Quotable & Answers

Taking a cue from Mandy, here are 10 favorite lines from 10 of my favorite movies (in no particular order). Answers tomorrow below.

1. "Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky."

2. "I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by."

3. "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

4. "My dear, never confuse efficiency with a liver complaint."

5. "I'm nice men."

6. "No more conning! No more! If you're gonna be my wife, you're gonna live a respectable life, chopping cars!"

7. "Sorry. Could you come back later? We're trying to escape."

8. "And last week I saw Cameron Diaz at Fred Segal, and I talked her out of buying this truly heinous angora sweater. Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed."

9. "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window."

10. "Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?...Morons."

So here are my answers...and as you can see, no deep movies for me, thanks. I am all about the entertainment value. I have lots of other favorite movies, none of which have won awards.

1. Sean Connery as Henry Jones, Sr. in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (listed as a favorite for all four Indiana Jones movies)

2. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (listed for all three Pirates movies)

3. Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own

4. David Tomlinson as Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins

5. Harrison Ford as Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back (listed for all three original Star Wars movies)

6. Ray Liotta as Dean in Heartbreakers

7. Ellen DeGeneres as Dory in Finding Nemo

8. Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde

9. Julie Andrews as Maria in The Sound of Music

10. Wallace Shawn as Vizzini in The Princess Bride

Who raised these kids???

More Christmas chit-chat around the dinner table tonight...I happened to mention:

"I hope I get some new slippers for Christmas."

"I'll buy you some, Mom.."

"Awww, thanks Patrick!"

"...for five bucks."

Instant Gratification

We took the boys to see Santa yesterday. We have the awesomest Santa Claus at our mall. I think he may actually be Santa. Anyway, last year Ben talked to him, but wouldn't sit in his lap. This year he trusted him enough to have the chat whilst perched on his knee. I didn't get pictures though, because there are no personal pictures and the "professional" shot cost $12 and for heavens sake, we're in a recession, haven't you heard? I hear (from a reliable source) that the only way to get a free picture with Santa is to be his anesthetist during outpatient surgery and then stop and check on him while you're at the mall. We couldn't make that happen, though...so we skipped the pictures.

Anyway, here's the conversation we had with Ben while waiting in line:

Us: Ben, are you going to sit in Santa's lap with Patrick?

Ben: Yes!

Us: What are you going to tell him you want?

Ben: A green motorcycle!

Us: What else?

Ben: Just a green motorcycle!


And twenty minutes later...


Us: Ben, wasn't that great talking to Santa?

Ben: Yeah...where's my green motorcycle?

This and That

So here's what's been going on with me lately:

1. A few weeks ago, Ben had his Thanksgiving program at school, in which his class sang a song about killing turkeys and danced. It was hilarious. I took pictures. I'm not posting them because it was far too long ago.

2. At the beginning of this month, we went to the Christmas parade. My camera died, so I have no pictures. Doesn't matter, though--Jennifer has helpfully provided a play-by-play of the parade that you can read here. All I need to add is: it was frickin' freezing.

3. I got a new camera last weekend and this week Patrick had his Christmas program at school. I have no pictures of that because it turned out that directly between where Patrick was standing on stage and where I was sitting in the audience was the music director's head. Not wanting pictures of that, I gave up and just watched. They did really well.

4. My poll is about to end and I have learned two things from it: (1) Nobody who voted thinks I'm doing it exactly right and (2) out of all the people in the world, only six voted, so nobody really cares. That's okay, I don't care either. I have no intention of changing my blogging habits anyway.

5. I have been using Crest Whitestrips and now my teeth constantly feel like they're vibrating.

6. We are currently sharing our bathroom with one very persistent ant colony. There have been a lot of lives lost, but they keep coming back for more.

For those that want pictures, here's one of Ben. He wasn't cold, just being strange. A friend of mine asked me if I put mascara on him before I took the picture, and I will let you all make up your own minds about that. I just want to note that this picture was taken in complete darkness, so at least at close range, my new camera's flash rocks.

Weekend Rundown

We had a busy weekend with a visit to Gigi and Grandpa's house--in retrospect, I'm not sure I know why we went???? I think this was originally supposed to be a pre-Thanksgiving visit for the whole family, but that got delayed because of the never-ending renovations in Gigi's kitchen. So we went this weekend instead, but we didn't eat turkey and we're doing Christmas together in two weeks, so I don't know where that leaves this visit. But we still had a great time, and it was very convenient for me to be in ATL this weekend, because as it turns out, the USA Swimming National Short Course Swimming Championshios were at GA Tech, and I was able to take Patrick on Friday night.

A few of the Olympic swimmers were there, including our favorite Ryan Lochte, so we were psyched to watch him win his two races. The woman we sat next to was watching her daughter race and she was super-sweet to my son, talking and explaining everything to him. At the end of the individual races, she snuck away and bought him a Lochte swim cap and told him that Ryan said he was really busy and couldn't come up and talk right then, but he sent a present. She handed him the swim cap and Patrick absolutely believes that Ryan personally gave him a new cap. He also thinks it was our awesome mojo that helped Ryan win the race. If you want to see the pictures we took, click here.

Saturday morning we went to the community parade. Very cute, but VERY cold!!! They said it was going to be a harsh winter, but I swear I cannot handle this. I think it's time to go visit Mandy.

Patrick is still attached to Brendan's hip, wishing with all his might that we might give him a little brother to play with (I won't even dignify the irony in that statement). At any rate, Brendan seems to like him too, so it's all good.

Other than that, it was a typical quiet weekend with the fam. We were supposed to play a lot of tennis, but it was just TOO COLD. Hopefuly next time.

Me and the Boys are Fly!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Losing 10 Years of My Life

This morning at 7:15, I went upstairs to get Patrick up for school. I met him in the hallway and went to close his door so Ben could keep sleeping. I peeked and saw Ben was not in bed, checked under the covers, and then asked Patrick where Ben was. He didn't know. I looked in the other rooms upstairs--no Ben. Starting to panic, I came back downstairs and checked all the exits--thinking about stories of three-year-olds leaving the house in the middle of the night for ice cream--all latched. For lack of any other idea where to look next, I headed back to the bedroom and threw back the covers...and there he was:

Sound asleep, under the bed, with only the toes sticking out. And now I may as well be 41, because I did in fact lose ten years in two minutes.

I'm always game...

Thanks to Sandi for sending this my way. I'm sure Jennifer wants a piece of it as well...

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD. IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? CHARGING
2. Your significant other? NEARBY
3. Your hair? FRAGRANT
4. Your mother? LOVEABLE
5. Your father? DITTO
6. Your favorite thing? BEACH
7. Your dream last night? BIZZARO
8. Your favorite drink? PAINKILLER
9. Your dream/goal? TALLER
10. Room you're in? LIVING
11. Your fear? FIRE
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? CARIBBEAN
13. Where were you last night? SCHOOL
14. What you're not? TALL
15. Muffins? SURE
16. One of your wish list items? CASH
17. Where you grew up? ATHENS
18. The last thing you did? BAKE
19. What are you wearing? JEANS
20. Your TV? VIZIO
21. Your pet? NEUROTIC
22. Your computer? ON
23. Your life? MESSY
24. Missing someone? SUMMER
25. Your mood? AGITATED
26. Your car? DEPENDABLE
27. Something you're not wearing NECKLACE
28. Favorite Store? OLDNAVY (sue me, it's two words)
29. Your summer? ANTICIPATING
30. Your favorite color? NONE
31. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY
32. Last time you cried : MONDAY
33. Who will/would re-post this? NOBODY

34.FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: school, walmart, church, bed
36. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME: Sandi, Stephanie, Mom, Andrea
37. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW? beach, Greece, spa, cruising

Go USA

Patrick's been spending a lot of time being Scott lately. Well, he alternates between being Scott, Daddy, and Billy Blazes from the Rescue Heroes. Anyway, today he's Scott. Click here to see the real thing.

And can I just say thank you God for eBay? Patrick has asked Santa for a toy that they stopped making in 1999.

Birthday Boy

So today is Ben's birthday and we have now completed three of four scheduled birthday parties. The first one you know about, so here's an update...

Last weekend my parents escaped the headache that is their kitchen remodel and came up to visit and have birthday party #2. It was a beautiful fall day and the kids had a great time playing with Gigi and Grandpa. There was baseball...

...and cake...(and I want veryone to notice how Luke is trying to lean out of the picture. Everyone look at Luke. That's what he gets for being such a baby about having his picture taken--now we all look at him. So there.)

...and presents! Ben's modeling a shirt that Gigi got him--among other things--and checking out a new front loader set. He also opened his presents from David, Sandi, Matthew and Brendan, and loved them! Thanks guys!

We kicked off his actual birthday with a trip to the doctor's office for a flu shot. Fun, I know. Happy birthday sweetie, now here, let's shove a needle in your thigh! But I made up for it by delivering cupcakes to his school to share with his class. Plus, he got to wear the birthday hat all day, so that was awesome.

Since Luke's at work, like he always is on a day of importance, I took the boys out to eat, Ben's choice. Of course he chose McDonalds, and I'm sure that decision wasn't heavily influenced whatsoever by Patrick. So we went and ate our orders of grease with a side of processed meat, but the boys had a blast, and for once the playland was occupied by nice, normal kids who I felt comfortable letting my kids run with. Ben wore his birthday hat the entire time. Happy Birthday Ben!

I other news, Patrick's strep throat is back, less than a week after we stopped the first round of antibiotics. So now the doctor says to forget the bubble gum-flavored stuff, we're now moving on to the heavy hitters. Unfortunately, it tastes like...you guessed it...a dead cat in the middle of the road (that was for you David). Patrick managed the first dose, immediately threw up the second dose, and choked down the third dose. We'll be doing this for ten days. And that stuff cost me $40.

One last thing--Mandy now lives in Mexico. Lives. In. Mexico. How in the world did that happen? I'm so happy for her, but I just can't wrap my head around the whole thing. Anyway Mandy, I know you're having a fantastic time and we're glad you've got this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!!

My Little Republican

Patrick was involved in a class project to raise money for the Open Door Home while trick-or-treating. On Sunday night before we took the money back into school, we had this conversation:

Me: You need to take some money out of your own wallet and put it in the box.

Patrick: I do?

Me: Yes, you should give some too. However much you want to put in.

Patrick: (putting some money in the box) Okay...here.

Me: Good boy.

Patrick: But if I give all my money away, there won't be any left for me!

I think you missed the point kiddo, but the good news is, you're a lot smarter than the majority of our nation's registered voters...

It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To

Today I had a little birthday party for Ben...and in trying to keep it as simple as possible without skipping it altogether (sheer guilt is all that kept me from choosing that option), we pared it down to a playdate at the park with three friends, cake and presents.

Jacob and Mary Kate came, but poor Adam had a tummyache and had to go to the doctor. We missed him, but the three kids still had fun. There really isn't much to say...they played, we ate cake, we opened presents...voila! Instant birthday.

Everything started out well. I totally pulled it off in tricking Ben into thinking this was a real party. He was so psyched to have his two best buddies at the park with him.

Minor mishap with the cake...I spent the whole morning looking after that thing...making sure it didn't melt in the car while I was grocery shopping, etc...only to have it slip off the wagon and land upside down (in its packaging) once we reached the park. Whatever.

Ben's been paying attention to Daddy, I think. He was so apprehensive of the flame on the candles he couldn't even get close enough to blow them out. Mary Kate did the honors instead.

After cake came presents. There were only three of them, but after that experience, I'm not exactly looking forward to Christmas morning. He opened Mary Kate's first--it was a Thomas set and he was super excited and ready to open it right then. I had to convince him to open Jacob's present first and then we would get Thomas out straight away.

But Jacob's present was an equally awesome monster truck that also needed to be removed pronto, and thus the drama began. Because that monster truck packaging holds all our national security secrets or something, removing the toy was no small feat. In the end, it required a screwdriver, which I did not have and that led to a major meltdown and Ben sitting at the table crying (effectively reiterating that he is now a three-year-old) while everyone else went back to play. So that's how we ended his birthday party. And Lord knows I love that boy more than life itself, but it made me glad I didn't do more for him! Luckily, Jenny saved the day with a Leatherman-like tool in her car, so at least he was able to ride home all smiles again. Thank you Jenny!

And we never even got to the gift from Mommy and Daddy...I put it back on the shelf in my closet when we got home. We'll get to it sometime between now and the 13th.

Playroom makeover

Remember a few years ago when Stephanie gave us her son's old "road carpet"? She loves to pass on her old stuff to us, and it's usually great...Polo shirts, Pokemon figures and paraphernalia, but today she outdid herself--with furniture. Today we inherited her son's very very very expensive loft.

It's actually a double-loft (goes in an L-shape), but we opted to just put up one section of it, partially for the sheer size of it, and partially because we could only figure out a few ways to position it and all those ways involved a portion of it sitting directly under the ceiling fan and it didn't seem worth the weekly scalpings I was imagining. So the remaining section is stored under the guest bed and we'll pull it out one day when we have a bigger better house.

As I said, it belonged to Stephanie's son. She bought it a few years back and then he immediately grew 15 inches and now it's too small for him to sleep on. So it's on loan to us indefinitely--probably until she needs it back for grandchildren, which I hope for her sake is a LONG time from now considering her son is only a freshman in high school. Anyway, the thing cost like $1,500 so it was too expensive to get rid of and we're happy to "store" it for them.

Plus I talked to my dad today and he told me that they've removed their dishwasher and it's ready for us to pick up. I LOVE that dishwasher because it's so quiet you really can't even tell when it's on, so it's a good month for us!

Nearing Exhaustion

The past week has been busy for sure. We started out with a sore throat on Monday which hadn't gone away by Tuesday...and lo and behold, Patrick's going to follow in his mommy's footsteps and get strep throat twice a season, I guess. I had to cancel Ben's birthday party on Wednesday and rescuedule for this week, but I think that was for the better since it was FREEZING on Wednesday! Patrick was feeling well enough to go back to school on Thursday, but still has spent most of his time at home sleeping. Knowing my son, that kind of concerns me, and I'm thinking we'll be spending tomorrow doing absolutely nothing to give him a chance to rest, especially after the past few days.


Thursday night we finally got around to carving our pumpkin...

The finished product...

Friday was Patrick's first-ever field trip to the pumpkin patch. This particular patch is supposed to be great, but now I am glad we never wasted a Saturday going there because I was unimpressed. I think the kids had fun but Patrick was really dragging. We went trick-or-treating in Stephanie's neighborhood. Ben was supposed to be a pirate, but he had a last-minute change of heart and wore Patrick's Spiderman costume from last year. I have no idea what made him change his mind, but I was glad because he was able to wear his pajamas under the Spidey suit and it was chilly last night!!!

Patrick went ahead with his plan to be Pikachu--also a good costume since it allowed layering. They both got sick of their masks pretty quickly, which I was glad for since it would lessen the chances that they trip and fall in someone's yard and spill their candy everywhere, which would of course result in meltdowns and so on and so forth. Mask-free was okay by me!

The gang hitting up one house with an especially photographic porch...

And today we went to the annual fall bazaar at school, which was fun and chaotic as always. Patrick won another cake and I must admit that this one is a step up from last year's (click here to revisit that monstrosity), but still not at all appealing if you ask me. I miss the old days, when the women of the ladies guild at church baked all the cakes--and they were experienced bakers and knew not to slather orange icing on everything. I hold onto the dream that one day we'll win a simple bundt.

4 Boys = Cute Photos

Patrick with his favorite baby, Brendan. He likes Bren so much, he said it made him wish he had a baby brother. Go figure that one out...

Patrick, Matthew and Brendan. M and B looking presh, Patrick making eyes at the camera.

More cuteness, Matthew style.

Ben works that right dimple--love it!

Silly boys! Brendan's all "What the..."

Finally, a nice pose. Or...the best we could do.

One of Baby B without the paci.

Still alive....

Sooo...I have really been trying to keep the blog updated recently, but I just realized that it's been ten days (ten very busy days), so I thought I'd at least drop a quick line for all the fans. David and Sandi are here this weekend with their two boys, so between the four kiddies I wouldn't exactly say it's been a quiet day...

Sandi and I took the three older boys to the craft fair while Luke and David stayed home with baby Brendan and watched football. Then we all went to church and I seriously thought it would be not unlike the apocalypse with four boys under the age of six, but they were actually incredibly good. So we're tired tonight, but still very much alive. I'll try to post pictures of all four boys tomorrow. :)

Things that may drive me to drink...or sit in a dark room...or both.

1. Paint. Let's just not discuss this one, okay? Moving on...

2. The Sno-cone lady. Who in their right mind drives around all day with gas costing $3-4/gallon to sell ice and sugar? She's not right in the head, I tell you. And her music, for crying out loud! The insane little jingle that she blasts at nine gazillion decibles to announce her arrival! It's quite possibly a key element in extreme torture.

3. My neighbor shooting fireworks out of his mailbox. It freaks my dogs out and makes them jump all over the windows and doors, tearing up the screens. I would have forgotten that one if he hadn't conveniently done so as I typed this. Bless him, we wouldn't want to forget about him.

4. Headache-induced vision loss. Had my first experience with that one today. That was fun. Here's what Dr. Joshua says about that:
Blurred vision, cloudy vision, colorful shapes, shimmering light, sensitivity to light, zig-zag or saw-edge shapes, blind spots commonly occur in migraine just before the headache begins. Even if you don’t have a history of migraine, you can still have a migraine attack.
Yep, sounds about right. Thanks for clearing that up, Dr. Joshua. And yes, I did see an actual live doctor and he said the same thing.

5. Full moons. Anyone that has been in contact with a small child--especially a boy one (or two)--knows what I'm talking about.

6. Migraines and full moons together. That's extra-special fun.

7. I'm sure there are lots more, but my head hurts.

Fall Break Pictures

Speaking of dead animals...

Holy Mackeral! Or...rainbow trout or whatever. We have just returned from our camping trip to NC and Luke caught these two monster fish, along with a host of smaller ones that were still fairly large but not quite good enough for a photo op.

So we'll be eating trout for a while, which is fine with me. The problem lies in what to do with these suckers. I'd rather eat them...Luke would like to hang them on my walls (!!!). Which--besides being a *little* off-putting to me--is quite expensive. So that's our dilemna right now.

More pics from the trip later.

You try and you try...

I knew that lizard was severly hydrated after being stuck in our spare room for at least a week. I knew the first thing he'd do once I set him free was go looking for water. And I was afraid he'd find it in the bucket we use to catch the excess water from the heating/cooling system.

Sometimes I hate being right. R.I.P. little lizard.

It's been that kind of week, you know?

I am strong, invincible, woman, yadda yadda yadda...

I remember back when Luke graduated from the Fire Academy, the chief told all of the families "There will be times when you'll need them at home, and they won't be there for you." And I thought at the time that he was talking about serious things, like tornados and exploding hot-water heaters and things that go bump in the night. But so far it's been more like not being able to find my mixer because he put it away, and needing to go to Wal-Mart for children's tylenol at 11:00 p.m., and most recently--catching lizards...

It all started last week on a day that--of course--Luke wasn't here. I went upstairs to run on the treadmill and was greeted by a little green anole hanging out on the wall. After some inspection, I saw that the window--the only one in the house with no screen on it--was open ever so slightly, just raised about an inch. Well, I figured the little guy (and I know it was a guy because he didn't have that tell-tale stripe running down the length of his body) had just come in, so I opened the window all the way and started running. Ben sat down on the floor and watched him for a little while before losing interest and going back into the playroom. I kept half an eye on him as he wound his way around the wall and eventully disappeared on he other side of the window trim. When I finished running, I checked and he was nowhere to be found. Satisfied that he had gotten back out, I closed the window and went on my merry way.

I've been upstairs running almost every day since then and haven't seen my little friend, until today--a week later, Luke at work again--when I went up and was greeted by the same lizard, in almost the exact same place on the wall, but this time when I checked the window it was closed. I knew it was the same one because a little piece of his tail was missing. I opened the window again and started cleaning the playroom, checking on his progress every once in a while. I got really excited once because he got about four inches from the open window, but then he turned around and went back, and it was at that point that I knew I'd have to intervene. So I spent the next thirty minutes chasing that thing all around the window--which is not really my thing, because even though I really enjoy nature, not so much in my house--until he finally hid behind the bookcase, which I was not about to move. I gave up and figured we'd find his skeleton when we moved and wondered just how bad a four-inch lizard stinks when it starts to decompose.

Then we had two birthday parties to go to today, and one of them was Mary Kate's and we had gotten her a new play-doh set. So of course, when we got home, the boys wanted to play with their play-doh. I got them all set up in the playroom and then looked up and saw the saddest sight in the world. The lizard was sitting on my shutterblinds, staring out the window. If there was ever an animal that had given up hope, this was it. He didn't even bother to look at me when I approached him this time. He just gazed outside. It was pathetic. I felt so bad I knew I had to do something. He wasn't going to die miserable on my watch, and certainly not in my house! So I decided to get down to business with this lizard. First things first--I called all my neighbors to see if there was any kind of man available to come get this thing out of my house. Unfortunately I live amidst a bunch of good Southern Baptists, and being Sunday night, they were all at church. Shoot! Time for the tough to get going. Long story short--there was running, there was squealing, there was a lot of wiggling (by him, not me), but in the end, I got him trapped in a tupperware and took him outside, where he hopped out and ran away, with nary a glance of thanks, the little ingrate!

Ugh--lizards in my house--so not my thing. I'm so glad it's out. Now I just have to wait for the next diaster to strike while Luke's gone, like not being able to get the lid off the pickle jar...

Fall Ball

So last spring Patrick played soccer, as we all know. And it was fine, but he didn't love it. Then we got on a real casual baseball team this summer that was kind of over before it even started, and I never got pictures. But it was enough for Patrick to know that he really likes baseball. So we signed up for fall ball and now it is underway. The first game was Tuesday and it went fine. Here are a few pics...

They play two innings total...meaning each team gets to bat a full rotation twice. Outs and runs aren't kept track of, but they do try to move the ball the right way so the kids can learn what they're actually supposed to be doing.

Each kid gets three pitches from the coach, and if they don't get a hit, they use the tee. Patrick hit the first pitch both times. He's a pretty good hitter. In the summer league he only had to use the tee once in four games. But I suppose it all depends on the pitch too. There aren't any strikes or anything. Just hit what's coming at you. But he does it well.

How cool is my kid??? Yes, he did catch it!

Air Show 2008

In what's shaping up to be an annual family tradition, we went to the air show for the third straight year this weekend. Well, Patrick went for the third straight year, Luke went for the second straight year, and Ben and I went for the first time. You might wonder why we keep going back? Truth be told, I'm not sure--three years from now I may be completely sick of it--but this time I thought it was fun. HOT. Very hot...but fun.

God Bless America

Today of all days...be proud of this country, support our soldiers, pray for peace, believe in heroes, salute the flag, and thank God for what we still have.

It's his active imagination...I SWEAR.

Patrick came home today with his third yellow light note of the year. It seems like his teacher this year is a little more strict than last year's. Which is fine, but he better watch his step a little more closely. Anyway, we had the obligitory talk about what was going to happen the next time he got a yellow light note, then had this subsequent conversation:

Luke: You should also remember that Santa is watching you.

Me: And he doesn't bring presents to bad boys.

Patrick: He doesn't????

Me: No, he brings a lump of coal instead. Is that what you want?

Patrick: What's coal?

Me: It's a rock. He brings the bad boys a rock for Christmas.

Patrick: To smash them over the head with?


Like I said, it's his imagination, and that's all.

Living With Boys

Overheard in the car on the way home tonight:

"Hey! Where'd my booger go?!?"

Indian...Corn

This weekend we were supposed to go to Gigi and Grandpa's house, but we won't get into that because if you are reading this blog, chances are good that you actually are Gigi or Grandpa, so you already know how that turned out. Anyway, we changed plans and the boys spent some of the long weekend with Ma and Pa. On Sunday they went to an American Indian festival and I don't know much of what happened except that they ate somethig blue that made them poop Grover-colored and they also got these headresses:

Cute, huh? Patrick looks like he took a few too many puffs on the peace pipe while he was there...

Anyway, while they were off saying "how" and hopefully learning some effective rain dances, I was busy completely destroying my house. On purpose, no less! Luke and I decided it was time to re-paint the downstairs and hallway (I'm not going to get into our reasons, but we had them and they were good), so we skipped off to get some paint and came home and proceeded to uglify the house in ways I had not thought possible. What is it with paint, for crying out loud? How does soft warm yellow turn into something that can only bring to mind a giant can of CORN smeared all over the walls??? I kept repeating the phrase from the IKEA commercial, "Be brave, not beige." And this is what I get for listening to the Scandinavian folk. Now I have corn walls. And I didn't get much sleep last night because of them. You know, if I am very very bad in this lifetime and I end up going to hell, I am pretty sure I know what's in store for me down there. I will be faced with an eternity of potty-training toddlers and picking out paint colors. Yeah...I think I'll go to confession tomorrow.

Okay, but back to the paint--it's not the end of the world. I just paint it again. It's what I do. I paint, cry and then re-paint, and I usually get it right the second time. So today I went and got a quart of a more conservative yellow and got to work on my test wall (yes, I realize I should have done this to begin with, shut up please) and I am liking it much better. I'm still not sure it's exactly what I am looking for, so I will wait until morning when I can see it with some natural light and then decide whether it's good enough or if I want to try one more shade. I'll do a little each night so by the end of the week the corn should be nothing but a horrible memory and then we'll never speak of this again.

Today we went to Ma and Pa's house to join the kids in swimming one last time this summer. It wasn't great swimming weather (thanks Gustav), but it was a relaxing day and we had a great meal, topped off by an insanely good homemade peach pie that I whipped up at 5:30 this morning in the corn kitchen. Everyone liked it and that made me happy because I was reminded that, even if I am a complete loser at picking out paint colors, there are still some things that I can do really well.

My Olympics

If you ask Luke, I've been glued to the TV for the past two weeks, drinking in that spectacular event that is the Summer Olympics. It's true, I love the summer games. I'm not quite sure what the draw is, all I know is that every four years, I can't get enough of swimming and gymnastics, among other things. But of course, those were my two main draws this year. I was ALL ABOUT the swimming...and not because of Michael Phelps. We've had too much of a good thing with him and I feel like if he disappeared for a little while it wouldn't be such a bad thing. But aside from Phelps Mania, the swimming was great entertainment, I thought. Lots of action, lots of records broken, and I could watch Ryan Lochte paddle around a kiddie pool and it would still be acceptable programming for me! I was all over the gymnastics as well, but now that I am older and undeniably wiser than I was in 1992 when I first started watching those little pixie chicks, I actually felt more sorry for them than glad about their awesome performance.


So here in the second week, I have been less occupied with watching every single second of primetime NBC, but my thoughts did wander to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta 12 years ago, and I had to get out my scrapbook and reminisce. That summer, I had the extreme good fortune of NOT being picked to dance at the Opening Ceremonies. I had submitted my resume and tried out, but was not chosen to be a performer for one of the many dance numbers. But on my resume, I had noted that I was a high school cheerleader and got a call back to audition to be an "audience leader". I had no idea what that meant, but I was game for anything that would make me a part of it. Little did I know what a great part it would be! It turned out the audience leaders were just that...people assigned to a section of the audience at the Opening Ceremonies who would guide the spectators during a few key parts of the show in which the audience was to play a part of the program. I was especially grateful for my part when I learned that the dancers and other performers would be holed up at the Georgia Dome and would only be shuttled in for their numbers. Meanwhile, I had relatively easy work--there were just a few short moments where I had an actual job to do--and the rest of the time I was free to sit and watch. It was great! I had a field-level seat and met lots of people from all over the world. I remember sitting next to this one guy who kept saying he had to use the bathroom, but I kept telling him to stay and watch the next number, having seen them all numerous times at rehearsals. I didn't want him to miss out. Finally he couldn't hold it any longer and went anyway--even though I told him not to...BUT when he came back, he was like "I just met Carl Lewis waiting in line for the bathroom!!!!" I couldn't believe it! One other memory I have was when the United States athletes came out during the Parade of Nations, I couldn't believe how many there were. It took forever to get them into their spot on the field, which just happened to be right in front of my section. I kept trying to spot famous athletes in the crowd, but it was just a massive sea of faces, too dense to see anyone...except one. Way out in the middle, standing head and shoulders above everyone else, was Shaquille O'Neal. That was pretty cool. It was a great night in general, but I didn't get pictures during the show...


However, two weeks later at the Closing Ceremonies, I had even less to do and was able to get LOTS of pictures. That night was where I really hit the jackpot! My section was one of the ones designated to seat the athletes during the show, and I got unbelievably lucky and had the USA team sitting with me! On top of that, the ones who were sitting there were...wait for it...the swimmers!!!! They were super-nice and I hung out the whole night with Tripp Schwenk and John Hargis, who were both SEC swimmers and gold and silver medalists at the games.

I also hung out with Ray, who's last name I can't remember at all, but he was nice also. He introduced me to Jenny Thompson, a major factor on the team that year, and also four years before in Barcelona. That was cool because in '92 my mom and I traveled to Connecticut together and I remember watching Jenny's race from our hotel room. Anyway, here she is in a random 7-Eleven hat, with Ray and me.

Also in my section was Kerri Strug, who--in case you were living under a rock and don't know--was the hero of the games. She was nice to take a picture with me, but I was really kinda freaked out by her size and her super-squeaky voice.

At one point in the show, the athletes got tired of sitting and stormed the field--and I think that moment kind of set the precedent for all future closing ceremonies. Now they actually start out on the field instead of in the stands. Anyway, I stayed back because I thought it was kind of a moment for the athletes, but Tripp and John came back to get me, so I was able to join the party after all. It was mayhem on the field, but in such a great way. Tripp introduced me to Beth Botsford, another swimming gold-medalist.

Me with Tripp and John...we were all out on the field for the rest of the show...

I also met Amanda Beard, who was at her first Olympics, only 14 years old. She made headlines by winning a silver-medal with her teddy bear waiting for her on the blocks. Now she makes headlines in a different way...ahem...

I have so many pictures from being on the field, I could never include them all. Everyone was in such high spirits, all you had to do was smile and they were ready to jump in front of the camera. One rower from Britain asked me to marry him. His name was Ivan. Then he signed the back of my dorky uniform vest "To my wife, Love Ivan". We got pictures with Brazilians, Russians, and these blokes from Down Under. The girls in the pictures are my pals Greer and Amy, whom I hung with during all the practices and rehearsals.

The next day it was back to reality. My moment of rubbing elbows with greatness was over, but the pictures and souvenirs from that night are kept close. I hadn't looked at this stuff in a long time, but the past two weeks inspired me to dig it all out again. I had forgotten that Tripp and John both signed my vest and John left his phone number as well. No point in putting it here--I'm sure it's not right anymore--but I can't say I'm not curious to give it a try... ;)

So thanks for two great weeks of competition and for dredging up some long-forgotten memories. Hope to see all the athletes again in London 2012!!!