We resume

our regularily scheduled programming to bring you THIS freak of nature, otherwise know as SNOW in the Deep South.


I have more pix of MY yard

This is my MIL's...my local photo developer and I seem to have a failure to communicate.

it seems simple. Order more than 100 prints. Get a free CD. Well...I guess that was too much. and I didn't feel like going back two hours later for the CD.

The promised monologue is forthcoming...but maybe this will suffice for now?


side note:

Thank you for your concern and emails and good positive energy. It means the world to me.

truly

We interrupt our normally scheduled

programming.......to bring you this from Atlanta

Guess who shouldn't drink more than three caffeine laden drinks in one day in a feeble attempt to counter the affects of five nights of sleep deprivation from back pain?

Guess who shouldn't take script strength 800 mg tablets of Motrin for same?

Guess who had to go to the hospital last night?

Guess who didn't know she had a family history of Supra Ventricular Tachycardia?

DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That would be yours truly.

It all started innocently enough.

Hurt my back on Friday night rolling around on the floor and rough housing with the kids. What? I know I'm not 20 anymore. Somehow sadly, my brain does not.

Then basically I couldn't move all week-end. Well strike that. I could move if I took the 800 mg strength Motrin previously given to me by my doc for another lumbosacral strain "ally oops".

Fast forward to Tuesday. Haven't slept in 4 days because the Motrin....GEESH...it wears OFF after 8 waking hours. And I refused to take more than one a day. So toss...turn....OUCH. Toss...turn...OUCH.

Really not so different from my everyday life. Well except for the OUCH.

Wake up in the morning....must drink coffee. Diet coke in the afternoon...yeah baby!

Wednesday late afternoon....replying to work emails at home

"Hmmmm? That's weird. Why is my pulse pounding. HOLEY CRAP...why is my pulse doing the SKIP to my freakin LOU??? (searching frantically for a pulse on my carotid)

WTF.....where the hell is my pulse?"

SHIT...shit...shit...(hit the speed dial for family doc) "Hello Dr. Feelgood? Uhmmmm...something isin't right" (describing situation above)

"You need to go to the hospital...NOW. Are you on a cell phone? Can someone drive you? We will call you back in 2 minutes. If you don't answer we WILL call an ambulance."

Fotunately my DH was just minutes from home and four hours and lots of proking and prodding and testing later, I was sent on my merry way with pages and pages of instructions all basically telling me not to worry but be watchful.

Oh and I have to go back to the hospital tomorrow for this event monitor thingy that they strap to you for five days...WHEEE! And a follow-up with a specialist in a week...double WHEEEE!

Not life threatening. Not heart disease. You are the specimen of perfect health. Just a blip from combined events.

Combined events being..no sleep, too much stimulus, ie caffeine. Apparently the deal breaker was my potassium level...just a smidge off. Potassium.....who knew?

Word to the wise...watermelon and good ole Idaho bakers, not bananas, are the Superman source. Not that I have anything against bananas per se.

Just a blip.

I might never have an incident again. But after talking to my folks and finding out my dad has the same thing. WHAT? And his first onset was when he was my age now... WTF???

I'm sure the ER docs would have appreciated having this information. Because they were genuinely puzzled (yet intrigued.....in a Nancy Drew 'Let's solve a mystery' kind of way)

Love you Daddy.

But seriously...we HAVE to talk about this genetic thing.

Snow!

To have snow in Atlanta. Even once a year? It is a moment to be savored.

To have snow back to back in less than 4 days.....well by god that's a reason for a full out party in the streets type of hysteria.

I have pictures. Unfortunately my brand new digi cd has decreed that my lowly step child of a monitor is not worthy of her special brand of love. So I must go through the antiquated steps of taking my card to Ritz, burning a CD, downloading said contents to my puter and uploading here.

Crap...I'm exhausted just typing that. And the CD instruction manual made it all seem so effortless. Stupid monitor.

But there will be pictures peeps and a very funny monlogue to follow.

I Pinky swear promise.

Teaser

"What is white and flying through the air during a winter storm in Atlanta other than snow?"

a)Milk
b)Bread
c)Eggs
d)All of the above at your local neighborhood Kroger

Stay tuned!

An Eulogy for 9 to 5

Please be advised that DTI will be departing in 15 minutes for the day.... If you have any after hours needs.... Please contact DTI at ........


Thanks In Advance...
DTI STAFF...

I don't know what is more disturbing.

Option A: That I am still online at work at 7pm checking messages

or

Option B: That the copy/mail room staff is right there with me.

To put a very fine point on it....technology is a blessing (40%) and a bitch (60%)

Post Holiday Blech

Back from Sunny Florida - blech

Back to School - Double Blech

Back to work - Triple BLECH with a "round the world and Back FLIP snap"

Sigh...see it all boils down to sleep. Or a dismal lack thereof.

I was just looking at my complexion in the mirror Monday morning and thought "DUHAMMMMM....that's some pretty fine unlined healthy looking epidermis you are sporting there Mrs. H!!!"

Today?

Not so much.

I would say that I need a sugar daddy so that I could retire to a life of ease. And by extension...SLEEP!

BUT

Not only has THAT train left the station...(tiny sob) my ticket's expired.

heh

But good news.

My DH of 20 years still thinks I'm HOT (shhhhhh...never you mind about the need for his eye check)

So the score is...............

Sugar Daddy - BIG huge honkin ZERO

Myopic Dedicated DH - Ten to the power of TEN....sweet!

PS...I'm going to bed early

Nighty-O

The 10 days of vacay

10 days later I have the following to share from my trip to SoFLo to visit the parental units:

10 TEN freakin long miserable hours in a car. One way. With three males. Four if you count the dog. I'm not sure if I'm breathing air, testosterone, hair or some unholy combination of all three.

And okay TECHNICALLY it was downhill one way 10 hours. And uphill, LESS than 9 hours(my DH made me put the LESS than 9 hours part because he is so very proud of THAT fact)

Someone who is way more math geeky proficient than I am, is going to have to figure THAT one out(Downhill slower, uphill faster) Just sayin...maybe we should call NASA?? MIT???


9 NINE Publix receipts. Yes....WE REALLY did go to Publix's everyday. Can we say growth spurt?

8 EIGHT 6x6 scrapbook pages for my mom's "brag" book. She nagged. I scrapped. We're both happy. All is right in the mother/daughter universe.

7 SEVEN mornings of sleeping in. I predict major adjustment meltdown on Monday


6 SIX loads of laundry. Well technically 12. 6 light, 6 dark. What? You think laundry does itself? Pack light. Laundry often. That's my motto.

5 FIVE walks a day. With Jake. The constipated, territorial marking wonder dog. Lest you think this was some type of moderately aerobic workout.....HELLO mailbox. And mailbox. And mailbox. And HEY yet another mailbox. WHEEEEEEEEEEE...Jake...he doeth love EVERY mailbox!!!

4 FOUR days of Curves circuit weight training with my mom. One word. OUCH.

3 THREE nights of pyrotechnics. New Year's Eve. New Year's Day. Day after. All to celebrate the Y chromosone units in my life's deep and unadulterated love of lighting the night skies. Which is just a very puhrty way of saying they like things to blow up and go BANG. The third night's festivities were a full out in your face ode to, "Neener, neener GA kicked Hawaii's keister in the Sugar bowl"

2 TWO books a day. Yep. That would be me. By the pool. Reading my brains out. Kind of like a bear pigging out on berries before the long winter's hibernation.

1 ONE wonderful, exhausting, beautiful, pain in the ass, perfect, one for the record books Christmas.

Beat THAT Griswold!

Merry merry

Here's wishing all my dear friends out there in blog land all the joys of the season and a prayer for peace in the New Year!

See you in January!

How Do You Measure the Life of a Cub Scout

38 Den mayhems...er I mean meetings
38 Pack Attacks....uhm yeah that would be meetings
10 Campouts or as I like to call them "male slave labor enrichment week-ends"
7 Badges ie this is a test...can your mommy sew????
$400 in dues A pretty darn good investment for the buck I must say
4 caps Cause you aren't about to pass it down to your younger brother
4 kerchiefs ditto
4 handbooks The roadmap to badge heaven
Endless emails, telephone calls, planning sessions, craft projects, snack coordination

I was Den Mommy, which is another way of saying, there was an "official" Den Leader Daddy and I told him what to do.

HEH

All kidding asie, I got a little (okay, OKAY a lot) misty tonight. It was the last official organized (and I use that term VERY loosely) meeting of our den before the boys move on to Boy Scouts in February.

This is a TIGHT group. There's only 6 of them and they all want to move on to a troop together and work towards Eagle. They are good kids. And good friends.

And along the way, the parents have helped each other through divorce and sickness and loss of jobs and all the other day to day crap that life throws at you.

The old saying "You get more than you give"????

Word.

In his own words

from Thumper's lips (with some editing because that boy can TALK) to my tippy typey fingers...here is how he describes how we made a special family heirloom ornament

(note to gentle readers...it was his book report for December and MAYBE I will post a pix if I can figure out how to download it!)

How to Make a Bouche De Noel Ornament


I really wanted to make a Bouche de Noel to bring to class. My mom’s family is French. A Bouche de Noel is a cake that they made at Christmas and my mom does the same thing.

But I didn't get to make a treat. I got an ornament. Mom said we should make a Bouche de Noel ornament to hang on our tree. That way if she doesn’t want to make the cake one year, we can still have a Bouche de Noel. We just can’t eat it!

You need a bunch of stuff. You need brown felt and white felt, fabric glue, holly stickers, a brown marker, a needle and some gold thread. My mom already had lots of this stuff. If your mom doesn't, you have to go to Michael's or Joann's because they have coupons and they have the stuff.

OKAY.

First you put the brown felt down on a table and then you put the white felt on top of it so every thing matches up. It may be a little messy but that's ok.

Second, you cut the felt in a square that is 4 inches by 4 inches. My mom measured and says that's the size and you have to use your ruler!

Third, you put a whole bunch of fabric glue on the white felt (but first you have to cut the top of the glue bottle off or else the glue won't come out) and roll it up (have your mom help because you have to roll kind of tight) and let the glue dry.

Fourth, cut off a little bit of the log at the end and glue the it on on top of the log. Mom had to cut it off becuse the glue was hard and I couldn't cut it off.

Fifth, you put the leaf stickers on the hump and draw on the log with the marker so it looks like bark. I don't know.....the lines are kinda gone and I got gunk on my fingers.

Sixth, you have your mom put some of the gold thread on a really big needle and make a loop from one end of the log to the other end and make a knot at both ends.

Last, hang your ornament on your tree. It doesn’t taste good, but it looks good!!

Granted, I helped him come up with the idea, but how he described the process cracked me UP.

I think I may have a future ARTISTE in da house! Or an accountant because he was oh so VERY precise with the ordering. OK...he might also be OCD, but he comes by it honestly.

"Mom. You are putting this in order right? And you are typing first and second and third...RIGHT? Because if someone wants to make one, I don't want them to MESS UP! You are doing this right....RIGHT???"

OY

The lights...they do twinkleth

I am in a decidedly more upbeat mood today.

Which is really quite amazing considering I spent three hours on my ass on a hard porch on Sunday wrapping a GAZILLION lights around a reindeer the size of a small elephant that required pre-assembly.

WHEW...run on sentence anyone?

But the reindeer? He is VERT puhrty and he sparkles much. Afterwards, I had to go take a shower because I was so hot and sweaty. Hard work and 73 degrees in mid December will do that to you. BUT....I could hear the yelps of joy from Thumper and BamBam over the running water as they arrived back from baseball practice and discovered the incarnation of Dasher on the deck in full blinged out glory.

YES.I did say baseball practice. I'll explain that one in a later post.

I can't say Jake the dog was all too enamored of my hard work though. He does not like deer. They invade his territory and he is very vocal in his displeasure.

But Jake...he is not only veddy, veddy puhrty. But also very smart. Because he intuitively recognized that this was not the real deal. However, on principle, he felt compelled to mutter at the deer the entire time I was putting it together.

HEE

And in other decorating news, the house...she be decked...fully!

Thumper and BamBam were EXCELLENT assistants this year and for once I didn't collapse from sheer exhaustion at the end of the day!

WOOT! Now if I could just enlist their help in finishing the Christmas shopping my season would be complete!

Letting go

I am back from the memorial service for the mom of Thumper's good friend.

We were fellow Aquarians (yes I am a total nut job and think that kind of stuff has MEANING) Our sons were born just a month apart. I could be her. She could be me.

I cried. I laughed. All the thing you should do at a memorial service.

It was beautiful by the way. There were so many people who came that they had to move the service from the small chapel to the main sanctuary. The sanctuary of the largest Presbyterian church in the whole freaking free world mind you. No seriously. this church....it is it's own CITY!

And I realized looking around me that there can be no greater testimony to a life well lived and loved than to have it filled with people who will take time out of their busy holiday/workday schedule and spend an hour giving thanks for a beautiful soul.

And so I sit in my house that STILL has fall decorations up and only a naked tree in it's water filled stand and I am at peace.

Now gentle readers....that is a HUGE statement from the lips of my former Type A, perfectionist self of years past.

Me of the Christmas cards in the mail the day after Thanksgiving

Me of the homemade gingerbread house in all it's mammoth glory

Me of the two trees and a house decorated to the nines by the first week-end in December.

The me of today is content and at peace. Just to be. And the ornamentation and deorations and time tables and schedules. And do's and not do's be damned.

I'd rather feast on FUNdue tonight in front of my naked tree watching Johnny Depp ET AL in POCIII with my family than stress about the details.

The big picture is far more satisfying...savvy?

Wooooshhhhhhhhhhh

The lights are on. Somebody is home. She just isin't answering the door.

The mother of one of Thumper's best buds died last week after a long battle with breast cancer.

To say that she was a bright light that made everyone feel warm and cozy and beautiful and smart and loved and special doesn't really begin to scratch the surface.

I am juggling wildly disparate emotions/tasks/thoughts

a) Being horribly and terribly afraid of the same happening to me and leaving my sons motherless

b) Making a memory quilt for her son and the requisite yelling and cursing and throwing of bobbins that always follows

c) Being unbelievably freakin happy that I am not sick and neither or my children

d) Seriously pissed that such a beautiful bright light isin't here to give me (or her family) a big huge hug in the middle of the Mellow Mushroom pizza joint

e) Comforted by the huge swell of love and support that flows and swirls around the ones she left behind

Give the ones you love a hug tonight. And if they aren't physically there. Pick up the phone and call.

Life is short, but Love is sweet.

Peace my peeps.

I believe in you

random affirmations in the past week

from BamBam

"Mommy. You should have your own cooking show on Food Network. Really. You are funny and you know how to talk in front of people and you can REALLY cook good. So can't you send in a tape or something?"

from Thumper

"Mommy...PLEEEEEEEEEEZ enter 'Who Wants to be a Milionaire' I mean come ON...you get all the way to the 50 thousand question EVERY time without using ANY lifelines. Man.... 50 thousands bucks....we could SO get a flat screen TV!!!"

from my oldest friend

"Duh. It's called a gift. What are you awiting for?"

I don't know. What am I waiting for?

People I love? I guess they see things in me that obviously I can not. Or don't want to because I like the status quo. Or just maybe my significant others in life are watching WAY too much TV!

Me? I like safe. familiar. steady. constant.

So do I hold on

or let go

Do

or not do

Where the hell is Yoda when you need him???!!!

Last Minute #$%^

CRAP

I need to be:

1) Packing. I have a suitcase. I have clean clothes. But I do not have a game plan for what I am to wear over the next three days, ERGO..I do not have a packed suitcase. Nor do my children for that matter. This surprises you???

2) Finishing up my mom's birthday present, ie pages for her mini "ode to the wonderfulness that is my mom" scrapbook album.

Have I mentioned or has anyone noticed that I don't do that all so much anymore??? If you look closely you can see the tendrils of smoke coming out of my ears as I attempt to engage my creative gears.

3) Coloring my hair. I haven't seen my brother in almost three years. These are NOT random observations or comments. I love him mightily, but I would like to give him one less point of discussion in the ole sibling rivaly game.

Okay I really, really, really am outta here

to do

1,2,3

3,2,1

2,3,1

YOu guess...which order did I go for????

No worries or prejudging...I have no freakin clue myself!

20 years and counting

Married 20 years in June. No wait, I already bloooooged about that...so what could the random blogging queen be talking about now you may wonder? Or not, but I'm GOING to tell you anyway!

Last Thursday I celebrated 20 years with my firm. Yep. Boggles my mind. They're having a PAHTAY for me this afternoon! The boss gave me some champers last week which I shared with my girlies at my supper swap...WEEHOO! Oh and a parking spot. I'm supposed to get a designated parking spot. SWEET...I can actually DRIVE to some neat places for lunch and not be relegated to the "LOSER" lot offsite!

People are alternately amazed or puzzled. What can I say? I'm a loyal person. You treat me right, I'll work my ass off for you. Obviously they did and I did, so we did and here we are 20 years later.

ON to another topic.

Shopping

Yes, I did that ALL day on Saturday. Let me first recommend that if you are going to be shopping all day at an outdoor mall the size of Texas you may NOT want to wear clogs with thin socks. Dogs barking doesn't even really begin to describe it. More like a thundering herd or horde of ravenous and rabid flea bitten canines.

And what do I have to show for the misery? EHHH Not that much. I got the kids lots of clothes, some they'll get for Christmas and some for the trip on Wednesday to Indiana where it's supposed to be a HIGH of 46. Now. That ought to be interesting. We're Southerners. We don't do cold. Our brains may just freeze off and fall out of our heads.

But no toys. See here's the thing. They've kind of outgrown "traditional" toys and have moved on to wanting "grown up, ridiculously expensive toys" like Ipods and flat screen TV's and the like.

Now there's a lot I really appreciate about private schools, but the one thing that I REALLY dislike (with the burning intensity of a thousand suns) is the residual effect that the affluent descendants of Thurston Howell the Third are having on my kids.

ME: "No honey, I'm sorry.

You can not have a flat screen TV for your bedroom.

Why?

Because not only do Mommy and Daddy not have a TV in THEIR bedroom, we don't have one SINGLE flat screen TV in the entire house.

So you might want to check with the bookies in Vegas, but I'm pretty sure your chances of getting a flat screen TV from Santa are between hell freezing over and when dogs fly"

Call me old fashioned, but I am just generally opposed to my children having any high tech, high priced piece of technology that I don't have myself.

And if I don't have it myself, then OBVIOUSLY in my eternal mommy wisdom it is not necessary for THEM to have said item.

Note to those keeping track. This is an extension of the primary directive "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"

YEEESHHH

Righty-oh....well I'm off.

I'll blog upon my return from the Hoosier state. Guaranteed.

Funny stories ALWAYS follow my return from the Hoosier state.

I attribute it to the air. Or at the very least...the ground water. Or the in-breeding. Whoops. Did I just SAY that???

Gobble, gobble.

Random thoughts

Not much here to report peeps. Soo I thought I would enterain you (or me!) with my random observations for the day

1) Why do I like dinner for breakfast? Seriously, metloaf sounds really good right now. Oh wait, it's close to lunch. maybe THAT'S why it sounds good!

2) Teenagers have entirely TOO active social lives these days. Teenage babysitters on the week-end...FOHGETABOUDIT.

3) I am going Christmas shopping. Next week. OY. It boggles my mind.

4) If you were in a supper swap would a crab/artichoke dip in a bread bowl sound like something you would enjoy? It sounds good to me. Maybe I can make THAT for lunch!

5) I need to go to the library and return books. And check out something for myself. My brain cells are atrophying by the second. I'm thinking Social Studies and science test reviews and the endless stream of medical records I have to summarize are not keeping my mind limber. But they are an EXCELLENT alternative to a sleeping pill!

That is all...happy week-end peeps!

Ten things I love about Co

I have this friend named Co. She posts here. And I "heart" her. Not just because she posts here (HAH) but because once upon a time almost three years ago, we both held our breaths and jumped from the internet to real life.

One of the smartest and best things I've ever done in the friendship arena.

So in honor of her birthday, here's my little tribute to her!

TOP TEN THINGS i LOVE ABOUT CO!


1. You make me laugh. Hard! Remember when I fell off the chair at Mardi Gras? It had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the amount of libations ingested. No, seriously don't you remember? You told that joke about the priest, the rabbi and the atheist in a bar??!!

2. You keep it real. No bullshit from this chick. You're the real deal.

3. You make me think. My world view has become so much broader and richer since we met. Thank you for that.

4. You are a rockin good hostess. Never underestimate the power of the "PAHTAY"!

5. You are, as my boys would say, "babalicious" I like to think that the shiny sparkly power of your hotness rubs off onto me by sheer power of association. What? I can dream can't I?

6. You are one of the kindest people I have ever met. Even when keeping it real, you still manage to do it in a way that makes the recipient of the reality check feel ever so good about themselves. I think we should pitch you to the networks for your own self help show because Dr. Phil is grating on my very last nerve.

7. I love how fearless you are. You are like the poster girl for "You only go around once, live it well!"

8. You can rock the written word and the camera like nobody's business.

9. You are unfailingly loyal to those who hold your trust. A rare gift these days.

10. Last, but certainly not least. You are my friend. And that means the world to me.

Happy day of your birth chick. Live it well!

The Candy Caper - Part Two

A very enterprising mom (not moi!) came up with a grand scheme to get rid of our unwanted, excess candy!

As of today we have cut our load of candy in half by

1) Giving the non-chocolate items to her to ship to a friend who is serving in Iraq. He shares some of it with his buddies, but the rest they hand out to kids during their patrols. She shipped 60 lbs...the mind boggles!

2) The chocolate went to our neighborhood fire stations. We now have some very happy and hyped up first responders!

My kids still have a respectable stash and have the warm fuzzies that comes from sharing their "wealth"

Happy Monday peeps!

The Candy Caper

or "How I lost my candy because I tried to outwit my parents: A Tale in Two Parts"

TALE of the First Part

Halloween has come and gone and all that remains for my little goblins are:

1) Two ghoul masks with the remnants of fake blood drying within their drip chambers

The masks are on the back porch lying on the table. They freak Jake the dog out and the kids are not allowed to wear them around him. Or me for that matter. They freak me out too. But Dad thought they were "cool" so set one to Dad.

2) 15 pounds, yes you read that right!!! FIFTEEN freakin pounds of potential insulin shock, rotting teeth and hyperactivity all packaged in very pretty and colorful wrappings.

The candy is underneath our bed and here is where the REAL story picks up.

So we get home VERY late from trick or treating. We all had a GRAND time. No seriously. The kids walked about 3 miles through every street of our sprawling neighborhood, collected one massive haul of goodies and had a night of plundering with their friends, dubbed "The Boys in Black" because every single one of them wore some ghoulish black get up.

We have found that the oldest will trick or treat as long as he looks "Cool" and not like a "baby"

Did I mention he's 11?

Of course the 9 year old had to follow suit.

Ah the dynamics of sibling rivalry!

But back to the candy.

So we get home, it's too late to sort the loot, we're all wiped out so I told the boys to leave the candy in the trunk and we would go through it when they got home from school.

Everyone falls into bed exhausted.

(fade to black)

TALE of the Second Part

The next morning, the ghouls? I had to blast them out of bed.

Of course we are running late because we overslept.

The boys did manage to beat their dad to the car though and got their bookbags and instruments loaded into the trunk.

I wave them off and then proceed to do what I do every morning, which is to run around and turn off all the lights in the house.

NOW

I had ALREADY been down in the basement once that morning to turn off the table lamps they had left on ALL night long.

(Yes, Hi Georgia Power? Do you have some kind of gizmo that I can attach to the lights in the house, you know something with an audio feature that will PROMPT the turning off of lights? I'm thinking of something along the lines of "HEY we're not made of money here. Turn the lights off or I'm taking away your TV privileges!" No? You don't have ANYTHING like that? Well all I can say is that you are missing a PRIME marketing opportunity! Hello? Hello?)

Sorry, I digressed. You still with me?

anywhoo, I am turning off all the lights and I see that the lights are on in the basement AGAIN!

So...grumble, grumble, stomp, stomp (see I can out teen a teen!) down the steps I go again.

SEQUE TO LUNCH

I get a call form my hubby unit telling me he is at home and has opened the trunk of his car to take the candy out and low and behold the candy, it has disappeared, vanished, without a trace.

DH thinks the kids have stashed it in their bookbags and taken it to school.

I tell him no way they could get away with 15 pounds of candy in their book bags. While the bags are GINORMOUS even they could not hold that AND books.

DH...he is not happy. That sneaky stuff drives him nuts. I tell him he needs to take a chill pill and learn to laugh, because if he doesn't? There will not be enough high blood pressure meds in the world to deal with the teenage years.

SEQUE TO DRIVE TO CARPOOL

LIGHTBULB moment!

That light being on AGAIN in the basement? Those little stinkers took the candy and stashed it in the basement while we were running around upstairs that morning!

So I make a detour home, go downstairs and SURE ENOUGH, there it sits in all it's bulging glory in the closet.

HAH! Set Two to Mommy (for those of you keeping score at home)

Seeing a golden opportunity for some mischief of my own, I take the candy, stash it under my bed and pick up the kids as usual.

The kid get home and of course the FIRST thing they want to do is PLAY in the basement.

HEE!

"Sure guys, you deserve a little downtime now that football season is over. I'll give you an hour!"

Cheers all around as they race to "play"

THEN SILENCE!

BWAHAHAHAHA

"What the? HUH?"

Thundering feet back upstairs.

"Uhmmm, Mom. We have something to tell you. You know our Halloween candy? Well. Uhm. We took it out of the trunk and hid it in the basement because we didn't want DADDY to eat it all! And NOW it's GONE! Do YOU know where it is?"

Serene smile from Mom

Silence

(Game, set and MATCH to Mommy)

MORAL OF THE STORY: Mommy really DOES have eyes in the bak of her head.

THE END

Boo! Yah!

So in celebration of the day I shall give you a little run down since my last post.

Boo, as in boohoo, tears, ,sniff, sniff

Yah, as in the German pronounciation of YEA!. Maybe that should be JAH???

Anywhoo, here we go

Friday - Ian's team loses in the playoffs BOO...............and YAH!
Sad to see the season end, but yay for more free time to play and do homework after school.

Saturday - A trip to the Farmer's Market for all kinds of yummy goodness AND all is well in Bulldog Nation as the mighty Bulldogs took down the hated Gators. Let's make this one a DOUBLE YAH!

Sunday - Slept in, lazy day.....YAH! Pestered the kids to study for upcoming tests next week....BOO. Got together with chicklets, swapped suppers, drank wine.....YAH, YAH, YAH!. Down 4 pounds....YAH and a HOO!

Monday - Connor's team loses in the semi finals. BOO, see reasons above!

Tuesday - First completely free day from football. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Tonight....get together with chicklets, DH's and offspring for pre trick or treat dining. Encourage consumption of something moderately healthy to offset sugar rush to come. Chicklets gather by the bonfire whilst DH units are sent into the field with the minions to oversee candy pillaging.

YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Happy Halloween!