Under the Bed

The rumors are true. A bogeyman does live under the bed and he likes to hoard things.

I cleaned out from under our bed today and found the following:

7 socks (none of which matched of course)
15 action figures (one of whom was missing a leg)
1 hair bow
1 1/2 pairs of shoes
5 books
a clothes hanger
a black piece of plastic of undetermined purpose
3 cheezits who were well beyond the five second rule
a scuffy looking orange jelly bean

Isn't it strange how the majority of the things under OUR bed belongs to the kids?

*A big thanks to Soozadoo for the header look. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Not Fabulous

is this online Scrabulous (Scrabble). It's kicking my arse six ways to Sunday. I'm not gracious in defeat.

I play the solitaire version versus the computer robot. Yeah, yeah... robot my Aunt Fannie! More like a freaking dictionary! I get NO VOWELS. Did you know it's quite difficult to play scrabble with no vowels?

Okay sometimes I get vowels. But then the "robot" (ahem.... CHEATER) puts out words like "poyou" and "gien". Is "nidus" really a word? What about "qaid"?

Stupid Scrabulous doesn't have an easy version. I like me an easy version. One that I can beat handily. It's good for my self-esteem you know. Losing by 200+ points is NOT good for my ego! If I need my ego bashed, I'll let my kids do it, thank you very much. At least they'll offer kisses and hugs later instead of giving me a lovely little green box that says: "Robot has won game by 236 points". I think there is an implied "moron" at the end of that message.

Q anyone? I have the U, E, A, S, and Y. Why can't I have the Q?!

Happy Easter

Momma and Abby after the egg hunt.


Abby all dressed up in her Easter finery.


J.T. (who doesn't want his picture taken.... because ties "aren't cool").


The beginning of the chocolate bunny massacre.


And a bloomer shot. Because nothing is quite so precious as a little girl in her bloomers.

More Southern Things

I guess I should be more specific. These apply to the great state of Georgia. And if you didn't realize we lived in the country before... now you will.

1. A possum (or more correctly an opossum) is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road. a.k.a. roadkill.

2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in Georgia.

3. There is no such thing as lunch. There is dinner and then there is supper.

4. Sweet Iced tea is appropriate for all meals (even breakfast) and you start drinking it at 2 years old. We like a little iced tea with our sugar.

5. Backwards and Forwards means "I know everything about you."

6. We don't push buttons, we "mash" them. I don't know why.

7. We measure distance in minutes. "Oh, that's only about a 15 minute drive."

8. The local papers cover national and international news on one page and require six pages for local gossip.

9. We have four seasons: almost summer, summer, still summer and Christmas.

10. "Fixinto" is a word. Or a mashed together word that means "fixing to". As in "I am fixinto go to the store." We fix alot of things for some reason. "What are you fixin for supper?" "What are you fixin to do?" I guess it is a symonym for "about to"?

I'll have to think my friend Linda for inspiring this post. She sent me a list and I just compiled my favorites.

Yuck!

We've been struck by the stomach virus again. J.T. started last night at 10 p.m. It has been a long night of fetching gingerale, wet washcloths, and bucket duty. He HATES being sick (gets it from me). So after our first round, he looks at me and says: "Can we say a prayer that I will be better RIGHT NOW!" I said yes. But he would probably have to wait for it to get out of his system. He was not amused.

On top of him being sick, we were under tornado watches and warnings for most of the evening. So we've got one ear out for him and one ear out for the weather radio. And Melinda "The Panicker" is imagining us holed up in our bathroom with a vomiting child while a tornado rages around us. Stomper Girl would have been doing the same thing. Atlanta was hit with a rare tornado Friday night. The CNN center in downtown actually got a good bit of damage. March is tornado month in the South. Warm spring air is moving in and it creates such violent weather when it hits the cold air. (Bet you didn't think you'd be getting a meteorology today)

Rob took the first shift and I got up at 4 a.m. to relieve him. The morning has been spent plying the sick one with Dr. Pepper, Sponge-bob and Jimmy Neutron videos. Abby has been the little Momma. Offering wet cloths, blankets and piling the bedside table high with canned drinks. How ironic that he's too sick to enjoy her kindness? It is not a frequent happening. Nice Abby. She's usually yelling at him to "get out of my room! He's looking at me!! I wanted that (with the requisite whiny tone)!"

Right now I'm wishing we had gotten hardwood floors instead of carpet. Vomit on carpet is very difficult to clean. I'm pretty sure I've rubbed a bare spot into the den carpet as I scrubbed it with lysol and a brush. Here's hoping Rob and I aren't next.

The Strawberry Wars

My Abby adores strawberries. Wonderful, huh? A child who loves fruit. That's a good thing, right?

The only problem is that Abby loves only the first bite of strawberry. The sweet delectable, juicy bit on the tip. A few days ago I spent a great deal of my time tracking down partially eaten strawberries. Did you know that ripe, juicy, red strawberries and carpet don't mix?

I thought I'd found all the missing berries. Then I opened the fridge and discovered a juice cup filled with strawberries. Ones with no bites missing! Yay!!

BUT upon closer inspection, I noticed that it wasn't just strawberries in the cup. There was also 1/3 of a banana and a single chocolate chip couple floating in a few inches of water.



The Adventurous One has been felled by a yucky stomach bug today though. Which means lots of sympathy, lots of Barney (ugh), and lots of "Mmmmmmmmmooooommmmmmmyyyyyy". And a cease-fire in the Strawberry Wars.

Sam

Yesterday we had to put our 1 1/2 yearold dog Sam to sleep. Poor little Sammy had been viciously attacked by two other dogs in the early morning hours last Wednesday. Rob rushed him to the vet where he received excellent care for 5 days. His wounds were too grave and infection set in. We had to make the difficult decision yesterday to let him go in peace and not drag out his suffering any longer.

We rescued Sam from a litter of 13 puppies. His breed was undetermined. A little lab, a little boxer, a little this and that. He was riddled with worms and had to have two rounds of dewormer. As a puppy he loved to chew and jump and be a general nuisance. He never stayed at home, but would wander down the road to play with the neighbor's dog. He and Mack were always together. Lying together, rough-housing, playing hide-and-seek. So much so that Rob complained that we had wasted money having him neutered since he obviously wasn't interested in girls.

It was so hard to tell J.T. about Sam's death. He got this big bright-eyed, I'm-trying-so-hard-not-to-cry look on his face. Then it just all came out. We all cried together. The hardest thing to accept is that these dogs have attacked and killed before and the owners did nothing about it. We have called animal control and they have set a trap in an attempt to capture the culprits. We believe that the dog owners have already moved their dogs though.

More bad news. I have discovered we don't have a single picture of Sammy! I don't know how that happened. I hate that I don't have anything for the kids to remember him by. Perhaps we'll hang on to his collar.