.

Bear: "Hewp. Peas. Mommy?"

****************

My daughter LOVES doing assignments.

To keep her occupied the other day, I tore out pages from a Kindergarten activity book. I then pretended to be her teacher. I assigned her some pages to do.

She went off to her table and finished up the work.

She handed in her work. Got graded. And put the pages away in a folder.

I've gotta buy MORE of those activity books!

****************

"Soup-man!"

"Baa-man!"

You guys got it? That's SUPERMAN and BATMAN.

Thoughts on our Thanksgiving

Yes, I'm WAY late with this but here it is:


I have got to hand it to people who oven cook their raw turkeys. I definitely don't have the talent or the patience for it. As we have done before, we purchased our Thanksgiving dinner from our local grocery store. Mashed potatoes. Gravy. Cranberry sauce (I made my own though). Pumpkin pie. Stuffing (I made my own). But the real essence is the precooked turkey. All we had to do was warm up the bird for 2 to 2 1/2 hours! No cleaning out the guts. No basting. No fuss. No muss. All we did was get a salad together, get some corn and some green beans,fresh cranberry sauce, real stuffing and some yams with marshmallows.

Everyone enjoyed the food. And there was a LOT less work involved going this route. Now that they know our secret, they might try it next year!


****************************

"Wait a second."

That's the thought that crossed my mind.

The Hubs had just announced that the food was ready. The Hubby's cousin's wife (HCW) and I were standing facing the food on the kitchen counters deciding what to put on our kidlings plates.

MIL: "Let's say a prayer."

BIL: "Rub a dub dub. Thanks for the grub."

Then my MIL goes into a half-hearted prayer. I couldn't even tell she was praying. It was more like she was telling us something.

HCW and I stood there next to the food. Frozen. We didn't know what to do. We both hesitated. Then the pseudo-prayer was over. It was like 30 seconds.

It was weird. She could have at least announced that we were going to take a moment to pray. Given us all a second to gather around and THEN begin the prayer.

****************************

My kidlings and their second cousins ADORE each other.I love it when we all get together.

My son followed the girls around like a little puppy.

The girls treated my son like a little baby boy.

The girls treated my daughter like their sister.

FANTASTIC!


****************************

HCW discovered that her first daughter actually ate some new foods at our house. HCW and I sat at the bar next to each other. We wanted a clear view of the kidlings at their kids' picnic table. HCW looked over at one point and noticed something GREEN entering her daughter's mouth.

HCW (oh so casually): "Hey honey, what's that?"

Daughter: "Green beans."

HCW: "Are they good?"

Daughter: "yeah."

HCW: (whispering to me): "What kind are those?"

Me (whispering back): "French cut green beans from a can."

HWC: "I've got to buy some of that!"

A little later on, HWC notice more green stuff entering her daughter's mouth.

HCW (again in a casual tone): "Hey honey, is that good?"

Daughter: "Uh-huh."

HCW: "More beans?"

Daughter: "No. Salad."

HCW: "What kind of salad leaves are those?"

Me: "Spinach."

HCW: "She ate spinach?"

Me: "Yeah. I guess she did!"

HCW: "We've got to come for dinner at your house more often!"

****************************

After we'd had our fill of food. I let everyone relax for at least 20 minutes. I then started some coffee and warmed the pie.

Me: "Anyone want dessert?"

"Whatcha got?"

Me: "Pie. Pie with vanilla ice cream. Pie with whipped cream. Chocolate chip cookies. Chocoloate chip cookies with ice cream. Chocolate chip ice cream with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Brownies. Brownies with ice cream. Brownies with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Take your pick!"

"Oh...no!"

The kidlings? They chose the brownies with ice cream and a little whipped cream on top. Kind of like what you get over at DQ.

My FIL, MIL, HCW, and I all had a large cup of coffee along with something sweet.

FIL: "What kind of coffee do you use?"

Me: "Just this regular Folgers"

FIL:"It's good. It's strong."

Me: "Thank you. I like strong coffee."

FIL: "Me too. But (pointing towards my MIL) she doesn't."

HCW: "I like strong coffee too."

Me: "Yeah. I just use about 3 TSP for 4 cups of water (I have a 4-cup coffee maker)."

FIL: "Wow. Really? Maybe I should try that."

HCW: "That's a good idea. It's not like you can make a weak cup of coffee stronger! She can let you have some strong coffee and dilute hers (pointing to my MIL)."

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The kidlings played in the backyard after dessert. They had to run off all the food and the sugar they'd consumed. They kicked the balls around. They hit the t-ball. It was enjoyable letting them run and laugh while we (HCW and I) sat on the patio chairs drinking another cup of coffee.

What was pathetic was that I had so much electric static on me that whenever I touched the patio chair, I would get shocked. I mean, HCW even heard it!


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My ILs house still hasn't gotten any offers on it.

There are a bunch of homes that are for sale in their area. They've even lowered the price since I last mentioned it. Still nothing. Definitely a buyer's market where they are located.

The only sucky part of the situation is that once they sell their house they're going to buy my BILs house. So the delay in selling their house is delaying my BIL & his fiancee moving.


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Now you might wonder why I only talked about the kids and HCW. It's because the rest of them sat on the couch facing the tv. Watching football! So HCW and I spent quality time together with the kidlings. Now THAT is the kind of family gathering I enjoy. Just like if I was with my sisters and parents.Sitting around together. Talking. Not sitting in front of the tv. Oy!