Just Say No to McDonald's

Well, poor little Connor is sick again. Hacking cough (sometimes so hard, it makes him throw up, I broke in my new carpet cleaner yesterday), runny nose, watering eyes. And you know who I blame? McDonald's! ...or maybe I blame myself for being stupid enough to take him to the McDonald's playland during cold season. There were so many kids there that last week, I should have known better. And who knows how often they disinfect that thing. At least I can be grateful that he's sleeping at night, only wakes up once, and even that is pretty brief. But I've gone through boxes of tissues, wiping up something on his face every five or ten mintues. All this reminds me of Sue's blogging about the daycare at gym. Same principle. Put a lot of kids in one play area, and somebody's going to turn up sick a few days later, especially during the winter. Uhgh.

Anyway, here's another fun little pic. Gil stumbled across it, looking for cool pics to send to his female email buddy, and it's just weird enough it's been the background on my computer screen for several days now.

Yes, Connor looks like a ventriloquist's dummy, kind of creepy. Gil thinks it's hilarious. Click on it to see the larger version. Looks even creepier.

Meaningless Monday

My sincere apologies for my last post. I'm not sure I've got anything better to say than I did last Friday. Boy, that was just a bunch of nonsense, wasn't it? Anyway, maybe today can just be a picture day. Totally random pic from Christmas. Self-explanatory, I think.

Stupid Thoughts

People, I got a whole lotta nothing, but I feel like blogging anyway. Maybe 'cause it's Friday. So here's some completely random bunch 'o nothin'. Don't even know if I'll post it. My apologies if I do, sorry if it's boring. It might be the blogging equivalent of sitting around picking my nose, watching paint dry, etc.

1. The good news: it's Friday. The bad news: it's Friday (see #2, I've got six of them today. What am I doing blogging?)
2. One under-five kid is kissy-mushy and adorable. You could forgive them almost anything. A group of five or six are ravening animals, who are in training to be the cast from Lord of the Flies.
3. Got any cure for i-am-a-slug? I've exercised once this week, once people. I need an intervention.
4. Uterine cramps/contractions at three in the morning, two nights in a row, when I get up to use the facilities. Huh? They go away as soon as I get up and move around. At least they're not happening when I'm awake, I guess.
5. If you could have a superpower, what would it be? I would wish for total body awareness. What? That means that every cell in your body is completely under your conscious control. Think about it: increased intelligence, healing, speed, reflexes, no more saggy boobs, etc. The applications would be noble, I swear...
6. Kids say the funniest things. Example - "My daddy's a dork, my Mommy said so."
7. Three hours down, seven to go...

Maybe I'll tack more on later. I wanted a list of ten, but that's all I've got right now. It's a stupid Friday.

11am/12pm
8. Tattle-telling doesn't always turn out the way you want. Sometimes the messenger gets shot.
9. After standing around in the kitchen for an hour making cookies this morning, one of the kids asked me, "Becky, are you in time-out?" "Yes, I'm in time-out making cookies." Peanut butter chocolate chip - mmmm... time-out never tasted so good.
1 Cup (2 sticks) butter
1 Cup creamy peanut butter
1 Cup white sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
2-1/4 Cups flour
12 oz. bag milk chocolate chips (masochistic weirdos can use semi-sweet if wanted)
cook at 350 for 9 to 10 min.
What did I do to get put in time-out making cookies? Oh, yeah, I had way too much fun with my credit cards. Let's not talk about that...
10. Teenagers are so fun to mess with. Gil always turns off my music whenever I drop him off at school for an activity. Maybe I should download some Barney tunes or something, and "accidently" turn it on when he steps out of the car.
11. The witching hour - between 11:30 and 12:30 right before lunch is served. Can also be between 4:30 and 5:30 when parents pick up kids.

2:30pm
12. Found the definition of "jump the shark". Does this post qualify as "jumping the shark"? - you know, stupid junk signifying the downfall of a "quality" blog. Ha... ha.
13. S-o-m-e-b-o-d-y needs to comment so I'll quit writing this stupid stuff. Where'd my brain go? Hello, brain, friend, buddy, where are you? Bring me something good back from vacation, 'kay?
14. What is the good stuff you bring home from vacation? What doesn't wind up collecting dust or hitting the bottom of the "round file" after a couple weeks? Just the pictures, I guess. And what is with that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" garbage? Whatever. Let's see, you could bring home a lovely STD (highly probable), a dramatically increased credit card balance (also highly probable), an unsavory new spouse (man, people are stupid), a tatoo of your ex in an unmentionable place, etc. The only thing that stays in Vegas is your money, baby. Kiss it goodbye. And with the credit card thing, Vegas will still be sucking cash out of you long after you go home.

Quick Congrats

Chris just had her baby, so I'm feelin' some baby love today, but I'll leave the new baby pics to the parents. Congrats! Despite the lack of sleep and occasional frayed nerves, you guys are going to have so much fun. And the feeling of love is profound. The thing I remember most about Connor being born is the love that rolled over me in a big wave the first time he cried. It was incredible. He was really here, the waiting was over! Man, I can hardly wait three more months for our next munchkin to get here!

The Golden Years in Our Redneck Mansion

Thanks for everyone's comments yesterday. Really appreciate it!

Okay, I was weeding through my email inbox in shame this morning, horrified that I hadn't read most of it in a month (gasp!) How did that happen? Anyway, my brother-in-law sent me this junk email, and it just tickled my funny bone for some reason, very humorous! I don't know whose pic it is, and I'd give credit & more info if I could, but I'm posting it here, because I'm just in the mood for it today, and maybe you will be, too.

Four kids to send to college & possibly four missions to pay for, so this may be our dream retirement home. Has a sort of horribly-pleasing aesthetics to it, doesn't it? It's like a big, open rabbit hole. What a wonderful community feeling. Just makes you want to break out those crusty folding aluminum chairs and some fresh lemonade. You could get some serious distance with paper airplanes from those front porches, eh? Word of warning - don't set it up in a hurricane or earthquake zone... Hey, wouldn't that make a great Family Reunion vacation spot?!

Blue, Pink, Blue, Pink...

It appears that we won't be needing quite so big a therapy savings plan after all. We are having a girl!