Life is a joke, laugh at it!

I wonder...

2009-12-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

if Blogger has hurt feelings that Facebook has made it obsolete? I imagine that I am not the only one who hasn't posted on her blog in months. And truly, when I went to type in a clever title here as I am so apt to do, I typed in the words automatically assuming that everyone would know the words "Brandy Cumby is" are meant to precede whatever it was I was to insert next. As the theme song to Cheers testifies, I want to go where everybody knows my name. And they're always glad I came. Unfortch, no one on the planet Blogger knows me or is waiting for me, but on Facebook everyone is waiting to hear about what I had for breakfast or what my witty thought for the day is. Or so I would like to believe.

All this to say, hello Bloggers, if you are still out there. Just checking in. Enjoy a picture from last week...it is old news in the FB world...

Officially in my 30s...

2009-09-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

And how do you celebrate your 30th? By pretending you're a kid and heading to Disneyworld!! We went up the day before my birthday and were there a total of 5 nights. Five days at the parks was both a blast and exhausting. I loved seeing Dylan see all this stuff for the first time and Jason was totally a sport, even though it was a million degrees. My favorite times were at Magic Kingdom, where there were hardly any waits and I could just walk on to all the rides on a whim and ride them over and over. Can't beat that!

Yup, I'm now in my thirties. I don't know what to think about this new milestone, even though I've spent a good portion in one way or another obsessed by it for a good portion of my 29th year. I did not want to be that person who obsesses, but nevertheless I was. It's not that I'm just a drama queen, it's just that my own mortality has come into focus and all the violence and sadness around me and in the world suddenly at once felt like it all could, and would, happen to me at some point. I've always been under the belief that bad things happen to other people, and I realize death and illness happen to everyone, and suddenly the tick tocck timer was running out. I'm working on not obsessing on that, but the fact of the matter is that one day that pain in my arm will be my heart stopping or that car running the red light might run into me and one day I will be walking towards the proverbial light. So what to do in the meantime?

I assume more Disney once we've recovered from this, some more travels, more milestones and some good times in between. Definitely need to start working towards some new goals so I can grow as a person and bask in the glory of being me =)

Anything to avoid work...

2009-07-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, I should be working right now. However, I am very busy trying to think of anything in the world other than that to do. I've uploaded pics, trolled Facebook, watched the rain and laid with Dylan to smell his Skittle breath and watch WordGirl. Now I'm here!!

I've been out and about lately, had to hit up Annapolis for a work meeting and then Anne and I took a train from Baltimore to NYC. I want to ride a train again, there is no better way to travel. I mean, it's fast, easy and there are power outlets at each seat. Heaven to a girl who never puts down her laptop! I also managed to pick up Anne's cold, which weeks later is still holding on. Fantastic. Highlights of Annapolis:

Anne and I at an Irish pub:

Crab Omelette (that's heaven!)

And a boat ride in the Bay

NYC was fun, though short and made terribly short by how sick I was on Saturday. Basically I had to hide out at the movie theatre and sleep because I was throwing up everything I'd had all week and with check-out at noon and our flight leaving at 8...well, you get it. So I missed Central Park, but got to play downtown, see 9 to 5 with Allison Janney on Broadway and catch a comedy show at like midnight on the upper west side.

Anne and I in Times Square (yes, the mullet is slowly growing)

As close as we got to the Statue of Liberty on 4th of July weekend

Headed to the show

And the after-show at the comedy club

And guess what, Mom?! I was on the subway at 3 am and totally was not raped or killed. Whoo hoo!! Unfortunately, being sick on Saturday meant Anne and I were not able to fulfill our dream of laying as though dead in Central Park and taking a picture, as if Agent Stabler and the SVU crew were on their way to pick us up. A real tragedy there.

Had a quick lunch with Andi, Chad, Mom and Jim on Sunday

And then Tues, Dylan and I headed to Galveston for our annual beach trip with Heather and hers and Rita and hers. Turns out Dylan despises the beach, as he has deemed it "dirty." He's right, so I didn't fight it. I was happy to work in the condo and he played video games and then we spent some time in the pool too. I'm very excited about the addition of the game Blokus to my game vocab and
can thank Heather for that one. Good thing I took beach pics as quickly as I did or it would be as if he were never there. At least he got a Nintendo DS out of it, since he fell in love with it as everyone else already has one.

Galveston is still recovering from Ike last September, you see fields and wonder if it was always a field or it is just one now. Many things under construction, lots of new piers and stairs to the beach. I have to believe this will be a calm hurricane season because none of us have fully recovered from Ike. At least I've learned to put plants under the places where my sun room still leaks from the tree that fell on it. Thanks to Jason for that stroke of genius! Later, tators...

I know, I know...

2009-07-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

If I don't just sit down and post something, I think I never will. Basically, I fell off the end of the world, but I am back. And before I forget, I was trying to edit the names on the links on the side and some actually got deleted. It's not worth cutting yourself over, I promise. Just let me know and I'll add you back, I'm not sure what all I screwed up on there and who I am missing. Sorry 'bout that.

Stuff...

The kiddo graduated his first year of Preschool; there was a wonderful little graduation ceremony where Dylan refused to sing along and instead stared at the ceiling out of sheer boredom. He's a cutie, this one:

Then came Dylan's fabulous 4th birthday party. The invites were seriously the cutest, though I did rip them off from some eBay people. The party went well but there were WAY too many people in this house. The highlight was the mostly finished garage playroom where we set up a projector and actually got to rock out to Guitar Hero. That really served as the afterparty, but for the peeps who didn't want to walk away from free beer and Capri Sun, it was pretty fun.

It was great to have everyone over, to show off our pretty much done house and stunning yard and all that but SHEESH too many people. Always a bummer because you never get to spend anytime with anyone, you just run around like a chicken with its head off.

Dylan and I got a Wii Fit for Jason for Father's Day. I was going to post the video of Dylan doing yoga and then giving himself a thumbs up when the instructor tells him "good job," but Flickr and Blogger aren't wanting to cooperate. Sigh. Let me try this:

Hey, I think that worked. Other than that, just been working hard and looking forward to celebrating my 30th with Dylan, Jason and Disney! About to update my scrap stuff too, if anyone is still interested in anything like that. You can find it here

Happy Mother Loving Day!!

2009-05-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dylan's school did an adorable little song and dance for Mother's Day on Friday... kids did a song of "I'm a little teacup" and "You are my sunshine." Let's just say that my Guitar-Loving punk of a kid was dancing to the beat of his own drum. The other kids were so stoic and standing up straight while my kid was flailing arms and booty dances. Classic Rockstar Dylan. Afterwards, the kiddos served the parents drinks and snacks and we got these cuties:

And because you know I could never resist, some Mother Loving from Justin and Andy... Happy Mother's Day, everyone!!

Heard...

2009-04-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

...in my living room tonight:

The three of us are in the living room and we're playing Guitar Hero, per Dylan's pre-bedtime ritual. Basically he makes us play guitar and he sings and dances the songs he chooses for us before we read books.

Dylan: "Mama, don't get booed off"
Mama: "I'm trying"
Dylan: "You're trying to get booed off."

Insert laughter here =)

Not as funny as this:

Spring Break, fin

2009-03-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

**but first of all, eek! Justin Timberlake as comic character Cathy's husband on SNL last week was so cute, but then his skank nasty fish lipped girlfriend came on too. Boo!! Still worth it, love me some Timberlake!!**

It's almost over. My car hasn't left its spot in days and Jason actually confronted me on it. Whatev.

I managed to deal with having my kid home all week, rain and muddy weather for the first half, and being sick several of the days and still ending up super productive in many ways. I got more than my fair share of reports in for work. I managed to finally get someone in to come grind all our stumps (you can actually run in my backyard without tripping now unless you're just clumsy). I planted a ton of junk and got my order of Galveston Euculyptus in (click on it, they are cool). These boogers grow 6 to 10 feet per year so soon I don't have to acknowledge anyone is around my house. I want to be an island...or at least a house that doesn't border the least nice part of the Mexican border. I mean, I am almost sure that someone escaped from there through our back yard last night. There were flashing lights (will the trees block those? we'll see...) and I swear I hear noises, but my current insomnia has me imagining everything. The lights really were there, along with loud yelling in espanol. It's like a telenovela back there, all night long. Anyways, trying to pull the proverbial curtains on that whole thing.

Nothing else much going on. We watched "Zach and Miri Make a Porno" last night Sidenote - if I didn't put the quotes on that it would look like Jason and I witnessed our acquaintances do this. Which would have been fun as well, I think being a fly on the wall at a porn set could make for delightfully hilarious conversation. Others may disagree. But what we can all agree on is that Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are both adorable. Loving them both. And being a fly on the wall in any room that guy is talking would also be hilarious.

Finally, if anyone (like Heather) cares, I finally updated my scrap blog. There's a link on the side over there ========================>
Did you know I even put all my stuff there? Well, it's most of it and oddly it goes back to 2006, if you can believe that. Anyways, still not buying stuff but I can occasionally be convinced to make a card with some stash. At some point it started to feel like the corniest, most superficial hobby in the world. That said, I like making people stuff and I need to do something with all the pics. And it turns out poetry wasn't any less corny. You'd be shocked at how similar the worlds are, in fact. I don't know what awesome, cool thing it is I think I should be doing with my time. Maybe it's part of the thrisis, who knows. I'll just keep buying my Stampin Up stuff and hoping the urge comes...

Congrats! You have earned a post!

2009-03-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

There seems like very little to talk about, but Heather said to and so I shall.

First of all, I learned the term for what I'm going through/emerging from while I was watching "ER" yesterday while scrapping. It's called a thrisis, or like the third of life crisis I have alluded to in the past. I am also going to mass diagnose and say that a lot of my friends and their loved ones are emerging from thrises (?) and I'm glad we all survived. It's not my place to share other people's business and I certainly don't feel like highlighting all my lunacy, but basically many people I've known have spent, ah, let's say September through February in a funk. I'm not pulling out the nose ring today, but I may grow my hair back some and I am trying to be a little less self destructive. May or may not get the back's worth of tattoos I have sketched out. Less time focused on the things I perceive are missing in my life (which are mostly BS and come from watching too much TV instead of reading books) and more time being hella (yeah, I'm bringing it back) grateful that my life is good as it is. And believe it or not, my brief foray into meds and my decision to stop them has been incredibly productive as to bringing me back to a little place I like to call Earth. Another post will have to be dedicated to my Lexapro withdrawal, I had no idea that stopping would imitate heroin withdrawals, but my brother (the actual street drug addict) has verified that it is. The stuff is toxic, stay away.

Speaking of ER, I went to one last week. I had a migraine and decided to shower. I slipped a la a cartoon character slipping on a banana peel. Hit two places on my head and my elbow and wouldn't have thought much of it had my elbow not enlarged immediately to the size of a baseball. It was Go Texan Day (non-Texans, it means the rodeo's coming so dress your kids like little cowboys and cowgirls, lame) and I was bummed because instead of watching the stick horse parade, I was going to the ER. Boo. Here's Dylan and his #1 Cowgirl, Angelina before we left:

So we settled on Memorial Hermann over at Memorial City which was terribly nice, believe it or not. Got an x-ray and catscan, but really the bonuses were the IV meds including morphine for my arm (which I stopped feeling 2 minutes after I got it) and the anti-inflammatories. Between the meds, my migraine was taken care of and I left with only a golfball sized lump on my elbow. I felt ridiculous for going to the ER since I had never been in my life, but the way my elbow hurt all week and looked gross, it was the right thing to do. Still, I felt like a drama queen until I finally got some gnarly bruises to show for it, which ended up stretching all the way around my arm. Never could get a photo that accurately represented the huge nastiness it was though, sad. So now you will all think I was faking it too.

Other than that, not much going on. Guitar Hero continues to run Jason and Dylan's life to the point where they broke the drums twice and we had to bring the whole thing into Target for a new set. Go Target for kindly exchanging it with no questions. I am a big believer in, if this isn't quality merchandise and it breaks and I spent a lot I want a new one, but not all the merchants agree and I didn't expect Target to be one that did. But they were, as was Fossil who replaced my brand new sunglasses that spontaneously fell apart in my bag after I wore them twice. I already hated myself for spending that much on stupid sunglasses, so that wasn't going to work. Brought it in and they gave me new ones. Whoo hoo.

Where the post gets uninteresting for most... me talking current events. The economy has me bummed a lot because I see my loved ones suffering for it (parents and brother unemployed, others dropping like flies). It's really frustrating because I feel this had to happen. They talk about housing bubbles and tech bubbles, but Americans have lived in one big bubble, period. I feel like this is an opportunity to ground ourselves and figure out where we really stand instead of looking for the next big bubble to jump on. I always have hated people who think they can get something for nothing, via gambling or stocks, and I expect my fair share and not much else. I know I won't strike it rich, no lotto for me. If I have extra money, I expect extra bills will materialize and they do. So, as Notorious BIG said, mo' money, mo' problems. I also hate when people feel they are entitled to "the good life" and I resent those people plus all the people who thought they could achieve "growth" in their respective industries by supplying those people with that life via big screen TVs and new houses and were shocked when they couldn't pay. People need to determine their means and live within them. Period. Industries need to accept honest growth instead of inflated forced numbers. The American economy going forward isn't going to work if both don't happen. Just my opinion, self righteous as ever.

Me? I heard the FDIC had to ask for a loan. They are the guys who, ahem, insure our bank deposits. I've got as much in savings as I intend to have for right now. I am investing my money in the things around me - my home, my car, etc. It's good for the economy that the money is still being spent and frankly if it is lost this way, I won't feel so bad as I will if the banks go bust. So I've dumped tons into paying off the Prius a year early and I will be saving the rest for the biggest down payment I can on the one we need to buy in the fall to replace mine since it is getting old. And no GM for me, I'd like someone to be around to enforce the warranty in a couple years. Sticking with Toyota and hopefully another hybrid. No more gas dependence on foreign oil and I'd be happy to spend more money on a vehicle that can make that happen. Whatever I spend now won't be as much as we got taken for on the Prius, ouch! But that's a good investment, in energy and conservation and we don't mind being the ones to take the step and hopefully start a trend. Still working on house renovations. I figure if no one gets jobs, we can have everyone live here, right? So we'll continue the renovations on the back buildings which could work out to be someone's home at some point. Armageddon ready, that's all I'm saying =)

Three things

2009-02-16T18:16:00.000-08:00

In order of importance...

1. Happy Birthday, Andi.
I'm glad you didn't answer your cell phone because the message we left was priceless (all of us singing, with Dylan ending with "I love you, Andi"). Also, minutes are a precious commodity these days and it wasn't quite 9:00. But for you, these two videos. The first is Dylan singing Happy Birthday again for you:

The second is him singing "Living on a Prayer" and playing the drums as homage to you and your probably spending your birthday check from your dad on Wii Guitar Hero World Tour. Remember that this boy is a tough competitor and will kick your booty.

2. Hey people, stop telling me how to take a photo like yours until you stop photoshopping beyond recognition.
Just a thought I had while flipping through Memory Makers magazine (how would I make memories without these people telling me how to?!) and being pleased that the economy will probably make bring these magazines and that hobby to its knees. No real offense to the actual photographer (I guess), but on p.52 there's an article about camera tricks complete with metadata (Nikon D70, Focal Length:70 mm, Exposure:who cares when you have Elements Curves, blah blah). Tricks include angles (get on your knees, beyotch), lighting, and aiming above the sun or something silly. Get frickin real. It is a very nice shot, no doubt, but to believe for one second that setting your camera, no matter how fancy, to those four settings will unlock all the glory of photography is effen stupid. Photoshop, photoshop, photoshop. Overexpose, mess with the color curves, add a catchlight or whatever. Also, on p.26 there is a borderline sinister shot of a little girl where Mommy allegedly only turned off her flash. I guess without the flash, the Children of the Corn spirit is unleased. If I am really to believe that children's eyes glow like that if you just turn off the flash, I will have to start sleeping with one eye open because the kids are not, in fact, alright. They are filled with the spirit of the Devil and it is most visible in flashless photography.

This issue was really my only complaint about the Karen Russell photography class (and I really do think she uses photo editing fairly sparingly, so this only partially applies to her). You see, I sat in the class for 8-10 hours thinking if I took it all in, I could make pics like her. Well, I knew I'd need the fancier lenses too. But then in the last possible second she mentioned cleaning the final product up in photoshop (which makes me discount half the original process of taking quality prints if you don't show it to me pre-Photoshop) and I got sad a little. So in conclusion, if you think you can come up with perfection on your own, I will quote my friend T.I. (and we are good friends, and hopefully one day maybe a baby daddy), in his song "Ready for Whatever" -- "Shorty, I got some mother (**loving**) oceanfront property in Idaho for sale, homie/If you believe that, I got a bridge in Brooklyn I wanna sell you, partner." Enough said.

3. Eff you, FEMA
This one shot ahead of even Continental in being on top of my shizz list. We bought this house in June and got the voluntary flood policy since we are not in a flood zone, but live in Houston. In Oct, FEMA sent us a bill for $700 saying there was a loss history and we owed that immediately and we could not drop the policy. Since there was no disclosure at time of sale, we assumed we'd be heading to litigation and ordered a copy of the property loss history and it had a total of $10,868.99 paid out in 10/17/1994 and $79,402.10 paid out in 06/09/2001. We were all set to start talking with lawyers and then we got a letter from NFIP/FEMA on 11/4/2008 that stated that "preliminary research indicates losses reported for another similar location may have been linked to your location in error. Additional evaluation will be required." and goes on to say that they will be contacting participating entities, blah blah blah.

They've never done a thing. I call every two weeks, they say they are doing stuff and I wait another two weeks and never get a thing and do it all over again. FEMA sucks. Today I simply wouldn't let them off the phone and got them to admit that the Property Loss History is clear, but that they can't guarantee that they can send me a clear copy because you only get a property loss history once a year and I've gotten mine. (You know - the wrong one. Insert shaking of head here). I got some supervisor to say that she would send in a request for it, but that they couldn't make any guarantees that I would get it. I told her I'd give her a week and then I would simply call every single day until I got it. And I will. I am angry enough with NFIP/ FEMA to do exactly that.

In conclusion, same old routine over here. Working, playing and getting pissed at the little things. I'll let you in on one more thing. My poetry class has lost whatever glow it had. I've decided poetry is in fact super douchey and it makes me sad that I have to bring one in so it can be picked apart for cliches and tested for proper levels of cleverness. I am thinking I will write one titled "Cliche" just to get it out on the table to begin with. It's too bad though, I've enjoyed some of the people and some of the poems either brought in my the teacher guy or the students. But geez, the pretentiousness of it all really sucks. I think I'd be better suited to write a monologue for "Chelsea Lately," if only I knew more Jewish lingo. When I get to LA, it's me, Chelsea and Sarah Silverman for Girls' night...

Wait, one other thing. Brandy's Book Club. If you are slightly depressed at your current state of married life, do not read "Revolutionary Road." If you ever intend to marry, do not read "Revolutionary Road." Basically, I read that one and found it a million times more depressing that even "Beautiful Boy" by David Sheff which was a father's account of his meth addicited son. Since we, uh, roll like that some in my family I thought it would be a good read and it was actually beyond amazing. Even with my extensive background in 12-step cults and Al-Anon and tough lovin, it turned all I thought I knew on my head and let me take what I knew and multiply it by a million. And "RR" was good, don't get me wrong. Sometimes things are too good and then you feel like slitting your wrist.

It's been awhile...

2009-02-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know. I have myself spread a little thin these days and it is a sad, sad thing.

First of all, that arty thing on my fireplace was a sale item at Pier One. Who knew? Our minds have moved past the house and into the yard. We've been watching shows like "Yard Crashers" and some other similar show where the yards all are disastrous like ours and then magic happens. I am paying a lot of attention to crushed gravel, limestone patios and tall trees so that I can cover our lack of grass and block out the barrio. As soon as we do taxes, we'll go ahead and set a new budget for Phase 2 projects and get moving. Also, heavy trash for real trash is this month so we are going to gut our converted garage and starting on that renovation. Add to that the outside building need for some new wood and paint and we will be busy. I have the end date of Dylan's birthday for the yard and outside of building to be completed because that's where I want his party.

Stuff that makes me mad: Ticketmaster. I hate them. Hate. Flight of the Conchords tickets went on sale here in Houston this morning at 10 am. 10:02 am and none were available. Go eff yourself, Ticketmaster. The more I dig, I keep seeing all this presale stuff and basically I never had a chance. I mean, you don't try to checkout much earlier than 10:02 am. Hate.

Stuff that is mildly amusing: Dylan is in love with drumming on Guitar Hero World Tour. He talks about it constantly and when he hear "Livin on a Prayer" on the radio, he realized that he could be surronded by its wonderfulness constantly. Didn't take him long to get better than me, all I hear is "Red, Yellow, Red, Yellow!!"

Off to Chicago tomorrow through Thursday...one day I'll settle down and get caught up on things. Until then...

Countdown to no Bush...

2009-01-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

is on the horizon. Woot woot!! In case you live under a rock and have been waiting on an engraved invitation to come out, here are the deets on Obama taking over:

It will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, January 20, 2009 beginning at 11:30 a.m. EST and 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time.

The Oath of Office is at noon, immediately followed by the Inaugural Address.

The Vice President is sworn in ten minutes earlier.

Be there, or be square.

Believe it or not, I went to a Catholic mass this past weekend (gasp, I know!) I was in Louisiana for the weekend to see my family and my aunt and her soon-to-be husband are the main singing peeps of the church (and they are good). I thought I'd make my Paw Paw the happiest Paw Paw on earth and volunteered to join them all for a 9 am mass.

First of all, and I know this will be shocking too, but I love me a Catholic mass. I dig the smell when you come in (sidenote, the University of Houston library always had that smell too). I like the rituals because it's seriously been like 10 years since I went to real mass but you always know the deal. You know the words, they never change. Hard pews, kneeling, and ab-tastic Jesus on the cross.

But the reason I bring it up is because the churches have been getting bad press about being all anti-Obama post election and withholding communion and whatever and I just wanted to shout out for this place because at this one they actually prayed for him as he started as President this week. Aw, how sweet. I could almost drop their name and say they rocked it, but the creepy anti-abortion cemetary in the front of the church didn't rock my block. All I could think is that I hope they take that down before my aunt's wedding in the spring, but I think it's a permanent deal of hundreds of tiny, white crosses of creepiness.

Did I mention I love our house? I have no idea what to do to decorate a fireplace, but I worked at it and came up with this much. And you can't tell in the pic, but that big arty thing looks quite nice with the slate in the kitchen. I took pics of the house finished for my family to see, and of course we couldn't access them at the house. Boo. I even cleaned the house to take the pics. Truly devestating.

And finally because they are taking forever to load, here are a couple random shots from Max's little birthday party. I was photo fatigued from Christmas so I didn't go overboard, but I have a couple cute ones...

and BTW, don't you know I just booked another Continental flight...ah, pass the lube...

The holiday season is over, life can continue

2009-01-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness for that.

First, a couple random tidbits. I am trying to program Desperate Housewives on the TiVo and it came up with Desperate Blackwives 2 and 4 (that's clever), Desperate Housetramps: Real girls of OC (sounds better than the real one) and Desperate MILF's. Somewhere in there was what I wanted.

Also, I saw Pimp and Hooker fighting MADLY the other day. Really, Hooker was just screaming at him and he was staring straight ahead, but nonetheless it was a furiously angry scene. I mean, she was pissed, her face was quite animated and he must have really screwed up. They really are the best part of living in the hood, and I mean that seriously. Their presence in this neighborhood cheers me up everyday, though I prefer him dancing and her collecting money than fighting. They deserve to be happy.

And this commercial that is so hilarious...I am a big reader of small print and this one is wonderful. It says "Cartoons lose weight easily. Real people require regular exercise and blah blah blah." That pretty much cracked me up

Other than all that, just the holidays and ensuing bleh that goes with that. I don't even feel like rehashing that, so I will leave you with these funny pics

What do you think Spiderman is so pleased by?

And I found this in Heather's photostream, I suspect my husband and Jeff had something to do with it...

Random observations during the holidays...

2008-12-18T18:04:00.000-08:00

While I may not be able to stand flipping on the TV and seeing anymore Christmas stuff, here's something Jason just flipped on that I NEVER get sick of. NEVER:

Seriously, I think I just watched this two times in a row in Seattle too. It never gets old. Never, never. Paper cuts between toes, Steve-O snorting wasabi and puking, eating yellow snowcones...oh I could go forever. Just saw Bam brand his bum with an, ummmm, peenie shape. Jason, Dylan and I are sitting here and cracking up. Yes, I'm the worst mom ever, but Dylan's cracking up and why would I take away a little boy's joy and cheer? Don't worry, he left for his playroom again after yelling "Be careful!!" at the guys on TV. I love it when they dress up like old people and do silly things. Bahaha. It's Jackass (all of them) and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut that I could watch on a loop and never get sick of.

I'm sooo over the holidays. It's too bad because it's the first year Dylan has gotten it, but I've been out of town too much this month and seriously, I'm not even sending Christmas cards. I'm waving my red and green surrender flag. But I got oodles of new ornaments (we always get one when we go to a new place and I sure traveled!) and did a paper chain around the tree a la Pottery Barn kids with all the leftover holiday paper of years past. So I did channel some spirit into the right things. Here's a taste of it, it's really hard to get the good pics and I've had photo fatigue and simply not wanting to try:

and you must know this is my very favorite ornament, can't remember when I had a little bitty 3 pounder with hands this little. Who knew he'd already be 2/3 my height by now and people would laugh at me when I carry him now:

And in non-holiday news, check out what we inherited from a client's of Paul's - it's a five year old Rainbow swing set! The boys got it up, replaced some wood and now all we need is a good staining for it to look as good as new. Dylan was obviously SUPER excited about it.

Other than that, still trying to figure out the balance between work and non-work, but I will get there. It's almost more pressure to work from home because you feel like you really need to prove you're working hard and putting in the hours, but there's no one to see it. Not to mention I still have SO much to learn and it's always tough for me to not already be the pro. But it's an awesome deal and I am still ever so grateful for the opportunity. It's a gonna pay for the Phase 2 renovations - and just in time! The people who had the fire who we let store all their stuff in our garage got a house, so they are moving their stuff out and everything is just perfect timing. So guest house and frat house, on the way in 2009! Now if I can just get through the holidays...

Who wants an update?!

2008-12-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

You all do!! Yay, here you go!

I tell you what. Life is good. I could complain right now. I swear Dylan changed so much in the week I was gone to Maryland. I haven't seen my friends in forever, I can hardly wait to be through the holidays so life can settle back into the routines of Pump it Up with Shana and the kids and Tuesdays with Heather and Meggo. But that time will come soon and in the meantime I've been having some good times. I've been a traveling fool, first with Jason's job, then Thanksgiving, then my work traveling. I've seen a grand total of six states in the last month, from Washington State to Washington DC.

First of all, yes, I got a job. I won't bore you with the details (and CG, if you are googling again here's your shoutout) but it is a fab opportunity and the time I spent in Maryland has me even more excited. I'm in Chicago now for my second bit of training, right now it is 18 degrees and Weather.com says it feels like 10. I can vouch for that. It is snowing right now, which is amazing to me since I haven't seen snow like that in my life minus the year I lived in Plano. I also felt my snot freeze earlier. Seriously. But I mastered the El Train (why, I don't know. It smells like hobos, but I thought it a better option than a shuttle at rush hour when I return Tuesday nights). I was pretty impressed with myself over that feat, sorta feeling like I'm invincible and can take on anything. I won't be doing much sightseeing, esp since me, Heather, Bre and Lisa saw nearly everything when we came here and met up with the Boom Boom girls, but I am within sight of Millenium Park and will have to pass it on the way to work and I will be stopping in there. For now, I am sitting in a badass room in the Hard Rock Hotel (really awesome hotel, btw!) and eating junkfood and watching some Netflix movies I've had forever. Awesomely enough, this room has a DVD player with stereo surround so I am not even bothering to watch it on a laptop. Fun!

But let me go back to last week. Last week I reported for duty in Maryland, flying into Baltimore and I realized I might as well take the rest of my travel day and go to Washington DC. Holy Moly. I don't think I've been as emotionally overwhelmed or humbled like that by a place in a long time. Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial and then walking along the reflecting pool to the WW II Memorial... it was supremely humbling and frankly I don't get that humbled ever. But especially after this last election and the hope I have for this country I know needs to make positive changes and will... yeah, I got a little misty. And here are some awesome pics:

So in conclusion, I'm busy as heck and ever so grateful for everyday. I feel like I've seen so much in the last month and it's a blast. And yes, I can't wait for it to settle down. For now though, I just want to get home and get ready for Christmas. Decorate our tree, buy some gifts, and enjoy watching Dylan love every second of the season. He gets it this year, finally, and it is so fun to watch his excitement. The next couple of weeks will be magic =) Til next time...

Yay, 200 posts!!!

2008-11-29T19:40:00.001-08:00

Not that I've said anything all that important or impressive in that time, but yay 200. Seems momentous.

I'll get this out of the way right now. After my diatribe regarding Continental in my last post, do you want to take a wild guess who I'm flying out to Annapolis on Monday?! Continental. Yup. Luckily, I have three free drink tickets we earned by having a two hour delay on the way to Seattle, so I will make sure to use those! But I'm excited about the trip -- as of Monday I'll be an employed member of society again and I think that's really cool. Not to mention the renovations on the garage will now be the renovations on my home office, therefore tax deductible. Paul brought over a ten foot long slab of counter that I plan to use for a long counter atop lots of cabinets. Eeks, can't wait to get working in there! In more ways than one, lol.

Thanksgiving was good, traveled over to Baton Rouge to see the crew. The kids are getting so cute and Max and Anna were particularly adorable. It's also exciting to be thinking about my little Aunt Margaret's wedding. She was born when I was like six or seven (and she has another younger sister and they make up my "pocket aunts"). It means we're all pretty much officially grown up too. The kids are all in their 30's with kids of their own and the babies are in their 20's and getting married and graduating college. Crazy. Here are some of my fave shots from the week:

Max (almost cute enough to make me breed, but not quite):

Margaret and her awesome fiancee, Simon (both are CatchPhrase champs, fyi):

Anna Banana:

What's that face?

Mary entertaining Max:

And a bad pic of my bad ass Aunt Diane who is looking SO FAB these days, and I want to call and tell her every day!

I always love going out to Paw Paw and Ms. Gussie's -- the food and the company are great. Everyone's a laugh riot even when TMI is taking over (and TMI is always the topic of conversation!) Played lots of games even though there were some super whiners over Apples and Apples. It was a bummer to miss out on seeing Andrea and Chad, but I do love a trip to Louisiana. I was easily convinced that I needed to come back in Jan, for Mardi Gras and for various other dates.

Hope you had a great turkey day. I meant to run today and get back on some program since I am expanding as the days pass, but it was a major relax day. Knowing I got home home at ten last night and I have to pack again tomorrow kinda sucks =( The kind of problem I'm happy to have though...grateful for the opportunity...

Dear Continental...

2008-11-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

Hi. It's me, Brandy. You know me, I usually fly with you. Not a ton, but loyally. Til now. You know, you used to really have me convinced you were all about customer service. That you were the best out there.

Eff you, Continental. Eff you and your whole fleet. Let's talk about the things that have angered me this week, a week when gas prices are lower than they've been in literally years before you even march that excuse out for the insane number of fees you've added on to my travel experience. First of all, I noticed you no longer have much in the way of employees, simply a skeleton crew of older people who linger around kiosks where I am in charge of my entire experience. That sure sucked, but I was making it through printing passes for my three person brigade. We get to the frickin charges on luggage. Now I'm doing all the work myself and you're screwing me out of more money. Lovely. $15 for the first, $25 for the second. We're gone for a week so that's $40 for the adults and then $15 for Dylan's stuff. I ask someone over because I assume I've already paid for Dylan's because a $15 charge was already on my credit card. She lets me know that's because I called to make that reservation instead of doing it online. Talking to a person = $15. I comment to her that my bum bum hurts because I'm pretty sure that Continental is committing unmentionable acts without lubrication or kindness to my bum bum and walk away. Of course our flight has a two hour delay which I enjoy the heck out of, I pay $2 for headphones that never work and I finally use my iPod ones to watch X-Files. Thank goodness for David Duchovny, he rescued my spirits. Final charge for "extras" on trip to Seattle: $72

On the way back...first of all, check in at Seattle is even more ridiculous. Two elderly ladies badgering me as to whether I've got my tickets ready yet. Beyotch, I'm still printing them. This is hard work, you'd know if you were doing it. But I am so go decay somewhere else. Suddenly one of our suitcases has gained 20 lbs and it oversized. It by itself is now $65. Fan.Tas.Tic. I get charged $15 for the other and decide to go rogue with the third piece. Will anyone notice if I carry on three? I decide they will not. Also unfortunate is the lack of consistent experience with these guys. The first flight had these awesome TV's on the back of each seat and you could pick your own movies. Awesome. Way back, old school with the one screen five seats ahead and it is a frickin Brendan Frasier movie. Unless it is the one with Pauly Shore, I don't know it and I don't care. Not to mention that pilot nearly killed us upon landing. So trip back - $80 and a total of $152 that we normally wouldn't have been charged. Eff you. I bet you go to the government, hand out, next week and ask for a bailout. Just use lube next time you rape me, Continental. You are dead to me...at least until the next time some business flight is made with you outside of my control.

Yours truly,
Brandy

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

Other than that, I went to Seattle and had an okay time. Too long, Sun through Sun, but still cool. But Heather, I don't think that place is nearly as cool as you do. And that's with four trips to Pacific Center, four space needle trips, five Seattle Center visits, six monorail trips, Experience Music Project tour, Science Fiction Museum, a Children's Museum visit and Pike Place Market all under my belt. Oh, and daily trips to Barnes and Noble where I read Michael Ian Blacks My Custom Van and Chelsea Handler's Are you there Vodka, it's me Chelsea for free while Dylan played the trains. There is no nightlife available other than hobo huddling, so it was mostly Barnes and Noble and the ordering of pizza. Glad I went once, will prolly never go again. But here's some cute stuff -- though Karen Russell ain't lying when she says your pics will be crap for awhile after her class. It's a lot to digest (and apply properly...)

lookie, they have AUTUMN there...

just a cute darn pic of these two...

the Space Needle at night...

from the Sci Fi museum...

at the Pacific Center which is like a kiddie sci museum...

the original Starbucks...

and a nice blurry pic of where we were staying from atop the needle at night...

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

And if you're still with me, this is where the story gets GOOD. There was a store called Utilikilts which is pretty much what you think -- lotsa kilts. Cargo kilts. Really cool kilts. If they cost like $100 Jason would have them now, but unfortch they were like $300. They promise a Black Friday sale, and I will be calling. There is something oddly hot about these things. I think it is the confidence it takes to pull it off, not to mention it is a perfect twist on those little schoolgirl fantasies. Except with a huge hairy man. Like I said, oddly hot. The part where they guy (who looks and talks like Seth Rogen) makes Jason drop his drawers in the middle of the store is priceless. Jason asked the guy if you wear underwear and he said it was up to you. I asked if he wore underwear and he simply said he wore socks and shoes. I guess wash before you borrow a friend's kilt...

Priceless, indeed. I am collecting if anyone wants to donate to the "Jason needs that Cargo Kilt" collection.

Oh, and really if you're still reading now you're a hero, I got the job. Hurray!!

Equality, rant.

2008-11-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen this comment by Keith Olbermann on the passage of Prop 8, I'll start with it because it says what I could never so succintly do:

I took that in mind along with my gut feelings of morality and joined all the rallies of this Saturday in favor of LGBT marriages by attending the Houston one at City Hall. I was completely inspired by the people I saw there. I know that people think of the gay community and think if our Houston pride parades with eight foot tall drag queens and outlandish party floats and I adore that. It's fun and great, but it wasn't at all what today was about. Today was about couples who had been together a million years and families and a real sense of inequality. I stood next to a family with two moms and six foster children, including a down syndrome little boy. They deserved a medal, not second class status. Arkansas doesn't even allow gays to be foster parents anymore. That was the point of being there today, supporting people who just want to be recognized as normal citizens with normal rights.

First the lovely pics, then the lovely rant:

and my fellow protester, Cate who had the quote of the day "I think my three month marriage destroyed the sanctity of marriage more than any of these people here will." Forgive me for repeating that, Cate, but right on sister.

Rant (read the whole thing before you get mad): I'll tread lightly here because I don't want to offend anyone involved in a specific church or religious sect that has dumped money into this cause (and they are varied and not limited to one, though one in particular is said to have dumped up to 77% of the funds into the campaign to pass this, mostly through dishonest ad campaigns in CA). BUT let me say that I fully support the grassroot effort to try and encourage government to take away the 501(c)(3) status these churches hold. That status gives churches a non profit status and prevents them from being taxes, but one of the conditions is that (and this is from the IRS verbiage):

"Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity. Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes. "

Take it away! I'd love to take all the money these churches rake in and send it to where we need it -- the American economy. Not that it will ever happen, but one can dream. I mean, South Carolina Catholic priest Jay Scott Newman isn't giving communion wafers to parishioners who voted for Obama who don't ask for redemption because it was a vote for evil. That church should be ashamed of these actions and they need to give up their tax exempt status if they cross that line. They have freedom of speech, yes, but they are bound by the rules of their 501(c)(3) status. And sorry Mormon church, but $20 million in donations (according to ABC, Utah) means y'all need to pay your taxes too. Freedom of belief, freedom of speech, all for it but rules are rules. Shut up or Pay up.

You take the good, you take the bad...

2008-11-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

...you take them both and there you have
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life -- go 80's theme music!

Fact of life right now that is good...Dylan is cute and I learned a lot at the Karen Russell photography class of last week. It wasn't a fun class (as in we didn't giggle and throw glitter everywhere) but it was like a Sprague class where it is hard work, but you get back everything you put into it. I'm still learning and still referring to my handouts, but I am getting there. Got this cute pic of Dylan today while fiddling (and I know it isn't a technically good one, but at least I got that cool angle down)

Fact of life that is bad...unemployment. I am actually having to worry about my loved ones, and not just the cracked out one. Just got word of another family member laid off and another was laid off earlier this year and has not much of a prospect. I'm actually worried in a way that makes me hopeful to get this job (ps, had another phone interview with them today) just in case I need to help out with anyone's bills. It is going to be a different Christmas, that's for sure.

And I'll consider that a "both" -- I don't like all the buying and silliness of Christmas. I would love to just be with my family and enjoy their company and it looks like that might be the reality. I'm already planning out the limits or the bans that need to be imposed on each member of the family.

Here's where I plan to be tomorrow:

If anyone saw the great Keith Olbermann clip going around this week, that's basically a summary of why I'll be there. It's not a matter of me knowing anyone affected by this (thought I do) or me wanting to marry another woman -- it is a matter of fairness. I don't think that only those personally affected by this should have to fight alone and so I plan to be there with my pal Cate who has the same intentions as me. I don't know what Dylan's path will be in life, but if I can do something meaningful to make it so he grows up in a nation of equality and respect, then I will. If you are in the area, please plan to join me and if you live elsewhere, there are protests going on in nearly every single town tomorrow so please check into it.

Other fun stuff:

Joined Dylan and Kolby along with Shana on the boys' field trip to the Fire Museum and Discovery Green

and of course the cutest thing, Halloween!! Here's Dylan along with Shana's - Kolby and Madeline!

(that witchy tutu was the result of a craft night in the new room, yay room!)

Other than that, not much to report, but stay tuned...

Thank you.

2008-11-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

Our internet has been down since election night (great timing, I know) and I am finally back on or else this post would have already happened.

Thank you, America. All of America, for paying attention this time and getting out to vote in record numbers. Special thanks, of course, to the majority of whom voted for my guy, Barack Obama.

Now I have to be honest, I was scared election night. People are crazy. I went ahead and took down my Obama yard signs because I didn't know if people were going to respond in some riotous way if he won. Plus, they had already done their job. I started to watch the coverage, but watching CNN speculate with 1% of Florida reporting sounded insane. So I scrapped. Came back. Scrapped and the internet went down. While Jason was on the phone with AT&T (who would not restore our service because Jason could not remember what the name of his favorite restaurant was, seriously, and that was for two days now without service), magic happened. I suddenly looked up and McCain was in the 140's and Obama was over 270. We blinked when we saw this:

and this:

and this

Suffice to say, my confidence in humanity was refreshed and I cried a lot. Unfortch, there are still a lot of people who are disappointed by the results and some people are choosing to say awful, disgusting things that remind me of why I have no faith in humanity to begin with. Oh well, he's Prez elect, whoo hoo!!!

**And I'd like to mention I'm so disappointed by the decisions of CA residents to ban gay marriage. Mind your beeswax! Why is it even our call? So odd to take one step forward and one step back in the same night. Sad. I saw this and it perfectly captures how I feel about this issue:

But impressively enough, marijuana was decriminalized in Massachusetts and Oregon scored their first transgender mayor. It's an interesting time in history to say the least, but I eat it up.

But Obama was the perfect end to a great day with Heather and Meg. I got to make cards and the kids played and they make such an adorable couple...

Now I think we just heard gunshots, gotta cut this short. Living in the hood, grrr. Thanks again, nation!

I dare you, implore you, beg of you...

2008-10-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

to watch this (the Obama infomercial) and I dare you to not be moved, to not want to vote for this man, to not want to throw yourself into the community and be a part of making this nation better. I'm not a praying person, most of you know that. But I feel this in my heart so passionately that it makes me pray, to seriously hit my knees and beg that this man can be elected so this nation can restore the honor it once had and that we can all play a good part in that.

Election day is Tuesday, some of us have voted already in the early voting booths. I've never understood what the stories I've heard about JFK, the way people looked up to him and the tragedy they felt at his assassination. I get it now. This guy is the one and if we don't vote for him I will feel that same sort of loss. Part of what this nation needs right now is the hope, the confidence that we can band together and make things good. It's a self fulfulling prophecy, if we think the situation is hopeless, then it is. I truly believe this man can inspire the hope in us that makes us get up and take charge of the situation together. I think he can inspire Congress and the Senate. I think he can inspire the world to pay attention and be our allies again. I truly believe that Obama and Biden would serve as the humble civil servants that our politicians are intended to be, not the cocky, strutting a-holes we've seen most recently with "Mission Accomplished" signs behind them and calling out for Joe the Plumber to stand up (ps, Joe the Plumber is now releasing a country album). Humble civil servants don't look out for the lobbyists and the corporations, they look out for the people and I think Obama and Biden will do that for us.

There is a reason that Obama's campaign has simply stood by the issues and the McCain campaign tries to chip away at his credibility with their campaign instead of standing by their issues. It's because the truth of the matter is that their campaign benefits the wealthiest of the wealthy and the big corporations. If you are lower or middle class, there is simply not a thing this man will do to improve your life. Why is that so hard to understand? Because they tell you that "Hussein" is an un-American middle name? Because they tell you democrats want to take away your right to guns (they don't, they don't want to alter the constitution but the Republicans do). Because they tell you they are going to ban abortion (ps, while cutting any programs to fund helping those mothers raise those children with welfare, etc). Because they will prevent gay marriage from being accepted and hurting traditional marriage values (you know what hurts those values? A 50% divorce rate!) Give me a good reason, I'd love to hear it. They tell you they will cut your taxes, but they are planning to tax you in other ways to make up the difference. McCain, a man who owns seven houses and thirteen cars and whose wife can show up to the GOP convention with $365,000 of her own jewels doesn't understand you or care about you. Yes, he is a war hero. But a good president that doesn't make. It simply doesn't. The GOP paid $150K of their donors' money to make Palin and her family presentable next to these two. They are the elitists and they are not going to look out for you. Why is that so hard to understand? He says he is not Bush, but based on his voting record (and something he used to boast about until the polls said it was a bad thing), he is 90% Bush. And we need more than 10% improvement

Don't ask your spouse who to vote for. Don't listen to the stupid spam your friends and family send you claiming ridiculous things. Don't avoid voting because you hate them all. You know that worked out well when people didn't like Kerry enough in 2004 to bother and we were treated to another 4 years of Bush disaster. Spend the weekend doing a little research. Listen to your heart, and cross the aisle if you have to. But please don't lost hope, we need it.

And one last story I can add to the Obama infomercial -- I spoke to my mom about my Aunt Diane's health issues last night. It was straight out of the infomercial really about the issues with health care. Aunt Diane has decent enough insurance through a state job, she and her husband have both worked for the state of Louisiana for many years. It is looking like she needs a kidney and liver transplant soon. As far as that goes, she has many of us lined up to give it away. She can have mine, she is tops on my list of people I'd give anything for. She spoke to her insurance who was basically saying that whether they would pay for the surgery depended on her financial situation -- could she afford the aftermath? The aftermath would be $400 a month (her portion) of drugs to keep her body from rejecting the tissues. The cost would be $200 a month if she lived elsewhere, but Louisiana law only makes insurance pay 80% whereas most states require 90% and so there you are. And there, my friends, is where the system is broken. The government should be looking out for her so that she isn't just left to die.

On the other hand, my brother has bilked the government of untold amounts. That turd, who I never mention on here but will today for the sake of passionate political reasoning, spent about a month in jail and has been in and out all year, has a son he doesn't provide for who has to use various forms of government assistance, was sent to the free hospital for mental health evaluations to get him sorted out, and is currently in a free government rehab center where they are making sure to clean his teeth and check out his health among the other various things they are doing for him.

Maybe Aunt Diane needs to commit a felony. I think the prison would be forced to just get her the medical help she needs that way. Shame on her for trying to live an honest living. But it doesn't have to be that way... please choose hope.

Cram session

2008-10-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Moving in...that amazingly happened last week. Basically, Karen's brother Cecil who has been battling cancer came into town to start treatment at MD Anderson. By Tuesday, Jason and I had colds and I didn't want to be the a-hole who gave a cancer patient a cold. So we piled the rest of our crap in the truck and after enough trips 10 doors down, we were moved in. And it's great. The place looks awesome, is 99% done and everyone is adjusting well. Of course the second night there was a bad storm and not only did water just chug into the sunroom via the not fixed holes from Ike, but we discovered two other Ike related water leaks.

The water gathered quickly in there, but thankfully the storm passed, I had popped a happy pill and now the sunroom has been repaired. Whoo hoo. And here's a peak at my scraproom:

What else...Dylan had his first cleaning at the dentist and he loved that. He had cavities (which I already knew, boo) and got them filled Monday. He made me so proud, he was superbrave and put up no fuss. I wish I was that cool

Got a kick out of Meggo feeding Dylan via chopsticks last week...Meggo is the chopstick champ and Dylan ate the heck out of the noodles he fed her (def Chinese is a fave of his!)

Dylan had his soccer pics last week and even though he sucks at soccer and it is the most painful effort ever, the pics were cute. Here some of the kids are messing around...

And later that day we hit the pumpkin patch with Will, Richard and Mary for some obligatory fall pics. Can I say that place was just a white trash teen ho extravaganza? Sheesh! Teen pregnancy and herpes, 1 ticket please! But the benefit was that the girls running the ride were paying attention to boys and cell phones so Dylan kept riding the slides over and over for his one ticket...excellent

and my ode to Vegas...

Other than that, same old drama. Working on a possible job lead that I have my fingers totally crossed for esp since it involves working from home or coffee shops. If you're reading this, friend, totally hire me! I am worth two employees! Call me! I feel like this blog entry has been too long and involved too much catch up, so I'll end now. But expect a full house pictorial very soon...

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

Obligatory political shizz

Move on... I am ready for the whole election to be dunzo. Over it, over it. If you're voting for my guy, I encourage you to vote via early voting or get out that day...if you're supporting the McPalin ticket, feel free to stay home.

I'm done with the lectures from my pulpit for a bit but I will leave you will this hilarious nugget via www.someecards.com which Jenni totally turned me on to...

Wait, I did love this great quote on undecided votors

"I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."

- Author David Sedaris, on undecided voters

And I guess it's up to you to decide who the platter of shit is, but in my head the platter is frozen and the chicken is dark meat. And I'm going with the dark meat.

Entry Titles don't matter

2008-10-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me acknowledge my current Dylan crush...

...and while Jason's cool too...

...Dylan is the bomb. He discovered consumerism this week and it was a sad thing. He loves Cars and when he lost his Nitroade, Jason picked up the launcher version because it was the only one available. Dylan wouldn't let go of the packaging and the other night he was looking at the back and realized that those pics on the back were simply cars waiting to be purchased as well. He focused in on Number 52, Leak Less, and announced to me at 8 pm "Mama, go bye bye. Buy number 52 car for Dylan." I looked at him in the same way I would have if he had announced he was in the market for crack cocaine. He went to bed and cried for over an hour because we weren't hopping in the car to go buy that car right then. My life is officially over. My mom brought him to buy it today and he now has it and I keep making loud announcements that it is the last car ever because we now own them all. I don't know if he believes me, but I sure hope so. That was scary.

Other stuff. I'll leave politics alone this time. You guys don't like it when I get all chatty on all that but let me just say GO CONNECTICUT!!! I'm all about equal rights and that's one more state allowing gay marriage. Let everyone suffer equally! I kid, I kid. But I do think that civil unions fall in the same category as separate but equal black schools - not fair and not equal. So thank you, Connecticut. Only the rest of the nation to go.

Oh, and I'll say this too. I thought it was odd that the motorcycle gang living a couple doors down had a huge McCain/Palin sign in their yard. Then I saw the Rebel flag hanging in their garage...nice. To think their single vote counts as much as mine...

So let's give you what you want -- pics of my fab house! It's getting SO close!! Jason did the kitchen backsplash and I am in love. Pics don't do it justice, but here's a shot:

They also installed the desktop's Silestone and the granite counter in the hall bath, but I didn't take pics. Sue me. Karen also planted stuff. No pics. But the highlight was the part where Jason installed the new mailbox. The old one was right in the yard and was white with black sponged dots. I'm crafty, but that's crap. And my pal Shana takes every opportunity to mock me for it so guess where I drove it? That's right -- I took a Sharpie, wrote "Turner Family" on the side and drove and put it in her front yard. I couldn't stop laughing the whole time I planted it in there

Oh, can I make a great book suggestion -- Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo by Murat Kurnaz. Real eye opener about the travesty that is the alleged war on terror when it comes down to catching "terrorists" and keeping them unethically at Guantanamo. Sold by Pakistan for $3K. People were selling each other out just for the buck. Yeah, my neighbor's a terrorist. Where's my cash? The US decided he was innocent within the first couple years and kept him and tortured him just for giggles. Reputable newspapers reported his capture as a success in the war on terror. Totally innocent, finally released five years later. It made me really sad to think my country does this, to torture innocent humans in the name of national security. I heard a really interesting quote somewhere that is escaping me now, but about in reference to post 9/11 things that take away our own liberties and protections, like Patriot Act stuff, etc. They posed the question as to what the creators of this country would think. "Give me liberty or give me death." Is this liberty? Interesting thought. But the highlight of the book was seeing how devout these men were to their faith the whole time. To see that they too wait for Jesus to return, I was really interested to read that. How can American Christians hate Muslims so much when you're all waiting to see that same guy make a repeat performance? But really, to see this man come out on the other side of this tortuous time to only have gratitude and humility. It made me almost ashamed of the things I let run my life when someone can come out of something so awful and have faith and gratitude. Great book.

Insert cool title here...

2008-10-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

Back from a Tuesday night of girls' night fruity drinks...ah. Want to sleep, but needing to catch up all of the internet with my exciting existence.

Ike. What, three weeks ago now? Still tons of blue tarps on roofs and wood covered windows in office buildings, but overall back to normal. It did however rain this morning and we didn't fix the sunroom yet, so that was disgusting. Shana won for longest time without electricity, go girl.

Soccer. Dylan and Kolby started. They stink at following rules, but it is cute

House. Trying to move into the house in the next couple weeks. Front gate and back fence done, thanks to Paul.

Vegas. Holy crap. Holy. Crap. Seriously the most fun night I've had in a really long time. Being trashed like that once in awhile is so effen important and it comes down to simply letting go of every piece of shizz I am holding on to stress wise and just letting it all hang out. Oh, and hang we did. Here's a great pic from the stratosphere, and yes, I know Shaun is wearing a pretty shade of lipstick. Oh, and Jason isn't here because his version of pre-partying in a hotel room involves passing out.

That's the tamest pic of the bunch and that's the one I will leave you all with.

Politics. Scared of McCain, like Obama though not as much as I started. He's still the best choice and Dylan and I went to the Democratic HQ for Houston yesterday to get our yard signs. Might not have bothered but the McCain sign went up across the yard and I had to balance it out. Too bad Dylan wouldn't properly pose:

Economy. Scary times, my friends. Everyone knows about the 700 billion bailout but there are tons being made on the side, for example the 25 billion auto maker bailout for American manufacturers. Can't believe the politicians saw none of this happening. We saw it happening. How many times have I been with friends and seen yet another Wachovia or WaMu being erected and thought out loud, "How long until they go under and get bought out?" I know from experience that it takes an average of about two years for a new banking center to start rolling a profit, so what business sense does it make if you are quickly going under and seeing all your loans go bad to keep building? WaMu, I am talking to you. Second chance checking, and now we all pay for it.

Which brings me to the scrubs of the world. I loathe Palin and think she is borderline insane, but I give her a pat on the back for saying during the presidential debate that Americans need to do as our parents always told us and live within our means (she also said we were all victims (uh yeah, of Bush's administration), but I'll let that slide out of courtesy for the other point). Yes, part of the problem was mortgage companies and banks that were trying to hit the numbers (core whores!)and not really working in the interest of customers, but a better chunk of what I see when I think of the current crisis with foreclosures and repos are people living outside their means. I saw it with my brother whose first house was brand new and he furnished it within weeks with brand spanking new stuff. I still haven't bought a brand new house and I still have hand me downs where I can. When it went to foreclosure, it was hard to be shocked. He wasn't living within his means and one little disaster like a broken washing machine or a car repair put his teetering world into a tailspin. Not to mention his myriad of other personal issues, but those are meant to be discussed with a therapist and not on my blog. Anyone else I've ever watched have a repo has been the same way. Wanting to live the big life on a little salary. Get some self esteem people, buying things doesn't make you a better person. I still think you're a loser in a fancy house and with a fancy car if I know you're running to the Ace Check Cashing place to make it work. Lame. And this is allllll your fault, my taxes and Dylan's will be paying for this forever.

Obladi oblada, life goes on...

2008-09-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

**Wait, even Heather K! She got power today along with Rita. Not Shana though, and it was muggy there! I hung out with her today and offered my house, but no taker. Stoplights are getting better every day too. Progress, not perfection.

Not for Heather K though. Still no lights, but blessed with a mighty good generator so it isn't total hell. Just 90% hell. Shana still has no lights and no generator, so they mostly go out to her parents all the way in Rosenberg except for Jeff who must work in the city and therefore lives in his powerless house. Traffic is at a record horribleness since you get off the freeway and the lights just blink. And people just aren't great at the four way stop system, I'll tell you that right now. Word is we can expect all lights to be fixed by Nov. Wow, just wow.

A lot of people magically got the lights yesterday though, and our evacuees moved out. Too bad too, we liked having them there. Nick and Ben were mighty good houseguests, minus the time when Ben came home drunk out of his mind (thank you, absinthe from Amsterdam) and while in the house at 3 am felt he had to turn on the house alarm. The house alarm that has motion detectors, of course, and as soon as the countdown was over the alarm went off. At 3 am we aren't listening for our cell phones, so the police did arrive. Hey, you get three false alarms a year without a fine, so one down. We didn't realize any of this until I saw the message from Brinks and the story unraveled. Pretty funny. Otherwise, the boys were incredibly grateful and gracious (I mean, they even got us a thank you card and gift! Boys did that!) and we liked having them down the street. Plus they all got to start planning the frat house that will be the back building and we are all stoked about the black light posters and strobe lights that will contain.

But if the boys' presence did anything, it reminded us that there is an absolutely amazing house just down the street that we could be potentially living in. That totally lit the fire under us to get some work done... Ike of course caused many days in the yard dragging out limbs as Paul kept cutting and cutting... but last weekend, Paul and Jason hooked up the washer and dryer for the evacuees after getting them from storage and we moved some more furniture in. The new gate was welded in for the driveway (just need to finish the fence next to it) and Paul picked up the metal for the back fence yesterday (and it is an awesome shade of green, and their other metal fence totally survived Ike with flying colors). The boys installed the kitchen sink and the stovetop and it looks like a real kitchen. We even bought the rest of the tile to do the kitchen backsplash and last night we grouted the bathroom floor. So close, people. If we weren't leaving this weekend for Vegas, there's a fantastic chance we'd be done.

And by the way, pretty sure those people who moved into the vacant house for like 2 days were just squatters. It wasn't like the key under the mat was a big secret and Paul saw the one man there weeks ago checking it out. But they were there a couple days in large, loud numbers and then never to be seen again. They were ghetto to the max though, so if they were just squatting, it was prolly good for us all that it was temporary. And now, a gratuitous cute shot of Dylan...

Updates continue

2008-09-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

We'll start with some humor -- Jason bought this magnet for his office while we were in Austin and it is hilariousity. I would like it blown up poster sized and hung in my home

So we headed home Monday afternoon and braved the traffic. Wasn't the best drive home ever, but it wasn't the mass hysteria I was ready for either. As we made the drive down 290 towards Houston, we looked around for the devestation that days of news viewing had prepped us for. The first hint was the billboards -- at some point they began to hang in tatters. Signs were busted out and as we drove on we started to see windows blown out in buildings, siding missing and entire walls blown off (sorry, titty bar at 34th). As we exited, we realized stop lights were no longer a part of this society, though the open McD's (well, at least the drive thru is open) was a beacon of hope. We arrived home to see our neighborhood like this:

That last one, if you can't tell, is where a tree crushed Karen's behind neighbor's iron gates. Bummer. I had never seen uprooted trees before and they are a sight. The grass pulls right up with them in sheets. It's insane. Course, it is nicer in the end than all the stumps we'll end up with. But this is a lucky neighborhood. Karen's BFF had her house hit with three trees and it just demolished the whole thing. We also went over to our house to check out the sunroom damage some more and see which tree did the deed (it was the pine I thought). We took 3 in of rain in there too and lemme just say the cleanup there was gross. Not to mention our kitchen toekicks were there so if they don't dry nicely, I may be...back at Ikea. Grrr. These took three months to get in, if you are keeping track

Must've been a scary storm, glad I wasn't here. But I was in Austin and it wasn't a bad gig. We had a blast hanging out with Andi and Chad over and over and eating our way through town. Jason and I made a commitment early on that we would not eat at a single chain restaurant while we were there (the Chik-fil-a we waited at while our room was getting ready didn't count). We did awesomely and hit up Baha Bob's, Opal Divine's, Pluckers, Backyard, Kerbey Lane, Zocalo's, Magnolia Cafe and even scored a home cooked meal out of Andrea. Not bad for refugees!

To pull ourselves away from the devastation online and on TV, we played a board game, Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture which we rocked at, visited the Capital and enjoyed the pretty Austin landscape and the odd people and places. Our favorite shop? Monkey see, Monkey do which had an amazing amount of cute monkey stuff and other funny things. I so want to be a sock monkey collector, but I am too cheap.

Anyways, there's our update. Today was just cutting and cleaning at both houses, and the job is certainly not done. As we drive around and see so many windows busted out, trees down, lights still out, lines for gas and so on, it reminds us that it will be awhile til normality returns. In the meantime, we'll enjoy our only two open restaurants -- Luby's and a Jack in the Box -- and count our blessings.

No likey the Ikey

2008-09-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd drop in an leave a hurricane update. Will update as I know more.

** Sunday morning, 11:30 am CT**
Power has returned on our street. Karen is going out to San Antonio to be with her brother who was transferred from Victoria Hospital to San Antonio in anticipation of Ike and Paul will hold down the fort. Sounds like we are sending Nick over to crash at our house since he has no lights, so enjoy Nick! Our plans are still up in the air, we actually aren't quite clear to leave if Jason's work needs him afterall. His office is down to one generator and technically if it went out and the power is off, he would still be needed here

** Sunday morning, 10:25 am CT**
If you know Heather's friend Shelley and her daughter Kurstee, you know that they are a huge part of Heather's life. They live in one of the worst affected areas further south on a bit of land with animals and appear to have lost everything. I do not know if everything includes the actual animals. My thoughts are with them this morning

Good luck, ladies! We're thinking of you

And this morning Paul sent me pics of my sunroom and house. Looks like I let my imagination get the best of me, as I started to think all the doors and windows must've busted out and become unsalvageable. Really, it's a bent up roof (that *may* have some holes now)and frankly it may stay that way for awhile. No one's allowed to judge if they come over, Ike did it not me. Here are the pics:

** as of 9:45 pm CT**
Friends of Brandi -- she and her family are good and safe. They lost electricity but have a generator they are using. She and I will be continuing to text, but they are used to this from other storms and should function better than most =)

More word on my house. Lost my sunroom (which I never even got to enjoy except for doing renovation work in) and the tree also hit the master bath but Paul doesn't think the master bath is hurt too badly. I am trying to remember that I am a heckuva lot better off right now than people in Houston now because I have a/c and internet and yummo food all of which is unavailable in H-Town. Still though, I am feeling sadness and homesickness just because we have no idea when we get to go home and when life can return to normal. I miss my normal life, my friends, playdates, but it will all be back soon enough.

** as of 10:25 am CT**
Paul went over to our house and reported that our sunroom is the only place there was any damage. The pic above shows the trees that were remaining before we left (it was absolute jungle when we bought it and the boys have been cutting and cutting trees down every heavy trash, so forgive the mess we already had) Basically that pine in front of the sunroom fell on it. Since the house was spared, I can't be too sad and I will assume we'll fix that one without an insurance claim. I was hoping that back building would get hit, lol, it needs a good demolition as it is and it would have been nice to be on Allstate's dime as opposed to my own.

** as of 8:45 am CT**
Somehow, my mom and Jim have electricity. Miracle of miracles, 4.5 mil people without and they have theirs even with reports that all above ground electricity is out. So if that holds and we do have to go back soon, we can crash there. Karen and Paul have confirmed there are many down trees and one went through a neighbor's window. It is not safe for them to go check ours out, but there's a good chance of something similar for us. The good news is that the guys have been trimming down tons and tons of trees over the last months, but it is a pretty wooded lot so no telling what still ended up down. My dad is fine, but no electricity.

** as of 7:20 am CT**

My little family was sent to Austin by Jason's work so that if their computer systems were compromised, they could be rebuilt here. We are crashing at a hotel near Andi and Chad, so really it is quite pleasant for us (and paid for by them!) I am watching the tv and internet and desperately seeking a real pic of what the city is like after all the drama news and a long dark night. 90% of all power customers are without energy, and I am assuming that our house is included on that though there is no confirmation from Karen and Paul yet. It will prolly be the biggest hurdle to trying to get home since it would suck once we got there and non functioning traffic lights would make it really hard to get through any affected areas. I'm sure Paul will walk over and assess our damage once everything has passed.

Heather K and I have been in contact. Her family is fine and I know she was anxious about being in her "bat cave" with the windows boarded up. She lost power early on, which is no real shocker since a light summer shower will do that to them, but they have a generator they can turn to and the tubs are filled with water. Sadly I received a text this morning that the family trampoline did not make it. Rest in peace, treasured trampoline. They ran out during the eye to try and recover the pieces. No word if Cam's "Happy Birthday" sign was still attached to it as it was at Meg's party (sorry, H, I could not resist the thought!) Will update as I know more

Rita was staying at her home too and I am expecting a fairly similar story from her, minus the trampoline. Will update as I know more.

Stay safe, everyone

Hurricane Season and trying to move on

2008-09-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me share with you the joys of hurricane season and staring at this sign all the frickin time:

Yup, all season long we get to reminded that at a moment's notice that we have to drop everything and go into hiding. I tried to ask my mom if it has always been like this where everytime a breeze blows in the gulf we gather bottled water and take three days off work and she swears we have, but I call BS. I think it's all been since Katrina which isn't even based in reality since that was the result of a levee breech, not just a basic hurricane. I remember Tropical Storm Allison effing our world up, but if we stopped everytime a Tropical Storm came by... oh wait, that's why we were all off back on Karen's birthday. Thanks, Eduord! We should know by 3 tomorrow if Jason's work is sending us to Austin, but based on the latest tracker we're screwed. Totally screwed. Make sure to look at ever pic of the new house, there are like hundreds of trees on our nice wooded lot ready to land on the house or put out a nice expensive new window.

Some happier things... I discovered the other day that despite my weekly trips to Ikea for the last like five years, I had never discovered the special front row parking they have for me. I usually park over by pick up, but by the entrance there are these two special spots that both happen to work for moi:

I love how hippie dippy they pretend to be with shizz like that and making you pay to use plastic bags, but considering all the boxes I've had to destroy of theirs since every little piece of my kitchen came in its own little box, all their catalogs that have floated around my house since they wouldn't put it online, and the general disposable nature of their furniture - well, I have to call BS on their green conscience story.

And now the most wonderful work of the week -- the beginnings of the fence and gate in the front to separate us from the neighbors who piggy backed onto our driveway as well as protect us from would be robbers and rapists who would sit and wait for me as I unpack groceries. I know, paranoia, but I've loved having all that here at MIL's and I like this whole fortress thing we've got going on. We scored that gate off Craig's List (I was soooo scared it wasn't going to work out, it seems like we got a way decent deal on a 3-5 year old Italian wrought iron gate) and so last weekend the boys worked on the driveway. Initially there was going to be this two foot wide trench until the boys realized how much it sucked to cut concrete. Suddenly, it was just a couple large holes for posts. Tee hee, but it works. Paul's worked this week on the fence and it looks awesome. He still will do some decorative work on top, another small fence by the house and then the black wrought iron gate will tie it all together.

I am finally to the point where I think I am ready to live by myself (sniff) so I have been working on doing my small part to get things ready to go, cleaning and unpacking and such. Too bad we'll be evacuating this weekend, this was totally going to be somewhat of a work weekend...and my birthday weekend. All birthday celebrations planned are now postponed - bummer. Was looking forward to my yellow cake with choc icing from my mom, sniff...

Playing catch up...

2008-09-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

Yeah, nothing much has been happening while everything has been. Dylan started school, we have had commitments and not enough hasn't been happening at the house while great progress has been made. So first, the house goings on...

The amazing 14 foot high fence that will prevent us from having to acknowledge the apartments behind us - the posts are in:

Tile on the floor of the hall bath:

Put all the shelves in the cabinets:

*Trying* to plan kitchen backsplash (and that still isn't it):

Adventures in caulking:

The most fabulous news comes from the land of Craig's List this week -- we are scoring a 12 ft gate for the driveway tomorrow morning (fingers crossed, don't let me jinx this!) Remember that driveway pic a couple posts ago? The fence will extend from the end of the carport parallel with the house to where the house ends and then this gate will be between the fence and the house, keeping the bad guys out. The deal is pretty good in comparison to retail, so yeah, hope it all goes well in the morning

And now life in general...Dylan started school, no good pics because he and Kolby were being punks. But he did come home to see Granny washing the dogs outside and so that's how he wanted to be washed...he's watched a movie of it over and over:

And I never get cute pics of me and Dyl together, but Jason took a couple silly ones last weekend at the Kellers:

I'll be back on here later this weekend with some driveway progress hopefully - we're cutting driveway tomorrow maybe! Happy weekend!

If that doesn't say it all...

2008-08-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

I know everyone likes to keep it non political and when I stray no one reads, but eff it. I am totally into the Dem Convention and I am so excited.

****meant to blog this last night before the announcement, but after the McCain "Good for you" BS ad, I SO knew he was going to announce a women VP and of course he did. Too bad he couldn't get Kay Bailey Hutchison. It would've been a real race then. Gov. Sarah Palin is a former beauty queen from a sketchy state. Yawn. But glass ceilings be damned either way, I suppose****

****had to add this little thought from Al Gore: "One of the greatest gifts of our democracy is the opportunity it offers us every four years to change course. It’s not a guarantee; it’s only an opportunity. The question facing us is, simply put, will we seize this opportunity for change?"****

From an excerpt of the Barack Obama's speech, titled "The American Promise," released today by Obama's campaign:

“But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.”

Preach on.

see the rest of the speech preview here

I've been watching the Democratic Convention and so many spectacular things have been said. Hillary was spot on, glad to see Bill finally step up and stop acting like the stodgy old man he's been acting like lately, loved Michelle Obama's speech -- very full of hope right now.

I am scared for our country. Not because Obama might lead it but because he might not. Tonight's speech from Barack Obama will come on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and march on Washington. The comparisons are constantly there and rightly so. He has risen to accomplish one of the highest feats any citizen can and he is African American. Maybe one day that won't matter, but today it does. I find him to be an engaging, kind hearted man who stays above the fray and makes valid arguments rather that venomous mud slinging. My fear comes from the chaos that ensued when MLK was assassinated and Americans who had lost hope rioted the streets. My fear comes from morons who might want to assasinate this man due to his race. My fear comes from citizens who are so filled with hope right now who may feel that hope is lost if McCain emerges victoriously and riot. I hope that no matter what happens that the citizens will react in a way that respects fellow man just as Obama and MLK would want. Scary stuff to think about.

I loved his memoir Dreams of my Father which was written by Obama right after being elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Maybe he knew where his life would someday take it, but I didn't feel like he was a politician trying to paint the right image. He spoke of race in a unique way that only a man with a caucasian mother and a Kenyan father could. Somehow his own experience and the way he tells it makes me think he is in the unique position to be the one capable of beginning to build a meaningful bridge to the racial divide that still exists. He also didn't try to pretend he smoked but didn't inhale -- he inhaled. So take that! But seriously, it is a lovely memoir of someone who was trying so hard to figure out his identity through his life and journeys in Hawaii, Indonesia, Chicago and Kenya. It reminded me of the writings of one of my favorite black writers Chinua Achebe, rightly so since he is acknowledged directly in the novel. I would be honored and proud if this man represented our country as the president.

Rainy day blues

2008-08-20T06:43:00.000-07:00

Ugh, day two of constant rain and I just want to stay inside with the covers over my head. Wah. I still have a wretched cough after fighting two different colds, I have gained three pounds in the last two days - all in my uterus and no not like that, and it is raining and I want to curl up and enjoy it. So before I go for the day, I'll enjoy these last moments of laziness and update here.

Decided to embark on some random firsts for Dylan these last couple weeks to make his summer so special and prolly just give me stuff to scrap. Took Dylan to Memorial City Mall to play and I had him ride the carousel for the first time. He insisted on sitting on the benches normally reserved for grandmothers and small infants, whatever floats your boat. He spoke very highly later of the horses with the "flowers on their bum bum" to anyone who would listen.

If that didn't already make me mother of the year, we went bowling with Granny, Paw Paw and Taylor when Taylor was here. I was shocked and amazed to see little shoes Dylan's size. They are so cute and he asked for them all week. "Mama? Mama, 10 shoes?" He's a 10 in bowling shoes and he was obsessed with the numbers. Interesting fact, I am 8, Karen 9, Dylan 10, Paul 11. Got this cute video of Dylan's bowling efforts too, love Flickr video

He also got to play guitar with his Grandpa Benny. I figure these pics will be valuable when he's a real rock star making money and loving the groupies. Unfortch, he kept thinking he dropped his finger in there or something. Grandpa Benny had been joking about it and I think he thought there were fingers hanging out in the hole

And finally, some housing update. Last week was heavy trash, so the boys went wild in the backyard pulling down all the skanky trees they could so we could have another pile like this at the curb:

Jason designed and executed this awesome tiling work in the hall bath's shower:

and I worked on planning the driveway work. Remember how I said the neighbor converted a garage and then piggybacked on our driveway? Well, we've been trying to plan how we dig a trench to seperate the driveways and it has changed a couple million times. I want to give the neighbors a full 10 foot driveway even if it means giving up some of ours because I think if their driveway is usable, they may not sue. Not to mention if they need an extra foot and a half, that can pull out their bushes. But really, after standing in the kitchen and staring at their house and living at Karen and Paul's and enjoying the security afforded by a driveway gate, we've decided to dig up a trench two feet wide parellel to the house and ending at the end of the house. We are going to build a fence in the trench so no more looking at the neighbors and then get a black wrought iron gate. Will allow some safe parking and a nice contained area to play too. Here's me getting to work with sidewalk chalk trying to decide exactly where it should all go, don't worry about the cracks or nastiness. Driveway cutting and repair of cracks should be fun times!

Til next time!

The Return of Pimp and Ho and other adventures

2008-08-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

I'll start with the breaking news. There have now been two new Pimp and Ho sightings. I saw them walking down the street the other day and was excited but yesterday was the sighting to top them all. We parked at the Walgreens across from the Jack in the Box they seem to do a lot of business in and they literally walked straight towards us. It was like seeing Amy Winehouse in the flesh, you want to know more. I was going into Walgreens, they were going to Walgreens and I totally stalked them in Walgreens. I want to know what makes this odd couple of business peeps tick. I thought he looked like 50 Cent from a distance but up close he had unruly chin hair and wild eyes. And she just looks like every dirty crusty McHerpes I ever saw in a real AA meeting (some of you may know what I mean). Pale, crusty skin and bleached dirty hair with two inches of black hair peeking through. I can see them on the top of a wedding cake now. I heard her say she needed tape for a window, some I assume some unruly john's had his head smashed in her window or shots were fired. Very cool, I am hip to the street.

Other than that excitement, not much going on. This is sort of a random post, I haven't taken pics really lately at the house because things are less life shattering. Are you interested in seeing ceiling fans hung? Trash thrown away? See, we're doing finishing work on a lot of things right now so I've been reluctant to post. But I will say this. The house is truly coming together. And it is awesome, I'm actually getting excited. I will take pics at the end of the weekend and update you to it all, I promise. Tile is going to begin laying today or tomorrow and that's some cool stuff.

And if you think I'm slowing down on my trips to Ikea, think again. We've been going, it's still been sucking. The highlight of that place is truly the $1 ice cream cone, but only on a self indulgent cheat day. Yesterday we went because somehow Jason had left the slats to a day bed we got for the guest room on the cart and we decided we wanted them since we paid for them. The bed itself is clever:

It's a twin day bed but the bottom part pulls out like a trundle and is the same height, so it makes a queen or king size bed. So Andi, I got the hook up! And the bottom part is all drawers so it is like 3 gigantic drawers of storage for sheets and whatnot. I dig it. But those elusive slats, you gotta have them. 13 for the top bed, 12 for the bottom. $38 for the slats themselves because everything you buy at Ikea comes in three different boxes and for a $399 bed, that splits up to $38 dedicated to slats. And I get it, that's probably the highest quality product they have in the store because it is made of, drumroll please, actual wood. Not particle board. Not laminate. Real wood slats. Absorb that for a minute. So it's a sacrifice to possibly give them to us twice.

My perspective is this. Yes, we left them on the cart after we paid for them. Our bad. But here's where I was unwilling to waver, I have dedicated literally hours to fixing their screw ups. Figuring out which of the 150 kitchen parts was either missing or wrong. Realizing that the original lady messed up and ordered doors too long for drawers so that the kitchen had to be redesigned instead of waiting another month for doors. And yes, don't forget the time I've dedicated to trying to pay the credit card that no one wants to actually charge. And we're about $6K to them in this house already and remember, this is our second kitchen with them. So eff you, it is your turn to give me the benefit of the doubt that I am not a slat stealing slut and just me the slats. Jason's actually physically with me for this visit and I am trying to say all this in the nicest possible way.

There were two people helping us, the nicest lady ever and then the one who had all the control and an ax to grind. She, out of some principle unbeknownst to me, was not going to let me be the exception to The Rules. The Rules state that when things are left in the cart, they are signed in. The Rules assume all Ikea employees do their job and since I still haven't been charged for $5K worth of cabinets, I disagree. The Rules state if it isn't in said log, then video camera footage must be utilized. But she said I had waited too long, as if I couldn't leave my bong for the last 13 days and therefore couldn't be helped. I smiled and said that I knew that was awhile but unfortch we were trying to put together the $5k worth of cabinets and other $1k of misc Ikeaness and therefore this hadn't been realized until then. I want a supervisor, she wants my soul and at some point I break. Crap. Ikea won. I cried. I felt it coming up and gave Jason the look of panic and asked him to finish this while I went and grabbed the soda he wanted. See, I wanted to play nice and frankly Jason would have character assassinated this biznatch and made her regret ever living if given the chance. He can be mean and sometimes that rocks. But I tried to play nice and in the end I cried.

I went and took care of our other business and met up with him later. He of course got a supervisor who was supernice, gave him the slats immediately and the most joyous part was that Jason could see The Rule Enforcer and the supervisor talking and the Enforcer really wanted us to lose. This was war. But the supervisor told her to eff off I guess, we got the slats, and she walked away pissed as hell. That's how I like it. Too bad I know I'll prolly be back next week asking that skank for something else in the name of customer service. But the bed is together and it is pretty cool for what it is. It goes in the scrap room of joy and will be a great addition. Come stay sometime, we now have room for you!

I got a haircut. Most of you know this. I'm sort of shocked at how weird people are about stuff like that. I'll start by saying I love it and don't regret it for a sec. I like it when it is straight and I even like it when the humidity strikes and it is flippy all over the place. The reactions of others though... My mom gave me same freaked out face she did when she stepped into the tetanus land that was our new house for the first time. Why would you do that, she asks, as though I have chosen on a whim to amputate my thumbs. And everyone else has reacted in a range of ways from saying it is adorable to not saying much other than offering odd advice on how to take care of it like I am seeking guidance depsite the fact that I'm not wearing a "Help me" sign. I guess I surround myself with oddballs, lol. Today at Pablo's party, Gaby brought me her ten inches she cut months ago that's she's never gotten around to shipping off to Locks of Love so I can send them off together like a set of pigtails. Except hers is this gorgeous thick black braid and mine is bleh, processed (but still meets guidelines) and simply disappointing next to hers. Here I am in my glory.

And I usually as a rule don't put scrappy stuff on here. If you're a fellow scrapper, you prolly see my stuff elsewhere so why do it here. This is a personality blog, so I usually stick to that. But I will make the exception this time to say that I am very excited about this kit at Simply Obsessed (www.simplyobsessed.com)and so impressed that this time around October Afternoon is ready to go right out of CHA. If you aren't set up to already get this kit, get your hands on it. I have this and all the add-ons on order. Now I will have to steal me more slats to pay for all of it since we are broke...kidding, of course, about the slats. I didn't take the effen slats.

Try not to pee yourself...

2008-08-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

Yup, already another blog update. IT'S THAT AWESOME!! Progress is a great thing and we are making some excellent progress at the house. First of all, the faux wood blinds (2" Levelor if particulars tickle your fancy) came in a week early and so the other night Jason went ahead and installed them in Dylan's room, one of the master windows (you know, the ones the Window Guys actually did replace as opposed to the second one that STILL hasn't been done), the two in the playroom and the breakfast room. Unfortch, the bath ones were never produced so I had to call them and have them actually make them and send them. Since we got these all a week early, I was super nice about it. But they are gorgeous and block out sooo much light which is nice for the bat cave effect we dig and the energy they save in cooling. The ones Jason did corresponded to the east and west windows =) Here are some pics, and yes I did rearrange Dylan's room already. I finally made it work, it is a tricky small space.

That in itself was going to make for a pretty enthusiastic post, but wait I'm not done. This morning, Jason, Paul, Karen (MIL) and I all were at the house by 8 am (Dyl too) for some useful time. Holy crap. Holy. Crap. I could have called this post Eff Ikea, but they can't all have the same title, can they? Those cabinets that I still haven't paid for offered all kinds of surprises. Let me explain the Ikea process with cabinetry. Let's say I want one base cabinet. That is actually several individual orders. A simple one is a box, a door, toekicks, the shelf and the hinges. That's five things rung up seperately, and I guarantee you received seperately. I wanted mine to have a shorter door and a drawer on top, adding two and making a total of 7. There were at least 23 cabinets. Multiply that by a min of 5 pieces and you are at 115 pieces. Panels and custom pieces bring us well over 130 at least. Get where I am going? Unfortch (this is the word of the day), the lady typed this in wrong despite my very specific instructions. I got full doors, no drawers. It's confusing, and as I told the lady at Ikea when I went to check in on items she admitted were never ordered but were "paid for" (I use that term lightly), it all a pile of crap until you get it together. So stuff I ordered in June, have been collecting as things arrive for weeks, has all been a pile of crap until now. And let me say, those Swedish names (Liljestad, Perfekt, so on) sound more like procedures at a foreign torture site than anything that would be slightly meaningful to the renovation process. So there were some surprises as we went along, but all in all I only had a decently small pile of returns (10-15 boxes) and only 3 orders to place tomorrow morning (Ikea, Sun at 10 am is my official weekly mass these days). I am still waiting on those things that were never ordered though. So we dealt with about 75 things today -- shelves are later and boxes are already together. Toekicks are returned because Paul has a better system of building a plywood base as opposed to trying to make a bunch of toekicks all even (right...) But there are good surprises too. The lady meant for me to have all those cabinets with drawers, so the drawers were there. We made two 15" cabinets full of drawers (that's eight right there!). The cooktop I chose is two 36" wide drawers instead of a cabinet with two shelves -- drawers for pots and drawers for pans! The corner has a lazy susan with two racks, yay for tupperware. So many cool custom pieces that remind me that Ikea isn't quite ready to be renamed Satan Inc. And yes, I went with another set of glass doors like in the last kitchen. Just a pair, but I dig em. The only two cabinets that will ever look pretty on the inside. Oh, and the Silestone that was in the kitchen when we bought the house looks AWESOME on these and it is a perfect fit. The walls are still open there for the lighting that will go under the cabinets soon. We ordered a piece for the island so that will come later and the old island top is going on the desk in the living room behind Dylan. It will be cut to fit, so it won't be as big as it looks behind Dylan. Anyways, here's the journey of the day...

So yeah, an awesome day. Jason also got fans up in the spare room and the master, Karen assembled fans for Dylan's room and the living room and door knobs were beginning to be installed in most rooms. All in all amazingness. I'll be off to Ikea in the morning and Target. Turns out when your windows look that cool with super special wood blinds, you don't want to cover them up with drapes so I have a bit to return. Happily.

Oh yes -- I meant to talk about the green things you can do during renovation that rock. It's a sad, wasteful process unfortunately but frankly living in 60+ year old filth ain't always better and many of the changes (added insulation, new windows, blinds) actually cut down on energy costs and fossil fuel usage and we like that. We saw early on that the curb is enough for a lot of the trash -- when you nicely put it out, it will be nicely picked through by others. We put the doors and drawers for example in their own pile - all picked up. The nasty stuff is on the bottom because no one needs or wants that without a tetanus shot. But remember the 130+ items from Ikea? At least 75 of those came in some form of cardboard. That's a lot of cardboard and then if you add those to the 11 mega sized ones from Levelor blinds and then moving boxes (all were from previous moves and many are reused, but not all)... well you are talking about a lot of cardboard. I have made an effort to pile them up again and again and bring them to the neighborhood recycling bins. It's win-win -- I think. I found out that one of them I was using doesn't actually take cardboard so I may have just dumped them, but I think the others do. The effort should award me good karma anyway.

If you're still reading, thanks. If I had to take a gander, I would say that the complete renovation of the interior will be completed in almost exactly two months from the day we closed on the house (maybe the weekend of the 23rd?). That isn't including the converted garage and studio that we need to work on later or the exterior work of those two buildings (and the painting of the whole thing), but we didn't really expect to do those before move-in anyways, as a matter of budget, time or priority. That plus the month it took to fix up and close on the sale of Foxwood and then the month it took to close on Brookwoods will put us as almost exactly four months of in-law living. I wish I could complain, but that's been the easiest part of the whole process. I would never have guessed it would be this easy to coexist and I wouldn't mind living right next door instead of ten doors down; I think that is a testament to the easy, cool people that Dylan calls Granny and Paw Paw. They rock.

Cough, cough

2008-07-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here with a summer cold and procrastinating on putting the final touches on a LO so here I am to blog. It's been over a week and that is unacceptable bloggy behavior. Before I talk house, let me say how excited I was to finally find the Stephen Colbert Americone Dream ice cream from Ben and Jerry's at my local Kro Kro. I call that hell to the yeah. It is seriously the best flavor, it is supposed to be like a King Cone (cone, vanilla, caramel and maybe there was chocolate, I don't remember). I bought it, ate it, and floated away to a universe where angels did my hair and everything glittered. Then of course I came down and weighed five pounds more and am back to Atkins living. Summer eating, while exceptional, has to come to an end so the carbs are a bye bye.

Anne and I pushed our monthly lunch up a week and hit Cafe Red Onion yesterday. Heather, I don't know why I've never dragged you here when you are in but one day we are going. Actually, it's very kid unfriendly but maybe sans kids. Pineapple salsa. Fusion Latin food. Mmmm. Thought I'd share a pic of what I had (um, might have had carbs in the fried eggplant) but frankly when you get a chance to eat truly amazing food, you should forget about diets and enjoy. McD's, not so much. I didn't take this pic, but a guy named Crossmage on flickr did and I am also including a link to his Houston set out of courtesy for borrowing his pic (giving credit is good) and because holy crap he makes this nasty place look tremendously presentable:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crossmage/1014435095/

House chat. Ellen and others who haven't known me long -- this is the second house we've renovated. We swore after the first never again but here we are with some very important differences. First, we will never work in a place and renovate. Our last renovation literally took a couple years and we would not live like that again. It's the difference between having the money upfront though, this time because of the proceeds from that sale we can pay for everything at the same time. Exception: converted garage and studio in the back. We can't prolly afford it now and we will live there when they are renovated, but they are separate and therefore acceptable to do that way. We also learned lessons about what work is cool to do yourself and when outsourcing is appropriate. Sheetrock and painting -- worth paying others. Most everything else -- diy. Here are some before and after pics from what we did back then so you know why we think we rock:

I am seeing now that we did a crappy job taking after pics because I don't have a single finished bath one. How tragic. Nor do I have a good one of the crowning achievement of that house, the half bath in the hall that we converted into a full bath and installed a giant faux wrought iron tub. It was gorgeous. The good news is that when we housewarm this one, I will already have a digi book ready to go to show people how far we've come. Bottle of piss not included.

So yeah, we rock and we're at it again. Nothing supercool to report this week. We had to clear out the storage unit this week which only had like the stuff we cleared out pre showing the house for sale so the bedrooms are full of boxes and not much else. The rest is still here at the in-laws. But we did mostly put Dylan's bedroom together and his playroom has begun its transformation. Got an alarm system which makes me feel better. I bought and put together my Expedit shelves from Ikea -- the scraproom has begun. BTW, Ikea still hasn't charged me for the cabinet purchase of June 20 but there is a four year statute of limitations so I expect to hear from them in June 2010. The money's in the account waiting for them when they are ready to believe me when I say they haven't charged me for the stuff. Morons. Other than that, we are running out of money after having bought a fridge, house of Levelor faux wood blinds, island vent for the kitchen, and other expensive necessities. Tragically, Jason's ER Visit ended up costing us $700 and we had $1200 service on the Blazer, so the fund for furnishing the house is going bust. What a gorgeous empty house it will be, but Heather has assured me that she will be buying a fancy decorative key for me to start my collection as a housewarming gift and I believe she will just to keep that great joke going. Some crummy pics...better ones to come this weekend. Jason said all the blinds arrived yesterday which is awesome since they weren't even supposed to ship until next week. Crummy though since I didn't even have an email to expect them and they just left them under the carport and I randomly sent him over there to see if my PB purchase had arrived (to be shared later) since I was emailed about it. So hopefully we'll get those up this weekend, yay!

Ignore the tree. Dylan's room will have an outdoor theme and I am using the tree to hang random animals in. Very theme-y, very un me but I am going for it anyway. And finally, the pic Jason got in the Home Depot urinal -- it's like a standoff between two, well anyways...

This week in the land of Cumby...

2008-07-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

Since Heather and Rita already posted their obligatory pics of their cute kids from our beach trip, I will have to do that too lest I look unloving towards my boo bear. So yeah, we all took all our kids minus the dads (because if they are there, it is just three more whiners!) and stayed in a condo on Galveston from Sun to Wed. Pretty cool for the most part, except Heather's promise that the kids are easier to handle like that didn't work for me -- possibly since I came with one and never have people over to stay at my house. To me, it just seemed like constant loudness and chaos but since Rita and Heather live with chaos, maybe that was easier for them. I mean, Heather seemed content to read a book and pretend it wasn't going on and brags on her blog about getting to read two books that trip. Me, I found myself asleep at 10:30 everynight exhausted. Don't get me wrong, I actually had a very good time, but it certainly was not cucumbers on the eyelids relaxation. Very fun though, learned a new game (Phase 10), finally had some good competitors for Mario Kart (go Jackson and Jordan) and I did find time to gorge. Will go again, assuming I am invited...and now those obligatory pics...

and now that you are thinking...ugh, how is Galveston a vacation I will talk about something as gross as the water there -- the air here. I drove through downtown and was totally bummed by the ozone warnings and the haze over the city -- enjoy a pic of downtown on Wed coming home and then on Fri when it was nicer... It wasn't a rainy day, not even overcast, just a hazy day where you've been warned by a sign on the freeway that babies and the elderly shouldn't be out today

And finally, la casa del Cumby. Just cause I left didn't mean work ended. Raul's crew finished the painting and then while I was gone I got a call from the Window Guys (seriously their name) and they were ready to come Thurs and Fri to put in the new windows. Hot dang. Fri was also heavy trash, so Jason and Paul were trying to take down this shed/workshop thing that Grandpa Lott used a million years ago and leave it for heavy trash. It *may* have resulted in Jason getting a tetanus shot. Would you want to be jabbed by anything in the below pics? I think not. We also cleared the sunroom of all of its trash (like any remaining debris from bath renovation, etc) and the result is closer to godliness. Not there yet-- someone literally threw a bottle of piss at some point in the last five years into our backyard and that was gross to find. I mean, Dasani doesn't turn that color on its own. When that 12 foot fence goes up, life will be good for sure. Also in the trash was like a bunch of tree bits. The men took down like two gigantor hackberries -- the trunk even in pieces had to be dollied away to the curb. Pics...

Shed/workshop treasures including the fossilized remains of the oldest trike ever:

New windows -- except one in the master where the Window Guys mismeasured and now we have to wait another couple weeks for that to come in. Sigh on that, but the difference between the new windows and the old aluminum is pretty profound. Which is obvious since we can admire them side by side for the next couple weeks...

Today I had the grand job of getting all the cover plates back on and the boys worked on putting in the Ikea cabinets -- where I am off to, yet again, tomorrow. Wish me luck!

The journey continues...

2008-07-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

Before I talk about the house, can I just say that if you are in the Houston Heights area and want a good breakfast, you have to try Dry Creek. Anne (former teaching partner in crime) and I have decided the first Wed of every month is breakfast/lunch together and this was our first stop as we explore non-chain/franchise restaurants. It is a converted gas station and supercute. I only sort of felt like a poser walking in. Anyways, I had the Egg Sam'ich (fried eggs, bacon, cheese with Tabasco Mayo, mmm) and Hash browns with cheese and sour cream (ow, my heart) and Anne had the waffles with blueberries and bananas and some bacon. No one left empty and the prices were totally reasonable.

Now, because I know you didn't check this to see what I ate today, here are some updated pics on the house...

This weekend was about getting the new doors all cut and up hanging (13 by my last count), hanging some cabinets for the sake of getting it ready for the painters...love how the fridge/oven area turned out. The left side will be the island between the kitchen and loving, gotta have a queso destination! And FYI, if you can see that tiny bit of dark wood Paul is holding as Jason nails, that is the color all the doors and fronts will be. Jason really wanted to go dark this time...

That brick wall had gone out to the front of the cabinet, but we cut it off. As a result, it needed finishing and I looooove Paul's solution to turn some of the bricks sideways. Brilliant!

And then there's the paint! The thing about paint is that the colors don't always come out the same as the swatch...as I saw when Raul and his bros did their magic

Ah, to coin a phrase from some of my fave gossips blogs, that's shiteous! I pictured "Alchemy" in the dining room as a olive/gold-ish color and instead I had banana yellow next to a bright green. Guess which one already got repainted? Bu-bye, bananarama!!

Here are the final colors:

Whole Wheat in the kitchen, breakfast, den, entry and hall (and I am so trying to convince Jason that the light fixture in the breakfast room is totally adorable in a kitschy sort of way...tell him you agree!):

Mediative in the bathrooms:

Sassy Green in Dylan's room and playroom (front den):

and Basket Beige in the master, guest/scrappy space and yes, the dining:

We're all taking a couple days off, but in the next days the trim will be painted and hopefully The Window Guys (yup, that's their name) will come put in our new windows. We weren't initially planning to do them so it sucked a bunch of budget and rearranged some things, but I am still pleased as heck that we decided to do it. No more Nottingham windows in the front, lol. Update more soon!!

More words.

2008-07-05T09:26:00.001-07:00

So, yeah, all kinds of stuff going on.

I got Dylan a haircut and part of what held me back was that his best friend Kolby was rocking the same look. I finally did it, thinking Shana might be inspired by Dylan and cut Kolby's only to find that Shana and I share a brain and Kolby had finally cut his too, the same week. That may not sound so monumental except that these boys have been rocking the long hair for like nine months and without mentioning it to each other we both cut the boys hair off.

Since we had to work at the house all day yesterday, we kept close and went with Shana and fam to the fireworks downtown. It was like a ten min drive from our houses to Jeff's work where we went to the top of the garage of American General and watched the fireworks. Any pics of the kids were awful since I didn't have the insight to bring the little camera for candids and the Rebel for the fireworks. Oh well, here are the fireworks and our awesome skyline (which I actually really heart)

And the house. It is moving along quite nicely. Raul started the drywall work a little early and it was a total a-ha moment walking in and really seeing more of the vision for where the house is going. He and his bros do amazing work, for sure. I picked out the colors for the house and I am a little anxious that they may have been too much, but we'll see. The "whole wheat" and "basket beige" for like 60% of the house doesn't worry me, it was my choice of green, blue and yellow-y color for the dining room, playroom, Dylan's room and bathrooms that have me a little worried. How bad could it be, right? We'll see.

It is amazing how quickly you burn through a budget on a big project like this. We're on track with what we said we'd spend on each step, it is just still sad to see how much our Brookwoods account has depleted. But then again, we've never done an entire home in this short a time, so projects stretched out on the last house never felt like much. I'd like to remind you all that we've now owned this house...18 days. These pics are as of Thurs night, projects have been going on all weekend and I will those pics up soonly...

Til next time...

My best friend...and More on the house

2008-06-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Dylan just told me I am his best friend...it was a supersweet moment. Of course this week his best friends have included Blue (the dog), Kolby and Kolby's mom Shana so I take it with a grain of salt. Other cute thing he had done? Memorized the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" which he now reads aloud himself. Check it out...

As time moves on so does progress on the new house. The dollars dwindle from our once more abundant bank account, and as they do we can see ourselves more as potentially living in the house and carrying on our lives from there. The drywall finisher and painter guy, Raul, is scheduled to come a week from Monday, so in the meantime everything from sheetrock to crown molding to cabinetry must go on.

A couple days ago...

(say hi to Karen and Paul, our pseudo landlords!)

And then today when I left I had done some drawers (you know, girl work) and been shamed by the fact that I screwed up ordering for two things and have to, gulp, return to Ikea tomorrow. The boys were hard at work on crown molding, which in my opinion is the single best way to truly jazz up a space. I love, love, love it. Here's some more greatness...

and my favorite frickin tool in the whole world...

Okay, okay!!!

2008-06-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

I know, I've been keeping everyone in suspense!! The new home!

Basic info: this house is a 1919 sq ft 3/2 with an additional converted garage with another full bath, a studio in the back and a covered, enclosed sunroom. I realize now that of all the pics I've taken these last couple days that none are actually of the front of the house, so another day perhaps. It has much of the typical issues you would expect of a 50 year old house, which we were both expecting and ready to take care of. This isn't the first time we've done this afterall, though the fact that the house has stood empty for many years has caused some of those issues to be a little worse. No prob, Team Cumby and their trusty project manager/FIL Paul have it under control.

We expect to gut the kitchen, remove wood paneling and replace with sheetrock, hang crown molding, gut remodel the hall bath, install vinyl, double paned windows and paint the entire interior as our first big projects. We call that Phase One, with the idea being that after Phase One is complete we can move in without being in a war zone. Phase Two gets into staining the concrete in the sunroom, wood and sheetrock repair in the converted garage, tiling of that after removing carpet, minor remodel of the full bath in there, and exterior wood replacement of the entire garage (the house has all new, but not the garage). We will paint the entire house at that point because we are not in love with the blue-grey. Phase Three involves that studio which is a mess at best. We will likely knock it down to foundation and use the roof to build an exterior lounge area perfect for when and if a pool gets in (which is the Phase Four hope!) Basically we go as far as our budget will carry us and do more jobs as more money trickles in.

We closed on the house on Wed at 10, got to the new place around noon. Took before pics and then got to work...here is a Flickr album so you can see the progress five days in the house has made. Some might look uninteresting if you don't know what is going on, esp electrical and stuff like that, but just know it is all awesomeness. You may have to hit the plus sign on the right to see all the pics or you can drag the bar at the bottom, they are in order over the course of the last five days.

Seven years of the storm cloud of doom...

2008-06-19T20:45:00.001-07:00

Yup, we have finished seven years as a couple, me and Jason. What a couple too, dubbed the storm cloud of doom from the start because of our sarcastic, caustic wit. Ironically, we are a happy, smiley family now and while the sarcasm is still there, it is mostly directed outwards to the world and not each other. I would share the hookup story, but it is a lame one so I'll skip it and tell you how we did spend the day.

Jason went to the work nurse to get some aspirin for some chest pain and as a precaution she made Jason go to the St Luke's clinic a block over to make sure he wasn't having a heart attack. Dylan and I brought him over and it was muy exciting. It actually wasn't, but the place was nice and the people were cool and we got a couple funny shots of Jason pretending to be sick and me and Dylan pretending not to be bored. The plus was that I had my copy of the Kite Runner with me and it is a fantastic book so far. Unfortunately I was reading it in the waiting room and my eyes were a little misty. The doc came to talk to me and I looked up with tears in my eyes -- naive doc seemed to think I was actually concerned about my DH and not just involved in a really good book. I decided not to crush his soul and reveal the truth, that I wasn't really concerned that something was wrong, but Jason and I shared a laugh about it. Because, oh yeah, everything's fine!

Tune in tomorrow for an actual update on the house! Lots of progress being made, lots of pics to share!!

It's hard out there for a pimp

2008-06-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to share this story, it is beautiful.

Sunday after going to Dolores' for the Cumberland Summer in the City pool party, we decided we would have a Fat Boy Moment (term trademarked by the Cumberlands, lol) and we went through the drive through of Jack in the Box. Being on new turf, we went to one close to the new house, but soon learned it is worth the effort to just go to the old one. We order our Fat Boy Moment Meals (jumbo size it, homie!) and that much carb and fat takes a bit to cook so we are told to go park up front and wait for our bounty.

We park and I see a young-ish man with this crusty old blonde chick, hanging out outside. I'm bored, so I narrate what I decide is going on between these two. Now he's just dancing on the corner, like some hip hop song is going through his head (hmm...like Three Six Mafia...) and crusty McHerpes is stumbling around with her matted up blonde hair looking like life has ridden her pretty hard in her forty some odd years. I decide they are Pimp and Hooker. Pimp tells Hooker to go in and do something. She isn't gone very long, even if she is total pro, but she comes back with money. Then they start hugging and kissing and I think to myself, now you're just being judgemental. They're just a couple and here you are calling them Pimp and Hooker...until he pushes her away and he has the money in his hand. Oh hell no!! She then sits down with her 40 that's been sitting there the whole time. Classy too!

In conclusion, what some might call being judgemental, I call good instinct. The best was when we pulled away and a cop went by. Pimp practically hit the ground and I laughed in my soul. Then I buried that feeling with fries and it was good. Since I like to always have pics with my blog posts, enjoy watching this pimp get shown what is up...

My kid is 3

2008-06-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

And he is amazing.

We had a weekend of celebrating this boy and while I am certain he had a frickin blast, I am uber glad it is over. I just get so worked up over all the details, about making sure people can come, making sure they have a good time, making sure about this and that. And I wasn't super impressed with the Little Gym we did it at, so I was just a bundle of anxiety. I tried to ignore the cake that melted, the fact that they only served water (really, not even like gatorade?!), all the stuff that was glaringly not right to me and focus on the really cool people we have in our lives. There are the families we see all the time and the ones we literally only get to see for birthdays, but I dig them all. My favorite quote of the day came from Rachelle's little lady, Maddi. I asked if she liked the cake and she answered, "Yes, I do. You really should try it" like a perfect lady. I know she's not since her mama has told me the things she has said that were less savory, and that made it twice as cute.

Today we had a pool party over at Jason's Aunt Dolores' as a sort of happy summer and happy birthday party for Dylan and his cousin Annie Rose. More cake, more presents. And then we got to come home, play with presents and finally rest.

This week will probably be the closing on the new house. We were supposed to technically finish before 6/15, but it will be 6/9 tomorrow and I don't know if that gives all parties involved and the title company enough time. We are starting to get super anxious and just want to start ripping bathrooms and paneling out already!! Will update all as soon as we know more!

Pee pee in my potty...

2008-06-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

So proud of my kiddo...

I realized when I saw Heather this week that I hadn't let everyone in on this, but since I spent last week with food poisoning from Hades (thank you, Uncle Billy's in Austin) I missed my chance. Dylan is potty trained and wearing underwear everywhere he goes (except to sleep, I'm not crazy). I was so afraid he was going to turn 3 and be peeing himself, but it happened. I get what people say when they say one day it will just click with the kid, but not emphasized enough is the amount of months of extreme effort that finally lead up to that magical point. It's like some singer who explains that they are an overnight celebrity who has been playing gigs for the last fifteen years.

Being at MIL's has been good for the process, he just wandered around naked for weeks and weeks and would go use the toilet himself. Put underwear on him though and he'd pee right on it. And again. And again. Until the one day he suddenly didn't. And then suddenly picking out underwear was interesting even though the million times before he had no desire. What an exhausting process, who the heck wants to have another kid after that?! Maybe that's why a lot of kids are close in age, parents don't get to this point before fertilizing another egg. Or maybe I have no patience at all, which is much more likely accurate. So glad though, go Dylan.

Other than that, looks like it is a go ahead for living on the same street as the in-law's, we just need to set a closing date. All inspections are done, all should be well. I am ready to just get in there, do our renovations and then get the heck on in! If I had to guess, that won't be until August, but who knows. Gotta go now, looks like Jason might be getting Mario Kart of the Wii ready to go. Shan, you'll know when we're ready to take you guys on...

Duuuuude....

2008-05-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

Jason sent me a link to a super duper website that lets you see, among other cool things, PSA's from the 70's, 80's and 90's...and I went straight to looking for this one...

I LOVE trashcan lid drugs!! Seriously, did this ad change anyone's mind? I mean, I remember it more vividly than anything from my childhood and yet... That trashcan lid, I just can't get over that. Anyone ever offer you a platter of options like that? I'd sure like to hear about it

Here's the website to blow an entire day of work or school:
http://www.retrojunk.com/

Yay to be Gay!!!... in CA anyway

2008-05-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a high five to the peeps of California who today righted a wrong by allowing gay marriage in their state. Get it while you can, because it sounds like in November there's a chance it will be up for debate again with a ballot measure. And heaven knows, there is a huge pocket of people who will fight so hard to take this right away. People protecting the sanctity of marriage, many of whom are divorced themselves. I've said it before, homosexuals don't destroy marriage, heterosexuals who divorce at a rate of 50% do. Now, at least in CA, everyone can destroy the oh-so sacred sacrement of marriage together!

I know this isn't popular and I know that some of you have already stopped reading this. But I feel a passion about this issue and the gay and lesbian community because I can see how easy and acceptable it is to treat them like second class citizens and it burns me up, the same way I feel when people persecute others for any reason. If two people love each other and are dedicated to each other, well yay because love is good wherever you can get it. And don't be mistaken, "civil unions" are straight out of the "separate but equal" playbook, and we know how well that initiative went. No one's making your church do them or rewriting your precious religious texts. It's government, plain and simple, and it's meant to cover everyone, not just Christians or any specific religious group despite what some may think. If you don't like it, fabulous. It doesn't affect your marriage if Joe and Jim down the block are taxed the same way you are or if Susie and Sally have a certificate like yours. So mind yours, and let this community mind theirs, now fairly allowed the same rights.

Good job, CA! I won't hold my breath for Texas though...

Jerk of the Month

2008-05-14T06:10:00.001-07:00

Now that we have this in the works...

it is time to buy. I've had a trophy made up for Jerk of the Month (not really) and I am awarding it to the sad man who got greedy and turned down our sticker price offer so he could relist for $10K more. You are a sad man and I hope your house sits on the market for quite awhile. Don't think that your house was overpriced just because we were trying to keep it simple and not play around. You suck.

I considered attaching the listing here, but I don't need him getting greedier and suing me. He can keep all his douchebag art and tool-eriffic vases and decorative items and live there forever. Anyways, the story:

Last Saturday we saw this house and really liked it. It was beautiful and would really fit our needs. We put an offer in, despite the fact that the guy lied/omitted on the sellers disclosure about an obvious flaw in the flooring in the living room that it seems he himself remembers causing, despite the fact that the neighborhood is shady to the max and despite the fact that this place faces an actual ghetto mini mart where shady people chill in and out all day. I was happy enough with a wrought iron fence enclosure and security cameras, but frankly I am special. Next day we make our offer and then we drop by the open house to show our parents. Karishma, the realtor, was trolling for new offers, mentioning that there was already an offer on the table. "Yes, that's mine" Jason told her. Tacky. She had met us the day before and everything, but equally tacky Jason told her not to worry about remembering him, that all white guys look alike. Great, Jason, great.

Anyways, magically our realtor gets a call that night while he happens to be with us that there is another offer on the table and how high do we want to go. He said, sounds good, tell him to take it because we aren't going higher. She is flabbergasted. Perhaps there's no real offer? Maybe? She calls again the next day, "Did your clients decide to come up with more money?" Uh, no, already told you it is what it is. Fast forward to this morning to when I finally saw what I knew was happening. House is relisted for $10K more.

Greedy loser and lame realtor, great team. We had heard that this dude thought his house was worth way more and had to be convinced to go for the original price and frankly that's the only reason we didn't bother to haggle. My mom was naive enough to tell me they have to accept your offer if it is sticker, but clearly there is more trickery and deceit to this than I thought. Eff this game, seriously!! Selling our house has made us feel so powerless since we know we have to give, give, give to close and I was hoping the buying part is where we'd finally feel some power. So wrong...

Ball of nerves...

2008-05-08T09:34:00.001-07:00

As most of you know by now, the house is for sale. Saturday morning the sign went up and the listing hit the internet. Open house was planned for Sunday and we were feeling good. The house looks awesome, you'd practically never know what we purchased five years ago.

I've been meaning to post pics and reflect on it, but I didn't go by until later Saturday and then we had plans on Sunday so I didn't have pics loaded on my laptop til yesterday afternoon. Went to the house to take the trash out and there was a showing going on. There had been a total of 6 or 7 showings over Monday and Tuesday alone. 6 or 7 peeps came through on Sunday's open house. Went back later when they were gone and put the big, heavy trash out. Was driving back and Jason calls to tell me we have an offer on the house. An offer on the house we had listed like 5 days before. Wowsa. And these guys want to move quickly.

So I am a ball of nerves. We are playing the counter offer game and I am terrified they will back out. We have the inspection and I am terrified that it will be revealed that there are dead bodies under the home, rendering it unsellable (I didn't put any there and our inspector didn't find any when we moved in, so we should be okay). If you've ever sold a house, I'm sure you get what I mean, you're just so scared that it isn't going to work out for whatever reason. Then I like some houses for purchase. Terrified I won't get the one I want. Nervous that I want to spend more money that we should.

I've asked everyone to keep the fingers and toes crossed that this goes through. If you have kids, that's 20 more digits that should be crossed for us. I'd rather be sitting around here waiting for our new house to be ready than waiting for the old house to go away. But if this goes through, the Cumbys will officially kick major booty...

**updated -- they countered again (who doesn't love THIS game?!) and we accepted. I'm in love with a new house and ready to move on. Now your fingers and toes need to be dedicated to the cause of us having nothing interesting coming up on inspection... please and thanks!

Oh and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my super stud Jason who is 32 today. For his birthday, I hope he gets a signed contract. It's a gift we will all use =)

New shirts...

2008-05-05T19:18:00.001-07:00

Just a quickie post to show you the awful things Jason and I ordered from T-Shirt Hell...I swear we aren't bad people, we just have a dark sense of humor that is supported by businesses like tshirthell.com who we have bought quite a few cute tees from, including Dylan's "Cuter than Baby Jesus" shirt that might have made it onto a family Christmas card a couple years ago. For some reason, I like to buy these shows that I know better than to wear in public, thus making them pj's...where is my "Dick in a box" shirt, come to think about it...but these will totally be worn Memorial Day weekend because it is Andrea time and if there is something my sister likes, it is shizz like this...

In honor of Wii mania, Jason's:

And partly because I love my gays and partly because I was kind of irritated at a post on some other blog about how gays stole the rainbow:

If you have the stomach for it, that site is hilarious. And I have Aunt Diane to thank for introducing me to it, wassup!!

Mmm, yeah, right there feels good...

2008-04-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Right there in my checking account!! That's where I was stimulated economically today. Still think it is STUPID for the government to just throw money at us when there are so many better ways to apply aid in this nation (post-Katrina New Orleans, the forever war, etc), but now that it is there it will be nice as we continue this grand adventure called selling our house.

How is that going? We're finishing up these next couple nights, meeting with the realtor and I know he's already planning an open house Sunday. It's a pimpin house, peeps, come check it out and buy it!! Will be so glad when that is over!!

Also, just want to say Go Hillary! Mind you, I voted for Obama but I am so glad she stayed in the race because that's what democracy is about. The crime isn't that she stayed in so long, the crime is that the Republicans didn't have two good enough candidates to really go head to head with. I've learned so much about Obama because of Hillary and vice versa. I will support whichever of the Dems ends up with the nomination because I think they both have some amazing things to offer this country, but I can tell you I don't know much more about McCain than I did a couple months ago because he's not being pushed to reveal much about himself. I know that pundits will argue that it is a good thing, as the negative stuff hasn't hit him, but I believe for the sake of full disclosure that it is truly a disservice to the voting public.

Nothing else to chat about for now, so I will leave you with that...

Progress

2008-04-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a week of hustling and bustling and we are doing really well with the move. Other than a couple of Dylan's toys that we left at the house for him to play with while we work, everything that is supposed to be at MIL's is and almost all that needs to be in storage is too. Today Dylan was supposed to be with my mom, but she ended up taking on a new account at work, the big wigs are in and she had to work all weekend. Somehow though, Dylan was amazingly good today. Jason and Paul got all new fascia up, crown molding in the master and replaced all the doors in the house. Seriously, like six months of work in a day. Holy moly. While they did that, I worked on packing the rest up and moving boxes and odds and ends to the storage unit. We are all the epitome of awesomeness, and I am rewarding myself with carbs tonight.

Unfortunately, it wasn't all sunshine and gumdrops. Yesterday I stepped outside to shake out the bedskirt and the door locked behind me. Click. Oh fudge. Dylan was inside watching TV and I was locked out. Jason had told me Dylan let him in the other day when he got locked out (if my life was a book and an English student were reading it, that passage would have been highlighted as FORESHADOWING) so I turned the knob and asked Dylan to open it. He burst into tears and stayed in that house howling until I got back in. I managed to flag down a neighbor to call Jason to come home (had to leave a message, though when I called 5 min later he was on his way home) and let me in and the whole time, while I knew Dylan was safe, I could just hear him crying and crying and it was pretty effen awful. The whole thing was prolly 15-20 and every second was hell. While petty thieves have no problem kicking down my door, I had no idea how to do so myself. In the future, I will bury a key in a corner of the yard or a flowerpot.

The house is looking so amazing that Jason wants to raise the price. Wait until the painter finishes, it will be pure awesomeness. I can't think of anything a buyer would have to do to it, it will be top dog in the neighborhood =)

Catching up with the Cumby's...

2008-04-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

So I know you are all on the edge of your seats wondering what's going on and so I won't make you wait another second... we're moving in with Jason's parents next weekend. Not what you expected, right? Me neither, but I think it is great. We are not staying in this house while it sells, so we were planning to get a cheap-o one bedroom apartment and Karen and Paul offered essentially that (at no cost). We'll have our own section of the house that has a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. They offered another room, but since they are starting some other construction I think they should keep it open for any of their stuff that suddenly needs a new home. It's funny, but in my quest to consume less, I think it is sort of cool to see what the real essentials in our lives are. So many things that I am going to pay to store that day to day don't even matter to me. Do you think that stash of Scrapbook Trends and Cards mags will make me cry at night while it is in storage? What about my George Foreman grill, my coffee maker (have I ever used that?) or my margarita glasses (still in their original packaging)? Don't worry, my scrap stash is so reduced now that I should be good with bringing what I need to make treasures while I am gone. Digi will def be doable as well. Sex will not be though, as my MIL pointed out. Not to say that we shouldn't, she just pointed out that by choosing to have Dylan in the same sleeping quarters that it will cramp our style. To which I say ew, living with your in-laws cramps your style so much more.

That's next weekend, so today I got a storage unit, need to be getting boxes, packing boxes and prepping up. I need to find a painter because mine sucks. There's heavy trash on Thursday, so a lot needs to be dismantled and put out. Lots (and lots!) of little jobs around the house that will need to be done. Dylan will be at my mom's all day tomorrow so we can get a head start. Then there will be a wave of relief as we are done, the for sale sign goes up and we sit and wait. Our realtor is super cool and optimistic, so hopefully this will end sooner rather than later. Then comes the real fun, picking our next home =) In that time as well, we will be doing swimming and gymnastics lessons, starting Mothers' Day out in prep for preschool, celebrating Dylan's birthday at Little Gym, and so many other things. In May, Jason's parents will be out of town one weekend and we will be out two. Hopefully we can not get on their last nerve. Heather, hope you're up for some sleepovers =)

Yeah, so, I am moving in with my parents-ish. What could be cooler than that to brag to the world wide web about?

Randomness pt 2

2008-04-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

First things first, I meant to come on here and ask this earlier, but which do you think is meaner - politician's wives having to stand alongside their cheating mate while he does the walk of shame...

or American Idol making the newest castoff sing after they've just found out?

It was just a random thought I had last week while Rami was pouring her eyes out over being kicked off and preparing to torture my ears one last time. I didn't feel badly for her, she's a karaoke brat, but I did think it is still a sort of cruel tradition. Plus, the song gets all phlegmy since they are crying, so it sounds like shizz. Just saying.

Moving along, Jason and I have made the grand decision to sell this house and move on to greener pastures. Wowsa! It was funny, I've been thinking of it for awhile but I thought the economy was too bad and then I didn't think Jason would be on board, but we got to talking last weekend while we were driving home from the river and when we decided to casually house hunt on Saturday we were hooked.

Let me say this: I know why there are so many foreclosures and I know this from personal and non personal experience. Americans need to frickin live within their own means!! What the heck makes so many people think they are entitled to the most awesome house on the block when they are stretching it as it is? I'm not sad, we're going to likely benefit from little snots buying a house they couldn't afford and hoping the taxes wouldn't catch up, that they'd have that awesome job when the adjustible rate adjusted or from greedy builders who thought they could quickly build and sell ten homes on a block and lost all their money by #8, leaving a shell of a house in its place. I get that there are people not in this position who are losing houses, and trust me when I say I know about predatory mortgage sellers. I worked on the level of predatory check card and credit card sales and that brings me enough shame. But a huge chunk of these people got what their family and friends saw coming. Again, I know this from experience and since you know my house hasn't been repo'd, you can assume I am family or friend. Bleh. But it will likely benefit us, because not only are awesome houses going cheap in places, but the govt is debating giving a $7K credit to those who buy foreclosed homes:
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2008/04/be_careful_what.html

I'll keep you all updated on the house selling process as we go. Jason is chatting with his mom, the somewhat retired realtor, tonight and we will call the active one she is referring us to as well as our old pal Shane the mortgage guy who got us set up with this one almost five years ago. We have some work we need to do in the process as well and we need to fight a tax appraisal as well that somehow thinks we're a mansion when we're a little chicken shack. Keep your fingers crossed that this process is easier said than done...

I C U P

2008-04-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

So...Heather very strongly asked me to put up a new blog entry and since Dylan looks adorable and we love Meg and her reputation, we shall do just that. For the record, absolutely no hard feelings -- we even paid to be in Meg's gymnastics class so we can make sure to see them (and jump on things) every Tuesday until June 2. She's really rather cute when she isn't in your purse or cutting things you like.

Let's talk about pee.

Specifically, the urine of a child who would love to funnel apple juice into his gut constantly. Jason has been wanting to push this again, we go in waves of me saying "We can't push him, it will backfire" to small victories with Jason pushing back to business as usual. He was pushing it last night and so I wanted to work on it today. Can't do much when we aren't at home, but as soon as we got home the diaper was off. I immediately got pee in a potty. Well hallelujah, maybe I do believe in the power of prayer! But then he pees on the rug. Knows it isn't cool and says "uh oh!" holds the rest and is brought to the bathroom and finishes there. That's a good lesson for him, so I am encouraged. There are no consequences when peeing your diaper, aka super sponge, but the rug isn't cool. It almost got on your Mickey! But then he peed on the cabinet in the bathroom, doing the same thing as before. Listen to the urge, man!

Just as I was typing that I heard him peeing on the rug and various toys. I know he has to get used to listening for the urge, but clearly I need to get all toys, books, and valuable to higher ground. His Little People plane simply didn't deserve that... Maybe this is the right way and we'll keep at it, but we are accepting any tried and true potty advice right now. "They'll do it when they're ready" is NOT an acceptable answer...

Hack job...

2008-03-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

I know Heather's already blogged this, but since my kid still needs a haircut I think I'm entitled to blog too. Long story short, Megan cut Dylan's hair. His beautiful long blonde hair and not in the bestest spot like I thought it was.

It's a little high and too far back to do what I was thinking, but we're going to the hair place today to see what we can do. I think his hair is going to have to be either rockstar or emo with layers. I am shocked to find that on the internet there is absolutely nowhere to look for sample boy cuts. Nowhere. I can see woman on donkey porn in twenty different languages but no ideas for a boy who doesn't know how to tell a girl no.

BTW, the hole count in the shirt was seven. He sat there for a hair slashing and seven slashes to the shirt. Edward Scissorhands, indeed. Heather, I hate to tell you, but this story will live on longer than the sippy cup of 2004...

**updated

We went to the haircut place. The lady was pretty clueless and not into chic boy haircuts. Actually she was quite incompetent, but not a lot of places do little boys down in the city. She left one side longer than the other and it required more cutting (which goes from bad to worse). I know no one gets it about his hair, people were always just telling us to cut it or whatever, but I loved how unique and extraordary he was. Now he has to be extraordinary with a very average, normal cut. It was so hard to grow the stuff past his ears that I can't imagine we'll try again. I know it's dramatic of me, but it really is like the saddest thing for me. I imagine this is what it feels like when a kid cuts off a girl's entire ponytail. Not trying to rub it in, I swear, I'm just really sad. Esp when we left and he tried to run his hands through it and he goes "My hair?"

So we go from this...

to this...

Ignore that little extra bit on the side, I swear the lady did a worse job than Megan, but I got that cleaned up...

Needing a weekend from my weekend...

2008-03-24T14:08:00.001-07:00

As many I am sure are as well...it seems like some weekends are just go, go and Easter weekend was no exception. Not that we do a thing to acknowledge the Christian reason for the season (good ol JC) or the pagan roots (a Saxon fertility celebration in honor of the Goddess Eastre whose sacred animal was a hare, you know we weren't looking for babies). No, our respects were paid to the figures Reese's, Hershey's and Brach's.

Saturday we did a little takeout BBQ and easter egg hiding out back with Karen and Paul. I really loved all the things she "hid" for him all over - eggs filled with everything from puzzles, alpha magnets and treats, cars, juice boxes, fruit, rubber duckies, chalk, bubbles, stickers and on and on. Really adorable, here are a couple pics:

He didn't hunt for long, he finally sat with the puzzle and chalk and made his grandma go find the eggs in the yard with more pieces. Very adorable, very fun. The next day was where the go, go, go was. We got up and did our little Easter thing with Dylan's basket. He had already seen the little Thomas toys and had wrangled them away, but I did put them back in the basket for a pic...that basket happens to be the one I grew up with. My mom seemed surprised, but I tend to be both nostalgic and cheap so it works well

Then it was off to the Hix's for the Cumberland brunch...really it was just Grandma Cumberland and the families of two of her daughters plus us, and we were glad they let us join them for a bit. The kids especially loved the playdohing, Danica and Dylan have quite a future in Playdoh Tea Parties

And then finally it was on to my mom's and Jim's... we decided not to really celebrate with the big dinner and such, so we went over, did a basket and then hit the park and Chuy's Mexican. About the park, let me say this. Our intention was to go to Memorial Park (gigantic park for those non-Houstonians, has a gigantic track, tennis clubs, volleyball courts, multiple playgrounds, pool, so on). It turns out though that over Easter weekend, the park becomes a living area a la Grapes of Wrath. If I had to take a guess, this would be mostly apartment dwellers or those with small homes, so they take the extended family here and set up picnic tents, sleeping tents, bbq pits and pinatas. They were everywhere, I could hardly see the actual playground through the swarms. Jason and I vetoed that and found a quieter park where, while pretty busy, was mostly peaceful. I say mostly because there was a huge family party there. Since we didn't go into the actual playground they didn't bother us except for this:

Yup, the idiots not only bought chicks for one day's pleasure, but they bought ones dyed different colors. Animal abuse at its best. Anyways, here are a couple pics from hanging with Mom and Jim, hope you had a nice day and that you can catch some zzz's...

and finally, the shot where Dylan too has had enough and can't lift his head from Daddy's shoulder...

Go 'way, lead paint!

2008-03-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Dylan has recently mastered the use of the popular phrases "Go 'way" and "stop," and frankly he's kind of becoming an a-hole. Thanks Dylan, but if I wanted to be rejected that often, I'd set up a match.com account with an un-Photoshopped picture. Monday he tells me to go away because he wants to play with his trains in his room in peace. Clearly, my aura doesn't jive with that of Thomas and Percy. I go to the living room and do my own thang (aka Paradise Hotel 2 TiVo'd from the ever classy Fox Reality channel and fruit dip) and after awhile I no longer hear the sounds of him playing (which would be trains hitting the floor, hitting the wall, him squealing because he can't find 9...) I walk in and he is face down on the floor not moving.

Is he dead? Did he eat a stop sign? Did the lead paint from the trains finally seep into his brain? I shake him and he whines -- he has simply fallen asleep on the floor among his friends. Could've been a sweet moment if this wasn't in my head:

My day in hell and other interesting bits

2008-03-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

You know, I really try to give Dylan all kinds of fun experiences. Sometimes that ends in massive amounts of joy and laughter like his trip to the Children's Museum with Kolby earlier this week and sometimes it ends in thoughts of suicide like our trip with the Turners to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I thought I was being clever going during the week when the chaos would be minimal and the trip would be gumdrops and happiness. Wrong.

First of all, let's talk about the millions of field trippers. Every school district in the city appears to reserve their one field trip for this event which frankly is a waste. The exhibit for kids involves watching a cow be miked, an astroturf covered slanted surface intended to be a "hill" for kids to "roll down" (aka get astro burn on their elbows and then land either into a crowd of boot covered feet or at the above mentioned cow milking), lines of smelly animals that aren't intended to be touched and then finally the sales area of Chevy pickups and John Deere tractors. Maybe next year they could actually go somewhere where they could learn something other than the sticker price of a tractor? So as you walk, you are bombarded by these endless lines of children in the same color shirt. They are all over the place, covering the surface of the Reliant Arena like ants on an ant hill that just had the shizz kicked out of it. Wanted them all to just go away, though I was run up and hugged by one who turned out to be MIL's neighbor. I liked that.

So far I've pointed out that the place sucked and that the kids sucked but one kid in particular mega sucked -- Dylan. He wasn't in the mood to be told what to do and where to go, he wasn't in the mood to hang out in crowds and he wasn't in the mood to pretend to like the rodeo. So he cried a lot outloud and I cried a lot inside. He pet two cows and was tickled by that, enjoyed sitting on every foot massager in the place, loved sitting on all the tractors, and wanted the person dressed as a cow to adopt him and take him home and every second in between was pure hell. Here are some pics, but to top the experience off, the lighting sucks so bad in there that every pic sucks too.

Someone please email me a link to this post next year when I consider going to the rodeo again, k?

Vote or die, drink Diet Coke and die...

2008-03-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

If you're in Texas or Ohio (or even a little bitty state with primaries today!) please make sure to go vote! Jason and I hit the early voting a couple weeks ago to avoid the lines (and forgetting/making excuses). It's funny watching all the media coverage all this time and it was like a storm when they (Clinton/Obama) finally had their eyes on Texas. Suddenly the mail was full of stuff (Obama mailed to me, Clinton mailed to my mom), the phones were ringing (Obama's wife called my mom on a recording) and the radio channels were full of youngins talking about how Obama understands our generation wants change, Clinton chatting about her past in Texas of doing door-to-door and even enlisting Ugly Betty's America Ferrara to tell the latino voters that Clinton's always supported their peeps, etc. And like it was never here, it will be back to commericals about car dealers and Bikini Beach dance parties tomorrow. I don't care who you vote for, but please get out and do it!!

I mentioned a couple posts ago about my journey to be both healthier and stop killing the environment so much. My major effort is starting with...Diet Coke. As I was having my last sips, I thought about what a strange drink it is, a chemical concoction really. Carbonated water, caramel coloring, aspertame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate...the ingredient list makes me think the first time I sprout a tumor, I should just go ahead and direct my attention at the Coca Cola Corporation... and as I drank it and felt that fizz burning down my throat (which I really like, it peps me up, but it's kinda creepy too) I wondered how that drink ever came to be. Anyways, my last one was around 6 pm Sunday and while I was really sleepy all day yesterday, today I got hit with the headache that fellow addicts like Amy Winehouse can relate to. I popped some caffeine pills (will taper that off soonly) so I could get something done today. Feeling better now, hurray. Getting rid of Diet Coke is dual purpose too because we create sooooo many plastic bottles with that habit. While we do recycle, that hardly lets us off scot free. The plan is to get water delivered so that we aren't trading one bad habit for another (soda bottles for water bottles), but the 24 month commitment at Sparklettes was realer than I was ready for.

And now a picture to brighten your day...here's Dylan at Will's charity walk for mitochondrial research blowing on a pinwheel. The walk was downtown in a historical park where they moved a bunch of historical houses like Sam Houston's, etc. Really neat area, Jason and I used to hang out and ride bikes down there when we lived down the street (okay, like once). Anyways, Dylan's officially being mistaken for a girl, but we like his hair and don't want to cut it. Not that it stops anyone from giving their two cents (can't wait til we start making real mistakes, then we'll really hear it!) but maybe I could dye it black and use more product and he could just look like Pete Wentz...anyway, enjoy my androgynous cutie...

A laugh from the gut

2008-02-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

I don't usually post stuff from other blogs, but somehow I came across a blog called "Stuff White People Like" and I believe I peed my pants several times. See, it kinda sucks in some ways to be white. Whereas there is pride in other demographic groups like African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, homosexuals, and so on, white people are reminded that they are about as cool as a naked old man covered in liver spots. Basically the caucasian demographic is seen by others as Mr. Burns on the Simpsons. So there is nothing cool to be proud of (and frankly, the only accomplishments white people can tout involve the persecution of others. You look cold, would you like a blanket? I'm sure it isn't covered in smallpox...)

So if you can't have pride in yourself, you should be able to laugh at your ridiculousness. It turns out that white people are terribly predictable and lame. Check out this blog:
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Whoever is writing this stuff is both hilariously witty and spot on (Andrea, if this ends up being you I will not be the least bit shocked). My favorite things that white people like:

Gentrification
Expensive Sandwiches
The Prius!!
Hip Hop Songs (the honorable mentions list is my iPod playlist...I swear)
Irony
Whole Foods
Apple Products
Arrested Development, both the show and the group
Knowing what's best for poor people
Standing still at concerts

My transformation into hippie magic

2008-02-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

Sitting here watching my fave episode of Sesame Street - the Buckaneers. Where else can I get Abby Cadabby's "Words" song, Tina Fey and Chris Brown singing the catchiest song about signs to infect my brain. Big thanks for Elmo, because this week Dylan sang his ABC's all the way through by himself. I about crapped myself, it was as though he had written out the formula for curing cancer and put it in my lap. Sometimes he says "next time won't you sing with Elmo" since that's what his little ABC toy says. Makes me laugh.

Other than that, I'm faced with a moral dilemma. Jason and I have been fans of documentaries and I am suddenly carrying a burden of guilt (conscience?) because we learn a lot and don't do anything. What I'm talking about is environmental... we were watching "Six degrees could kill the world" or something close to that on either Discovery or Natl Geographic and they looked at how one cheeseburger from a fast food joint slaughters so much carbon. It was a reminder how much every little thing we consume has a long story behind it. The cheeseburger starts with a cow (slaughterhouses are aweful for the environment too!), grains are grown, etc and then all this stuff is transported via refrigerated vehicles long distances, paper wrappers, and so on. Really, the one cheeseburger put the Stepford Wives' SUV's to shame. This was on top of me reading Fast Food Nation last summer and knowing the awfulness that is a slaughterhouse and the patheticness that is the processed American menu. I can't believe I am saying it, but maybe I need to find ways to feed my family using natural local resources. When I opened my eyes to what all comes from China, I was astounded. My jar of Mandarin oranges, apples, shrimp, etc. They don't just ship us lead paint, peeps. If you think of how much it takes to ship all that here, it is sorta sad. Not to mention the chemicals, preservatives and such that I know must be responsible for my chronic migraines and such.

So I started looking at ways I could help. We recycle and we drive a Prius and that's nice, but it is nothing. Everytime I go to a store and get twenty plastic bags I cringe. Guess who is headed to the Target dollar spot for some of those vinyl bags? I think that will make me feel better. My friend and I had a big discussion on all of this and she told me about small markets in Houston where local farmers come in to sell meat without hormones and such and raw milk. Not sure if I am ready for raw milk, but meat that isn't put through radiation would be nice. I am happy to say we went organic with milk when Dylan started it, but my understanding is that organic is still a far cry from any natural form. And yes, I need to get my bum to the farmers' market for some pesticide free fruits and veggies from local farmers. Whenever I do go to market, I need to remember that rule that the only things I need to buy are along the outside of the grocery store, avoiding aisles. Do I think that benzoate sulfuric no 8 is something intended for the human body? Probably not.

Sorry for the hippie rant, but I was suddenly faced with the fact that I should make some changes for me and my family. If you get a chance to TiVo that documentary, do it. It is amazing that people can think global warming doesn't exist after you've seen that. Seeing why English wine production is doing better than French is fascinating...and was probably preventable if we weren't turning our planet into a hotbox. Rant complete.

** thanks to my super sis andrea who emailed me this link to a dude in nyc who is feeling my guilt and doing something: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2007/02/the_no_impact_e.html

Throw you a bone...

2008-02-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

I know everyone on the www is scratching their heads wondering what I've been up to...well, not much. I've been working on my campaign for mother-of-the-year by doing more with Dylan. I suddenly have the capacity to spontaneously go to the Children's Museum, play with other kids, etc and it has been a miracle. I think Dylan's liking it though.

Other than that, found this place that will print my Cumby for Prez shirts for a nominal fee: www.ElectMeTees.com and Jason got excited too. These guys have onesies and toddler sizes too, so it is on. Unfortunately it is for 2008 and I am ineligible to run because of age (among other minor issues) but I might as well get the buzz going. Here's the link to the foundation of my 2016 campaign, assuming we aren't sitting in a pile of rubble: http://brandyproductions.blogspot.com/2007/12/cumby-for-prez2016.html Personally, by then I think we're going all Grapes of Wrath and we're all going to be living out of our cars as we travel for work with the way the economy is going.

Andrea came in for her birthday celebration - Happy Birthday,Sis!! My brother tried his best to ruin the night by simply existing, but luckily we make him a source of laughter for us all. I never air his dirty laundry on my blog out of courtesy, but geez louise is it taking restraint these days. But as he hijacks every aspect of our lives, he has hijacked this paragraph. It was Andrea's birthday and we have a good ol time. My mom drank too much and had diahrea of the mouth, but it was otherwise fun chatting all around. We also had a yummy breakfast the next day (El Tiempo brunch = fab), the girls hit Ann Taylor Loft (I=broke) and met the boys at the bowling alley where they were doing rock and bowl at like noon on a Sunday. If you don't know rock and bowl, it is usually rock music, black lights and strobe lights with drunk and high teens wandering aimlessly around. On Sunday it is Hannah Montana videos, black lights, strobe lights, and little kids -- let's just say i don't think anyone dropped acid just to bowl there on a Sun morn like the traditional followers of rock and bowl. Here's a pic of Andrea, her girls (thanks for that shirt!) and Dylan (the hijacker of all candles burning):

Cleaning Up

2008-02-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

Gotta do it...I cleaned up some of the links on the side. Some links were no longer working or were invitation only, so if I erased you and shouldn't have just let me know. I also added the new Dt members over at SO because I need to get to know them and what better way than to spy on them.

Congrats new members! I will use this as an excuse to post this fun pic:

Other than that, business as usual at the Cumby abode. Got a new treadmill that arrived this morning, think I decided to vote for Obama in March when voting takes place in Texas, and thinking I will need to go to Three Brothers Bakery this week for a King's cake...also, kudos to Jason for pushing the pacifier issue. Dylan was using them to sleep and Jason wanted to end it. Really was only one night of Hell, one night of semi-purgatory and no big deal since. So go Daddy!

This is a call...

2008-01-31T19:02:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have read my earlier post "Overexposed" or whatever I called it. There I was contemplating the pros and cons about being online, sharing your life, blogs, mb's, etc. Sad to say, this week has led me to believe it's all a bad idea.

I get it. If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. Duly noted. I've had my share of being judged openly and subversively and I'd like to think karma has taken care of some of those people (though they may call it something else). But I've watched people I like and care about get it bad this week and it makes me sad. More than one. What the hell? Some of it comes down to the hobby and the trolls that lurk boards giving hugs and then reposting your posts elsewhere to mock, some of it comes down to the people you know who are stalking you just to see if you might mention their name but all of it comes down to losers so obsessed with you that they watch your every move but claim you are the loser, that you are the one with something wrong with you. Trust me, you're the one with the low IQ and the loser life. I can almost understand doing this to people you know, but total strangers?! Effen pathetic.

I don't search my google analytics to see who is watching me. I look at the comments to see who might think I am going to hell and who has something funny to say, but I don't know who is lurking. If you are out there, just stalking me for giggles, for goodness sake check in on the comments. Just let me know if my self righteousness and godlessness are enough for you to character assassinate me all around the net, and if you are just waiting for the right time to strike. I like to be ready.

Filler material - tab down to name my okra...

2008-01-21T20:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, when Rita of all people is telling me to write something, that's embarrassing. The thing is, I don't have that much to say. I could rant about some stupid comment I read about how some ladies are dissing Oprah for dissing her chicks to support a black man as though the election of a president should be based on criteria similar to prom king "is he cute?" "what kind of car does he drive?" etc. I typed a long response on the MB I saw it on that basically went back to my earlier post about how one should decide on the candidate (you know, issues). Geez.

Based on my previous post on keeping religion out of political debate and watching a certain candidate recently equate my really wonderful neighbors across the street with someone fornicating with a dog, I would like to introduce Who Would Jesus Elect? bracelets - I (for now) claim the copyright on WWJE bracelets (until someone reminds me that someone else already had the idea first). While I looked for those, I found this ad showing why Jesus' endorsement isn't good (his views on immigration, how universal salvation has stolen the jobs of many angels): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKI2C93T4CU

Please remember, I don't hate Christians and I don't judge any follower of any religions' belief system. What I do judge is people who try to impose their belief system on the masses who don't want it. Can you imagine trying to be a gay or lesbian in this country while idiots drive a bus around the nation try to rile up a crowd to take away your rights and to generally lament on the fact that you're burning in hell? "Geez, I just want to get married to my lesbian partner of ten years so I can be guaranteed health care, not be unfairly taxed when my partner dies, be allowed to make decisions about my partner's health if a tube needs to be pulled, be able to pretend that equality does exist in the US, and be able to not be a hot topic for discussion everytime there's an election." That's crazy talk. It's like being a kid and listening to your parents fight about what's wrong with you in the room next door. There's something wrong with me? Don't you know I can hear you?

I know. No one is nearly as interested when I babble about the state of the nation as they are when I post a picture of a cute child (usually my own) or talk about American Idol. I get that. Here's a token picture of me with a piece of okra that cam from Big Daddy's BBQ and magically has a face on it. I would like to think it is Jesus' so I could sell it on eBay, but cool things never happen to me. Sigh. Who do you think he looks like?

Showoff

2008-01-04T18:59:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd be one of those lame moms and announce all of my precious genius' accomplishments as of late...it was that, or give you a step-by-step inventory of the family drama and why I haven't had my New Years' good luck dinner yet (grrrrr...should get it Sunday though, hope that isn't too late)

Anyways, Dylan can (and constantly does):
* Count to 13 (where he just goes "turteen, turteen, turteen.")
* Identify his ABC's (and spell his name, which he won't perform for others often)
* Name the main colors (no ecru or bashful here, but blue, red, green is nice)
* Say "Mama" over. and over. and over. Hi Mama. over. and over. Mama. Mama. Hi Mama.
* Line tons of things up in the straightest lines ever. I've been told numerous times that it is a sign of autism. Thanks to all the optimists, like his life won't be hard enough simply having been born to me and Jason
* Says please and thank you
* Grow his hair super long, as everyone points out (and alludes to a mullet that ain't there)
* Sometimes hits Jason in his junk and makes me laugh and laugh and laugh.

Won't do:
* Potty train (will cure cancer with a poopie diaper)
* Vacuum and mop (and frankly that is why we had him)
* Sit down and eat a meal. He likes things on the go.

Here, have a pic until I come up with something more interesting to post...

Insane lining up of little toy horses on his surfboard:

One quick thought...

2007-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

A two post day, I know. But I was taking the time to read some news that didn't involve Britney, Paris or Lohan and I was reading a little more about the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/28/bhutto.death/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Just thought it was wildly interesting that in an area of the world that we in the US associate with constant persecution of women, they can still bring forth this hero, the first female prime minister of any Islamic nation while we in the US sit on our high horses and declare ourselves the best. Sure they have a ways to go, but they aren't still debating whether they are ready for the first woman president. Sheesh, America. Get over it already. The rest of the world seems to...

**not endorsing anyone in particular, just the principle of the matter...

Holiday Chaos: the End is Near

2007-12-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

Isn't that the best news of all? Your credit card can start to be paid down, you can stop insanely buying stuff just to have more stuff to give, and you can go back to being...normal. It is beautiful.

Some highlights from the celebrations:
* We got to see Will's school play on video over at the Cumberland's and snow from Vermont too
* Matthew came over to spread Christmas cheer and the common cold...mostly the common cold
* Christmas BBQ with Dad, Judy, etc
* Dylan's tool belt and hard hat over at KT's and Paul's, construction begins in January and he is ready to pitch in as needed
* Family pj night
* Christmas morning: I say "Hey, Dylan smells like poop." Jason points out the trail of poop that is falling out of the side of his pajama bottoms next to wrapped goods as he walks. We strip him down to find an insanely full diaper that has burst. Now that's Christmas cheer. I then take obligatory naked pics next to the tree and then get him into new pj's from under the tree.
* We appear to be celebrating Hanakkah. Dylan would get so interested in his gifts that he wanted to play, not keep unwrapping. There are still three gifts wrapped and ready for him, we are on day four of unwrapping them. Shalom.
* Size 3T scrubs embroidered with "Dr Cumberland" from Grandpa Jim. Best. Ever.
* Dylan decides to seize his bike handlebars and ride an imaginary bike around the room when it takes too long to put together his Fisher Price Smart Cycle. Hilarity ensued.
* Watching Shrek 3 five times in a row with Mom and Jim, Andrea and Chad, Dylan and Jason. Oh, and Bryan. How could I forget that?

I want to try and keep this short out of politeness to anyone who reads this, so I am limiting the pics to as few as possible...and yet still too many

Christmas cards (I still had a stack after this was done, so all the late senders didn't make it!)

Jason's dad's surprise from us - the photoshoot with the boys:

Will's surprise plate for his mom:

Carrier monkey that got me and my family sick (because why would my brother warn us?)

Men at work:

Family pajama day:

Lumps of coal:

Tears of joy:

Don't want no scrubs:

Cumby for Prez...2016

2007-12-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

Watching "Meet the Press" on the TiVo and wondering why I put myself through this. I like to pay attention to politics because I think everybody really should, but I loathe the state of our nation. This pic fulfills its 1000 words and beyond:

James Madison: "Strongly guarded . . . is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States," Madison wrote, and he declared, "practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government is essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States."

Thomas Jefferson: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

Religion is an opinion and a personal one at that. The only political relevance is that you personally can worship however. I think it is ridiculous that presidential candidates give political speeches in churches across America, they should be in colleges, sports stadiums, other public places. I don't think it is right that as part of almost every debate these puppets yap about their beliefs in God and as such either gain or lose votes as a result. I think it is wrong that people judge Mitt Romney just because of his affiliation and focus the debate on whether Mormoms are religions. Debate that at after church Sunday coffee, let's keep our eyes on the prize.

Presidential Candidates, Lady and gents, please remember that this is really what the American people should base their decisions:

1. Public education is subpar - we need to do something.
2. There are too many people without health insurance - we need to do something.
3. Illegal immigrants - get them on the books, have them start paying taxes, amnesty on having been illegal since they are coming and signing in. End of story. Don't send them back and don't pretend that any American is in the mood to do the jobs they do. I do not want to pay to find them, pay to send them back, pay to block them from getting back in and pay to send them back again when they make their way back in. I am sick of my taxes paying for their children to go to school and use medical resources. Get them paying into the tax pool and let them be the Americans they want to be!
4. Abortion - leave it alone. If you don't want one, don't get one. It is a personal decision, so take it or leave it but mind your own business. Also, remember Baby Grace and her dead body floating in Galveston Bay in a Rubbermaid container? Take your pick - abused and murdered children or abortion because these people fighting this are doing nothing to protect or take care of all the kids in the system or in the homes of idiots like Baby Grace's mom.
5. Which leads me to the kiddos - gotta be a better way to watch and protect the kids of this nation. I mean, other than prepping the poor ones to join the army for college money to fight for oil.
6. Stem cell research - they are all over the place and they can help people. Get off your soapbox, stop talking about God's opinion on it. My understanding is that stem cells can come from a lot of places like cord blood, etc; furthermore, there are doctors fertilizing eggs in petri dishes in labs all over America and no, they do not all get used. Some are *gasp* unused and disposed of. I'd volunteer all the eggs I have left if it helped sufferers of Parkinson's,
7. Between 1996 and federal Fiscal Year 2006, Congress funneled over $1.5 billion dollars (through both federal and state matching funds) to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Abstinence is pleasant but is not the full story. If the government wants to take action against teen pregnancy, kids need the full story. Pills and Condoms don't tempt kids to have sex - they have the films, music and other kids tempting them to do that. And some are. And some are getting pregnant. Give them real choices. And give me that $1.5 billion dollars so I can spend it much more wisely.
8. Iraq - write them a check and get out. We shouldn't have gone there and we shouldn't still be there. Things are getting no better there, but they are getting worse here. I would be much more concerned with the safety, education, public works etc in Post-Katrina New Orleans than Iraq. Don't fight for the freedom on non-Americans using American money until everything's working out on the homefront. That's common sense, babe.
9.Same sex marriage - separate is not equal. Remember black schools? How'd that work out? Look at civil unions that same way. Want to maintain the institute of marriage? Keep divorcing at a rate of 50%. Gays and lesbians aren't killing marriage, heteros are. If you take out everyone in the debate who is divorced, cheating on their spouse and so on, you will end up with a handful of nice Christian people who think gays are going to burn in hell and a group of gays and lesbians who are in love, want to live out the same dreams others do and deserve the same rights as any other loving couple such as benefits, etc. I'm going with the gays on that one.
10. Accept that America is not #1. If we were, we would not have abused, starving kids. We would not have veterans of war on street corners, they would be the true royalty of this nation and not Paris Effen Hilton. Patriotism is freedom of speech and true freedom is seen most vividly in dissent. No one would be debating whether they can afford to have health care or pay the mortgage. We would not hate on people simply for being different in any way. We need to be humble, admit our shortcomings and improve ourselves.

Everyone loves a tea party

2007-12-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

...especially my son, it would seem. Last weekend we went to an amazing little birthday party for Dylan's cousin Danica who turned two. It was at this little kiddie boutique in the Heights called Olive Anne's, and proved that awesome children's parties can happen inside town. I had no idea what to expect, and we got there and were taken back to the girliest room ever - bright pink, feather boas at the door, dress up in the back and two of the barber chairs for hair styling. At first I wondered what all the adults and little boys were going to do with themselves, but I must have forgotten this is the Cumberland crew and this group always makes a fun time for themselves.

Basically, it was a combination free for all and structured play. You could go get your hair dyed and glittered, you could play dress up, you could eat and at the same time there were structured activities like building castles out of sugarcubes and icing, making foam crowns and of course the tea party! Here are some pics...

Mama Angela and the Birthday girl:

Will's Castle:

Very cute girl playing dress up:

Jason getting his hair did with Aunt Jeaneane:

and then with Will (matching, of course):

Adorable cake:

Wonderful tea (Dylan was the last man standing and pretty much had to be dragged away from the tea table):

And it ain't a party without dancing:

But Dylan was already dunzo:

And new faces --- finally got to meet Baby Troy who is not 15 months old (and probably lives 10 minutes from us...)

Anyways, sorry for the pic overload but I just thought this was the cutest party and I am thinking Shana needs to have Madeleine's birthday party here next...

Other than that, just gearing up for another busy weekend. I am having a much needed girls' night tonight and then Will is spending the night Saturday night before the big annual Cumberland Christmas party. Being part of that family is so cool, and I am excited to bring the Chicken Chipotle Salad -- love that stuff. Oh, and Dylan learned to say "fart" yesterday with his daddy, I thought I would die laughing. Happy weekend!!

Some observations...

2007-11-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

Just some things that I feel like discussing with the masses:

* "Ask your Doctor if (insert drug here) is right for you." Really?! Because I thought the overpaid person who has kept me waiting for 45 minutes in a gown while they speak to sexy pharmaceutical reps with free food should tell me what is right for me on his or her own. I thought you came in with symptoms and the doctor in all his or her years of education and experience should tell me what is wrong and then prescribe accordingly. I do not understand advertising drugs. I mean, I like the attitude that Smiling Bob in the Enzyte commercials for ED. I don't know what ED entails, but I will go ahead and waste the two minutes I get of facetime with my doc to ask if Enzyte is right for me.

* Ikea is now charging .05 a bag if you want to actually bag the things you buy. Okay, fine. Yay for the environment and that isn't expensive or anything. But Ikea of all places?! Ikea publishes a bajillion catalogs every year and shoves them in every newspaper and mails them out as well. They then leave a pile of those tree chips at their door where people who probably already got it one of the other two ways pick another copy up. Splendid. Though their website has improved as far as things to view on the website, far as I can see I cannot find the full catalog. If you really care about the environment, put the catalog online and stop printing all those things up. I won't even start about the practically disposable nature of their bookshelves and other particle board goodness...

* other than that, nothing odd to point out about the universe. Christmas shopping is going well, I have a tree up but I can't decide it I want some sort of garland-y option so I am at a standstill. This weekend is Jim's birthday, so I'm excited to see Andrea and the crew. Have a great weekend...

Back to the Superficial!!! Give thanks...

2007-11-18T21:50:00.001-08:00

Because you know that's where I like to be...just the easy peasy superficial which is actually the best part of life.

Thanksgiving is this week!!!! I am so excited to be pigging out, I love the fact that every food can be covered in cream and cheese and be made into a casserole. I love the macaroni and cheese that my mom has been making since I was a little kid. I am sad that we never get to go see our Louisiana family on Thankgiving anymore, but I love seeing Chad and Andrea instead. I prefer Charlie Brown Thanksgiving over Charlie Brown Christmas. I love that the sun goes down on Thanksgiving and the colors of the world are brown and orange and when the sun comes up on Friday morning the only colors anyone sees is red and green. Heck, I already set the TiVo for Mickey's Christmas Carol (obviously, Mickey Mouse's take on the Dickens tale). If I play my cards right (ha ha, pun), I will have all my Christmas cards out Friday morning. Other things I am looking forward to this week: a little more alone time with my sweet kiddo, seeing Jason again, maybe seeing Dad, def eating and playing with Mom, Jim, Andrea and Chad (and Mom and Jim's gigantic new TV, hello Thanksgiving Day parade!), Jalepeno Sausage Cheese bread in Hillje, another Thanksgiving meal with Jason's parents and grandmother and more games, finishing a book and maybe starting another, playing with Photoshop when I have no internet this weekend, what else?

Then I can start thinking about what I love about the Christmas season. Don't get me wrong, I think buying gifts for grown ass adults who are capable of buying their own gifts is insane, but that doesn't mean the whole deal is lost on me. There's always Claymation Christmas, watching Dylan figure it all out, ghetto mall Santas and neighborhoods with Christmas lights. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!!

Overexposed...

2007-11-14T13:33:00.000-08:00

** Thanks for all the emails and pm's of support I am getting on this. I feel like I am beating a dead horse here, so hopefully I can get back to superficial chat after this! **

I'd be lying if I said being all over the online community didn't bring me some sort of joy and new relationships. I loved meeting all the BYOM girls in Chicago last weekend (and I plan to see them all again, that's definite). I love that Rita is in our life just because she and Heather connected on KNK (way before I thought it was okay to meet internet people in person, but a lot has happened since then for me to think it was okay. Like Rita. Like my mom meeting and marrying Jim. And so on.)

That said, I am starting to feel like maybe putting myself out there is exposing more than I want to. I started on KNK and that was simple. Then I joined several DT's and am involved in those communities. A couple things happened in the last weeks that made me rethink it all...

ScrapFaith... I know what I signed up for with that and I convinced myself I was supposed to do it because everything fell into place the way it did. I have tougher skin than many and I don't know how hard Emilie would have had to search to find another agnostic or, gasp, an athiest. So I am the agnostic and it would seem that since I didn't pick a religion to attach myself to, I am thus unattached and have a void that needs to be filled. I've debated this, talked to others and decided that this needs to be said for me to be true to myself (even if I am already so over talking about this!):

I have no void and I did not join that team to find some answer. I have my answer and I am only out there representing my experience because no one else is. It has always seemed like the scrapbooking industry heavily leans towards Christianity, with an occassional nod to our Jewish friends with Hannukah or Rosh Hashana. No one has been out there saying, "Yeah I don't know" and that was the role it seems I am to play. Please don't think I mean "Yeah I don't know, please lead me to the way" because that isn't it. I think that the truths of the universe are way beyond the human mind and we can only grasp as much as we can. I mean, I can hardly handle college level Calculus and yet all the truths of the universe are supposedly within my reach within some four walls? Personally, I can't commit to that. I am proud to say that I don't have all the answers, but I do have some. The answers I have I share with billions of other people of hundreds of faith. I think you have to do your best to be the best human you can, because really that is all you can do. I think you have to be a good person and live an honest lifestyle. I think you should do good and give of yourself. I will never be a Christian because I simply cannot commit to certain vital principles of that faith, and that's okay. Do I believe in God? That's tricky. Cognitively I know it is so naive to believe that whatever complex being created DNA, amoebas, cancer, peace, feces, sunshine and terrestrial life is sitting around, as Bill Maher puts it oh-so-eloquently "To act like my daddy in the sky" and listen to my hopes and prayers, but it feels good so I do it. I don't pray daily but I will bust out the emergency god when someone is sick or when I am scared or when I simply need strength and hope and that is okay because I say it is. God or no god, your call. What you think is what you think and it is just as okay too. It's all good as long as you're trying to be good...

Anyone who wandered over from ScrapFaith or is itching to show me a way...Please do not contact me to make a case for your answer or your faith. I am genuinely happy that you have found something that makes you content and fulfilled, but this is not up for debate. That site is there to show that women of whatever spiritual life can coexist, respect each other and see the similarities that exist for us all and I am not going to make myself feel like I need to listen to the arguments of others just because my position is so different from everyone else's. You simply can't respect my standing and then follow up with a "but consider this..." because it makes your show of respect an empty gesture. I say this with love and because I need to stand up for myself.

That was the heavy stuff, the personal stuff that has made me want to shut my laptop and my mouth. The other stuff that made me rethink my online involvement... superficial drama. I get sucked into it and it makes me feel ick. I wish I had never heard the words "HOF gate" or "See you on the River" because of how awful I started to see other people and myself. I dabbled in some drama on another board on behalf of a bestie and found myself trying to set someone straight who, while very much needing to be set straight by someone, probably didn't need it from a total stranger like me. That person led several of us to a couple boards which are capable of manifesting the most bitter hatred between strangers. I feel like I've ruined it all for myself, I liked it when I thought we were all there to love and support each other and I need to pretend that no world exists outside of BYOM, SO, AC Bailey, RSC and Scrapfaith. I've made a conscious decision to go back to that place.

Next debate: How do I separate scrapbooking my life and scrapbooking being my life? I am working on less scrapping, less MB drama and more reading (and when I've read enough, more writing). It feels like this must have been a predictable SAHM pitfall, creating a person other than "Dylan's Mom" by trying to be Ms. Scrappin-all-over-the-frickin Place, but I should focus on balance and all that goodness. Tune in to hear how that goes, but I will be finishing my first book since making that decision (Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann) in the next day and that already feels sadly momentous...

Happy Halloween!!

2007-11-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

Monkeying around worked out slightly better than last year's dragon and infinetly more than the lion the first year, but only because Dylan was a little more impressed by the whole deal this year. I won't say that he "got it" but he enjoyed parts of his costume, ate candy and cried on the way home. I made caramel apples like a good housewife, despite the fact that Dylan did not nap, and it would seem, is working naps out of his schedule. Funny, the rate at which his naps decrease moves at the exact same rate as my desire to go get a job. Half-kidding. Anyways, here's the magic...

If you have too much time on your hands, feel free to check out the huge Flickr upload... http://flickr.com/photos/qcumberland/sets/72157602822258550/

Life, today.

2007-10-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

I had a crappy day and I don't really want to discuss it. Let's just say there is a layout forming in my head titled "The Wisdom to know the Difference" and on one side is a pic of me with the caption "The things I can" and a pic of another certain person outside of my inner circle with the caption "The thing I cannot change." That tells pretty much the whole story right there, minus frustration, tears and screaming.

So what better to do that blog about BS?! Love it! Did you notice I decorated my blog for Halloween? It is pretty cool. The different elements come from several digi kits like the iron gate on the banner (Rustiron kit from www.jennilyndesigns.com), papers (Anna in the Fiesta kit from Oscrap, I believe, as well as most everything else from Jan Crowley's Macabre kit (Oscrap?) Anyways, I will make it more autumn next week but this is cute for now.

We went to the beach this weekend and stayed at a beach house Karen and Paul (in-laws) rented. I relaxed a lot and learned a whole lot about digi but there were too many people (Granny and Paul's parents also stayed there, and there were only two bedrooms and then foldouts in the living room) and too early of bedtimes (9:15 one night, no kidding). But there were some cute pics to be had and by Monday night a cold front came through and we had cool weather. We waited for over an hour and a half in said cold weather in the car for the ferry Monday night to leave and that really sucked, but I liked the trip overall. Some pics to leave you with:

(the ocean almost looks pretty here -- this is after the storm with the tide way out and the water eerily calm)

(I learned to play Rummy Tiles with everyone and I really liked it)

(relaxing)

(Granny and Karen laughing at Paul)

(Dylan's corny new "cheese" face)

(the closest I got the ocean was using my zoom lens on the deck for this shot!)

Other than that, nada much going on here. I would like to try and scrap now to sorta chill out, but we will see. See, blogging did make me feel calmer. Serenity now!

Yayayayayayayayayayayayay!!!!

2007-10-18T15:26:00.001-07:00

I just got an email from Scrapbooking Trends saying they want to put my "Don't know why" LO in their March 2008 issue!!!! Too bad it is a million years from now, but hurray! I suspect I will be among good company for that issue too...pretty sure I am not the first to toot. (**EDITED - HEATHER'S IN THERE TOO!!!**)

I actually deleted it the one place I had posted it in the first place, but here's my graphic for galleries in case I need it in the future...

I've never been much for submitting in the past and I can't remember why I did this one but it is a very good feeling and I will totally try again in the future. Oh yeah, and it is 8 1/2 by 11 -- who knew that was the format for me?

Checking in...

2007-10-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

and with nothing much to say. Stuff we've done lately:

- The Dexter Season Premiere promotion: I think they chose like 16 cities and filled their fountains with faux blood. I went to the wrong fountain at first, but then the family went to the right one. If you haven't watched Dexter, you are truly missing out. Season 1 is out on DVD and while you are catching up on Showtime goodness, check out Season 1 and 2 of Weeds, also awesome.

- Going big boy: Posted these on Simply Obsessed, but we did put together Dylan's big boy bed and he has been a pro at sleeping in it. He doesn't realize he can get out of it himself in the morning, so he just yells "Hello? Mama? Dada? Helloooo?" until someone comes

- Preparing for autumn: Went to the pumpkin patch this weekend with Mary, Richard and Will and shooed in the fall season by posing for pics in the pumpkins and taking a hayride. My favorite is the last one because while Dylan is on a pumpkin, you can see the Christmas season sneaking up behind him, both figuratively and literally.

And finally, to all the ridiculous people who are organizing to burn issues of CK - you are lame. You are sad and jealous and if you were named HOF tomorrow, you would be singing a different tune. What is saddest is that all those stereotypes of ridiculous, crazy women are being fulfilled on MB's all over right now. I've always liked this craft because the focus was on the good things in life and on building relationships of fun and support with other women, and what has come out of that whole debacle is the complete opposite of that. Please stop. If you entered the HOF contest, I understand your frustration and you are given a two minute pass to complain. And the two minutes are up...

Rained out

2007-10-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

All the anticipation over the craft fair and I know everyone wants to know how it went...let's just say the whole thing was a bust, but I say that with wet hair and a smile. Started at 11 and it was nasty overcast, but the hope was that the weather would pick up and the people would show...that didn't get a chance to happen. Around 1:30 or 2 it started thundering, but it was sort of a hostage situation to try and get out since cars weren't allowed in the area. At some point, the heavens let loose and it poured insanely. We tried to get everything under the tent, and under tables but it was flooding and nuts. I suspect quite a bit of my stuff was ruined since paper + water = pulp, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Here are some pics from the day -- Shana's bibs and burp cloths were absolutely amazing. We're bringing all the surviving stuff to a mama craft fair at the end of the month, and that should be a lot more promising (no fee and indoors!) I made just enough to cover my half of the booth and a couple of bottles of water, so that's that!

That last one isn't New Orleans post-Katrina, that's this afternoon in the Heights!!!

Have to vs. Want to

2007-10-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yup, obligations have taken over my life and that sucks. It is one of the pitfalls of the holiday season, doing things because you have to instead of doing things because you want to and sometimes it straight up sucks the joy out of activities. This weekend it is the craftfair with Shana. I don't know why I agreed to it except that the prospect of making money off of this craft seemed nice. Now I would settle for my sanity. I have been obssessed with producing volume and with a toddler attached to me 24-7, it hasn't really happened. I am irritated because I have a sneaking suspicion that my altered clocks no longer run, that people aren't even going to want this crap and that I just can't seem to get it all done. Doesn't help that Dylan woke up about five times last night, keeping me up between 1-3 (I thought Jason magically slept through this but he said he dealt with it before he went to sleep) and I could break at a moment's notice. Karen is taking Dylan this afternoon so that might help me out, but I could possibly be too far off the deepend to help at this point. Ugh to the infinite power.

As a superficial happy ending to this, here's my 12 on the 12th, which was actually 12 on the 19th because that's when I finally did it and I haven't shared it because it was in this issue of RSC. Clearly it was a really exciting day, but it is what it is...this also means I've updated my scrap blog at http://brandyproductionsscrap.blogspot.com/ if you want to make sure you are caught up on anything I've made in the last couple months. Between all the teams, a lot slips through the cracks...

Tag, sucker.

2007-09-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

First I will share three awesome pics because I love them:
That's my stepaunt's son (my step cousin?) Max and he is the cutest kid, for reals.

Picking on Dylan and letting me know he knows what he is doing and thinks it is hilarious

Dylan sitting down with a couple at the park and talking like they are old friends catching up. That kid has never met a stranger!

Now, bring the pain! I whine and complain every time I have to do one of these things, but still I have to do them. I also refuse to tag, so if you want to do this, go for it. Me, I am huffing and posting. Thanks to Kelly and Bre for tagging me on this (and who knows else, I am still catching up on everyone's blogs).

The rules...You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.) When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post and then choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't' forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Bre did Marie, I will do it and Heather should. What's up with everyone born in the late seventies scoring that middle name? It isn't very cool, though I chose it over my maiden name for my drivers license when I got married (because Politz, really?) Anyways, a salute to the seventies and me all at the same time:

Mother - it is a job and a joy, though not necessarily at the same time all the time. Dylan is pretty much the coolest kid ever and I get to claim at least 50% of his DNA
Assertive - I know what I think and I stand by it. I know what I want and I go for it. I stand up for others and I don't back down.
Responsible - I am the one who is responsible to a fault, though I've relaxed a lot in the last couple years. I don't like debt and I live within my means.
Idea driven - My soul is driven by the fact that I have hope in the idea that one day people will accept each other and stop judging each other on such arbitrary things like sexual preference, religion, race, blah blah blah. I love the idea that one day Dylan can do whatever he wants with his life. Rock star or rocket scientist, his world is open. I also am comforted by the idea that my world is still open too.
Educated - I love school. If I could get paid to go, it is where you can find me. It makes me feel good to know a lot and to challenge my mind to go to higher levels. Unfortunately, because I am responsible, I hate to rack up student loans so I am not going back...quite yet. So for now, I settle for TV, books and magazines.

With a different name, I might have been able to talk about how funny and witty I am, but I guess that is for another tagging and another posting...

and then I got this from Krystn's:
Put an X by all the things you've done, or remove the X from the ones
you have not, and send it to all of your friends (including me.)

This is for your entire life:
(X) Smoked a cigarette
(X) Drank so much you threw up.
(X) Crashed in a friend's car.
( ) Stolen a car
(X) Been in love
(X) Been dumped
( )Been laid off/fired
(X) Quit your job
(X) Been in a fist fight
(X) Sneaked out of your parent's house
(X) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) Gone on a blind date
(X) Lied to a friend
( ) Skipped an entire semester
(X) Seen someone die
( )Been to Canada
(X) Been to Mexico
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
(x) Been on the opposite side of the country
( ) Gone to Washington , DC
(X) Swam in the ocean
(X) Felt like dying
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X ) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang karaoke
(X)Paid for a meal with only coins
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(X) Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose And laughed
more after that
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( ) Made a snow angel
( ) Danced in the rain
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about.
(X) Blown Bubbles
(X) Made a bonfire on the beach/campground
( ) Crashed a party
(X) Gone roller skating
(X) Gone ice skating

I have some explaining to do...

2007-09-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

...at least it feels that way. I joined the team at ScrapFaith, a multi faith blog dedicated to scrapping one's spiritual journey. The team consists of Emilie Ahern Mormon, Heidi Sonboul Mormon, Stacey George Mennonite, Laura Solomon Jewish, Danielle Holsapple Non-Denominational Christian, Deborah Mahnken Anglican, Lizzy Wurmann Jewish, Heather Keller Lutheran, Nancy Misiewicz Methodist and me as an agnostic. Pretty cool list of chicks and I am honored to be among them. The first challenge goes out today, so check them out at http://scrapfaith.blogspot.com/

I am also quite a bit nervous. It is such a step out for me to come out in the scrapbooking world and all the sites I visit as an agnostic. I am afraid of what people will think, afraid people will judge me to be morally bankrupt and banished to the southern regions of hell =) (kidding, a little). What it boils down to is that I think people will focus on the differences between myself and others as opposed to the similarities (of which I promise there are more). I only do it because it is lonely to stand alone and I am hoping others will be different and relate and find comfort in my journey.

What is my belief? Heather and I were talking the other day about this and she was telling me about how a friend of hers who is hugely devout to her faith admitted that there are beliefs to her religion that she doesn't believe for herself. She picks the things she likes (which is still like 99.5% of her religion) and leaves the rest to hope. I am exactly like that, but I am picking the things out of many of the religions or belief systems out there. Here's what I put in my application about being agnostic:

"Agnostic isn't athiest. It is defined as:

1. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.

2. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.

3. One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something. <= ding, ding

I was raised a Catholic but after exploring other religion in high school and college, came to the conclusion that I had made no conclusion. I love the values that come out of religion and even a lot of the traditions, but to be able to profess that one is true over all the others isn't something I can do. I want my son to be raised with values and tradition of as many of the major religions as possible so that he can come to whatever conclusion he wants. I believe that the idea of God is a wonderful thing and I like the faith, love and strength that is encouraged. But I don't know it all and to scrap my journey would encourage others to accept that it is okay as long as you don't too. I am on many sites where Christians speak about their faith all the time and is lonely to have to keep your beliefs to yourself. This country was based on the freedom of religion, and I should be able to share it too. "

My faith is a journey, not a destination and I haven't found one religion that encompasses my beliefs. I am still open to religion, see the positivity it can bring and am a staunch believer of religious freedom. I would never tell anyone that they are weak/dumb/whatever for believing what they do because everything that regards faith has to do with the unknown and may defy human logic. I have a feeling that the whole story behind creation and life is bigger than the human mind can even start to understand and that our responsibility here is to follow the golden rule and serve our community in some positive capacity. I also would like to think that all the different religions in the world have a piece of the puzzle and not that one religion has "the" answer.

Please visit ScrapFaith and please support me and the visions of my cohorts. Anything positive you can leave for comments would also be appreciated since we're all sort of putting ourselves out there. Faith is a very personal thing and we're all sort of standing there in our underwear, but if it brings people together to coexist and understand each other, it is worth it.

Word on the Street

2007-09-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to the guys at Sesame Street - the new season introduced a character named Murray who starts the episode with "Word on the Street," a vocabulary building skit. Dylan is soooo in love with Murray, his face brightens when he comes on screen, he laughs and then he immediately grabs for the remote so that Murray can introduce himself over and over. Hopefully there will be some Murray toys out soon, because he is a super duper hit in this household!!

When I went looking for Murray info, I googled him and came across an entire community of goobers who are devoted to sitting around and picking apart all the episodes. Observations included noting "risque jokes," screen time of Maria versus the others and other mundane things that just made me sad for them. If I found out that these were barren, single persons balancing their energy between Dungeons and Dragons and the Sesame Street forum, I would not be shocked. To think I felt pathetic watching the show as much as I do, at least I do it in support of my boy and not for giggles...

Oh, and we gave underwear another shot with Dylan because we like our furniture covered in pee. Really, we just think it is adorable...love this shot! I love to imagine the little stud he is going to be when he gets older... I suspect he will be one of those boys who is cute and when he gets in trouble, he just does something cute and everyone forgets. That's what he tries with me anyway, I try to put him in timeout and he smiles and dances for me. How do I discipline that?!

Not right, not fair

2007-09-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

I knew that I was going to be connected to these 150 kids for a long time after teaching last year, but I was hoping to share more joy than not. I found out about a week or two ago that one of my students was being aggressively treated for leukemia. I was so sad for her and her family as all her friends were headed off to college and she was dealing with that. Well I found out last night that she lost her battle.

When I found out she was sick, it made me sad that she was sick in a hospital room while her friends were meeting their new roommates, seeing new cities, and starting a new chapter in college. Last night when I found out she had passed it made me sad to think of all the amazing things that have happened to me since I graduated high school and to think it might have all never happened. I learned a ton, I discovered who I am, I made a million and one great friends, met some not-so-special guys, met one special guy, had a great baby, had good jobs, saw so many places, and so on and so on.

I wasn't as close to this girl as I was to others, she was quiet and sweet. Now I wish I could have known her better because that was the only chance I had. I know a lot of people find strength and hope in their higher power when stuff like this happens, but it is probably when I resent religion and the idea that "everything happens for a reason" most of all. I could look at it as her being there to teach us all a lesson in loving life and appreciating everything in the moment, carpe diem, blah blah blah. It is hard to though. Because when kids have cancer and when kids die and while a million other awful things happen in the world, it is very hard to be grateful to the rhyme and reason of the universe. I'd rather think there's no one out there watching and that it is all a genetic fluke than to believe there is an all knowing entity who allows these things to happen for a reason. Because I have to think there's a better way to encourage us to be better people than to kill off people or make them suffer.

Anyways, sorry for a downer post after Labor Day. Enjoy everything about today, you just never know what tomorrow is going to bring...

Nothing new...

2007-09-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

...but should that stop me from posting? I thought I would share Dylan's favorite singer, Lily Allen. Usually when he is cranky in the car I move the iPod to Lily as soon as possible. The beats make you just want to dance and dance, too bad she can't come to the US and do shows since she can't seem to master the art of a work visa. I'd totally go see her! Dylan has to wait until he is five though. I am a responsible parent like that. Here's one of my favorite songs, "Smile." I also like the new one with Common, look it up on youtube.

Catching up...

2007-08-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

First of all, anyone notice that they changed the theme song to Sesame Street on the new episodes? It has a more hip hop beat to it. Anyone, nothing will get Dylan out of his seat and dancing like that new version. He even likes the music that plays during the credits. Whatever.

So we've been out and about and doing a million different things lately. This weekend kept up the manic pace as we hit Louisiana and then San Antonio. My family on my mom's side lives in Baton Rouge, and we (my mom, me and Dylan) did one of our quickie trips where we drove up Friday night and then left Saturday night. We stayed at a grotesque little motel where I am sure many hitchhikers and prostitutes have met an unfortunate fate. Dylan didn't want to be in the room, probably because children can communicate with spirits and all of them were telling him to run. We decided to take a late dip in the pool at ten and when we got there, the girl was locking it up. One look at Dylan in his swim trunks and floaties made her tell us that she would leave it open for us. Yay!

We went to my Paw Paw's the next morning and saw the newest addition - Max! He is a cute little boy almost adorable enough to make me breed again...almost. Here he is with his proud mama, Stephanie:

We spent a lot of time in the pool and Dylan got his first jump off the diving board. He always likes an audience, so he would pump his arms, say hooray, make sure everyone else said hurray and then jump. He had fun with his cousins Sadie and Katie...

There's something really neat about the fact that Dylan gets to swim in the same pool I used to swim in as a little kid. I used to love going out to Paw Paw's and eating good food and swimming - and now Dylan and I get to share that!

We got home around 10 that night and by nine the next morning, Jason, Dylan and I were on the road to San Antonio. I watched "Shut Up and Sing" the Dixie Chicks documentary last week and so I was inspired to roll through South Texas playing their newest album (which I love - check out "Everybody Knows," "Not Ready to Make Nice," and "Lullaby" if you haven't already). That should make someone laugh since we know how much of a country fan I am not, but I gotta like someone who stands up for what they believe no matter what the consequence.

Anyways, we were meeting the Kellers and the Fujas for a weekend in San Antonio at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and to see Sea World. If you are ever in the area, check this place out. The prices were really fair considering how much you got out of the place and we constantly had fun stuff to do. My only complaint - why is it that the nicer the hotel, the more likely you have to pay for internet service? The roach motel in Baton Rouge has free internet, but of course this place didn't. No biggie since Jason worked there and will expense it, but just a peeve of mine. The trip was awesome (except Sea World - DS and DH pretty much melted down immediately) and I can't wait to go back...

Here are the highlights of the hotel:

and now with people having fun!

After the weekend, our family stopped in downtown San Antonio to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk. A great ending for a great weekend...

Thanks for tolerating that mega post - whew!!

12 on the 12th: debut

2007-08-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

Well, Heather emailed me Sunday morning to remind us about 12 on the 12th, so I have my very first one done. I went ahead and used a digi kit to spice it up, and now I can load it at RSC for the online crop as a digi item. Here it is...12 on the 12th:August

So what went on that day?
1. Unmade bed, Sunday is my only day to sleep in but Dylan wants to come and hang out in there. Since he knows how to open doors now, Jason and Dylan have to go into the living room and I love the hall door so he can't get back there. What I will do for a little extra sleep...
2. Whataburger taquitos. I like potato, egg, and cheese - I got addicted while pregnant with the boy. Sundays are often a designated carb day, and this one was no exception. Yum.
3. It's my boy in a box! He got inside his mega blocks box and I put them in around him. He did not want to get out and the result was cute
4. Scrapping!! It was for the RSC crop, which I had a pic of the laptop for that I deleted. I wasn't nearly as productive as I had hoped, but that's life
5. I got the prius for the afternoon so I could head out to the...
6. Stampin Up party at Heather's. It was her first as a demonstrator and it was my favorite thus far. Her home is mine these days, so it was a much better experience. The food was amazing, company was good (prolly the last time I will see preggers Sabrina this round) and I ordered some good stuff
7. TiVo - spent some time on here. Caught up on Big Love, Rescue Me, and others
8. Dylan's jeep - we actually braved the heat and rode it outside in the street while we waited for Grandma Shelley to come over. I just started feeling really bad that he was riding it in the house
9. Design Team Contract - While I was at Heather's, I pulled up my email and found out that I made the AC Bailey team. Had to sign it, scan it and send it back. Since I found out that I made the Simply Obsessed team the day before, it was a very lucky weekend scrapwise
10. Little blue eyes on the attack
11. The garage - I am still working on perfectly organzing this bad boy. I've been working with these boxes (there are a total of six) and then we're working on our pegboard system. I like the idea of not having to be up-to-date on my tetanus shots to walk through the garage
12. Jason and I took advantage of the little time off from the boy that we had and took a dinner by ourselves. Ironically, we would have been willing to bring him here, but dangit it was rolls at the end of a carb day!!

And that is it. A great weekend overall.

Ready-Set-Create weeklong crop

2007-08-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

Do you like lots of prizes? Free stuff rocks your block? Then get over to RSC today through next Friday. Lots of online crops get to feeling rushed, but the lazy days of summer inspired Jen to stretch it over a week so that everyone could check in and do stuff at their own pace. So get over there, the list of sponsors giving stuff away is ridiculous!!

First challenge will go up today at noon from yours truly...

Ready-Set-Create
End of Summer Crop
Kicks off 8/10/07 and lasts until the following Friday 8/17/07
This week-long crop will give you plenty of time to play and create, without feeling rushed! Our wonderful sponsors have provided lots of exciting prizes, from paper to digital.

www.readysetcreate.com
http://readysetcreate.com/forum/index.php?act=module&module=gallery

The Prizes Are:
The Digi Chick: Sponsor
Inkadinkado: Sponsor
Nitwit Collections: Sponsor
Tina Williams Designs: Sponsor
Scrappingham Palace
Die Cuts With A View
Andrea Nelson Designs: Sponsor
7 Gypsies
All My Memories
Scenic Route
Karen Foster
3 Bugs in a Rug
Magistical Memories
Magic Mesh
Ki Memories: Sponsor
Paper Trunk: Sponsor
Cornish Heritage Farms: Sponsor
EK Success
The Paper Element: Sponsor
P.M. Designs
Stemma: Sponsor
Piggy Tales: Sponsor
Prima: Sponsor
Wube: Sponsor
Paperwerx: Sponsor
Basic Grey
Junkitz
Maria LaFrance: Sponsor
J3 Designs http://www.designsbyj3.com/:

Checking in...

2007-08-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

I don't have much to say, but I figured I would check in just in case Heather gives me nasty comments like "Geez, update already" on a prior post (the girl is known to do it).

Looking forward to: Sea World with the Kellers and the Fujas!!!! We've been throwing around the idea of this trip and it just wasn't looking like it was going to happen and then suddenly everything fell into place this week. I love being with these two families and Dylan adores them, so it is win-win. Jason likes to drink and so do they, so that will be three very happy Cumbys. Our financial situation is a little iffy right now because I am not working and I haven't been offered anything yet **hint, hint little bank** but I was not going to turn down a vacation that I am sure we will treasure and make excellent scrap memories with. Plus, we didn't really go anywhere this summer except Austin and any Texan knows that doesn't count. Counting the days to San Antonio...

The **hint, hint** is for a job interview I had on Monday. I really hate to jinx it by getting the least bit excited, but oh well. I've been really happy staying home with Dylan and had set aside money so that I could stay home with him permanently. A friend of mine that I've known since 7th grade called because he works for a little bank and that bank was looking for someone with a banking and teaching background with communications education to work in their version of Learning and Development creating and teaching training materials. It was right up my alley and I thought there could be no harm in applying and interviewing. Well, I did and I want it. The place is two minutes from my home, the position is awesome and the words "working from home"even came up in the course of the conversation. I would also be working side-by-side with this friend and I really love hanging out with this guy, so it would be lots of laughs. They let me know at the interview that everyone had different skills on the team, but the person I would be replacing was the only one who had actually worked in a branch meaning that my resume was more and more attactive. They also said they were just starting to interview and it could be a couple of weeks before they would know. I got a text from my friend that night saying they loved me...just hoping they loved me enough and they don't find anyone better. We didn't even talk about money, but hopefully that won't be too much of an issue. Word on the street is that the smaller banks don't lowball the way bigger banks, so fingers crossed.

Finally,the master bath is almost complete. I've been to BB&B twice now trying to get the right accessories and my goal is to finish this weekend and start fully using it. The ceiling and walls still need some touch up paint, the bath needs one more good scour to get sticky stuff off of it from promotional stickers, etc. Then it is the hardware, the shower rod and hooks and toilet paper holders and all. The new bathroom has amazing storage and is looking great. A reminder of where we've been and where we are going (after over a year, sadly)...

dangit, you better love the new format

2007-07-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

...because i spent all night long on it. But it made me feel super smart. I started out thinking that I would go online and choose from some generic choices, sort of like how you would for myspace. You know, a lovely array of hearts, cars, playboy bunnies and other classy way to stake your claim on the internet. While I was looking through the code on the template, I thought I would just see if I could figure out what controls what. You know what? I figured it out and got to being all my digi scrap stuff for the ride. The background is actually an American Craft's wallpaper on it's side. On the header, the flowers are Jomi, background is a free Tia Bennett paper from the free digi kits on 2Peas, fonts are downloaded from net, and the green paper behind all the copy is actually a paper from the Lucky kit at heatheranndesign.com

Anyways, exhausting but exhilarating. Tomorrow I get to see my girl Heather (without any of our kids!) and I think I may even be up for helping her with her blog. Maybe.

Also, I decided to resurrect my scrap blog so I can post the things I make on there after spreading them all over different sites and clubs, so check under "find my handiwork" on the left for the link to "my scrap blog." Sometimes I don't feel stuff is worth a MB, so it is worth checking once a week or so. I will be dumping my RSC stuff there as soon as the issue is out, and I will not be bombarding any other galleries with that, so look me up there!

Real geniuses avoid Apple...

2007-07-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

Cate's already gotten the sneak preview of this, and Andrea I am sorry for insulting the company you so proudly work for but... I loathe Apple.

I haven't ever really cared much about the Mac v PC debate. I am not an architect or musician or moviemaker that needs what the Mac offers, but in college I had to use PC's while I was there and the only sense I had was that it sucked to use Macs because when you went home to your PC you couldn't do much with those files. I do think Justin Long is cuter and funnier in the commercials than John Hodgeman, but that is as far as my preference runs. Even with oodles of robbery money, we bought Dell PC's this fall to replace our laptops. But like anyone else, we have the iPods and shuffles. And when they aren't stolen first, they inherently break.

Off to the Apple store I had to go. I tried to figure out where to ship it, but the instructions were all about how I probably screwed up and try this and try that and never anything like a clear address. So I dragged Little D and to the Galleria we went.

We'll start with the employees. They are referred to as geniuses, and I am pretty sure it has less to do with IQ or college degrees but more to do with barista experience and tattoos. (No offense Andrea, you're like corporate or something. You speak 95 languages, this isn't you). I walk into the overly flourescent lit store and there are too many apple groupies to count. They are using the technology mostly to make funny pics of themselves and looking around I see some mother-teen couples where mom is obviously buying the computer for college use. There are immediately two Geniuses flanking the door to welcome me into the world of pretensiousness and lameness. There are more, here and there, vultures walking around in hopes of a sale and eager twenty somethings dying to have the next combination of metal and micro technology that will hopefully make up for their social inadequacies.

I'm there too. I can't figure out where the register is, but I see a Genius bar with a black rope, so I leave Dylan at the children's commercialism corner and get in line. There are several geniuses bopping their heads to some ridiculous beat that has to be their posterchild/bald odd guy Moby and sort of not doing much. One genius finally asks what I need and I said I had a broken iPod. She tells me I must go over to the wall and make an appt. Really?! I point out that there are like eight Geniuses back there, but my sunny disposition has caught no takers. I walk over to the computers and really they might as well have been electron microscopes for all I knew about them. Adding to my charm, I announced to the genius that someone would have to come help me because I had no idea how to work the things. It was true, but I used the most obnoxious tone I could. By my estimation, she could have dealt with my iPod in the time it took her to set up my appointment for twenty minutes later. So now that I've made the effort to come in, I get to wander around with a toddler to kill time. Great. I've never wanted Dylan to face his demons and destroy a store like I did, but he must be saving that energy for a future trip to Bath and Body Works.

We came back and basically the genius realized it was broken and gave me a new one. Yay on that. The whole time I am standing there, groupies are sitting there on the stools (you could have offered me one, loser) playing on their macs and interupting our work to ask nerd questions like "Will Program X run on my Mac" to which the Genius must report that no, it cannot, but maybe someone has a fix out there on google. Wow, that is a superior product. Why don't the groupies get an appointment and leave me alone? Why do I buy iPods? Why?

In conclusion, my slight distate for Apple has flourished into an all out loathing that really made me want to never buy anything else from them again. I already hate the interface for loading music, I've never gotten the hang of it and refuse to update my playlist but every couple months because I think it is such a pain. Come to think of it, John Hodgeman is funny and cute in his own way...

There seems to be a theme...

2007-07-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

I keep hitting the Simpsons stuff, but there is so much out there and it just too cute. I found this link on the ever awesome www.pinkisthenewblog.com and couldn't wait to try it out. Basically you upload a pic of yourself and they will create a Simpsons character based on that. Now I will know what I will look like when I finally land my guest star role on the show after I get super duper famous. I will warn you, it was a super pain and I went through a lotta pics before BK go it working, but it was worth it...

http://www.simpsonizeme.com/index.php

and here are two of my attempts...

I like this one!!

2007-07-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

If you're reading this and haven't answered these questions yet, consider yourself tagged.

I got this from Angelina and I think these are actually more interesting than most of these. Probably nothing new, but still.

What were you doing ten years ago?
I had just finished my last year of high school. It was an awkward transition because my family had gotten in this thing I now joke of as a cult. It was a 12-step deal for troubled kids (aka drug addicts), for which it had been determined that I was. Let's just say they would tell parents a kid was an addict even if they had never had a drink because it was only a "symptom" of the disease. It was basically a sham operation run by money grubbing twenty somethings who used the fear of parents to milk their insurance or suck away all their money through outpatient care, group meetings and private counseling sessions. The kids I hung out with that in the program were awesome and I loved hanging out with them, but I was about to transition into their older group program for anyone over 18 and I wanted out. The awkwardness was graduating with kids I had known for years that I wasn't allowed to hang out with because they weren't "winners" and it severed a lot of friendships that were never a danger to begin with. I was a normal teen, not troubled, just trying to exert some independence. I knew I didn't belong there, but my mom was scared because they told her if I left I would die of drug addictions or something, so she said she wouldn't pay for my college if I left. I ended up spending maybe three more years there in that program among shiftless, lazy people who thought that if they didn't drink that day they had done enough. I wanted to get a degree and find an awesome job and just went through the motions so my mom would pay up. All those people who were labeled as not "winners" went off to college and all have great jobs and all the people who were "winners" are still lame as ever. Irony. The further irony is that my brother got roped into it and was actually transformed into a full fledged crackhead via the people he met there, but that's for another post and another time...

Five snacks you enjoy:

Rice Krispie Treats
Girl Scout Cookies
Chocolate
Carbs, carbs, carbs
Post Trail Mix Crunch Cereal

Five songs you know all the lyrics to: (warning - I love singing to rap. I am that hardcore...these are off the top of my head and don't necessarily represent all the music I listen to)

Salt N Pepa "Shoop" - "Here I go, here I go again, girls what's my weakness MEN okay then chillin chillin mindin my business..."

Snoop Dogg "Nuthin but a G thing" - "One, two, three and to the four, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr Dre is at the door/Ready to make an entrance so back on up/ Cuz you know we gonna rip shizz up..."

Westside Connection "Westward Ho" - "Check it/ Ho shut your mouth and get naked/ I'm connected and I'm making hit records..."

Bon Jovi "Always" - "The picture that you left behind/Are just memories of a different life/ some that made us laugh/some that made us cry/one that made you have to say goodbye..."

Vanilla Ice "Ice, Ice Baby" - "Alright stop, collaborate and listen/Ice is back with a brand new invention/ Something grabs a hold of me tightly/Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly/Will it ever stop, yo I don't know/ Turn off the lights and I glow/ To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal/ Light up the stage and wax a chump like a vandal..."

Things you would do if you were a millionaire:
I'd buy a house on a bigger piece of land in Memorial near the park and we'd entertain all the time. I'd have a full staff of a housecleaner and cook so people could be over all the time. We could have a mini theatre too and a pool and basically we would be the place to be. Not because I like to entertain necessarilly, but I get lazy about leaving the house and now everyone could come to me with no real effort on my part. We would travel more and see places. I think I would spend as much time in school as possible because I love taking english classes and stuff. I don't know what else we'd do as far as buying stuff. I know I'd want a second Prius!

I would dedicate a lot of time and money to something like Planned Parenthood or create a foundation that works with it. Nothing frustrates me more than idiots in our government making it their business to decide that the world needs absitinence programs as opposed to safe sex education, especially when they do not make it their business to find safe homes and resources for the babies that magically sprout out of these programs that don't work. Kids and young women in particular need to understand their options, have open access to it and I would like to create places in those neighborhoods where kids are born and no one is watching them where they can come and be safe and learn and know that they can do something productive with their lives and not repeat the cycle. I had students in my classes who were thinking of trying sex and had no idea about anything other than condoms, and really didn't know even about condoms like pregnancy with misuse, disease prevention, etc. I think education and resources need to be freely available and I wouldn't mind doing so. I even read about a program once that would pay drug addicts to be treated for long term birth control and while I know a lot of people disagree with paying an addict $500 to get an IUD fitted since they will just spend it on drugs, I like that idea more than a child being born addicted to heroin or crack.

Five bad habits:

I am a picker - bumps and zits! I am messing with a pimple on my chin right now.
I eat too late at night
I eat crap
Our laundry gets started but is forgotten sometime in the middle and always has to be rewashed again before drying
I troll the internet and spend way too much time ready celeb crap instead of reading and actual book or being a productive member of society

Five things you like to do:

Watch TV
Scrapbooking
Read
Hangout with Friends
The family

Things you will never wear again:
Leg Warmers
Slutty police woman costume
Itsy bitsy teenie weenie poolka dot bikini
Diapers

Things I love to wear:
gym shorts
pj's
lots of eye makeup on rare occassions
The smell of yummy baby
flip flops

sorta got it!!

2007-07-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

well, we didn't get to visit one of the quik-e-mart's, but austin at least has 7-11's, so i ran in and bought two six packs of buzz cola. really would have liked some krusty-o's instead, but i take what i can get. those two together are going for $20 plus shipping on ebay, ha!

they don't look exactly like that, but i am lazy and don't want to take pics. so as soon as i walked to the car, the bottom of the crappy bag magically disappated and the can hit the ground. suddenly as i was about to start a three hour drive home, my side of the prius and my leg were covered in a substance that advertises itself on the show as "twice the sugar, twice the caffeine." yeah, that it sticky and gross. it is still all over the car door, i haven't had the desire to clean it.

then when we arrived in houston, we drove by jason's dad's to pick up his little brother for a sleepover. wouldn't you know another exploded in the trunk? that would explain why the prius hatch is, you guessed it, sticky and gross. i had bought one of the six packs for heather's hubby because he seems to be a fan, but i made his a four pack. maybe he won't know the difference.

what will i do with mine? well, when my dad married my mom back in 87 and we moved in with him, he had a jolt cola in his fridge that he was proud to say that he had owned for 11 years. several moves and a lot of years later, that beyotch is still taking up refrigerator real estate. my guess is that the buzz cola will do the same.

i want! i want!

2007-07-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

I want to visit one of the 7-11 renovations into Kwik-E-Marts for the Simpsons movie sooooo bad, but the closest is Dallas and it is just good practice to stay the heck away from there. I was really hoping they'd have one in Austin, but no luck. How cool would it be to take our Christmas card family photo in front of that?!

Plus, I was having a *serious* craving for a doughtnut with pink sprinkles and a Squishy...

The Buck Stops Here

2007-06-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

These are really lame guys, these taggings on comments. Almost as bad as "hot females want you tonight" spam in my inbox. Ugh. I will do it, but I will not like it.

I was tagged...

So this is how it works. I must post the rules, 7 random things about me and then tag others to do the same. Sound fair enough, right? These are the rules…. each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. Except I won't do that because I am nicer than that. Or cooler than that, dunno which.

1. My hobbies include binge eating and television watching, sometimes (or quite often)together. I went to the gym today, I earned it.

2. According to family stories, my grandfather remembers seeing his wife at family reunions all the time when he was younger. Think about that for a second. I do not come from that part of the bloodline however. I don't think they are blood related either, but you know it is just fun to think about. Oh, did I mention we are from Louisiana. Maybe I should have started with that.

3. I love conspiracy theories. I love watching little films on youtube like "Loose Change" and knowing that I am smarter than everyone else for knowing the whole thing was orchestrated by the government. Whether it is true or not. Probably not. Don't get me started on how the government is keeping us all down. I expect to be vaporized for even mentioning any of this.

4. If I was rich, I might become a permanent student of English. I love reading books and uncovering all the patterns and themes and stuff. It makes me feel smart and deep. However, I have so far this summer spent more time reading about what Paris ate in prison. That does not make me feel smart.

5. I am hilarious and deserve a role in the world of comedy. However, I fear rejection and that is pretty much the name of the game there. What would I like to do? I would love to write sitcoms or something or live the life of Tina Fey. My plan for Dylan is to send him to school at the Improv so that he can leave home at 18 to become a comedian. Or a rockstar

6. Dylan just sat next to me and gave me the biggest hug voluntarily. I like that.

7. I really want to win the lottery. I haven't played since I read in 1984 that it is a tax on the stupid because, well, that makes me stupid. Which makes me smart for not playing (and being on to the government's conspiracy against us - have you ever met a lotto winner, probably not). But still not rich.

I bet you all feel like you know me oh-so-much better now...

Happy Father's Day, guys!!!

2007-06-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to drop in and say Happy Father's Day... I am sitting on the couch next to Jason and our Father's Day celebration is nearly complete. Dylan and I got up this morning and made Jason's card, breakfast in bed (that was a trip to Whataburger for breakfast taquitos), and his altered gift (see below). Jason's special gift was a Roomba, but we all sat down just a minute ago to order it and we are picking it up at Circuit City soonly. I wasn't sure which to get, which is the only reason it isn't already here. Happy Father's Day, Jason! You are a good dad and I am proud to call you my baby daddy.

Jason's had a pretty good weekend that had nothing to do with me and Dylan. Last night our corporate boat trip got cancelled because of the weather, so we went over to Mom and Jim's to give Jim his Father's Day gift (see below) and hang out. Mom and Jim on a whim decided to buy Jason's his very own shotgun and case, and I think that Jason's was pretty happy. It was kind of funny because they were so afraid he was going to mad that they got him something, but he's pretty excited to go shooting with Jim next weekend and then in Austin next month. He also is happy that if we ever have to face looters in the hood, he now has a shotgun to brandish.

Anyways, we are on to the Northside today to see Dad and we are meeting him along with Bryan and Matthew. Ugh. Not for Dad, I love seeing him, but ugh on Bryan. He owes me money, so my hope is that I can get it out of him today. I don't really even need it (who am I kidding, yeah I do!) but it is a matter of principle. The principle is that he probably makes more than we do and that I shouldn't have to loan him money so he can support a crack habit or who knows what.

On that note, happy father's day and here are the gifts I came up with for this weekend...

wanna know...

2007-06-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

what the most sinfully delightful food on this planet is? stouffer's mac and cheese. it is guys' night and i am eating a tv dinner alone like a spinster, but the creamy goodness of this crap along with the ever yummy fish filet is like a hug from the inside out. i could write the most seductive rap song about it, but i will hold back. that is all. thanks for listening, this was really weighing on my soul...

Exhibit A: Return of the Mac