Yuletide Cheer

Behold the Bouche de Noel!

Thumper assisted heavily in the three step process of creating this annual baby!

We made it for the Sunday school party Hubby and I went to Saturday night.

I hear it was yummy

I wouldn't know...I was too busy enjoying an absolutely decadent Chocolate Martini!

Cheers!

Secret Santa Love

THIS arrived in the mail today
And I darned near crushed it under the thundering mammoth wheels of Big Red as I pulled out of the garage.
The postman had left the box dead center in the door.
Unfortunately dead center of the garage door still means I'm going to hit it
My beloved's car gets the squeeze on the sharing end of the garage...kwim?
Anywhoo
It's from my sweet friend K
See those cards. Those are cards of her ORIGINAL artwork. And cherry on the top? she makes these really cool stitched envies to mail them off in! ( you can see them...sort of. Click on the photo is gets nice and big and detailey! They're in front of the cards and flanked by the Starbucks cup and the Strabuck GC with a cool little felt GC holder she makes and sells too!)
I am a lucky girl. I own two pieces of her art.
And you can be a lucky girl (or guy) too.
She has an Etsy shop.
Check her out. She is insanely talented!

Postcript
Okay so check it out in January
Chicklet is basically sold out
TOLD you she was good!

Sawing logs

HEH

this time I'm talking about a rite of passage
the passing of the ole hand saw
Thumper more than stepped up to the plate, er trunk

Deck the Halls

The BEST thing about the advent season so far this year?
The boys are old enough to take the LEAD in the Christmas decorating.
Yesterday after early dismissal from school they went racing to the basement and started dragging up boxes and setting out the decorations.
I didn't have to ask and I didn't have to do anything
Except sit back and enjoy their handiwork!
Today
We tackle the trees!

A blurry flurry

Yes the masthead photo is a wee bit blurry

ok a whole tankard of ale blurry

but snow in Georgia is weird.

Add in the whole First of December factoid and you have yourself a genuine (pronounced Jehn YOU ine) freak of nature

or a tiny miracle

take your pick

It was lovely while it lasted...all 20 minutes of it!

Healing

Our beautiful home has suffered some "deferred maintenance" in the past few years as we worked to balance the reality of tuition for the kids school versus our paychecks

They would ask us why we didn't have the primo upgrades of their peers parent's homes and for a long time we told them "your schooling is our master suite"

But change came a blowing late last summer and now? Well the old gal is getting a facelift. The people we have hired to do the job are almost reverent. REAL wood siding. Good bones.

And I had a small chuckle to myself because that is EXACTLY what I said to my husband when I first walked up to the house and through the door when we purchased this home almost 15 years ago.

That and "holy cr@p look at all the natural light!!!!"

Fittingly the color we are repainting with is called "Full Moon"

Full Moon
Fullness of time
It just works for me

A fish tale

A true story in five parts


Once upon a time (not so very long ago...Sunday to be precise)

A dad and his boys went fishing










The littlest boy got the the medium sized fish







The oldest boy got the smallest fish but took the best photo






The daddy got the biggest fish...a 8.5 lb striped bass, which led the youngest son to comment.
"He sure was a beautiful fish. Too bad we had to eat him"







And they drove off into the sunset...the end!

Me no speaky bullshitesky

“The economic realities of recent months have created challenges for everyone in our business. In addition, when NBC Universal purchased the Weather Channel earlier this year, we expected that there would be cost synergies as part of company reorganization. While it is always difficult to lose valued employees, we are doing our best to minimize the impact, and remain committed to providing the highest quality content that our viewers have come to expect from the Weather Channel.”

cost synergies = layoffs

right?


So is the use of superfluous and ambiguous terminology supposed to soften the blow? make those who use it feel smarter?

Because it ain't working. You sound like a pompous horse's ass who can't call a spade a spade.

Golden

It is that time
That time of year when everything is suffused
with a deep surreal golden light.
The air
clear and sharp, with a tang of wood smoke
and the pungent scent of fully ripened, almost gone fruit
Warm... but with a chill, at the back of the neck
Swirling leaves
perform their final mid-air dance
before falling in a textured tapestry at my feet.
So I breathe deep
and exhale
waiting

4th of 4

I was reading Dina's blog and whilst I was not tagged, I loved the whole random nature of the exercise and it made me happy

Go to your fourth pictures folder and select the 4th picture

Here is one of my neice and her dad playing sweet folk music at the beach this summer.

Dear Microsoft

Today I come across this item

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/microsoft-offers-reward-for-missing-xbox-gamer/1260470

and all I could think was "damage control"

We are a game cube/box/wii free zone here and for a simple reason. One look at the vacant stares of my kids when they played at friends houses and the resulting "attitude" was enough to ban it from our home permanently.

It's like crack. only legal. and everyone does it. which makes it ten time worse.

I am sure there are many children who can pick it up and put it down.

Mine don't fall into that category, especially not my oldest.

So thanks but no thanks Microsoft. I may have to buy your crappy Vista platform for home use because it's the industry standard and I need to link up at work.

But you can keep your cube.

Oh...and say hi to the Borg for me.

The Big Week-end Part 1 of2

I can't believe my baby
my first born
my BamBam, turned 12 this Saturday.
He is still the apple of my eye and the sweetest preteen boy I know.
Here's some pictures from the week-end.
My folks came up from Florida and Friday night we


Had fondue at Dante's Down the Hatch
(This after the great debate over Happy Sumo's vs something new. Fortunately little brother Thumper came up with the brilliant idea of fondue. We love to do it at home...and call it Friday FUNdue. But Friday FUNdue is even more fun at Dante's!)

Jazz on "the ship"

And Dante himself taking BambBam and his brother for a trip to the treasure chest (after crossing over the gang plank with live gators below...hand to God)

BamBam got a sterling silver clipper ship tie tack and Thumper an American Flag pin after successfully answering four questions.

I was afraid we we're going to have a Monty Python and The Holy Grail moment "What is your favorite color. Blue! Uh no green! ....aaaaaaayyyyyahhhhhh!!!!)

But fortunately they prevailed.

Part 2 of the 2nd part tomorrow.

Hugs to a dear friend

One of my dear friends unexpectedly lost the love of her life this week and her community of friends is really struggling with how to help her.

She is a beautiful woman with two amazing young boys that she now has to raise on her own.

One of our mutual friends, the incredibly talented, Lisa Pace, is organizing an auction to raise money to help out.

Here's the link.

http://www.lisapace.com/2008/10/08/auction-for-a-friend/

If you feel moved to do so, please stop by and check it out.

I'd appreciate it greatly.

HUGS

Save the TaTa's

Save second base

Be proactive

Get em squished

Give

Walk for the cure

Go local.

I'm making some cards to sell at my firm's BCA bazaar in two weeks. A really small gesture in comparison to the fortitude of some REALLY amazing women in my life who stood up and faced the big bad C and kicked it to the curb.

My grandmother, aunt, mom.

Their names are/were Harriet, Anne, Elizabeth

Harriet. My maternal grandmother...had a full masectomy (both breasts for one small lump in one breast)) 30 years ago. And then died of old age 5 years ago. With her children by her bedside.

Anne. my aunt and mother's sister, had a partial masectomy (one breast) 15years ago for a lump in one breast. She danced at her daughter's wedding last year and is still dancing today

Elizabeth. My mother had a lumpectomy 5 years ago. She is coming with my dad on Thursday to celebrate BamBam's birthday.

My turn is probably coming. The genetic odds are not ones that Vegas would place bets on.

But I also know that breast cancer is a diagnosis

Not the end.

Pink

It's not just a color..it's an affirmation

Exhibit A

of why my children are in private school as opposed to public school in the state where we live

I'm sorry.....I don't think you should have to get your child up at 4:30am to get them to a school that provides the challenges they need to succeed

What the hey?

Mr. All American

I truly can not believe this is my child. I look at him and think, good lord how did something so gorgeous drop into my arms?

And I also think what a difference a year makes

Last year he was struggling
with everything
school, friends, finding his place

This year he seems to have hit his groove

playing football.... for his middle school team as a 6th grader
grades....great
friends.... many
newest representative for the 6th grade class to the student council

and ...............drum roll please

he has a date...for the homecoming dance....a cheerleader

Date and homecoming. Why am I typing these two words in the same sentence? I do not know.

He has known her since they shared toys and cheerios in 3 year old Pre-K.

sidenote

Not many of you know how much we struggled with BamBam in his early years. The testing and heartbreak over the diagnosis.

So to see him hit his stride now and blossom?

It's like Christmas and my Sweet 16 and first kiss and wedding and the birth of this first child...all rolled up and anded to me on a shiny platter with a big fat gorgeous bow.

It is a time to cherish

Go Baby Go

See that boy in red?

That's my baby

Running full tilt boogie into a sea of blue

Pressing and pushing it to the limit.

And it's hard to believe that 9 years ago I was stressing because he wasn't walking at his plus one year milestone.

Let's just say............I've learned a lot about taking a deep breath and stepping back in those nine years.

Rites of passage

There comes a time in every young boys life when he must

take a shower
put on a coat and tie
and prepare to engage civilly with the opposite sex

This time down South is called "Cotillion"

Here is BamBam

In all his glory.

And may I just say...all prejudice set aside....he was the most handsome and well dressed prince at the ball.

Most of the other boys just threw a generic navy blazer over their dress school uniform

Not my boy

The family crew went on a mall crawl after haircuts and before the Georgia game and bought him a well cut navy blazer.(a tad long in the arms but we had to fit his broad shoulders. he gets that from his daddy) a nice tie and dress white shirt and some winter weight wool taupe dress pants.


As we were roaming the mall together he and his brother started checking out the "men's fragrance" aisle and got a sample of a new cologne called "Roadster" by Cartier. BamBam reasoning? He "didn't want to stink"

What can I say the kid comes by his ridiculously expensive taste genetically. But I did have to school him on the reality of a budget.

So there you have it

Another rite of passage

I took a picture and wiped a tear

And so it goes

Anchors Away

My boys are so at home on (and in) the water...I think sometimes they are long lost descendants of Atlantis. I should probably check their toes for signs of webbing...heh!

This is their fifth year working the sails and the helm of the WelcomeSchooner on our annual trip to HHI. The schooner has new owners this year and let's just say my boys more than pulled their weight!

(that is when they weren't jostling for position in the bow, more the better to assume dolphin watch command!)

Time for me to fly

Isin't he spectacular!

Meet the newest addition to the GA Aquarium.

An immature (yes oh my word he is going to get bigger)Mantra Ray.

We were watching him soar (and all other verbs fall short) through the enormous tank and it was like watching an eagle in flight...only with more fluidity and grace...if that's even possible.

Stunning!

What would I do?

Today Michael dragged me from my scraproom and MADE me have a family outing at the GA Aquarium.

See the new masthead? Yep...took that one today.

But the real impetus for the trip was BamBam. He wanted to go see the touring Titanic Artifact Exhibit at the Aquarium

They snapped this photo of us outside the exhibit




Very weird to see us in our modern day clothing juxtaposed against the classic beauty of the Titanic's grand staircase.

And I thought to myself.

This is how we would look today getting ready to cruise on the Royal Carribbean.

And it made me wonder, how many other families boarded with the same hopes, anticipation, excitement.

We were then issued boarding passes and given the identity of a passenger for the duration of our tour.

The artifacts we saw were beautiful and heartwrenching. Shoes, clothing, pens, papers, money. The lights throughout the exhibit were very dim, no photography allowed. We were able to touch a "glacier" to feel the icy cold intensity of the water that night.

We heard first person recorded accounts of survivors.

And I thought to myself, what would I do? Would I die with my husband or live for my children.

It sounds like such an obvious choice. And maybe it is or was. But the brutal agony of the reality of their choices permeated the exhibit.

We were

Mrs. Boulton Earnshaw

Masabumi Hosono

Michel Navrtil

Joseph Philippe LaRoche

Read their stories.
Remember them.
Be thankful that for today at least we don't have to make the choices they had to make.
In the twinkling of an eye

What the???

"W" is for

"What the???"

It cracks me up when my boys say this.

I decided to give my old journalism background a dust off and take it a step further and embrace the 5 W's on this first day of school

"Who What Why Where When" thanks to the photo challenge blog up at

Sherine's place

As in

Who said you were no longer my babies?
What do you mean you are in 6th and 4th grade?
Why are you both wearing men's size shoes?
Where will you be 5 years from now?
Which one of you stole my socks?
Will you stay true to yourself?
Would you stop annoying your brother?
When will I ever get over the wonder of watching you grow?

Tiny little lust

I want a camera strap made by this gal.

They are so stinking cute and I think I might just be inspired to be a better photographer.

IE the osmois of the perfection and beauty of the strap will somehow magically transfer itself to my fingers on the shutter.

What?

It could happen

Meet Red

He's a Chesapeake Bay Retriever/Chocolate Lab Mix rescue.






And he arrived at our door on 8-8-08. I'm hoping that is asupicious for all of us!

He has attached himself to BamBam...slept with him all night.

Jake the wonder dog is feeling a wee bit displaced.

But he is a sweet, sweet dog.

Hopefully Jake will get over his small displacement issues (Jake is so NOT an Alpha) by the end of the week and we can keep him for real.

Red is soft as silk and gentle as a lamb.

I look in his eyes and see a lost soul who just wants a family to love and to love him.

Random Observations

from my lil' ole neck of the woods and compliments of the faboo Kimberly

1) Daddy ball sucks. Grown-ups should be banned from kids sports. Lifetime. For ever and ever. Amen.

2)My nails are really long and healthy. I should slap some nail polish on them before they crack, split and/or break off.

3)Brett Favre is a whiny weenie.

4)It rained...YAY! It's now 15 degrees cooler outside and my poor little AC unit is catching a few zzzz's

5)Zippers and school binders are NOT a match made in heaven. Repeat after me...velcro is your FRIEND!

6) Menage freakin rocks. And I AM going to my BIL's 40th Bday so I can hear them play in their backyard!

More random beachiness

because I'm

a) lazy

b) it's too stinkin hot

c) bored



Lunch Assembly Line






Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me











And next year the shoes will be one size larger

Random Beachiness

We came, we saw, we drank, we sunned, we beached, we're home safe!


HOMEBASE - Sea Pines Plantation, Hilton Head Island. 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, pool, path to beach. It's ours one week a year. The rest of the time it gets rented out, but for one brief glorious week it IS the family compound. Housing 18 adults and kids (4 of the 18 stay in a separate condo..thank GOD!)














GAMES
We play take no prisoner's Ticket to Ride and Chess. Definitely not for the faint of heart.











MUSIC

Cause it don't mean a thang if you ain't got that Swing!



GRILLING

If you can't stand the heat...well you're SOL cause it's grilling all the way at the beach baby!











"STAIRSTEP" COUSINS - Nuff said. Although we were missing one this year...band camp. She was not a happy "camper" Heh...I'm am just killing myself here with the double entendre!










YACHTING

Yo ho me maties, yo ho!








POOL

Those crazy kids


They'll do anything for five bucks! Wait you thought that was five bucks each? My bad...you have to split it..bwa!





LIBATIONS

Why is the rum/vodka/gin always gone?







CELEBRATIONS

CAKE...YAY!



BIKES

Lots and lots and lots of riding! We keep a wary eye out for gators!

Home Haiku(ish)

6:30 AM

wake up call

on the road

home by noon

ecstatic dog waiting

peeling noses

as the end of summer approaches

sand in suitcases

are all that remains

of lazy summer days

The Sound of Silence

This is what it LOOKS like






BamBam left at 8AM this morning for an overnight camping trip.
















Thumper left at 10am to head to the beach with his grandparents. We follow tomorrow with BamBam when he returns.


Can you tell that my children are two COMPLETELy different people?

Yeah. me too.

And thank God for that.

Dang it is REALLY quiet around here.

Want to know

where to hide your precious private stash of food stuffs?

where the menfolk in your house will NEVER find it?
(those are my lovely peppers and sausages by the way...destined for pizza night on Friday)

third shelf

on the left

at the back

Because......(drum roll please)

The male species is physically, mentally and socially incapable of bending over and MOVING an item in the front, out of the way, in order to SEARCH for an item at the back!!!

You can submit my name for the Nobel any time.

As long as it's not the one for the Nobel Peace Prize

Because I swear

if one more male in my house asks me where the mayonnaise is in the fridge, while staring DIRECTLY at it, in the SAME freaking place it is ALWAYS located

I won't be responsible for my actions.

sound of crickets

dreadfully warm weather we're having..... yes?

Eating Machines

I know I have addressed this before but it SERIOUSLY bears repeating.

BamBam and Thumper are eating machines.

Almost of the scary biblical proportions of those locusts in Moses's time.

If the creek in my back yard turns red I am ringing up Captain Kirk and booking the next Expedia.com flight out of Dodge...that's all I'm saying.

Case in point.

We went blueberry picking on Saturday and managed to bring home eight pounds of delicious, heady, winey blueberry goodness.

Two thirds of which is now safely stored in my big standing freezer in the basement. HELLO winter offerings of pancakes, waffles, muffins and coffeecake!

Of course there might have been ANOTHER 8 pounds if the stinkers had actually managed to put half in their buckets of what they put in their mouths.

AND THEN

THEN.....after the picking and the consuming of the berries by the boys, we went and ate at a huge southern country buffet.

And not one of those half baked chain offerings either.

Oh no, we went to a real deal, family owned 60 year old establishment and hellsbells if those stinkers didn't knock back three full plates of food plus cobbler

WITH homemade ice cream.

I love them. But my envy of their metabolism gives me a bit of a pause.

stinkers

Double Digits

Dear Thumper

10 years ago you came quietly and easily into the world three weeks earlier that expected.

And you were all of 6lbs 9 ounces and 20 inches long.

I do suspect that if you had managed to delay your entry by just a week or two you would have matched your older brother in weight and size.

But you didn't and for that my 37 year old body at the time thanked you!

I guess you were impatient and eager to make your debut and those personality quirks are still with you today my boy.

When you find something that you love, you EMBRACE it fully and without hesitation and you absolutely will brook no delay in exploring EVERY single aspect of your magnificent obsession!

You are also my watcher. The one who doesn't miss a single detail or nuance.

And my shadow.

Even now, you are still happiest when you are by my side, snuggled in close for movie night or at my hip perfecting your biscuit making skills in the kitchen.

I don't know if this innate in your personality or the result of me wearing you in a sling on my body for the first two years of your life to keep you safe from the completely unintentional but nonetheless dangerous crashing about of your older brother BamBam.

So you are the jelly to my peanut butter.

And I love you my Thumper.

Every day of these past 10 years with you has been and continues to be a wonderful affirmation about all that is good in my life.

Love

Momma

Flower or

serving plate?

You choose

DUHAYAM...that's a big honkin "little shop of Horrors" sized flower. It's not in my yard. I spied it on the way back from the pool after dropping my kids off and torturing them by taking pixs (heh)

Speaking of which!

look here's Thumper aka Mr. GQ






And here is "Helio Boy" aka BamBam

Doesn't he look like he is free falling? I very much like the whole tongue hanging out of the mouth action. He kind of resembles Jake the Wonder Dog. They're both blondes.





What?

YES

They ate three popsicles at once.

WHY

Because I was trying to get a cool artsy shot.

No worries. They didn't go to waste.

You do not want to be behind me in the grocery check-out line

Little Shop of Horrors?

Yeah that's code for my weekly grocery bill