The Wildly Eclectic Me

So I was in Sam's with Finn, and we were waiting in line for the deli. The lady in front of us in line turns around and says, "Oh, he has such beautiful hair! Is it natural?" *blinks* So I said, "No, we dye it about once a month to keep it nice and shiny dark brown. We use that new toddler Clairol. It's great stuff!" Okay, I didn't really...but I sure as heck thought it. What I really said was something like, "Why thank you, yes it is." But it gets better. She goes on to say, "You just don't see many little ones with hair so dark. What is his background?" *blinks* Did you really just ask me my child's ethnic background standing in line in Sam's when you don't know me at all? Really? My manners often overpower my snark and I didn't tell her how inappropriate her comments were, but I sure as heck thought it. I mean I know she was well meaning. It was just so strange and surreal. LOL I felt a little sorry for...

This week I took Nicky and Finn for a drive, because they were driving me INSANE and Finn desperately needed a nap and wouldn't sleep. So we decided to go look for Lake Wilson that a friend suggested we try fishing in. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it was one of the Fayetteville Parks. So I looked it up on google. It seemed pretty straight forward. Not too far behind Drake Field, the old airport. I plugged it into my iPhone, and we headed off. I checked out the route and saw that it was on a road off 15th street called City Lake rd. Hmmm...I'd never heard of it so I figured I'd just keep an eye out. I passed Morningside drive and thought, hmm that really seems to be where it should have been, and I glanced at the phone and I was clearly past the turn off. Well apparently Morning side drive is only Morningside drive for about half a mile then it becomes City Lake rd. At least according to Google Maps. I never actually saw a sign with City Lake rd on i...

You may have noticed that I've been absent from the internet for much of the last two weeks. Or then again you might not have... My in-laws came to visit from Denmark. First there was the mass cleaning before they got here. Then their actual visit. Then the mass cleaning after they left. (Which isn't actually finished yet, but I'm getting close.) We did much shopping (prices are sooo much cheaper here than over there.) My FIL got new glasses which arrived literally within minutes of our leaving for the airport. There was much rejoicing. I took them to Terra Studios , because I'd always wanted to go see it and had heard that it was lovely. It was! Nicky nicknamed it the Magical Forest. At least the trail part of it. I've got to get back there when it's actually open so I can buy one of their pink bluebirds of happiness. We went to Branson, MO, where we stayed in a pretty darn nifty hotel. We spent two days at Silver Dollar City. We also saw the Dixie S...

Our lawnmower wasn't starting and was in need of its yearly maintenance so I went up to Lowes and put on my "I have no idea what I'm doing" face and asked for help finding all the stuff I needed. I love Lowes! They are always so helpful, and it's one of the few places I know I can trust the information I get. So I got a new fuel filter, new spark plug, new air filter, new oil filter, an oil pan, and new oil. I went home and was so excited! I couldn't wait to get started! It started out SO well! I opened up the air filter box and popped in the new one with no trouble. The old one had a colony of ants starting to move into it. Yikes! That could prove to be a problem when you want to make sure you're getting the right amount of oxygen mixed with the fuel! Then I off the old fuel filter... No wonder I wasn't sure that the one the guy at Lowes pointed out to me was the right one. Here's what the new Fuel Filter looked like once I got it on. Kind of a te...

I realized that I forgot to give this to Jenn like I promised ages ago. I'm just sitting here counting baby breaths because my poor Finn is wheezing something awful. If it doesn't stay below 40 breaths a minute we're going to have to admit him to the hospital. So keep your fingers crossed that he feels better! Saute: 1/4 cup chopped celery 1/4 cup chopped onions 1/4 cup butter Add: 3 cups water 3 cups cubed potatoes 1/4 cup flour salt (to taste) pepper (to taste) Simmer 15 minutes. Add: 3 cups broccoli tops Simmer 15 minutes. Add: 1/2 cup half and half Heat through and serve. If you want you can also add about a handful of shredded cheddar cheese. It gives it a delightful richness. I love it that way!

Thanks everyone for your input! I really appreciate the help! I went with number 3 without bangs. I chickened out on the bangs at the last moment. hehe I went for the one that looks good without a lot of styling cause I'm super lazy where my hair is concerned. :-D I did get a flat iron so I could flip it up at the ends. It's going to take some getting used to. That and putting product in my hair! Eek! Product! I'm so not used to it!

Jennifer Shirk over at Me, My Muse and I is having a Virtual Christmas Cookie swap . The details are on the site. There is a COOKIE PRIZE! Now really shouldn't that be more than enough reason to take part? hehe Here's my recipe. This is one my Mom made occasionally when I was a little girl. I know why she only made them occasionally too, because really you can't eat just one. They are so delightfully melt in your mouth good that you look down and suddenly every cookie you made has miraculously disappeared. There name is perfect too... Spellbinders 1.5 C Flour 1.5 t. baking powder 1 t. soda 0.5 t. salt 1 C brown sugar 1 C butter 1 egg 1 C oats 1 C coconut 1 C chopped pecans 0.5 C crushed cornflakes Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and beat. Gradually mix in dry ingredients. Stir in oats, nuts, coconut, and cornflakes. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with glass dipped in crushed cornflakes. Bake f...

We're all sick again. Head cold that moves into the chest thing. I've been hacking up a lung for 2 days and before that for a couple of days my head was so stopped up I was completely off balance. Finn has been sniffly since like tuesday of last week, but he started coughing and wheezing yesterday so to avoid an emergency room visit I took him to the late hours at the pediatric clinic. Good thing too because we were definitely headed for another emergency room visit if I hadn't. He is now on steroids, antibiotics, and an albuterol inhaler. So I've been having to hold him down with a mask over his face every four to six hours to breath in his meds. That's almost as fun as holding the new kitten by the scruff of the neck to put meds down his throat and drops in his eyes. Did I mention that he was sick too? Oh yes, nd eye infection likely caused by a kitty virus. Great way to welcome him into our home. He at least doesn't bite and scratch me like Aine wo...

Okay, yesterday I got my prelit tree out to decorate...only it wasn't prelit anymore... Now it's been going down hill for the last couple years, and though I tried my best to track down the problem it was a cheap tree and I couldn't figure out what was going on. So I ripped all the lights off the tree. *and a few branches unintentionally - OOPS* Then I only had one string of lights so I draped the tree in net lights before stringing that one on. After that the boys and I decorated it. It looks...special. :-D And it's leaning, but oh well I'll just have to keep my eyes open after Christmas this year for a nice prelit tree on clearance. Cause I'm not gonna spring for a new one this year. I also did all the monthly shopping yesterday that I hadn't done already. It really wasn't that much because I'd already been to Sams and I have instated a clean out the pantry and freezer rule for the month. They're too darn full! Like if the Apocalypse ...

I've been entertaining for two solid weeks now. First my MIL came in to visit from Denmark for a week and a half. Then Thanksgiving. So that's why I haven't been blogging much at all or visiting anyone else's blogs. I will try to do better. :-D I hope everyone had a delightful Thanksgiving! We had lots of fun, but now I'm verrrrry, verrrrry tired! Think I'll take a nap! :-D

He's five months old and one of the sweetest cats I've ever met. We got him this morning, and he's already made himself a part of our family. We adopted him from the NWA Animal Rescue . There are lots more kitties if you are looking for a new family member. He is cautious of the boys, as well he should be, but he wants to play with them too. They love him so much! We've renamed him to Shadow. The name he got from the rescue was Booker...alas the name Booker out of Nicky's mouth is Booger. Shadow works much better. MIL is here visiting and she thought we were saying Charon. Which if you ask me would be a kick butt name for a black cat, but Bryon refused to let me change his name again. hehe

A woman's best friend has a dream about a positive pregnancy test, the next day she has a dream about a positive pregnancy test - a ridiculously complicated one mind you with four sets of lines, and then the woman's husband has a dream that she's pregnant. The woman then assures her husband that she's not having sex for the rest of the month so that these dreams do not come true as she's NOT ready to be pregnant again yet. Husband: You're really not going to have sex with me this month? Wife: Yes, It's not going to happen. I REALLY don't wanna get pregnant right now. Husband: You're not going to get pregnant just because we have sex. Wife: *stares at him* How do you think it happens exactly? I couldn't make this stuff up.

I'm just taking care of sick kiddos. Finn and Nicky started getting congested noses Friday. Saturday they started coughing. Sunday Finn started coughing worse, then started having trouble breathing. Sunday night I took him to the ER because he was having such a hard time breathing his lips were getting blue tinged whenever he coughed or cried. We got there about 11pm. Finn was in pretty good spirits. I actually told him at one point that he should have the decency to act sick since he was costing me big bucks. We waited about 45 minutes to get into triage. From triage we went directly back to the back. Which kinda terrified me because normally your wait in our ER is from 6 - 8 hours. His oxygen saturation was 92%, his breath rate was 49, his pulse was super high, and he had developed a fever that he hadn't had all day. We waited for a little while in a room that I swear was at least 90 degrees! Great for a little boy with a fever lemmie tell you! The nurse's nam...

Weight: 231 Loss: 3 Total Loss: 41 Yayyyy! I'm back to where I was before summer. How did she lose 3 pounds in one week you say? With no special diet or exercise? I'll tell you! Thanks to the handy dandy stomach flu! You can do it too! But I don't recommend it! Felt like I was gonna die! And we ALL had it! Nicky got sick Thursday. Finn and I got sick Saturday and Bryon got sick Sunday! Have I mentioned how completely through I am with everyone being sick??? Cause really it's getting old! I didn't run Monday, but finished about half of my run yesterday before Nicky pushed Finn and he landed on the Busy Ball Popper leaving a big mark on his poor forehead. He looks like Voldemort attacked him! Poor little guy! I almost finished all the painting in my bathroom. There are a few things that need to be touched up still. And I've GOT to finish making the fondant for Nicky's Castle cake for his party. Hell it's already Wednesday. I probably need to star...

Okay, we had a very slow leak in our bathroom behind the faucet. I kept accusing my husband of just splashing the wall when he showered, but when the dry wall started getting damaged and started to mold I had to admit that in fact there was something wrong... So out of sheer fear of the cost of a plumber we decided to give it a shot ourselves. First I did some research on how to cut through dry wall. Then I did some research on how faucets are made. Then I went in to check what kind of attachment our faucet had and when I was checking the faucet basically fell off in my hand. So upon further investigation it was made obvious that the solder had gone bad. Actually it had probably just been badly soldered from the beginning at that joint. So then I was like OH CRAP! This is a copper pipe and when I started looking at copper pip installation it became obvious that you have to solder to fix a joint on a copper pipe. Well here's the thing... In order to solder I'd have to co...

Because it's soooo true! My hubby and boys got it for me for my birthday. They know that I tweet all of their antics. Muhaha Sometimes when I'm sure they would rather I not!

I am now officially a soccer mom. Yes, I have the minivan and everything. ;) Nicky had his very first soccer practice today. He did a great job. He did get a liiittttle distracted there at the end, and he didn't quite understand that he was allowed to kick someone else's ball when they started playing a little match. I mean, after all, we'd told him repeatedly to only kick his ball and not other people's. We'll have to work on that. hehe On other notes, I planted a red delicious apple tree in the field today, where another tree had been that died. We'll see how well it does. I hope it doesn't take too many years before it gives me some nummy apples. The field project is coming along. I would say we've got about 1/3 of it useable now. I filled in some holes today. There are a few stones that really need to be removed so I don't have to mow around them, but they are so huge that I think it might require a backhoe to get them out of there. ...

My little guy started swim lessons this week. He's in a class with about 7 other 3 year old's, and there are two instructors. That's them with him. Now don't get me wrong. They are great instructors, and he really, really loves them. That just seems like a pretty large student to teacher ration when you've got 3 year olds in water that's over their heads. Normally this would not present a problem, because most of the kids cling to the side for a while screaming for their mommies. Not mine! He was crawling along the edge, around other kids, and in and out of the pool. Now this makes a Mommy very nervous anyway, but one of the times he was crawling around he got kicked and went under. The teacher was right behind him so it wasn't a big deal she pulled him out and put him on the edge again. You'd think this would have taught him a healthy respect for water. Nope, a few minutes later he was doing the same thing again. This time he got knocked bac...

Okay, so I was visiting my grandmother last weekend and helped her restart her digital photo frame that the family got her for Christmas. And I saw this picture... This is Minnie Martin, my mom's mom's mom, known to me as Mom Mom. Isn't she just the cuuuutest little flapper you've ever seen? I've decided I have to dress up on Halloween as a flapper now. ;) I do so love costumes! I found this wig... And this dress... Yes, I know I said I would never shop at Pyramid Collection again, but why is it that they have to have such awesome stuff!!!???

...it's because I've had a craptastic week! Sunday, we came home from my parents. We had a great time with them, but it's a four hour drive, and I've discovered Finn is none too fond of riding in the back where he can't see me on long trips. He screamed most of the way down there, and only didn't scream on the way back because I got on the floor in the back wedged between the seats and the dog crate (I removed the very back seats to fit the dog crate in) letting him play with my hair - it's a dang good thing my hair is like waist long or that wouldn't have worked at all - and talking to and tickling him. So after four hours of that, I was ready to come home relax maybe start some laundry and have a good afternoon of nothing but relaxation. Well, when we got home it was 90 degrees in the house and turning on the air conditioner full blast didn't bring it down a single degree! Okay, I'm exaggerating! It wasn't really 90 in the house. It w...