A Week In Review

It's been another busy week here in Texas. I say that, but to be quite honest, it hasn't REALLY been THAT busy I suppose. I have free time, but I've been spending time (either productive fun stuff or dealing with the grumpy sourpuss mood) with the Critter or getting my house hold stuff done. That doesn't mean that I haven't thought about or missed you kiddies. And seeing as though I haven't written much since the beginning of last week, I thought I would catch y'all up now.

April 23: KID's birthday. O and I called and he sang Happy Birthday to her.

April 24: Critter and I went to the park to meet up with Mrs. Coach, Superstar, Teach (Mrs. Coach's sister), Happy and Knoxville (Teach's children - both very close in age to Critter and Superstar). Everyone had a great time. Critter's behaviour went drastically down hill after that and dinner out with everyone was less pleasant than our time at the park. Thankfully though that night was the return of Grey's Anatomy! KID, Mrs. Coach and I have been patiently waiting for it's return. For me, it didn't disappoint. I felt that this show was better than the ones prior to the writer's strike and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us this coming Thursday.

April 25: Big Daddy returned from another business trip. This one was to the home office in North Carolina. I was so glad to see him considering my son's mood the majority of the week. We had a nice dinner as a family, but thankfully I was able to retreat to my own corner of the house for a couple of hours.

April 26: In the morning, I dragged Big Daddy and O to the Farmer's market in a neighbouring town. It was small in comparison to some of the ones that I have been to, but there were some nice organic vegetables, herbs, meat, and eggs that we picked up. I even indulged myself and purchased "Arabian Spice" handmade soap. It's heavenly! Afterwards, we attempted to find a park suggested to us by friend Sig. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful, but we found ourselves near Sig and J's house and decided to see if they were around. They weren't, but it just so happened that they were at the park close by. The kids ran around playing for about an hour or so. It was lovely to get caught up with Sig, with whom I didn't have much of an opportunity to speak to at DD's birthday party. We got a lovely offer to join them for lunch, which we did, sharing our haul from the market. After much playing and fun we headed home.
Our day didn't end there. Mrs. Coach, Superstar and Baby Girl joined us for dinner and some play time afterwards. Coach had been away..coaching and I thought it would be nice to have them over while he was gone. I'd hate for them to be lonely yanno?

April 27 We haven't done all that much today. Most of our time has been spent playing or just lounging around. Big Daddy did have a bit of a "meeting" with our neighbour who is on the city park board. Big Daddy has a few connections and today was just a bit of a pow wow to see if he couldn't help the city out some.
And so now..this is where I find myself. Another quiet afternoon. Thankfully, the Critter is sleeping and Big Daddy is entertaining himself. For a change, I was able to find some time to write. Aren't you glad I did?

Another First

Critter went to his first birthday part on Saturday. DD, the son of our friends J and Sig, turned the big 0-4! I must admit, I was a little excited for O, this being his first party and all (I may have even gone a little overboard with all the pictures I took, but if you repeat any of what I just said..I'll deny it!!).




Big Daddy and I had agreed earlier in the week to slightly change O's schedule so that he could get a decent sized nap in and go to the party all happy. We should have known better right? Nothing ever goes as planned with a toddler in the house. My stubborn boy would just not go to sleep for his Daddy and it wasn't until I got home from running some errands and turned on his music for him, did he got to sleep.

He was a real mess when we got there, even though he was happy to see DD, Gabs, and Sig. That boy would cry and do everything you told him not to do..the reason? He was hungry. In our rush to get the boy up from his nap and get to the party on time we forgot to give him something to eat, which of course made everything unpleasant. With a little bit of food in his belly, he morphed back into my sweet, fun boy and had a great time!

After Life Comes Death

Don't ask me how, I honestly don't know how, but our wee baby bunny has gone off to the big carrot patch in the sky. Tufts of fur, along with a few other body parts were found (by me of course..the bleeding heart, animal person) in the backyard. Neither Big Daddy or I had mowed over the little guy so we can rule that one out. B.D. suspects the bunny got caught out in the storm Thursday night and well..you know. We don't have a dog and our cats are strictly house bound so really, it's anyone's guess as to what happened.

And no..no new pictures of the bunny.

Mama bunny is still around which is good. She has been sunning herself in the usual spots and has even tolerated my kittens chattering at her through the window screens.

Tips and Tricks #2

Ever gotten tar on your car and haven't been able to get it off?

Try smearing on some peanut butter on the tar and then scrub it off with a clean towel. It may take a little bit of elbow grease, but it does work. I've tried it.

Boy Was My Face Red

Have you ever had one of those moments in which you wish the floor would open up and swallow you, saving you from the embarrassing situation you suddenly find yourself in? I had such a moment yesterday.
Critter and I had a few errands to run, one of them being a trip to the post office. It sounds innocent enough, right? The post office was brimming with people as is the norm for a Monday morning. So it was no surprise that we found ourselves waiting in line to be helped. There we were, the next in line. O was standing beside me, holding my hand, chattering away to anyone that would pay him any mind and generally being very good. And then..my moment happens. Let me pause here for dramatic effect.

There comes a time in every parent's life when your child says or does something to utterly embarrass you. It's unavoidable. It's as certain as death and taxes. I did it. My sister did it. Big Daddy did it all the time. I knew that someday O would embarrass me too. I just never thought that it would be this soon. My mistake!
So there we are, still waiting for our turn at the counter and the place begins to fill in behind us. A woman takes a spot behind us in line and behind her, a man. Critter and I talk, me trying to keep him focused on staying with me and staying out of trouble. Hearing business starting to wrap up, I turn my attention to the conversation being held by one of the postal workers and the man she is helping. My feet shuffle, I inch forward a little as I get ready to move up when all of a sudden I hear the sweet innocent voice of my toddler ring out in the almost silent lobby.."You gotta boo boo? Right there, you got a boo boo?" I turn and look to see who he is talking to and what boo boo he is pointing out. As I'm making the turn, I hear the woman behind us reply to his questioning "Yes, I do have a one and it just won't seem to go away." Looking at her feet and working my way up, I see no boo boos to speak of until I look at her face. There just below her lip is an angry-looking red sore and my son is pointing it out to everyone present. "It's red. You gotta boo boo. It's red." I'm mortified to hear him continue. I have no idea what the sore was, but it's something that I certainly wouldn't have wanted pointed out and stared at. By this time, I've turned a brilliant shade of red (likely matching the colour of her sore) and desperately trying to turn O's attention else where. "Yes it is red" the lady behind us replies politely looking slightly embarrassed herself. THANK GOD this seems to satisfy my little critter and he drops this line of conversation. I throw an apology over my shoulder to the woman as a postal worker calls out for the next in line. I quickly grabbed O's hand and ran to the counter with a speed the likes of y'all have never seen before! Thankfully, Critter forgot all about the woman's boo boo and I was able to get out of there before he could notice the b.o. smell of the man now waiting behind us.

Baby Fever..

After much deliberation on whether to have another baby or not, my family and I are thrilled to share with you guys that we in fact have a new addition to announce. I just found out today and couldn't be more pleased!! Here is his or hers first picture:



(Sorry Kid..ha ha ha..I couldn't help myself.)

Pretty much from the time we moved in to our home here in Texas, we've shared our land with a shy, loyal, little jack rabbit and now it seems, she has added to her family. We've often seen her about, sunning between our house and our friend's house next door. That was much earlier this year and we thought then she was having babies..or dead (she wasn't moving at all, even when we approached). No babies were to be found - until today that is.
I had considered finishing my weed eating, but decided to pull the weeds by hand. Very ambitious of me, huh? I was glad I did because I came across this little guy/girl while going to pull one of the weeds out (as you can see from the way the little guy is shrouded in greenery). If I had used the weed eater instead, I would have seen the baby a little too late and well..you know. I would have traumatized my kid, and me too I'm sure, FOREVER. I would have been known on the streets as Muffy..the bunny rabbit killer! The Easter bunny would skip us each year for sure. Now how would I have explained that one to Critter?

Critter Favourites

Food - Macaroni and Cheese
Snack - Fruit
Thing to do - Play outside (at the park or with Superstar) and dance.
Song - "No One" by Alicia Keys
Movie - Alvin and the Chipmunks (Cars and Happy Feet are still very big hits though)
Drink - Juice of any kind
Toy - Cars and trains
Animal - Turtle
Colour - Purple
Expression - "I can't believe it."
Stuffed Animal - Bear Bear (a gift from Mimi when he was first born), and Todd the monkey (bought for him by Big Daddy while touring around Intercourse, PA)

Being Proactive

Instead of complaining to my family, friends, and fellow neighbours about the things I don't like about my neighbourhood or town, I've opted to get involved. Last night was the first small step in the beginning of that. I decided to go to our annual Home Owner's Association meeting and joined a couple of communities. With my Internet development background, I joined the website/newsletter as well as the crime watch committee but also intend to help with the landscape group when they need help with planting around our subdivision.
I've been wanting to get involved for a while, but I didn't quite have the time to devote to it. But now that O has become the very mobile, self sufficient, independent, and content creature that he is, I feel better about getting involved and spending time doing things away from the house and away from him. With Big Daddy having made his BIG trip for the year, I can count on him (to some extent) to be around which makes my involvement more possible.

Seeing as involvement is the word of the week around here, today I'll be contacting the president of our Chamber of Commerce to see where I can get involved in our town. We are a small community on the fringes of the DFW Metroplex but the town has become one of the fastest growing communities in Texas. There has been a population boom over the last few years and the town is doing it's best to catch up with the influx of people and the demand it brings.
If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I ever thought I'd get involved like this, I'd have told you you were crazy. I'm shy person (truly I am, kiddies) until I get comfortable with people or a certain situation. But I'm not really the type to put myself out there in the first place so to actually be the one to approach these people is monumental for me. It was time yanno? It is time away from the house in which I can be me, my own person and separate from being a mother and wife. It's also about taking pride in my community both the neighbourhood and town that I live in and making it a great place to live in. I also want to get involved just for the sake of getting involved; to meet new people; and be a part of something that maybe my critter will be proud of me for and will inspire him to be involved someday.

I'm Sorry

I'm sorry kiddies. It's not that I'm ignoring you. I like y'all very much in fact. It's just that it's hard to get time on the computer any more. B.D. still is without a computer. There are some issues with my laptop (more so since updating the operating system) and so Big Daddy and I have to share the desk top; he for work and I..well..to do the bills, check email, read the news, bug Kid, and well..to write for you good people of course! If it makes a difference..I miss you guys. I really do. Not only do I not get to write to you as much, but I'm strapped to get in my daily reads of my favourite blogs. It's so sad! But the up side to this whole messy computer debacle is that I have lots to write about when I get on here.

Okay..time to go. B.D. has to get to work. See y'all soon.

UPDATE: Big Daddy's computer has been fixed. Mine, however, is still giving me fits. I should have gone back to school for IT..and not internet development. Ugh..I'll keep trying (while everything else goes to pot).

Brotherly Love

I finally managed to get my pictures off of my camera, which happened to be no small feat. So you guys should consider yourselves lucky. I wouldn't work this hard for just anyone yanno.

Here is my little critter and his best buddy Superstar doing what boys do best..playing in my empty flower beds, taking the mulch and dumping it where ever they please. In other words, making a mess.



It's not too often that you see these two playing like this. They like each other and are always wanting to play with one another, or so they say. But when they get outside, one grabs the other person's toys (which is usually cars) and the other grabs the other person's cars and they play in different areas. Mrs. Coach and I chuckle at that. The whole point (besides getting them outside of course) is for them to play with one another, which was what they were asking for not five minutes earlier.
They do play together between playing with their seperate hordes and fights over whatever car is most coveted that day. They love to race each other, but that too can turn into a fight too. Both like to be win, though I believe likes to push Superstar's buttons more than he likes winning. You'd almost think that these two were brothers by the way they act, huh?

Tips and Tricks

Big Daddy and I are a frugal lot. We especially dislike spending money on replacing or fixing things when we can do it ourselves. We aren't the experimental type. We don't just sit around looking for unconventional ways to repair things, but we're game to try something if it's been suggested to us (most of the time anyways). A friend of mine has been a Godsend in this department and I thought it would be nice if I shared some of them with you - didn't I tell you? I'm all about making your life easier. I'm that kind of person. Not really, but hey..I'm feeling magnanimous today.

Tip #1: Kids colour on your painted wall with crayon? No problem! For clean-up all you need is a little hairspray and a cloth. NOTE: this does not work on wallpaper.

In Da Hood..

My friend Gail over at Family Matters - in Italy posted a little photography challenge last week; photograph your hood. Liking the concept, I decided to do just that, but with the laptop being very uncooperative and not recongnizing my camera, I've had to pick out some pictures from the archives. They are odds and ends and certainly not great quality but as I said, I like Gail's idea and wanted her to see my neck of the woods too. So without further ado..

Here are some pictures I took around town one very early and foggy morning. We live in your typical rustic, western, turn-of-the century small ranch towns. This is just a small taste.


We live in the new section of town where the houses go up seemingly overnight. I took this picture while my Mama and I were out driving one VERY windy day during her visit (read about it here). As you can see it was trash day. Not a pretty sight.


And if you want to see even more of my little corner of the world, check out this blog entry to see what it was like with some snow on the ground.