First of all, your quirky bits of life MADE MY DAY. I was not feeling well at all on Friday, but I got so many giggles from your comments. I really think that needs to be a regular feature – because y’all are far more interesting than I am.
In case you missed it, here are a few of my favorite quotes:
“I was present for my husband’s first wedding…. when I was 5.”
“I have a scar on my chin from a deodorant container.”
“I have never had “relations” with a man with two legs.”
“I gave birth to my first child in the parking lot of our birth center. Her head came out in target maternity shorts. Buy target maternity shorts, they can catch a baby and that needs to be their slogan.”
— How could I ever beat those slices of gold??
(To get the whole story on them from those who offered to share, click here and read the precious comments.)
Not too many of you had questions for me, which did not disappoint – again because of your own fantastic facts. But here are the answers for those that did:
Travis requested an update on Fred the Cat.
Fred is still around, and is awesomely photogenic despite sometimes looking like Miley.
Or maybe Miley looks like him.
But at any rate he makes a better Album Cover.
(Yes, I did just spend part of my Sunday afternoon making that. No, I have no idea why.)
He disappears for a day or two at a time, always beginning with a trip down the storm drain across the street. We have a theory that storm drains work for cats like Warp Pipes work for Mario – music and all. Fred pops down then pops back up at his real home – maybe in Tupelo, maybe in Warsaw, maybe in Beijing, or maybe, as I’ve settled on, in Alabaster Alabama.
Fred is an Alabama fan – he will lay in ANYBODY’S lap if it is covered with this blanket.
…And he seems to like Frozen like the rest of the known universe.
We have also recently discovered that Fred is a Circus Cat.
Not once, but TWICE, Fred leapt up a tree with magical agility upon hearing the phrase “climb a tree.”
Can your cat do that?
I didn’t think so.
The first time was a complete accident. Ali was talking about climbing the tree, and he totally wiped the floor with her when it came to tree-climbing bravery, speed, and skill.
(And he most definitely stuck that tongue out at her.)
The second time, I tried it as a very hopeful experiment.
He was laying under the same tree, so I walked over, patted the tree, and said, “Climb the tree, Fred!”
And he did.
He will NOT, however, do it in front of Chris.
So Chris thinks I’m a complete liar.
But Fred, the children, and I know better.
It should also be noted that Fred seems to have a lengthy list of aliases.
Besides Fred and whatever his name is when he pops up in Alabaster, he is also Cocoa two doors down.
(Which…compared to Fred….totally sounds like stripper name.)
(No offense, neighbors.)
They were walking by the other day and said,
“By the way. Do y’all have a gray cat?”
“Kinda…”
“Yeah. He’s been hanging around our house and trying to get in. And we’ve fed him a couple times. He’s really friendly though!”
I have a feeling that Fred answers to anything anyone will call him. And that his fake IDs are innumerable. Which would explain why he disappears so often. Because he has a LOT of houses to hit up.
(In Warsaw, he answers to “Czeslaw!”)
(Yes. I did just look at a list of Polish Baby Names. No. I don’t know why.)
(At least he doesn’t go by “Wlodzimiers!”)
But regardless, Ali is his favorite owner. Because sometimes…she gives him ice cubes in his water.
Okay I spent nearly the whole post answering Travis’ question.
But Fred is an intriguing character. He deserved it.
Rachel asked if I was still involved in jean consultations.
No, I am not. I quit doing that last summer when I began to get sick – it had just become too much for a variety of different reasons. I do still offer advice over email and Twitter from time to time, especially since I still receive regular butt emails due to this post.
I now buy all my jeans (and recommend that others do the same) from HauteLook (Nordstrom Rack’s Zulily-esque site) because they have great jeans and fantastic prices. But of course you have to know what fits you first…so it’s only helpful if you already know what works. Which, I suppose, is where the butt picture emails come in.
But, to answer Fi’s question, I DO plan on doing more denim blog posts – I have several in mind. However, those take huge amounts of work and research (some have taken over 40 hours), so the time to create those posts has to present itself to me.
And finally, Jenna asked, “Does Ali have a drawl like Noah?”
Well I don’t know because I don’t hear Noah’s drawl. So…I figured you’d need to decide for yourselves. I told Ali that y’all wanted to hear her talk (she knows ALL about who you are, but Noah has no idea that you exist), so this is what she chose to tell you.
(Note that I wasn’t lying when I said she introduces herself as an artist every time.)
So how about it.
Does she drawl?
And what is Fred’s name at your house?
p.s. – Kathleen, I got your question after I wrote this post. So….I guess I’ll have to write a post just to answer it! …Eventually. That one’ll take some thought.
Ali. Is. Precious!
Ali is ADORABLE! No, she doesn’t have the same drawl as Noah. She almost sounds Midwestern. LOL Thanks for sharing!
I don’t hear any drawl in Ali’s voice. That’s not what I was expecting because I do hear one in yours so I would expect to hear it in hers. Plus doesn’t everyone in Alabama have a drawl? ;-)
But the video did give rise to another question. What was the thumping that started at about 2:18 and why didn’t Ali have any reaction to it?
Because her brother is ALWAYS. BANGING. SOMETHING.
She probably doesn’t even hear it anymore unless the banging happens to be occurring on her head.
I should have known. Those were some impressive thumps for a toddler!
I’ve always wondered why Ali doesn’t have a drawl. She sounds just like a North-westerner to me, which made me wonder (when we saw you guys) because when I was little, living in TX, I had a drawl a mile wide. I added an extra syllable or two to every word in the English language. Too bad it didn’t stick. I think a drawl is adorable! My mom’s still comes out every now and then.
Thanks for answering my question. I’ll check out that website!
I don’t think Ali has an accent at all, although you do have a bit of a deep-South accent. It’s so interesting to me how that all works…for example, my in-laws both have very heavy Kentucky accents, but my husband’s is totally neutral.
Man, I am so bummed that Bloglovin’ did not reveal to me your post on Friday! I am going to go back and read it and all of the comments though.
And I don’t think Ali has an accent, especially compared to Noah’s drawl. She is awesome. I do love how she introduces herself as an artist. I just picture that clip being played at her art show one day when she is 25 :)
This seems to be the case with a lot of people – I have no idea why. If there are further questions and/or random facts/quirks, please by all means leave them! I already have another question I’ve got to work on an answer to…
Hahahaha! “I’m only a princess to fake people”. I love it!
When I was a kid, we had a cat (who was actually ours and we got as a kitten) named Fred. We found out that he had been visiting our neighbors. They named him 6 o’clock because he would show up at their front door every morning at 6am. They would let him in, feed him, and he would leave. We never knew whether or not he was hitting up the whole neighborhood. Maybe it’s a Fred thing.
I think that cat visits my friends house in Cullman. Looks just like him. I can’t remember what they call him but they think he’s the neighbors.
she is awesome :) and on the side, how does it feel for you as a Mama to have your kids have imaginary friends? Is it fun or does it get annoying? I can’t remember having an imaginary friend but I’ve known about kids having them and was just curious. I love her sweetness.
I don’t mind it – her Party Friends have been around since before she was Noah’s age – they don’t get blamed for too much (except that one taught her a curse word once.) She even married one – http://www.graspingforobjectivity.com/2011/03/a-wedding-story.html. The most creeptastic part was when she made them all on Wii. Seeing them was….disturbing, to say the least: http://www.graspingforobjectivity.com/2011/11/party-friends.html
Thank you for the update on Fred.
We should start a kickstarter to get a camera collar for Fred so you could see where all he goes. I wonder if they make those . . . I’m gonna work on that for a minute.
I have a soft spot for kids and their pets. I feel like sometimes animals pick us because we need them.
Also – “Cocoa” – What the heck????? I would move. That doesn’t even make any sense at all.
The Mario Pipe thing made me actually LOL.
Nope, I do not detect a Southern drawl in Ali. Love your site. Pinterest directed me here through a pin about denim. I don’t know why I would investigate denim. Guess I’m looking for someone to convince me to wear it. I do not find pants, trousers, slacks (whatever you call them in Alabama) comfortable at all. I haven’t worn jeans in years. Decades even. I wear knit pencil skirts with tights and Frye boots. My uniform. I should mention that I do also wears clothes on the top half of my body.
I also want to mention that I recently returned from a holiday in England where I spent four lovely days in the quaint village of Haworth in West Yorkshire. It’s where the Bronte sisters grew up and wrote some poetry and books and stuff. On the weekends, you can take a vintage steam train there but I arrived on a Thursday so had to take a taxi from nearby Keighley (pronounced “Keeth-lee”). And the driver was blasting “Sweet Home Alabama” the whole way. Which was prescient as I later found out that people in Yorkshire are fascinated with the word Alabama. None of them had ever heard of Oregon, however, which is fine with me. Rains all the time here ;)
Nice to meet you! Sorry for my slow response, but I’ve been sick for a couple of weeks and am just getting caught up.
I love that Sweet Home Alabama was playing in Yorkshire! How random is that? That makes me feel like I need to go visit.