her finger & her thumb in the shape of an "L" on her forehead

I was almost thru the year without pulling a maneuver that makes you go "man, I am such a bonehead". Then what happens? So close to the finish line, I could practically smell the beauty of another year tied up in a nice little package with a pretty bow on top! Yep on Sunday, December 7th I blew it! After having a nice leisurely bath, I decided the jets needed to be cleaned in the tub in our master bath. It seemed like a great idea at the time.

Let me walk you thru the next part-

• Step 1 insert nasty chemicals and run jets for 4-7 minutes
• Step 2 drain said nasty water
• Step 3 due to corrosive nature of above mentioned chemicals fill water 2 inches above jets before running jets again
  
• Step 4 (this one is important guys!) TURN OFF THE WATER!
  

Yep you guessed it, I overflowed the bath tub. So much so that the little dust bunnies could have used a life boat to be saved. The tub was taking so long to refill that I went to go find my cell phone "real quick" so I would have it Monday for work. Then some laundry that needed washing, perhaps I would fold the laundry that I took out of the dryer, it seemed like a good idea to load the dishwasher. It was then, as I was rinsing a dish in the kitchen sink, only then did I have that "OH CRAP" moment. Running off to find trusty Remo lying on his dog bed just outside the disaster zone. He did not even bother to come alert me that I had a problem... Where is Lassie when you need her? Water spilling down the heat register, dangerously encroaching the carpeted closet, Running down the tile surround. I think I said every 4 letter word I knew at that moment. I might have even made up a few new ones!

I will spare you the details but just know, to protect my family and our home, I have grounded myself from ever cleaning a bathtub again! Sorry Michael that has to be your job now. Gee maybe this worked out well after all?!

Michael gets a "free pass" because not once did he say anything unkind. Have at it buddy, give me something else to write about.

20 days are left in 2008---let's hope I don't top this one!
Did I just jinx myself?

Feeling Nutty?

I was singing an old commercial to Megan tonight...this very one in fact. One of her spelling words is M-O-U-N-D-S.  Nice to know somewhere you can locate these old gems and relive being 9 years and running around the playground in bell bottom pants and a polyester shirt singing..."Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. Almond Joy's got nuts...Mounds don't." 

Courtesy of Almond Joy and Mounds please enjoy this trip down memory lane--because sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't! 

Last night while I was asleep I dreamt I walked out to the kitchen and looked out the kitchen window and there was snow covering the driveway. When I woke up it seemed so real--- I was actually confused for a minute when there was no snow. Now that Thanksgiving has passed I would love to see a little snow cover the ground. Just enough to make it pretty, not too much that makes life chaotic. Don't you agree? Is there anything better to help get into the Christmas spirit? I can't think of anything better.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo courtesy of Lucky Oliver as I had no turkey available to hang a sign on

More to come I just wanted to pass along well wishes to you! Now I must go bake !

The following comments are being written by Megan:

I am thankful for... fuzzy socks, my family, pigs, chocolate, and my best friend Madison!!!

Trevor says he is thankful for...people. (not sure what he means, I think he was not into the tell me something you are thankful for game. )

I told them to come up with a few things that maybe are out of the ordinary. I have to say I am thankful for all those things too! I would add my morning espresso, pillows, washing machines, dishwashers, and Christmas vacation! You may also notice that there is nothing from Elise. She is not ungrateful just very hard to pin down on anything other then "to be alive".  While I certainly am happy she is alive, it just did not have the punch of fuzzy socks?!

Irony...

We recently undertook a complete fall cleaning since we had skipped the spring cleaning for well...several years at least. Anyhow it went something like this ---> empty all the treasures out of the kids rooms into my hallway. Clean and thoroughly vacuum the carpets. Then rearrange the room and pray, plead and beg that it remains nice and neat. Well what did we end up with...besides some asthma and very full garbage cans, a brief glimmer of tidiness. They all love the "idea" of a clean room. Just not much interest in keeping it that way.

Image my surprise when I was looking at the hallway mess and spotted this... look at the bottom left corner of the following picture. I will then give you a close up of what you are seeing. I am embarrassed to show you, please do not think less of me. :) All this junk came out of the girls bedroom.

IRONY: the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning

I truly wish I could report that it was successful and I now have neat and tidy little children. But as I sit here typing I hear a box being dumped on the floor in Trevor's room. Wanna bet it is still there long after they move onto something else to do.

I did get a response when in frustration I told them I was going to put daily pictures of their rooms on this blog so that all could see how they live. I might have to explore this option. I think I will go start the documentation. If you do start seeing dreadful photos here of messy rooms. Please ignore and know that I am working on a experiment at home. As Ren and Stimpy used to say "maybe something good, maybe something bad".

Birthday Etiquette

Cousin Avery has a birthday coming. She will be having a birthday party this coming weekend. I happened to be talking to her and asked if I was invited to her party. She took a moment to respond. I started to wonder if dear sweet Auntie had not made the cut in her nearly 4 year old mind. Then she quietly said "You will need to bring a present though". So sweet of her to remind me of proper birthday etiquette.

Now I wonder if I could get away with that. Please someone ask if they can come visit me so I can quietly remind you it would be nice if you brought a gift...

Learning to tie...

Trevor and Elise are 7 years old now. It seems like Elise learned to tie in one evening and has never looked back. Trevor...well that is a different story. We were starting to think we may have to tie his shoes before he goes off to college everyday. He just had no interest in doing it himself. I think Michael had finally tied his last shoe when he told Trev..."No more video games till you figure out how to tie your shoes". Guess what happened...yep you got it.

The thought of loosing his Nintendo time made this a mission of utmost importance. Mastered in one afternoon. Hmmm...what else do we need to have him learn to do?