Yes I Own A Muumuu

Tonight was a little crazy with the schedule… Rose had to attend a Girl Scout meeting, Byrd had AWANAs, andTay was babysitting, with track practice before all that. Things were crazy this afternoon. After Girl Scouts, around 8:30, I went to pick Byrd up I realized that it was Hawaiian night at AWANAs and I forgot to find my Muumuu for her (yes I own a Muumuu). While looking for my child that I had not seen all night; I chatted with a fellow Girl Scout/ AWANA/ School mom. She always has my back, stepping up. helping out, trading kids.

When I finally found Byrd, I also found that my friend bailed me out again. She had brought an extra Lei for Byrd. Byrd was in her usually stained t-shirt that is two times to large, but now she was decorated with a lovely lea. I wasn’t such a failure in the eyes of the “church”; I don’t need those weekly reminder phone calls.

But then I got a closer look at Byrds lei… Well, I was shocked, flabbergasted, I didn’t know what to do or say. As I stood there fighting the urge to run from the church screaming she's not mine, I came up with an idea. I will make Byrd return the lei in hearing distance of other adults and I will do this VERRY LOUDLY.... why??? Cause ... DUDE, I swear its not mine...

Returning it did not work (but several ladies did over hear our conversation) it was a gift from her daughter to mine. Now, tonight, I will lay awake trying to figure out how to loose it with out getting caught.

Diamond Hotel

.... Its just like home!!! Room service, maids, a bar, and now that I know I can blog... I may never go home.

Just Howling...

We have gained another 4 square feet of un-frozen yard…. and I raked it! At least I am not as bad as sister. Who has shoveled all of the snow out of her yard and has already mowed it….AND she used to tease me for breaking up my “berm” (for those of you who don’t know it is kind of like a snow bank but ten times tougher).

I just got back from roller skating at a huge GS event. Rose and her troop had a blast. I had one 10 year old girl tell me the music was not age appropriate, especially for a Girl Scout event (GS rented the whole rink). I would have to agree…. Who can skate to “shake it like a belly dancer” …when I tried to shake it, well, lets just say, I didn’t look like no belly dancer… definably NOT age appropriate. What happened to Donna Summer’s...“Last Dance”? That’s what they played last time I was at Diamond Roller Rink (when I was their age).

This same ten year old, could not lace or UN-lace her own skate’s. See what I am working with… After, all the fun tonight, with 17 girls, the other leader and I have decided to write an extra line item in our Girl Scout Budget….. MARGARITA’S …. $200.00 should do!!

A huge relief…. Today, after I called her, one of my cookie moms FINALLY deposited the money into the bank. It was only $732.00 and 20 days late. Now I can pay myself back for all the badges I just bought. WHEW!!!!

I was talking about camping, tonight, did you know we only have…36 days till Memorial Day Weekend!! That’s only five more paydays, time to start stock piling the wine and beer …. And it’s NOT for the taste!

Here’s a scary thought….Tay just landed her first real babysitting job. She just turned legal babysitting age. This friend of mine has an almost five year old and she is laughing at me because I am nervous. I want Tay to watch her here at my house…. but I guess if she is comfortable, and Tay is comfortable….I’ll let Tay go alone… when she 50!!!!

I have been thinking about “Patriot Off’s” all day long ….I really want to collect 800 flags… to give as a “gift”….would he be mad? I see is a sign of support…but then again I am, mostly, a positive person.

“The Eagle Has Loitered”

“The Eagle Has Loitered” …. For those of you who might not visit Valette, which I am sure all of you do. I couldn’t download the Video, but I did get the sound. Knowing all three people….I was rolling on the floor.. I can’t wait to see the video…later I will try to download it again…see if I can get the video to work.

!EM KNAPS

So our neighbor Bob did not appreciate JD’s humor…. JD wrote “!EM KNAPS” (well, his letters were backwards) with window marker, on the bug guard of his Ford Explorer. JD was hoping someone Bob knew would notice and harass him or spank him, but Bob’s blind date noticed it first. It would have made a great conversation starter but…Bob got mad and fumed during the whole date. OOPS!

Parent teacher conferences this week….. I am sending JD!!

I get to spend the whole week doing Girl Scouts (to even a greater extent)…tonight Tay’s troop, tomorrow night leader appreciation dessert (that the leaders throw for themselves, sad isn’t it?), Wednesday is Byrds troop meeting that Tays troop is leading, Thursday night Roses troop is going roller skating, and this Friday a night a hotel….not relaxing with my hubby…. but with more Girl Scouts…

We have been meeting with a new physical terrorist, three times a week. It is her job to get the swelling out of Tay’s knee. Tater had been using the electrical muscle stimulator, shock treatments, and ultra sound. The PT …really, she isn’t so bad …yet. Today she gave me a new a new outlook on Tay….and raising girls….

“She’s always in a mood; it is just knowing which one.”

they call me Hiney cause I have a big butt.

I leave my ‘puter for one minute and look what Homer Baxtard did. He gave me a big butt… Boys!

It's Just Not Time

Spring cleaning of the yards was NOT a success, with temperature around 34 to 36 there wasn’t much thawing going on around here. Everything is still frozen to the ground. I tried to chip some poop out of the future soup but it was worthless to even try. Instead, I brunt a few piles of branches that weren’t frozen to the ground but mostly just played with the fire. I smell like fresh willow and birch smoke.

JD washed the trucks. As he washed the water froze to the driveway and the trucks. My Pretty White Chevy is all SPARKLE-LY (it’s not a word so I can spell it any way I want!).

Spring Clean Up

Another sunny day has blessed us here in anchorage…. Today I get to start yard work and maybe wash my pretty white CHEVY truck. …Blogging, what a better way to stay clear of the POOP SOUP. The house is semi-clean, even after not having anytime this week to keep it pick up. I have been organizing end of the year parties for GS…it has been fun spending all of their hard earned cookie money…hotel rooms, pool rentals, roller skating...... JD and the girls have been rearranging bedrooms and there has been a queen size mattress in my living room all week.

JD and I got a used mattress last weekend, it is just like new and we paid NOTHING!! JD’s bosses have several daughters, when ever they buy new things they hand the old stuff down to their daughters and we get her stuff. They gave us our couch, several book cases, really cool bar stools (that I had to go buy a table for), our kitchen sink (which is a totally bitching), and now our mattress. They have really been so supportive of JD and I, it’s like having a second family. The only time we see them is when they are giving us stuff, when JD is fixing their plumbing, weddings, or Christmas.

We bought our old mattress right before herring season of 1992, brand new. We were young and stupid, while we wintered in Washington State, we had saved more money, over that winter (which seems like nothing now), then I had ever seen. What did we do when we moved back home again….blow it on brand new bedroom furniture. Hey, JD was going to make a killing fishing! At the time it made sense, if we were going to get married and start a family lets do it in a brand NEW clean bed. The herring season was a bust and we wrecked our car shortly after buying the bedroom set. And we were planning a wedding ….. we used all our money on furniture!! Sorry Moms!!

Any how we love the new mattress….JD’s back is better, I don’t have to hear his daily groans, and Rose now has a queen size bed, finally a bed that she will sleep in (our old bed), Byrd now has a twin bed in her itty-bitty room, no more back breaking full size futon (one of the bunks from JD’s mom moved from T’s room), and Tay is down to one twin bed, lots more room, and plans for an area to set up a music station.

We were looking at the classifieds yesterday, a piano for $500. I am going to have to keep my eyes out around dividend/Christmas time.

The school talent show is coming up, it is turning into an annual McLay event. The girls have been talking about it for weeks already. Rose and her friends are planning to dance and sing. They have been working on their moves for a while. They were going to show us a preview at GS the other night, but I guess they felt they weren’t ready. Byrd is a little torn on what she plans to do…her and a friend want to do some jokes, I am encouraging them to write up a skit with the jokes so it flow better. But, I think Byrd really want to sing a song, alone, one she wrote about Chelsea. I hope she chooses to sing. Tay is undecided, she wants to participate, but cannot decide what to do. I tried to talk her into singing a Weird Al song …we can dress her up…make her wheelchair into a Semi-Truck…She knows the song….I am sure we can make a fake mustache…and find stiletto’s… but, she’s afraid it wouldn’t be PC…but hey she could do it as a woman….

”Driving my truck with my high heels on….”

Poop Soup - It's really Spring!

As we were leaving my Grand Nieces Birthday 2^nd Birthday party (yesterday); we almost ran over a red headed buffalo, or what I thought was a buffalo. You see the stars were not lined up, so it could have been anything.

Today, I sent the kids packing…..Tater can once again rolled to school. The sidewalks are iceless and I am a nervous wreck. The extra 15 minutes I have gained on my day will be stressing on whether thy made it or not, the stress will linger all day, unless I go check. The two way radio worked today, but cuts out a block from the school and when ever a car passes.

I got an ouch-y on the top of my big toe, it is not being nice. Byrd, asked to see how it was doing, she has been trained by her father how to treat all ouch-ies, infected ones being the most interesting. One look from her she knew the problem, “There’s a Hair in it!” ….Yes internet I have HAIRY TOES!

Rose is hitting that AGE….emotions running wild all weekend!!! We were just getting past this with Tater….not again, will it ever stop!!!

Friday night, JD let Tater and her friends walk to McDonalds for dinner, they were then going to the 7:35 movie. I was not at home at the time and when found out; I was not impressed with his decision. Around 9:00 we got a phone call that they were headed home, walking. They had just gotten out of the movies and noticed it was after nine, they were worried they were late. When they got home they were full of excuses for being late, Here’s my question…..the movie started at 7:35, the movie was 1 hour and 45 minutes long (plus previews), they called at 9:06 saying the movie was over and they were headed home…..who is teaching these kids math? Did they watch any part of the movie? The only answers they gave was “LOOK, here’s out ticket stubs!”….oh silly girls, if you only new!!! Oh yah….Sister…. the girl cousin they ran into there, she just disappeared….not to be found anywhere in the theater. I am now looking to hire a private investigator, to follow my kids!

It rained here….the poop soup is brewing, in my back yard. Maybe my girl scouts will take it on as a community service project….

Julian Beever

I meant to send this out to you al in a mass mailing….it was sent to me by my Mom-In-Law, so most of you have seen it. I lost the email somewhere so I had to recreated here*. These are not all of the pictures but s few of my favorites … These are all drawn ON the sidewalk... the 3d is amazing.

This is the work of Julian Beever, he does chalk drawings in the streets of England, France, Germany, Australia, and Belgium. JD is looking for "dusky" (spellcheck tried to chnage this to Ducky, my conculsion its not a word) colored side walk chalks, the darker dusky the better.

This is view from the other side….

*Okay, I really just cannot think of anything clever to write. Playing Solitaire is eating my brains.

Do you think someone is trying to erase us?

Maybe the internet can help me…Why is it when you get X-rays, the radiologist/lab keeps them? Wouldn’t it make sense to give them to the patient, seeing how they pay the premiums to the insurance company that is paying for it (if you are lucky). Also a patient is more like to hold on to them for longer then 6 years …and before a lab destroy them why not call the patient and see if they want them or need them.

Today I spent the day doing “those” thing no one wants to …

Car insurance quotes, - its time to renew the car insurance…You gotta’ shop around. It saved me $115.00.

Filing four months of paid bills and other garbage that I just can’t get rid of.

Scheduling a test drive at JR High.

Scheduling the truck to finished getting fixed- After two months the parts should be in, so I finally got around to calling, it needs to be fixed before Memorial Day WEEK. They lost all records of us being there, we are not in their system. They looked everywhere - Stupid people do I sound like a Rodney! I was told they would look into it and call me right back….I called at 10am.

Girl Scout Records, the end of the GS year is almost over. Time to catch up on records and buy awards (thanks for buying cookies now we can buy badges)

Fixing a credit card automatic bill pay- the company was using the only part of the account number, for their automatic withdrawal. My bank was going to charge me two bucks every time they have to fix it. So I called to fix it. Standard questions here, she even told me that because I was not the main signer I was not liable for the debt. Hmm that’s nice to know…..but after the security questions, they would not talk to me because the social I gave them (JD’s) did not match what they have on record. Well, I would have second guessed myself, but JD had to go through a Federal background check recently (insert funny story here, cause there is one) and could only find a minuscule corner of his SS card. His new card had just arrived in the mail and I had it right in front of me. They allowed me to fix the payment issue (they talk when taking my money) but would not discuss the social security problem. So, my husband has been using someone else SS (poor guy), or me seeing it is “I” that uses the card (I am not admitting anything). We did not mean to do this and will fix it, but the temptation….me not being liable for the debt…the debt not on JD’s social…..Go away bad Tinkerbelle.

And to fill it all out…the X-ray Scavenger Hunt – Tay is going to Bone Doctor tomorrow, we want him to look at her hips along with the knee issue. To do this he will need all of the past x-rays of her hips. Most of these are at one hospital here in town (the one with horrible parking), then some are at Shrinners in Oregon, and who knows where else there might be, I have really lost track.

I went for the old ones of her hips at the hospital and then to get the knee MRI’s (the ones the knee doc would not give back last week) halfway across town. The hospital doesn’t know if they have her hip ones…Their system shows every x-ray, dating from 1994 (birth) to 2000 (the last time we saw Shrinners), but they don’t believe they have them anymore. After so long they will destroy them, well this is fine if it is a broken arm, but when it is a life long disability. The old x-ray’s let us see how her hips are developing; a key part is looking at where she was and where she is now. We need those. I have some of Byrd’s x-ray’s (from when her hand had that lump, which is back) I have felt guilty for not returning them….NOT ANY MORE…lets see of the MRI’s make it back home.

So, do you think someone is trying to erase us?

If I don’t say so myself….

…I am, in reality, very proud of this template. THANKS THUR… (Although, I can’t help but think I have seen similar banners out there, I just could find them when I went looking.)

Edit...I may have lead some of you to beleive the above link belongs to me.

It in fact does NOT...I just helped her get a new look.

Big Bucking Chicken

I would have posted sooner but some fool played an April trick on me. I am not sure how, seeing how he acts so inexperienced, but he “Dunkered” with something and I was unable to post. I could go in and adjust my template (on my test site) and I could comment but I could not post. After several award winning posts were lost, I gave up.

But here’s this…

When T was 2 maybe 2 ½ we were spending our weekly hour with the Occupational Therapist (we like those guy they always had food and shinny things), this time it was for a pre-school evaluation, so we were trying all sorts of new things. The first activity was to see if T could handle movements such as swinging. The OT brought out a shinny pink sack. It was similar to a pillow-sham, but the opening ran horizontal and had a zipper. The OT proceeded to zip her in-side and swing her around and toss her up in the air….I know….we really did like her, and T loved it.

The next activity was to see if she could understand that her actions may have reactions. The OT pulled out a mechanical toy chicken; it was adapted with a cord leading from the battery pack to a large colored button. I had to chuckle at this test, you see by this time T was a master at operating a Television and VCR remote, this would not at all be a challenge for this kid. The OT sat the chicken on the floor and sat the BIG RED BUTTON (to bad it wasn’t an easy button) in front of T. T already did not like the chicken, it was a very real looking toy, but when she pushed the button she was not at all happy. The thing started clucking and bucking. She new that button brought that chicken to life, she new that button had to die. She chucked that button as far as she could, which was far enough that the cord pulled tight and the chicken followed. Chickens can fly. We tried several times to get her to operate the chicken. We showed her the batteries, taught her how the button worked, and explained it was a toy. We tried different animals a frog, hippo, and an elephant, with these it was just plain refusal. She wouldn’t even look at the animal let alone the button. As we left, out of ear shot of anyone else, she says “You just don’t know what an animal is thinking; they have a mind of their own.” I don’t think she passed that part of the test but I remember the lesson…she has a mind of her own and just never know what might might happen.

I truly believe chickens are Savages; they are dirty, ugly, unpredictably mean creatures. As my eldest daughter has taught me, they are unpredictable…. But something about them makes me happy, this is a fairly new development in my stage of mental growth and development. All I have to do is mentally paint chickens and all is well.

And what brings me to this post…..Burger Kings new ad campaign (I couldn’t find the commercial but Google it, it has raised a ruckus)… the cowboys riding the chicken caught my eye first…then the song “Big Bucking Chicken” …. I am still laughing… now I can sing as I paint.