Artistic Endeavors

Here is my latest project. Years ago I painted the four ninja turtles on Greg's bedroom wall and later a large Minnnie Mouse on Jamie and Amanda's closet door. It was fun and I have been wanting to do something else like that for a while. Maddox loves Transformers so I thought that I would give Optimus Prime a try. He is done on the closet door and is about 42 inches tall. Given that I haven't drawn anything for ages it took a bit longer to do than I expected. I am happy with the result and so is Maddox- although he now thinks I should do Megatron! I won't tell him that my mind is now wandering to Tinkerbell and Mia's closet door........

Maybe Next Year

Miss Linda's class set out to capture a leprechaun on Wednesday. We regret to inform you that even though there were many worthy traps, the leprechaun still managed to reek havoc in the classroom and get away unscathed. We are already brainstorming ideas for next year's trap........

M&M-isms (Revised March 1, 2010)

Barote:

–noun

1.A device used to control the operation of an apparatus or machine, as a television set, from a distance.

Rafenwell:
 -Proper noun
1. One of the four ninja turtles. His everyday attire consists of a red bandanna.


Bicided:
–adjective

1.

stirred emotionally; agitated: An excited crowd awaited the arrival of the famed rock group.

Hams:
–noun

1.

the terminal, prehensile part of the upper limb in humans and other primates, consisting of the wrist, metacarpal area, fingers, and thumb.

Bigoynya:

–noun

1.

large, flat, rectangular strips of pasta.

2.

a baked dish consisting of layers of this pasta, cheese, tomato sauce, and usually meat.

Bizzy:

–adjective

1.

having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall; giddy; vertiginous.

 Mook:

–noun

1. liquid as secreted by cows, goats, or certain other animals and used by humans for food or as a source of butter, cheeses, yogurt, etc.

and....my personal favorite: 

Washing Macleaner:

–noun

an apparatus, esp. a household appliance, for washing clothing, linens, etc.

Move Over Michael Phelps!

Maddox has just finished up his first six week session of swimming lessons at the local "Y" He seemed to really enjoy it and is already signed up for his next set of lessons. He likes his instructor, Judy very much and he spends his entire thirty minutes of pool time grinning from ear to ear. Judy feels that he is ready to brave the pool with Mommy watching from the window -question is- is Mommy ready??

Tell Me Where It Hurts

We have had a cold/flu virus running through our house for the past week or so. Last night about an hour after being tucked in for the night Mia woke up. I went in to see what was wrong and found her covered in sweat and quite fussy. This was our conversation:

Nana: "Mimi, are you sick?"

Mia: "Yeah" (Small pathetic voice coming from the curled up little ball of pink flannel in the toddler bed.)

Nana: "Does anything hurt?"

Mia: "Yeah"

Nana: "What hurts?"

small pause...........

Mia: ME!
I sure hope that Tylenol is effective on general "ME" pain.

Autobots! Get Ready To Roll Out!

Nuff said......

Gotta Go, Gotta Go, Gotta Go!

It has been snowing for 3 days. It's that kind of snow that doesn't seem like much, but it just keeps sifting down and before you know it there is a good twelve inches on the ground. Jamie brought Bentley over play in the snow with Emmy. We look for any reason to get them some exercise now that winter has set in just to keep a bit more peace in the household. It was gorgeous outside so I grabbed my camera figuring that I'd get some nice shots of the dogs in the snow. Huh! Below you can see the results of my efforts. These dogs don't stay still long enough to get a decent shot, and my skill as a photographer does not extend to action shots as you can see.

They had fun and wore themselves out which was the goal in the first place. The snow is beautiful and I did manage to capture Maxie in a state of stillness.

They Can Focus!!!

Ha ha! this picture really just made me laugh. It has taken close to eighteen months to get the idea of simple housebreaking through Emmy's head, and Jamie and Josh could tell a few stories involving some of Bentley's hard- headed moments as well, I'm sure. Just look at the intense focus they can conjure when there is a piece of turkey up for grabs! These dogs have more energy that you can imagine and they can be hard headed, but they are the most loyal breed that I have ever seen. I don't think I would ever own any other breed in the future.

Gobble Til Ya Wobble!

Another Thanksgiving gone by. It didn't go off without a hitch or two, but turned out nice just the same. Greg shopped for me and picked out a nice medium sized turkey. I later decided to get an extra turkey breast, since we have a lot of white meat eaters. I put the whole bird in the fridge to thaw on Monday morning and had planned to take out the smaller breast on Tuesday afternoon. Panic set in at about 7:00pm Wednesday when Mandy asked if I had taken the breast out of the freezer.

I hadn't. 

Upon inspection, I also discovered that the whole bird was still partially frozen. I went online to learn of the fastest way to thaw turkey and learned that you can do it in cold water, but that you have to change the water every thirty minutes unless you want to run the risk killing off your entire family with some deadly strain of turkey bacteria. Back in the fridge they went, and up early was I to start the water baths. It worked, and I soon had them all seasoned and panned up. Since we were doing the dinner at Jamie and Josh's house I sent Al off to their house with the birds (okay bird and a half) to get them started. The phone soon rings. It's Al saying that there is no way that they are both going to fit in her oven. Okay, regroup again. I decide that the whole bird is plenty big enough....just no leftovers. The breast goes in the fridge, the turkey goes in the oven, it's all good. We visit, we chat, Josh and Maddox go to the Governor's restaurant to pick up some rolls.......Once back home Josh is looking at the stove and calmly asks, "Is the oven on?"

It wasn't.

Okay, another regrouping.....Jamie was sure that the oven had been on and it did still feel fairly hot, but now we have no idea how long it will take to finish the  cooking process....Oven back to 325 degrees, some more snacking and a few more games of Memory with Maxie later we sat down to dinner. Not quite as scheduled, but tasty none the less. Jamie did a great job with the veggies, as did Mandy with dessert. Al makes a pumpkin pie every year, and this year's was delicious as usual.

MATCH!!!!

Let's eat!

Cinderella in red?????

Pretzel Mustache!

My Confession

Hello, my name is Kim, I am a 48 year old grandmother, and yes I am a Twihard. I'm not a camp out for 5 days to get tickets, "Team Edward" tee shirt wearing (Ahem, Jamie) kind of  Twihard, but it's true, I have been bitten by the vampire bug. When the Twilight craze began and Jamie was completely immersed in the book series I thought that the whole premise sounded simply absurd. A sparkly vampire??? Puhleeeeze!! Jamie tried her best to get me to go to the theater with her to see the movie when it came out, but I could not be swayed...."No, no, no", I affirmed over and over, "I have no desire to see that movie." Then one evening when there was nothing on television, and I was weak, I let her convince me to watch the Twilight DVD with her. I started reading the books that same weekend. And yes damn it! I LIKED THEM!!

I didn't care that Edward might be the bad guy, rather than the hero, I no longer cared that these were vampires without fangs, I didn't even care that Edward sparkled! I just got lost in the story. Stephanie Myers has somehow managed to reinvent the same old love story that has worked for so many generations. It's a fun indulgence, the books were an easy read, and the movies are a great two hour escape from the real world.