...and I'll see you guys on Monday.
I'm off to more southerly (I swear, blogger is telling me that's a word) regions tomorrow morning with B & L.
2 whole days (and some partial days as well) of relaxation and drinking and talking and drinking and fires and drinking and well, drinking.
Have a good one. More than likely I'll smell like beer or hurricanes or relaxed mommy come Monday morning, but man, will it be worth it.
Later,
Mama Dawg
Beat the Heat Techniques is the title to this one!
If you go to Disney between the months of March and October, you will need to incorporate some beat the heat techniques to insure that you have a good vacation. Believe me, a definition of a good vacation in Central Florida during this time period is one where you don't suffer from heat exhaustion, dehydration or heat stroke.
The most important tip of all and I can not emphasize this enough....WATER, WATER, WATER!!!!!!!
Water is your best friend. Whether you (or your kids) are thirsty or not, drink water. I make light of my life constantly sip water while wandering through the parks. I drink water like a fiend anyway, so I don't have to step up my game much.
Water also comes in handy to cool off your body should you feel overheated. Take a bandanna with you and dip it in the water fountain. Either wipe your body down with the cold wet bandanna or twist it up and tie it around your neck. My mom does this all through out the day and she never gets too hot. Believe me, she is one that gets hot at the drop of a hat.
You can also wet the bandanna and tie it around your head like a pirate. You don't have to feel silly about doing this since you're already in the home of Pirates of the Caribbean! I find that this cools me off more than anything else. Light of my life also does this.
If you start to feel overheated, drink some water and find a cool shady spot to sit for a while until you feel better.
If this doesn't work or if it's a more serious situation, please, please, please go see a nurse at the nurses stations. Your maps clearly note the location of each one in each park. Believe me, it's better to lose a couple of hours during your vacation than days. Which is what can happen if you get too sick.
Wear light loose clothing. Believe me, no one at Disney World cares what you look like. As for what you might look like in pictures at the parks, believe me, the best you will ever look at the parks is when you first arrive. After that, it's all downhill!
I prefer to be as comfortable as possible. I wear pants that don't need a belt (I prefer capris) as well as a sports bra and some sort of light colored loose fitting top. It can be a t-shirt or a loose tank or some sort of gauzy thing. Whatever you choose, make sure it's comfortable.
I do not recommend tube tops or low cut shirts. If you plan on riding Space Mountain, DINOSAUR, Tower of Terror or any other rides of that sort, you will regret it. Believe me, you will regret it. You do not want your photo that's taken on some of the rides to have your girls hanging out for all eternity.
That's all I got for today. I might do some money saving tips next week.
We'll see.
Later,
Mama Dawg
At church on Sunday, a prayer request went out to a local family who lost their grandson to drowning.
Yesterday at school, they made the announcement and sent home a letter stating that there would be a counselor available if the kids need it.
Light of my life got upset at the whole situation (mostly because others were and she felt she needed to as well) and wanted to talk about it and cry about it yesterday when I got home.
We talked a bit about it and she seemed to settle down.
That news combined with me going away this weekend with my neighbors (without her) is just too much emotionally for her to handle.
Therefore, I haven't had a chance to tell her about S yet. She loves S and it will break her heart to find out that she passed away.
Man, can't she get a break? How much is an 8 year old expected to handle?
Later,
Mama Dawg
P.S. We've had a discussion about what to do if she falls into the creek where we fish. The little boy that died didn't know how to swim (light of my life does) when he fell in a swift moving river. His parents didn't know how to swim either (I do) and no one was wearing a life vest. Such a tragic accident.
...Dancing Queen to state:
"You can fish, you can cast,
drop your line in the creek fast.
See that girl, watch her fish,
seeing her makes you wish....You were the Fishing Queen. "
The reason I say this is I've created a monster with light of my life. When I got home Friday from the local flea market (where I bought light of my life a new, well technically old, desk and chair and a few other things), I asked if she wanted to go fishing for about an hour. The look on her face answered that question so I went inside and got changed. We ran over to B & L's to grab the nightcrawlers and headed out.
I swear, it was like the gods were against us.
When we got to my grandmothers house and parked the car, I noticed that our lines were tangled. I knew that that would take a bit to undo, so we started off towards the creek. Now, keep in mind, the creek is like a 15 minute walk away.
We get halfway there when light of my life asked me if I have the worms. Um....no....I have everything else. You know, the poles, mosquito spray, beer, etc.....
Shoot a monkey....we started walking back. When we got to the fork, I sat down and told her to go the rest of the way back to the car. I did this for two reasons. 1. It gave me a few minutes to start working on untangling the line and 2. It forced light of my life to walk in the woods by herself for a bit. When she got around the curve, she would be able to recognize where she was and the car was only like 2 minutes away at that point. I want her to get comfortable with the woods as we plan on living here for quite a while yet. She went back gladly and got the worms.
As we were walking to the creek, I had to explain to her that you don't always catch something every time we fish and that today, it might be even harder since the creek was down due to lack of rain recently. She sort of understood but wanted to continue on anyway.
We get to the creek and I sit down to finish de-tangling the line. I got one of the lines untangled from the other and I got ready to re-tie the line on light of my life's pole when it FELL through the cracks of the bridge down into the creek.
Are you f**king kidding me?!?!?!? I had to literally crawl down the bridge wall on down to the creek to retrieve the damn thing.
After all that, we only got to fish like 20 minutes. Light of my life caught NOTHING and I only caught one itty bitty tiny fish.
It was still worth it.
You know how I can tell though, that I have a fishin' demon on my hands? Light of my life woke up during a thunderstorm Saturday night and drowsily said, "Well, I guess the creek won't be low now, huh?".
I rest my case.
Later,
Mama Dawg
Light of my life got a kids cookbook from Santa and she wanted to try out a recipe. Below are pics from the second time she made her chicken nuggets and french fries. As we all know, the third time wasn't so successful.
Here she is cutting up the "slimy" chicken (in her words).
Here's a close up of her cutting technique.
Here's the tasty french fries that I crave. These are much better than any I've ever had. Period.
Here's the nuggets in the oven.
Here's the finished result. So tasty. I'm so proud of her for taking an interest and actually sticking it out. She really enjoys cooking.
Later,
Mama Dawg
My good friend K called my mom this morning to tell her that her sister, S, passed away.
She was so young.
She had just been diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer and had only had about a weeks worth of treatment (no radiation, just chemo) when she passed away from a heart attack.
Mom called me here at work. I just sit here with tears in my eyes and my heart hurts.
She was one of my favorite people and I loved it when she came to town (when we still lived there). We had discussed us coming up and visiting her but never got around to it.
The worst part is, her son is overseas (not military, just visiting) and no one can get a hold of him. They're not even certain what country he's in (they think Hungary). He's only 28 or 29.
I can't believe she's not gonna be there at New Year's and Memorial Day and Fourth of July.
We always ate a big meal and played games late into the night. She was so funny and sarcastic and wise and loving and smart.
She will be missed.
Later,
Mama Dawg
....who sold my e-mail address to a singles website for Big Black Beautiful Women?
Seriously, I get an e-mail a day from this site. I always just delete the e-mails, but how on earth did my e-mail address get sold to them?
Oh, and I don't need Viagra either. Or to buy a HUD home. Or to try out the new green tea for diets that's been SEEN ON OPRAH! Or a government grant.
Assholes.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I declare this Dead Raccoon Month. Seeing as how I've seen nothing less than 20 dead raccoons on the road since the beginning of the month. Not that I'm keeping count.
This morning's was totally the worse though. It was hit in one spot and crawled/was drug to another. You know how I know?
The 8 foot long stretched out intestine that was in one place and ended up 8 feet away with the rest of the body.
And the 15 foot smear of blood on the road.
He must of put up a hell of a fight against the car.
It was so gross. Bleh.
March was Dead Armadillo Month. They're not quite as messy.
See the things you learn living out in the country?
Later,
Mama Dawg
Did you know it was possible to get toothpaste dribble on your belly?
It is.
Especially when you've just gotten out of the shower, your buck ass nekkid, you're in the middle of brushing your teeth and one of your cats (yeah, I'll call him out, it was J.D.) comes by and bites you on the ankle making you jump right as you're about to spit.
Yeah, it's possible to get toothpaste dribble on your belly.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I love my camera's macro setting.
I just like this pic. I took it while laying down on the ground and looking up.
Some daffodils from the daffodil field I talked about.
This is a swarm of thousands of bees. They only swarm once but apparently, they've been coming back to this shed for over 30 years. This shed is like 100 feet from my house. After they swarmed and got settled, I haven't heard from them.
That's it for me. Off to the ol' homefront.
Have a great weekend!
Later,
Mama Dawg
Here's some random pics that I would like to share with the world.
This is Teddy, the Hamster, in a sock. I had mentioned in a prior post that I would post this and here it is.
I make these little fairies and decided to take some out of the house to photo in nature...since that's where fairies live. This one is a bride fairy.
Took this coming home from fishing.
This is my eyeless cat watching light of my life's dance recital on the TV. Yes, that is a huge stack of books in the far right corner. That's just one stack. I actually have 8 that high of books I haven't gotten around to...yet.
This is my aunt's dog, Bailey. She's a Katrina dog. I love her to pieces.
More pics to come.
Later,
Mama Dawg
You can follow along with Kidd Kraddick in the morning for this recording artists journey from PA to Dallas, TX.
His name is Freddy and well, he's simply amazing.
I don't go into his whole story, but suffice to say, he did have a recording contract at one point but got dropped from the label in a VOICEMAIL when his recording company merged with another.
Anyway, go to the right side of my blog under daily reads and click on the Kidd Kraddick link to "see" his story and then click on The Freddy link to go to Freddy's website where you can hear his music.
Maybe if enough people start demanding his music, he can get a new contract and then we can have Freddy all the time!
Later,
Mama Dawg
...overheard here at work.
"Yeah, I'd like to work in labor and delivery. I'd like to be there when they're doing c-sections. That would be cool".
Ugh......it's always the same person who says this crap, too.
Later,
Mama Dawg
Just got an e-mail from a friend of mine. He's separated from his wife and is starting to venture out in the dating world once again.
He e-mailed to tell me went on a date!!!! Yay, J, m'boy, I'm so proud!!!
Glad to know that your profile I uploaded to that "Women in Jail" website finally produced.
He was so excited, he sent me a pic of the woman he went out with.
Here she is below.
J, baby, you know I'm teasing you. I'm truly happy for you and I promise, this is last time I will blog about you and your personal life. I just couldn't resist.
On a side note, I still remember when you thought you were going to get me fired for that discussion that we had on the phone while I was at work. Good times, man, good times. I miss working with you and the other boys.
Oh, and for all you single women out there, J is this stunning blonde hunk of a man that's hung like a horse and sweet as all get out. Don't you wish you were hot like the girl above? Then you could totally bag him!
Later,
Mama Dawg
That's the sound of me banging my head against a wall. And then the sound I would make after doing it a few times. Actually, it would go more like this......thump, thump, thump....ahhhh....motherf#$%in, whore of an elephant, son of a bitch....and more expletives that I decline to mention on this blog. That's because, well, I can cuss worse than a sailor. Thanks to Chad Hartzog. Ahh....Chad Hartzog. The owner of the first penis I ever saw*. The boy who introduced me to craw daddies (to the uninformed, that's crawfish to you) and mud sliding and turtles and all sorts of other boyish things. In other words, one of my closest friends growing up.
*Hee, hee. You all wanna know that story, don't you?!? Well, I'm not gonna tell it. At least not right now.
Hmmm, hmmm....sorry for that. To get back to the wall banging part....I just overheard a conversation between my co-workers.
Normally I don't pay any attention to them because I have my headphones on and I can't hear them (thank god for small favors like being able to wear headphones at work) but the Internet was being pissy so I had to do without.
I now have a grudge against the Internet. It's his fault that I am forever scarred by the stupidity of humans.
A person mentioned that while at Wal-Mart recently, they saw someone a co-worker also knew. This person mentioned in a HORRIFIED tone that they saw this mutual acquaintance in the.....wait for it.....WOMEN'S DEPARTMENT!!! Gasp!!! The horror!!! However will they be able to erase that horrible scene from their memory? Where is Jim Carrey when you need him? No, no, no, say it isn't so, Joe. A MAN in the WOMEN'S DEPARTMENT!!!!!! That can only mean one thing...he's gay! Oh..my..gosh. Everybody run for their lives, it's a gay man! You can tell because someone spotted him in the WOMEN'S DEPARTMENT at Wal-Mart! (for the record, I think he was just wandering through it or he could have been sent there by his wife to pick up an item).
Seriously? And to top it off, when she (I mean, this person) mentioned this, another co-worker came running out and said "What? Oh my gosh".
I debated on whether to laugh out loud or just hang my head and cry.
Instead, I decided to bang my head against a wall.
Motherf#%*in, whore of an elephant, son of a bitch!#$%
People are stupid.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I can't gain access to your blog. Can you drop me an e-mail at twodogsrunningsouth@yahoo.com with an invite?
Thanks.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I was walking down the hall (not the same hall where I performed the now infamous crane, but another one) and I tripped and a bunch of old people laughed at me!
Old people......laughed at me tripping!!!!!
What is the world coming to?
Later,
Mama Dawg
I'm trying to do a post where I imbed two different youtube videos, but I can't figure it out. Anybody have any clues?
-------------------------------------------
One thing I forgot to mention that happened this past Saturday when C and light of my life were running around with me.
As I mentioned we went to Subway (where the girls proceeded to tease me unmercifully with that damn 5 dollar song). We pulled into the parking lot and as we were going in, we noticed this emaciated cream colored dog that was hopping around on three legs. He had four legs (as dogs typically do, just in case you didn't know) but one of them appeared broken. We had a stare down for a few seconds and then he started moving around the parking lot, looking for food, I guess.
For those of you that know me, I'm a soft touch for animals. Especially animals in obvious need or with obvious injuries. J.D. is a prime example.
Anyway, my heart went out to the dog. Light of my life and C were begging me to do something for the dog. Little did they know I had already thought about doing something. We got in line and ordered our sandwiches. I ordered a kids ham and cheese on white bread and I was going to go give it to the dog. When we went back out to the parking lot, he was gone. We searched high and low but couldn't find him. This was probably a good thing because I probably would have tossed him in my car and driven to an emergency vets office or something.
I finally went behind the Subway and left the sandwich in a grassy area in hopes that he would find it. The sandwich cost me a couple of dollars but it was worth it.
I got almost all the way home before I realized.......I had a bag of dog food in the back of my car. Yes, I went through all that effort and expense ($2 is a lot of money for us poor folk) for a dog we never saw again and I had DOG FOOD in the back of my car the whole time.
------------------------------------------
When I was driving home yesterday from work, I noticed a handicapped older person walking on the side of the road.
I always want to stop and put them in my car and just drive them to their destination. Yesterday, I was seriously contemplating doing this when I had a sudden thought.
What if he doesn't want me to do that? What if he's doing this to prove to himself that he CAN DO IT?
Do you think that's the case or do you think that he has no other mode of transport and this is the best he can do and he's secretly in his mind flipping all of us the bird because we're not stopping to help him?
What to do, what to do.
That's all I got today. Oh, except yesterday, on the way home, I started singing "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield at the top of my lungs. I love her.
Later,
Mama Dawg
...bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.
I'm so bored.
Doesn't even sound like a word anymore when you say it out loud or in your head. Go ahead, I'll give you a minute to try it.......
.......see, it's not even a word anymore.
*crickets*
Huh, what, huh? Sorry, I must have fallen asleep. I'm that bored.
I'm really bored.
Hey I know, I'll post my e-mail address here and see how many weird e-mails I get from total and complete strangers. Send me anything. Send me weird stories or strange e-mails you've gotten or just drop me a line.
Go ahead.....I dare ya!
twodogsrunningsouth@yahoo.com
Give it your best shot!
Later,
Mama Dawg
"Your tax refund is scheduled to be direct deposited on April 25, 2008. If your refund is not credited to your account by April 30, 2008, check with your bank to find out if it has been received. Please wait until April 30, 2008 before you contact us again because we are unable to take any action until then."
Gotta love the IRS.
This comes at a good time as I'm supposed to be going away the first weekend in May. Now instead of having $20 to spend on drinking money, I have more like $100! Whoo Hoo! Now that's a vacation!
Later,
Mama Dawg
OK peoples.
It’s time for another tip.
This is is focusing on traveling with little ones. Now, before you get excited, I’m not talking about infants and toddlers. I’ve never traveled with either to Disney World and I personally discourage it. But, that’s me. I’m the mama that was relieved when my daughter turned 3 because she was not so dependent on me any longer to do things for her.
I’m talking about the age from about 4-8.
First of all, I highly recommend you either bring your own stroller or rent a stroller.
If you bring your own stroller, you have the freedom of having the stroller from your hotel room to the bus (or car depending on your mode of transport), from the parking lot or bus depot to the entrance of the park and vice versa. However, you have to deal with folding it up and taking it down when getting on Disney transportation including the Railroad inside Magic Kingdom (you can stroller park at any of the stops, but you have to keep in mind that you have to make the full circle of the trip if you want to get back to your stroller). That can be a pain. If that doesn’t bother you, then this is the way to go.
If you don’t want to deal with your own stroller, you can rent a single or a double stroller at all 4 theme parks. All of them have hoods and storage space. If your child is real small or young, I recommend the single stroller. If you have a bigger kid (either age or size wise), I recommend the double stroller.
When I took light of my life at age 5, I took our own stroller and she did fine. She sat in it most of the day except, of course, when we were in line or eating. It was just an umbrella stroller so we didn’t have a shade or storage space or lots of room. It worked for us.
When she was 7, we started off the trip with her walking everywhere. I had saved some money in case we needed to rent one. Well, we did need to rent one. Epcot alone is enough to justify the expense. At 7, she was just not able to walk that whole distance. I was already carrying a backpack full of crap, so I couldn't carry her.
We broke down on the 3rd day and rented a double stroller. Man, was that a trip saver. Best thing I did. I got the double stroller because she, well, was 7. Not tiny any more and needed more space. She complained a lot less and the rest of the trip was absolutely wonderful. I liked having the extra space to put my bag down while walking and watching the parades and IllumiNations. I liked it so much, we may do it again when we go next year and she’s 9. But maybe just for Epcot and not the rest of the parks. We’ll see.
Some tips about strollers.
Do not ever leave anything you don’t want stolen on your stroller. I’ve never had anything stolen but I know that it can happen. Just because it’s the Happiest Place on Earth, doesn’t mean that there aren’t idiots. Even idiots want to be happy…..especially when stealing your stuff. LOL!
When you rent a stroller from Disney, of course, they all look the same. You do get a placard that has your last name written on it and it’s placed on the back in a plastic pouch, but keep in mind that when you park your stroller for a ride, CM’s (cast members) do occasionally have to move the strollers in a more organized fashion for crowd control. In order to identify your stroller with just a glance, I advise you bring something to tie to the stroller handle. A hot pink bandana, a bow, bright ribbon, etc…..We used a bandana and it was so much easier to find.
The other good thing about renting a stroller at Disney is that if you rent one in the Magic Kingdom and then decide to hop over to Epcot in the afternoon, all you have to do is take your receipt that you got when you rented the stroller at Magic Kingdom and present it at the Epcot rental area. You don’t have to pay for a new stroller, you just go and pick out a new one at Epcot. This is because you can’t take the strollers out of the park.
Another good thing about renting at Disney, you can saved some money if you go ahead and rent for the whole trip. If you know you're going to use the stroller all 5 days you're there, you can save money by paying ahead of time for the while 5 days instead of renting on a daily basis. It's not a whole lot of money, but hey, a dollar is a dollar (you save more than that.....LOL!).
Regardless of your stroller situation at home, keep in mind that it’s not impossible to walk up to 5 miles a day at Disney. Even if your kid has been out of a stroller for years, it may be in your and your kids best interest to rent or take a stroller.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I noticed that the activity factor has kicked up a bit on this little blog here of mine.
Take the time to make a comment on this post and tell me who you are. If you have your own blog or site, put a link in your comments. I'll be more than happy to drop by your place to check it out. If it becomes one of my daily reads, I'll add it on to my daily reads section.
You can also take this time to praise, criticize, make other comments, whatever. Feel free to ask questions, too.
I'm insanely curious about everything, so drop me a comment!
Later,
Mama Dawg
When I was born, I was born with navy blue eyes (or so my mom tells me). They quickly turned to mud brown and stayed that way until I was about 10. They got a bit lighter and turned what I call hazel. They continued to stay that way until I was a teenager.
I got glasses when I was 14 and when I was 16, I actually managed to talk my mom not only into contacts, but colored contacts. I wanted green eyes so bad. Except for the fact that the green contacts were a little off putting, they went well with my hair color and skin tone. I loved my green contacts but quickly got too lazy to keep putting those pesky things in my eyes every day. I quickly quit wearing them and went back to just wearing my glasses when I drove. I'm nearsighted and only needed them to see the board and when I drove.
I noticed in my late teen years that my eyes were starting to get some green flecks in them that became more pronounced when I wore something green or with hints of green in it.
After I had light of my life, I noticed that the green flecks were more pronounced than ever before. Almost everything I wore enhanced the "greenness" of my eyes.
A few months ago, I was putting in my contacts (I went back to contacts about 5 years ago but only the regular kind, no colored contacts) and I actually looked at my eye. Not just looking so I make sure that I get the contact on my eyeball, but really looked.
To my surprise, my eyes are now green. Not kelly green like my contacts when I was 16, but green nevertheless.
My neighbor, L, even noticed. He asked if I wore contacts and I said that I did. He asked if they were colored and I said no. That's when he said he noticed that my eyes were green.
So it's not all in my head. I got my mom to check just for more verification (I'm horrible about taking things on faith, I have to check and re-check and re-check again).
OMG, I literally willed my eyes to turn green. Who knew that 14 years ago when I was praying and wishing for my eyes to turn green, that it would happen?!?!?
I AM OMNIPOTENT. I COMMAND THE SUN TO RISE IN THE MORNING AND THE MOON TO RISE IN THE EVENING!!! HA HA HA HA HA!!! (that's my evil laugh.....just think of the Wicked Witch of the West when you're reading this part).
So cool.
Later,
Mama Dawg
P.S. Per the "oh so mighty" Internet, my eye color change is a result of old age, sun exposure or disease......the Internet sucks.
Guess who just walked down the hall in the hospital she works in on her way to the bathroom, stopped in the middle of the hall and did the crane from Karate Kid?
Not me....nuh uh....no siree bob. Not me.....
Later,
Mama Dawg
I totally want fireworks and party poppers going off every time I go to the potty! This is.....weird. I....just don't have the words. Watch for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GN_Qv79nnI
Later,
Mama Dawg
This contest ends tonight. Vote for Justin! You can vote as many times as you'd like.
http://www.dreamcmo.com/
Thanks,
Mama Dawg
Just a couple of tidbits from the weekend.
The girls said that they liked going fishing with me better than their dad (sorry, L) because I let them talk while they fish. That's probably why we didn't really catch anything! LOL!
When light of my life was watching Enchanted this weekend, we got to the part where Narissa turned into the dragon and was on top of the building that looks like the Empire State Building. She just sat up and asked out of the blue "What exactly is the Vampire State Building?". It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. I didn't bother to correct her. I love that, even though it's rare, she still has moments like this. Where she says sweet things like this.
I really don't question the move from the big city to the country. I know that it was the right decision, but yesterday, it just nailed down exactly what I was expecting our life to be like when we moved up here. When we were walking back through the woods from going fishing, light of my life, M and C were all in front of me. C's bra strap was falling down her shoulders and she couldn't move it up because she was carrying so many things in her arms. She decided to make up a song about her bra straps falling. The other girls caught on and started singing it, too. I just walked behind them and grinned the whole time. The sight of these three girls carrying poles and wearing rubber boots and so full of pride and excitement and joy, it just......I can't even describe the feeling. It was just a perfect moment. It's what I dreamed of for light of my life when we moved up here. I just wish I could have captured it in some way other than in my memory.
Later,
Mama Dawg
On Sunday, we got up and went to church. Came home, ate lunch and went to visit my grandmother.
Mom had gotten some good news about building her house. The survey had been done and the land marked off. She got to walk the land last week and wanted to show it to me. The next step in the process is to start clearing the land, go to an architect to have the plans drawn up, get the culvert done, grading, driveway started, etc....She's so excited. So am I. It's gonna be a cool place to build her house.
Anyway, while we were at my grandmother's house, mom and I went out and walked her land. After seeing the spot where she's gonna build, we decided to walk down to the creek to see if we could find the spot we went fishing last year. I had invited M and C to go fishing with us after they got back from their piano lesson. They were all for it. They go fishing with their dad a lot. So much so, that they have their own rods and reels.
Light of my life and I have those dinky cane poles from Wal-Mart that cost about $4. Light of my life had only been fishing once before and liked it well enough. I love to fish, but having lived in cities all my life, it was such a hassle to go fishing that it really wasn't worth it. But I love to do it.
After the girls got back from their piano lessons, we grabbed our gear and hopped in the car. It was about a 15 minute walk to the new bridge where we were gonna fish off of. The girls didn't voice one complaint the whole way there. I was so proud of them.
We got to the bridge and I had to bait their poles. We had night crawlers as bait. I prefer crickets, but we were using L's bait since I didn't have time to go to town to get some crickets. Light of my life's and my poles were brand new and the line hadn't been tied to it yet, so I had to get that done first. I got hers taken care of and baited her hook. She promptly put the line in the water and loudly commented on how cool it was. I got M and C's hooks baited and then went to work on trying to get my line loose so I could get my pole set up. Before I could get that done, light of my life was hollerin' that she had one! Sho nuff, she had a little brim. I took a pic and because we didn't have our little Styrofoam cooler set up with water in it, we had to let it go. C and I decided to try to find a place along the creek that we could make our way down to the bank to get the Styrofoam cooler filled with some water in case we caught something big. We went up the creek a bit and had to fight our way through some thorny things, but finally found a sandy spot where we could gain access to the water. We filled up the cooler and made our way back to the bridge. Light of my life ended up catching the second fish, C caught the third, light of my life caught the fourth and M caught the fifth one of the day. I caught nada. Zip, zilch, zero, big fat goose egg nothing. Sucks, but I had so much fun, I didn't care. C's fish (the biggest one we caught) was so pissed that it decided to JUMP out of the cooler and back into the creek. It didn't even touch the bridge. It just JUMPED out of the cooler and right between the slats of the bridge right the creek beneath it. So cool! Out of the five we caught, we ended up only having three in the cooler. Stupid me, I said it was OK for us to take them back with us....forgetting I had a 15 minute hike through the woods and fields while carrying a bag full of stuff and a cooler of fish. I'll never do that again! Actually, next time, we'll just take the golf cart.
We decided to move off of the bridge and go to the spot where we had gone down to get some water in the cooler. It was kinda steep but had a couple of flat places that the girls stood on. I was trying to work my way around a downed tree when I slipped on the wet sandy bank and fell flat on my ass. The girls got a good laugh out of it. Especially since my butt was covered in mud! When it started to get dark, the girls pulled in their lines and light of my life's hook got stuck on a log on the water. Instead of breaking the line, I decided to do the smart (read..stupid) thing and walk out on the rotted, wet, slimy downed tree to get to the stuck hook. I managed to get there and back in one piece, but at one point, I almost fell in.
On the way back to the car, we spotted a rabbit in a field and M tried to sneak up on it. She actually got about 10 feet from it before it hopped away. They all thought that was cool.
We made it back to the house and showed off the three tiny fish to my grandmother and aunt. They were suitable impressed and oohed and ahhed over the fish. The girls were so proud of themselves.
We made it home and showed off the fish to my mom, B and L. Everyone was impressed (read....impressed that we caught anything at all!). The girls had so much fun. It was just a perfect day. I can't wait to go again!
Later,
Mama Dawg
Oh, wow......where to start. This weekend, man, it was so much fun. Just one of those perfect weekends.
First of all, I slept in til 10 on Saturday. I actually shouldn't have done that since I sorta woke up with a headache. Mostly from the sinuses, but still, I shouldn't have gotten up that late. But, it was still nice as I was refreshed.
Got up and fixed breakfast. Light of my life had already eaten, so that was one less thing to feel guilty about. I needed to run in to town to drop off a letter at the post office and then go by the pharmacy to drop off a letter to the pharmacist/Mayor. Yes, you read right. Our Mayor is the town pharmacist and I had to drop off a letter to him. I keep trying to tell you people that I live in a small town. Anyway, he had heard about a job opening and had told my aunt about it and told me to drop his name when I spoke to the owners of the company. Since it was so nice that he kept me in mind, I decided to drop off a little thank you note.
Since I was already having to go out and about, I decided that I wanted to go by this Flea Market store about 20 minutes away. I hadn't been in a while and I was looking for a new chair to add to my dining room set. I don't have a formal dining room set and I'm kind of eclectic in my taste. I have an old walnut drop leaf table that I traded something for about 10 years ago or so. On a trip to another flea market about 12 years ago or so, mom and I had stumbled across a pair of cherry wood chairs that were dated back from the 1920's. Those were literally the only two chairs I had at my dining room table for YEARS. When we had parties, I pulled out every chair in my house...lawn chairs, desk chairs, kitchen table chairs, etc.....for my guest to use. LOL! Anyway, since I moved here, I have purchased another chair that is...ugh, so ugly. However, it has great potential. Once I strip it, repaint it and re-cover the seat, it will be so pretty and will fit right in. So now I have three chairs! I'm looking for 3 more and thought I'd go shopping.
Light of my life decided she wanted to call M to go with us. She called M and found out she wasn't at home. Her older sister, C, was home and light of my life decided to ask her if she wanted to go. She did so off we went. Now, C is 4 years older than light of my life and even though I knew they'd get along, I didn't know if C would be bored or not. But she wasn't. I recently taught her how to make jewelry (with beads) and I told her that sometimes you can go to flea markets and get old glass beaded necklaces and bracelets that you could purchase for next to nothing and then take them home and take them apart to re-use the beads. She got excited at the idea of finding some cool beads so that was her incentive to go! When we go there, we did find a good bit of jewelry to buy and take apart, but she fell in love with the place. I showed her what carnival glass pieces look like and she fell in love with carnival glass. Yay! Another convert! I love that stuff. I just need a good china cabinet to put up in my dining room so I can start buying some pieces to display.
I digress.
After we left the flea market, we decided to go to Subway to grab some lunch. We also had the bright idea (no sarcasm there, it was a good idea) to eat our lunch at C's house out at the dock of their little pond. The day was absolutely gorgeous. We took our food out to the dock and had a wonderful picnic lunch. We just lazed around for a bit. We had to make a trip to Wal-Mart and asked C if she wanted to tag along there as well. M hadn't made it home from her aunt and uncle's house yet, so light of my life was all excited about C coming with us. B (her mom) was fine with it. C managed to wrestle some money out of her dad and light of my life decided she'd try to get in on that action as well. I think if she would have kept giving L those puppy dog eyes, he may have given in and given her some, too!
Anyway, we made the trip in to Wal-Mart and it was such a quick and easy trip. It helped to have C there to take light of my life to all her favorite parts (toys, crafts, school supplies, electronics, make-up, etc...) while I shopped.
After Wal-Mart, we stopped by a local soft serve ice cream place. C got a chocolate malt and it was soooooooooo delicious. I just got a plain old chocolate soft serve but it was heaven. While we were enjoying those, we called in an order to a local barbecue joint for some catfish platters and a couple of barbecue sandwiches.
When we got home with the groceries and food, we decided that it would be another wonderful idea if we went back out to the dock to eat our dinner. How can you say no to that? The weather was still good and the mosquitoes weren't too bad at that time.
M by that time had made it home but was so exhausted by her adventures that she decided she didn't want to join us or spend the night. Light of my life was OK with that since C was already going to spend the night. B and L went to a neighbors to watch a fight on TV and we went back to our house to make some jewelry. We giggled and laughed and make jewelry til about 11 and then the girls went on to bed. It was such a good day. Light of my life had so much fun and when she has those kinds of days, it just melts my heart.
I'll post about yesterdays activities in the next post.
Later,
Mama Dawg
Today is the last day of light of my life's grounding. This morning she made mention of it being the last day. I brought up again how it's important to listen to what I say and do what I tell her to do....you know, gotta drive the point home.
I think she gets the point, but I'm not sure that she understands grounding is not something she wants to happen.
Case in point......when she was getting ready for school this morning, she mentioned that she actually liked being grounded because it "allowed her to catch up on her reading". Seriously????? I about peed in my pants when I heard this. One because the phrasing of the statement was so adult like but two because no kid ever likes to be grounded.
She says that M, her best friend, always likes to play when she comes over and that gets in the way of her reading.
While I'm ecstatic that my little girl is learning to love reading as much as I do, I want her to balance it out with plenty of play time as well.
I told her that she can always make time for reading (and I make it a priority that we do this) but that she needs to make time for her friends as well.
I can't believe my kid actually liked being grounded. You will note that I'm posting this. That way, when she's 14 and I'm grounding her for some other offense, I can bring this up and say "here, look, when you were 8, you LIKED being grounded" and then she can't say anything! Hahahahahaha......I guess something good came out of this after all.
As an aside, I like how she was able to find something good out of something bad. Shows a sign of maturity on her part that I think a lot of kids lack. Well, at least the kids that I personally know.
Later,
Mama Dawg
"It's Random Man".....to quote Kidd Kraddick.
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I have a whole bunch of nothing to mention here today.
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I swear I saw a (or an?) UFO this morning on the way to work. Could have been a low flying slow airplane, but it's more fun to imagine it was a UFO.
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Light of my life has her dance recital tomorrow night. Thank goodness that's over for now. She loves dance and has been taking it since she was 2. As long as she wants to take classes, I'll keep signing her up. It's good exercise after all, but I hate the whole dance recital part. All the costumes and changes and hair and make-up (yes, I put a bit of make-up on her, not Jon-Benet, crazy rouge-hot pink lipstick-blue eyeshadow-pancake makeup base crazy, just a little color on her lips and that's about it). Drives me crazy.
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We got our new stove delivered Tuesday. We call him "Bernie"........for obvious reasons. Hopefully he won't burn in the same way as the old one.
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Light of my life and my mom made peanut butter cookies yesterday afternoon in the new stove. Boy, are they tasty. Just perfect.
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I had to go to Wal-Mart yesterday to get some stuff. Yeah, nothing I really needed (except for light of my life's tights for her dance recital) but I had been hearing advertisements for a Coca-Cola t-shirt that Wal-Mart was selling. See, I'm a Coke collector. Not so much lately, but I have some good stuff that I've collected over the years. It matches perfectly with my yellow, white, red and black kitchen. Anyway, the advertisement was for a recycled t-shirt. They make the t-shirt out of the 20 oz plastic Coke bottles. The t-shirt I got was made from approximately 4 Coke bottles (says so right on the shirt in the tag area!). It's pretty cool. Feels softer than regular cotton tees. I like it.
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When my tax refund arrives, I'm thinking of buying a picnic table. So I can entertain and stuff.
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Did I tell you guys I had to ground light of my life? Only 8 years old and she's had her first grounding. I'm probably being a bitch, but I had just had it.
On Monday, the day after the big exciting fire, we had to get take out because we couldn't cook. Yes, I know, we could have microwaved something, but really, we just wanted to take advantage of the no stove to get take out. Anyway, light of my life's friend, M, was over playing. I went outside and asked if she had to be home at a certain time (if she didn't, I was going to see if she wanted to eat with us) and she said, "No, mama will get me when the hamburgers are done". They were having hamburgers that night and that's what we were getting for take-out as well. Anyway, light of my life did the big puppy dog eyes and begged to let me eat with them. I've been trying to teach her that you don't invite yourself to dinner at someones house but that you have to wait to be invited. I explained to her that, no, you can't eat over there, I'm already ordering you dinner and you haven't been invited. She got upset but seemed to get over it quickly.
I left to go get the food and when I got back, mom said that light of my life had gone over to M's house. I gave her a knowing look and said, "I bet she ate over there". Sure enough, when I got over to B's house, she said that light of my life ate dinner over there. I informed B that light of my life wasn't supposed to do that and that she had specifically been told not to do exactly what she did. B was apologetic but it wasn't her fault at all. She didn't know. Light of my life is old enough to retain the information I told her about NOT EATING AT THEIR HOUSE! I had already BOUGHT her dinner. Light of my life has a way of conveniently "forgetting" to tell people that she can't or isn't supposed to do something I SPECIFICALLY told her not to do. This is not the first time it's happened.
Anyway, to make a long story....well, not so long.....on the walk home from their house, I informed light of my life that she was grounded for the rest of the week. That meant she couldn't play at M's house and M couldn't come over to play at our house. The first time she could play again would be on Saturday. Boy, was she pissed. I also informed her that she had to eat her hamburger and tater tots I bought her on Tuesday night no matter what. She was so upset.
This was the perfect week to ground her though. She had dance class on Tuesday night, she was over at my grandmother's last night, tonight she has full dress rehearsal and tomorrow night is her recital. It's not like she had time to play anyway. Of course, she doesn't realize that. This morning she said "I'm so glad this week's almost over. My grounding ends Saturday". At least it weighs on her mind.
Was I too harsh or was that just right? I don't want her growing up taking advantage of other people and she needs to learn to do what I tell her. I figured this was an appropriate gesture and figured she was old enough to grasp the implications and consequences that a grounding brings. What do y'all think?
Anyway, that's all I got for today.
Later,
Mama Dawg
Back again!
This one is more Diz related.
For you first timers going (Tracey, this is for you!), I highly recommend you do some research before you even buy your tickets or book your room. Mainly because it can seem overwhelming if you don't know the Disney vernacular or what you want. You might end up paying a lot of money for something you don't need. This is especially important if you're on a budget. Like me and millions of others!
I do all my research on line. There are books out there that you can purchase to help you and assist you with your vacation. I'm sure that these books are fine and handy and can give you all sort of great info.
However, if I'm buying a book, it's not going to be one that I will use for a one time vacation. Most of the books that are out there print out one each year. The information mostly stays the same. The only exceptions are changes to shows, rides and any new info or changes Disney has made.
Anyway, to get back to the point, I do my research on line.
Even though I'm a former CM (cast member) of the House of Mouse, I had not traveled to the World as a tourist since I was 12 and, more importantly, I had not gone with a small child.
I made the decision when light of my life was 3 to take her to Disney when she was 5. If I was gonna spend all that money, I wanted to make sure that she was going to both enjoy it and have memories of it. It turns out, 5 was a GREAT age to take her. She not only had a blast but she remembered a lot of the trip. We went again when she was 7 and she not only had more fun but she regularly brings up memories of the trip.
I started researching during the summer of 2003 and stumbled across a wonderful website that pretty much answered all my questions and had everything I needed to make this is a seamless and painless trip.
The website is http://www.allearsnet.com/. I can't go into words how informative this site is. It's easy to get around, has detailed information, links to other pages, photos, tips and advice. It has a page on how to do the World with small children, disabled members of your party, overweight guests, special diets and special needs guests. There is so much to see and do on this site. Even when I'm not planning a trip to Disney, I visit this site daily. No joke, I go every day. There's almost always something new or different for me to see.
Depending on how you're booking your trip (doing everything by yourself or buying a package), there are other sites out there that can help you as well.
Another site, http://www.mousesavers.com/ is another good resource. If you sign up for their newsletter, you can get hidden links to deals on tickets and rooms. I didn't know if this was for real or not, but just yesterday I received a newsletter from them with a hidden link for discounted tickets. I clicked on the hidden link and sure enough, I did find discounted tickets. Granted, I was only going to save about $40 plus shipping, but believe me, it's next to impossible to get discounted tickets, so saving this much plus shipping is a GREAT deal.
Beyond that, most of the other sites have the same or similar info that these two have. I visit the first site daily in addition to a few other Disney fan sites.
Some of the sites I visit have forums that are chock full of info as well. Most of that info is pretty much up to date as people who have just visited the site add updates and news to the forums. These are always good to read, especially if you are going on your trip pretty soon.
Here are some additional sites to visit for info and planning:
http://www.disneyworldtrivia.com/
http://www.intercot.com/
http://www.wdwmagic.com/
http://www.stitchkingdom.com/refurb/ this one usually has pretty good up to the minute refurbishment details. Refurbishment is when a ride or attraction is going to be closed for a determined amount of time so it can be made over or upgraded or fixed. If you're a big fan of a certain ride and your vacation will be absolutely ruined if you don't get to ride it, you may want to schedule your vacation around it's refurbishment time. Disney is pretty good about getting the info out way ahead of time and they (for the most part) stick to it.
That's all I got folks. Next week, I'll have some info on how to travel with small ones.
Now back to your regularly scheduled posts.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I had a weird dream last night.
I remember most of it. I don't go into details but for some reason, an ex-boyfriend from MIDDLE SCHOOL was in it.
WTF? Seriously? I haven't thought about this guy in years.
Normally I can trace back an incident or a person in my dreams back to something that's happened in the past few days, but nada on this one.
This dream involved Webb (his nickname) and Disney World. I know why I dreamed about Disney World. I'm starting the planning phase of our next trip and so it's pretty much on my mind 24/7. But Webb? Makes no sense.
I moved from my hometown to a small town near Orlando, FL when I was 11. I entered middle school there and went from being on the top of the pile to the bottom. I was that "new girl" and what made it worse was that I started school a couple of weeks after the school year had started and I had a very deep southern accent.
I fell hard for Webb in the 6th grade and finally landed him in the 8th grade. We dated a grand total of 2 weeks before it ended. I honestly can't remember how it ended but it broke my heart. We ended up becoming good friends. In high school, he dated a girl a year ahead of him and she got pregnant. She had the baby and he ended up sharing custody of their son. I saw him a couple of years after graduation in a totally random situation and we ended up hooking up. He had changed a LOT from when I knew him and it didn't last long but this time it was more bittersweet than heartbreaking.
It's just so weird that he was in my dream last night. Wonder what it means?
Later,
Mama Dawg
I love this song. It's so sweet.
I've got a question for you
Please grant me an interview
Don't want to read it in a magazine
Don't want to see it on the silver screen
Don't let the craziness tear us apart
I'm down on the knees of my heart
Down here on the knees of my heart
This comes from deep in my soul
Your sweet love has taken control
I'll swim across the ocean if you tell me so
I'll take you to the jump up if you want to go
It never is too late to make a brand new start
I'm down here on the knees of my heart
Down here on the knees of my heart
Oh how I will sing if you give me everything
I live for the day when there's nothing in our way
I will be waiting tonight
You'll find my boat by the light
I'm gonna show you what my love can do
Out on the ocean all alone with you
We'll find a desert island on an ancient chart
Take me from the knees of my heart
Take me from the knees of my heart
Take me from the knees of my heart
Take me from the knees of my heart
Well, by that title alone, it should give you an indication of my night last night.
First of all, we're all okay and the house is still standing.
In fact, except for the stove and two cookie sheets, everything survived with no damage.
I feel so stupid.
Light of my life got a cookbook from Santa this past year. It's a pretty sophisticated cookbook for kids. She's made dinner using the book twice. Both times she's made the same thing. Chicken nuggets and french fries. The french fries are home made and are DELICIOUS!!!
Last night, I was going to make hamburgers and homemade french fries for dinner. I pulled out the ol' George Foreman grill (love it!) and pulled out the cookie sheets to cook the fries on.
The recipe states to preheat the oven to 400 degrees and to pour 3 tablespoons of corn oil (I use veggie instead of corn) into each pan. You're to heat up the oil in the oven in the pans and then take the pans out to place the cut potatoes on them. After you've laid them out, you're supposed to sprinkle paprika on them. Of course, for anyone who's wanting to know how I do the fries, I sprinkle paprika, onion salt, garlic salt and ground black pepper on them. Paprika alone does not a good fry make.
I digress.
I poured the oil in the pans and set them in the oven..........forgetting that this is the oven that's thermostat is off by 150 degrees.
Yes, that's right. I was supposed to have decreased the temperature to 250 degrees before putting in the pans.
I forgot.
So, when I started seeing smoke come out of the oven, I opened the door like an idiot and saw the pretty orange flames dancing across the top pan. Like a bigger idiot, I kept the oven door open to let in all that nice pretty rich oxygen so it could play with the flames.
I yelled and my mom came running yelling at me to "shut the door, shut the damn door". I finally did and immediately started searching for the fire extinguisher.
I remember when we moved into this house, I told myself, "I'm going to put the fire extinguisher in the kitchen, specifically, I will put it in the cabinet with the pots and pans" (and yes, I do talk to myself that way). Instead, I put it in PLAIN VIEW next to the cabinet. However, I forgot that it was in PLAIN VIEW and instead threw every pot and pan out looking for the stupid extinguisher that was in PLAIN VIEW not even 6 inches from my right hand. Needless to say, I wasted a precious 2 minutes looking for an item that was in PLAIN VIEW.
By the time I got the extinguisher, mom had come up with the brilliant idea of unplugging the stove. By that time, the flames were starting to shoot out from the top right eye of the stove. There's a hole there that can let heat escape and we didn't think to put something over that to keep that nice pretty rich oxygen from getting in. Right after I unplugged the stove, we threw a tin pie plate over the eye. Soon after, the smoke lessened and the fire played itself out.
I never had to use the fire extinguisher. I wanted to so bad (that's the 10 year old boy inside of me wanting to play with something so cool as a fire extinguisher) but mom talked me out of it.
The whole house filled with smoke but it's slowly airing out. I smell like a hamburger this morning.....that could explain the weird looks I've been getting. Or not.
Other than the stove and the two cookie sheets, everything survived. We're getting a new stove today. I can finally have stove that works properly. I haven't had a properly working stove in 10 years. The one I had in my old house, I couldn't bake anything but cakes in it. No brownies, no cookies, no nothing. It sucked.
I think the only reason I didn't panic too much was because I knew that light of my life was over at M's house. They were at the house when the fire started but I quickly told them to go over to M's house while we dealt with the fire. I never let her know how scary it got so she wasn't too upset by the whole thing. Thank goodness it wasn't worse.
You know how they say things come in 3's? Well, I've survived a hurricane, a tornado and now this fire. I'm good now, right? No more catastrophes, right?
Anyway, that was the highlight of my weekend.
How was yours?
Later,
Mama Dawg
....that's the sound you would hear if I was wearing heels and the floor wasn't carpeted. My leg is just tapping along 90 miles a minute.
I feel like jumping out of my own skin.
I hate this feeling. It's not an anxious feeling. It's a feeling that can only disappear by me turning off my computer and going home.
Maybe if I tap my heels together (instead of on the floor) 3 times and say "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home", I can magically find myself at home sitting outside on the swing or up on the hill doing some yard work or sitting on the porch picking my nose.
Anything's better than being at work on a Friday while it's GORGEOUS outside. I hate being cooped up. Why can't I find a job where I work outside? Ugghhh.....TGIF.
I need a beer or a shot of tequila or both.
Later,
Mama Dawg
That's the sound that a buzzard makes when it hits your windshield while you're going 60 mph.
I should know. Dumb buzzard.
Later,
Mama Dawg
One of the party guests hunting for a clue
The Mad Hatter telling them the story of Alice in Wonderland (at least up until the Mad Tea Party part)
A bee decided to join us for a petit four.
Here's light of my life telling the Mad Hatter a joke for her next clue.
Here's the Mad Hatter's dog helping herself to a drink of punch.
Later,
Mama Dawg
Here's all the Mad Hatter Hats my mom painted. Isn't she great?
Here's a sample of the mini cupcakes.
Here are the goody boxes. So colorful!
Here's the punch.
One of the clues was tied to this tree where my stuffed Cheshire Cat was lounging around.
More pics in next post.
Light of my life turned 8 in March. Due to her actual birthday falling right in the middle of spring break, I decided to have her birthday party the weekend after Spring Break was over. It was about 11 days after her actual birthday, but she was cool with it.
About July or so of last year, I found a great idea for her birthday party. We would have a Mad Tea Party. She loves all things Disney (chip off the old block) and she likes the movie Alice in Wonderland.
I thought it would be a blast to have mini tea cups and little finger foods and play croquet (except with regular mallets instead of flamingos).
I started doing some research on the 'net (I love the Internet, have I ever told you that?) and found lots of good ideas.
One of the ideas I found was to take a regular sized brown paper sack from the grocery store and paint the sack all different colors and designs (whatever the kids wanted to do). You then roll up the bottom of the sack and the sacks then resemble Mad Hatter hats.
Because paint can take a long time to dry and the kids wouldn't have any time to wear them, my mom volunteered to paint the hats ahead of time, that way the kids could just pick out the one they wanted to wear and it would save time for other activities. Plus, really, 10 kids painting? It's like a nightmare come true.
So, that was one part of the party down. Now for another activity to keep them occupied. The party was 2 hours long so we had to have enough for them to do so they wouldn't run around like hyenas.
The party was being held at my uncle's house. He has an Old English looking house and backyard that was perfect for the tea party. He graciously let us use his house. It really was the perfect setting.
Anyway, I came up with the idea for a treasure hunt. We had one prize and the first kid to get all the clues got the prize. I'm not a big believer in letting everyone win something. Life doesn't work that way. Besides, they were all going home with goody boxes (they were actually little Chinese take out boxes) filled with a magic towel (you know, those compressed wash clothes that expand when they get wet), a Smarties connect four game with spare Smarties, Jolly Ranchers, scented bubbles and Chinese finger cuffs as well as an Alice in Wonderland book and the Mad Hatter Hat. So, they all had enough.
Back to the topic at hand.......the treasure hunt. I wrote out 11 different clues and made 10 sets (we had invited a total of 10 kids, but only 4 showed up....typical). However, in order to keep the kids from just following each other, I had to make each kid take a separate route but still all end up at the last spot. What a pain. I randomly put one of each clue in each envelope with each kids name on it and then had to physically walk out each route for each kid to make sure that they were different but to also have the right clues in the right spot. Not only that, I didn't want to just put down ..... go to the tree. I wanted to make it a little tougher for the kids to figure out. One of the clues said to "get thee to where the roses grow red". That meant that the kids had to figure out where the rose bush was and find the clue at the rose bush. Another one told them to find the "Mad Hatter and tell her a joke". My aunt was dressed up as the Mad Hatter, albeit a modern and female version. This made the kids have to think on their feet. She was instructed not to give them a clue until they told her a joke.
The kids had a blast all around and just enjoyed themselves so much with this aspect of the party. So much so, that at the end of the party, they wanted to do it again and came up with their own version.
They also did one crafty thing. We had found those plastic mugs that have the paper inserts in them that you can customize. Light of my life had done one for me a couple of years ago that was for Mother's Day. Anyway, I thought it was too young for them but they all really enjoyed that as well. Go figure. I guess coloring never gets old.
I also came up with the great idea of baking mini-cupcakes. I had some mini-cupcake baking cups and we bought ONE mini-cupcake pan. ONE, I tell you. That was a mistake. I should have bought several so I could bake more than ONE at a time. Oh, well. The individual cupcake sections on the pan were so small, I had to using an icing squeezer thingie to pour the batter in. That was such a huge mess but also a little fun! I got sick on cake batter. All in all, we had over 100 mini cupcakes. I put food coloring in the frosting and we had pastel yellow, pink and green cupcakes. I had some gel icing stuff, so I used that to write on the cupcakes "Eat Me" like from the book. We had some punch (orange sherbet and ginger ale) that we put in all different size tea cups (that was a chore to find) that had a label that said "Drink Me". We had chips, mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut out like hearts (for the Queen of Hearts), chicken salad sandwiches and ham and cheese sandwiches. It was a tasty party.
My grandmother attended as well as my other aunt. It was such a great party. Light of my life said it was her best party yet.
I love to hear that.
Anyway, I'll post some pics in the next post.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I needed to amend this title. Last week I put tip of the DAY and I meant week. So, sorry for all of you perfectionist out there who were secretly making fun of me because of my gaff.
Anyhoo......here's your tip......use sunscreen.
Seriously. No joke and I know that it sounds so basic, but you would not believe the amount of people who don't use it. I don't care if you don't like the scent or the feel or the time it takes to use it. USE IT. You will regret it. Yes, you'll regret it later on, but even more, you'll regret it during your trip. If you get a sunburn while at Disney World (especially if it's at the beginning) you will be MISERABLE.
Not only do you need to use copious amounts of sunscreen, but you need to apply it to every inch of skin that could possibly be exposed.
Put it on your legs, both back and front. The sun reflects off of the pavement and can burn the back of your legs. Put it on your arms, both back and front. Put it on your face, back of neck, EARS, any scalp that shows (for those of us with thin hair, you know what I'm talking about), hands, fingers, ankles, feet, toes, etc.....Go at least 3 inches up under your shorts line and your shirt line. You never know when you'll be sitting in the sun and your shorts hike up. Or you want to roll your shirt sleeves up. Or take your hat off. It should go without saying that you pretty much need to slather sunscreen on your kid(s) before they even get dressed. That way you won't miss any spots. That's what I do for light of my life. Only one time has she ever gotten a sunburn and it was so slight, she didn't even peel. Thank goodness we weren't at Disney World at the time. Since then, I don't take any chances.
Like I said last week, I'm starting you off slow and with the most important pieces of advice at first. It'll get more Disney related as time goes on. I promise!
Anyway, have a good Wednesday!
Later,
Mama Dawg
I can't stand these. Whoever invented these ought to be shot.
For you germaphobes......grow a pair and use your foot like the rest of us to flush a toilet. Or, grab some tp and use it to cover the handle to flush.
These things are so ridiculous. Half the time they don't flush at all and you have to push that little button. The other half of the time......they flush while you're mid-stream....or worse. In order to avoid getting your entire ass covered in backsplash (or worse) you have to stop mid-stream (or worse) and get up. Then, if you want to still avoid getting your rear wet, you have to (while your pants are pulled down and you still need to finish what it is you entered the stall for) wipe down the seat or put a new seat cover on (provided there are any seat covers left).
We have one here at work that any slightest move you make, it flushes. Not only is that a huge pain in the ass (no pun intended for it doesn't hurt unless you're constipated) but it's such a water waster.
To top it off, all you potty-training parents feel my pain. I can remember when light of my life was potty-training (and really, even up til she was 5), she HATED these toilets with a passion. I mean, with a screaming, almost fit-throwing passion. I would have to enter the stall ahead of her and stand behind the toilet to cover the motion sensor so it wouldn't go off before, during or after she was touching her precious little bottom to the toilet. Such a pain.
Thank goodness she's over that part, but she's like me in that she hates them as well.
I'll get off the pot.....er...my soapbox now.
Later,
Mama Dawg
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear B,
Happy Birthday to yoooooouuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope it's a good one!
Later,
Mama Dawg
I love this song. It always makes me grin. Especially imagining someone "struttin' naked through the crosswalk". What gets me is that the loon is "struttin" as opposed to just walking. Man, this song is good.
Fruitcakes in the kitchen
Fruitcakes on the street
Struttin' naked through the cross walk
In the middle of the week
Half baked cookies in the oven
Half baked people on the bus
There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us
Paradise - Lost and found
Paradise - take a look around
I was out in California
Where I hear they have it all
They got riots, fires and mud slides
They got sushi in the mall
Water bars and Brontosaurs
Chinese modern lust
Shake and bake
life with the quake
The secret's in the crust
We lost our Martian rocket ship
The high paid spokesman said
Looks like that silly rocket ship
Has lost it's cone-shaped head
We spent ninety jillion dollars
Tryin' to get a look at Mars
I hear universal laughter
Ringing out among the stars
Fruitcakes in the galaxy
Fruitcakes on the Earth
Strut naked towards eternity
We've been that way since birth
Half baked cookies in the oven
Half baked people on the bus
There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us
Religion, religion
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
Where's the church, who took the steeple
Religion's in the hands of some crazy ass people
Television preachers with bad hair and dimples
The God's honest truth is it's not that simple
It's the Buddhist in you, it's the pagan in me
It's the Muslim in him, she's Catholic ain't she?
It's that born again look, it's the Wasp and the Jew
Tell me what's goin on, I ain't got a clue
Here come the big ones - Relationships -
We all got 'em, we all want 'em. What do we do with'em?
Here we go I'll tell ya
She said you've got to do your fair share
Now cough up half the rent
I treat my body like a temple
You treat yours like a tent
But the right word at the right time
May get me a little hug
That's the difference between lightning
And a harmless lightning bug
Fruitcakes in the kitchen
Fruitcakes on the street
Struttin' naked through the cross walk
In the middle of the week
Half baked cookies in the oven
Half baked people on the bus
There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us
The future, Captain's log, Star date 2000 and somethin'
We're seven years from the millennium
That's a science fiction fact
Stanley Kubrick and his buddy Hal
Now don't look that abstract
So I'll put on my Bob Marley tape
And practice what I preach
Get Ja lost in the reggae mon
As I walk along the beach
Stay in touch with my insanity
Really is the only way
It's a jungle out there kiddies
Have a very fruitful day
While I'm at work, I'm able to listen to music as long as I have earphones.
Through one of my regular Disney sites (http://www.disneyworldtrivia.com/), I found http://www.mouseworldradio.com/. It's non-stop Disney music. Not songs from the movies, but songs you actually find at the parks themselves. I've listened to over an hour of Main Street Music, music and the spiel from Spaceship Earth, etc....
Guess what came on about 10 minutes ago? Guess..........the music including the exit spiel from "it's a small world".
I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know lots of people hate that song, but it epitomizes the Disney experience for me.
I was bouncing in my seat and mouthing the words along with the song.
Totally made my day.
I'm hungry. Not sure what that has to do with "it's a small world" but there it is. I'm hungry.
Later,
Mama Dawg
I'm such a geek.
My neighbors, B & L, are contemplating a trip to my FAVORITE place in the whole wide world......Disney World!!!!!
YAY!!!!
Now, as excited as I am that they are going to (for the first time ever) experience this most magical of places, I'm even more excited because B asked me to help her with figuring out the cost and helping plan and doing all those fun and exciting things.
Seriously, that's fun for me. I'm not being sarcastic (for like the first time EVER). This is really what I love to do.
I love planning our Disney trips. I start planning for our next one right after the one we just went on finishes. We try to go every two years. It takes about that long for me to save up enough money for us to go. Thanks to our government, they make it possible for me to do this (thanks IRS refund and for this year, rebate check!).
Anyway, I'm happier than a pig in....well, you know.
I actually started last night while I was over at their house.
I've had a couple of people tell me that I need to become a travel agent that specializes in Disney Trips. I've thought about it, but if you know me, I need to do a lot of research before I can just jump into something like that.
I'm such a geek. It's the little things that make me happy.
Have a good Monday.
Later,
Mama Dawg
P.S. I'm over the trauma, L!
I read about this cool website in one of my trashy magazines and then read about it again on perezhilton.com.
I decided to check it out and it's so cool. For every vocabulary word that you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated through the UN World Food Program. It's to help end world hunger.
I'm not a charitable person. What I mean by that is that I don't have a lot of money to donate to charities. I try to donate in other ways. I give away toys, clothes, etc....to a nearby church that resells the items to raise money. I donate gently used towels, blankets, new food, new toys (from the dollar store) to animal shelters and I try to give money at Christmas to the Salvation Army. If I can find a way to help by doing nothing more than playing on a website at something I'm good at (that was my favorite thing in school....vocabulary), then I'm more than happy to play all day long. Well, not all day long since I do have to do some work.
Anyway, if you're a vocab geek like me or just want to try to help this program, check it out.
http://www.freerice.com/
Later,
Mama Dawg
P.S. As of this morning, I've donated 6000 grains of rice. Yay me!
I just want to claw my ever-lovin' eyes out.
On my way to work I, completely out of the blue, had a horrible, horrible, horrible repressed memory spring up on me.
I'm not going to go into the details, but suffice to say it has something to do with a guy I used to date. Blech.........I want to Eternal Sunshine that memory away. (kudos to those of you that got that reference).
AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Get it out, get it out.
Find my happy place, find my happy place, find my happy place.
Gotta go look at some Disney websites, that'll erase it.
Oh, speaking of Disney.....R, it's official, I hate you!!!! I can not believe that right now, you're in some Disney park instead of work. Next time, just pack me away in your suitcase. I promise I won't eat much and I'll stay very, very, very quiet.
Later,
Mama Dawg
P.S., the new picture that's up.....these cars are all over my grandmother's land. Does this make us white trash or just really cool people? I can't tell.
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