Just Say No...

...To Crack!! *grin*

I know...I goofed...I decided to actually USE my food disposal this week. Silly me, I thought you could actually put FOOD down it! *sigh* Needless to say, I stopped the sink up GOOD! I was running the dishwasher thinking it would be okay--and out pours the water from the thingy (yes, that is my technical term for it) up by the faucet--which was pointing NOT in the direction of the sink--but towards the dish drainer and my stove. (Are you picturing an "I Love Lucy" comedy routine yet? It would have been a good one if they had dishwashers back then! ANYWAYS...so now I have a soaked counter--down the stove, a plugged up dish disposal, dirty dishes in the dishwasher and a husband who gets home late to find this mess! Gotta love my handyman!

Not only does my handyman FIX THE SINK and calm down the overwrought wife...when he sees me taking photos for my blog...and all future generations to see...he lets me take a true plumber shot! *grin* Now THAT is a man who loves his wife!

You Can Make Me Sit Here...But I WON'T Have Fun!

We have been going through a bunch of our VHS movies...anyone who knows our family from before we moved here...knows we have a LOT of movies!! (Probably in excess of 500 VHS alone) Well, now everything is going to DVD--so I am trying to sort out our VHS and decide which ones we still want (that ever-on-going-will-it-ever-end sorting I am doing)! We have been watching a kids movie about 3-5 times a week the past couple weeks. For the most part (with the exception of the BORING science ones we hit last week) the kids have been enjoying themselves. That is, UNTIL...we hit the GUMBY movie! They could not fathom why ANYONE would watch this *grin* but I made them sit and watch it! As evidenced below...Stevie came up with his own way of coping with the movie!

One Heck of a Case of Dragon Breath!!

Yesterday was just NOT my day! I decided to work out in our storage shed...opened the door and BAM...down fell the bag of guinea pig shavings (with the bag open) ALL over my shed and carport! I made the kids (who were supposed to put it away correctly) come and clean that mess up! Then for supper I decided to make shepherd's pie--one of my favorite CALM meals on my touchy stomach. I bopping around the kitchen, frying the meat, adding a few spices...a little garlic, a little onion powder, went to shake a few crushed red pepper flakes when the top of the bottle came off and I dumped an ENTIRE bottle of HOT peppers in my meat! YIKES...I quickly tried to scrape it off, even went so far as to rinse the meat BUT...it was definately beyond my stomach capabilities! It would have taken a whole bottle of antacids to eat it! However...the kids LOVED it and had 3rd and 4th helpings??!!!! Steven took pity on my icky day and took me to Arby's!

Mandatory Fun...

...Is a phrase the kids are beginning to get REALLY tired of! Mom is still in her cleaning-out phase...so several times a day you will hear her yell "MANDATORY FUN!!!' and the kids get to come play...or watch...or listen...or...well, you get the idea!

This week has been a busy week! We listed over 45 items on ebay and still have more to go. You wouldn't know looking at my house that we have gotten rid of that much--but I have sold about 100 lbs. of books and stuff! GO MOMMY!!

We played lots of games and tried a few toys out! I have tried to take a few photos of the kids "enjoying" themselves! Well, Jenga was pretty fun--so that might have been an okay activity--but they definately decided they were too old for the flip-track train (look at those faces--aren't they THRILLED to be playing??)

Find a Reason to Have Some Fun...

Here is this month's fun holidays to celebrate...

(I noticed some of the actual dates are off--this is from a class I taught a few years back at Ft. Lewis Women's Conference--in parentheses it will have the acutal date to use--like first saturday in august--sorry--too lazy to change all the dates I guess!)

August

Fun Excuses to Celebrate This Month:

1st: Francis Scott Key’s Birthday (born 1779)
1st: Respect for Parent’s Day
2nd: First Income Tax (Congress Enacts First Income Tax in 1861)
2nd: First Lincoln Penny Issued in 1909
2nd: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
3rd: National Watermelon Day
3rd: National Mustard Day (First Saturday in August)
4th: American Family Day (First Sunday in August)
4th: Friendship Day (First Sunday in August)
4th: Coast Guard Day (Established on This Day in 1790)
4th: National Chocolate Chip Day
5th: Neil Armstrong’s Birthday (born 1930)
6th: Wiggle Your Toes Day
8th: Dollar Day (The US Dollar Was Created)
9th: Betty Boop’s Birthday (Created in 1930)
10th: S’mores Day
11th: Play in the Sand Day
12th: IBM PC Announced in 1981
13th: Annie Oakley’s Birthday (born in 1860)
13th: International Left Hander’s Day
14th: Julia Child’s Birthday (born 1912)
15th: National Relaxation Day
16th: Joke Day
16th: Roller Coaster Day (Roller Coaster Patented in 1898)
17th: Davy Crockett’s Birthday (born 1786)
18th: Bad Poetry Day
18th: Wizard of Oz Premiered in 1939
19th: National Aviation Day
19th: Orville Wright’s Birthday (born 1871)
20th: National Radio Day
21st: National Homeless Animals Day
22nd: Be an Angel Day
24th: Strange Music Day
25th: Kiss and Make Up Day
26th: Women’s Equality Day (Anniversary of Women Getting the Right to Vote) 1920
28th: Dream Day (Martin Luther King gave “I Have A Dream” Speech in 1963)
30th: National Toasted Marshmallow Day

August is also “Family Fun Month”, “National Clown Month”, “National Beauty Pageant Month”, “American Artist Appreciation Month”, and “National Golf Month”.

Another Day...Another Rip...

Boy am I glad we took the insurance on this toy from ToysRUs!! We have only had it since May!!! We blew it up again and the kids (BIG and small--as you will see) decided to get WET in our 100°+ heat (Did I mention I HATE Texas???) Things are going great...the two patches we have had to make so far are holding...when, as poor Stevie, goes down the slide...you hear a R...I...PPPPPPP! *sigh* I think we will have to think of a different outside toy for next year--hopefully we can just keep patching away this summer till it cools down (but it definately means my Wednesday BBQ's are out now *sob sob*)

This is where Kimmy likes to hide...on the small slide with the sprinkler going on her--she thought I wouldn't get a picture of her *grin*

You'll notice...I am the ONLY one not in the pool playing...hence...I GET to stay DRY!!! Right??? NOT!! If you look at how absolutely WET my BIG KID is in the picture above...you will notice in the picture below--how my shirt looks now surprisingly has the lettering on his SOGGY t-shirt...Gee Thanks handsome...I love you TOO!

You're Gonna Play With This Toy...

Enough is enough! I am finally to the point we are sorting and getting rid of *grin* We have spent 20 years collecting and we have done a fine job of filling our house...and our storage shed...and a rental unit...get the idea?? Anyways...Yesterday we MADE the kids play. We took them to the park and flew kites and did stomp rockets. Stevie and Missy got tired of the rockets pretty quick so off they went to freecycle! The kites have to wait for another day--we THOUGHT we had enough wind *smile* Stevie got bored pretty quick and decided to walk home--anyone need a teenager? We ended up actually beating him home LOL! I let him keep walking--drove right past him--figured his attitude might be better when he got home!






The kids figured we were done having mandatory fun (a phrase they are coming to hate!) but OH NO...Mom has more in store! We made them try out that "SUPER COOL OH I WANT IT Hot Wheels Splash Toy" (which is now up on ebay--so you know how much they really loved it!)

They really did try to sneak upstairs away from a derranged mom...who was on a warpath with STUFF...but she found them before they had a chance. For anyone who has been to my house--you KNOW how MANY board games we have *smile* (a HUGE metal shelf FULL of them) so that was my next focus...For the next two hours--they played game after game with their dad! All we played was JUST Harry Potter games--good grief--how many versions can there be? Well, we played FOUR...and the kids ended up getting rid of all four of them! Ebay is a wonderful thing! LOL!! Check out that look on Missy's face...not sure she is have too much FUN during MANDATORY FUN time!