Even though she never actually got a bubble out of the wand. . .
It didn’t deter her from trying her best. . .
and enjoying the journey. . .
even when she ate a few unformed bubbles.
I couldn’t help but noticing that her hair is getting so long. . .
Porch time is the best.
First of all, let’s announce the winners of the giveaways:
The winners of the April Reader Appreciation Giveaway are:
Top Commenter Winner: Jennifer
Comment-On-The-Post Winner: Amy Wade
Congrats, ladies!! Comment on the post and let me know if you want a Bruster’s or a Starbucks gift card!!!
And the winner of the Prima Princessa DVD is: Sherri419
Congratulations!!
Now I must do a quick follow up on my post yesterday – I L. O. V. E. that half my readers thought I was crazy to see a dancing man (YES, Lianne, I HAVE lived in Alabama my WHOLE life), and the other half totally saw a dancing man too!!!
But my favorite observation was by Gina (not the Gina that Ali is about to be her Flower Girl – she couldn’t see the dancing man – but Gina from Sand Rock) – she pointed out that the deer dancing man actually looked like the Dave Matthews Band slogan:
And she is SO right!! In fact, I think it was this similarity that subconsciously made me think it was a dancing man to begin with. The deer came out around the same time that DMB was waning in popularity, so they crossed on the path of bumper sticker life.
Ahh, the deep thoughts we discuss here. It warms my heart.
. . .yes. . .I know there’s no “s” after deer. But it didn’t rhyme without it. . .
Although I thought Ali was all better at my last update, Ali and I went to the doctor this morning after all. She had been telling us all weekend that her ear hurt. She’s never had an ear infection, but she also doesn’t tell us things hurt unless they do. And a couple of times, she told us it hurt and then started crying. And THAT is really odd.
Also, in an odd combination, she had been complaining that her tummy and bottom hurt. Go figure.
So we were on our way to the doctor, and I was telling her that we were going to see Doctor Amy and that she would make Ali feel all better. Our conversation from there went like this:
Me: “Doctor Amy will make you feel all better!!”
Ali: “She will give you some medicine?” (Again, so you don’t get confused, Ali says “you” instead of “me”)
Me: “She might give you some medicine! We’ll see!!”
Ali: “Ali’s tummy hurts. And Ali’s bottom hurts.”
Me: “Doctor Amy will make them feel all better too!”
Ali: “Doctor Amy will kiss your bottom?!?!?”
Me: “No, I don’t think she will kiss your bottom, but she will make it feel better a different way. She will look in your ears, and in your mouth, and in your nose, and will make sure everything looks good!”
Ali: “And she will look at your chin!! And your cheek!! And your other cheek!!!”
So we got to the doctor, and unfortunately the last nurse to give Ali shots was the one who took us back to the room. So naturally, Ali got a bit worried and wanted me to hold her. But she perked up when Doctor Amy came in because she LOOOOVES her (she was actually talking a lot about her last week (she thought Chris’ next-door-at-work-neighbor Misty was Doctor Amy), which made me a bit suspicious that it was all a ruse to see her, but Ali’s not old enough for stunts like that. . . I don’t think). . . . wow was that a run-on parentheses.
Turns out, she did a good job of self-diagnosis. Her darn cold decided to take up residence in her ears – she has her very first ear infection. And, to make it count, it’s a double. She has a fully filled left ear and a half filled right ear. No wonder she was hurting!!
So we’re on antibiotics (Doctor Amy chose that option to make it feel better rather than the “kiss Ali’s bottom” mode of treatment – odd, I know), and hopefully she will be better soon.
Now for a completely unrelated thought – I was reminded when I saw it at the pharmacy parking lot today that I left off a bumper sticker last week in my grand cryptic bumper sticker explanation!!
This one has a great “see how clueless I am” story behind it. They are all over the place down here in the South, and every time I looked at it, I saw a weird little dancing man (see, he’s got his hand out, and his knee up like he’s doing a jig. . .you know you see it).
Then, my all-wise friend Barkley had a pink one and I asked her what was up with her dancing man. She looked at me like I was crazy and asked what in the world I was talking about. I pointed to her bumper sticker. She quickly told me, “That’s not a dancing man!!! That’s a Browning symbol – it’s the head of a deer!!!”
I can now see the deer, but I will always see my weird little dancing man first.
If you haven’t entered yet, today is the last day to enter the giveaway for the Starbucks or Bruster’s gift card AND the last day to enter for the Prima Princessa Ballet DVD!! All you have to do is comment to enter, and you don’t have to have a Blogger account to comment. I’ll announce the winners tomorrow. Good luck!!!
If you missed my introduction to my new mini-series last week, Mister Early is our family ghost. I am going to be sharing family stories about him for a few weeks, also known as a miniseries (official sounding, huh??).
This week, I went and took some pictures of the house and the neighborhood for you to get a better visual of his abode.
The neighborhood is amazingly gorgeous, but the houses are all very old. These houses look like the houses that they try to create in new trendy neighborhoods, except that these are the real deal, built in the early 1900’s. Here are a few of my favorites:
The neighborhood itself had a bit of spooky, mysterious aura to it. I guess because all of the houses were so old and castle-like. My cousins told me MANY ghost stories about witches that were buried under the warty trees and falling apart street signs.
I’m pretty sure that they made them up on the spot, but they certainly had me mesmerized.
Here is what was my Grandmother and Granddad’s house, the abode of Mister Early:
And the spooky back garage, where a lot of encounters have taken place (and a lot of us Grandkids were afraid to venture into):
As I said, I have never had a direct experience with him, so while I was taking the pictures, I kind of lingered for a bit, then REALLY studied my pictures, half hoping that a man’s face would show up in a window or something, but no dice.
Apparently he really just doesn’t care too much for me. Which is pretty rude, seeing as how I’m the one being nice enough to document HIM. Hmph.
But enough about me getting my feelings hurt by a ghost.
So first of all, I will share the only Mister Early story that I was present for, although it doesn’t really count as a DIRECT encounter (Still Bitter, Mr E).
Granddad passed away in October of 2006. Grandmother passed away the next summer. They had many antique clocks, all of which had to be wound every day to keep them ticking. The largest clock was mounted on the wall too high for Grandmother to reach, so it never got wound again after Granddad passed away.
When Grandmother passed away, of course our entire very large family was at the funeral. There were two days between her death and the funeral, and so none of the clocks had been wound. However, we all returned to her house for a traditional Greek wake after the funeral, and every clock in the house, including the high one that no one but Granddad touched, were wound, working, AND set to the correct time.
Another one of my favorite stories also happened while the house was full of the entire family in the 1970’s. When my parents got married, everyone returned to Grandmother and Granddad’s house afterward for dinner. They had a large dining room, and on each end of it there were two very large latching china cabinets, both filled with dinnerware.
Everyone sat down to the table to eat, and right as they started their meal, the china cabinets simultaneously opened, despite their latches, and all of the dishes fell to the floor.
The nice thing about that story is that there were so many eye-witnesses – the whole family vouches that it is exactly what happened, and that there was no easy logical explanation as to how that could have happened.
It’s interesting that even though I’m writing about these stories, I still find myself skeptical. I am so black and white that I don’t think I REALLY believe in ghosts, despite all of the evidences. I analyze and try to figure out an explanation, but in a lot of cases, I really can’t come up with one. Maybe by the end of this miniseries, I’ll have solidified my OWN thoughts one way or the other . . .
So getting ready for the baby shower, of course, entailed a lot of cleaning, straightening, fixing things, and in-general maintenance that we had been putting off.
The thing is, there are definitive levels of neatness that we operate in.
Level I: There’s everyday neatness. This MAY mean that there are toys in mid-play, dishes in the sink, mail on the counter, and colors and paper on the dining room table. And (I’m ashamed to say) a never-made bed. We try to stay neat, but we aren’t always the neatest people in the world.
Because here’s the deal: I am all about efficiency. And sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense to be over-neat. I will name this theory “The Efficiency of Disarray” and come back to it in a bit. Of course, the downside of living in everyday neatness is the allowance for instances such as blowoutfits to happen. Ew.
Level II: Then there’s “Family is coming over” neatness. We peel back a couple of layers of disarray, try to remove toys from pathways so as not to trip anyone, and maybe put the dishes in the dishwasher. But there may still be piles of toys on the shelves and a newspaper on the table.
Level III: Another layer gets peeled back when we have to resort to “Friends are coming over” neatness. At that point, we usually declutter, make sure the floors are clean (and the bathrooms, although I DO try to remember to do that for family too), and make sure that Oreo hasn’t left behind a whole fur coat on the furniture to turn some unsuspecting friend’s butt into a furry-white rear (although this did happen to Amanda the other day, and I found it highly amusing. Too bad I didn’t photograph it for illustrative purposes).
Level IV: Then the ultimate layers get peeled back for “I’m throwing a Tea or Shower” Neatness. At this point, I will have multiple post-it note lists of all of the stuff that needs scrubbing, swiffering, decluttering, and in general cleaned. The chairs get vacuumed to remove ALL strands of cat hair. The rooms get scrutinized for clutter that my eyes have quit seeing due to the burn-in of seeing it all the time. I MIGHT even clean the windows. At least the ones with grimy, sticky fingerprints from many a day of watching for Daddy to get home.
Having to go to the Level IV at least once a year is good. It’s kind of like my Dad always told me that you need to drive your car on a long trip every now and then to blow all the gook out of it’s systems. The same goes for a house. It’s good to be forced to clean up all the nooks and crannies – it gives a whole new freshness to being at home.
I do hope I’m not the only one with these layers. If you live every day at Level IV, then you are a better person than I. But only if you have a toddler and STILL live every day at Level IV.
Now, back to my theory on The Efficiency of Disarray.
Sometimes it’s just not worth the time and effort to put things away.
Who is going to see my unmade bed? If someone will see it, I will make it.
Of course, now that I have blogged my unmade bed, I all of a sudden feel very vulnerable like every one of you have seen it. (blush)
Another example. Ali coloring on the dining room table. We typically eat at the Kitchen table except on Sundays, so if I pick up all of her crayons and paper every time she colors, I just have to get it all out again an hour later when she asks to color again. And I certainly wasn’t going to use the dining room table during that hour, so why bother picking it up?
Sure, maybe it’s an excuse. But it’s just not always the most efficient lifestyle to be completely neat. I am a busy woman! I have things to do besides putting up and pulling out my juicer twice a day from cabinet space that I don’t have!
Don’t worry – we’re not total cavepeople. We employ a day-long toy rule. We make Ali clean up her toys at the end of each day, but not usually throughout the day (unless we need to climb to another level of neatness). She’s two! She’s going to pull them all out again! So why do that to ourselves? It’s just not efficient, and if I’m not being efficient, I’m not being prudent. And I’m sticking to that.
My only fear of this theory, though, is that we’re going to turn Ali into a slob.
But at least she’ll be an efficient slob.
This morning I had a double baby shower at my house for Lindsay (my sister-in-law) and Ashley (AJ’s Mommy).
But before I share pictures, I must give some background to the title. A while back when JC and Lindsay were pregnant with Eli, they had gone out to dinner with David and Ashley and had talked about baby names. It turned out that they had the exact same taste in baby names. In fact, they both thought it was funny that they both planned on using Tessa if they had a baby girl at some point. I don’t think that they thought that much more about it until. . .
Fast forward a year and a half, and both of them are pregnant at once. And, to make it more complex, David and Ashley aren’t finding out if it’s a boy or a girl. So you know, there had to be that awkward conversation:
“Are you okay if there are two Tessas?”
“Yes, I’m okay. Are you sure you’re okay if there are two Tessas?”
JC and Lindsay are definitely having a girl and due on 8/1, and David and Ashley are due 6/1. So there will potentially be two Tessas, two months apart.
I can hear the nursery workers at Church grumbling now.
And Ali – she is going to be one confused toddler – there might be “Cousin Tessa” and “AJ’s Little Sister Tessa.”
However, as fun as that would be, I have a pretty strong feeling that Ashley is having a boy, so I personally think that the Tessa count will stay at one.
The last tea or shower that I had at my house was exactly 11 Months ago for Eli. He was born the very next day, 8 weeks early. So of course there was a bit of chatter about my seeming knack for sending pregnant women into labor with my parties. However, hopefully no one will be having a baby tomorrow.
Speaking of, here are the lovely Mothers-to-be:
And here is me with them. After everyone left, I was going through all of my pictures. I looked at this picture and gasped and ran to a mirror to see if I really looked like Tammy Faye Bakker. It didn’t look like it in the mirror, but cameras never lie, so I don’t know. I had been running behind and was rushing to get ready (my hostesses were already arriving!!) and so I barely looked in the mirror after putting on my makeup. I REALLLY hope that my makeup didn’t look as garish in person as it does in this picture, but if it did, I can only chalk it up to revenge from the lady I made fun of last week.
Yikes.
On to prettier topics, here was our brunch spread, with MUCH thanks to my AMAZING hostesses, April, Jennifer, Christie, and my Mom:
We had Cheese Danish, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Quiche, Bacon and Cream Cheese Crescent rolls, Muffins, Chocolate Chip fruit dip and fruit. . . wow they are all good cooks!!
I made my Chocolate Chip Espresso Bean Cookies and smoothies (instead of punch). So I started out with this fruit (plus 8 quarts of Strawberries and a few pounds of Grapes that were in the fridge):
Juiced it that morning, and then blended it with ice and a bit of sugar to make these:
(Kiwi-Pear-Green Grape and Strawberry-Tangerine-Red Grape)
I was SO nervous about my smoothie idea since I’ve only made smoothies like, twice. Ever.
What if it doesn’t work? What if they melt too quickly? What if they turn brown? What if they don’t pour well? What if I don’t make enough? What if I make too much?
But it actually went well!! I made TEN full blender batches of smoothies (approximately 5 gallons), used every bit of the juice I had made that morning, and had about half a pitcher left after all was said and done. I have no idea how it worked out so smoothly (ha – no pun intended) – it must have been beginner’s luck.
Oh – the Green smoothie DID turn brown – but it was right after everyone left!! Yes, that could ONLY have been luck.
Of course, there were tons of adorable presents.
And onlookers watching with baited breath:
Our two LifeGroup Attendees, Amy and Becca, were excited to pose for a picture. So I took a couple, then of course they wanted to see them. However, when I downloaded my pictures, there was mysteriously only ONE picture of them left. Someone was weeding through my pictures. . . .so I suppose, here is the “Amy and Becca APPROVED picture”:
Now maybe one of them will quit fussing that I never talk about her on my blog.
You know who you are.
So I suppose you’re wondering where Ali and AJ were for all of the hubub? They went out to lunch at a quiet cafe and chatted about the new sibling and cousins-to-be.
Or maybe their Daddies took them to McWane Center. One or the other.
First of all, thank you for your prayers. Ali seems to be all better, and I, so far, have escaped contracting her snottiness.
Life has been crazy-busy this week and only promises to be even more so for the next few weeks. But in the quiet moments, we’ve had a couple of laughs, courtesy of Ali.
Ali and I were in the car Tuesday (after quite an impressive storm), and there was an AT&T truck with the bucket way up high working on the lines. Ali pointed to the men in the bucket and said excitedly, “Mommy, they’re fixing them!! The men are fixing the clouds!!”.
That night, Mom and Dad stopped by because Dad was about to go out of town and wanted to visit with Ali beforehand. He was telling her that she could email him while he was gone. This was completely surprising to her to know that she could email someone besides Daddy (which she does all the time).
She said incredulously, “I can email POP?!?!?!?”
Me: “Yes, you CAN email Pop!”
“I can email GRAMAMMA!?!?”
“Sure, you can email Gramamma!”
“I can email LINDSAY??!?!”
“Of course, you can email Lindsay.”
“I can email OREO?!!??!”
“No, cats typically don’t have email.”
“I can email ELI?!?!?!”
“Sure, I’m sure that Lindsay can pass it on. . .”
Wednesday was her first night on her new cold medicine. Thank goodness, it worked MUCH better than the out-of-date cranky meds.
However, it did have one side effect.
MAJOR sleeptalking.
More like Sleep orating.
We heard her from downstairs, so we turned on the monitor to see what was going on. She was jabbering in full paragraphs. So I went upstairs to tell her to go back to sleep, and she was laying there, on her side, eyes clinched shut, twitching, running in place, and talking away.
That’s going to make naptime very difficult to discern.
One last random story. Her favorite Grocery Store game of late is “Garbage Man”:
If you look really closely on the little seat illustrations of how to let your children ride on the buggies, that one IS approved. Because you could NEVER accidentally run over them when they decide to get off mid-ride to collect the garbage.
It’s caption time!!!
Last week’s winner is now a multiple conquerer!!! I had to give it to Jennifer:
This week, you have a choice of two photos (or caption both, if you’re feeling really inspired!!) – just be sure to indicate which photo you’re captioning.
The theme: Fun With Granddads.
Picture #1: of Ali and Papa (Chris’ Dad):
Picture #2: of Ali and Pop (My Dad):
Caption away!!!!
Here’s how to play:
Wedding presents. They’re lovely things, aren’t they?
I don’t know about y’all, but by the time we finished returning the 5 coffee makers we received to buy the towels and silverware that we got none of, and everything else that needed returning, we had a running list of what brands could be returned to what stores. And we had so many things to return to Rich’s that they brought us a flat to load – as if we were at Sam’s or something!!
However, there were always those gifts that were completely non-returnable. Most likely they were multiple-recycled gifts.
You know, the giver was given it by their great-Aunt, who was given it by their stepmother, who was given it by their Mother’s first cousin, and on and on. . .
Our most unforgettable of these completely non-returnable gifts was most definitely The Kitchen Cock, lovingly named so by my husband.
It was the tackiest wooden rooster that you’ve ever seen, and to just add insult to injury, he had a big carved-out hole in his butt, out of which stuck a set of wooden kitchen utensils.
Of course, being that this was in 2001 and I wasn’t nearly the picture taker that I am now, I have not a picture to show you. But thanks to our good friend Google, I was able to find a somewhat comparable piece:
However, ours was much tackier, much multiple-recycled-over-50-years-looking, and wasn’t holding those nifty measuring spoons with his wings.
Oh, and ours had more of a butt carve-out, rather than a back carve-out.
But you get the picture.
Now sure, someone out there who likes more of a country style might be huffing at their computer right now, offended that I would scoff at such a classy piece. If that’s you, please accept my apologies.
However, I was 19 years old when we got married. I had a much, much, MUCH more modern and contemporary taste. There was NOT about to be any sort of roosters hanging out in my kitchen.
So we did the most logical thing.
We re-gifted it to our next friends getting married, Ann Marie and Scott.
Don’t worry, don’t worry. As a JOKE. We got them a real present too (However, if there is any doubt, the KC was most assuredly NOT given to us as a joke. We received it from a very wonderfully sweet elderly couple whom I’m sure would have adored to have displayed it in their kitchen).
Back to the KC. I believe that Ann Marie and Scott carried on the tradition and re-gifted it to JC and Lindsay a couple of years later. I tried to track down The Kitchen Cock’s progress through the world of re-gifting, but Lindsay has apparently washed her memory clean and doesn’t remember who they gave it to (although I seem to remember them telling me that they gave it to someone. . .).
So if you’re out there and have received this lovely collector’s piece, please do let me know.
Oh, and if you haven’t received The Kitchen Cock, but have received an equally horrid wedding present, please do tell!!
Disclaimer: Before you give me a lecture on thankfulness, please do know that this post is meant all in fun. I am very thankful for all of the wedding presents that we received, especially the Kitchen Cock. I mean, no other wedding present gave us more fun and more laughs than good ole’ KC! Except maybe for Ashley and Amanda’s “Bucket O’ Fun”. . .
Ali has the full-on crud. Fever, snotty, terrible cough. I really need her NOT to be sick, and I REALLY need not to get it myself. I am giving a double baby shower on Saturday, and the last thing that says “Welcome to my home, pregnant Mommies!!” is a cough that sounds like a seal and snot that pours like a greenish colored fountain.
She hasn’t been sleeping too good, so I dug around last night trying to find the cranky medicine. It’s her prescription cold meds, and I rarely use them because they make her cranky enough to audition for “Grumpy Old Men: The Prequel” (If she were a boy, I suppose).
However, I thought it would help her cough less, and, therefore, sleep.
The only one I could find had an expiration of 11/08. I knew I had a newer one but couldn’t find it anywhere. I considered it, I asked Chris, and we agreed that it SHOULD be okay. So I gave it to her.
If you’ve ever wondered what happens to a medication after it’s expiration date, it apparently turns into pure caffeine.
Yeah. It took her FOREVER to fall asleep.
AND it still had the crankifying effect.
Needless to say, I called her doctor this morning and got them to call me in a current, and DIFFERENT cold medicine. With something in it that will make her sleep, please. We’ll see how it works.
So. Here’s to hoping that Ali will be over it in a miraculously fast pace and that I won’t get it, despite some very slimy snotty kisses that I’ve received over the past two days. Oh, and despite the fact that I forgot to not share a fork with her at lunch.
Yeah, I might need some of your prayers.
So, on that note, I’ve had a couple of random “You Know You’re a Mommy When” moments in the past two days:
1. You know you’re a Mommy when you’re out and about alone, and drive for twenty minutes before you realize that you’re listening to Veggie Tales.
2. You know you’re a Mommy when you call your husband back and your opening line is, “Sorry, I couldn’t make it to the phone. I had a thermometer in a butt.”
3. You know you’re a Mommy when after receiving a kiss from your toddler and realizing that the saliva left on your lips was a bit thicker than it was supposed to be, deducing, of course, that it was snot, and your first thought is not “EEEW GROSS”, but “I need to sanitize my mouth so I don’t get her cold. Can you put Purell on your lips??”
Feel free to add to the list. And pray that I don’t get sick.