Well, I just got back from my first ever real recording session. (I'm so important!) It was great. I had a really good time, and enjoyed hanging out with Todd's man crush, Ross, and his beautiful family. It was a really neat experience all around. One of the highlights was getting to sleep 10 hours straight last night. Another was going to Freebirds for lunch. I'm glad Todd talked me into making this trip.

We bought "prizes" for the kids (the babysitters are really the ones who deserved prizes.) We got Jonah a little Transformer and Finley got a phone pull toy. At the check out they had little Venus Flytraps for $4.00. I've never seen a real one. Plus I imagined them way bigger. I thought Jonah might like one, because he's asked us about them before. He went nuts over it. But I could tell from his face that at first he was a little worried it might bite him. Hope it doesn't, cause I told him they don't bite people.

We were worried that Jonah's new frog didn't survive our trip. (We forgot to arrange for someone to feed him. Plus we don't even really know what or how often to feed him...or her.) Anyway, I was kind of afraid to go look, but he was still alive.

While we were gone my mom tried to clean out our fridge and clogged up our disposal with broccoli. You know, broccoli at its best doesn't smell so great, but broccoli sitting overnight in the kitchen sink is just...real real bad. When we ran the disposal, it took a while but it finally came unclogged and pureed broccoli shot straight up out of the sink and got all over the kitchen cabinets. No thank you.

My mom also messed up the dead bolt on our side door last night. It was already broken but she didn't know it, so it got stuck in a locked position. She called to ask us what we thought she should do, and someone gave us advice to have her hit it with a rubber mallet. Looking back, that seems like something they would do on Looney Toons if their lock was stuck. I can just picture Foghorn Leghorn with a big rubber mallet. Anyway, that didn't work, so we had to take the whole thing apart when we got home tonight.

At bedtime tonight we realized Jonah had left Snorey Bear (his "lovey") at my mom's house, so Todd had to go get him before Jonah could go to sleep. Jonah has had Snorey Bear since he was one and is very attached to him. Finley doesn't have a regular lovey, but goes to bed most nights holding the remote control for the fan. I've tried to get her attached to a stuffed animal, but she prefers the remote.

All in all, I'm glad to be home with my kiddos. Plus my mom mopped the floor. Who could ask for anything more?

I was tagged by my husband. Here are my seven facts. Unfortunately, all my friends with blogs have already been tagged too, so there may be some repeats in my tag-ees.

The rules: each player should list seven random facts about themselves on their blog as well as the rules to this little game. At the end of their post, they need to tag seven people. Let those folks know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I have a pair of what I call my bad luck pajamas. I was wearing them on 9/11 and when I had an eclamptic seizure on Jan. 1, 2002. I still have them but haven't worn them since.

2. When I was 16, I hit a parked car in the mall parking lot and took off.

3. I was a twirler in Jr. High. I also played French Horn.

4. When I was 17, I went to a New Kids on the Block concert and got to stay at their hotel. We snuck onto their floor and stole a used glass off a room service tray that we truly believed had been used by Joe McIntyre. When they left the hotel there was a huge stampede around them, and my hand got cut somehow.

5. In third grade I won a school essay contest called, "What the School Lunch Means to Me." I got to write the essay on posterboard and it was hung up in the cafeteria.

6. I used the be obsessed with The Monkees. I knew all their songs, had posters of them, and my friends mom had some shirts made for us that said "The Monkees." They were black and had the words written diagonally on the front in white block iron on letters. Then she had our names written on them in red paint pen on the shoulder. I was a big nerd, and even I thought those shirts were nerdy. But I had to wear it anyway.

7. To this day, a 64-count box of Crayola crayons thrills me. When I was a kid my favorites were "Sea Foam Green" and "Sky Blue."

My tags are:
Susie
Forrest
Rachel
Amy
Lance
Jason
Robert

Sorry if there are some repeats.

Well, this week has been interesting, as usual. I ran over our cat's tail on Friday. He's 8 years old and has always been a slow mover anyway. I was driving into the carport and he just didn't get out of the way in time. I felt so bad about it. I called the vet and they said he would probably be fine. So far so good.
Jonah told me this week I was turning into a man. Don't you just love hearing that kind of thing from your kid? So touching. He said it because for the past 2 years I've been shaving my arms (which breaks one of my mom's cardinal rules..."Never start shaving your arms. You'll regret it." Another one I sometimes break is, "Don't ever look at truck drivers. You may see something you don't want to see." Anyway, I decided to stop shaving my arms about a month ago. Jonah apparently noticed this week.
Jonah and Finley took a big spill in the buggy at Big Lots (really that was last week, but I think it bears telling). Finley was in the front seat of the buggy and Jonah was walking. I let go and turned away for about 10 seconds...then I heard a huge crash. Jonah had tried to coast while holding on the the handle. It flipped right over, and he landed on his back with the buggy on top of him, and Finley still in the seat. It scared me so much I sat right down and cried in Big Lots. This guy with a mullet (very puffy mullet, I might add) came over while I was crying and showed me a bunk bed. I think the sight of his hair helped me pull myself together. Thank the Lord, the kids were fine.
Finley has learned to climb up on the table. Jonah never even attemped this. (He's not exactly a risk taker. Too much like me.) Finley not only climbed on our table, but also Gigi's and MawMaw's. My PawPaw loved this because my mom used to climb on the table to eat out of the sugar bowl when she was a baby.
Here is a confession. I play Webkinz every night after my kids go to bed. Jonah has adopted 2 Webkinz (a dog named Redman and a bunny named Sallie) and I'm just addicted to playing Webkinz. If you don't know what it is, don't find out. You'll get addicted, too. Let's just say I'm about 25 years too old to be playing it.

I sang "a solo" in worship today for the first time in about 3 years. I've refused to sing for a long time now because I just couldn't handle the anxiety that came with it. That's something that's been hard for Todd to understand. I know it sounds strange, but I would literally be swept away by a feeling of panic when I had to sing (and at lots of other times too). It was uncontrollable. It really got to the point that my anxiety was almost unbearable and was affecting my life in a major way. I finally started dealing with it about 6 months ago, and to be honest, I feel really great that I was able to do this today. I had to work really hard to control my anxiety over the past 48 hours or so. (I know that sounds so crazy, but it's true!) I mean, I had to REALLY WORK at it. But, I made it through the song, and Todd said I did a great job. That's all, folks!

I'm hoping that Todd isn't reading this.

I have to share this with you all. I've been thinking this for quite some time, but have finally decided to say it out loud.

MY HUSBAND'S SONGS ARE HORRIBLE.

There! I said it. Who's with me?

Well, I'm back. I've had an exciting couple of weeks. We got back from vacation exactly one week ago. This was our first real family vacation. We had a really really good time. Jonah, in particular, had the time of his life. We went to the zoo, then Sea World...he rode his first roller coaster, ate his first giant sucker, and did his first cannonball into a pool...we went to the Magic Time Machine and our waiter was HAN SOLO! Jonah got his autograph...We went to the Rainforest Cafe, and Jonah spent most of his time hiding in the bathroom because he was afraid of the thunder...but all was redeemed for him when he bought an electronic voice changer at the gift shop before we left...and he didn't stop talking in that thing until we got back to Lufkin. Amazingly, Finley slept all the way home.

On Sunday, we moved Finley to a toddler bed. I had an unspoken plan of keeping her in her crib until she was at least 2, and maybe even longer if she'd let me. (We had to move Jonah out of his crib at 15 months old when he took a flying leap out of it in the middle of the night.) Finley hasn't shown any desire to climb out, but she kept getting her legs caught between the slats of the crib. Anyway, we moved her crib out and her new bed in. She liked it, and did great that first night, except for when I caught her walking down the hall at 5 a.m. The week has gotting progressively worse, though. Last night she got up 5 or 6 different times, starting at 2 a.m. and finally going back to sleep at 4 a.m. But on the plus side, she looks REALLY cute sleeping in that bed.

On Monday, I sent Jonah to VBS at my cousin's church. Within 2 1/2 days, they had moved him to 3 different classes. When I took him on Wednesday morning, they had him in a class with 3 year olds! (3's, 4's and 5's in a class together...) He didn't want to stay, and I really couldn't blame him. I tried to talk it over with a lady who seemed to be in charge, and she really didn't want to budge on the matter. (Not that I was trying to make her, but she was kind of bossy. And it was "crazy hair day" so she had her hair in a sort of pink mohawk...I just don't think you should try to be bossy with a person when you have a pink mohawk.) Anyway, we left. And later, I called the church and complained. It's not like this week was going on his permanent record, right? What would it have hurt to keep him in the Kindergarten class ( he is 5 after all) for 2 more day? I told them we were part of a church, but that if we had been looking for a church, we wouldn't have come back there. So...BOO YA!

Today, my sweet son conspired with his daddy and bought me A DIAMOND NECKLACE! Yes, folks, a real diamond necklace. This was Jonah's own idea. He picked it out by himself. He's the sweetest kid in the world! It's from a real jewelry store and everything. And when he presented it to me, he told me how much he loves me and what a sweet mommy I am. Honestly, it was one of the best moments of my whole life. Wow...

Later, we took Finley to get her ears pierced. She did really well, with no more than the expected amount of crying. She looks too cute.

Tonight, we rented Night at the Museum to watch with Jonah. I know the whole world except for me has already seen. Well, now I have too. Good movie. But even better, Todd got some M&M's for us to put into our popcorn...YUM! You do not like it, so you say...Try it, try it, and you may!

The other day, Todd and I took the kids to the library. The book I wanted wasn't there (The Key Lime Pie Murder, which is the latest in a series books involving Hannah Swensen, a slightly overweight, curly haired 30-something who owns a bakery called the Cookie Jar. She always gets involved in a murder mystery in her small community of Lake Eden. Why so many people get murdered in Lake Eden I don't know. She's also trying to decide between 2 guys, the hot police detective, Mike, and the lovable and funny dentist Norman. I'm pulling for Norman. These books will never be classics, but hey, they're completely stress free entertainment. Anyway, they didn't have it.)
So I'm over in the section by the computers looking for the book, and as I head back to the children's section, a young blond woman watches me leave. I smile at her, and she says, loudly, "I notice when I pause, everyone around me pauses..." I beg your pardon? I said, "Hm. You mean on the computer?" She said, "No, it's just when I pause, everyone else pauses..." I just walked away. I had Finley with me, so I didn't want any trouble. Mental illness? Weed? I don't know. But I reported her to the lady at the front desk. Weird-o-rama...really.

Tonight, I'm going with my cousin Stephanie to see the 20th anniversary re-release of Dirty Dancing. I can't imagine that I watched this movie when I was 13, but I distinctly remember going to the theater to watch it with a bunch of other girls for Amy Cryer's 14th birthday party. My mom was very opposed to my going, but for some reason she let me. Then, a few months later, Stephanie and I rented it, and Mom was still didn't want us to watch it, but she let us again! She got mad that we were watching it and went to bed. But she came out after a few minutes and said, "Y'all know that you are NEVER to dance with ANYONE like that!" My friend Martha watched the movie almost every day one summer. She even sat at her computer and typed out every word while she watched it. I always wondered if she typed out what was happening during parts where there was no talking, like the dancing scenes and...other...scenes...if you know what I mean. I don't know why she did it. I just know I loved that movie. I've probably seen it at least once a year since I first saw it 20 years ago. I leave you with this final thought...NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A CORNER!

Yesterday, we went to dinner at Logan's Roadhouse. Jonah had never been there before, and he loved that they had a bucket of peanuts on every table, and you could put the shells right on the floor. He didn't eat a lot of peanuts, but he did put a lot of shells on the floor. Imagine that. Then, when Todd took him to wash his hands before we left, on the way back to the table, he grabbed peanuts out of the buckets on every table that they passed. I think Todd was walking in front so he didn't notice until it was too late. I'm just glad he didn't grab food off other people's plates.

Today, Finley walked down the hall to Jonah's room. Up till now, she's taken maybe 5 steps at once, so it really surprised Todd and me. Then, when Todd went into Jonah's room to get her, he found her eating a piece of an old tortilla. I don't know how old it was, but it was old enough to be about as hard as a saltine cracker. How did she find it? I never even saw it in there. I guess I would have noticed it if I was 2 1/2 feet tall.

Yesterday was field day at Jonah's school. He had a great time. They had a big inflatable slide, face painting, sno cones, bubbles, play doh, sidewalk chalk, etc. (I was expecting a 100 yard dash or softball throw like we had at field day when I was a kid. But I guess preschoolers don't do that.)

The funniest part of field day was when, after everyone else had gone inside, Todd went down the big inflatable slide. He shouted, "Woooo! Yeah!" as he was going down, and then he tried to get off the slide. I think he was going to do one big bounce then pop up on his feet, but I heard him go, "WUH" and when I looked he had landed right on his rear. I don't think I've ever seen him look more surprised.

This morning, in the span of about 1 hour, Finley broke a glass jar, a cereal bowl, and pulled a lamp off the end table. She's just gotten to the stage where she's getting into everything. It may seem like we weren't watching her, but we really were, except for one time when Todd and I were playing each other on Gamecube Marvel Nemesis. All the rest of the time we really were watching her. And the other day, she crawled out from under the table with a SPIDER on the end of her NOSE! At first I thought it was dead, because it was kind of rolled up into a ball, but when I flicked it off it started uncurling and moving around. Plus, it was my worst kind, those crabby looking ones with the set of long legs that look kind of like pinchers. I bet she tried to put it in her mouth, but it crawled right up onto her nose instead. Can you imagine?

We've had a bad turn of events on the whole house situation. The VERY DAY we finally signed a contract on the house we're supposed to buy, we found out our buyers want us to come down off the price of the house because of some things on the home inspection. Like $3000. We just couldn't do it. So we called our realtor and told her that, and when she relayed the message to their realtor, she said, "Well, can't they come down even $500?" The realty game is just beyond me. Honestly. So we said we could come down $500, but we haven't heard if they still want the house or not. The drama of all this is too much for poor little Todd. He doesn't like the wheeling and dealing of it all. He didn't even want to be in the room while I was on the phone talking about it.

Yesterday we went to Maw Maw's for dinner and the big easter egg hunt. Jonah is so funny hunting eggs. He is so busy talking he can't hunt eggs. And yesterday for some reason he wanted to hunt eggs in a cape. Later, I asked him why and he said, "Because I wanted to have a real live super hero easter egg...Um...I just wanted to look cool." Finley didn't really know what was going on, but we posed her and took her picture as if she was really hunting eggs. Every year I help hide the eggs and every year I hide them in the same place. Guess the kids will catch on eventually.

It snowed like crazy today. I mean, really really snowed (for Lufkin.) Jonah and I even had a little snowball fight. Jonah took complete credit for the snow. He said, "HA HA! My genius plan worked!" We let him play out there for quite a while, because he'll probably have kids of his own before it snows like that around here again. He stayed out too long, in fact. He knocked on the door (who knows why he doesn't just come right in, but he never does) and when I opened the door, he gave a little shriek and said, "I just peed my pants!" I think all the playing in the snow tired him out, because it's 7:00, and both the kids are in bed. (Ha ha...MY genius plan worked!)

Well, we sold our house. Almost. We have a signed contract and earnest money on it, and if they don't back out within the next 9 days it's a done deal. By the way, it's a CASH deal. Wow. I hope someday I'm able to pay CASH for a HOUSE. The house has been on the market for a month, and so for a month I have been racing around the house all day, inside and out, trying to keep it looking great. Not that easy with a 5 year old.

Jonah, on Sunday afternoon, came inside and told me he needed to potty. He has to have an escort to any part of the house that's not the living room. So I say let's go, but he wants to go outside. OK, just don't let anyone see you, I say. He comes back in to say there are people outside next door, and he just can seem to find a hidden spot. Can he go close to the carport, he asks. Yes, just don't get it on the car, I say. In a few minutes, he reports that the deed is done. He had, of course, peed right inside the carport, leaving a nice sized puddle right next to the doormat.

On an unrelated note, just a few minutes ago I took the trash out to the can and when I put the bag into the can some drops of moisture flew up and landed on my face. And in my hair. Not good. I'm sure my friend Lance would appreciate that story.

Another unrelated note: the other day my mom told me that a lady she works with admitted that every so often, she has to eat dirt. Literally. She gets a craving for it. But it has to be this specific dirt from Nacogdoches. Mom said she didn't remember that I used to eat paper as a child. She says she never knew. How could she not? Maybe I only did it at school. But I ate probably several packages of notebook paper as a child. (Not all at once, over several years.) If I ate a sucker, I would also eat the stick afterward. I didn't like the paper off of crayons. It had a weird taste. I found out my dad also ate paper. I hope I didn't give myself some disease that will show up later.

Finley ate a bug yesterday. She didn't swallow it, just chewed it. Usually I keep the floor bug free, but we've been having tons of "gal-nippers" (yes, that's what we call them) in the house. They fly in and then die behind the furniture and I never know they were here. Finley found one and ate it. Taking a bug out of her mouth was just about too much for me.

Jonah is a bug mad man. He catches them to put inside his "bug habitat." Yesterday, he caught 2 gal-nippers, a caterpillar, a june bug and 2 identical beatles with orange stripes. They were apparently husband and wife, because I "walked in on them" last night. You know, that's the kind of thing you see on nature shows, but it's just not something you want to see up close, in your own house. No thank you, bugs.

Then, this morning, we found a dead bunny on or door mat, compliments of our cat Henry. I just switched his food last week to a "senior" formula (he's 8 years old) and I guess he really likes his new food so he brought me a dead bunny as a thank you. Either that, or I'm not feeding him enough. It was raining, so Todd left the bunny there until he could dispose of it. We went out later, and all that was left was a BUNNY HEAD and a few tufts of fur.

Finley ate a clump of dirt off the floor today. I know it sounds like my floor is dirty but it's really not. We had JUST walked in the house and the dirt must have come off Jonah's shoes. Finley found it almost immediately, before I had a chance to pick it up. I don't think she liked it.

Jonah said "dammit" yesterday. He heard it on a Spiderman cartoon! He had no idea what it meant. He thought it was a beam at a construction site. He said, "Daddy, Spiderman thought that dammit was about to fall and hurt those people." So Todd had to tell him it was a bad word. Later, he said to me, "Mommy, did you know dammit was a bad word?" Then, "They said dammit on Spiderman." Then, "I know some words that rhyme with dammit....jammit, blammit, dammit!"

Can you believe they still show "McGee and Me?" Jonah's watching it right now. Maybe he won't learn any more dirty words from that.

Today was a LONG day.
Jonah started waking up at about 5:30 am. Probably because he was really excited about his school field trip to Brookshire Brothers Fresh Market today.
Todd was out the door by 7:00 and on his way to College Station to meet with Ross King.
I dropped Jonah off at school, where I talked to Mrs. Mary Jane about his trip to the office. Apparently he's been pushing and yelling at the other kids. Yikes.
Finley and I went to Target to get her a replacement shirt for the one that got mildew on it in the laundry a couple of days ago. My mom bought the original shirt and I didn't want her to know it got mildewed, so I bought a secret replacement.
While we were there, Finley got her arm caught in the buggy. I couldn't get it out! And I couldn't take her out of the buggy because she was stuck. I actually felt a little panicky. I had to get a Target worker to help me get her arm out. She was fine.
When I got home, I had a message on my machine from the realtor, saying they wanted to show my house today at 5:00. I've let the house slide just a little because we haven't had a showing in a week and a half. So I had to do some super fast cleaning to get it all ship-shape for the realtor. I always think really irrational things while I'm cleaning for a showing..."Maybe I could paint those baseboards in Jonah's room real quick," or,"Maybe I could replace that bathroom faucet with the new one we bought 4 years ago but never installed." Idiot!
I picked Jonah up from school and we all went to Sonic. I got to hear all about his trip to the grocery store, the highlight of which was a lesson about sea food. Someone named Pat showed them an "octopus just laying there, for eating." I never knew our local Brookshire's carried octopus... but then I've never been in the market for one. He also saw lobster tails, shrimp and a giant black fish with 2 eyes.
Since we couldn't be home while the house was being shown (twice, it turns out) we went to my mom's to wait for Todd to get home. This took FOREVER! Finally he got there and delivered a FreeBird's burrito to me. (Special ordered by me 3 hours earlier.)
After we got home, Jonah brought me a little bouquet he picked. SWEET! I truly think he is the most gorgeous little boy I've ever seen.
See how long this blog is, and I've left out most of the day! That just shows what a long day it really was. Finally the kids are asleep, and Todd is out for a walk, which is really just a cover for calling all his friends to give them a recap of his day with Ross.
I'm so tired. And it's not even 9:30 yet.
But Todd's day off is tomorrow! And he's taking 2 days off next week! (Or so he says. I'll believe when I see it.)
My final thought: Why is Dr. Pepper so good?

Here are some of the highlights of my day:

Todd told Jonah this morning that he was going to whip him so hard he would cry all night.

I went to the bank to withdraw the THOUSANDS of dollars I got from my tax refund. And it really was thousands. Usually we have to pay in. I'm thrilled!

I took my car to get it washed and vacuumed (not by me, by a professional.) They found an OLD sippy cup of chocolate milk under the seat. I mean really OLD. Like maybe a year. Maybe more. It was a Chuck-E-Cheese cup.

I decided to get a tattoo. I think. I looked and looked online for one I liked but couldn't find one. I've always wanted one. I used to be too scared of the pain, but after you have kids, nothing seems quite as painful as it used to. My plan is to reward myself with a tattoo when I reach my weight loss goal. Like that will ever happen. I guess I need to think more positively. It WILL happen! And SOON! (I just mentally added, Yeah, right, to that. Oops.)

I picked Jonah up from school only to learn he had been sent TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE! For cutting in line! That doesn't seem that bad to me, but probably he's not telling me everything. He told me "all the words had gone out of his mind" when I tried to get some more info.

For the first time ever, Finley went to bed without taking a bottle. She did drink milk from a sippy cup (or, as she would say, a bup) , but NO bottle. I was secretly really sad about it.

I watched LOST, where I saw the terrible truth about John Locke.

I read the plot outline of the movie DEAD SILENCE. I was terrified by the commercial, and the plot outline is just as terrifiying. I mean, it's got possessed ventriloquist dummies in it. THERE IS NOTHING SCARIER TO ME! Plus people with their tongues cut out. When I saw the commercial for the first time, I almost cried. I hate those little dummies! I think one of the worst ones is that Charlie McCarthy doll, the one with the little monacle on his eye and the top hat. Once I saw a Fantasy Island episode where one came to life. No thank you.

And now here I am, blogging away. I'm pretty sure no one but Todd reads this, so I've decided this blog is just for me. Nothing thought provoking or philosophical, no trying to be cute or clever. Just me. Todd, hello. You don't have to comment. You can just tell me your comment in person.

I've been having some really weird and vivid dreams lately. Let me share... (by the way, I was made fun of a lot when I was younger for making my family sit and listen to VERY LONG and VERY DETAILED accounts of my dreams.) Night before last I dreamed I got into a really big fight with my sister-in-law because she made fun of me for wearing capri pants with mary jane style pumps and no socks. I said, "Rudeness!" to her and she stuck her tongue out at me. Last night I dreamed that I was chosen to be the personal assistant of some TV executive (played by that guy on Studio 60, one of the head guys but not Chandler, the other one) and he picked me up every day at my mom's house and she was very suspicious of his motives. My dreams always seem to be a pretty much real world situations. I hardly ever have fantastical type dreams, like my dad. He dreams stuff like, he sees an old lady in a bad wig and a red dress, and she walks like a marionette puppet. She's telekenetic and she sends a machete flying at him. Or once he dreamed that a giant turtle came up on the porch and ate his brother and both of his grandparents. He hit it with a switch and the turtle spit them all out, unharmed.
My husband, Todd, frequently dreams about crimes being committed. My son, Jonah, dreams a lot about turning into animals, or about inanimate objects talking. My question to you: what are frequent themes of your dreams, or what "type" of dreams do you frequently have? Share one, or many, with us.

I'm having the worst time remembering my username and password for the new blogger. I keep trying to post comments and then after I get them all typed, I can't post them because I can't remember my sign in stuff. Pathetic. Obviously I remembered them just moments ago.
Well, we've put a contract on another house, so we're getting ready to sell ours. Lots of menial type work involved. I'm sure you can all guess how thrilled Todd is about that part of it. We burned leaves outside today and someone called the cops on us. (Turns out we were irritating the asthma of one of our neighbors.) While the cop was there I tried to block his view of the expired tags on our car. Hope no cops are reading this.
Speaking of cops, I was witness to a shoplifting incident today. I went into the Dollar Store at Chestnut Village for some Clorox Bleach. I was about to pay when the clerk asked the lady two behind me in line what was under her jacket. It turned out to be her purse. Now, I'll admit that it's odd to wear a jacket over your purse. The clerk then said she'd have to see what was in the lady's purse. A heated argument followed. I was tempted to take my bleach and run. The lady in question, plus her accomplice who was right behind me, took off. The clerk took off after them. Anyway, she didn't catch them but they called 911. I was scared, man!

Well, first let me apologize for my long absence. I have my reasons, too numerous to list, for being gone...but now I'm back and better than ever. Today is President's Day, which I celebrated by eating a Reese's Crispy Crunchy Bar (delicious, by the way) and getting a new card table. Jonah celebrated by getting a new Power Rangers Decoder Phone, which he is playing with at this second, peeking around the corner and whispering, "Believe me when I tell you I DON'T HAVE IT!!" This was followed by a dive across the kitchen floor. Finley celebrated by getting stuck under the dining room table, eating an unidentified item off the kitchen floor, and taking a 3 hour nap.

The pictures are from our trip to the park last week.

Right now there's a tiny stormtrooper helmet tucked into the corner of our little nativity scene. Bet you've never noticed that in there before!

Yesterday my son caught me in a disciplinary "faux pas." He had his Sit-n-Spin (are you familiar? did you have one too? I did.) upside down on the tile floor rolling it around. Loudly. I was, at that moment, on mommy auto-pilot (are you familiar? do you have one too? ) , so I told him if he didn't stop it I would confiscate the Sit-n-Spin and put it up in the cabinet. A person would have to have a mighty big cabinet to fit a Sit-n-Spin inside it. Jonah pointed this out to me. Am I the only one who has mommy auto-pilot? I think not. I once witnessed our own Shelly cut the crust off her own toast then cut the toast into tiny, bite sized squares while she was on mommy auto-pilot. This is not to be confused with "mommy reflex," which causes a mommy to do things like put her hands directly into the flow when her child throws up, as if she could somehow catch it. Strange, but, I believe, almost universally true. Also universally gross.

I'll go once more:
1. Did you know that until I was an adult I thought ranch style beans were called "Cowboy Beans" because that's what my mom told my brother and me so that we would eat them?

2. Did you know that I'm very uncomfortable around any animal that's paid a visit to the taxidermist, and, in fact, have trouble turning my back on them?

3. Did you know that as children my cousin and I put mud on our fingertips, stood on a picnic table and tried to conjure up some "spirits" and for years after that I believed I had committed blasphemy?