Childhood Memories

The Small Talk Six for this Saturday is to list six of your most vivid childhood memories...



1. Cutting a Christmas tree at the farm with my grandpa when I was four. I had on this stay-puft marshmallow style snowsuit and Grandpa wanted to cut a tree that was on the side of a hill. I was not any more graceful then than I am today and I kept falling and rolling down the hill in my snowsuit. My older cousins kept having to come down and pick me up and haul me back up the hill. They would stand me up and I would topple all over again.



2. When I discovered the tooth fairy wasn't real. I stayed up, determined I was going to get to see the tooth fairy. I had my tooth all set in my tooth fairy pillow with the pocket on the side next to my bed. About midnight, I heard a noise outside the door and squinted my eyes shut. I even stayed still through the flashlight shining in my face to make sure I was asleep. The noise gets closer, closer, closer and then "MOM!!!! YOU'RE THE TOOTH FAIRY?!?!" Scared the crap out of her and my dad was in the other room dying laughing.



3. Making cinnamon rolls with my Grandma K. We made these cinnamon rolls that were completely awful once. I have no idea how old I was at the time. We took some out to Grandpa, who was trying to choke them down, and we sat and giggled at him trying to eat them because we knew how bad they were.



4. Squirrel hunting with my dad. I used to beg relentlessly to go hunting with my dad. He always told me no and that I had to stay at the house with my mother and grandma...sigh. Finally I pestered him enough that he gave him and told me we would go squirrel hunting the next day. He shoots a squirrel and points to where it drops and says "Well, go get it." EWWWW, seriously??? Picture me as a young girl, walking through the woods, holding dead squirrels by the very tips of their tails, arms stretched out as far from my body as they would go. Yep, he cured me of wanting to go hunting and I never asked him again. :)



5. Getting called to the principal's office in elementary school for the first time. Let's preface this by saying I was a very well behaved child up until I was in high school probably. :) They called me to the principal's office over the intercom and I felt my stomach flipflop. My mind is racing, thinking "What did I do? Did I do something wrong? Why are they calling for me?" A 50 ft walk to the office felt like miles. By the time I got there I had tears in my eyes - the school principal was a formidable man and back then, the principal gave out swats with a paddle for misbehavior. :) By the time the school secretary walked me into his office my knees were knocking, my heart was in my throat, and he says "Would you like to help me with the school's United Way campaign this year?"



6. First attempt at giving someone else a ride on my banana seat purple bike with the basket on the front. :) My friend Kristy came over to spend the night and we went out to play the next day and took my bike. I think originally we started to take turns riding up and down the street and then decided that I could give her a ride on the back. We were probably about 8 or 9 at the time?? We take off down the hill and the front wheel starts wobbling. I cannot control it - at all. We make it to the bottom of the hill before wiping out - knees skinned, elbows skinned and Kristy had the biggest goose-egg on her head I think I've ever seen. We get back to the house and I got totally chewed out by my mother because she was horrified to have to send Kristy back to her mother looking like she's been beaten up. :)



I have a ton of memories growing up but those were the first that came to mind. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!!

Friday ramblings...

If you're expecting some well-written, cohesive post today, I'll start by saying I'm sorry to disappoint. I've been stuck in the house so much lately I've got cabin fever and I'm feeling a little ADHD. However, today has been a fantastic day so far for me. Now I'm just praying that it continues...

My wonderful hubby got up with the wee ones this morning and let me get a little more shuteye. That always makes the day start off great. The coffee pot apparently got over its issue from yesterday and the coffee actually brewed correctly instead of bubbling out the top of the coffee filter thingy (which is what happened yesterday).

I won two blog giveaways, one at www.oopsicraftmypants and one at http://northernmama-northerngirl.blogspot.com - yay!

Then as I was checking my email, I got a comment on my reading list from one of the authors!!! How exciting is that?? I can't wait to get to the bookstore and buy her new book - I've seen some previews of it online and I've got to say, I have kind of a girl-crush on her. LOL Oh here's a link to her book, check it out, it's GORGEOUS. http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?id=9780880107020

I got two more requests for paperback swap books, so I got those ready to mail and put them out. I feel sorry for the poor postal workers during weather like this - I don't even like poking my nose out the door, much less having to be out delivering mail in it. It makes me wish I had some styrofoam "to go" cups hanging out in the cabinet to hand him a hot cup of coffee as he passes by our house.

The Christmas tree is STILL up...so much for my idea that it wasn't staying up one more day, argh! Even Paul, who was originally on the bandwagon with the 3 year old that it was fine to just leave it up, is saying "People are going to start talking about us like we're weirdos if we don't get this tree down..." Ah well, I've been talked about before, it won't be the first time and certainly won't be the last...

It is snowing AGAIN!! Big, fat, fluffy, white flakes are coming down as I type this. The temperature is currently 3 degrees with a windchill of -11. It's pretty in a nightmarish sort of way. I've got cabin fever something awful but don't want to drag everyone out and then go through rounds of sickness and colds...

So far the children seem to be staying in their rooms for naps. HALLELUJAH!! I guess I should get a few things done before the natives start getting restless. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Wordless Wednesday

The littlest with the dogs...using the white boxer as a pillow with the terrier cuddled up on top.

Meet Mr. Romance

Yep here he is girls...it's ok to be jealous...he's all mine! :)

He would kill me if he knew I put this picture on here - this is him at a party after he had a few brewskies attempting a dance of some sort. LOL

My husband is an amazing guy - and much more handsome than in this picture. He's a great guy, my best friend, an amazing dad...he has it all...except that he does not have a single romantic bone in his body. He hates chick flicks and will only watch them if I have whined sufficiently for a period of days until he gives in. He doesn't do PDA at all - not even a peck in public. When we discussed our "wedding kiss", he said he had a plan and the words "One, two, three, BREAK!" were actually spoken out loud. His idea of romance is picking up a Diet Coke for me on his way home from work at the gas station. It IS sweet that he does things like that; however, not what I would consider "romantic".

I've been talking about my reading list for 2010 and I got "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman in the mail today. I show my dear husband and say "Honey, we could go have a picnic in the park this summer and you could read this to me. It would be romantic"

Mr. Romance's response? "I'm not doing that. That's the gayest thing I've ever heard." (**Disclaimer: My husband is not a homophobe - felt that needed to be clarified at this point.)

At the moment before he said this, I had taken a slurp of my scalding hot coffee. The moment he said it, I couldn't help but snort and hot coffee shot out my nose. I burned my nose on the inside and now I can't stop sneezing today.

Yep, I think we're in the running for romantic couple of the year around here.

Sunday morning snow...

This is the view out my front door this morning. It's still snowing. It can stop any time...I won't be sad.

My next door neighbor feeds the birds. Note to self: If and when we ever get to move, buy a bird feeder. Isn't this guy gorgeous? Look how chubby and beautiful he is!
It also makes me add a new camera to my wish list for the year...and Photoshop. This could have been a fantastic picture and it's so-so due to the camera and lack of editing software. LOL

There were some beautiful birds out this morning around her feeder and this is probably the best picture I got. I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I hope we can dig out of this snow at some point...maybe March???

Small Talk Six

OK so I know the topic for this week is "Six Ways You've Decided to Change Your Life in 2010"; HOWEVER, I've done like 3 posts on my intentions for the year, reading lists, etc so I'm pretty well over it by now. Instead, I'm going to do "Six Ways You've Decided NOT to Change Your Life in 2010". :)

1. As I sit here drinking my first cup of coffee in the morning, let's just go ahead and put it out there that I have no intention of giving up caffeine....probably ever. I need it. It makes everything right with the world. So poo on you health experts, leave me and my coffee & Diet Coke alone.

2. I am not going to give up on teaching my children manners. In this day and age where it seems like manners and respect for other people have flown out the window, it makes me even more determined to impress upon my children that having manners and respect for yourself and others is vital. So guess what kids? There will still be no elbows on Mom's dinner table, the words "may I please" will be more likely to get you what you want, and you still need to say "thank you".

3. I am not going to continue to try to live up to my mother's unrealistic expectations. I live in a house with five kids, two dogs and a messy husband. Guess what? My house is not going to pass the white glove test and probably never will. (Hey lady, you had two kids, 9 years apart in age and you were miserable to live with - we rarely felt like we could even play.) I want my kids to enjoy life to the fullest and if it takes a bit of clutter to achieve that, then so be it.

4. I am not going to leave the Christmas tree up for another day, regardless of how my 3-year-old daughter feels about it. ("It's beeee-youuu-ti-ful Mommy, I want to leave it there! Pwease don't take it down!) Tonight I am waiting until she goes to bed, having the hubs get the boxes out and we're packing that baby up - I'm sick of looking at it.

5. I am not going to stop cooking healthy meals, sorry children and junk foodie husband. We are still going to continue to eat veggies, no matter how much you loathe them, yep even you, Mr. Man. The entire contents of the grocery store do not reside in the frozen food aisle, family, deal with it.

6. I am not going to apologize for who I am or my choices in life. I've made some mistakes, some whoppers. I'm the one that lives with the consequences of them and I do the best I can with what I have. I'm not going to be perfect ever and I'm okay with that.

Well those are my six things I'm not changing. I'm sure I could find more but those are the big ones off the top of my head as I contemplate my second cup of coffee. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

New Year, New Post

Happy New Year to everyone! I think writing the first post of a new year is rather intimidating. I'd like to say I woke up this morning with a whole new me, but I didn't. I'm still the same old me with the same old issues and same old messes to clean up. However, I'm trying to remember that it's a blessing to be me and have issues and messes to clean up; otherwise, I'd probably be pretty lonely and I definitely wouldn't have anything to write about.

We brought in the New Year very low key this year. The hubby played World of Warcrap (I hate that damn game), the boys are at their sperm donor's, the little ones went to bed on time and I sat and flipped through the various NYE specials on TV (all of which were horrible) and knitted. Geesh, how old does that make me sound? Oh well, I am justifying it by saying I was doing something productive.

The first day of 2010 I would say has been par for the course around here...streaking toddlers, marking on walls, emptying the refrigerator while Mom is in the bathroom, and a general refusal to nap (however, they are at least staying in their rooms so I can't complain TOO much). I got the living room cleaned up from the two mini tornadoes that played in here earlier and the kitchen is half straightened. I'd love to close my eyes and nap but Lord knows if I close my eyes even for a second, my two little stinkers will escape from their rooms and proceed to destroy anything in sight.

I added a couple more books to my reading list so I can go back and update that post later on and I finished a few more inches of a scarf I'm working on for a friend. Now I think it's time to go hop in the shower before the hubby comes home from work and surprise him by actually being in clothing today instead of PJs. Hey, if you were a stay-at-home-mom, you'd stay in your PJs too, it's ok to be JEALOUS! LOL

Thanks for sticking around and reading my nonsense. Here's to hoping we have a lot of fun nonsense to write about this year!