Friday Fill Ins

1. Please feel free to ask me for a favor. I'll help when I can. Don't think I'll say NO, I might, but I love you, and at least I want the opportunity to help my friends.
2. When I open fresh coffee, whether I am drinking it or not, (lately Not) I can't help sniffing it occasionally. More than occasionally. I love the smell of coffee, especially tutti frutti smelly coffees. Bummer I'm not drinking these days.
3. My favorite thing to cook is dessert. Eric makes the dinner, I bake. The last week, I've made Pumpkin Craisin Bread twice, and not only is it scrumptious, but it makes the house smell SO GOOD!
4. Christopher's Laugh is something I can't get enough of. It's better than Frozen Snicker Bars. And no matter how bad of a mood, or sad I am, when I hear him laugh, it's better than a choir, or the band, or being under a piano when it's played. Probably right up there with a chorus of Angels, I imagine they sound much like Christopher's Laugh.
5. That's the thing I love most about Veggie Tales. There's so much to love: a. Chris loves it. b. Christian values. c. Humor both for adult and child to appreciate. d. Lately I love most that they sing...badly, but they have so much fun, you can sing along whether you're in tune, or terrible, and it's still great. I love Children's Music for that.
6. Silent Cartoon Dogs make me think to myself, what the heck? Have you ever wondered why Goofy can talk, and Pluto can't? Or why Sheep, Pig, Bear, Duck, and Frog, can all talk in Word World, but Dog can't? What the heck?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the Church Choir Party (we just got home but I was looking forward to it all day) I just kind of wish I could've been drinking, (Bummer I'm not drinking these days) ;)tomorrow my plans include Eric's doing a 5K Run literally through his old neighborhood, a fundraiser for a boy in his brother's class who was paralyzed in a diving accident, I haven't been a waving fan of Eric's for a while, possibly meeting the Fam for lunch, if Chris wakes up early enough and in a good enough mood to go that early...otherwise we'll have a pajama morning (which is nice too) and Sunday, I want to talk my husband into spending money at the MOPS Bake Sale, and of course, get a big fat UN-INTERUPTED Nap!

Wordless Wednesday

Computer Confessions

I have become a bit addicted to Facebook. I signed on because a friend invited me over a year ago, but I liked Blogging SO Much better. I fought the impulse for a while, but then at Grandma's funeral, all the cousins were sitting around talking about it, and I realized how it might be an interesting way to keep in touch with them. Well, I got guilted into revisiting and signing up...and got sucked right in. My thoughts throughout the day now consist of, Hmmm, what can I put for my facebook one liner about This moment? When I get that flash, So and so wants to be your friend. How can that not be thrilling, especially when I haven't heard from so and so in ages! It's almost as great as back in the day, when those 3 little words, "You've Got Mail" used to bring the same thrill. Before spam.
And you know, I've become a blog stalker. I read sites, some of people I've only met once, some of people I've never met, some I've come to love to want to meet. There for a while, I got sucked into reading blogs of people that had lost babies, and it was giving me bad dreams, so I stopped reading those. But I still visit other people's sites. The thing of I like about blogging or blog stalking is that I can easily step away, and come back and I haven't missed anything, nor have I had to blow anyone off by leaving quickly. Poor Chris, he wants to watch Veggie Tales, I pop one in, and bam, I'm on the computer. However, he can pull me away pretty easily by asking, Mommy, Need a Hud (hug). Or telling me to Sit. Then we'll sit and watch Veggie Tales together, cuddled up on the couch. I like those moments, quiet cuddles. Time to get some.

Challenge

A friend posted this a couple whiles ago, and I'm just getting around to completing the challenge. Take a picture of your oldest pair of shoes sitting with your newest pair of shoes and tell their stories.



The black pair was a pair of girly shoes I got in high school, quite possibly my junior or senior year. I remember wearing them to get my senior pictures taken. Dress up shoes is a sore point for me, my toes are so squared off that none really fit, so they are a pain in the butt to find. I find it strange that these two shoes are my oldest and newest. What you do not see is generations of Birkenstocks that I wore to falling apart in between that I didn't discover until Freshman year in college. My mother teased me mercilessly for wearing those sandals all year round, with socks in winter, sloshing through the snow like snowshoes...until she tried on a pair herself, then she understood. By then I had discovered Birkenstock Bostons, so I only sloshed for two winters. ;) These are Naturalizer pumps (read old lady shoes) and they've lasted forever. The most comfortable girly shoe I'd ever worn. Then again, anymore if I have to dress up, I wear my Danskos or my Patent Leather Birkies. I think I may have worn these twice since Chris was born, but you never know when you'll need a dainty girly shoe when a Birky just won't do. As for the sneakers....Eric has been on a running kick. He told me that your shoes should go X many miles. Well, I don't run, I walk. I had one pair of sneakers, and that was it. So, late this summer, when we bought him an obnoxiously priced pair of running shoes, he got me a pair of walking shoes too. I got professionally measured and sized up, and blah blah blah. They are terribly ugly, big clompy grandma Walkers, but SO Comfortable. So Comfy. So far, I've only worn them to do "Cause" Walks, Ovarian Cancer and Domestic Violence Walks, because they are pretty and still white. Perhaps I'll walk again by summer.

Thursday Thirteen

So, Chris and I took advantage of what may have been the last pretty day of this fall. Mommy's stomach flu had finally receeded, she had energy. It was sunny outside, and in spite of this being a preschool day, and we had a planned lunchdate with Grandma, we opted to go from lunch to the zoo. We walked in the White River Gardens, which were just oozing with beautiful fall foliage, golds and reds. If you've not been to the midwest in the fall, it really can be something to behold, and this is the tale end of it. It was a great trip, the clouds rolled in just as we left the zoo.

1. Chris in his stroller, at the entrance.


2. Petting the geese.


3. A leaf for the fish. Chris discovered fish in the pond, and was determined to give them leaves. Lots of leaves.


4. A special leaf, just for you.


5. Not content to pick leaves up off the ground, he wanted to pry the pretty ones off the trees too. This was some kind of fancy Dogwood, which Mommy just thought was BEAUTIFUL!


6. Can you see him? He's almost camoflaged sitting down in a break on the little wall, there's a small brick stepping bridge over the stream, which is currently running dry, otherwise his feet would've been wet instead of just dirty.


7. Pretty purple flowers, butterfly bush maybe, still in bloom. But they didn't seem as pretty to Chris as his leaf.


8. Chris takes off running. See him still clutching that leaf.


9. Mommy fell a bit too far behind, for when I caught up with him, he had burst into tears. Little tired?..maybe. But aren't the leaves on the pillars pretty?


10. GQ. GQ for the Choo Choo, there's a small train that runs a small loop in the gardens, and Chris spent a good 10 minutes chasing it and watching it.


11. Beya Mommy. Chris tells me Come here, "Beya" to help him down the steps. But I made him go down on his bottom (ballums) all by himself. He did.


12. All By Self. Not only could Chris go down the steps on one side of this little flower pit, but he climbed right up out the other side.


13. Mommy and her Sweetboy. An auto-portrait, leaning camera precariously on stroller. Chris would not sit still for a second take.


Indeed it was a beautiful fall day.

Wordless Wednesday

Flu Flews is feeling better.

My dog has the stomach flu

Ever hear of the excuse, "my dog ate my homework"? Yes. That only happened to me once. In my working days, I missed half a days work because I had to wait for the Benedryl to kick in on my dog. I got a lot of flack for it. But Fina is sensitive to bug bites on her muzzle, and her face swells up when she gets bit, and once it got so bad it impeeded her breathing. That day, I gave her benedryl, but I had to wait around for her to sleep, to make sure a. the swelling in her face went down, and b. she didn't start have trouble breathin. How much do I love my dog? Lots.
However, in the last week, she's gotten old. She has trouble moving around, falls asleep downstairs and sleeps through us going up, getting herself locked in downstairs. Anyway, I digress.
Last night, she puked. She didn't stop. She puked 4 times, upstairs and down, poor Eric had to clean it up, because I couldn't even look at it without heaving. I was up all night because either Chris or the dog woke me up every hour. I'd feel sorry for her if I didn't feel so like ass myself. Then this morning, while we were at Chris's preschool assessment, and Fina was safe in her crate, she lost it again. Apparently, giving her a half breakfast was a mistake. I nearly lost it letting her out, ended up meditating over the toilet. I called Eric, we worked it out that Fina would just not get locked up in her crate. Then she lost it again at the back door. But I was trying to cook brownies for my friend, and I couldn't cook. Had to back out of bringing dessert, had to call my husband, shaking and crying, to tell him I was now isolated from kitchen and bedroom. He offered to come home. How sweet is that? Even if I didn't let him, just that he would offer...
It sounds like a bullshit excuse doesn't it, I told him, I have to go home because my dog is puking, and my crazy wife can't handle it. It would be crazy, if it weren't so true. I am writing, because as I type, my husband is on his way home. How wonderful is he?