Imatjen’s Neighborhood

Some time ago I was told how rockets get into space. They are launched straight up, but because of the Earth's gravitational pull they can't continue straight up or they'd never get there. So they tilt and shoot out of reach in an arch, and it supposedly works because the Earth is curved. They slip out before they hit the ground. I'm not an engineer so I don't know if it's complete and utter bullshit or not, but I think it is, hands down, the best thing I've heard in a long time. Means Douglas Adams was right in the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: all it takes to fly is fall down and miss the earth.

matilda truly does enjoy cartoons from time to time

Several captions for this photo came to mind. 

1.  Did you forget I can roll now?

2.  Neglected third child.   

3.  ER trip waiting to happen.

3.  Nana's and Mimi's heart attack.

4. Who needs a babysitter when you've got TV?

5. What happens to me when Mom's putting out the boys' fires.

6.  Honey?  You seen Matilda lately?  I swear I put her down...ah here.  Yup here she is.   

And the award for OUTSTANDING MOTHER OF THE YEAR goes to.......not me. 

Really, just foolin.  The camera was within reach.  Tills was never left unattended.  No need to go calling social services anyone.   

Back in my old life when I used to be a sixth grade teacher, one of the mini lessons in my repetoire for writing workshop was titled using show not tell details.  Come on, kid.  Don't tell me your dog was sad.  Say Buddy laid his head down atop his paws and whimpered.  Or something to that effect.

Thing is, with this here blog, most times it's equally good to literally show you readers what it is I'm talking about as I'm writing.  Show with pictures and show with words.  You lucky ducks you to get the best of both worlds.  I can't think of a better way to give you this post.  So lots of pictures it is.     

But first, a disclaimer.  For our anniversary Mitchell surprised me with bump bitta ba....a new camera lens!  I'm so used to using my external flash and zoom lens--that I haven't quite gotten the hang of my new present.  Apologies if some pics are a bit fuzzy, grainy, so on and so forth.  Now away we go...

The decorations!  I did my darndest to give Leo a full out dinosaur party.  We had a dinosaur tablecloth, dinosaur hats, dinosaur birthday letters, dinosaur balloons, dinosaur cake, dinosaur goody bags...and streamers!  You're probably as tired of reading the word dinosaur as I am from typing it.  Here's the dining room:

decorated dining room

Next my brother Philip and Matilda.  Even though they're the ones in focus my favorite part of this one is the foreground.  It's pretty much Dewey and Ava's relationship in a nutshell.

buck up dewey

Little Beans.  Pet lover extraordinaire.  She just wants to squeeze.  And hug.  And squeeze.  What's wrong with that Dewey?  You should be used to rough lovin'.

avies

And here we have my dad who requested featured face time on little white whale.  I always come through for my dad.  One part lawyer.  One part former politician.  One part college prof.  One part comedian.  Shaken not stirred.  Careful, it burns a little going down.  Also, perhaps you can spot your Christmas card on our wall?

grandaddy and alex

Some partygoers in hats:

vivian looking serious

xander!

 Our littlest guest, Ellen.  What a sweetie. 

baby ellen

 Some dancing and balloon popping.

party time!

The cake!  I had to stand back along with Leo to admire Plehn's finest work.

worth every penny

admiring his cake

Lights out.  The happy birthday song made Leo pleased as punch.

go on, keep singing to me

Sounds corny but, hope all your wishes come true Leoman. 

so fun to blow out candles

I think your guests enjoyed themselves.  At least your girlfriend Caroline did.  It's very important to keep your woman happy, son.

good cake, good times

I'll call this one Mike and the boys.  A rare moment of downtime in between bouts of running and chasing.  Excellent work Mike.

couch full of males

  And finally, nothing beats playing with all your new loot the morning after. 

matching up dinosaur toys to pictures in the book

Thanks to all our friends and family for making Leo's third birthday party so special for him!

Well, ok, not mine specifically, but rather some ones on the the web that caught my interest. I plan on attempting version of all of these this holiday season. So here they are with a brief description:

• Rosettes: So many people are talking about these, I just had to find a good descriptive how-to for everyone. These bring back many fond memories as a kid. My mother used to make these and freeze them weeks in advance of Christmas and when she would take them out of the freezer, over half would be gone. <innocent whistling>
• Poofy Sugar Cookies: Yes Virginia, there is a poofy sugar cookie, one that doesn't break a tooth and is still as sweet as the sugar that goes into it. Anyways, yep. Sugar cookies the soft and poofy way.
• Coconut Creme filled Macaroons: Yes, that's correct. Filled macaroons. Actually, it's more like macaroon sandwich cookies. Take two macaroons and glue them together with coconut creme. I actually got this one just for the macaroon recipe. I want to coat the bottoms in Lindt white chocolate/coconut... Oh hell yes.
• Joy and Noel Jam Tiles: This one gets an A+ in my book for creativity, taste and simplicity. They look stunning, make great gift and are neat to layout at the Christmas buffet. Who can resist? These are at the top of my holiday cookie list. I just need to order the letter cookie cutters. Found them on Amazon! Awesome...
• Peanut Butter Cookie: I know, I know. Nothing strange or exotic on this one. But it was the words that Sarah J. Gim wrote in this article that intrigued me.

"Cookies – all of them – are never bad. Even peanut butter. I never grew up with peanut butter, don’t have even a childhood nostalgia for peanut butter, can’t stand the texture of peanut butter, am not particularly fond of the fragrance of peanut butter, cringe at the thought of how fatty fattening peanut butter is.

But a peanut butter cookie is still a cookie.

And I will eat it."

• Gingerbread: Once you scroll down through seventeen pages of pictures of the most magnificent gingerbread houses you have ever laid eyes on, you will find the details and recipe that they use to build these delicious mansions. I have had a detailed gingerbread house bakers die laying around for over ten years adn have yet to utilize it to make one single house. This is the year. I swear by all that is holy, I will at least bake the damn thing before January 1st of 2010 or everyone is invited to my house for a head shaving ceremony, mine.

And for those of you who absolutely adore Food Porn, the site you need to visit is TasteSpotting.com, where these purveyors, um, wait, they don't sell anything so I guess they really aren't purveyors. Free Food Porn! Yeah, I like the sound of that. LOL. Search for ingredients, or recipes or just oogle at the pictures displayed for your gastronomic pleasure. But be warned, it could cause hot flashes from standing in front of the stove later...

Actually, I did no such exciting thing as going to Cleveland. There was something in Ohio I wanted to go see, but can't for the life of me recall what it was. Lego Museum or soemthing maybe? Hmmm... Anywyas, where was I... Ah yes. A week has passed and I was goign to do an update on what's been going on. Once again, too much to really detail, but here goes some main points.

• Went to court over the ticket the city gave me. Won and lost. Still had court fees to pay for the ticket the city wrote, because I did have an unlicensed vehicle parked in the driveway. Bastards. Anyways, I won in that I cna park the RV in the driveway with no more trouble from the city. the odd part is, since I parked it in the storage lot, I think I'll leave it there. It's easier to get out and I can get to it 24 hours a day for access. Plus, it's far enough away that I don't have to worry about kids wanting to come visit and stay in it... Just saying. LOL
• Attorney handling the case of the RV Dude sent out the letter for demand of payment and the time for action on his part is up on Monday. Basically the letter states that we want the full amount due by Monday or we file repo paperwork. Might end up in Texas over Christmas to repo the damn thing. Approximate total owed: $12,500.00. Merry Christmas...
• One of my wonderful neighbors sent me a wonderful present of wonderful goodies from down under. I got up the morning after my Birthday a little later than usual and went out to get the mail. there was a package, which I thought was a shipment of Lego bricks at first. Until I noticed the address. Australia! I opened the box to find two bags of the most delicious cheesy snack food know to man... Cheetos Bacon Cheese Balls. Ambrosia to the common man. Only made in Australia. A whole lot of loving in that little box right there. Today at work, I sat in my office and ate them. Explaining the whole story to everyone. It was awesomeness in the First Degree. Thank you Emjay. I am beyond happy now.
• Lessee... I worked Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Holy moses. That's more days than I've worked in a long time. So, the paycheck should be a good one. Paying down more debt... Yahoo!
• Oh, and the big deep freeze arrived. It's sitting in the corner of the Lego room for now. Monday, I get it's space all configured so we can start freezing stuff again. Right now, our fridge's freezer is jammed full of whatever will fit and the overflow is over at the kid's house in our old freezer there. Come on after Christmas food sales!
• Tuesday was a run my butt off day trying to get several things done all at once. I succeeded in most of them. But if anyone has a right front charcoal door trim panel for a 2001 Ford Escape, that would help tremendously. LOL
• Speaking of vehicles, I got the plates on our RV and even managed to take it out on a four hour road trip north of Kansas City. It was good to finally, after over a year of sitting because of the RV Dude not paying, take the thing back on the road. bad part is I had to pay for two year plates and there's only one year left on them. Gah! Damn Gubbermint...
• Did have some bad news. The main bathroom sink has died. Well, is dying. I noticed some water trickling on the floor in there. First glance it appeared to be the toilet. Upon further review, there is somethign corroded under the main sink. Like majorly corroded. So, it too is on the list. I cleaned up under the sink, dried it up with a few old towels, but the whole thing has to go. It's fifty years old, so no luck in finding a replacement. Plus, the plumbing under there is all wonky as well. It's ready to fly apart. So, that will be my big project for after the new year. I just need to baby it along and empty the tote every so often. I'm thinking it would be a good time for new tile as well...
• Maybe I should call Redz... Hmmm... LOL
• I tried out three different recipes for chocolate chip cookies. Fluffy, chewy and crunchy. All were met well and the final decision is in. Fluffy with big chips is the winner. I forgot, I made them with mini and regular chips each too. So, on to the other recipes I want to try, which I will post late. Good stuff.
• And a little side note, I've been looking for a commercial meat slicer, like Hobart or Berkel brands. You know, the big tank sized stainless steel behemoths behind the meat counter at the deli. I found one for sale but the guy had already sold it by the time I called. I want to pursue the dream of sandwich shop. I don't want to just talk about it, I want to go after it. Patiently, slowly, but I want it. So, I'll be getting some equipment to try the stuff at home before I get the physical place. Recipes too. Need to try out all sorts of things. Best part is we can eat the mistakes as well as the successes. Oh! And the bread baking as well. Yes indeed. There will be plenty fo that...
• What else have I got... Um... Oh yeah! Wookie Girl finally, to much fanfare, got her learners permit for driving! Hooray! Now we just need to get her behind the wheel and show her something. LOL. Everyone has been forewarned, Student Driver, beware! LOL. Oh, but there go the insurance rates.

Thanks for reading along!

I'm kind of out of it today. I decided to put my cat down...surgery was just too expensive. Seeing my mom start to cry and pet on him right before he fell asleep was hard. I miss my boy....

Last night I saw Avatar with Ryan, Jimmy and Allen. It was super good! They handed out 3D glasses...I've never experienced anything in 3D so that kind of blew my mind. Awesome movie, def go see. :)

I'm not really in the mood to make this blog flow well or interesting so sorry if it's kind of choppy.....Allen bought me a mini laptop for Christmas. =D He's way too freaking good to me.

Today was Alivia's last day of school at Standing Bear Elementary. Oh, it was so sad! She has made good friends already with many in her class, so the adjustment may be difficult on her to start at Bell Elementary in Papillion come January 4.

In celebration of the upcoming holidays, Standing Bear eases their way into winter break by having Pajama Day. Alivia wore her Christmas Eve pajamas and was excited to do so. I snapped pictures of Alivia and her friends as I pushed back my big Mommy tears. All of Alivia's classmates drew her a picture and Miss Moran put it into a book for her. It is so cute! Mrs. Archer made Alivia a name plague that is just adorable that Alivia can hang in her room. I had friends move away when I was a little girl and know how much friends are missed. We are confident that Alivia will do great at Bell, too.

holy family

In her debut performance as the infant Christ child, Matilda nailed it.  She grinned just enough.  Fussed just enough.  Cooed just enough.  And sucked her thumb just enough to win over the entire audience.  In the past few weeks she'd really been perfecting her character.  Every so often I would prompt her with Now Tills, what would Jesus do....?  Gus tried to give her a few pointers since he was cast as baby Jesus last year, but since Matilda doesn't like pacifiers--it was necessary to practice her techniques all the more.      

Turns out Matilda was so convincing as a little holy baby boy--many people came up to her afterwards and congratulated "him" on a job well done.  Luckily mom was around to set the record straight.  A woman in a man's role, huh?  Bravo daughter.  Bravo.  You handled yourself beautifully, ma dear.           

great job everyone!

2 days ago while getting my hair done, as I do every 8 weeks, I decided to be bold and change colors....drastic colors...For the first time in my 30 years I am not blonde!

My hairdresser was shocked at my request, but didn't question it she just did it.  The new color is called Chestnut.

After 2 hours at the salon i walked through the door and Ryan was shocked!  He scooped me up in his arms with the biggest grin and said he LOVED it!  (Whoo Hoo)  I like it and love how blue it makes my eyes look!!!

I've had many different reactions from family, friends and coworkers and my favorite was while cuddling on the couch when my husband said he felt like he was having an affair!

Brunette

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