the death of the evil snowmen

Sunday night, Angel #4 and I each made a snowman in the front yard.  They're right in front of the patio door in the living room.  Once it got light out on Monday, Diesel the doofus dog noticed them and  spent the day lying by the door, occasionally growling and barking at them (apparently, he forgot that he was out there with us when we made them).  According to WE, Diesel was concerned because there were strange things in our yard and they weren't leaving.  Eventually, he got used to them and would only wander by the door once in a while to check to make sure they were still there and hadn't come any closer to the house or something.  Then yesterday afternoon, he was growling, barking, and his back hair was standing on end.  I couldn't figure out what his problem was until I looked out the window and discovered that his fears had been realized.  One of the snowmen had MOVED!  The sun had been slowly melting the snow and #4's snowman was starting to lean over, finally, it fell completely over and that's what sent Diesel into his spaz attack.  Mine is still upright, but I don't thing it'll survive the day, so I imagine Diesel will freak out again.

Hubs has been Skyping me from the Cayman Islands.  Just as I'm debating the wisdom/cost of turning the thermostat up a few degrees, he pops on my screen, sitting poolside with the palm trees waving in the background.  Then...THEN, he has the nerve to say that he's ready to go home.  Yeah, like I'm believing that one.  To top it all off, he then tells me how he had the greatest fish tacos for lunch. I don't think you can get a fish taco for love or money here in Wisconsin...at least not a good one. If you're ever on Hawaii's Big Island, you HAVE to stop at Lulu's for a fish taco, they're the best on the island - at least I think so, hubs vote goes to the ones at The Harbor.  And don't let the thought scare you off, they are freaking delicious.  Shoot, now I'm hungry.

Hey, does anyone watch The Neighbors?  It's hilarious, though when I try to explain the premise to people, I just get strange looks.  But trust me, a human family living in a subdivision full of aliens named after sports stars is stinking funny.  Every time I see Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the short, fat little Asian dude, I just have to giggle.  I guess it appeals to my sense of the bizarre.

Edited to add:  CALLED IT!  Doofus has spent the last 15 minutes looking out the window and growling in anticipation.  All of a sudden, he jumped up, fur standing on end, barking like a moron, the 2nd snowman had just fallen down.

adventures in shopping

Yesterday, angel #4 and I were invited to a volunteer appreciation reception at the local library. #4 and I both enjoy helping with the library book sale.  Right before we were heading out the door, WE called asking for a ride home from school - he'd stayed after to do some homework (and also to serve detention, but he didn't mention that part until later).  I told him the only way I could get him was if we took him along to the library with us.  So he goofed around on the library computers while #4 and I got  to eat delicious appreciation reception snacks. 

After that, we headed off to the thrift store to drop off some donations and buy some stuff to fill up the empty spots where we'd got our donations.  While I was there, I suddenly remembered that I needed to pick up a hamster cage and headed to the pet supply aisle.  I was about halfway there when I stopped and wondered why I needed a hamster cage.  Only then did I remember that the night before I dreamed  we got a hamster and couldn't find a place to put it, then it got really big, like the size of a cat, and started having a ton of hamster babies, just one after another.  Then I realized with relief that I didn't need to pick up a hamster cage after all since it was only a dream.

We went to Shopko after that to return something I'd bought last week that was defective. The kids came in with me and bought some things of their own.  WE bought a box of about a dozen candy canes and I asked him if he was particularly hungry for them or what.  He said got them to hand out to people that he ticks off - I told him he should have bought more boxes.  He said he was thinking the same thing.

Let it snow, Let it snow, but not on the roads or driveway, please

Okay, not always a big fan of snow, but thought I'd share this isn't it gorgeous?  This is the view out of my kitchen window (well, kind of, I took the picture from outside, I would have had to wash the window if I took the picture from the house and there's only so much I'll do for blog accuracy)

Angel #4 had a good time playing in the snow last night.  I think she took about a dozen pictures of our snowmen.  Isn't it cool how the camera's flash reflects off the snowflakes? It's like the world is all sparkly.  

The worst mom in the world

Well, it's official, I'm the worst mom in the world and their dad is obviously the one who really loves them.  The kids are planning on filing a grievance with God.  Not only are they not going to put me in a nice nursing home when I'm old, they're not even going to stick me on an ice floe in the ocean, they're just going to throw me right in (which instigated the argument over whether or not ocean water can get to 30 below 0 without freezing).  So, what mean horrible thing did I do to those innocent little nippers? I refused to go out for Chinese food after church this morning.  Apparently, kids are starving in Africa because they don't have all you can eat Chinese buffets in the Congo, at least that's what I was told.  And why did I torture my children so?  A number of reasons, I assure you.  First off, I wasn't feeling good yesterday, and though I'm fine today, after having a touchy stomach the previous day, I really didn't thing filling it with crab Rangoon was in my best interest.  Secondly, I just took them shopping and they both got new clothes this week - I know that a lot of people do this on a regular basis, but not us.  Usually "new" clothes for my family means we got something from the thrift store, but this week, WE got 2 pair of dress pants and #4 got a new skirt and some Uggs, all with price tags attached and still smelling like sizing, so yeah, I spent actual money on them.  Third and most importantly, It's freaking snowing and though the roads weren't bad yet, we're supposed to get 2-6 inches today and I really wanted to be home before things got yucky.  So maybe...just maybe, I'll take them next week if the stars are in alignment.

Hubs and Fred made it to Houston without incident this morning.  He said that Fred was a good little traveler and Angel #2 called, thrilled to have both her kitties once again.

Hours later....I guess I forgot to publish this, so I'll just continue.  We've probably got about 3-4 inches so far and it's still going.  Angel #4 and I made a couple of snowmen.  She wanted to make 5 of them and say it was One Direction, but I stopped at one, I guess I made Liam and I'll leave her to finish up the group.  It's supposed to stop soon, so I think we're good about school tomorrow.  We've only got a limited number of snow days built into the year and it would stink to use one up right away at the first snowfall, though I'm sure the kids wouldn't mind.

Off to Margaritaville

Hubs is off on a new adventure tomorrow.  He's headed to Grand Cayman, a place he's never been.  He's got an acquaintance who runs a tv station down there and he's staying with him.  On his way down, he's going through Houston and will have a quick breakfast with Angel #2 between flights.  He's also bringing Fred down to her.  We're all going to miss Fred up here, but since #2 raised him since he was two weeks old, bottle feeding him, teaching him to use the litter box and all that kind of stuff, he's definitely her cat and we can't convince her to let him stay.

Last night, hubs and I went out to eat for our anniversary.  It's today, but with him leaving early tomorrow morning, we thought it would be best to go out Friday instead.  We tried a new (for us) place downtown at a nearby city and it was crazy as we were driving there.  The main street in town was closed off and there were people walking everywhere.  We thought maybe it was a Christmas parade or something.  Once we got to the restaurant, we found out that the downtown area was closed to traffic because all the downtown shops were having live mannequin  displays in their windows.  So, after we ate, we took a nice walk up and down mainstreet to check out all the displays.  It was nice weather (for December in Wisconsin) and there were tons of people out and about.  We went into some stores we previously didn't even know existed and really enjoyed ourselves.  I also finally went to Vintique, a store I'd been wanting to check out for awhile now.  It's all vintage clothes, hats, jewelry and that sort of thing, from the 1920's-1960's.  Awesome stuff and I'm definitely going back again when it won't be quite so crowded and check things out a little closer.

PS Jeanie, this is your yearly anniversary reminder!!!

Don't feel bad, Tanya, I thought Taylor Swift was still with the Kennedy kid as well, thank goodness #4 set me straight about the whole Haylor thing.  #4's not too worried about the romance though - according to her, she said that soon Taylor will be writing a song about their break-up and Harry will be all hers again.

Our little Fred, the cat, went to the vet today.  Sunday he's hopping on a plane with hubs, who will be handing Fred over to Angel #2 during his layover in Houston.  She'll be happy to have both her cats with her again, but those of us up here will be missing the little stinkwad.  Fred is the most active of our cats, pouncing on our feet while we're in the shower, meeting us at the door when we come home and generally making himself felt around the house.  We've also been known to leave the faucet dripping in the bathroom sink for Fred because he loves playing in the water.  We're starting to become those kind of people - so maybe it's a good thing Fred's leaving or we're going to start buying little cat clothing and getting them birthday presents and weird stuff like that (btw, Angel #2 already does that stuff, she's totally a crazy cat lady).  Once Fred is gone, we'll be left with a fairly manageable amount of pets, just Diesel the doofus dog and Muse, aka Fatty McCatty - and of course, my chickens, but they don't live in the house, and we eat them, they're not really pets, except for the edible kind.  Though I don't think they're such a thing as edible pets, so yeah, they're just farm animals.  But, I do talk to them every day, so we do have a relationship, but it's more like an eater to an eatee kind of thing rather then master/pet.  It works for us, so STOP JUDGING ME!!!

Why yes, it IS all about my kid. Why do you ask?

Last night we went to Angel #4's Christmas concert for school.  It was for the Middle school, so 6th, 7th & 8th grade choir, band and tone chimes.  We started with the 6th grade band - they did 3 songs.  On the 2nd song, the band teacher said she asked some of the 8th grade band members to mentor the younger kids and had them come up to play with the 6th graders.  #4 went up there to do here part helping the 6th graders.  Then we moved on to tone chimes, which are kind of like bells and sound like a music box.  Angel #4 also belongs to the tone chimes group, so she was up there again.  After Tone chimes, the Middle School Choir got up to sing and you guessed it, #4 was up there again.  After a couple songs, the music teacher pulled 2 girls down to do a special duet - the song they're preparing to do together for Solo Ensemble in March.  Yep, it was the Angel with her best friend.  They sang beautifully together, a nice change since I thought the only thing those two could do together was giggle.  When Choir was done, the 7th and 8th grade band came up to perform.  One of the songs featured the percussionists, who moved their instruments to the front of the group for that particular song.  Yep, you guessed it, #4 is a percussionist.  It was pretty cool - except for 2 of the 6th grade band songs, my kid performed in every song of the concert.  I'm so proud of my talented daughter.

Angel #4 is also keeping me updated on the exciting world of teen age pop music.  I know all about Directioners (fans of the group One Direction), HaLor (the romance between Harry Styles and Taylor Swift), Swifties (fans of Taylor Swift, obvie) and all kinds of exciting things that I don't care about but know anyway.  I haven't gotten to the point where I know the blood types of all of the 5 One Direction boys (though #4 has run them through for me a couple times) but I know enough to sing along with 1D songs and know that Harry Styles is a sexy beast (according to #4, I think he looks like he's about 12 years old).  Though their songs are kind of catchy, I'll stick with the love of my life, Dwight Yoakam.