You Never Know

Obama Rocks

2008-09-18T12:22:00.002-06:00

Buglet #3 picked up a little souvenir the other day at the Obama Rally.

I didn't realize it until I readied his shorts pockets for the washing machine.

Government in Action

2008-09-16T09:00:00.007-06:00

I'm a live and let live sort of gal. I usually don't post my political feelings on this blog for that very reason. I know that arguing and name calling usually doesn't change anyone's mind about anything. If we were sitting at a table together and you tell me you are voting for or against a certain issue, I might ask you why. This is not to start an argument, or to have you convince me of what I should think. It's merely because I want to know what is going on in your head. Thoughtful discussion is good for everyone. It causes broad mindedness.

I think we all need to make up our minds based on educating ourselves on the issues. All I ask is that you do your homework and understand why you are voting the way you do. Please don't vote because you are a registered Republican/Democrat. Don't vote a certain way because that's what your parents/husband/wife is voting for. Make up your own mind. Please?

That being said. My main job in life is a mother. As a mother I want my children to grow up with all kinds of experiences. When they grow up they need to have stories. I also want them to have a profound sense of patriotism. Whatever that means to them. I want them to know that they are the luckiest boys on earth because they live in the United States of America. They have the freedom to believe whatever they choose, whether it's religion or politics.

When I found out that Barack Obama was coming to my town, it was imperative that I get my kids into that event. Not because I'm a Democrat. Not because I'm voting this way or that. No, I wanted them to see government in action. And they were a part of history in the making yesterday.

It all started Saturday morning. We stood in line for nearly 5 hours waiting for a chance to hold a ticket that would allow us to see Barack Obama. Our chances weren't looking good. There were limited tickets. When we started standing there, we sent our kids to the front of the line to count the number of people in front of us. It started with 300 people. As it neared the time to start handing out the tickets, the line in front of us had grown to 650. There's nothing I hate more than cheaters.

Even though the chances of getting in were slim, we stood and waited. It turns out that they released some more tickets. With the caveat that we probably wouldn't even be able to see him. We managed to snag 5 of those "second tier" or "limited sight" tickets (terms the volunteers used on us). We were disappointed for sure, but there were many people in line behind us that wouldn't even get the opportunity to hear him.

Then something happened. The organizers decided to move the venue to an open parking lot so that the event could be open to the public. Ticket holders would still get in first, but everyone that could pack into the lot would get the chance to hear him.

Again we stood in line. This time for another 4 to 5 hours. I couldn't have asked for more well behaved children. Even though they were hot and tired, my kids didn't complain (much). It's like they could feel the excitement and adrenaline in the air. Like they knew that they were part of something so much bigger than their sweaty foreheads and thirsty mouths.

As we exited the metal detectors, a volunteer was standing there. She grabbed us by the hand and said, "I know just the place for you." And she led us through the crowd until we were standing 30 feet from the podium. I couldn't believe it. On Saturday we thought we weren't even going to get in. Now we were standing close enough to see the mole on the side of a Presidential candidate's face.

Boy, did we feel American yesterday.

Obama poses for my camera.

My baby (left in orange) comes one person from shaking Obama's hand.

Mr. Obama being introduced.

The Hug Broker

2008-08-26T09:37:00.001-06:00

I'm sure you've heard of men borrowing babies and dogs to attract members of the opposite sex. But have you ever heard of gaining favor with the ladies using your little brother? My oldest son did just that.

First let me start with a little background information. Buglet #1 isn't really into public displays of affection. Especially if it involves his little brother. On the other hand, Buglet #3 is very free with his affection and still likes to kiss and hug me before he runs off to his classroom. He doesn't care who's watching or whether it is cool or not. Right now that makes me very happy. Hopefully when he is older he won't be so loving when it comes to the throngs of women I'm sure he will have in his life.

Last week, being the first week of school, things were a bit chaotic. All my boys ended up eating lunch together. Even though they are 4 grades apart. At the end of lunch when they were leaving to go to their respective playgrounds, Buglet #3 wanted to give his brothers a hug. Buglet #1, seeing an opportunity to impress some girls, went ahead and hugged his little brother.

This sent all kinds of 5th-grade-momma-wanna-bes into hysterics and they wanted to hug that "cutest little brother in the whole world" too!

Buglet #1 sprang into action, lined the girls up, and ordered little brother to start huggin'. When the bell rang and there was still girls to be hugged? Buglet #1 started giving out rainchecks. "You can hug him on Monday," he said.

Babies No More

2008-08-19T11:58:00.000-06:00

While my kids were babies and then toddlers, the days floated by and the seasons changed. The years compounded into mounds of laundry and more washed baby bottles than I care to remember. Every day seemed virtually the same. There was no shopping for new backpacks. No brand new boxes of unsharpened pencils filled with potential.

Yesterday my boys all started back to school. I have two fifth graders that are so close to middle school it makes me want to cry. My baby is a first grader. I don't think it should be possible. Maybe mountains of laundry and endless dirty bottles wasn't so bad?

Yet, it is horribly exciting to see them growing up and changing. What can they become? Will they go through the typical teenage angst? Will they still love their mother in a few years? What kind of accomplishments will they achieve? What will come from those 24 glue sticks and 10 brand new notebooks?

As their mother it is my job to push them out of the nest and help them grow up. At least I get to do it a little at a time. Then I get to sit back and witness what they do with their independence.

Peet is Moving In

2008-08-18T08:22:00.000-06:00

You may remember when I waxed poetic about my reason for getting up in the morning.

It's become more than an obsession. It's more like a necessity now. So I've decided to take the plunge and become a:

There will never again be a "grocery emergency." Which is code for, "Honey, I'm out of Peet." Now the UPS man, albeit not my UPS man, will be dropping me off two pounds a month. And look closely at the next picture. Do you see the roast date? I got my shipment on the 8th. Oohh my romance is renewed. I love Peet.

Gun Control Legislation At the Bug House

2008-08-08T09:15:00.001-06:00

Buglet #1 loves to build things. He has a gigantic bucket of Knex. It started out innocently enough, he would build cars and windmills and other benign objects.
Then it all changed.
He figured out where to find plans to build various different guns and weapons. And they actually work. Not necessarily shooting bullets, but Knex pieces.
Believe you me, I wasn't thrilled about this at all. "You're gonna shoot your eye out, kid" was uttered many times.
In the usual balancing act of being a parent I said to myself, "What is worse TV or K'Nex? Guns or mushy brains?" He wasn't in the habit of pointing it at people, he had no malicious intentions. It won't be that bad, right?
That is until yesterday. He made a rocket launcher. Yes--a rocket launcher. Complete with it's very own K'Nex rocket. It didn't have a safety mechanism and was very unstable.
The first thing he did was shoot himself in the face. I freaked out and told him to disassemble it. He assured me he knew how to fix the problem and would do so right away. 2 hours later he accidentally shot his brother in the face. This time there was blood and screaming.
So I did what any good Monarchy (I'm the Queen) would do. I made him melt down his gun and I enacted further bans on guns in this house. Today he says he's building a guitar. That's more like it.

I'm at it again

2008-08-05T08:41:00.006-06:00

Does anyone remember this?

My tagger finger is back. Only this time it's taking on a big project.

I want my dining room table to look like this:

And it mostly does. Except it's brown. My sister-in-law, Carrie, was nice enough to give me the extra chairs and bench from her old table set. The style of the chair is exactly the same as my set, however, they are a different color.

In an effort to make things look more polished and like the set above I got out the ol' spray paint cans again. I've been buying two at a time when I go to the store. I'm still paranoid about the spray paint cops.

It's been slow going because it's been so dang hot here. I've found that spray painting in 100 degree weather only causes you to have to re-do it because you get these weird bubbles. Here's the first installment of the dining room set to be:

Still trying to transform the Nameless Cottage

2008-07-15T14:33:00.002-06:00

When I start thinking of all the things I want to do to put my stamp on my house, I start hyperventilating.

Really, there's a ton of stuff to do. Not to mention the cost of it all.

I start to get impatient and uptight and think about how long it could possibly all take.

Recently we hosted brunch for my dad because we didn't get to see him on Father's Day. I had a list a mile long of things I wanted to get accomplished. Because the list was partially a Honey-Do list, I thought I'd inject a little humor in it for him so he didn't feel quite so bossed around. #6 on the list was this, "When there's nothing left to do to the house, it's time to move."

What I realize now is that I would do well to heed this advice also. Just as long as I'm making progress, I should feel proud.

The most recent thing I did was replace the Retro 1979 light fixture in the bathroom. I don't have a Before picture because this was while I was on sabbatical and not thinking in terms of, "Everything is a blog post." So forgive me for the no before. 1979 light fixture should say it all. Here's the after. And I'm patting myself on the back because I bought it, turned off the appropriate electrical breaker, and installed it all by myself.

Safeway Haul

2008-07-14T15:06:00.003-06:00

Drink much?

This is my haul from Safeway last Friday. Now I realize that when you look at this you think, "Yeah, but what are they going to eat?"

I've been doing enough of this "deal" shopping lately, that we have lots of food sitting around here. The point of this trip was to put things in our "food closet" that were non-perishable and that were the cheapest possible price. Also to take advantage of coupons that I already had on hand and pair them with the Summer Savings Spectacular that was going on at Safeway. If you bought 25 items on their list, then you got a $20 coupon at the checkout. I wanted that $20 coupon. And I wanted to make my pile of coupons a little shorter. I did get that coupon and I turned around and went back on Sunday to redeem it. I got another $10 coupon this time. With my $20 I managed to get something we might actually be able to eat. But I figure the corn syrup in all those sodas could keep us alive for a day or two in an emergency (wink). The only things that didn't count toward the 25 items were the eggs, barbecue sauce, Pepperidge Farm cookies, and the couscous. All four were on sale and I had a coupons for the cookies and couscous, even though they didn't count toward the 25 items goal. So here we go, the breakdown:

Cottonelle Toilet Tissue (bought 2)--Regular Price 9.99 for 12 rolls. Super Saver Coupon in weekly ad 2 for $11. Plus I had two $1.00 coupons. Making that $4.50 per package. A savings of 55%.
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Pop-tarts (bought 4)-- Regular Price $4.69 and 3.65 respectively. Super Saver Coupon in weekly ad 4 for $6. A savings of 64%.
Coca-Cola 6 packs (bought 2)--Regular Price $3.69. Super Saver Coupon in weekly ad 2 for $3. A savings of 59%.
Hansen's Soda (bought 2)--Regular Price $2.99. On sale 2 for $4 plus I had a $1.00 coupon off of 2. A savings of 49%.
Tava Fruit Drinks (bought 2)--Regular Price $3.99. On sale Buy One Get One Free. I had a $1.50 coupon on 1. A savings of 69%.
Mountain Dew and Pepsi 12 pack (bought 3)--Regular Price $5.99. On sale, Buy Two Get One Free. A savings of 33%.
Chex Mix (bought 3. 1 is missing from the picture because Buglet 3 was STARVING in the car)--Regular price $3.19. Sale price $1.99. I had a total of $2.50 in coupons for this item. A savings of 64%.
Electrasol Dishwasher Tabs (bought 1)--Regular price $5.49. Had a $1.00 coupon. A measly 18% savings, but I needed them! And they counted toward my 25 items.
Spray N Wash--Regular price 3.99. On sale $2.50. I had a $1.50 coupon. A 75% savings.
Pillsbury Toaster Strudel (bought 3)-- Regular price $3.29. On sale for $2.50. I had a $1.00 coupon off 2. A 33% savings.
Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars (bought 2)--Regular price $4.15. On sale $2.50. A savings of 39%.
Jolly Time Popcorn (bought 2)--Regular price $3.29. On sale for $1.99 I had two $1.00 coupons. A 70% savings.
Cheez-It crackers (bought 2)--Regular price $4.79. On sale $2.50. I had a coupon for $1.00 off two boxes. A savings of 58%.
Pepperidge Farm Cookies (bought 1) -- Regular price $3.59. On sale $3.00. I had a .50 coupon. A 30% savings.
Barbecue Sauce (bought 1)--Regular price $2.19. On sale for $1.50. A savings of 31%.
Eggs 18 count (bought 2) -- Regular price $4.69. On sale Buy One Get One. A savings of 50%.
Near East Couscous (bought 1)--Regular price $2.42. On sale $2.00. I had a .75 coupon. A 48% savings.

I hope I got all those percentages right. I was doing the coupons from memory. To summarize, my receipt said $54.33 in value card savings, $13.25 in coupons for a total of $73.59 in savings. My total was $74.80 so I got a total of 50% savings on my order. And don't forget, I got a $20 coupon for my next purchases! Yippee!

Somedays........

2008-07-14T08:20:00.003-06:00

I hate technology. OK. You know that's a lie.

Friday my computer was acting really strange, but since I had that huge shopping trip I told you about, I was less than ready to deal with it. I managed to get that post out (barely). When I got home and was trying to post the pictures and details of my shopping trip, things went from bad to worse. Pop-up ads were flying everywhere, I couldn't log on to certain sites, and to top it off, the batteries in my camera died while I was trying to upload my pictures.

Turns out my computer caught a virus. How? I don't know. I've got all the requisite blockers and virus catchers--but this one still invaded.

I downloaded a tool from the Microsoft website about 9 p.m. on Friday night. It started scanning my computer. At 2 a.m. I gave up and went to bed. It kept scanning. When I woke up Saturday morning it had found 4 viruses on my computer! What!?! Where did these come from? All morning Saturday I spent cleaning up my computer.

Today the phone rang at 7:00 a.m. My new niece arrived early this morning, so I'm off to go see her. While I'm out I will grab new batteries for the camera so I can post my haul.

I just didn't want you to think I was ignoring you again!

True Confessions

2008-07-11T16:48:00.003-06:00

OK. So I've been getting some flak (Kelly)for not being on the ball and posting my haul from Walgreen's a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the scoop. I lost my Walgreen's receipt. I know. I know. How could I do such a thing? And I can't really remember what I used coupons on and what the prices were. I was thinking that I would go again last week and just pass it off.... but the sales weren't very good last week.

In return I'm planning a huge shopping trip this evening. I have my lists and my coupons all put together. See?

Then when I get home I will take pictures of my loot and post facts and figures for you. Sound good?

Update: I'm having technology issues tonight. But I will post as soon as I get it figured out.

Coupon Subterfuge

2008-07-01T09:13:00.002-06:00

I have always been a careful shopper. I try to buy things on sale and to plan my menu around the sale ads in the paper each week. And if I remember, then I will use that coupon that is sitting in a pile on my desk. But more often than not, I have completely forgotten to bring the coupon and it's still sitting in that pile on my desk.

However, this summer, I've decided to take it to a whole new level. How much money could I save if I had a really good coupon system. What if I only bought things when they are at their lowest possible price? Could I drastically reduce what I'm spending on groceries if I stocked up when it's a loss leader for the store?

I decided to keep track of how much money I saved on Manufacturer's coupons only. I lost track of my coupon savings the last two weeks of June. In the first two weeks of June I saved $44 and change just in manufacturer's coupons. That does not include any "value card" type savings.

I also decided to try a website called The Grocery Game. It keeps track store sales, corresponding coupons, and when things are at their lowest possible price.

By doing this I became aware of the deals to be had at the drugstore chains. I had no idea! I never shopped at them. Now I am shopping there once a week to get all their great deals.

My only complaint with this system is how much of a pain it is at the checkstand. Clerks really look at you like you are trying to pull a fast one on them(thus the title). I've even had a clerk tell me they don't take internet coupons. Then I found out that I could print out the same coupons from their website!? I assure you that I have done nothing illegal. The stores receive the face value of the coupon plus some for their time and effort in processing them.

Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures and explanations on what I got for $9 at Walgreen's.

Are You There Blogland? It's Me, RugsBug.

2008-06-25T09:33:00.003-06:00

Yoo hoo? Is anybody out there?

It's not that I don't love you anymore. It's not that I don't care. It's just that I've been so busy trying to be a good mother and housewife.

And failing miserably.

I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I stopped spending so much time in Blogland, and a little more time on my house, that it would magically transform into perfection. Unfortunately, that did not happen. I am about the most unmotivated perfectionist on the planet. So I'm back to bore y'all with how I want to be perfect, but can't seem to obtain it.

Anyone interested?

I may be crazy, but the vacuum's the one that fell apart

2008-02-29T14:39:00.004-07:00

The saga begins with a birthday party. And the crazy notion that I was ready to host a party in my house. I mean, seriously, we've lived here nearly a year. Shouldn't there be some sort of unveiling?

I took the whole week off to get ready for the party. By Wednesday I was nearing a mental health crisis.

After calling up my husband bawling, I decided that I was just going to have to clean at the last minute. While the children were locked in their room.

Saturday morning we awoke bright and early, ready to tackle the house and party preparations. Everything was going well. It was t minus 2 hours and counting until the first guests would arrive. The only thing left to do was vacuum and mop. It has been an unusually muddy February, and our floors are in a constant state of muddy foot and paw prints. I got out the vacuum, plugged it in and started to work.

The first thing I noticed was that the vacuum wasn't sucking up anything. A split second later, the acrid smell of burning rubber. Our vacuum is old, but I figured it was just a broken belt. Nothing we hadn't dealt with before.

Ruggless and I bent over the vacuum like a couple of surgeons prepping for a heart surgery. As we lifted off the lid, pieces of vacuum fell out everywhere. Nuts, bolts, bits of plastic. All on the floor in a nice little pile.

A quick trip to Wal-mart and a new vacuum means my guests never saw the piles of dog hair behind the China closet.

Where in the World is Rug's Bug?

2008-02-26T08:54:00.003-07:00

I know I've been a bad little blogger girl and haven't been writing for, oh, 3 MONTHS.

Are you ready for a little update?

As most of you know, I worked the month of December. When I started that job I figured it would be a great way to buy Christmas presents, and then I would go back to my neurotic housewife ways.

Funny thing is, I liked working. Sure the job was hard and I was tired, frustrated and irritated most days. Then again, it was really fulfilling to deposit that paycheck at the end of the week. I also noticed that I wasn't being as neurotic about the house. If I felt like doing laundry, I did. If I was too tired, I went to bed. And guess what? The world didn't stop moving.

After that gig was up, I almost immediately started thinking of applying for jobs. There was one problem. I have a child that doesn't go to school on Wednesday's. What kind of job could I get where I could have Wednesday's off? OH! And then what about school holidays? How would I work around those?

I started to get discouraged.

Then it came to me. The job someone had suggested to me a year earlier. One that I had scoffed at.

A lunch lady.

I cannot get into details today. I have to take my kids to school. Let me just say that I went through training and then everyone in my house got sick. Including me. The god-awful virus that has swept the nation and closed down schools affected us as well. I promise to fill you in.

The Dummy Quiz

2008-02-26T08:46:00.002-07:00

It all started with a simple question, "Do you want to take the Dummy Quiz?"

Since the question came from my 10 year old, I was immediately suspicious.

"No." I said.

"Oh, come on! It's just a couple of questions."

"No."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssseeeeeeeee?"

"Oh, alright."

By now I know that these are going to be trick questions and I would need to be on guard for any chicanery. Square shoulders, take a deep breath.

"What is the color of the sun?"

"Orange." Clearly not the color he was expecting me to say, but he couldn't argue.

"What color is the grass?"

"Green."

"What color is the sky?"

"Blue."

"What was the first question I asked you?"

"Do you want to take the dummy quiz?"

"Oh man!"

Then he proceeded to go tell all his cousins how smart his mom was.

I reveled in his declarations. Because I know in a few short years I will be as dumb as a fence post and will not understand anything.

For The Love of Peet*

2008-01-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

Since I worked so hard last month, I felt entitled. Oh yes ENTITLED to splurge a little. My splurge of choice was some really, really, really expensive coffee.

In my quest to be the Frugal Queen, I usually buy the $2.98 Walmart brand. Sure it tastes like crap.... but the hot caffeine shooting straight to my brain is really my only requirement in coffee.

(An Aside--Lest you think I'm a Drink Coffee All Day Long sort of gal, I really only drink it until I'm awake. Then it's all over. So does it really matter how it tastes?)

That was then. This is now:

It was a Friday night. I had just put in a 12 hour day. I was tired and Ruggless and I were at the grocery store, sans kids. I thought, "It sure would be nice to have some GOOD coffee to wake up to tomorrow."

Back in the late 90's when we were rich and only had two kids and three jobs, and Lance Armstrong was winning the Tour de France consistently, he touted Peet's. Said he drank the Major Dickason's blend. My hubby has been into "the Tour", as we call it in our house, since before it was cool to watch it. So anything that is promoted by a tour winner.... well, we had to try it. And darn it was good. But expensive. And--shall we say--full-bodied. It was strong enough to make you want to move mountains. And with another kid and more bills, it went the way of the life of luxury.

So as I'm standing in the coffee aisle, I grabbed Peet.

With the first sip I realized what I had been missing all these years.

Now the ongoing joke in our house is about "Peet." I call out to Peet in the morning. I talk about my new love, Peet. Anyone eavesdropping on this little inside joke would be appalled at my blatant flaunting of infidelity.

Alas, just like the Pool Boy, Peet has been set aside. Yesterday when I went to the store, it had gone off sale. Instead of a mere $7.99 for a pound, it was $9.89. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't buy Peet. I felt guilty enough about the really expensive box of hair color I bought the day before. So it seemed too extravagant to continue on with Peet.

I'm thinking I will have to go out and get a job so that I can continue my love affair with expensive hair color and Peet.

More on that later.

*Thanks to Kelly for the Title

Uniform Woes

2007-12-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to talk a little bit about uniforms.

It is pretty cool to don the uniform and say, "Hey, look what I do."

That is until you pick up your kids at school and everyone is looking at you. And they all say, "Hey, look what you do." Somehow you are out of place amongst all the Gap Jeans and Old Navy Sweatshirts.

Another drawback seems to be the way they fit. One size certainly does not fit all.

I have the body type of an orange on a toothpick. I have a nice huge upper body and no butt.

Sort of like this:

Then I put on a sports bra, because let's face it, I'm jumping in and out of a truck and running around all day. But that flattens everything out on the top area. So, after I get all this on, I'm basically a guy. No butt, no boobs. If only my spare tire would rearrange itself on the backside.

So, Friday I'm getting ready for work. The cats all sit on the bed and watch this process. I'm not sure whether they are just waiting for me to leave, or if they can't figure out why I'm leaving after all these years.

Anyway, I've got the uni on and I'm making sure everything is in order in front of the mirror. And I hear a voice. It's a little voice. Shy and timid. It was our cat Peach. She said, "Lady, you need to put on some lipstick and earrings for Goodness sakes." So I did.

I'm a Workin' Girl

2007-11-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

So, I realize I haven't been posting much. Know this, I'm probably not going to post much for the next few weeks. But! I did take some cool pictures with the camera on my phone.

Bear in mind, it's a cell phone camera. No zoom. No flash. No "Stop the lady's hands from shaking" button.

The area where we are delivering is a bit remote. And these deer were standing in the driveway, sort of like that scene in Crocodile Dundee (Oh Good Grief! Did I just show my age, or what?) where the bull is not letting the Croc Man pass. They were not scared of us. In fact, they didn't think the owner of the driveway deserved the Kitchen-Aid meat grinder we were supposed to put on their front step.

Top Ten..................

2007-11-16T09:29:00.001-07:00

ways you know you've been out of the workforce too long.

10. As you are filling out the zero tolerance sexual harassment form you think, "If it weren't for harassment in the workplace I would've never met my husband! (just kidding honey)

9. You realize that your social security card still has your maiden name on it.

8. You forgot how many tax deductions you are supposed to take.

7. You didn't think it was legal to have a mandatory training session the day after Thanksgiving.

6. Your planner only has shopping lists, menus and cleaning lists in it.

5. You will have to go out and purchase "work" shoes.

4. The Mother Ship is going to drive somewhere other than school and the grocery store.

3. Paper check or Direct Deposit?

2. You can't remember the address or the phone number of your last place of employment.

1. The HR person says that you can't have more than a 3 month gap in employment history. Yours is 10 years. You have to use a personal reference. So it doesn't really matter that you can't remember the address or the phone number to the place where you used to drive every day.

Thankful

2007-11-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

My two older boys had a project in school. The class took a poll for the things that they were most thankful for.

The overwhelming majority were thankful for food. The whole class then got a big piece of paper and everyone wrote on there about how they were thankful for food.

My son wrote that he was thankful for bacon.

Thursday and Friday Sheets and an Oops!

2007-11-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

I realized yesterday, as I was cleaning, that my Master Schedule didn't include the kitchen. It just says "Load dishwasher or load washing machine." I don't know about you, but my kitchen is almost always a mess. It is the dumping ground for homework, backpacks, lunch boxes, mail.....just about everything. Factor in that I make quite a lot of dishes and there's no doubt it should not have been left off the schedule. I will re-do this today. But first! I am going to fill out paperwork for a seasonal job. Then I think I had better go get my big grocery shopping done. I have a feeling I will be working tomorrow.

P.S. I followed my schedule yesterday. It worked out pretty well. I had a little contest with myself to see if I could get the rooms cleaned in under 20 minutes.

3 Hour Housecleaning--The Planner and Master Schedule

2007-11-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

To make sure I stay on track with my plans I bought a plain white 3-ring binder. I have all manner of planners laying around my house. But they are designed mostly for those with "real jobs." Not those of us that are the CEO of our households.
Next I got several plastic sheet covers and a dry erase pen. I need to look for a black dry erase because I think it will show up better on my plastic. But this will do until I can get to the store.

I put my master schedule, and daily pages in the planner. If you are interested in this plan and want to try it for yourself, the pages I used are below. If you click on the picture it will enlarge. Then right click and Save Image To Computer. Then you can print off copies. If you are using the plastic page protectors, you should only need one copy of each. I will post Thursday and Friday's pages tomorrow. Now I'm off to go buy supplies and food for a party!

3 Hours To A Clean House

2007-11-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

I like having a clean house. I also like to watch a few TV programs. I like movies. I like to read books. I like surfing the internet.

I figured once my kids were in school I would have boundless energy and time to do everything my heart desired. What ended up happening was that I had so much to do I got overwhelmed. And then nothing got done.

I needed a strategy. How can I keep my house respectable enough to not be embarrassed if someone stops by, yet still have time to watch a TV program or two, keep my kids on task in the afternoons and have a little time with the hubby at night?

If you are thinking that my plan sounds a bit like the Flylady's plan---you would be correct. I subscribed to the Flylady emails and way of thought for about a year. It has it's good points for sure. I just wanted a more condensed version. Whereas she focuses on a room for a whole month, I wanted the same results in a week.

I've been working on a strategy for a couple of weeks. One that would work for me. There's a hefty measure of Flylady philosophy thrown in with a hint of my own. I'm using my blog as my accountability. Instead of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off all the time, I hope to have a peaceful calm about me.

Starting tomorrow, I will unveil some of my strategies. I had intended to start this on Monday, but I'm in the middle of planning a Fall party for my side of the family. It's kept me busier than I expected. Feel free to share any strategies, tips or tricks that have helped you. With the holidays rapidly approaching and a new year just behind them, I figured now was as good time as any to take control.

Bug's Book Club

2007-11-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

I finally finished it.

I give it a Bug rating of: 3 stars out of 5

Has any one else read it? What did you think?

Public Displays of Rudeness

2007-11-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

I don't want this blog to turn into a complete gripe-fest all the time. But I am annoyed.

Last night our twins had a musical program for school. The festivities were moved to the local high school's auditorium to ensure enough seating and a proper stage and sound system.

There was the usual nervousness of the kids. A few hadn't practiced their parts very well. Some kids didn't show up at all. This meant that other kids had to fill in for them and say parts they hadn't been expecting to. You know, typical 4th grade stuff.

However! I would like to know when adults forgot how to act in public. Especially in a "theater" type setting. Cell phones rang throughout the program. People were talking. Clapping at inappropriate times. Little kids and babies were screaming.

I couldn't believe it. Have I forgotten what it was like when I was a kid? Or are people increasingly self-centered and unaware of polite and appropriate behaviors?

Nostalgia

2007-11-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia struck me on Friday.

I was with my Grandma and my Auntie and we were going to lunch. We were headed to a town where I spent a lot of time growing up, even though I've never actually lived in the zip code.

I went to high school in this town. I had my first kiss in this town. I worked in this town. I love this town.

The trees lining the streets were turning gold. The air was crisp. The feeling of small town wrapped around me like a hug.

We parked right in front of the newspaper. I spent a lot of time in that newspaper office. First typing copy. Later writing a few articles and doing research for a weekly column. I can still smell the old ink and dust in the archive room. The sound of the newspaper carrier hitting the glass door with the "daily" as she sped by on her moped. After a couple of years, I moved to the desk in front that faced the street. The news desk wasn't all that busy. I had a lot of time to do crossword puzzles and stare out at the street. I envisioned living in that little town.

I haven't gotten the chance to live in that small town yet. The dream of it still lingers. Someday. Someday.

Did I mention there isn't even a stop light? Nope. Just a four-way stop in the middle of town. Last week after church, at that stop sign, I looked to my right and saw the town cop looking in the windows of the bank on the corner.

Oh, how this place feels like home.

Trick or Treating Etiquette 101

2007-11-01T11:10:00.000-06:00

Before we went out Trick or Treating last night, I gave the usual pep talk.

"Let's get out there, get some candy and SCORE! SCORE SCORE SCORE! This is the game plan: We will walk in a polite and orderly fashion up to the door. We will say "Trick or Treat" loud enough for them to hear us, but not so loud that we break ear drums. If they offer you the bowl of candy, you take one unless further instructed. We will say, "Thank You Very Much." We will only go to houses with porch lights. Let's do this!"

The kids were psyched. We were scoring candy left and right.

My kids knocked on a door that clearly had the porch light on. Not just one, but two. They wait, they wait. Rugg and I had just called to them to come back to the street. The door opens and a guy says, "I don't have anything." Slam.

The older boys took it in stride. But my poor 5-year old did not understand. The guy was rude and didn't give him candy. He started to cry. No matter how many times I told him it wasn't his fault, that the guy shouldn't have had his light on, he still was wounded.

And now I'm mad.

So to all the Bah Humbugs out there:

It is one night in a year. Either you have candy to pass out or you don't. If you don't......turn your porch light off please. The rules are very clearly defined. Save me the trouble and my kid the heartache. Turn your porch light back on November 1st. Thank you.

A Time of Transition

2007-10-30T16:20:00.000-06:00

I was super excited to send my kids off to school this fall. It meant that I had surpassed the "baby" years and now had "school-age" children.

I imagined myself flitting about the house tidying up right after the kids went to school. Then by noon I'd have a bite of lunch and then maybe do some decorating. Perhaps I would finally get to that ever-increasing stack of books in my office.

Instead I feel like I'm recently unemployed. Laid-off. Phased out.

I have found out that I am a schedule oriented person. I always blamed my very regimented agenda on the fact that I had twins. A necessity to combat chaos and disorder.

Either all those years of schedules and routines rubbed off on me, or I'm as much in need of them as my twins were. Because I'm alone all day and I can't get a darn thing done.

I've been reading a 275 page book for 2 months. I told Ruggless last night that I used to read a book of that size in a day, maybe two. And I had a full-time job.

I'm not logging on to my computer regularly. Much less blogging. I'm sure all of my "blog" buddies are offended because I hardly ever comment any more.

So I've decided to do something about it. Starting with my blog. I rearranged the furniture around here in the hope that I will want to spend more time on it. I'm also doing some housework over at the other blog. Expect new posts that occur with more frequency.

I've also been working on my "work schedule" for my home. I'm building in a day to work on projects around the house or to go thrifting. I really miss that now that we've moved 20 miles away from my favorite thrift store. And there's even some time in there to blog. Regularly.

It's time to get back to the job of being me.

Autumn Greetings From the Bug Household

2007-10-26T10:30:00.000-06:00

Kids in the Kitchen

2007-10-18T16:28:00.000-06:00

How many of you are watching "Kid Nation" on TV?

Ruggless and I were intrigued by the, "Lord of the Flies" premise of the show. We also thought it might be something that would spark great discussions between us parents and our children.

Never fear. We DVR it and the adults in the house watch it before the kids. So far we haven't had to censor anything. And it has sparked some rather interesting discussions.

From the inception of the show, however, I was greatly appalled that none of the kids really knew how to cook. They range in ages 8-15 and none of them knew whether their pot of water was boiling. They wasted about 5 pounds of pasta because they put it in the cold water.

Right then and there I decided that my kids would at least know the basics of cooking.

Now each of the boys take turns helping me in the kitchen. The others set the table and help with clean-up.

I gave them each their own apron and some fabric markers for personalization. Each night when it is their turn to help, they wash their hands and put on their aprons.

I will show pictures. But I need to warn the faint of heart, yes indeed, that is my 5-year old with a big knife. He was so anxious to chop up that kielbasa that he forgot his apron.

and he cracks eggs perfectly.

Free At Last

2007-10-15T12:26:00.000-06:00

Thank God it's done. Next.

It Would've Been Easier Just To Buy One

2007-10-12T15:37:00.000-06:00

I get a lot of magazines. I've stopped subscribing just short of the mail truck having to back up to my front door and unload them right there.

I enjoy looking through all of them and getting inspiration. There's a certain problem with inspiration though. Sometimes it takes a turn for the worse.

Case in point. I needed a new shower curtain. I looked at many of them at the store, but just couldn't find the one. The one that was beautiful, unique and had Rug's Bug written all over it.

I decided I would sew one. Yeah. The hunt for the perfect fabric was very similar to the hunt for a shower curtain. Nada. And in the meantime our not quite clear not quite see-through plastic liner begged to be covered up.

Cue a magazine. It had a plain white shower curtain that the clever person had hand-sewed fabric cut-outs on. It was gorgeous. Except. Except there's no way I'm going to hand sew anything more than a button. I've no patience for that. I ripped out the page and tacked to my bulletin board anyway.

Everytime I sat at my desk, I pondered a solution to my dilemma.

Then it came to me. Appliques. Iron-On Appliques.

So I head to the craft store to look at appliques. They were $4.99 A PIECE! Umm. No. It would cost a 100 bucks to cover a curtain.

Back to the drawing board.

What came to me was iron-on transfer paper. So I downloaded some images, fought with them and printed them out. I ironed on transfer after transfer while watching multiple episodes of Rachael Ray, Dr. Phil and Oprah. At last. It was done.

Now how am I going to hang it up? Easy. I saw this grommet kit at the craft store for a few bucks. I got them home and tried to hammer them together just as the directions showed. I couldn't get them to go together. My Dad stopped by later that day and I asked him what I was doing wrong. He pounded one together no sweat. It seems I'm just not strong enough.

That, my friends, is why there is no, Shower Curtain: How It's Made, post. I've got Ruggless on it this weekend. Perhaps there will be pictures by Monday.

Geeky Girls Just Want To Have Fun

2007-10-10T13:13:00.000-06:00

Whether or not my father was disappointed that his first born was a girl, I probably will never know. He did try his best to teach me about cars and woodworking. I can't say that I can do more than check the oil and change a tire on the car. OK, I can put in more windshield washer fluid. As far as woodworking goes, it would be helpful if I could keep a straight line. The fact that power tools with sharp blades conjure up images of missing fingers doesn't help either. But his penchant for all things tech-y he managed to pass on.

Buglet #1 kind of has a reputation around here. He eschews cartoons for the Discovery channel. He watches a lot of "How It's Made." Our DVR is 68% full because there's so many "Mythbusters" recorded. And of course we can't delete them. He just might need to watch them again. Evidently he hasn't noticed the Mythbuster Marathons nearly every weekend.

What he hasn't realized yet is that he got those tendencies from somewhere. They don't usually just fall out of the sky. Unwittingly, I showed him exactly where he got his mad scientist skillz.

Our main computer is a laptop. You may or may not know that laptops have a reputation for getting all hot and bothered. To remedy this situation you can buy a device with fans in it to put under your laptop to keep it cool and level-headed.

My fan device broke about a week ago. The wires came out from the switch. It was fairly obvious that it had been pulled on one too many times. I ignored it. Since I haven't been on the computer all that much it's probably not urgent to replace it. Except! On Buglet #3's day off from school we had our heads together playing Alice Greenfingers. We had gotten pretty far in the game. Then it happened. The computer got too hot and shut down! It shut down in the middle of our game!! We lost the farm, so to speak. Time to fix the fan.

I studied it. The switch had a little black plastic case around it. So I took a hammer and tapped on the seam and it came right off. Sure enough, the wires had come off the switch. I pulled the switch off, tore back some of the wire cover and twisted those two wires together. Remember, red to red, black to black and ne'er the two shall meet. All while Buglet #1 watched.

Voila, the fan works again. And I have gained the respect of my techno geek son for another day. I'm afraid of what it might take next time.

What? You are still waiting for the Shower Curtain post? As the name may suggest, "It's Easier to Buy A Shower Curtain," I'm having a bit of creative difficulty. Perhaps tomorrow?

Birds and Bees. Part Three.

2007-10-08T09:09:00.000-06:00

Sorry to keep you waiting so long. Life was calling my name and I couldn't ignore it. Even though I tried.

Where was I? Oh yes, we had just witnessed a music video with strong sexual messages in it.

After Ruggless got home that night, I told him it was time. Company or no company, we were going to have to have "the talk." He agreed. Although we really didn't discuss when we were going to bring it up with them, we did talk about how much they really needed to know. At this point we agreed that we would keep it to strictly procreation issues.

The weekend progresses right along. I had sort of forgot about it. Then Ruggy and I happened to be alone in the kitchen with Buglet #1. Ruggless strikes without warning. I wasn't prepared. My face turned firey red. Buglet #1 looked like a train was just about to hit him.

Ruggless asked him if he knew what sex was. He said, "Not really." Ruggless dispensed with the basic information. Asked him if he wanted to know more. He replied, "No thank you. " And we explained what a hooker was. Oy. We made it through. Although I just sat there and looked as stunned as my son. Until the end when I piped up, "This is a topic for parents to discuss with their kids. You don't need to inform any of your friends about what you know, OK?"

The talk with Buglet #2 I was not present for. Ruggless caught him alone outside while they were mowing the lawn. From what I hear he really didn' t want to know. He told his dad that they were supposed to watch a movie in 5th grade that would tell them all about it. He was more than happy to wait until then.

There you go. That's the story of how my children lost some more of their innocence. Tune in tomorrow for "It's Easier Just To Buy A Shower Curtain."

Birds and Bees. Part Two.

2007-10-04T09:37:00.000-06:00

When I left off, I had just revealed that my son, Buglet #1, had called his friend a hooker.

Later that evening I told Ruggless about the incident and asked him if he thought it was time to discuss the facts of life with the older boys.

He said he'd take care of it over the weekend. I shuddered and said, "No! We have company coming this weekend. We'll wait until after."

Really, it wasn't about the company. It was about me and my denial that my boys are ready for such talks. They are just babies after all.

My feelings on the subject would soon change, however.

Thursday night Buglet #1 came home from school and said that his friend had told him he could watch Weird Al videos On Demand for free. There are many things about our cable that I'm still learning. Did you know that I could have a karaoke party straight from my TV? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, I was messing around with the On Demand stuff and found all the free videos we could watch. After an 11 minute video by Weird Al, I started looking at the other ones available. I landed on Justin Timberlake's, "Cry Me A River." Hmm. Interesting. Play. Everything is fine until they get to the part where he is making out with a girl while filming it. ACK! I didn't remember this part of the video! "BOYS! Cover your eyes!" All while I'm trying to find the stop button. All the boys immediately grabbed couch cushions and pillows and buried their heads into them. But it was too late. They saw it.

So after I finally got the video stopped I said, "Do you understand what this song is about?"

Buglet #2 says, "He's sad."

"Well, yes, that's right. But really this song is about revenge on a girl that hurt his feelings. He was getting revenge by kissing another girl."

I think to myself, "Am I really trying to explain this?"

Then Buglet #1 pipes up and says, "Whew. I thought this video was all about them DOING IT."

I say, "Oh yeah? What's DOING IT?"

"I don't want to say. You will get mad and tell Dad. And then he'll spank me."

"Dad won't get mad. And you won't get spanked."

"OK. Well, it's something Moms and Dads do."

"Hmm. That's right. OK, let's eat dinner."

It was definitely time.

Stay tuned for Part Three.

Birds and the Bees, Skies and Trees

2007-10-03T09:04:00.000-06:00

There comes a time in each parents life when the kids start wondering where babies come from. In my case we just told all our kids that they were a blessing from God. Not entirely a lie, but not really the truth either.

We knew that once they started school it was game on as far as curse words and lessons on life that perhaps we weren't ready for them to know. We had a little deal with them starting in about first grade. We didn't want them using any words if they didn't know what they meant. Offering them immunity from any prosecution, we all agreed that they could come to us with any word they didn't know the meaning of. We would explain the word to them, and then tell them whether or not they could use it. Early on we got the B word, the F word, the S word and variations of "Oh my God" and "What the hell." After explaining these things and their inappropriateness, we haven't heard much on the unknown word front. Until last week.

I began to wonder if it wasn't time to have "the talk" with the older boys when I heard a new word. The kids were outside riding their bikes. I was being the "Lifeguard on the Street" that day. As Buglet #1 went flying by on his bike, he screamed at the neighbor kid, "Hey, wait up hooker!" I, of course, thought he said something else. All I heard was the "er" part. In my shock and dismay I said,

"WHAT did you just say?"
"Sorry Mom."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
"Hooker."

So I let out a bit of a sigh of relief, because it wasn't the word I actually thought I heard (starts with an F ends with an ER). But I still must look stern. Because calling someone a hooker isn't exactly something I want him doing either.

Then I say,

"Do you even know what a hooker is?"
"No, Mom."
"Well, it's not nice. Don't ever call someone that again."
"OK Mom. What is a hooker?"

Jeez, I stepped in that one, didn't I?

"Something you don't need to know about yet. Suffice to say it's not a nice thing to call someone and I don't ever want to hear it again. Do you understand??"
"Yes, Mom."

Stay tuned for Part Two of Birds and Bees

You Get What You Pay For. Evidently.

2007-09-27T19:01:00.000-06:00

The scene: Buglet #3 and I. Alone. In the Mother Ship.

The Buglet and I were discussing a girl in his class and her highly unusual name (for a girl). I said, "That _____, she's kind of cute, eh? She's got really long, blonde hair. Is she nice?"

Buglet #3 responds, "Yeah, but she's not my girl friend."

"That's OK," I say. "You are too young to have a girlfriend anyway."

"Yeah, I'm not old enough to buy a girl yet."

"That's right, son."

My future daughter-in-law better appreciate this.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

2007-09-18T16:53:00.000-06:00

I've been thoroughly enjoying my time alone at home. I thought that I'd be bored here and flit around town a lot going from store to store. But so far I am content leisurely doing my housework and watching things I've DVR'd from the night before.

Once the kids get home from school it is a marathon to complete homework, dinner and bedtime rituals before 8:00 p.m. Then Ruggless comes home and I feed him. Usually by 9 p.m. I'm exhausted and watching TV seems secondary to the pillow calling my name from the bedroom.

This switch-up in routines has created something very strange for me.

I'm waking up early. Really early. Like 5:30 a.m. early.

I'm am a dyed-in-the-wool night owl. This new schedule is disconcerting. For example, on Saturday morning, I was awake and dressed before 6:30 a.m. After 1, that's right, 1 cup of coffee I was in the Mother Ship with Ruggless and our two dogs heading out to the desert. There I commenced to walk about 3 miles.

Sunday morning I slept in a little later. 7 a.m. Then we loaded up the kids and the dogs and walked around the desert for another 4 or 5 miles.

Crazy, eh?

And I'm still waiting for that ".....healthy (I guess I pretty much am), wealthy (not) and wise (not really that either). I've heard these are symptoms of going to bed early.

somewhere between the mouth and stomach it all goes awry

2007-09-13T08:07:00.000-06:00

I know that if I eat ___________________ I will get sick. Fill in the blank in the comments.

Off The Sauce

2007-09-12T10:08:00.000-06:00

I'm addicted.

I'm addicted to Mountain Dew.

There I've said it. That's the first step to recovery, right?

Except that I've been down this road before. I've tried to give it up. Inevitably, one of those extra long straws sucks me right back in.

Sunday evening found me at the store hunting down ingredients for dinner. While I usually do pretty good at the whole "meal planning" thing, I did not want to eat what I had planned. It was Lentil-Orzo stew. On a 100 degree day. Blech.

Whether it was my brain trying to tell me something, or not, I forgot to buy more soda.

As I tried to justify to myself that I would live without Mountain Dew for a day or so, I looked down at my gut. I said to my husband, while pushing out my stomach, "Look, I have a bun in the oven. A sticky bun. "

The platitudes have continued all week. "We really should stop drinking soda. It's bad for our teeth." "Our kids shouldn't see us drinking soda. It's a bad example." All in a grand effort to make myself feel better.

Monday was my first day sans soda. It wasn't so bad. "I can do this!" I say to myself. Tuesday the "Can Do" attitude was harder to find. Even after 3 or 4 HUGE glasses of water and 4 Advil (not all at once, silly!)

Last night when Ruggless got home from work he looked in the pantry. All that awaited him there was an empty Mountain Dew case.
"Mean! You are just MEAN!"
I say, "Don't look at me! I haven't had one since Sunday! I didn't leave the empty in there!"
"You got any cash?"
"No."

What do we do? We send the kids to bed and then get out the "Tip Jar." What's a tip jar you ask? I confiscate any money left in pockets while I do laundry. I consider it payment for sorting, stain sticking and folding.

After picking out $2.00 in quarters, nickels and dimes, Ruggless headed off to the convenience store. It was 9 p.m. But the dealer was still open.

Another day, another fix. No tellin' what we'll do tonight.

Happy Birthday, Kelly

2007-09-11T09:13:00.000-06:00

Go visit Kelly and wish her a Happy _____ Birthday!!!! (Actual Age withheld. Please read the disclosure documents that came with this blog concerning the Privacy Act, HIPPA, and Murder Justification)

It's a Black, Black World

2007-09-07T17:04:00.000-06:00

I have an obsession with black.

My son asked me this morning why I want everything in the house to be black? I responded that black goes with everything. To which he served back, "Not everything." Because I've told him time and time again he can't wear black and navy blue together.

It really all started with Ballard Designs. I love everything in their catalog. If I were a millionaire I would decorate my house exclusively with their merchandise. I'm not a millionaire so I must be creative and try to make what I have LOOK like it came from their catalog.

Mostly this involves spray paint. Black spray paint. I have painted a chandelier, a lone bar stool, a book shelf and, my latest project, many picture frames. All black.

Today whilst I was painting away on some picture frames I thought, "Spray painting sure is a lot easier than painting with a brush. Especially these strange shaped objects. I wonder if I could spray paint my kitchen table and chairs?"

Because of my bout with a cold this week, it came to my mind that the State keeps track of people that buy cold medicine with ephedrine in it. When I buy spray paint at the store, they have to ask me if I'm 18. Which never fails to get a giggle from me. What if they keep track of spray paint purchases? Could I be buying too much spray paint? Will this get me on some sort of list? Will I be a prime suspect in a tagging incident? I have tagger's finger to further build a case against me.

I have since come to the conclusion that I probably don't want to paint my kitchen table with spray paint. It can't be healthy. But I have many more projects that will be made much easier with the black spray paint. Things I don't eat off of. Until I get busted, I will keep buying high gloss black spray paint.

Just one of the many things made better with black spray paint

Was That Vacation Paid?

2007-09-04T08:54:00.000-06:00

I went on a bit of an unplanned Blog Vacation!

I know none of you seasoned bloggers ever take a break in posting. I consider myself an amateur at this blogging business, and I needed a little time off.

First of all, I'm planning this contest. I know, I know, I keep saying that. I'll let you in on a little secret. I need a name for my humble cottage. But before I show you pictures so you know what you'll be coming up with a name for, I'd really like to have it painted. And it's been so unbelievably hot here that I do not want to go outside and paint. I want to sit on top of the air conditioner vent and fan myself all day. Not only do I have to paint, but there's the whole Prize Package to put together. What I have in mind requires a little sewing from me. And I still haven't figured out how to plug the sewing machine in and sit on the air conditioner vent at the same time.

Secondly, I've been doing a little corporate reorganizing. Looky here,

Third, my children brought me home the nicest of presents from their first week of school. A little upper respiratory infection. So I've been convalescing on the couch all weekend.

My Favorite Website

2007-08-29T20:20:00.000-06:00

I really enjoy this website. Back when I had a desk job I used to have this up in the background and watch it all day.

Old Faithful Webcam

My only birthday wish is that someone would go stand with a sign wishing me a Happy Birthday (in October)so that I can see it on the webcam.

Time, Sweet Time

2007-08-27T07:10:00.000-06:00

On any given day, Monday through Friday, I can expect to work 10 3/4 to 12 hours. That right there burns up about half of a 24 hour day. I would like to sleep about 7 hours. That leaves 5 hours. It takes me about an hour to get ready for work. The drive to work is about 20 minutes. Somehow it only takes me 15 minutes to get home. Must be the tailwind. So that leaves me 3 hours and 5 minutes to try to cram whatever in.

Any yardwork or outside jobs are usually put off until the weekend. Which brings me to my point. My yard isn't the worst on the block, but it certainly isn't perfect. Perhaps someday, after I am retired, I can do to my yard what I observed during my deliveries this week.

Customer number one, receiving a small Amazon.com box, was outside ridding the shrubbery in front of his house of spider-webs with a Shop-Vac. My first thought was, "Wow. He has got some time on his hands." His yard looked perfect, by the way.

Customer number two, receiving a small box of fancy coffee, was meticulously sweeping up grass clippings with a hand broom and dust pan. To which my first thought was, "Man, he's got some time on his hands!" His yard looked immaculate.

Maybe after another 25 years of workin' I can find time to vacuum my bushes and sweep the lawn.

Here Kitty Kitty

2007-08-26T21:42:00.001-06:00

Our family took a little jaunt to the ~~boondocks~~ ~~sticks~~ ~~backwoods~~ ~~outback~~ parents house this morning.

As Ruggless, my Dad, and I were driving down off the mountain, we saw one of these:

Bobcat

That may seem like small potatoes to some, but in all my years I've never seen a big cat like that except for in the zoo. It was about 50 feet in front of us crossing the road.

All I could utter was, "Dad.Camera." Because my Dad has an awesome camera with a telephoto lens. He was quickly putting it together, but the cat was heading back up into the hills. We pulled the car over and my dad went chasing after the putty tat. That's right, he went LOOKING for a predatory cat. Needless to say, the kitty was scared of us, and once this guy with a big camera started chasing him he put it into high gear and ran away. So you'll have to do with the stock photo I found on the internet and 3 people's word for it.

Full Circle

2007-08-23T09:47:00.000-06:00

An interesting thing happens when you move back into the house you grew up in. You find yourself repeating momentous events that you went through as a kid. Only this time you are the parent.

My kids go to the same elementary school I did. So far, none of the teachers that teach there were there when I was. Except for two of the kindergarten teachers. They have 4 kindergarten teachers there now. So there's a 1 in 4 chance, or 25%, that my kid will get the same teacher as I had. Not real good odds, I'd say.

Tuesday night my old kindergarten teacher called our house to tell me that she would be Buglet #3's teacher. I chuckled to myself and told Ruggless. He said, "Well, are you going to say anything to her?" I'm like, "Heck no! It's bad enough that Buglet has two older brothers that may or may not have given the ***** name a bad reputation. He doesn't need my kindergarten exploits hanging over his head. Besides, she would never recognize me after ___ years."

The building where the kindergartners reside is locked down. No one gets in without knowing the 3 secret passwords. In correct order. Yesterday, when we arrived for Orientation, we had to do the secret knock on the secret back door. When the teacher opened the door she said, "Who is it?" We announced ourselves with Buglet's name. She says, "I've been expecting you!" Then she turns to me and says, "Are you --------?" With my maiden name. Well, knock me over with a feather and call me Harriet! She remembered who I was. I felt compelled to apologize for any wrongdoings I had done or any temper tantrums I might have thrown. And please don't hold it against my child! She laughed and said she just remembered me being very blond and shy. And I always wore frilly dresses. So either she's lying, or she doesn't remember as well as she lets on.

This morning I lingered watching Buglet play on the playground. He seemed to seek out other kids with red apples pinned to their shirts. As if he knew that they were safe and going through the same thing he was. Then when the bell rang we rushed to the same classroom door that my Mom dropped me off at.

Colorado Blog Partay 2007

2007-08-21T07:22:00.000-06:00

It was my first ever Meet-N-Greet with people that I had only known through the blogging world.

I've got to say, I was a little nervous. You know I love lists, so here's my list of fears as to what the other bloggers might say:

Wow, you've really got a face for ~~radio~~ blogging.
Did you Photoshop your profile pic? Because it looks nothing like you.
You're much thinner on your blog.
You're not that funny in real life either.
What were your parents drinking when they named you?

Much to my delight, none of my fears were realized. Or at least no one said them out loud.

In no particular order,Carrot Jello, Elasticwaistbandlady, SoDak Angel, Tori, Suzanne, Millie, and No Cool Story all managed to get here for the barbecue on Saturday afternoon. And there were some others there also such as, Big Rich, Annie, Carronin, and Ruggless all of which I'm related to.

We bonded over onions; sliced,battered and drenched in a bucket of boiling oil; Apples to Apples and a Jim Gaffigan DVD. All in all it was a marvelous time. I'm glad to have met you gals and look forward to the next one.

Oh The Places I'll Go!

2007-08-20T11:48:00.000-06:00

excerpt from "Oh The Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.  And you know what you know.
And YOU  are the guy who'll decide where to go.

This bit of poetry has two meanings for me. On the one hand, I will be delivering my baby into the hands of the public school system this week. He's so ready for school to start. He's a big boy now. It's time for him to be a bit more independent from his Mom. Today we walked the big boys to school and then Buglet #3 and I headed over to the Kindergarten rooms for assessments. Starting Thursday he will be in school 4 days a week, all day.

It was a little hard for me to let some strange woman take him off into a classroom while I went to another classroom to fill out even more paperwork. I think the papers were just an excuse to get us to pry our death grips off our children. It's just a theory. I'm sure there will be even more tears shed (mine, not his) on Thursday when I actually LEAVE him with those women and come home alone.

However, there's another hand to that little poem. It's all about how my life is changing. For the first time in 10 years it will just be me at home during the day. What am I going to do with myself? People have been asking me that question all summer long.

I think some might find it odd that I actually like to be alone sometimes (make that most times). There's things I've just been waiting to do. So I've compiled a little list:

First things first. You may have heard that there's a new ~~sheriff~~ dog in town. Benny is a BIG puppy. He has boundless energy. That energy needs to be run off. And since I was the one that reversed the "take the dog back" order I figure it is my duty to make sure he is good and tired every day. Besides, I could stand to lose a pound or 30.

Along the lines of losing weight and becoming a healthier person, I have decided to take the list of Super Foods seriously. There are several lists that claim to be the essential foods you should eat every day. I've looked at many of them, deleted duplicates and come up with my own list of foods that I am going to try to eat on a daily and/or weekly basis. Then, if I want to scarf down a cheeseburger on Saturday night, I won't feel quite as guilty about it.

Going to the grocery store alone will be another simple thing enjoyed by me. I don't know if you've ever taken 3 kids and a husband to the store, but somehow your cart gets filled with all these things that were not on the list. I also seem to have to run back for things I forgot that were actually ON the list.

McDonald's playland will not be on my lineup of places to stop.

After Benny and I run our butts off I just might come back home and read my book all day long.

What will it be like to clean the house without the whirling dervishes behind me messing up everything I just cleaned? Even if it only stays that way for 3 or 4 hours.

Do you hear the craft store calling my name? I don't have to worry that little hands will break something and I won't hear, "This is booooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring."

The word "MOM!" won't be the most overused word in our house.

Paint, sew, paint, sew, paint, sew.

And last but not least.......... No one will notice if I sit at the computer all the live long day and visit blogs.

Trail of Tears

2007-08-17T14:15:00.000-06:00

I've seen this sight several mornings this week. It's uncomfortable, let me tell you. My favorite? Lifting up the pan from the night before in order to wash it. And seeing a million little ants underneath it!

Earlier this week there was a mass murder here and I sucked up as many little ants as I could see with the vacuum. Then I went out to the garage for CHEMICALS. I was at my wits end, people.

As a result of my scientific observations, I could see that many of the ants were coming in under the sliding glass door. So I sprayed all in the cracks there. And some seem to have made their way to the sill in the kitchen window. A shot of spray there and all was well. For a day. Then I see they have started coming from the other side of the sill.

They are on to my pesticide wielding ways. There's a "Road Closed-- Use Detour" sign under the sill. I'm sure of it.

2007-08-16T16:39:00.000-06:00

2 days--The length of time it's been since I've blogged.

30 days--The length of time it's been since I've blogged anything even remotely interesting.

4 days--The length of time until Buglet #1 and #2 go to school.

7 days-- The length of time until Buglet #3 goes to school.

Today we fought and screamed and kicked through the school supply aisle. Tomorrow I will can some peaches. Saturday there's going to be a Blogger Convention at Annie's house.

Hopefully by Monday I will have a little free time. I'm sure y'all are wondering where that contest is. In fact, Kelly even asked me about it.

I'm working on it! I promise! But for now I must go super-clean the house. My Grandma is coming over in the morning to make sure I know what I'm doing in the canning department. I don't want her to think I'm a slob or anything (wink).

The Munchies

2007-08-14T08:47:00.000-06:00

Ruggless and I did something we haven't done in a long time. We pawned off all the kids on unsuspecting Auntie's on Saturday afternoon and we went to a movie. We saw The Bourne Ultimatum. I've been in love with Jason Bourne (not Matt Damon. Jason Bourne) from the beginning, but this latest movie ............. Meow. That's all I can say. Is it strange to have a crush on an assassin? Did I ever mention that my hubby looks like Matt Damon? It's true.

Kelly thinks it's hilarious, but I have an extreme obsession with eating noises. It drives me crazy like no other. I could listen to nails on a chalkboard before I would want to hear someone munching on their food with their mouths open. Being the old farts that we are, Rugg and I showed up 40 minutes early for the movie. So I had to sit there and listen to popcorn munchers until I thought I was going to beat my head. But after the movie started it was ok. The sound of the movie was loud enough to drown them all out. Except for the older gentleman that was coughing like he had tuberculosis or whooping cough in the row in front of us. Scary!

It was all worth it though to spend a little alone time with my BFF.

2007-08-10T12:15:00.000-06:00

Our friend has been trying to give us this dog since May.

We kept saying "No."

After our dog, Emma, died last fall we weren't sure we wanted any more dogs. We still have Bo of course, but had pretty much decided that we wouldn't acquire any new ones.

But who can resist a face like that?

When The Queen Speaks.

2007-08-09T08:11:00.000-06:00

I'm the only girl in this house. I make sure they eat, sleep, brush their teeth, have clean clothes and show them how to record cartoons on the DVR.

I also let them take over "the office" and make it their personal play room. Not intentionally, of course. It was more of a calculated invasion. It started with a little TV watching. Next thing you know it was an elaborate paper airplane making factory and K'Nex engineering laboratory.

When we moved here, I intended for this to be a room that everyone could use. I envisioned myself sitting at my desk while a boy read a book. Or a spot for homework. There's another computer in there (They don't like to use it because it has no sound. It makes watching YouTube videos less desirable, which was the whole point. 9-year olds with unlimited access to YouTube is a scary thing.) . There's a three-drawer plastic thing with crayons, scissors and paper in it. I never intended for it to be a permanent disaster area with no room for me to walk in--let alone sit down at my desk.

Yesterday I declared a Disaster Relief Operation. The veins in my forehead, neck and arms were popping out by the time we were done, but those boys picked up every scrap of paper. All the K'Nex were banished to the garage. I vacuumed. Then I shut the door and taped up the sign.

I figure it will last a day. Possibly two.

I Knew It!

2007-08-07T11:35:00.000-06:00

I'm a little freaked out, because I was not expecting to get this answer. But anyone who has talked to me more than once or twice knows that I'm obsessed with Italy. I want to live there. I want to visit there. I want to shop in the piazza there.

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city soul with a small town heart
Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome
Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand
And gorgeous Italian people - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

Pretty Much A Perfect Weekend

2007-08-06T08:44:00.000-06:00

Friday night found us at the local Soda Fountain (OK, It was Sonic) eating some ice cream. All efforts to get the children to go to bed earlier was thrown out the window.

Saturday morning I didn't wake up until 8:40 a.m. Can you believe it? Such a lazy girl. And I wasn't the last one up either. Ruggless, the resident morning person, tip-toed around and didn't wake any of us up. We did a couple of errands, watched a movie and grilled some hamburgers. Then Saturday evening we went to spend some time with Ruggless' parents.

Sunday morning as we were all sitting around in our PJ's making French Toast, the door bell rang. Who could it be? Well, a friend was standing there with his bed asking if we had a spot for him to sleep. So we invited him in and we will probably be adopting him into our already massive family. Will introduce you soon.

Then we cleared out a space in the garage so that we could put the errant refrigerator out there, instead of in a stare down with the one that works consistently. Now she sits right next to the deep freeze. Perhaps they can egg each other on.

I love lazy weekends. What did you do this weekend?

Refrigerator vs. Refrigerator

2007-08-03T13:44:00.001-06:00

The old refrigerator was getting just cold enough in the freezer compartment to keep our perishables cold until it's replacement showed up.

Last night around 10:30 pm the stand-in made an appearance. We pushed it into the kitchen, plugged it in and said, "Whew. Let's go to bed." Leaving the old one plugged in, and the stuff still in the freezer compartment.

We woke up this morning to two cold refrigerators and a bunch of frozen stuff. I'll be darned if that Whirlpool decided that it was not going to be bested by a Frigidaire.

Boo Hoo Waaaaaa. Pity Party Part 2

2007-08-01T15:29:00.000-06:00

Now that I've had a nap. I'm a little embarrassed about my pity party one post back. Blame it on sleep deprivation. Things always look worse when you are tired.

Here's the good news:

Buglet #2 could've knocked out his tooth or teeth completely. Thank God he didn't. The dental practice that we go to has a dentist who specializes in reconstruction. The filling looks so real you would never know that anything happened.

We have insurance. We went without insurance for a couple of years and that is a scary, scary thing. I'm just glad that they didn't get hurt back then. Thanks to our insurance, an $1800 dental bill is going to cost us about $150 bucks.

We got the tires fixed on the Mother Ship this weekend. No more worries of tires blowing.

The refrigerator that broke down was free. We found one to borrow. I can stop panicking. This will give us time to shop and find the refrigerator we really want. I hate buying stuff when it's an emergency. You usually grab the first thing you see. I'm more of a planner.

Look at it this way, I got the chance to really clean out the refrigerator and throw out all those moldy leftovers.

I guess I'm glad we got this all out of the way before school started. Hopefully my next big frustration will be elbowing my way through the school supply aisle.

Oh, the Drama

2007-08-01T12:59:00.000-06:00

Do you ever feel like you have a "kick me" sign on your back?

Last week we found out Buglet #3 had a cracked tooth. This being the reason for his tooth pain. We scheduled a dentist appointment to have it extracted. Saturday, Buglet #2 was doing bike stunts on the neighbor's ramp and hit his front tooth on the handle bars of his bike. Chipping off over 1/2 of his tooth.

Monday I spent all the live long day at the dentist. Seriously. Early a.m. was reserved for Buglet #3 and they took impressions of Buglet #2's mouth. Then they sent us home just long enough to eat lunch and we went back to get a composite filling on Buglet #3's tooth. We left the dentist around 4:30 p.m. When I got to my Grandma's to pick up Buglet #1, he had a migraine and had thrown up.

Yesterday, I noticed that our ice cubes were melting in the freezer. Instead of the other way around. I thought maybe I had just packed too much stuff in front of the vent or something. But by afternoon the refrigerator wasn't cold either. I got all the stuff from the freezer out to our deep freeze and most everything that was worth saving from the fridge is now in coolers.

Since I'm on a quest to pay off credit cards, not run them up, I do not want to go buy a brand new refrigerator yet. I went to the local Goodwill and our Habitat for Humanity in search of a used one that might tide us over until I can pay cash for the one I really want. No such luck.

My hubby found us one to use temporarily until we figure out something. But I'm about to start bawling. I didn't sleep well last night. All I could think about was, "Where am I going to get a cheap refrigerator?" So, I think I will eat this rice pudding that is melting and then go take a nap. Maybe the Refrigerator Fairy will stop by this afternoon :-)

2007-07-27T10:58:00.000-06:00

School starts in 3 weeks. Give or take a week.

There are so many things to accomplish in these few weeks. All of my children will be in school.

The doctor is out of the way. Next week it's the dentist.

Buglet #3 picked out his backpack and lunch box today. There will be shoes to buy. School supplies to find and the jumbo size Kleenex pack to buy at Sam's Club.

Bedtime retraining will begin next Wednesday.

What I'm trying to say is that my brain is a bit cluttered and my days are getting kind of busy. I expect that blogging may be far down on the list of things to do. Plus, with all this school planning I'm having a bit of trouble thinking of things that might be interesting.

But never fear! I have some things in the works. I have a contest planned. There's an extra special "Back-to-School" post that I've been working on. There'll be new pictures and new projects. Guaranteed. So don't abandon me!

Blogging Cop-Out

2007-07-25T18:19:00.000-06:00

I've really taken my "must clean house and finish projects" rant to heart. I'm neck deep in sewing some pillows. I'll leave you with this little joke my Grandpa sent me yesterday. Don't worry, it's clean.

Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the
computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of
hearing all the bickering.

Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set
up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge
who does the better job."

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.

They moused.

They faxed.

They e-mailed.

They e-mailed with attachments.

They downloaded.

They did spreadsheets!

They wrote reports.

They created labels and cards.

They created charts and graphs.

They did some genealogy reports.

They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.

Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off.

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming:

"It's gone! It's all GONE! "I lost everything when the power went out!"

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.

Satan observed this and became irate.

"Wait!" he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"

God just shrugged and said,

JESUS SAVES

MIA

2007-07-25T16:57:00.000-06:00

Wondering where in the world I've been, have ya?

Well, while the rest of you had your noses in the latest Harry Potter book, I was becoming a 13 Millionaire on an evil little game called Chocolatier. This is the LAST time I let my sister-in-law, Annie, recommend a game to me. Because I get addicted. And then I sit with my computer on my lap for 3 days straight and annoy the crap out of my husband. He kept saying, "Cash it in, baby!" And I'd say, "But I can't! I have to make all these chocolates and finish all the quests. See?! I still have 4 recipes to acquire!" And then he'd roll his eyes and turn back to Le Tour de France. Because that's what HE does for 28 days every July for the last 10 years. Annoys the crap out of me with bicycle racing. At least I got mine over with in 3 days.

We also had some excitement. We were on the Interstate, headed to Big Rich's birthday party, when our van started making this Thwacking noise. I point out to Ruggless, "Something's bad. Something's bad!" You know, because he's a professional driver and all, he definitely couldn't tell something was bad. Anyway, turns out our tire was coming apart. So we had to drive 4 miles on the shoulder of the interstate with our safety flashers going. Turn around at the next exit. And drive another 5 miles on the shoulder at 20 miles per hour. I swear that was the longest 5 miles of my life. We made it home. You want to see the tire?

After that incredible weekend, I had to clean my hovel and rest my right hand. That Chocolatier gave me carpal tunnel!

Bob the Cactus Blooms!

2007-07-21T17:34:00.000-06:00

In an event that comes around much like Hailey's Comet or the Aurora Borealis we have a cactus that doesn't bloom every year. The only thing that will make it better is if we get a ring of blooms around the top.

Factual Friday

2007-07-20T13:15:00.000-06:00

According to the June 2007 edition of Martha Stewart Living, nearly 40 percent of US residents say their garage is the messiest room in their house (poll administered by Harris Interactive). 10 percent say there's no room to park their car inside of it.

I will admit, there's no room for a car in my garage. How about you? If you have a garage, can you park in it? The really brave will send me a picture at rugsbug at gmail dot com. I will post them all weekend long.

Here is the picture sent by Nanette:

What I Ended Up Doing

2007-07-19T07:20:00.000-06:00

The conversation seemed to steer toward the number of shoes. They each have a pair of tennis shoes, a pair of flip flops, and a pair of church shoes. But when you multiply that by three--that's nine pairs of shoes that have the potential to be all over the floor.

Since I wanted the solution yesterday, didn't want to go to the store, and pay day isn't until tomorrow.... I decided to look around in my fabric bucket. It's the size of one of those plastic containers you store a Christmas tree in, so I was sure to find SOMETHING. I ended up making those bags. Now they can take it off the hook, drag it around the house and put all their shoes in it. And when it's dirty, I can wash it.

I stenciled all their names on the front with a fabric marker.

Readers---Weigh In

2007-07-18T13:17:00.000-06:00

My boys and I made a pact today.

I would help them organize their room. But they had to keep it that way.

For 9 years now, every once in a while I get all irritated and go in and rearrange their room and put things away. Well, it never stays that way. It doesn't matter how many cute containers or buckets I give them. They never put it back the way I did it. I figure if they have a hand in the organizing, maybe it will be easier.

But there's one thing that is stumping me right now. Shoes. Does anyone have a creative way of storing shoes? Right now they have a gigantic bucket. And when it comes time to find their church shoes, or a lost tennis shoe, the rest get dumped out. And I'm sick of it.

The perfect solution would be something that I might already have. Because I can only do one or two home improvement projects a week. And right now, the laundry room door and the kitchen chandelier have precedence.

I thought about making a holder with lots of pockets. But then I abandoned that idea. Too time consuming. Besides, I already have a half done area rug and an outline of a shower curtain. Any suggestions?

Happy Birthday Big Rich!

2007-07-17T10:11:00.000-06:00

We are going to forgo the Ten on Tuesday this week because ---today is Big Rich's birthday!
He's the best Father-in-law a girl could have.

He:

babysits kids so parents can go on dates
takes grandkids for fun adventures
grills a mean hamburger
nails shingles like a pro
raised a pretty awesome son
fixes dryers
knows a lot of cool stuff
and so much more!

Click on the link above and wish him a Happy Birthday!

Before and After

2007-07-17T08:43:00.001-06:00

Just a warning, there's going to be about 3 blog posts today!! But I thought I would start with my little project from yesterday.

Quityerbellyachin'

2007-07-16T14:08:00.000-06:00

Don't you just hate it when you're irritated at someone? And that someone is yourself?

I realized yesterday that I'm being a brat. Oh yes. Me.

I haven't really been trying very hard at keeping my house clean or tackling the projects that I want to get done. I told myself the reason was that I was tired, it was too hot, whatever. I had an excuse nearly every day for two weeks.

Yesterday, while I was feeling mad and looking for someone to blame it on, it occurred to me what my problem was.

I wasn't doing any work because no one cared. If I didn't make my bed, no one was going to chastise me. If I didn't get the bathroom cleaned up, no one would say a word. If I didn't do laundry. Oh well. In fact, the kids would probably be happy because then they wouldn't have any chores to do.

Well, guess what? I care. I don't like living in a messy house. And the projects that need to get done, really, are for me. So today I got out of bed, set my melancholy on the dresser and decided to get some work done.

Stay tuned for a project that really needed to get done that I finished today.

Our Song

2007-07-13T12:48:00.000-06:00

Because b. asked. This is "our song."

When I hear the mandolin in this song I get the biggest goose bumps ever.

I saw this song performed in concert. Live. I'm pretty sure I cried.

This is how my cell-phone rings when Ruggless calls me.

Can you just see us dancing to this at our 25th wedding anniversary? (har har snort snort!)

Thoughtful Thursday

2007-07-12T12:13:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since we've had a Thoughtful Thursday around here. I think it's high time, don't you?

First of all Jenn over at The Wilson Six has started a bloggy thing where you do a Random Act of Kindness and then post about it. The idea is superb and I hope everyone will join in.

When I was on Jenn's blog she linked to two other bloggers I had never heard about. I was very impressed with their blogs.

Kristi over at Everything Pink talks about the power of a blog comment. This post is amazing. I implore you to go read it. We don't know how our reactions can enrich our lives. Instead of walking around mad at the world, perhaps we should be doing more to make it a better place to be.

Then there is Jill over at creativity, musing & such who started all of this niceness. She talks about commenting and what sort of non-verbal signals you are sending people when you don't comment as well as what you say when you do comment. Again, it's a great post. It has made me realize that me not commenting on someone's post is like not saying "Thank You" to someone who has invited me into their home.

I have had a few instances where I commented on a blog and the comment was moderated by the author and it never appeared. It made me feel like the nerdy kid that wasn't invited into the popular clique. And I never went back to those blogs. I so appreciate the people that visit the blogs of people that comment on theirs! That is how we made this whole community of bloggers. If you don't want strangers commenting on your blog, then make it private.

So please go visit these blogs--be sure to comment. I know I will be doing a better job of saying hi. Even if I have nothing to add to the conversation.

Here,Here for Blog kindness.

What's This?! Wednesday

2007-07-11T18:47:00.000-06:00

Guess what this is.

10 Favorite Things

2007-07-10T14:25:00.000-06:00

Click here to participate in Ten on Tuesdays.

This week's topic is Your 10 Favorite Things. What I have put together is a collection of things. Others may show pics of family, etc. To me it goes without saying that my family is my favorite thing ever. But I took a more literal stance and went with the things that make me happy in my house. In no particular order:

This is the front of my refrigerator. We have all these magnets with letters up there. It's fun to see what various members of our family spell out. As you can see by the "butt" the boys have been busy practicing their naughty words.

My Great Grandma's China Closet. It reminds me of her.

This little vase is in my bathroom. I love it because it is so cute and it's GREEN! I have fun looking for little flowers to put in there.

These are old jelly jars. I have no idea when they were made, but the lids on them said "Peach Jam 1976". I currently use a few of them to hold my little office necessities such as staples, paper clips and push pins.

This is a poem that Ruggless wrote for me on Valentine's Day. It makes me swoon.

This CD has "our song" on it.

I love magazines. I get a lot recipes and decorating ideas from them.

This picture sits above my desk. It's a painting of an alleyway in Italy.

I found this at the thrift store. It says Made in Italy on the bottom and no one knew what it was, except me. The lady in the thrift said, "This is interesting!" Ruggless said, "Do you use it to burn incense?" It's an olive tray.

This is my desk. This is where I hide from the world.

It can only go up from here

2007-07-10T08:27:00.000-06:00

I have a feeling about today. You see when a day starts out as crappy as today did---really it can only get better.

About 4:30 this morning I woke up in a panic. I was absolutely positive that I had miscalculated how much money was in our checking account and that I would bounce a check any minute. Oh, and we're out of cat food. The cats are kind of like kids. There will be no rest until there is food. If we are out of money how am I going to buy food?!?!?!

I managed to calm myself down by telling myself there was absolutely nothing I could do about it at that moment. And of course, as soon as Ruggless walked out the door this morning I was online looking at our balance. I have made a living keeping track of bank account balances. I should trust myself more. I will be on my way to the store to get cat food soon.

I am not a morning person. Seriously. I would do best working the Third Watch. 3 to 11 p.m. I'm embarrassed about once a week by the neighbor lady, who's a morning person, knocking on my door at 9 a.m. and I'm still in my pj's. She probably thinks I'm always in my pj's. Anyway, Ruggless is a morning person and he loves me, so he gets up and makes coffee for me most mornings. That way I just have to stumble to the table and sit down until the caffeine hits my soul.

This morning after I had taken one sip of coffee. My eyes were still shut. Ruggless opens the door from the garage and says, "I know it's still kind of early for you.........but we have a huge problem. There's a puddle of water all around the deep freeze."

Long story short, we found a different extension cord and tried a different plug-in. The freezer is working again. Fuse box seems to be fine. So now we're blaming the kids. At some point today I will have to go out there and try to unravel the mystery. But it's only 8:40 and I'm still on my first cup of coffee. My Nancy Drew impression will have to wait.

Rug's Bug is Online

2007-07-09T12:49:00.000-06:00

So far only one of you has been brave enough to click on the chat box over there to the right. Well, make that two. Kelly doesn't count, because I told her to test it out.

I know, I know. Sometimes the beauty of reading blog posts is because they are benign. If you like what you read, you add it to your bloglines and read it every day. Sometimes you may even comment. If you don't like it, you leave and never come back.

A chat. Ooo. A chat. Now that's hinting at a little more commitment.

I'm not pushing you into anything. I'm just pointing out the fact that it's there. Perhaps you want to say something about what you just read, but you don't want the world to see it. Maybe you want to tell me off because I've offended you somehow. Maybe you want to ask me why the heck my name is Rug's Bug. If I'm online, I'd be happy to explain.

In other news, you may have noticed the extra pictures over there on the left, under "What's Cooking?" No, I didn't go on a crazy cooking spree this weekend. I invited Kelly to join me on the recipe blog. That way there's twice the recipes, and I feel no pressure about screwing up a meal. Just kidding.

I think I can speak for Kelly in saying that if any of you has a special recipe that you are dying to share with the world, let us know. We'd love to feature your recipe.

The Answer

2007-07-09T08:37:00.001-06:00

Movie Scene Trivia

2007-07-07T07:07:00.000-06:00

Guest Post By Ruggless

The following picture is a re-creation from a movie scene. Can you guess which one?

Rug Vs. Rugg - The Legs Edition

2007-07-06T11:28:00.000-06:00

Ruggless Writes

2007-07-04T08:23:00.000-06:00

The above picture was taken December 27th, 2006. That is the back of my right calf, about 3 inches above my right ankle.

The picture was taken while I was in the Doctor's office with my cell-phone.

Among the Brown Brigade (UPS driver), dog bites are the 3rd or 4th most likely injury.

This dog bite changed me. It changed my chemistry somehow. Since then, dogs that have been deemed "the nicest dog in the neighborhood" growl at me, raise their hackles at me, and take defensive action toward me.

Do I send the vibe that I'm intimidated? Do the dogs smell the 4 cats that live in my house?

I've always thought of myself as a "dog person" but am starting to think maybe I'm not.

Guest Post by Ruggless (Rug's Bug's hubby)

Ten on Tuesday

2007-07-03T16:29:00.001-06:00

OK. Since I'm having such a hard time coming up with any original content. I present you with a Meme.

10 Things To Do Before I Die

Go to Italy. Tuscany specifically.
See the Eiffel Tower and Paris.
Own a house free and clear.
Have a baby grand piano for my personal use.
Go on a honeymoon with my husband.
Read every book on my reading list (since I add to it every day, this might be impossible)
Stop drinking soda except for special occasions.
Host a Harvest Party.
Stop worrying so much and enjoy the ride.
Have a vacation house.

Good Thing I Got Some Good Mail.........

2007-07-03T13:24:00.001-06:00

because I was having some serious writers block. There's about 4 half-written, abandoned posts waiting for me to either get my act together or just delete them already. Perhaps, as CarrotJello suggests, I have heat stroke. I figured you were all sick to death of my whining and complaining about my children. And the post where I try to explain my strange music tastes---well it just sounded strange. Instead, let me tell you about the Good Mail I received today.

Jean Knee sent me some M&M's. Her passion is Polka-Dots and if you visit her blog you will find out more about her.

I just want to say that the second I felt the picture was decent, I cracked open that packet and savored each one of those tasty morsels as they slid down my throat. MMMMMM. I needed that chocolate.

Parental Guilt

2007-06-28T14:21:00.000-06:00

I want the best for my children. I work very hard to make sure they eat well, sleep well, brush their teeth, have clean clothes, it goes on and on.

So yesterday while at the Pediatrician's office for Buglet #3's kindergarten physical, she asked me some questions I wasn't prepared for. Do we have a fire escape plan? Have we discussed strangers touching private areas? Does Buglet know not to approach strange animals? Is he having three servings of dairy a day?

As I stammered through the answers, I started wondering if I could do better as a parent! I inwardly started panicking--well, I'm pretty sure with all the cheese we consume around here that the dairy probably isn't an issue. But, what if he isn't getting enough? Would he talk to a stranger if approached? Maybe we should discuss fires tonight before bed. Have I really done everything that a good parent should do?! Oh no! I'm a bad parent!

Then to top it off, Buglet #3 says to me last night, "Mom, how come you never play with us? You're always working!"

Mind you, I don't work outside of the home. However, I'm always trying to keep up with my blogging, dishes, laundry and hoping that if someone happens to stop by they won't secretly be saying, "Oh my! Can people really live in squalor such as this?"

I was a victim of parental guilt.

When I told Ruggless this, he said, "You know, in two months they will all be in school and by 9:00 a.m. you can clean house all you want. Why don't you have some fun this summer?"

Oh jeez. More guilt. Now I can't play with my children AND keep the house clean. What a loser I am.

In order to ease some of this guilt we did something today that we haven't done in a while. We went park hopping. This involves going to as many parks in the city as we can stand.

Did I mention that it's about 102 degrees outside?

So if you will excuse me, all the heat and the guilt is getting to me. I think I'm going to have the vapors on my couch in front of the TV for the rest of the afternoon. The squalor will have to wait.

Conceding the Fight. Winning the War.

2007-06-26T13:01:00.000-06:00

hopefully

I've decided to stop nagging my boys to clean their room.

They don't even listen to me anymore when I tell them to do it. Then I get that vein across my forehead. You know, the one that says, "If I have to tell you one more time, my head is going to explode." I don't like the vein. It makes my head hurt. Not to mention I'm afraid I'm going to get nodules on my vocal chords. Like a famous singer. Without the singing.

Yesterday I tried a new approach.

I told the kids that I would not nag them to clean their room anymore. In return, I ask that they do not leave all their various toys and things all over the house. After the grace period (yesterday) anything left out and about after 4 p.m. I would pick up and put in a bucket. The bucket will go out in the garage. If you want it back, you will have to do some serious groveling, come up with some cash, or clean the toilet.

I've tried various forms of this technique in the past. But follow through was rough for me. Now I actually have a large bucket, somewhere to store it, and the resolve to prevent a brain aneurysm this summer.

For the Guys and the Gals

2007-06-25T10:34:00.000-06:00

Why I Want a Wife
Judy Syfers

I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother.

Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is obviously looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?

I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and, if need be, support those dependent upon me. I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school I want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife to keep track of the children's doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too. I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I want a wife who will wash the children's clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who is a good nurturant attendant to my children, who arranges for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life with their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work, and not lose the job. It may mean a small cut in my wife's income from time to time, but I guess I can tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working.

I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene.

I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want a wife who will type my papers for me when I have written them.

I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life. When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the babysitting arrangements. When I meet people at school that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about the things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not bother us. I want a wife who takes care of the needs of my guests so that they feel comfortable, who makes sure that they have an ashtray, that they are passed the hors d' oeuvres, that they are offered a second helping of the food, that their wine glasses are replenished when necessary, that their coffee is served to them as they like it. And I want a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night out by myself.

I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it. I want a wife who assumes the complete responsibility for birth control, because I do not want more children. I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me so that I do not have to clutter up my intellectual life with jealousies. And I want a wife who understands my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy. I must, after all, be able to relate to people as fully as possible.

If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally I will expect a fresh, new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.

When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife's duties.

My God, who wouldn't want a wife??

Dead Dead Dead

2007-06-24T08:55:00.000-06:00

They backed me into a corner. I told them to leave. I warned them I was coming with ammunition. But they didn't listen. So I was forced to protect my land.

I sprayed the heck out of my zucchini plant last night. This morning I am happy to report that all I see is squash bugs on their backs in the dirt. I don't feel a bit of guilt. Because, really, they had to come straight from SATAN.

I'm also praising the fact that I only planted one zucchini. I've learned my lesson, thank.you.very.much. There's 2 ready to be picked the next day or so and about 4 more that will be ready within the week. As soon as I pluck the first one off the plant it's game on. It will be a race to see if I can shred, freeze and cook enough zucchini to keep up with production.

Brothers

2007-06-21T11:16:00.000-06:00

It's a well documented fact that twins have an extra special relationship. I know I've observed that relationship time and time again.

When they were little, my boys never fought. Never. They were best buddies. Always happy, always playing.

Now that they are nine, things have changed a bit. I'm not sure if they are trying to draw the line in the sand that they are two seperate people, or what. But the fighting has escalated to a new level. They actually punch and hit and pinch.

So imagine how happy I was to catch this the other day:

Sacre Bleu! Invaders!

2007-06-20T10:19:00.000-06:00

This morning started out just like most mornings. Ruggless got up way earlier than I. I got up just in time to kiss him goodbye and see him out the door. Then I poured myself a cuppa joe and sat down to read the news.

After the caffeine had pulsed through my whole body, I went outside to inspect the garden and give it a good drink.

As you may have well gathered, I can't wait to start picking produce off of those plants. Ask me at the end of the summer if I want to see another zucchini for the rest of my life and I'll probably say, "No way!" For now, I run out there and look at the miniature zucchini's and the tiny bell peppers and will them to get big enough to eat. You would think with all the nurturing of animals and kids I have to do around here, that I wouldn't need to nurture a bell pepper.

Imagine my horror when I discovered someone else had been inspecting my plants as well! Not just inspecting, but possibly harvesting before I had a chance!

NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

So I did what any good parent would do. I looked up recipes for homemade bug killer. I really don't want to resort to the pesticides, but I'll do it! Don't back me into a corner squash bugs. Turns out I can mix a little minced garlic and some mineral oil and take care of them. And even though I don't have mineral oil in the house, the drugstore is close. Another option would be to spray them with nicotine tea. This involves boiling cigarette butts in water.

I guess I could have the kids dig through the ashtray at the drugstore while I'm finding mineral oil.

Monday is for the Birds

2007-06-18T08:56:00.000-06:00

A hectic week is staring me in the face. First, I am trying to get our storage unit cleared out by the end of the month so I don't have to pay for it anymore. Between the gas I'm not burning and that storage unit I'll have some date money. I think the last movie I saw in the theater was ... Oh goodness..... It's been so long......... I think it was the 3rd Matrix movie. (slaps her forehead)

Secondly, I'm in charge of registration for our church's vacation bible school. Really, it's the easiest job there is. I don't have to help kids put together their cute little crafts or supervise snack time. And that's exactly the way I like it. The first 15 minutes of every night will be crazy getting everyone their name tags and to their seats. Eegads, I'm tired already. First night is always the worst because everyone has to fill out information cards. So I've been sitting in front of the TV this morning fast forwarding through three episodes of Rachael Ray and trying to figure out a better method. I don't think I've succeeded, but we can always hope.

I have a funny story for ya. Sunday morning we went to my parents house in the ~~sticks~~ ~~boondocks~~ mountains and had a very nice breakfast with my Dad. After breakfast, Ruggless was sitting out in the bush with Buglet #1. He says to Buglet, "Tell me what you hear." Buglet says, "Wind." It's quiet for a while, then Rugless says, "Now what do you hear?" Buglet says, "Birds yelling at the wind."

Whatever Comes To Mind

2007-06-14T15:20:00.000-06:00

For a Totally Random Thursday!

The fact that my 5-year old said to me, "Mom, I really like that outfit" (yes, exactly like that he said it--even with a hint of a snooty tone) tells me that I'm watching a few too many episodes of "What Not To Wear" in front of the children. Not only that, but it was just a t-shirt and jeans. I think the rolled up legs of my jeans are what appealed to him.
I'm actually excited about Father's Day gifts this year. Sorry, Dad's. No boring ties or socks for you. I'd post 'em but I don't want to ruin the surprise.
I'm afraid my quest to stop filling up my body and my kids' bodies with preservatives and chemicals makes me sound like a food snob.
I'm not a food snob. If it tastes good, I'll eat it.
Last Comic Standing is back!! Yay! Did I ever tell you I saw Josh Blue's show last year? We knew he was going to win.
I've made a 1/4 tank of gas last for two weeks. I think this is the reason gas prices have dropped 12 cents.
I've made the decision that we will not be getting our kids a trampoline. Instead I'm looking into wrestling mats and a boxing ring. Then they can fight outside.
Having packed peaches for a couple of summers as a teenager, I should know better than to buy peaches in the grocery store. But I always hope. And I'm always disappointed.

Changing Acronyms

2007-06-13T10:00:00.000-06:00

My boys have been asking me a lot of questions about middle school lately. I don't know why it's on their mind so much, they've still got a couple of years to go before they have to worry about it.

Last night the talk at the dinner table turned to what elective classes were and if there are clubs you can join.

So Ruggless and I talked a little bit about what our options were when we were in high school. One million and a half years ago. And how things have probably changed a lot. Not just in the school, but our personal lives as well.

Back in high school I shunned the FHA club. For those not familiar, FHA stands for Future Homemakers of America. Ugh. No--I was a devoted member of FBLA. Or Future Business Leaders of America.

I was not Anti-Kids. I just didn't see myself sitting around the house cooking, cleaning and sewing all day. I thought it would be more fun to be a high-powered executive, making uber-bucks and taking awesome vacations.

Today my list of things to do includes:

washing all the bed sheets in the house
making homemade bagels
mopping the kitchen floor
cleaning my office--that is really only used for blogging and bill paying.
and if I have time, sewing some chair pads for my office chair.

Sounds like I'm the President of FHA.

Didn't you say you lived in the desert?

2007-06-12T08:56:00.001-06:00

Perhaps Al (Gore) is right. This Global Warming thing has gotten out of hand!
Although I'm not complaining. Rugg and I have dreams of retiring to Oregon where it's like this much of the time. We just weren't expecting this weather today!
Somebody needs to tell Mother Earth that it's June in the desert.

Just when I was feeling warm and fuzzy...........

2007-06-11T08:46:00.000-06:00

I read something this morning about a mommy who wasn't going to worry about anything this summer but was going to spend it as a kid would. I thought, "Ohhh! That's so cool!"

Then reality set in.

The older kids haven't been up for 30 minutes and they are yelling at each other. The front door has slammed so many times that I'm about to go rip it off the hinges. "Your little brother is still sleeping." has escaped my lips in a hiss.

Forgive me if I don't give you a link to that idyllic post. I wouldn't want it to get back to her how the other half lives.

Fatigued

2007-06-08T16:56:00.000-06:00

I may as well have an infant in my house for all the sleep I've been getting.

Buglet #3 has decided to have nightmares every night for the past five. This involves him coming into my room crying. So I drag myself out of bed and put him back into his. Then I lay next to him until he falls back to sleep.

Really, it only takes him about 5 minutes to return to peaceful slumber. So I shouldn't be whining, right?

Wrong.

As soon as I get back into bed the dog gets up and rattles the blinds. He wants to go out. Presumably to dig through the trash cans we put in the back yard to keep the neighbor dogs out of them.

OK. That took 5 minutes. I crawl back into bed. Push hubby back onto his side of the bed. Adjust pillows. Breathe deeply.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

That would be Taz. Anytime the food or water dishes are empty, this is how she tells me. Never mind that it is now 2:30 a.m.

I get up, fill the water dish with water. And we start the whole back to bed routine again.

Bella starts sharpening her claws on my box springs. This is a recent development. She never did this before. I scream, "I'm sick and tired of you damn cats!" I smack the side of the bed to scare her off and make a mental note to buy one of those carpet covered scratching posts.

Just starting to doze off.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

"Dang it Taz! You have food and water. Get outta here!" I push her out the door and shut it.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

AAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

And on and on it goes. Every night this past week.

So I did what every good mother does. I put Charlotte's Web in the DVD player, made popcorn and handed out the Cream Soda. Then I took a nap.

Tonight those cats are sleeping in the garage.

Memories of A China Cabinet (Thoughtful Thursday)

2007-06-07T09:30:00.000-06:00

Most days you don't realize how much you miss someone. It has to be that way so we can continue living.

For me one of those people is my Great-Grandma.

She and I were best buddies. She babysat me off and on when I was young. And then when I was older I went over to her house during the summer just because I wanted to be with her.

She taught me to say, "That Damn Peanut Farmer" in the 70's about Jimmy Carter. The curse word she used when no other would do--is also the one I turn to. In fact, when we were little, my brother and I used to count how many times Grandma would say S--- in a day. She taught me how to make Lefse and Fattigman (pronounced Fuddy-Men). She called margarine Oleo. Instead of saying "oops" she said, "uff-da." Her stuffing recipe is the one I use every Thanksgiving. I learned to eat butter and half-and-half at her house. She taught me Gin-Rummy and Blackjack.

She lived through her first husband dying of Black Lung and her second in a car accident. I was the first person she called when Tom had the car accident.

She was fiercely independent with a stubborn streak. She colored her own hair and swore that no one would ever see her with white hair. And I never did until the day she passed away. So if you ever wonder where I got the stubborn streak and why I have no gray hairs--now you know.

She was there when my twins were born. One of my most prized possessions is the 5 generation picture I have. The other is her china closet.

Great-Grandma lived alone for a time after Tom died. But she got sick and some living assistance was required. She moved away to live with my Grandma in Washington.

When the call came that she wasn't doing well and wasn't expected to make it through the night, my mother and I threw our toothbrushes in a bag and got on the next flight. We went straight from the airport to the nursing facility she was in. When I got there she was unconscious. I hope somehow she heard me tell her I was there. She passed away early the next morning.

Eventually we cleaned out her house here in town. I inherited many treasures. But nothing reminds me of my Grandma as much as her china closet.

When we moved, there was no room for the china closet. It has been in storage for two years. It's been lovingly covered and protected, but not living with me.

Two weeks ago I was preparing some cube steaks for dinner. As soon as the flour covered steaks hit the hot oil, the smell transported me back to my grandma's kitchen. And that's when I knew it was time to bring the china closet home. Sunday was spent carefully using a soft cloth to dust every nook and cranny. All the while remembering what it held when it was my Grandma's.

DVR and Leftovers

2007-06-06T12:12:00.001-06:00

I just want to say..... I.can't.imagine.my.life.without.a.DVR.

I resisted the DVR movement for many years. But I'm so happy I joined the club.

Now on to Rachael Ray. I am not sure I love her show. However, my DVR is set to record it every day. Why? You ask? I love the cooking segments. Rachael is awakening my creative side when it comes to using up my leftovers.

I have a confession to make, though. She sort of drives me crazy in all the other segments. Enter the DVR. I watched 2 Rachael Ray shows this morning in 25 minutes. No kidding. That fast forward button is amazing!

So if you will excuse me, I am going to go make some Chicken Tortellini soup for dinner using my leftover chicken from last night.

Gobs of Good Mail!

2007-06-05T08:07:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Jennifer for the Good Mail labels; Catherine for the postcard from the Museum of Automobiles in Arkansas; Kelly for the homemade card and well wishes; and Angel for the care packet complete with an origami whale, notebook, address labels, and feathers!

For more information on the Good Mail Girls contact Annie

Blog Housekeeping

2007-06-04T11:14:00.001-06:00

Some of you may have noticed the little design changes. If you didn't, well, that's ok. I might wonder if you are this un-observant in other areas of your life, but then I will chalk it up to reading my posts in Google Reader.

A few things I'd like to mention:

Sorry if I freaked you out with the whole sudden changing of environment. I'm like that you know. I started out trying to make a "Favorite Things" picture show in the sidebar and ended up changing the whole darn thing. But don't worry, all of the content will still be the same witty, charming me (snort!)
If you'll glance over to the right, you will see some pictures. Yes--the ones of Peanut Butter Cookies and Lemon Bars (I know, I really need to cook something!). If you click on either picture, it will take you to the recipe on my other blog.
And while you are there, notice that you can search the blog in category form on the right hand side. Say you are looking for a tried and true chicken dish. Click on the drop down menu bar and find "chicken" Click away and you will see any posts related to chicken.
Now that you are back to this blog-- Notice the movie section! If you click on the picture of the movie that is sitting on my TV, you will notice that it takes you directly to a description of that movie on Internet Movie Database. So if you ever see a movie you want to know more about, just click there.
I will be happy to address any other questions you may have about this blog. :) Just leave a comment and I will get back to you. Any questions about my sanity will be ignored.

Working on my Piano Bar Act

2007-06-02T16:45:00.000-06:00

Pictures of Pets Day

2007-05-31T16:17:00.000-06:00

Kelly has declared June 1st Post Pictures of Your Pets Day. I'm a bit embarrassed to post a picture of all of my pets---but here it goes:

First we have Bo. He's first because he's the only dog. We rescued him after our neighbor's house was foreclosed on and he left the dog tied to the back porch for a week with no food or water. We've had him for about 4 years now. His favorite sport is Four Corner Fence Barking. This is where he meets all the neighbor dogs in one corner of the yard and they bark at each other and everything else.

Now for the cats. In the order that we acquired them.

First picture is of our first babies. Taz and Jager. Ruggless and I each had a cat when we met. They would get lonely at home all day by themselves so Rugg and I would get them together for play dates.

Here's Moose. Ruggless saved him from a trash dumpster at work. Moose was so small that we couldn't "tell" what he was. So his first name was Katie Kitten after a book the boys and I had been reading. When it became obvious he was a boy, his name changed to Moose because he had paws three times bigger than the rest of his body and we were reading, "If You Give A Moose A Muffin" at the time.

Up next, Bella. Or Stinkerbell. Again, Ruggless saved her after her mommy abandoned her under a shed. She's the Siamese twerp in the house. She hollers and speaks and generally makes her opinion known about everything. She got out once (we think it was when we were out of town) and found herself a boyfriend and got knocked up. Which is how we got the last three.

The last three. Or the kittens.

From Left To Right - Frodo, Bella, MaNaMaNa and Peach. Peach is the one who won't look at me. She had just messed up the rug. I suppose she thought that if she didn't look at me, then I didn't see her do it. Frodo is named for the two tufts of hair behind his ears (you can sort of see one in the picture) and the long hair growing out of his feet. MaNaMaNa is from the Muppets skit. Peach is named after Peach of Mario Brothers Fame.

And this is a picture of our beloved Emma when she was a puppy. She died in October. We miss her very much.

Now if you click on the logo above it will take you to Kelly's website, where she has a listing of everyone who has participated. Feel free to join us and let Kelly know so she can add your name to the list.