The Couture of Laundry Soap.

A funny thing happened the other day.  My mom, who spoils me beyond anyone's imagination, heard me say something about how I needed some laundry detergent.  This conversation was around the time that I had two puking children, so the laundry room was working overtime.  She said that she needed to go to Sam's for some things and after a while came back with a bottle that I hadn't seen in my house, well, ever!  I was in awe of the fact that my mom bought me a Sam's sized jug of Tide..not that she wouldn't ever do such a thing, because she does things like this all the time, but because she bought TIDE! ...the couture of laundry detergents.  I was trying to remember the last time I bought Tide, and I don't think I ever have...ever.  Only because it's so expensive, and because I'm so cheap.  She laughed at me.  I covet that Tide.  I use it sparingly so I can maybe make it last longer.  Then when it's gone, we'll go back to having average smelling, but still clean laundry. 

'Tis the season...

Isn't it fun to get all the Christmas decorations out?  I love it...as do most, I think.  J got all the boxes down and put up the Christmas lights on the house, which look GREAT!  I looked at all the boxes in the garage, there really aren't THAT many...maybe 4, and started thinking about where certain things will go.  Most of the things I have are hand-me-downs...GREAT ones, all of which I am thankful to have.  Christmas decorations are unnecessary and overpriced, but also are AWESOME!  So I'm glad that some of my family members donate to the cause.  :)  I have things in those boxes that I remember from my grandmother's and great-grandmother's houses during Christmas.  As I was trying to remember what all I had stashed away, and trying to place all those items around our house in my mind, I started opening a box.  I didn't remember this particular box from last year, but it did say, "CHRISTMAS" in red letters all over it.  I ripped the tape off to find and Wal-Mart sack FULL of NEW Christmas decorations!  I remember now!  I hit the after-Christmas sales last year and had lots of new things!  Mostly evergreen and red berry garlands, but still, new things!  It was exciting!

Anna and Grey's Christmas List:

Anna: 

1: An attitude adjustment.

2. Having the ability to not blame Grey when I tell her to do something, or blaming him for not "letting" her do something she wants to do (such as taking a drink out of her cup, or something else ridiculous).

Grey:

1: A miraculous recovery from all of the different sicknesses he's had (non-stop) for the last few months.

2. For Anna to stop waking him up in the middle of the night from his perfect sleep because she's crying about something.  Something like "I have a bugger in my nose!!"

Beware.

I'm about to make THESE and I'm not sure that they'll make it to the church in time for our Thanksgiving dinner (because I might eat them all).  Please pray that they do and that others at our church can also share in the clogging of arteries.  My mom says that my dad could live off of them...but not the clogged arteries.  Close your eyes Erica, your blood sugar may go nuts if you even look at this!

Update: They made it to the church, and NONE of them made it to my mouth.  But it's ok, the CUP of butter that is used in the recipe sort of grossed me out when I was making them anyway.  HA!

Been Tagged...

1: I like the smell of burning flesh.  Like if I burn my fingers a little while building a fire...  I once had a pretty serious, but small burn on my hand and kept catching myself with it stuck to my nose.  I also like the smell of burned leather.  While in my sculpture classes (metal and jewelry), sometimes I'd "accidentally" burn my leather gloves just to get a whiff.  Weird.

2.  I've always wanted to be a meteorologist when I grew up.  Not the kind on camera, but the one of the geeks that sat and watched the radars/dopplers at the National Weather Service offices.  And be a storm chaser.  I even toured the National Weather Service once when I was in college for fun.  Too bad I can't do A LICK of math...  I took an Atmospheric Science course in college and it was the only good science grade I got.  I even got a bonus question about "vertical atmospheric lift" correct on a lab test.  It was asking what a certain equation would determine, which happened to be longer than a standard sheet of paper is wide. (sorry I stole this one, Erica.)

3. I am a pyromaniac.  Most of you know that...

4. I hate to brush my teeth...and four of my teeth are fake, but not because I don't like to brush them.  They were knocked out by a softball when I was in 5th grade.

5. I like the weird eerie feeling you get when you stand in the middle of the road.  I always have the urge to stick my hands in a saw blade...it's a mental war game every time I hear a saw.

6. I LOVE to watch people and try to figure out what they are talking about when I can only see their lips moving and their facial expressions.

7.  I bite my fingernails and chew on the bitten off part for hours...or until it falls apart in my mouth.

I think I'm the last of my friends to be tagged, therefore I don't have anyone else to tag.  :)

Wanted: NFOD

Or a "new form of discipline." We have several forms of discipline in this house.  The ultimate discipline is spankings.  If nothing else works, then that's what she gets.  Anna has decided lately that she's REALLY push our buttons and see how far we'd really go.  She has been in trouble for the majority of the evenings of the last couple of weeks.  We seem to always get to the ultimate discipline every time.  But then a funny thing happened.  She started acting like getting spanked was no big deal.  Over and over she'd misbehave, talk to me in like a 16 year old who hates her parents, etc.  I'd do all those things that lead up to spanking her and nothing would phase her...and now this.  I told her the other night that if she did that again (whatever it was...) then she'd get a spanking.  She did it, I reminded her that that was about to happen, she stood there, looked at me and said, "It's ok 'cause I not gonna cry when you spank me..."  I spanked her anyway, looked at her and it was like looking at a crazy serial killer with no emotion or remorse.  She took it and walked away.  Nothing.

Poor Grey.

But he really doesn't care...  For the record, this was Nana's idea.

The dead zone.

Anna goes in and out of a "death" phase.  She's back into it lately.  The other day we were making some pancakes and Anna was helping me put in the ingredients.  She cracked an egg, put it in the bowl, and said, "Look Mommy, it's dead now."  Weird and a little morbid, but true.  She has been killing the poor little bugs that crawl past her again....mainly to see them smashed and twitchy.  And during "sick week" while Elisabeth and Erin were here, Anna had a brief conversation about death with Elisabeth.  I can't remember exactly how it went, but it was something like this:

Elisabeth: (sitting on the bed while looking at Erin and Chas' photos on the computer) Anna, what are you doing?

Anna: (also on the bed making a shoveling motion) I'm digging a hole.

Elisabeth: Why are you digging a hole?

Anna: Because...

Elisabeth: Are you going to put something in the hole?

Anna: Yes...you.

Elisabeth: I'm going in the hole?  Why?

Anna: Cause you're dead.  

Erin assures me that the "death phase" is normal and that most kids go through it.  It's just SO weird.

Verification for comments...

Have you ever over-analyzed those jumbled letters that you have to type when you want to leave a comment on someone else's blog?  It's kind of funny...the combination of letters that you "randomly" get sometimes completely relate to either whatever you've put as a comment, or relate to the post you're commenting about.  Weird.  Sometimes the jumbled letters need to make a word (or a couple of words), and sometimes the funny part comes when you just repeat the letters to yourself.  For instance, here are some of the ones I've gotten lately and wrote down:

artbegr: (as a word) Related to a blog post by a local photographer who is just "getting started."

fivcup: (repeat the letters) Related to a blog post of a friend talking about potty training her son.

fawping: (as a word) It made some sort of "sound" when saying these letters as a word...kind of like when a tennis ball bounces then hits a racket.  I don't remember the post it related to, but I remember that it went with it...

dulthet: (as a word) Related to someone talking about a case of the "Mondays."

stixies: (as a word) Again, related to a blog post about giving up on potty training.

Does anyone else "get it?"  Or is it just me having too much time on my hands...how is that possible by the way?

YAY!

Wanna see one of the prettiest rocks ever?  

Congratulations Russ and Elisabeth!