Unique Like Everyone Else

If I Blogged…Band Aid Edition

 

 

While I have neglected this site for awhile, I find myself sometimes musing, "If I blogged I'd post about that."  So, I thought I'd throw on some Nike's and Just Do It.

 

If I blogged about Band Aids I would tell you how I am a bit predudiced about size and shape of these wound coverers.

I recently burned myself in a drippy, toasted marshmallow accident.  The damage was deep, and I am still a bit scabby, but at least it is now a dry scabbiness.  I've graduated from large, neosporin laden bandages that wrap around that awkward first-thumb-knuckle-around-to-the-teflon-esque-nonstick-palm area down to smaller and smaller bits of protection.  

Then I came to a gasping halt.  Oh, no!  

    I can't wear THESE!   

To me, this shape and size on a hand screams "Compound W".  As in, "I had a WART and I had to get it removed because it was gnarly and it was a WART!"  Mind you, I've never had a wart, but perhaps there is some latent childhood trauma concerning being branded a wart-haver whilst wearing this flesh colored Square of Shame.

    But I am not ready for THESE!   

These say, "Hey, I've got a papercut.  Bummer, huh? Don't you hate it when that happens?" Because it has happened to everyone.  No shame in a papercut.  (Maybe a little, in being such a wuss as to need to cover a papercut with a band aid.  But at least they are cute band aids because they are miniature.)

They need to make the little square ones like these:

In my search for band aid photos I found this lovely bit of Grossology on KatherineMaries.com:

 

 

Love it!  Click on the link to Katherine's site above for even more sick snack ideas.  Especially awesome are the used Q-tips and rat poop.  Presentation is everything!

 

Thank you for joining me for today's edition of "If I Blogged."  Until next time, be careful out there, and don't over-squish your marshmallows!

Week At A Glance 10/27-11/9/2012

How many times does one need to engage in an activity for it to become a habit?  They say 21 to 28 days. So, by only putting up 2 weeks worth of "weeks at a glance" posts, I failed.  Dang.  But I'm willing to give it another shot.  Here's the latest:

 

Firstly, I have to share with you that I fell in love.

 

 

And it was mutual.

But alas, he belonged to another. :(

It was a feverish goodbye.

 

 

J-Girl performed some dental self-care in preparation for Halloween.
She opted for "premium" fangs--quite realistic! 

 

 She dressed up as Mituna from the webcomic "Homestuck".

 

 

J-Boy dressed as another character from the same series, God Tier John.

 

 

 

And here is the group as they headed out to trick-or-treat on their own!  Such a weird thing--Big Daddy and I stayed home and watched a movie, and had only one, lone trick-or-treater come to the door.  It was strange not to head out and experience Halloween with the kids.  For us parents, the holiday was such a  blip on the map.  J-Girl made both her and her brother's costumes.  They went out into the night together, and came home at a decent hour, too.  

 

 

The last big event was election day.  BD and I headed to the polls together.

 

And later that evening, as the kids were engrossed in their homework, we decided to take advantage of a local pub's offer of a 12 cent beer (or dessert) if you had your "I voted " sticker or some other proof.

 

 

I was getting riled up like I was at a hockey match, wanting to thump, thump, CLAP! thump, thump, CLAP! as the electoral votes rolled in.

 

 

 

And, while I'm certain I wasn't alone in my choice, I was very surprised that when this filled the TV screens I was THE ONLY ONE in the place that let out a whoop and a cheer!

 

This AND the San Francisco Giants won the World Series in about a week's time? Woot-Woot!

 

 

Life is good!  

 

 

Week At A Glance 10/14-10/21/2012

Last Sunday we met up with Mrs. H. and T-Dog for lunch and a walk.  It was nice to mosey along and catch up with them.  It had been far toooooo long!

 

Facebook was all a-buzz with the local moms reporting that Bradley Cooper was filming Hangover 3 at our nearby independent sundry store.  I was at work when the news broke and figured someone would head over there and post some pictures, but NO!  I checked back on Facebook hours later and found a lot of chatter, but no pix!  Big Daddy, a little late to the game, called to say he was down at the store and guess who was there, blah, blah, blah.  I begged him to go get me a photo, but after he came out of the grocery store he said they had all packed up and left.  Arghh!   I had to see for myself, so after work I headed over to at least do a drive by. There was a small group of "industry" looking guys hanging out with craft service style coffee cups.  I jokingly hustled up to them with a frantic, "Is he GONE??"  They laughed, and said, "Yeah, he's gone...but Fred is still here!"  So, ladies, here is Fred the Security Guard:

And while Fred seems like a genuinely nice guy, since my mother had to ask, "Who is Bradley Cooper??" I can't see a reason not to post this picture that accompanied an interview at Red Book Magazine:

 

 

Mmmmmmmm!  

 

In other news this week, we have been battling a bad case of fruit flies!!  So gross!!!!  I've stopped leaving fruit on the counter to ripen and learned this little trick from Chez Larsson:  wine + dish soap = drowned fruit flies.  It works, but I  haven't seen a decline in numbers even though there are MANY caught and dead in the glass.  Oh, and I upped the potency by adding apple cider vinegar to the wine.  My house, along with a fruit fly problem smells like a giant salad. *sigh*

 

 

Big Daddy and I had an impromptu Friday night out with these two, whom you may remember from my Manicotti Madness posts.  So much fun--I always have sore cheeks after spending time with them from smiling and laughing so much!  

 

J-Girl had to get up bright and early on Saturday morning to take the PSAT test.  I wasn't planning on making her take it this year.  She has a pretty heavy course load, and I didn't want to add any more stress to her as a sophomore.  I figured it could wait till next year, but she was up for it, and felt it was something she should do.  Love her so!

Then the four of us went in three different directions to three different parties:  J-Girl to celebrate the Do-er Daughter's 15th birthday; Big Daddy to a bicycle industry friend's BBQ and new business launch; and J-Boy and I, well, he and I ended up not feeling very well on Saturday afternoon and weren't able to go to a goodbye party for some family friends who are moving out of state.  :(  I hope we will get a chance to see them once more before they have to leave.  

By noon today J-Boy and I were feeling much better.  We were up and around and ready to go out and get some fresh air.  Off to the pumpkin patch with the Do-ers!  It's amazing how much faster this annual outing is now that the kids are grown.  We made them take the obligatory shots by the giant pumpkin and atop the hay pyramid.  I love how each set of siblings is looking dutifully at their rightful mother's camera lens! 

 

 

And that rounded out our week!  Wishing you all a good one!

Week At A Glance 10/6-10/13/2012

I thought I'd try something new here to keep ya'll up on the busy--yet mostly unexciting--happenings around here.  My intention is to take several photos throughout the week and post them for you here on Sundays. Funny stories, deep insights, and/or important milestones may or may not be chronicled along with said photos, but I'd like to make it a point to keep writing home, even if there is nothing to write home about. :)

 

So, on with the week!  (Oh, I should also tell you, in an effort to keep this as do-able as possible, I am not doing any fancy editing to these pictures.  Maybe a bit of cropping here or there, but mostly this is true-life-straight-out-of-the-camera-or-phone documentation.)

 

J-Girl continues to grow as an artist, and lately has been practicing digital drawing on her tablet.

 

 

And, with Halloween just around the corner, her costume construction has gotten under way.

 

 

J-Boy got a hat, and is looking quite dapper.  I made a layout for the local scrapbook store, Remember When, as one of my design team assignments.  Perhaps I will share the journaling at a later date.  I don't think I photographed the tag with the story, but basically it tells about how he can do insane calculations in his head without scratch paper.

 

I thought you might be interested in where I work!  This is the atrium of the building.  
Makes it pretty easy to show up every day, huh?  

 

 

Big Daddy ain't so big anymore!  Lol!  
We had to go shopping to get some new threads for his svelte physique.

 

 

Tut, tut!  It looked like rain!

 

 

But not so much down in Orange County where Big Daddy had a business meeting
and waited on a beach for  commute traffic to die down before heading home.

 

 

It cleared up for a fun Friday night at J-Girl's High School's football game.  
We had a fun time rooting for our team, drinking some hot chocolate, and satisfying
one half of #46on my list of Fifty Things To Do Before I'm 50:  
Go to a sporting event at each kid's High School.  

 

And that pretty much rounded out our week!  Wishing you all a good one!  

Comic Stylings of J-Boy

In this family, we value humor, and J-Boy does his part to contribute to the laughter.  On Friday he came downstairs to put his shoes on for school.

What a goof!  

Big Daddy:  "J, you know you can't wear that to school..."

J-Boy:  "Why not?"

BD:  "Because the teachers will say it's distracting the other kids."

J-Boy:  Blank stare

BD:  "Ok, you can wear it, but the first teacher to tell you to take it off, you do it, and you do it quietly, and immediately."

J-Boy:  "Can I at least say, 'Aww!  You're gonna make me shave here in front of everybody???'"

BD:  "Yeah...Ok...You can say that."

He gets off the bus in the afternoon, sportin' the 'stache.  

BD:  "How'd it go with the mustache today?"

J-Boy:  "Awesome!"

BD:  "How long did you get to leave it on?"

J-Boy:  "All day!!"

 

Well, there is nothing in the school district dress code referencing faux facial hair.  Thank goodness he wasn't trying to wear --*gasp*-- a hat with a team logo on it!

FDOS 2012 (First Day of School)

Boy, this summer flew by!  And here we are with the first couple of days of school already under our belt! The kids are starting 8th and 10th grades this year.  I can't believe it!   

What is the opposite of "seeing the light at the end of the tunnel"?  I know that parenting doesn't end when the kids graduate from high school, or even college, (and, let's be honest, beyond!), but childhood does come to an end and I am reluctant to let it go.  My kids are growing up, and it is beautiful, and wonderful, and amazing, and I CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT!  

So, I will savor every minute of their childhoods, and make sure that they value and cherish every minute of them, too.  Big Daddy has always said to them, "What's the most important thing, kids?  Have fun!"  I'll be honest--it would make me cringe.  Because the reality is that life isn't always fun.  There is work to be done.   I worried that a child's definition of fun would leave them disappointed, resentful or feeling cheated in life's more mundane moments.  Or what if they started breaking rules and thrill-seeking in order to heed Big Daddy's counsel?   But, I understood where he was coming from:  attitude is everything.  He was teaching them that they can be happy and have innate joy in whatever it is they are doing, a great and important lesson.  And it is a lesson I am proud to say J-Boy and J-Girl have embraced and live by.  They are truly happy kids.  Which is why I will miss them so much when they are grown and gone.

 

 

I {Heart} YP

I know it's "old school".  I know my kids, as bright as they are, might not even know how to use it.  I know that my friends look on with disbelief and, perhaps, horror.  But I prefer using the phone book over Google, or whatever today's trendy search engine is, when I need to look up a phone number.  I let my fingers do the walking.

 

 

It used to drive me crazy, back in the day, when Big Daddy would just dial 411 without a second thought and spend 25 cents to get a listing.   How often had I been burned by that method, and been connected to the wrong number?    And these days, yes, YOU, Mr. Annoying AutoFill McAutoCorrect, I DID mean to spell Haircut with a K!  I think pulling out the book is fast enough and more straight forward.

Yes, the good, old-fashioned Yellow Pages!  I love 'em!  Well, to be more accurate, it's the White Pages that I love. I found that out when our supposed replacement book showed up.  I have a decade-old title page with handwritten and useful, though infrequently used, numbers I like to have handy (like the actual number of our local post office, the non-emergency number to our sheriff's department and CHP, the good Chinese restaurant, the school district's transportation office, the appliance repair miracle worker).  Anyway, I tucked that into the new book and recycled the old. 

A few days later, after the waste collector had dutifully carted away my old faithful, I needed to look up a number and realized that the new book was yellow pages only.  AND for the entire county, not just my local area.  Ack!  That meant that I couldn't just go to the white pages alphabetical listing, I would have to go to the proper section and sub-heading and weed through ads and other hoopla and then have to get creative with what other sub-headings or categories might be hiding the information I was looking for.  The white pages has the name and the number, in bold.  That's all I need.  And sometimes the address to confirm proper location.  Which is in small, secondary type, as is appropriate. 

But today a gift was waiting on my front porch in an orange bag, cleverly disguising the yellow treasure inside.  My local YP!  With the WP included!  Hooray! 

There is a chance, albeit a small one, that my heart could someday answer the siren call of that new PYT, Siri.  I haven't met her yet, but I've heard rumors that she may be just the thing to woo my heart away from YP.  Don't worry, YP, you're my Pretty Yellow Thing.  As long as you keep showing up on my porch, I've got a spot for you in my heart, and on my shelf.

 

 

 

Epiphany

Today, January 6, is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, Epiphany, the day it is said that the Three Wise Men's journey culminated in the Revelation of the  Baby Jesus--God revealed in physical form.

 

 

I was chatting online the other day with an acquaintance from England about when people take down their Christmas decorations.  She said that she generally takes them down somewhere between Jan. 3-5 because it is considered bad luck to keep them up past Epiphany.  I had to laugh (and thank my lucky stars!) because I have always used Epiphany as an arbitrary date that the Christmas decorations can come down NO SOONER THAN.   Haha!

The word "epiphany," based on this divine manifestation, can also mean

"any moment of great or sudden revelation."  (Collins English Dictionary)

On this twelfth day of Christmas, 2012, I had an epiphany.  There were presents that I had squirrelled away that I totally forgot to put under the tree on December 24th.  Whoops! 

So I put together a little festive lunch with the Christmas Crackers I'd also forgotten to bring out when my mom and dad were here (and some Cheez-Its that J-Boy has now dubbed "Epiphany Crackers" to go with the Christmas Crackers) and gave the kids their bonus gifts.

 

 Happy Epiphany, Everyone!

 

Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!!

We had a lovely Christmas celebration joined by Nonnie and Pop-Pop this year!  It was fun being able to introduce them to and include them in some of the traditions we've developed over the years for our own little family, as well as partake in some of the time-honored ones they created for me when I was a child.

For the past few years we have been lucky enough to be invited to a delicious dinner at our good friends, The H.'s, Manicotti Madness Christmas Eve Supper.

     

They are such gracious hosts and such amazing chefs! 

 

On our way back home, stuffed and content, we drove through one of the most decorated streets in our community.  Almost every house is crazily lit up, with lights zig-zagging across the street connecting all the homes, ginormous candy canes flanking the entrance to the neighborhood, and the story of The Night Before Christmas painted on large signs to read as you slowly drive down the road.  A feast for the eyes, and a definite dose of Christmas Spirit.

 

 

We were all ready to head straight to the "nestled all snug in their beds" portion of the evening when we returned home, but one of Santa's elves had left a couple of packages under the tree while we were out. 

 

New jammies for J-Boy and J-Girl!

 

Christmas morning has taken on a much more mellow tone now that the kids are older and understand and appreciate the beauty and indulgence of sleeping in. Still, they were up ahead of us and quietly went through their stockings, and helped Edward with his.

 

We ate a leisurely breakfast, and then worked on a puzzle that J-Boy got in his stocking while we waited for Nonnie and Pop-pop to arrive back over at our place. 

 

After a round of kisses, hugs, and Christmas morning greetings, we introduced them to our new Sock Monkey that Big Daddy had scored at his office party a few days before.

 

I just love it, and it has become expected that if someone starts up the monkey, it is required that you stop whatever you are doing and come to dance, dance, dance, dance. 

 

 

Once the House Rule was explained, even Nonnie and Pop-pop were willing to play along!

 

 Many lovely gifts were given and received.  Some elicited more excitement and raw emotion than others, but all were good, appreciated, and met with the utmost gratitude.

 

Dishwasher rinse agent for Nonnie
(Yes, "Really."  And, yes, she was happy! 
She and Pop-pop are now SoCal residents
and must succumb to the harsh reality of hard water.) 

 

Coconut Soda for Pop-Pop--a delicacy and difficult to come by
unless you know where to look!

One bottle in his stocking as a tease...

 

...and a box with 8 more!  Next time I'll send the stockboy to the back with a cart
instead of just his bare hands with the instruction, "as many as you can carry."

 A new laptop for J-Girl, which J-Boy was just as excited about so
his sister wouldn't have to share with him anymore. 
In the Spirit ofof the Season, that kid...

 

A bit emotional...a few tears were shed.

 

 And a dream several years in the making finally came true for J-Boy!

 

Santa, so wise, brought a board game J-Boy had never heard of, but has been
proving to be one of his favorite gifts in the lot!

 

And he knew just what to get for his sister to make her smile.

 

Another neat thing that only Santa could know is that a doll can still make a
girl happy, even on the cusp of fifteen years of age.  How does he do it??

 

You can see that we were well looked after, truly blessed, and had a wonderful Christmas. 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope yours was lovely, too, and that the New Year brings you
nothing but the best in love, health, and happiness in 2012! 

Mutual Adoption

"I'm not a 'cat' person."  I've said it for years.  But there's been a cute one hanging around our neighborhood for several weeks now.  It is clean, friendly, but collarless.  Well, when we first noticed her she had a clear collar with a handwritten, hospital ID-ish number on it.  Then that disappeared.  We all (the neighbors) assumed the owner had removed it.  But still, nobody claimed her.

And yet, she seemed to claim everyone.  "Don't feed her!" I said, when Big Daddy mused over the idea.  "I think [our neighbor] Pearl or Li'l B have seen her eating their dogs' food."  And I've seen her sitting sentry at our other neighbor's garage door, like she belongs there.

 

One day I was unloading groceries from the car, and got the bejeezus scared out of me when I returned for the next set of bags.  As I leaned into the back of the car the cat BOLTED out of it! 

 

 

She came to visit us one sunny afternoon when we were hanging out in the backyard.  Big Daddy was working on his computer and I was crocheting.  She jumped up and snuggled at my feet on the chaise for a half an hour!  (Kinda weird that I let her, huh?  She was so very clean, and we really assumed she belonged to someone in the 'hood because she was so very tame and friendly.)  Then we started to see her hanging out back there on her own.

 

 

So we broke down and put a bowl of milk out for her. 

Which she then began to expect and clamour for.

 

 

It doesn't appear that she's going away any time soon.  She started growing on me.  I said to the kids, "Maybe we'd better name her," and they laughed, and we continued to call her "Cat".  I said to Big Daddy, "I kind of like having this outddor cat."  And he put a hand on my shoulder and said, "I would like to go on this journey with you."  Which cracked me up a) because he's such a dork, and b) because he's "not a cat person" either, especially allergy-wise.  So we bought a Cat a bag of food at Trader Joe's. 

 

And BD, without a peep, disappeared into the garage at some point and emerged with a house for her!  A house!  And she loves it!

 

 

She doesn't go in there all the time.  We're not sure if that's where she warms up at night.  We still kinda think she may spend her nights at her "real" family's house. 

 

We welcome Cat to hang out in our yard, kick back on our lawn furniture, and have a little snack (as long as it does not come out of our pond!) as long as she likes.

 

But she can't come in the house.  Sorry, Cat.  We already have a furry snuggler and my guess is you two wouldn't get along very well...

 

 

Nope.  We wouldn't do that to you, Edward!