May the Poop Be With You.

Following is an actual conversation that took place at Krissy's house last night:

Ryan: Daddy, I peed.

Jason: Ew. Yeah ya did. Why didn’t you tell us?

Ryan: I don’t know.

Kristen: Come over to the laundry room and we will take off the pee clothes.

Kristen: OH NO (poop falls on floor). Ryan, why didn’t you tell muma there was poop?

Ryan: I didn’t really feel like it. (seriously that is what he said)

Ryan: (looking down) My poop looks like jabba the hutt.

Jason: Yeah, it actually does.

Kristen: Come lay down so I can wipe your butt.

Ryan: (while laying down) Why Frodo eating jabba the hutt?? (Note: Frodo is the dog.)

I kid you not!

Thanks for sharing Krissy. Priceless!

Two Beauties Stopped by this Week-End!

I think my youngest grandson is Swedish. His new best word is "Yaaaa". Do you want a cracker? "Yaaaa". Do you want a bath? "Yaaaa". It's so cute, but so Swedish.

I had the boys overnight on Friday and got to give Baby Aus another little hair trim.

Isn't he beautiful and you can see his eyes again. I couldn't get him to smile, but at least I got him to sit still for a second.

Here's the other little surprise that popped up this week-end. It's my first Beefsteak tomato.

Isn't it a beauty. It's about to be sliced and served with grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob cooked in beer. I feel so lucky tonight. (Oh, we are also having French Fries...Caity wants French Fries.)

Julie and Julia Movie Review

Julie and Julia
Grade A+++

It's after 11pm and I know I should go to bed, but we just got back from seeing Julie and Julia. This is such a wonderful movie, you must see it. Both Meryl Streep and Julia Child are true treasures. I sat in the theatre at the end of movie with tears streaming down my face. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because I am an over emotional crazy person. Or maybe it was just tears of joy. Just sheer joy and happiness. That's what cooking is to me.

New goal: To make Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon. It looks absolutely fabulous!

UPDATE: Mom...Krissy...Cait - I could so see this movie again if any of you are interseted!!

Card of the Week (CPS #129)

Found myself with a little alone time this evening and decided to work on some cards. I've been working on a set of cards for each of my Mother's Bridge Club partners. She frequently shows them my cards and she keeps asking for a set of Birthday, Anniversary, Thank You and Get Well cards for them. I'm almost done. I've got the Birthday and Anniversary done. Tonight I finished the Thank You cards. Only the Get Well to go.

I used the CPS card design for this week as my inspiration. Thanks to all the designers at CPS for giving my such great ideas. I love making cards, but I'm not the most artistic person, so I some times need an idea to get me started.

Great Summer Read!

While up on vacation, I read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. This is an amazing, can't put it down kind of book. In fact, I pushed to get through it because I felt I was being so incredibly rude to my family and fellow vacationers. It's also the reason I ended up with a sunburn (please don't tell my dermo). The 2nd day on the beach...I didn't swim, I didn't play with my grandsons, I didn't walk on the beach...I just sat in one spot reading. Bingo, sunburn.

This is a crime/murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. So, if you are headed for the beach (WARNING: put on extra sunscreen) or if you just need to fall into a good book, please get this one.

Good news - This is the first in a series of three novels written by Larrsen. The 2nd, "The Girl who Played with Fire" was recently released here in the U.S. There is also a 3rd novel that should be available in the near future.

Bad news - Stieg Larrson died unexpectedly in November of 2004. He had originally planned for this to be a series of 10 books. He left behind the unfinished manuscript for a 4th story and the synopses for the 5th and 6th stories. So maybe someone can pick up where he left off.

More Reunion Musings

My 35th High School Reunion was a couple weeks ago. As the weeks since have passed, I've found myself thinking about it often. It was so wonderful seeing the slightly older, but still very familiar faces. Many of them were in school with me for 12 years. Hard to not have these faces etched into my memory forever.

There is a story, that I've been wanting to share for a long time. It involves a couple guys from junior high and I think I need to tell it. I hope my words do it justice.

I had a wonderful, slow childhood. Summers lasted forever and I lived in a world where I didn't have to grow up too soon. I was able to stay a child for a pretty long time. It helped that one of my best friends was my younger brother Jeff.

One Saturday afternoon during 7th grade, I was across the street playing with the neighbor kids and Jeff. We were playing war. What made this particularly fun was the neighbor's had some very cool old rifles. Heck, they might have been real...with all the firing mechanisms removed. I don't really know, but they had a real feeling about them. I was standing by the tree in the middle of their yard, just getting a good bead on my brother, when out of the corner of my eye I see Danny and Bob riding by on their bikes.

Danny and Bob are like the two coolest guys in my class. They are never over in my area of town. What are they doing here? I freeze in sheer panic and drop my rifle to the ground. I do the very casual head nod and say "hi". They ride by.

Please, dear God. Let them not see me with that rifle. My life will be so over if they did.

Monday morning comes and I head to school with my heart in my throat. What happens if I walk in and everyone is laughing and calling me "Annie Oakley" or worse...."rifle girl" (we weren't the most original group).

As I go into homeroom, I see Danny. He doesn't even look at me. So far, so good. At lunch I see Bob. He doesn't look at me either. The whole day goes by and nothing happens. The relief is overwhelming. I don't think I am going to be the laughing stock of the entire school.

It was at that very moment, that I decided Danny and Bob really were the two coolest guys in our class.

Years go swirling by and here I am 30 years later standing at my reunion talking with Dan (he's a 53 year old guy...I can't call him Danny anymore). For some unknown reason (maybe the wine), this story pops into my head. And before I know it, I"m telling it to Dan. Fortunately, he seems to enjoy the tale and doesn't remember a thing about that day.

Odd, how a moment that seems so potentially devastating and overwhelming at the time...ends up being just a very funny memory.

Vacation #2

We just got back from spending the week in South Haven, Michigan. It's located on Lake Michigan, around the middle of the state. This was our first vacation in South Haven and here's how it came about. Krissy's sister-in-law got married on Saturday on the beach in South Haven. So we all turned her wedding into our vacation. Seemed a good reason to try a new locale.

Caity got to work searching for rental property in South Haven. She found an adorable 2-bedroom condo across from the marina. It was beautiful with some great views of the Black River.

I have no pictures at the moment...because as usual I screwed up. I brought out my camera, turned it on and it immediately shut off. I forgot to charge it and did not bring the power cable. So, it is confirmed...I am a horrible photographer. Fortunately, Cait is much better at it and she also has a much better camera. Hopefully, pictures coming soon.

Card of the Week (CPS #127)

Just spent the afternoon making and photographing a couple of cards I made. We have a couple weddings coming up some I used that as my motivation. Here is the CPS sketch of the week.







And here is my submission. Even though you can't see it very well, it says "Happy Wedding" and it looks quite nice. I was really pleased with the rhinestone on the heart.

I then made another card that employed some of the new flourish stamps and clear embossing powder. I really like monochromatic looks, so hopefully you can see enough in this picture to get the idea. This doesn't fit the CPS sketch, but I just wanted to post it anyway.



Happy Friday Everyone!