Stuff About Me

~ I almost always owe the library money for overdue books. It's a really good thing that one can't be banned from the library for consistently having books that are overdue, because they would have put me on a "Wanted" poster years ago. I don't know why it's virtually impossible for me to get my books back on time. Actually, It's probably the same gene that made it impossible to get movies back to Blockbuster. We always owed them money, too, which is why we switched to Netflix. It's way, way, waaaaay cheaper!

I joke that I should just have an account with the library that I can add money to every few months. Then they can take my overdue fees out of there and just contact me when it gets low. (Actually, I think that it really would be handy if I could pay them via PayPal.)

2. I do believe I'm addicted to those cheap animal crackers made by Stauffer's. You know, the ones that come in the ginormous bag that you can get for $1.89 from Wal Mart? I find myself continually drawn back to the siren song of crunchy, toasted, slightly sweet goodness again and again. Oh well, I guess it's better than continually raiding The Kid's Halloween candy and stealing their Snickers bars. (IN MY DEFENSE, before anyone gets mad at me for stealing The Good Stuff from my kids, Reilly doesn't like Snickers bars because she doesn't like nuts. So, I'm really just getting them off of her hands.)

3. I have a recurring dream in which I'm frantically trying to dial a phone because there's some sort of emergency and I keep mis-dialing and having to start over. The funny thing is that every single time I have that dream, in the dream I think, "Oh no, this is just like that dream I always have, only THIS TIME IT'S REAL!!" as I frantically try the number again.

4. I've had that dream for years. YEARS.

5. My dreams are so weird that I can remember them for years. Even when they're not recurring ones.

The End.

Thanks for watching!

Vacation!

Troy was on vacation last week, and we got to go to Memphis to visit his mom. This will be our last trip to see her in Memphis, as she and her husband are moving to Austin. This makes me sad because...well...it means no more Corky's barbecue ribs! *sob* It was all I could do to not go and eat there every night since we'll never be back. *wipes tears from eyes*

We had a wonderful vacation!

Aaaah, Corky's. I will miss you so much! *sob*

Random Dozen

Hi, there!

I read a blog called BensRib, which I really enjoy a lot. (She calls her grandson Sticky Bean, which is about the cutest nickname I've ever heard. And her kids are adorable, even though they're not little. They're all, like, college aged, I think.) ANYWAY, she often participates in a thing called Random Dozen which is hosted at a blog called 2nd Cup of Coffee. So, I liked the questions from this week and decided to participate!

1. Candy corn: Your thoughts?

I can take it or leave it, actually. I'll eat it if it's around, but that's not saying much because I'll pretty much eat ANY sweets that are sitting around. I've heard that if you mix candy corn and peanuts together, it tastes like a PayDay bar. I'll have to try it when I'm off my Extreme Diet. (P.S. I've lost 19 pounds!)

2. Briefly, what was the first conversation you ever had with your spouse? (or best friend, if you're not married.) (Or someone significant, like your librarian.)

I don't honestly remember the FIRST conversation with Troy, but I can say that it probably included some...ummm...inappropriate innuendo. From Troy, not from me. I was squeaky clean and the perfect angel and he was the devilishly handsome older man. He's changed a lot. Well, he's still devilishly handsome. Just not such a bad boy.


3. Could you ever become a vegetarian?

Only if vegetarians can eat huge, juicy steaks, medium rare. Otherwise, not on your life.

4. Have you ever dressed up your pet in a costume?

I will admit to putting Neko and Supey in a Hawaiian print Build-a-Bear shirt. It looks cute.

5. Name something about childhood that you miss (like Clark Bars, Teaberry Gum, Malibu Barbie, cracking fake eggs on people's heads with your fist and "It's the Great Pumpkin" airing only once a year).

No worries, no mortgage. Knowing that my parents were taking care of all of my needs.

6. Have you ever won a trophy? If not, what do you deserve a trophy for?

Yes, I've won a karate trophy at a tournament. Well, actually, I have two. But at the second tournament, everyone got a trophy, so it kind of feels like I didn't win it.

7. When do you think is the appropriate time to begin playing Christmas music each year?

December 1st. NOT THE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN, THANKYOUVERYMUCH!!

8. What's your favorite board game?

Apples to Apples, or pretty much anything that's going to make us laugh a lot.


9. How do you feel about surprises (receiving, not giving)?

I love surprises! LOVE THEM!!!!!


10. Is it easy for you to say, "I'm sorry?"

HAHAHAHAHA! Yes, it is. I say it a lot, especially to my kids.

11. What is your favorite candle scent?

I love spicy scented candles, like you'd put out at Christmas. I had one that smelled like vanilla cookies, or something like that. It's nice to have the house smell like I'm baking something yummy, since I rarely actually do that!


12. October is traditionally "open house" time in public schools. If you had a literal open house in your home (like a reception) what light snacks would you serve visitors and what would you show them (as in art projects, graded papers) that would uniquely represent you?

I'd make my friend Jan's artichoke dip, and probably those little weenies in grape jelly/mustard sauce. Some Ro-Tel dip, for sure. Sweets, like brownies and cookies and stuff. Oh, and homemade French onion dip with chips. I love entertaining.
I might show off some of the videos that we've edited, especially the family ones. I love the video work we've done. I'd show off Troy, because he's my best friend.

And, I have to steal Karen's answer, because it's so very true:
"I would show them my kids. They are my life's work."

Hope you've enjoyed my Random Dozen!

Tradi-shuuuuuuuuun! Tradition! *

*Note: The title is supposed to mimic the song "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof. I'm not sure that it was obvious in the typing, but I wanted to make sure that you know my intention.

One of the things that we love, love, love to do around our house is watch Christmas movies in the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I decided last year that I wanted to add to it each year because, as nice as our collection is, I want it to be bigger. Honestly, one can only watch "Elf" so many time before you're craving something new and fresh. Or old and fresh, as the case may be, seeing as how some of the best Christmas movies are the old ones. "Scrooge" with Albert Finney (which is really the only true story of "A Christmas Carol" there is. I mean, all others are just plain second fiddle.) and "A Christmas Story" will always be on my list of The Best Christmas Movies.

ANYHOW, I'm super, super excited because the other day, I bought our Christmas movie for this year.

Are you ready?

Is the suspense killing you?

No.

I'll wait then.

...

...

...

Ready now?

I bought the 3-DVD set of The Santa Clause movies! I'm so excited! I love those movies! I can't wait to watch them!

OK, on another note, I've been trying to cook things from a healthy cookbook that I have, so I made polenta for dinner tonight. For those who don't know, another name for polenta is "cornmeal mush"...and that's pretty much what it was. The recipe called for topping it with spaghetti sauce and a little bit of mozzarella cheese, making the dish sound pretty good.

It wasn't.

Troy was the only one who liked it.

I let The Kids have a PB&J and some leftover chicken from last night. I just had my salad. It was much better than the mush. I should have saved it to use as a threat.

"If you complain about dinner, I'm pulling out The Mush!"

"If you don't stop bickering, I'll make you eat The Mush!"

"If you don't scratch my back, I'll give you The Mush!"

I'm thinking that threat would really pack a lot of power!

From One Bacon Lover to Another

OK, this is the funniest thing I've seen in a LONG time!

A Day in the Life...

So, this is how school seems to go lately:

KarateMom : OK, Reilly, now you're going to do your spelling journal entry.

Reilly : Waaaaah! I don't waaaant tooooo! It's tooo haaaaard! I can't thiiiiink of annyyything to wriiiiite!

(Note to reader: Her journal entry this morning basically consisted of writing about what rooms she would put into a castle if she could design a castle in any way she wanted. It was to be purely from her imagination.)

KarateMom : Reilly, if you don't stop complaining, I'm going to add more work for you to do.

Reilly : Waaaaah! You're not heeellllping meeee at alllllll! Waaaah!

KarateMom : OK, Reilly, we need to move onto something else. When we get finished with school, you can do your journal entry as well as writing twenty-five sentences because of your bad attitude.

Reilly : Waaaaahhhhh!

KarateMom : OK, now we're going to do Orange Book.

Reilly: Waaaaaah! I don't waaaaant to write another letteeerrrrrrrrr! Waaaaahhhhhh!

KarateMom : Hey, I just realized that you did today's lesson yesterday! You don't have to do Orange Book today.

(Whining magically stops.)

Fast forward to the end of school. We've done science, which was completely happy-happy-joy-joy because everyone LOVES science. It's sunshine and roses! We have completed grammar with no complaining at all.

I tell Reilly that she can go ahead and begin her journal entry. She asks if she can begin writing the sentences that she was assigned. I say sure, and write out "I will complete all of my schoolwork with a good attitude." for her to copy.

The storm begins again.

Reilly : I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE A LONG SENTENCE!!!

KarateMom, realizing that this is just leading into an argument, ignores the statement and continues entering things into Homeschool Tracker. Reilly begins writing, beginning to put the sentences one after another instead of starting each sentence on a new line. She also completely ignores the margin. KarateMom corrects Reilly.

Cue tears and yet more arguing. Reilly has ten sentences added to her twenty-five that she is to write, bringing her total to thirty-five sentences. All because she wouldn't just quit the bloody complaining.

I swear, sometimes I get to the end of school feeling like I've been beaten with a stick.

Yes, Virginia, There Is A KarateMom

No, I've not fallen off of the face of the earth. (How many posts have I started with that phrase anyway?)

Honestly, though, there are some days I wish I had. Or could.

So, I don't really have a well planned out post, I just starting blogging off the cuff. Which is what I usually do. Which is why my posts usually have about as much content as the inside of a Twinkie. Sorry.

So, instead of trying to make a post that has some sort of logical segue from topic to another, I'm just going to do bullet points.

(And, yes, I had to go to dictionary.com to find out how to spell "segue". It's not spelled like it sounds, unless you're talking about one of those two-wheeled thingies that mall cops run around on. Which I wasn't talking about. But I have ridden on one, and they're fun!)

(SEE?! NO CONTENT!)

• Speaking of Twinkies, I'm on a diet. Now, I fully realize that announcing to the world via a blog that three people read that you're on a diet is just asking to fail, but there you have it. It's a fairly radical diet, involving supplements and counting calories, but I have lost seven pounds so far. I mean, I feel like I would trade my spleen for an Oreo, but weight is coming off. (But, really, who needs a spleen anyway?)
• We spent the last weekend at the lake with my two favorite families. (We were at a house, not camping. Which is, to me, the perfect way to enjoy the lake!) We went tubing and jet skiing and played games and watched movies and laughed a LOT. All of the kids just got to run around outside and have fun with each other. There was a motorcycle out there, which Troy enjoyed a LOT. He spent three hours on Saturday morning, just giving kids rides. I thought he was going to cry when it was time to go home.
• School is going. Most days just fine, some days with a lot of kicking and screaming. Honestly, I wish I were exaggerating a whole lot on that point, but I'm only exaggerating a little. Some days have been really ugly. Some days I honestly wonder if I'm sacrificing my relationship with Reilly for education. But today was great, so I just have to let the past be the past and look to God's grace for tomorrow.
• There's something a little disconcerting about my daughter calling in from the other room "Moooommm? Do we have any shortening?" What exactly is she plotting in there?

~WARNING! WARNING! STRONG OPINION TO FOLLOW! ~

• I think that Michael Moore is a moron. He's made a movie called "Capitalism: A Love Story". Yes, idjit, let's SLAM CAPITALISM.....THE THING THAT MADE YOU A MILLIONAIRE! Moron.

OK, I'm officially done ranting.

And, I'm done posting, actually. I have to go and get ready for class at our church tonight and I have to make my dinner to take. Because otherwise I'll get sucked into the vortex of cheesey goodness that is Tacorito Casserole, and that just doesn't fit into my diet plan.

Although I wish it did. ....mmmmm....cheeeeeessssseeeee....