Oh, BTW--
The boy/girl party is off.
O.F.F.
Off.
No way.
Not now.
Not yet.
I am not ready to venture down that road... Yet.
Besides, why on earth do we need to deal with this already?
at the age of 10??
Sheesh, people.
Let the kids be just THAT...
Kids.

So, we are going to have a "girl" version of the previously planned party.
And I stupidly agreed to take them toilet papering...
So, instead of being a girl/boy party, I will just be contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Lovely.

Let me paint a picture for you...
My 10 year old daughter has been invited to a boy/girl party, which none of the parents knew was being planned.
Last night while I was trying to decipher the party mess (on the phone with one of the other moms), I was also trying to cook dinner....
All the while Thing 1 was getting more and more angry with me over the fact that I didn't want her to go to the said party; Thing 2 was frustrated and yelling because he "lost" his bike. He knew he had rode it earlier in the day, but he couldn't remember where he put it. How you loose a bike is beyond me. Thing 3 was ticked 'cause her only friend couldn't play, and I couldn't drop everything and push her on the swings. Are you starting to get the picture of what my night was starting to look like?
While I was talking to an upset mother on the phone, and trying to feign off the natives, I put my corn on to boil. I then went outside to finish the conversation with the upset mother. I was outside for only a couple of minutes when Thing 1 came running outside screaming "fire!" I hang-up on the angry mother, run in the house to find Thing 2 on his belly doing an army man crawl, yelling "Go low Mom! You're supposed to go low! Stop! Drop! And Roll!
Thing 3 was crying now because it was stinky.
I run into the kitchen, where it was full of smoke, and find that I had turned on the wrong burner... I had turned on the burner where I had laid my oven mit down.
The oven mit was on fire.
I grabbed the mit, threw it in the sink, and turned the water on it. Bad idea. That filled the house with even more smoke. All the Things were still yelling at me, while I was trying to put the fire out, and then get the smoke out of the house.
I sortof lost it, and started yelling...Just in time for Jefe to walk in the smoke filled, crying, yelling, kid screaming house.
What a circus!
What a mess!
He just turned around and went outside.
Once everything had calmed down inside, I went out to find him.
We took one look at each other and started laughing.
He said he it was going to be "a night" when Thing 1 came stomping out of the house, carrying the garbage and snarled at him: "Mom caught the oven mit on fire..."

I bet he wished he would've worked late last night.
I know I wish I could've escaped...
somewhere....
anywhere....

So, here's the million dollar question.
How do you get the smell of oven mit that is lingering in the house out?
Is there such a thing as "oven-mit-be-gone"?

I am soo over reality T.V.
I will be glad when this phase of entertainment is over.
What on earth will they think of next??
Here is the newest, latest, greatest (?) T.V. show slated for summer...

Oh gag.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Thing 2 has had one awesome school year!
You couldn't have asked for better teachers for him!
He was lucky, cause he got to have 2 teachers this year!
And, not only did he have 2 teachers, but he had 2 awesome teachers!!
They had the kids do this cute little program, with little parts, and they each had some sort of singing part. The little "play" was about all the fun things they had done this year. Then they put together a power point slide show with music. It had photos of the kids in the class. It was actually quite moving. It made me sad to see how much he has grown up, and blossomed really. He has done so well here. He has really blossomed into a cute little, outgoing kid!
After their little program, we went back to the class, where the kids gave the parents scrapbooks about them and their entire year in first grade! How awesome is that??
I was completely impressed!
What great teachers!
I only hope that the teacher he has for next year will be as nurturing as the ones he had this year!

Everyone has their favorite movie that they watch over and over and over.
Usually its for some sort of comical relief.
My favorite movie is a Mini-series, and I have all 10 of the movies.
I can watch them over and over, knowing full well what is going to happen, and yet I get those same feelings I had the first time I watched the movies.

It's really rather pathetic.
I know exactly what will happen in every single shot...
Still I watch...
Hoping maybe that something different will occur.
It never does.

The opening music makes me giddy.
I love to hear the music from my favorite show.
I get "the feeling" when I hear it... And it just makes me happy.

Most women, and men too for that fact, would be thinking that my favorite show is Pride & Prejudice or something else equally silly.
But, you would be wrong.
Dead wrong.
What is my absolute favorite movie(s) of all time?
Why The Band of Brothers.
Of Course.

There was a Band of Brothers Marathon on the history channel this weekend.
And I watched it... All...
Over and Over and Over.

The title of the Series AND the book (yes, it was first a book--by Steven Ambrose-- and it was a very good book!) comes from the William Shakespeare play Henry V :

"From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered -
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother...."

Why exactly do I love this series so much?
Well, because it is history, and I love history.
Most people don't know this about me.
But, its true.
I love history.
When I was 16 years old, the one thing that I wanted for my birthday was this gigantic book on the Civil War that I had seen on T.V.
What do you think my most treasured book was?
My Civil War book.
After I got that book, I would sit on my bed and look at the photos in the book, and just stare, and analyze them. Wondering about the people in the photos. Their families and life "back then". How weird for a teenager to be so pre-occupied with that. But, I was.
It was "my dirty little secret." None of my friends knew how much I liked history.
I guess I am "outed now".

If you really want to get me, put history with literature, and I'm sunk!
Historical fiction is my favorite of all time.
Now, I am a WWII junkie.
Books.
Movies.
Anything.

Ahh.
Sweet bliss.

I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else. -Lily Tomlin

I bet you thought that I forgot...
I didn't.
Did you?

1. Let Him Fly - Dixie Chicks
2. Flowers in the Window - Travis
3. Prayin' For Daylight - Rascal Flatts
4. Some Trust - The Fray
5. Omaha - Counting Crows
6. Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing - Chris Isaak
7. Everyday - Dave Matthews Band
8. One - U2
9. Speed of Sound - Coldplay
10. The One I Love - David Gray

Bonus: Gone Daddy Gone - Gnarles Barkley

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
- Herm Albright, quoted in Reader's Digest, June 1995

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else.
-Ivern Ball

Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day.
-Author Unknown

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. -Edgar W. Howe

"We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. "
-Art Buchwald

All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song. - Louis Armstrong

1. Yes I do - Rascal Flatts
2. Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis) - Cowboy Junkies
3. Did I Shave My Legs For This? - Deana Carter
4. Save It For Later - English Beat
5. Changes - Butterfly Boucher & David Bowie from the Shrek Soundtrack
6. She Don't Tell Me To - Montgomery Gentry
7. Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks
8. Fireflies - Faith Hill
9. Drown - Smashing Pumpkins
10. Breathe - Michelle Branch

Bonus: What's The frequency, Kenneth? - R.E.M.

"You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."
-Marjorie P. Hinckley

Today I went to the mall for the first in a really long time.
Probably like maybe since February.
I had just gotten my hair done, and I was feeling Sassy!
I had on these darling pink capris, with a cute sassy shirt, and some high-heeled sandal's.
I know.
Shocker!
I never get dressed up like that...
But I did today.
Now, I remember why I usually don't.

I took Thing3 to the food court. I told her if she was really good while I was getting my hair done that I would buy her a treat.
She was.
So, I did.
We were sitting at a table talking, wildly, I guess, when my entire 32 ounce soda landed in my lap.
Yup.
The entire soda.
In my lap.
I looked like I had wet my pants.
Not only in the front, but the back as well.
There was no where to hide.
No way to slither out of the mall unnoticed.

That thought that is at the beginning of this post immediately came into my mind as my eyes started welling up with tears.

So, I made myself laugh.
I started laughing.
So, Thing3 started laughing too.

Everyone else in the food court was staring at me.

So, I did what any normal, crazy person would do.
I cleared my throat rather loudly and announced to everyone within earshot:
"Yes. I spilled my pop in my lap. Now, I am going home!"

And then immediately thought :
"Awesome! Now I have something good to blog!"

I love the nickname that Thing 3 has for me.
Maw-maw's.
Plural--- Maw-Maw's.
I guess I have a mouse in my pocket.
Oh, wait!
I don't have any pockets...
Huh.
I don't know where it came from, but I think its cute!

I found this hilarious web site called Over Heard In the Office.
It has a "sister" site called "Over Heard In New York."

This is from the office one.

I laughed so hard I thought I would puke when I read this!
I have actually talked with people like this when I worked in the industry...

3PM Customer Service
Telephone sales rep at airline company:

"The flight leaves at 10:30
No, TEN THIRTY
No, TEN... THIRTY...
It leaves at ten thirty, yeah...
no...
ten THIRTY...
at half past ten...
No.
No.
No...
It leaves at TEN THIRTY!...
Half eleven, half past ten, ten THIRTY!
Yes!
Would you like to make a reservation?
... a reservation?...
Would you like to reserve a seat?

Long pause.

I have not made a reservation, would you like me to make one for you now?...
At the TEN THIRTY flight?...
Yeah, TEN THIRTY...
No, you have NO RESERVATION!
DO. YOU. WISH. TO. MAKE. A. RESERVATION?
No, you have no reservation.
You have NO RESERVATION!!!
SHALL I RESERVE A SEAT?
THERE IS NO RESERVATION MADE!

Finally caves

Have a nice flight, madam.
Yes, ten thirty.
Bye.

The Arken-buildingOernskoeldsvik, Sweden

I'm a little perplexed.
It's May 16th.
Where did the first half of May go?
Did it actually happen?
I feel like we are all in fast forward mode again...
Where's the remote so I can hit the pause button and catch up with everyone?!
Sheesh.

My new guilty pleasure.
Nick Lachey's new album What's Left Of Me
I know.
He's soo...
Teeny-boppy.


I'm really embarrassed to even admit it...

But, Me likes!

Thing 2 came home from school today, and told me that he had played with his friend-- River.
So, I asked him what I thought was the obvious question...
"Did River run through it?!"

He just stared at me.
He didn't get it.

Oh Well, I thought it was funny!

Country music is three chords and the truth.
- Harlan Howard


1. Wouldn't Be So Bad - Alison Krauss
2. A Lifetime - Better Than Ezra
3. No Memory - Stone Temple Pilots
4. Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
5. Goodbye Earl - Dixie Chicks
6. Never Know - Jack Johnson
7. Drift Away(featuring Doby Gray)- Uncle Kracker
8. Sixty Eight Guns (Live) - The Alarm
9. What's Left of Me - Nick Lachey
10. Run Around - Blues Traveler

Bonus: Walk On The Ocean - Toad the Wet Sprocket

This is a photo of Those Kids Mom standing in the crazy long line... in the rain.
You are not seeing spots!
That is the rain!

And, you are seeing correctly.
She has a garbage bag on her head...

But, then again, so do I!

My crazy friend, Those kids mom.
She came to visit me from Illinois and go to a Women's Conference.
What a total blast!
In this photo, you can't tell, but we are sopping wet from standing in an enormous long line...
In the pouring rain.
Why in the world would one stand in an enormous long line in the rain you ask?
Uh, well, Free food.
Of course!

You know you have a good friend when you haven't seen each other in over a year, and you pick up right where you left off.
AND, they tell you exactly what you NEED to hear.
Not what you WANT to hear!
THAT'S a good friend!

I am super tired from our adventure.
I need a vacation from my vacation...
I barely slept at all!
Yup!
Good times had by all in attendance.

I will post more crazy photos later!

"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness." - Maya Angelou

1. Lets Impeach the President - Neil Young
2. A Living Prayer - Allison Krauss
3. Woke Up This Morning (The Chosen Mix) - Alabama 3 (Sopranos Theme Song)
4. I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me
5. The Luckiest - Ben Folds
6. Johnsburg, Illinois - Tom Waits
7. Strawberry Wine - Ryan Adams
8. September - Earth, Wind & Fire
9. Good People - Jack Johnson
10. How to Save a Life - The Fray
Bonus: Love At First Sight - Kylie Minogue