tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26189522838714750122024-03-13T03:03:06.383-05:00I don't like bunniesJust your average overworked, underappreciated mother of too many kids and too many pets.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.comBlogger754125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-41885160010445573472020-01-27T18:28:00.001-06:002020-01-27T18:28:17.885-06:00I fail at thisSo much going on again. The big news, we're moving AGAIN.<br />
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This time we're heading to Florida, Hollywood to be exact. Hubs got an exciting new job, so off we go. I've never had the desire to move to Hollywood, either the cool on in California, or the actual one we're moving to, but such is life. At least I won't be shoveling snow. The happiest part is that we'll be living only about a 45 minute drive from Angel #1, who we haven't lived near for almost 10 years, so that's cool. And since he's getting married in December, we get to be around for that.<br />
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The problem with not posting regularly is that so much stuff happened, but it seemed like so long ago that I don't even feel like writing about it. So, the microwave version:<br />
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We had all the kids together over Christmas in Houston. That was a lot of fun and the Houston hosts, aka Angels #2&4 had some great activities planned. We went and toured a castle, because there's one of those in Texas and did a ropes course kind of thing called Treeventures, which consisted of climbing around on ropes, tires and various other things 15 to 45 feet in the air. The kids and hubs all loved it. I was a bit of a trooper and crawled around pathetically for about an hour before I gave up and just watched. Angel #2's boyfriend wasn't feeling it much either, but since #2 was prancing around like a mountain goat he felt he had to keep going to defend his manhood. Of course, WE was pretty much a pro and impressed everyone. The biggest surprise was Angel #1's fiance who is a little bit of a princess (in a good way) who was right up there with the rest of them and she said that was her favorite part of the trip. So I'm glad everyone else had such a great time there though I could have done without it. All in all, it was a pretty successful family vacation and I''m glad we're still able to get together occasionally and have such a great time.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-2471026228807147262019-11-20T09:11:00.000-06:002019-11-20T09:11:01.476-06:00So much stuffHubs was in Hawaii this weekend and, according to him, he, "Hit the motherlode." When I asked for a translation, I was told that there was a humongo yard sale, an old couple cleaned out their house and things were selling for donations. So he got a bunch of stuff, then found out that it was a one day sale and everything that didn't go was headed for a dumpster. So, guess who went dumpster diving with his crazy Hawaiian friend?<br />
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These people did a lot of traveling and bought souvenirs, so we've got sumo wrestler calendars, geisha pictures, tons of post cards and what I"m pretty sure are carved wooden African fertility gods, which just isn't a good idea to keep hanging around the house when you're our age. Talk about tempting fate. sheesh! <br />
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He also brought home a ton of vintage dresses from the 70's and 80's, some of which are really kind of funky. But nothing fits since the lady was a tiny little Japanese woman and I'm a rather busty Scandinavian frau. So now I've got to find some miniature vintage clothing buff who's interested in a bunch of old dresses.<br />
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Also, is anyone interested in an autographed picture of Don Ho?Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-24832502218006560602019-11-10T13:50:00.000-06:002019-11-10T13:50:52.872-06:00Mother knows bestThe other day at work we had a guy come in and asked if we had any Vicks. We asked what kind of Vicks and he said it's just called Vicks. We grabbed him a jar of vapor rub and he said, This is it! and bought it. I mentioned to my co-worker that it sounded like he had a cold and called his mom what would help and she told him to get some Vicks. Later that afternoon another guy came in looking for Neosporin ointment, we showed him where to get it and when he was at the register I asked if he needed band-aids as well. He assured me he had band-aids. He burned his finger and called his mom and she told him to put some Neosporin on it. They may think they're all grown up when they head to college, but they all still call on mom when they need help. I get regular texts from WE asking for cooking advice. He's turning into quite a chef. <br />
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My band-aid add-on at the register is part of my mission to convince people they need to buy more stuff. I don't push unneeded items on them, just suggest additional items to compliment what they're already buying, a drink to go with their chips, etc. My favorite is the pencils. We've got this cup of cheap 25 cent pencils by the register and I'm determined I'm going to sell every single one of them. Everyone who buys them always only grabs one pencil. I just look at them intently and ask, is one going to be enough? What if it breaks during class? They always, without fail, buy at least one more, one guy even bought 3 more. Afterwards I announce to my co-workers how many extra pencils I convinced someone to buy. It's become a point of pride and they all think my customer manipulation skills are hilarious. Everyone needs those little challenges at their job to help them get up in the morning and go to work.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-76602986848536017882019-11-08T21:27:00.001-06:002019-11-08T21:27:44.911-06:00Well, that messed me up something fierceMy bedside clock thought it was daylight savings last night and really screwed me up this morning. My clock has this feature that makes it automatically change for daylight savings, but it didn't work last weekend. I didn't think too much about it since it's an old clock I got for $2 at a thrift store and figured it just didn't work anymore, so I changed the clock myself and went on my merry way. Until this morning. I woke up at (what I thought was) 5:30 am this morning and couldn't fall back to sleep. I also couldn't figure out why my neighborhood was so active so early in the morning. I laid around in bed for awhile hoping to fall back to sleep. I must have dozed back off, then was woke up by hubs calling me (he's out of town) at (again, what I thought was) 6:50am. I answered but was wondering, what the heck, dude? Why would you call me so stinking early? After talking to him, I got out of bed, ate breakfast, drank some coffee then opened my computer and wondered how it was 9 o'clock already and somehow time really flew and I"d better get in the shower. That's when I went back into the bedroom and realized that my clock said it was only 8am. I changed it to the right time and did some investigating. The date was set wrong on the clock. Since the date isn't displayed anywhere on the clock, there's no way I could have known that. I went to change the date and when I put it to November 8, it automatically knew it was Friday. How did it know that? It doesn't have a year setting function that I could see. There's some weird sorcery going on here, folks.<br />
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<br />Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-52455349886482167852019-11-03T20:22:00.000-06:002019-11-03T20:22:23.926-06:00Fall BackI hate daylight savings, it gets me all out of wack. But, on the plus side, we didn't go to church an hour early. We never have. The only time we forget about daylight savings is in the spring. Twice we realized it when it was too late to get there on time. One unforgettable time we didn't realize we were late until we actually walked in while they were singing the last hymn. We got picked on a bit about that one, lemme tell ya.<br />
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After church we went to all you can eat Chinese buffet. They sat us at a table, and we went and got our food. After sitting down a few minutes, I kept getting wafts of smelly air whenever someone walked past. Then I realized the guy sitting behind me smelled really gross. Not b.o., but just like dirty, unwashed, hadn't taken a bath in months, homeless person kind of smelly. I've got nothing against homeless people, there was a time in my life that my best friend was homeless (I am NOT making that up, his name was Chris and we had a blast together), but there's no reason to be a smelly homeless person. Plus, I don't think this guy was homeless, just gross. We quietly asked to be moved to a different table and our waitress totally knew why and apologized, though it wasn't like it was her fault, she wasn't even the one who put us at that table. I noticed that the rest of the time they were there they didn't seat anyone else in the surrounding tables. Do people honestly become so used to it that they don't know they smell really bad, or do they know and just don't care? He was there with a woman, I don't know if she smelled too, my sense of self-preservation prevented me from sniffing in her general area.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-80704896536378163072019-11-01T23:01:00.002-05:002019-11-01T23:01:54.365-05:00That didn't work out as plannedThe World Series ended very sadly. That's all I'm saying about that.<br />
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Yesterday was Halloween, trick or treating was postponed in our town because of a ridiculous amount of snow. Yes, snow. Quite a bit of it. In October. Is this a foreshadowing of the winter to come? This has got me really reconsidering my life choices. <br />
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Not all my life choices are poorly thought out, however. Yesterday I made a very wise purchase. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, Kenny and Margaret:<br />
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You can't see it in the picture, but their heads are on springs and they bob around! They're an awesome addition to my other living room decor. I have Johan, the turquoise giraffe, Judy, the flower girl zombie doll who's riding on the back of Angus, the metal rooster and, of course, the rainbow unicorn head mounted on the wall. I realized today that the unicorn doesn't have a name. Then I realized that it's Heidi. I don't name these objects, they name themselves, people. Missing from the menagerie is Ben, the margarita drinking flamingo. He's still down in Houston at the girl's house. I think they've claimed him as their own and he won't be coming back home to me. Spread your wings and fly little guy, see the world! I left him in good hands.<br />
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Yesterday, after I got them home, I noticed that somewhere between me picking her up from the shelf in the thrift store and getting her home, Margaret lost her left eye. I think it happened when her head bounced off while I was in the check-out line. I'm debating whether or not I should find a replacement, or just let it be. It kind of gives her that rogue, devil-may-care alley cat look that you just can't fake, it's gotta come naturally. Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-33242235257798707322019-10-28T23:43:00.001-05:002019-10-28T23:43:44.264-05:00Take it back, baby!!Okay, it's time to confess. I'm a baseball junkie. I love me some Astros and they're doing awesome right now. They're ahead 3-2 in the World Series and hopefully tomorrow night they get all trophied up. <br />
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Ok, now that I've got that off my chest we can go on to other things. <br />
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This morning my darling 3rd child was horribly traumatized by my husband. It started with a simple text: Dad, how much do I owe you? The response? "You owe me your life. You're lucky I was horny that day and your mom's so hot." To which, the horrified child replied: Ew ew ew I MEANT how much money do I owe you for the plane tickets to Houston and to make sure I never have to hear you say that ever again?<br />
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He's probably broken for life now.<br />
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At work today we were making up little candy bags as gifts/bribes for instructors to lure the into the bookstore and tell us what books they're requiring for the winter & spring terms so we can order them before the students start filing in looking for them. We needed 37 bags and were supposed to put about a dozen pieces of candy in each bag. Once we realized that we had WAY more candy than we were going to need, we got a little more selective in filling the bags, strategically keeping back the good candy for ourselves and placing the icky candy, like the Nerds and the dark chocolate, into the goody bags. We're obviously not idiots.<br />
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⚾ GO 'STROS!!!! ⚾Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-34903110313835434572019-10-19T10:03:00.000-05:002019-10-19T10:03:08.278-05:00RIP EddieI think I mentioned a while ago that hubs brought home a gecko in his luggage last time he came home from Hawaii. We named him Eddie and let him wander around the house to his heart's content. He was all over the place, we'd see him in the kitchen, bedroom closet, bathroom, everywhere. Then we'd not see him for a day or two and he'd show up again someplace completely different. Well, the other day he chose a bad spot to sit and chill and hubs accidentally stepped on him on his way out the door. I found his lifeless body about an hour later. So, there went our brief foray into having a roommate living with us.<br />
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In other exciting news, the Astros are doing pretty good in the playoffs. GO 'STROS!!! Hubs doesn't get my fascination with baseball, but will sit and watch the games with me like a trooper. What a great guy. He even puts up with me yelling at the screen in the vain attempt to make them hear me and accept my sage baseball advice or to change a really stupid call. My grandma used to do that with the Green Bay Packers so I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. My other grandparents used to turn the Brewer game on the radio and sit out on their screen porch in the dark and quietly listen to the game, those are some of my greatest memories of them. So between the Packers hollering grandma and the nightly Brewers games in the dark on the other side of the family, I am truly a product of my environment. Last month I went to the Brewers home game when they were playing the Astros. I wore my Astros jersey and had a great time. Fortunately Wisconsin baseball fans aren't nasty to opposing teams fans, I've heard stories otherwise at other stadiums and other sports. But here things were great and at the end of the game I even got high-fives from the Brewers fans sitting in front of us at the end of the game (the Astros won it in extra innings). It was a great experience I was both proud to be an Astros fan, but also to be a Wisconsinite where people are so stinking nice.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-55756979993932959982019-10-13T18:59:00.000-05:002019-10-13T18:59:15.037-05:00Can I still call her my baby?My baby, my youngest angel, my final attempt at creating the perfect child turned 21 years old today. That's pretty freaking crazy if you ask me. All my kids are full fledged, alcohol drinking able adults now. And if that's not enough to make me feel my mortality, another one of the kiddos got engaged this weekend. Yep, Angel #1 proposed to the woman of his dreams on Saturday and they're getting married next year. I wonder if this is how it's going to be, a wedding every year until they're all married off, then the grand babies will start coming. That's what happens when you have your kids all in a row like I did. So I've got plans to be in Miami in December of next year. :) The cool thing is that it was my idea to tour Villa Vizcaya last weekend, the kids liked it so much they went back this weekend and that's where he popped the question. So that's my contribution to the engagement, besides birthing the groom-to-be.<br />
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This weekend we went up to visit WE and his wife. We went out to dinner with our friends/daughter-in-laws parents on Friday and Saturday night both, which is always a good time. They're such great friends and I'm so glad that we're sort of shirt-tail related to each other through our kids. I feel so fortunate that not only do I love my son's choice for a wife, but I love her family as well. I don't know Angel #1's prospective mother-in-law real well yet, we've only met her a couple of times and her English is limited, but from what I DO know of her, she's an incredible women. #1's fiance and her twin sister were only 2 months old when their father was killed. Her mother raised those two little girls along with their 2 older brothers by herself, after moving to the US. Can you imagine moving to a foreign country, not knowing the language, with 4 little kids all by yourself? Not only that, she did an incredibly awesome job in the raising of those kids and they're all college educated adults with successful careers and good lives. How can you not admire someone like that. Plus, she already considers my little boy her son and it makes me feel good that even though he lives so far away, he's got family nearby who care about him. Everybody wins!Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-22716172467245252002019-10-09T09:58:00.001-05:002019-10-09T09:58:22.674-05:00Florida survived meWe had a wonderful weekend in Miami with my little boy and his girlfriend. On Friday we went out for Honduran food, she's originally from Honduras, so we had her order for us and it was delicious! We went for a loooong walk on Saturday. The kids live about a mile from the ocean, so we walked there, through Little Havana, the downtown area and then down to Brickell Key and walked around there, looking at the big yachts going by. <br />
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On Sunday we went and toured Villa Vizcaya, a beautiful mansion built about 100 years ago. It was falling into disrepair when the owners donated it to the county and it's slowly being repaired. The inside of the house is pretty much done and is beautiful. The gardens are huge and so much fun to wander around it. My favorite thing was the barge though. It's a big cement breakwater made to look like a ship. Back in the day it had palm trees and gazebos on it and it looked very elegant, today it looks more like a shipwreck, so still cool, but in a different way. If you're ever in Miami, I highly recommend taking a look.<br />
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So, now we're back home and settling back into life, until we head out again this weekend, this time to see WE and his wife. We haven't seen them since August, which is pretty sad since they're the kids we actually live closest to.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-48194336074208044952019-10-04T11:12:00.001-05:002019-10-04T11:12:29.023-05:00Off we go againAfter a fairly uneventful week, we're on the road again. This time it's Miami to see Angel #1. I haven't been down there in about 2 years, so it'll be nice to see him in his native habitat. Though with my traveling track record, Florida will probably be hit with a hurricane. I've managed to get Harvey, Sandy and tropical storm Imelda already, so it's just a matter of time before I decimate the Sunshine State as well. In my defense, the volcanoes didn't blow until a month after I left Hawaii, so I can hardly be responsible for that. I'm only a hurricane magnet, other natural disasters are on their own.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-7609567423122966152019-09-28T19:39:00.002-05:002019-09-28T19:39:33.364-05:00We had one of our typical Saturdays today. First we went to Franks Diner, a very old diner with great greasy food, a sassy staff and always a line and a crowd. It's a fun place to go, apparently it's the oldest continuously run dining car in America, though I'm not sure who exactly was keeping track. There's always a line to get in, so it's not one of those grab and go quickly stops, but the waiting in line if half the fun. We all celebrated Saturday with a diner-wide free tequila shot, which is I think rather unique in itself. I don't know of any other diner that does something like that, though I'm no diner expert by any means.<br />
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After Franks we walked to the Farmer's Market. We've got a pretty good sized farmers market and it's got so much good stuff, we love making it a regular stop. Things are starting to look a little scare there though, since the weather is starting to get chilly and vendors and shoppers alike are not quite so apt to sit around in the cold. There's only 2 more weeks of the outdoor market, then it moves inside. We stopped at the fudge place and they had $5 flop bags available. Those are bags of misshapen and corner pieces of fudge. You don't know what you're going to get, you just grab a bag and hope for the best. One of our offerings today was root beer fudge. It sounds wrong, and after tasting it, I assured myself that it IS wrong. gross, just gross. That's hard to believe of any kind of fudge, I know, but it's true. Take my word for it, don't try and see for yourself. There's my life advice for the day.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-60693592337330382092019-09-27T16:54:00.001-05:002019-09-27T16:54:48.069-05:00Settling back into normal.It's been a pretty quiet week around here. Now that the school rush is over, work is pretty relaxed. I wouldn't like it like this all the time, because it would be a little boring, but after a month of craziness it's nice for us all to catch our breath a bit and get the store cleaned and up to snuff. We literally didn't have time to restock, straighten shelves or even sweep the floor, but today all those things got done. Plus, we're getting rid of textbooks that we didn't sell, and clearing off shelves and condensing them is a very satisfying feeling. We'll start stocking graduation stuff next month, check in return textbook in December, then start all over again in January with a new semester. The circle of university life.<br />
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It's starting to feel a bit like fall now. It was cold and rainy today and our main sales at work were rain ponchos, umbrellas, windbreakers and cold medicine. It's all downhill from here.<br />
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Hubs was working in Hawaii the beginning of the week and brought a gecko home in his suitcase. They run around wild down there and are as common in a house as a housefly. So, now we've got a gecko of our own running around in the kitchen. It's been hiding under the stove but comes out occasionally to see what's going on in the rest of the house. Oh well, at least it's not a dog.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-18351954720052415662019-09-23T12:20:00.001-05:002019-09-23T12:20:33.173-05:00Houston, we have a problemI've been in Houston for the last 4 or 5 days. Not a good travel choice, as my good friend Tropical Storm Imelda reminded me, once I got there.<br />
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The airline did try to warn me, sending me emails telling me I may want to change my plans at no charge because of the storm, but the DOWNTON ABBEY MOVIE WAS OPENING ON THURSDAY!! Yes, I flew across the country in a tropical storm so I could go to the movies with my daughters. Stop judging me, it was a good movie and we've been looking forward to it for ages.<br />
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My flight on Thursday was only an hour delayed, so I thought things were going my way. We had a relatively smooth landing in Houston, I got off the plane the went to the passenger pick-up area to wait for my girls to come get me. That's when things went bad. My first clue things weren't right is when I went to the pick-up area and there were only about 8 cars sitting there, 2 of the police cars, and none of them were moving or even turned on. As a matter of fact, only 2 of them had people in them. If you've ever spent time in a post 9/11 airport, you know that this is NOT a thing. Turns out that after much texting and calling with the girls, that all the roads and from the airport were under water and the airport sent out a tweet telling people to not come pick up their passengers, that they had food and electricity and they'd be fine. They never actually told any of this to those of us sitting in the airport waiting for our rides, we had to find out through comparing notes with fellow stranded passengers and calls to our Houston contacts.<br />
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After waiting at a complete stand-still for an hour on the road to the airport, the girls gave up and managed to find a place to turn around and went back home to wait for further updates. 4 hours later there was a break in the storm and they found out through someone on Twitter (NOT the airport) that there was one lane open, so they jumped in the car and got their momma. YAY!! So 5 hours after I landed, I finally walked into the door and I was officially there. The drive back was apocalyptic. There were abandoned cars sitting all over the place, some tire deep in water. People were driving through ditches in an attempt to get out of parking lots and jumping the curbs to avoic roads that were under water. And, worst of all, all the theaters were closed, so we had to postpone the movie until Saturday night. 😲<br />
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Friday it was still raining, so I spent the day juicing limes. What? Doesn't everyone juice limes when they're on vacation visiting their kids? Someone had given the girls a huge case of limes and they were making the whole house smell funky. Since the girls were busy, I just juiced away, made a pitcher of limeade and a lime pie. So the citrus portion of our program was definitely covered.<br />
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Saturday we ran errands and did random stuff until it was movie time. But right before we left to go, the girls discovered an injured baby squirrel, wrapped him up, brought him in the house and named him Alfred. *sigh* It's like these critters know then they've got a couple of suckers around. <br />
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We went to the movie (AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!) and it was AWESOME. It was fun being in a theater with a bunch of people who also knew and loved all these characters and laughed at the inside jokes and snarky comments together. <br />
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Sunday we brought Alfred to the SPCA, then spent a ridiculous amount of time there so Angel #4 could pet all the cats. I had an uneventful flight home, got in about 10pm last night and here I am now. So, we're all caught up for the moment.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-35070579617137450082019-09-17T07:45:00.000-05:002019-09-17T07:45:04.065-05:00Haunted tee shirts and lucky dreamsI've gotta say, I love Asian moms. One of the kids I work with is Hmong and every once in awhile shares a morsel of wisdom passed down from her mother. When I was talking about my favorite thrift store the other day she informed me that she'd never shopped at one because her mother didn't like them. I asked if it was because she didn't like the idea of wearing other people's clothes and she said it had more to do with dead people. "She's afraid dead people wore the clothes and now they've got dead people cooties??" Nope, she's afraid that the former owners of the clothes are still with them in spirit and will haunt the clothes. So, yeah, she won't buy used stuff because she's afraid of haunted mini skirts. She also said her mom called yesterday to tell them to buy lottery tickets because she dreamed of poop. Apparently, that means luck is coming your way. And all this time I just thought it meant you should probably wake up and go to the bathroom before something really bad happened.<br />
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<br />Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-15709427277630960152019-09-15T10:58:00.000-05:002019-09-15T10:58:42.588-05:00So, yeah, already not writing every dayYesterday was catch-up day. We had a branch fall down in the yard on Friday, so that needed cleaning up. I also refuse to use the dryer in the summer time, which limits my laundry time to the weekend, so I did that. Also got the lawn mowed and hubs and I got a start on my raised bed gardens for next summer. He got his hands on one of those big square plastic tubs they use to haul liquids in, cut it in half and put it up on some posts. So essentially, they're like a giant version of those little sandbox tubs they had in your kindergarten classroom. We filled the bottom half with wood chips from the stump we had removed, then filled the rest with dirt. Next spring they'll be all ready to plant and I'll be a happy gardener.<br />
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As I see from my comments, my friend Stacey is going to be a grandma next month! Wow, I'm SO not ready for that yet (well, maybe a <span style="font-size: xx-small;">little</span>). But since I prefer my kids married first, then babies, my only option is little WE's running around and I'm not sure if the world is ready for that yet. I guess I'll just enjoy grandkids vicariously through Stacey for the time being.<br />
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<br />Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-54345933624986445932019-09-13T17:53:00.001-05:002019-09-13T17:53:44.691-05:00okay, yeah, it's been awhileIn order to get my mind back in writing mode, I'm resurrecting this baby. It's been almost 4 years since I abruptly quit writing in here. I'm not sure why I quit, I guess I just figured that after over 10 years of blogging, I just ran out of things to say. Of course, if you know me, you know that's utter BS because I NEVER run out of things to say. I guess I figured people just got sick of hearing it, which is probably true. So I'm writing in here for myself and if you want to listen in, go to it, baby.<br />
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Quick recap of the last four years for those of you still playing: The last angel graduated high school and moved to Texas to live with her sister. We sold our house, moved to Hawaii for a little while. Then moved to Texas, then back up to Wisconsin for the summer, then back down to Texas. Then hubs got a good job offer and we moved back up to Wisconsin. Got it?<br />
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So, currently, here we are, just hubs and I, living in a 3 bedroom ranch in a town situated on the shores of Lake Michigan. Our house is about a mile walk to the lake and we like to walk down there and watch the waves, enjoy the free concerts they put on at the park there and just enjoy life in general. Hubs got a job teaching at a technical college, so for the first time in our married life, he gets a regular paycheck and has regular hours. I work at a university book store with a bunch of people who understand my bizarre humor and love me for it. So, life is good.<br />
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The angels are all adulting very well, thank you. All four are going to college full-time (with Angels #1 & 2 also working full time). WE is out of the military, going to college full time and he GOT MARRIED!! Who woulda think that the craziest of my kids would be the first to settle down and tie the knot? The two of them have been together since before their junior year of high school (2012?) and Mrs WE is like a daughter to us, so life is wonderful.<br />
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I will do my best to write in here at least 3 times a week, but I'll try to be here daily. I really need to get my writing groove back into play.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-68352510789056496062015-10-27T15:08:00.001-05:002015-10-27T15:08:18.476-05:00Patrick wasn't hungryAngel #4 has a friend who has a snake named Patrick. #4 and her friend headed to the pet store together to pick up some lunch for Patrick. Lunch for Patrick = mice....live mice - Patrick apparently prefers fast food. Well, Patrick wasn't hungry. I guess this happens fairly regularly, Patrick is a picky eater. Normally, in cases like this, Patrick's owner then kills the mice and dumps them. She doesn't want to cage them for later in the event that Patrick gets the munchies because she doesn't want to get attached to the mice. I can't imagine anyone getting attached to mice, but when you realize that this girl has a pet snake, getting attached to a rodent isn't out of the realm of possibility. I guess it doesn't take that long for Angel #4's maternal instinct to kick in, because she decided that there was no reason for a couple of mice to lose their lives just because a snake didn't want to eat them, if that makes sense. Hence, the 2 new members of our family menagerie, Buford & Henry, the mice, aka Patrick's former lunch. I do not have a happy face over this, but on the plus side, the average mouse only lives about 1 - 1 1/2 years, so these things will be dead by the time she graduated from high school and I won't be stuck raising more animals that drive me nuts after my empty next kicks in.<br />
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Talk about stupid animals, Diesel, the doofus dog decided to run into a car and get his leg all messed up...$750 worth of stitches messed up. His back leg has been in a splint for the last 2 weeks and he's scheduled to get the stitches out Thursday afternoon. He looks ridiculous in his e-collar and we call him cone-head when he's wearing it. He doesn't have it figured out yet and he keeps running into things when he's got it on. When he climbs the steps, he manages to hit the cone on every step as he makes his way up. Fortunately, he's been leaving his bandages alone now, so I quit putting the collar on him, which makes thing easier, though now we don't have quite as much to laugh at since he no longer is running into the door on a regular basis.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-19105031685533375942015-09-09T21:31:00.002-05:002015-09-09T21:31:30.723-05:00Back to SchoolOkay, I haven't written in here in ages, but I've got a story that I don't want to forget, so I'm putting it here for my own edification as well as yours.<br />
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School started last week. Over the Labor Day weekend, one of our 4th graders was in a farming accident and had the tips of 3 of his fingers cut off. Just so you can keep track of everyone, I'll name names. So Caden was the little guy in the accident. Today was his first day back at school and as he was going through the lunch line, I asked if he was going to need help holding his tray. The little girl next to him in line (her name is Caydence) said that she was going to help him because she was assigned as Caden's help buddy so she was going to take his tray through the line for him. Then I noticed another girl named Grace was grabbing a tray. I said hey, Grace, you didn't get your lunch number punched in and she said, wait for it....I'm eating cold lunch but I'm holding Caydence's tray for her while she goes through the line holding Cadens tray. Don't you love it??<br />
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I also discovered that my cousin is engaged to be married to the aunt of one of my lunch kids. She was telling the other kids how we're practically related now because of them getting married. One of the other kids asked her "is your aunt old?" It took me a while to realize where that question came from. The little fart was finding it hard to believe that her friend had an aunt old enough to be marrying someone who had a cousin as old as me. Kids, don't you just want to smack them sometimes?<br />
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Talk about smacking kids. My babies were all home at the same time this August. Angel #1 also brought his girlfriend up, and it was great meeting her and WE's girlfriend was a permanent fixture around here the whole time he was home as well. So between the 5 extra people we had staying here and all the extra friends that came around for bonfires and stuff, things were pretty crazy around here. I have to say that one of the highlights of the weekend was when Angel #2 was trying to do a Dirty Dancing lift and managed to kick WE in the face. Someone got it on video and we all watched it over and over again, laughing every time. WE got his own moment of glory though, too. Last time the boys were home, they were both wrestling on the floor and Angel #1 put WE in a choke hold, causing WE to blackout. WE came back here last month looking for revenge. He bought a stun gun off Amazon and had it all charged up and ready to go when Angel #1 started wrestling with him. We were all in the other room when we heard the zapping sound and #1 yelling, What the heck?? Brothers being brothers, #1 wasn't mad at all but impressed with his brothers resourcefulness. My kids are nuts, but I love them anyway.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-22669512603664330642015-07-16T20:48:00.003-05:002015-07-16T20:48:50.123-05:00RIP SplattyI was looking for the dog the other day and glanced out the window, my heart skipped a beat. There was a brown pile of dead something lying in the road in front of the house. I gasped and yelled the dog's name and Angel #4 came over to the window and simply stated "it's a goose". She was right. What I thought was doofus dog was, in fact, a Canadian Goose. Who woulda thunk? Who even hits a goose with their car anyway? We posthumously named it Splatty. <br />
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Splatty is now lied to rest somewhere out in the woods where hubs dumped her, soon to be joined by a dead chicken, as yet unnamed. The chicken was looking a bit peaked last night, so I transferred her to the chicken hospital, aka, an empty pen so the other chickens would bug her, aka one of those filthy roosters wouldn't stop having sex with the poor girl. This morning, she was dead. I was so disgusted with the rooster's behavior, that as soon as hubs comes home in a couple weeks, we're going to increase our freezer food supply with 2 new roosters. I really don't like those roosters. Not only do they participate in sick chicken rape, but they also like to attack people who are innocently going into their pen to feed the ungrateful beasts. So yeah, I pretty much hate them and look forward to eating them.<br />
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In other exciting, non-chicken raping news, we went to hubs 35th class reunion a couple weeks ago. I know quite a few people from his class, so it was fun for both of us. I was talking to one guy, then later I mentioned to hubs that I remembered going to his wedding back in 1988. Hubs said, uh, I never went to his wedding. Oops, turns out I went with a different date! These things happen.<br />
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We also went to the rodeo this month, went to 2 neighborhood parties on neighborhood party night and today I ate the first fresh veggies out of my garden, broccoli and kohlrabe, yum yum. Oh, in case you're wondering, neighborhood party night is a big deal around here. One neighbor, who has more money than God, has a huge party at his place. There were a couple hundred people. all the food & drinks you could want and a huge fireworks display. I know last year's fireworks came to about $20,000 and I'm guessing this years cost about the same. So it's a pretty big show. But, since that neighbor doesn't actually live here, but about 25 miles away, he invites mostly people he knows from where he lives, not so much around here. So, all the other people who live on our road also throw parties on the same night so their friends can enjoy the show as well. People who don't have friends on our road but know about the yearly fireworks display also come by and park along the road and set up their own party at the old abandoned school house parking lot across the road from the actual party. We went to the original party, but first off, we also went to another neighbors party who have a lot more people we know and we have in depth debates over who was the best Doctor in Dr. Who (#9, obviously) and who was that red headed woman in that John Wayne movie (Maureen O'Hara, not Maureen O'Sullivan, who was in the Tarzan movies). We've got such cool neighbors.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-13857475519571472972015-06-15T16:46:00.001-05:002015-06-15T16:46:26.269-05:00I beat the rain!It's been raining lately... a lot. When it's not raining, it looks like it's going to rain. Today was no different. According to radar, it was supposed to start raining at noon, so about 8:30 I hopped onto the lawn mower to see what I could get done before the rain made it grow some more. It was getting pretty long since it had been raining too much to mow. I managed to get everything mowed in 2 1/2 hours. Nonstop. That's a long time to sit on a jiggly lawn mower. By the time I got off, my legs were jelly and my butt was killing me. My original plan was to just do the back yard and make Angel #4 do the rest, but once I started, I just couldn't seem to stop.<br />
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Once I got done, I needed to do some moving around, so I jumped in the car to go to the library and help take down after this weekends book sale. I'd helped set up last week and got a real workout, so I figured I'd do the same, only in reverse this week. But we had an extraordinary number of volunteers this year and by the time I got there, they already had everything put away and they were just getting ready to leave. Yay for them, but not so much for my noble exercise plans. So, it was back home I went.<br />
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Once I got home, I ate a very healthy lunch of spaghetti squash covered in tomato sauce, then I went out to see how my garden was doing. I started doing a little hand weeding, then realized I'd do better tilling first. Once again, I'd planned on doing just a little, but I ended up tilling the entire garden, I then hand weeded the peas and replanted the corn. I don't know if it's too late for corn or not, but the stupid birds had apparently eaten all my corn seed in addition to the other seeds they'd eaten, so I figured what would it hurt to throw more seed in and see what would happen. I figured I was noble enough for the day and I went inside and took a much needed shower. It was only then that it finally started raining. So now I'm having a quiet afternoon listening to the rain on the tin roof.<br />
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Tomorrow I'm hoping for some sun so I can do some much needed laundry. I refuse to use the dryer in the summer time, so the laundry's been really piling up waiting for some decent drying weather. Ironic that California is suffering a drought when I've got rain puddles in my basement. Isn't life funny sometimes?Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-82130777324649813792015-06-06T15:31:00.000-05:002015-06-06T15:31:36.565-05:00is it wrong to say I love manipulating my kids?Mother's day is kind of a non-thing when your kids live all over the country. When other families are getting together for cookouts and stuff. I just kind of chill at home. Not a big deal, I don't get into those holidays a whole lot, but they are a prime opportunity to do some kid manipulation. <br />
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It started when both boys called and started the phone call the same way: "Happy mother's day, am I your favorite kid?" Frankly, after that, can I really be blamed for what happened next? I gave everyone the full 24 hour window to give me the accolades due to me as their mother, then on Monday, they all got a mass text titled "Mother's Day favorite kid scorecard" I listed off the 3 of the 4 kids who got a point for verbally wishing me happy mother's day ON THE DAY. Then I listed off who got gifting points, 0 for each of the boys, 1 for Angel #2 for sending me a card and a whopping 2 1/2 for Angel #4 for flowers, candy and the half a point came from giving me a thank you card with the words thank you crossed out and happy mother's day written over it. Then things got tricky. I deducted one fairness point off #4's score because she still lives at home, making it easier to pony up with the gifts. Angel #1 got his single point deducted because while he was on the phone with me, he told me he had to call me right back because he was at his friend Jesse's mom's house & he had to run in to give her the <b>flowers he got her for Mother's Day</b>. Yes, he really did that!! But he got a half point because while he was on speaker phone with me, his girlfriend chimed in to wish me a happy mother's day. I gave them their point totals, Angel #4 the obvious winner and I told Angel #1 he was going to have to step up his game. Shortly after I sent out their scorecards, I got an text from WE's girlfriend wishing me a happy belated mother's day. I asked if he told her to do that so he could get more points and her response was ".....maybe." After a few more texts & calls from the kids trying to get more points, I sent out a final text to them all: "There will be no more Mother's Day points awarded after the actual day, the next holiday is Father's Day. Good Luck and may the odds be ever in your favor." Yes people, I Hunger Gamed my own kids.<br />
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School is out now, though you'd never really guess it was summer vacation since it's still kind of chilly outside. I keep optimistically turning off the furnace, then having to turn it back on again when the house gets cold. I did have the bedroom window open all night for two nights now, the first night there was a fire nearby and I had all kinds of firetrucks racing past with sirens blaring at 2am and the 2nd night the co-op decided to come at 6am and spray pesticide in the field across the road from my bedroom window. There was a whole lot of rumbling and back-up beeping noises, not to mention the poison being shot into the air about 50 yards from my open window. Fun and games, folks, fun and games.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-27031164790367717742015-05-15T22:01:00.001-05:002015-05-15T22:01:17.569-05:00she is excellent, and now we know whyWe just got back from the high school Evening of Excellence. Parents get a written invitation if their child is being honored and we pay some money, get a delicious chicken dinner and get to watch our children's excellence being honored. Problem was, we didn't know what Angel #4 did to be excellent this year. Last year she went to state for music, so we knew, but this year she wasn't in any music classes, so we were lost. Well, it turns out she earned an academic letter, which is pretty cool. You get points for being on the high honor roll and when you get 16 points, you get a letter. So, turns out she's excellent in being smart. Yay for her!!<br />
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I finally hit the worst of frustration with my old computer and I went out and get a new computer yesterday. I've been putting it off because of my fear/hatred of Windows 8. But I've been doing a lot of bookkeeping lately for our business, which has gone through some pretty major changes and I really needed to upgrade in order to get the books done. I've now got a cute little blue HP Stream. I'm getting used to windows 8, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I really hate getting new technology, phones, computers, etc, are such a pain to get all personalized. One thing I'm really liking about the new computer is the keyboard. I never really the keyboard on my old computer, it never seemed to work right, but this one is a joy to type on. All my other laptops have been HP's, except for my previous one, which was a Toshiba, so maybe that was it. I guess I just prefer an HP keyboard. I think I"ll like this little guy once I get all used to it.<br />
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I"m planning on getting the garden planted tomorrow, weather permitting. It's been kind of cold lately, but I think it's going to warm up. I can't wait to get those little seeds in the ground and see them start growing. I love gardening.<br />
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<br />Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-10269554283706646052015-04-26T21:10:00.001-05:002015-04-26T21:15:55.063-05:00A star is bornWe had a busy weekend last weekend. I was so peopled out by Saturday night I literally fell asleep sitting up in my chair, and we still had Sunday to deal with.<br />
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Friday night hubs had another one of his sold out comedy shows. He tries to make each show a little different and this time around there were some comedy skits, a new thing the guys were calling sketch-prov and some straight-up improv. They'd had some rehearsals leading up to the show which I went to and the guys taught us some beginning improv exercises. They were pretty fun and as a result, I was called up on stage during the actual show to do an improv sketch with two go the guys. It was a crazy, convoluted thing that started out as a weather report about a hurricane and ended up in a meteorology love triangle. I'm still not sure how it happened, but that's how improv works. Afterwards, I had a woman come up to me and say she hadn't laughed that hard in years, so I guess we accomplished our goal of making people laugh. I don't think I'm going to go on stage again though. As much fun as doing improv is, I guess I'd rather do it in a small group of friends than on stage in front of a room full of strangers. We also did a little thing where hubs did part of his stand-up act, then I came on and gave a little back story to his jokes. I suspect that most people think he makes most of his jokes up...that's not true, sadly enough, he really did get me a Shop Vac for my birthday the first year we were married, and yes, we did indeed meet at a demolition derby. I also told the story of how we got our first set of steps when we moved into our trailer house years and years ago, but I didn't tell my friend Donna's favorite story about flushing the rope down the toilet. That woman can listen to that story over and over again and never get sick of it. Maybe some day I'll share it with those of you (if there are any) who actually read this thing.<br />
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We also had hubs niece's wedding on Saturday, an all day church event on Sunday and I had to get hubs to the airport by 5 am Monday morning to head out to Hawaii. Very dear friends of ours moved down to Hawaii that day, so we met them at the airport with their luggage and helped them get things organized during check-in. Wow, did that bring back memories of when we moved down there. I don't miss that episode of my life at all. Moving across the country like that is no picnic, as you can probably imagine. But, on the upside, we bought their mini-suv from them and I drove it home from the airport that day. So, new car, baby!! Much nicer driving than the 20 year old car we've been driving around in for the last year. Angel #4 happily took that one over for herself.<br />
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I'm glad that after the business of last weekend, this one was nice and quiet. I needed a little alone time to recuperate from the onslaught of so many people last weekend.<br />
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I got my plant shipment in that I ordered from the nursery catalog. Those guys sure do know when to get us at our weakest, they send their catalogs out during a cold snap when we're all wishing so hard for spring that we'll spend hundreds of dollars on bedding plants in the hope that it'll hurry the warm weather along. I planted the cherry trees, blackberry bushes and the climbing rose this weekend, I hope it doesn't get so cold they freeze out and they die. I've got my strawberry plants chilling in the basement waiting for their chance at growing. I've got plans to put them in a raised bed and Angel #4's boyfriend was going to help me build them. But...the little brat broke up with him last week, so it looks like I'm on my own. I tried to talk her into doing the breakup after the beds were built, but she's so unreasonable sometimes. ;-PDelia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2618952283871475012.post-16009498967062309822015-04-01T18:53:00.002-05:002015-04-01T18:53:18.128-05:00It's April, foolWe're busy around here doing spring-y kind of stuff. Last week Angel #4 and I went shopping and hit a prom dress bonanza. I refuse to buy a new, off the rack dress for prom, they wear it one night then it lies around for the rest of our lives doing nothing. So I hit all the neighborhood thrift stores, looking for a good buy, benefiting from others who don't have an aversion to spending full price for a useless dress. The problem with all this is that Angel #4 is really hard to buy for. She's got a really wide rib cage and once we get the zipper about 3 inches up, it's done. The first store we went into we found a dress that fit her wonderfully and looked great on her, but she wasn't nuts about the color, gray being a bit too subdued for her butterfly tastes. But, since it was only $12, I decided to buy it anyway figuring that at least she'll have a dress if we can't find anything else that fit her and looked good. The 2nd store we went to we found the perfect dress, all blue and sparkly and looked incredible on her. We also found a short formal dress that'll be perfect for the Homecoming dance next year, once again, a perfect fit and a perfect look on her. I paid $25 for the blue dress and $12 for the short one. So, I got 2 prom dresses & a homecoming dress for under $50, less than half the price that most people fork over for a single prom dress. Things are looking up.<br />
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Today is April Fool's day. I can't let an opportunity like that just go past, you know. I took some brown paper and cut it into the shape of a letter "E". I made about 6 of them and brought them to school. My fellow lunch ladies loved my idea and we put them on a pan in the lunch line. Our principal had a great time offering the kids brown-E's for dessert. He said he'd never seen such a confused group of kids in his life. Of course, when they were in line to go into the serving area, I made sure they all knew we had made them brown e's for a treat today. They went inside all excited,then saw the principal offering them up. Most got the joke, but a few accused me of lying, until I explained it to them. <br />
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It's days like this that make it great to be a lunch lady.Delia DeLeesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01606725675389245436noreply@blogger.com0