snow what

The table misses grilled steaks on a warm night.


The front walk longs for sidewalk chalk graffiti.


The trailer would like to haul mulch.


The lawn wants to be trampled by neighborhood friends.


The forsythia dreams of happy, yellow blossoms.


I must say, it is hard to be happy with all this cold, snowy weather when even the inanimate objects are discontent.

plump

Here is a sad case of baby plastic surgery gone bad.

She asked for just a little more fullness in her upper lip and this is what she got:

What a shame, what a shame.

waves, water, weird. very weird.

Last night, I had a dream that I was sitting with my mom on the side of a mountain, watching people ski and sled down the mountain on the other side of the valley. We were discussing how the snow was still on the ground up on the mountain, but how back home it had all melted. Suddenly we looked over at the other mountain to see that in an instant all the snow had melted and a wave of water was washing down the mountain, through the valley and toward us. (I believe my brain was borrowing some special effects from Deep Impact at this point.) I raced to find Katie who was off playing by herself, grabbed her, and clung to a tree as the wave of water washed over my head. After the water stopped, I found a frightened, but unharmed, ten-year-younger version of my brother who had not been able to get to my dad during the melted snow mayhem, but had now found him and was shaking his head in disbelief. We were all a bit shocked, but relieved that no one was hurt or washed away. I then thought to myself, "This is the coolest thing I will ever blog about!"

I woke up moments later.

Do you realize how weird I am, people? In a dream where my life and the lives of many loved ones are in danger, a second after I realize we are all okay, my most joyful thought is that I will have something cool to blog about.

Sigh.

Am I that desperate for excitement? Are the dishes and laundry leaving me that wanting for a thrill? Do I need a life or death experience to keep you coming back to read about my days, or will my simple life be enough?

I hope so. Because it might not be thrilling, but my life leaves me tired enough at the end of the day without running away from rushing walls of water.

:)

MOMA (Museum of Messy Art)

Today I would like to present to you an abstract piece by the up and coming female artist known as Kate.




It is a subtle piece, titled "Soft & Dri". Using only deodorant and painted drywall, the artist conveys the comfort and calm that comes from dry armpits in a way that sets her apart from the other personal hygiene artists of her generation.


This unorthodox creation is displayed in my master bedroom, and has added just the character and flair it was missing.

please, Mommy, please!

The shopping carts made for mothers shopping with children that have a little car on the front with cramped space for 2 children to sit in and pretend to drive while mommy pushes are evil.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Do you agree or disagree?

So it's Saturday

I have really had nothing much to say this week, hence the few posts and simple subject matter. So here is a little this and that to round out my week of ho-hum blogging:

• It has been a long work week for my husband, but the Lord has answered prayers and accomplished what needed to be done at Adam's place of work.
  
  
• Tomorrow Adam does not have to work, and we begin a month of teaching Jr. Church for the four and five-year-olds. This means we will be Joey's teacher and be able to see just how rowdy he is when he is with his best friend of the same name. I have been told it makes it easy to rein them in when they get a little too rambunctious, since "Joeys!" is all that needs to be said.
  
  
• The favorite game of the week for Joey has been Hide and Seek the Dinosaurs. Joey and I take turns hiding and seeking the plastic dinosaurs he got from his grandmom for Christmas. Why does this game become boring to me so much more quickly than it does for him?



• Today Joey told me, "Mom, when you wear that shirt, it fills my heart with joy." Who knew a burnt orange, v-neck, long sleeve shirt had such powers.
  


• When Adam left for work today, Katie told him, "I yah you ah much!" Translation: I love you so much! She talks more and more every day. She had her first cup of hot cocoa this week, and quickly said, "Wan moh cocoa!" (want more cocoa) as soon as the first cup was finished. Putting together three words so masterfully earned her a second cup.
  
  
• I turned the heat up to 66 degrees today, 67 yesterday, and I don't care who knows it!
  
  
• I have had the scrapbook urge the past few days, but I cannot scrapbook because all my pictures are just billions of pixels filling up my hard drive. Since Katie's second birthday is in a month and I haven't even begun her first year album, I would say it is time to get some photos printed.

• Katie brought me the lion costume today saying, "ooo, ooo, ah, ah?" meaning, "Can you put this monkey costume on?" She is supposed to be a lion. She thinks she is a monkey. I think she is beautiful.
  

(scabby lip and all)

Happy Saturday, everybody.

When you don't know how to peel a banana...

...you scoop it with a spoon.

How clean am I?

Under my stove today I found:

2 matchbox cars
an Olive Garden coupon expired in August
a Sensodyne coupon
1 1/2 crayons
2 wooden beads
a bouncy ball
silver Christmas ornament
my husband's house key (have been wondering where that was)
a child's fork
1 dirty napkin
some caramel corn
a toy traffic pylon
dust, crumbs, and coffee grounds

The sad thing is, I sent out a similarly long and embarrassing list to some girlfriends for an "under the oven challenge" just four months ago.

So I suppose the challenge is on again -

No No Nanette presents the official

2009 Under the Oven Challenge

Who is brave enough to post what is lurking under your oven?
Go exploring under your oven and post the list on your blog (and link back here if you feel like sharing some linky love), or spill the beans in a comment below.

Maybe we will even vote on a winner -- we'll see how many accept the challenge.

Have some dirty fun!

tagged

With nothing of any interest to say today, I was pleased to see Anne has tagged me for this:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag four people to do the same.
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

Here it is --

Adam took this picture with my new phone. He was fooling around with all the settings, and told Joey to open his mouth while he took one in the "negative" mode. He really is a beautiful boy.

So now I have to tag 4 others. Hmm...

I am so breaking the rules! All my bloggy buds have basically been tagged already by others, so I am breaking the tagging cycle and just posting this completely pointless picture. You can report my bad behavior to Anne if you like. :)

Out with the old

In addition to the world's greatest banana hanger, Joey also picked out a new purse for me. This is what was living in my old purse:

And I didn't use to be a purse girl. What happened to me?

Accomplishment

Some may post about homeschooling success, decorating splendor, or a tender baby moment as a highlight of the day's accomplishments. Not me. Not today anyway.

Today's great feat was neatly clipping and placing in a baggie all the Box Tops I have been throwing in the back of one of my drawers. I knew some of them were going to expire next year, and I didn't want all my Box Top tearing to go to waste, so today was the day I got them ready to be placed in the Box Top box at church.

Now, with that amazing inspiration of what one woman can accomplish with just a pair of scissors and a baggie... go out there and do something great!

Christmas wonder

Last year for Christmas, Katie received this push toy from my sister-in-law. It came with nine blocks for sorting.

This picture was taken today.

Can you spot the Christmas miracle?

Did you count the blocks? All nine have survived!

That, to me anyway, is a miracle. ;)

The eggs are speaking

I opened my eggs to find this:

I showed Adam and he said, "It's like even the eggs

are judging me."

:)

T minus 5 days, 19 hours and counting

The turkey has landed. I repeat, the turkey has landed.

life of endless bliss

It is one of those days. I am feeling less than enchanted. It's hard to find my happy, little working song. I wish my prince was home, instead of off slaying the trolls from the land of Paythebills.

But...

Even though I wasn't sent yellow flowers on this gray-sky day, I do have a love note in hand. I was attacked with the truest of true love's hugs and kisses by my two little people. I really will live happily ever after, forever, someday. And as the queen of this castle, I have the option to put a DVD on in the middle of the day:)

Boy Genius?

We were driving home from Giant today when Joey shouted from the backseat, his finger pointing out the window, "Look, Mom, look! A monkey!...Uh, no, ...a cat!"

The boy has some serious animal recognition skills.

Meet the enemy

I hardly ever buy chips. The reason being if I buy chips, I eat them. But I made bean soup that was short of extraordinary, and some crushed corn chips were just what it needed.

Do you see how few chips are left in the bag? That is after only two bowls of soup; two bowls of soup and me standing at the counter, eating chip after chip dipped into sour cream while I wait for my soup to reheat. It's terrible, I know.

The fight is on bag of corn chips! I'm on to your salty, crunchy tricks. You can't beat me!

(aren't you glad I posted a photo today, instead of yesterday?
I decided posting photos of dead birds wasn't the best way to lure in new readers)