I can't remember if I ever posted this one, before, but I'm cleaning everything off my old cell phone before I donate it, so here you go.

Yeah, I'd totally want this skeevy guy working on my house. Wouldn't you?

Labels: home improvement, ick, things that are wrong with the world, total randomness

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Now I need to go eat some of his birthday cake to wash away the taste of all this weepy nostalgia.

Labels: birthday cake, Peanut

I found this scrap of paper on the kitchen counter. Pepper's class is learning to write in cursive. Isn't this the most perfect summary of the 3rd grade experience in 2008?

Labels: flights of fancy, Pepper, school

I'm catching up on a lot of stuff today. I had to leave at the butt-crack of dawn on Saturday morning to attend training for the Big Secret Activity I Can't Blog About. I decided that yes, I would be involved in this activity again this year, and while it looks to be a ton of work, I also think it will be a lot of fun as well. It was very informative, but I didn't get home until late afternoon, so that kind of shot our Saturday down.

Sunday wasn't too much better, since Dr. V. had to go treat a patient at 8 a.m. and then drive up to Boston to check on his dad, who is now home from the hospital. It will still be a while before he is up and around again, but so far so good. We have other drama going on in the family, as usual, but speaking of things I can't blog about... look! Over there! Something shiny!

Anyway, he didn't get home until dinner time last night, so that was our exciting weekend. Since the temperature cooled down, I have begun a new tradition of baking on Sunday with the kids. One week it was muffins, another week banana bread. We decided to make 2 types of muffins yesterday, apple/carrot and corn. 24 hours later, the dozen apple/carrot ones are gone, because you know how this family feels about our apples. Even Peanut ate a couple of them - which is HUGE, by the way, since he barely eats any "combination food."

I might have to whip up some more this afternoon, since Pepper is very concerned about eating healthily after the whole Halloween hoopla. In fact, she's worried that she's becoming diabetic... because she was thirsty at one point yesterday. Sigh. No, the hypochondria and anxiety haven't gone away, but thanks for asking.

Speaking of Pepper, here's a totally random photo for you:



I call it, "Table for One." On my birthday, Pepper made this little vignette for me and left it for me to find on the kitchen counter, next to phone.

No election talk from me today, except to say that I'm baffled by people who say they are still undecided. Anyone who is still undecided probably shouldn't be voting tomorrow. I mean, really - if you haven't been able to find anything to sway you one way or the other, then you just haven't bothered to think about it. Stay home and make the lines a little less crowded for those of us (from both parties) who actually care about our future. Yeesh.

Labels: anxiety, apples, BSAICBA, total randomness

Peanut's peanut allergy means that Halloween is always a little problematic around here. Trick or treating is non-existent in our neighborhood of retirees and part-time residents, so we've always done the "safe trick or treat" put on by the merchants on the local Main Street. We meet up with friends of ours, spend an hour strolling down the street, end up at the carousel, get some cotton candy, and head home. We are usually home by 6, swapping out the peanut candy for safe treats and gloating over stomachaches yet to come.

This year, Peanut decided to be Harry Potter and Pepper was a Half Devil/Half Angel, which is soooooo appropriate these days. Cute, huh?



Usually, Dr. V.'s department at the hospital dresses up for the day. The last few years, they've gone with a theme - one year it was "Grease," for example. This year, he told me everyone was going as Elvis, but then denied having the time to go get a costume. He told me Thursday night that he didn't have a costume but that he would try to get out of the office in time to meet us on Main Street for the end of trick or treating.

I should have known something was up when he was so insistent on meeting us...



The best part? Right as I came up against the harsh reality that my husband had been flashing inappropriate amounts of chest hair at people all day, I heard hysterical snickering from some people on the sidewalk behind us. Yeah - it was two of the dental technicians from the kids' dental office, who looked at me and said, "Does he belong to you?"

Yes, unfortunately. He's all mine - one big hunka hunka burnin' love.

Labels: Halloween, marital relations

I was reading some of the posts from this weekend's Parent Bloggers Network Blog Blast about pets. Pets are a sensitive subject around my house these days. Pepper is relentless in her requests for a pet, specifically a dog. Unfortunately, both her father and her brother are allergic to dogs. A conundrum, yes?

I grew up in a house with a typical cat (cuddly when it felt like it) and two poorly chosen canine companions. The first was a husky/poodle mix named "Dasher," who lasted about 5 months before "dashing" under a car. This happened while I was on my 9th grade French Club trip to France. I learned a lot on that trip, mostly about how much boys liked my friends and thought I was "really easy to talk to." Sigh. I arrived home after a week away to find my future nemesis curled up in a ball of fluff in the corner of the kitchen.

For reasons known only to themselves, my parents had decided to assuage my 6 yr. old brother's grief by buying another dog immediately. I can only assume that having had such bad luck with an active, high energy dog, they decided that a dog with the intelligence of a lima bean would be a better fit.

Thus began the tyranny of The Stupidest Dog in the World. We used to talk about booking him on Letterman for "Stupid Pet Tricks," because the only trick he knew was a behavioral conditioning routine that never, ever failed. Long story short: the dog got so used to one of us kids yelling, "Hey, Mom! Call the dog!" that it expected my mom to be waiting in the kitchen with a treat every time one of us yelled out that particular phrase.

You could be sitting there, alone in the house, watching a movie with the dog whining and begging for treats, and if you called out, "Hey Mom, call the dog!" the dog would race out of the room and go looking for the magical treat dispensing lady. Then his little pea brain would get distracted and he'd go do something else, and eventually he'd find his way back to the family room. Then you'd yell, "Hey Mom! Call the dog!" and he'd race away again.

Ah, memories. Which brings us to Pepper, and the desire of parents to provide their children with the typical childhood experiences. Here are the facts: The girl wants a dog. She has wanted a dog for years. Her father and brother are allergic to dogs. I am not ready for a dog. Yet, the girl is persistent. Persistent and not at all shy about expressing her desires. You may notice a theme, beginning with her Christmas list:



Here, she is presenting her case for a family dog:



I feel awful saying "no, no, noooooooooo, maybe someday, nope, nyet, NO ALREADY" about something as wholesome as a pet.

But I'm sure as hell not ready to say "Yes."

Labels: kids, modern housewifery, pets