Armpits, Covered Dishes and Pop Bottles

This is a picture of Spencer and IV playing with a friend who is a little older. If you look closely, you can see that he is teaching our boys a very important right of passage: The underarm farting sound. Ah, Yes! What little boy doesn't think this skill is the life of the party?

Speaking of parties, have you ever noticed how CDO we women get at covered dish suppers? (CDO is OCD but with the letters in alphabetical order.....)
We all whisper to each other "What did you bring?" "Who's potato salad is this one?" "Is that Betty's deviled eggs?" It is like we all become super paranoid about germs and only eating food from someone we know. If I know her then she MUST have a clean kitchen and wash her hands, right?
The men are totally different. It is a personal challenge to sample each dish. Their chinette plates are so full they need sideboards.

Spencer has been going to enrichment camp for the past two weeks. He came home Friday and asked me how to play spin the bottle. WHAT???!!!He is only 7? I explained the game to him, which he thought was a gross cootie-fest. Then he told me which little brat, I mean little girl, asked him to play spin the bottle. Isn't it weird how so much has changed in the past 20 years but stupid spin the bottle has been around forever?

And as a final note- have you seen the trailer for Half Blood Prince? Oh wow!

Easy Going Weekend

This past weekend was nice! I slept in on Saturday. Then took Spencer to his little friend's birthday party, where he made tye-died shirts and had a blast. Kim came up that afternoon. She brought the boys cool dino t-shirts and pencils. While Kim and I went off for the afternoon, Spencer spent some time with Nana and Boppa and then played video games and spent the night with IV. Kim and I spent the rest of the day shopping, had dinner at Bravo, then shopped some more-- then went to the late showing of The Dark Night. Man! Heath Ledger was awesome as the Joker. I thought he was getting the sympathy nod with the recent nominations, but he really stole the show. I really wanted to see Stepbrothers but I just couldn't talk her into going with me..she is such a comedy lightweight!

You did what with horse hair?

My friend and Mobile Meals partner, Nancy, gave me a very unique gift from her trip out west: Horsehair pottery. I had never seen it before, but I think it is a really interesting piece!

Here's a description I copied from a couple of websites:
Horsehair pottery is made from a white clay that has been bisque fired to a lower than usual temperature. This leaves the fired clay body quite porous, enabling it to absorb the carbon from burning horse hair. Later, the bisque is warmed up in the kiln to about 1300 degrees Fahrenheit. When it is removed, individual strands of horsehair, preferably from the tail, are laid against the hot surface. If the temperature on the surface of the piece is just right, the hair will attach to the pot, shrivel up, and begin to burn. As the ash forms, a small deposit of carbon and smoke is absorbed into the clay surface, leaving a permanent trace of the horsehair. As the temperature falls below 900 degrees Fahrenheit, the pot will no longer accept the hair, and the process is over. When the ashes are washed away and the piece is completely dry, it is usually polished with a paste wax or sprayed with an aerosol furniture polish to give it a soft satin finish and lasting luster.

Because horsehair pottery must be porous in order to achieve the effect, it is not to be used as a water vessel for fresh flowers. Its use is solely as a piece of art to enhance the décor of your favorite room or to make a statement about your appreciation of your horse. It makes a nice conversation started if you take it to work. If you like I can carve the name of your horse on the bottom of the vessel. If you don't have a horse I often have pieces for sale in the gallery.

Momma Me-ugh.

Meh. It was lame. Live theater is fine if it is sappy and over the top-- but movies, ugh-- not my thing. Everyone else loved it. I'm SO not a "chick flick" kind of girl. As fine as Pierce Brosnan is to look at, his singing was the musical equivalent of a colonoscopy. And come on, Meryl Streep is almost 60 years old--playing a character in her early 40s. She looks good for her age, but not that good. Plus, I'm not exactly an ABBA fan, so that didn't help either. Okay, enough griping. I'll shut up now.

okay maybe one more thing... who the hell has a goat house????

Inez's new thingy

I went to CVS tonight and they had some pretty neat pet beds for $5.99. Spencer picked out one for Inez. She is so goofy, I wasn't sure she would like it. I came home and tossed it on the floor. I got the scissors, leaned down, cut the tags off and turned to put the scissors in the drawer--when I turned back around she was ALREADY in the kitty bed purring loudly and doing the "kneading dough" thing with her paws. I had to laugh at her. For years, this cat was shy and would hide all the time and now she is a total diva. Spencer and I decided that for only $5.99, we should go back and get another one for the bedroom!

Speaking of Spencer, we were playing cards tonight and he was goofing off and Spencer said: "I'm gonna lay down the log!"
me: "Uhmmmmm. It's LAW not LOG. You lay down the law."
Spencer: "Well that doesn't make sense at all. You lay down logs."

This is the same kid that ARGUED with me that it was SPEED LEMON instead of SPEED LIMIT. Yeah, cause that totally makes sense. When he learned to read, he finally agreed that it was "limit" and not "lemon" - but I think a small part of him thinks there was a nationwide conspiracy to change all of the regulatory signs just to mess with him....

Oh--and the poor kid inherited my gift for butchering lyrics. I knew he was in trouble when at age 3 he sang "Here comes your buddy" instead of "It's a Wiggly Party"-- not even close. But, at least he is entertaining.

Talking Turkey and Migraines

Guess what was in my yard this evening? A momma turkey and 3 turkettes! Or would that be a hen and 3 poults or chicks? I have no idea-and Spencer is asleep, little Mr. Discovery channel would know. Spencer was gone when they came for a visit, he has missed everything this past week!

This afternoon was rough. I had a nasty nasty migraine. I am actually working on an enjoyable project at work, and I had to totally flake out this afternoon to repair my stoopid head. Imitrex, pain pills, and nausea meds later-- I was better but hung over. So, as a "get over being sick" tradition in my family, I fixed hot tea and toast. Spencer said he was a little hungry so I fixed an extra cup of tea and a couple more slices of toast. I put our tea and toast on the table and the phone rang--- a few minutes later, I went back to the table and my son had eaten all 4 pieces of the toast. He is not normally a big eater so this shocked me. Seriously little dude-- you only saved me the crust?

Speaking of little pricks....

Spencer had his first blood draw today. Well he had it done as an infant--but this was his first time as a kid. They put a layer of lidocaine on his arms so that the skin is numb. Then we had a normal allergy/asthma appointment during which Spencer obsessed with the see-through lidocaine bandaids.

Mr. Spencer talked a big game and promised not to be scared for the blood test but when it came time, anxiety hit. He kept holding his chest and wiggling his feet back and forth--a couple of big tear drops fell--but he asked the nurse to just get it over with. When the needle went in, he said, "Is that it? That didn't hurt!" They took two vials and then put a bandaid on-which he has worn all evening like a medal of honor.

Morning visitor

Check out this little guy. He was by my steps this morning-full of mud, looking like a 90 year old curmudgeon. Can you see the red piss ant right below his face?

I hated Spencer wasn't home to see this little guy!

A stray named Merry

We are still feeding the cat up at the abandoned farm house. She will let you pet her and is quite loving now. I haven't tried to pick her up yet. Spencer named her "Merry" because he wants her to have a home by Christmas. Christmas is a big deal in our house--lots of traditions and family events--so I guess Spencer wants the kitty to have family and love by Christmas. I like that he thinks that way.

But...we need to find someone to take this cat before December! I am pretty sure it is a girl cat. I am not a feline testicular expert, but it looks like girl parts to me.

Click on the collage to see bigger photos so you can see her long fur and pretty eyes!
My local readers-- please call or email if you know someone that can give her a home!

He really (past tense verb) it!

I introduced Spencer to MadLibs today. He doesn't know the parts of speech yet (adjective, noun, verb, etc.) so MadLibs is a GREAT way of teaching him. We did a couple of fun stories-- you know my kid had toilet humor in there. He cracked himself up! He was laying over, holding his ribs, laughing as I read the story back to him with all of his silly contributions. He can't wait to do more! I know how I will be spending my (expletive) Barnes & Nobles gift card now.

From Cruise to Crüe

I just downloaded Mötley Crüe's new album Saints of Los Angeles. As a long time fan, and part of the "aged out" audience, I still like this album enough that I bought the entire thing and not just a track or two.

I watched their interview on Larry King Live a few weeks ago (and yes I was a goober and submitted a question...and no, they didn't use my question...darn!) I have to admit that Sixx still blows my skirt up, Vince looks much healthier, Tommy is still just awesome and poor Mick Mars looks like a Weekend at Bernie's joke taken way too far. I know he has a degenerative arthritic condition, but the poor guy looks like he is 147 years old and in so much pain he can barely move. He needs to retire and give his body a break. The Rolling Stone review of the new album ended with "Fun fact: As of press time, all four members of Mötley Crüe are still alive."

Happy 4th of July

click on collage to enlarge images

Happy 4th--from a party on the 5th-- as my blog is updated on the 6th.....
Typical big cookout/pool party. We laughed the entire time and ate much more than we should! We started the evening trying out the new teeter-totter and swing set Boppa built for the kids and ended the evening sampling different wines and mellowing out. Pretty good day, huh?

Feeding Strays

Have I ever told you about the stray I feed? I have been feeding a wild cat for 10 years that I have never even petted. I call her Angel-- only because she is mean as hell. What are the chances that a feral cat would survive for over 10 years outside? I can't get any where near her and when I try, she hisses. But she is more than happy to accept food from me--as long as I am not near the food.

About a mile from us, there is a beautiful cat at an abandoned farm house. Spencer and I stop each day to make sure it has food and water. At least this one will let me pet it. Stupid Angel has seen me leave food for her for over 10 years and is still terrified of me!

And now a family of slugs have moved in. Big, fat slimy slugs come up on the porch every night and eat cat food. There are 5 of them-- yuck. But I guess they need food, too. I had no idea they liked cat food so much!