stuff on the stairs

Things currently sitting on my stairs that are waiting to be put in their appropriate place:

Two boxes of twinkly Christmas lights

An old lady wig

Suitcase

Recorder

Bottle of glue

Two bags of clothes that my kids have outgrown

A pair of camo flip flops



Sounds like my house is a wreck.  It's not really.

In other news, the weekend was absolutely fabulous.

There was grilling, napping, laughing, reading, relaxing, and just all around good stuff.

 

Happy Easter greetings...

 

From the Head Brothers.

Ed...

 

 

 

And Fred ...

Toner and cards and going away parties and stuff

Yes, that was me in WalMart last night at 9:50 buying toner for the printer so Jordan could finish a project and paper due today.

And I was doing this fast walk scuttle combo to move quickly to the back of the store to the Printer Toner Department because I thought the store closed at 10:00.

Only to find out later they are open 24 hours a day.

So I really just looked stupid.

Which is the way it is most of the time anyway.

So there's that.

In other news, Coop's interest in magic has resurfaced.  Specifically card tricks.  Now, I'll admit there are a few of them that have me quite intrigued.  But some others require a little work.  Like when he says "OK, close your eyes for a second." Probably not too much magic involved in that.  But, anyway, we've had lots and Lots and LOTS of "This is an ordinary deck, right?  OK, pick a card.  Any card."   He's hilarious.

His main concern is learning how to shuffle, because, "Mom, how can I be a magician if I can't shuffle."

I also taught him how to play Solitaire.  He loves it.  But he also wants me and the Captain to play with him.  Which is fine - I love playing with him.  I just find it slightly amusing when he says, "Come play Solitaire with me!"

Work is still filled with high levels of crazy right now.  And this week has worn me slick.  Plus, my back hurts and I've been using a heating pad like a Mamaw. 

But, tomorrow is Friday and the week is almost over, so we have that going for us.

Just saw that today is the Pope's last day.  Wonder if they'll have a going away party for him with a big cake and "We'll miss you" balloons.  Then he leaves his key and ID badge with HR and heads on out.  "Bye y'all!"

OK, I'm done.

Bye.

Hello door.

Since parenting and fifth grade math took its toll on the very core of my being yesterday, I have no gray matter left this morning to put together any logical form of a blog post. 

So, I will share my front door with you.

I love this guy!

 

See Gauge up there peeking out the window?  Hey Gauge!!

Here's a better look in the daylight before he was quite finished. But, you can see him better here.

It was cheap.  And easy.

I like cheap.  And easy.

And I'm so glad it's Friday.

The end.

Wild life

Nothing much to say today.

Because you really don't want to know that the highlight of my week so far is the new shower curtain I bought for the upstairs bathroom.

Be jealous.

Operation Skunk Capture

Exciting times last night at mi casa.

We had been to the volleyball game, out to dinner, and I had just returned from driving Jordan over to a friend's house for a late movie. And, no, I'm not too proud to do that wearing pajama pants, monkey slippers and a big ol' clip in my hair. 

I walked in the back door I was met with the smell of smells.

The Skunk Smell.

And the Captain was giving Gauge a bath.

Yep, the Bloggie Doggie had been sprayed by a skunk. Poor baby. This happened a few weeks ago, but the Captain didn't believe it was a skunk.  Not real sure what he thought it was that made his dog all stinky like a skunk.  But, anyway, last night, conversion happened and he was a believer.

And before I knew it, the Captain sitting over there mumbling to himself  and doing a Google search on  "Repelling skunks from your yard." and "How to build a live animal trap."

He headed to the Wallie at 10:30 for some skunk repellant supplies and returned with panty hose and moth balls.   What a vision. 

A man with a plan. Out to the back yard with his flashlight and his panty hose filled moth balls.  Then he set a metal trap that he already had. The trap that is pretty good size.  The trap that the Captain said "may not be big enough for this skunk".  Wha?  That's when I became a little concerned about skunk size.  And repeated over and over to the Captain, "Just how big is a skunk?   Show me with your hands.  SHOW ME WITH YOUR HANDS."   Apparently skunks can be quite biggish creatures. 

There are folks who have their own reality show about stuff like this.  The Captain, Skunk Hunter.

So yes, at midnight I was waiting for Jordan to get home from the movie, and trying to get skunk and moth ball smell out of my house.

And watching for the skunk.

It's a glamorous life.

Remember The Creature? I think this skunk may be our culprit.

The Captain is armed and ready.

Operation Skunk Capture.

It's war.

The Creature

I think we've got some sort of creature hanging out in our back yard at night.

Yesterday I noticed the drip pan on the smoker was pulled out and yucky who knows how old awful smelling grease that the Captain forgot to wash out had spilled out everywhere.

It was a creature in the night that did it.

And this morning there are some mushrooms on our patio.

And Gauge is all sniffy all over the patio.

We also noticed a few weeks ago something had dug under the gate.

The Creature.

Oh, and I had a lizard thing in my den window between the screen and glass the other day. And that is way way way not cool.

But I think The Creature is not the lizard thing.

The lizard thing is a separate issue. 

Anyway, let's review.

The Creature likes to eat old stinky BBQ smoker grease drippings that smell like puke.

He eats mushrooms.

He digs.

He comes out at night.

Maybe it's a racoon. ???

Connie and I were texting about it yesterday and we determined there may be TWO creatures. The digger AND the grease eater.  Plus, the Lizard thing.

At first she asked me "Do tacos dig?"

Huh?

Stupid auto correct.

"Do raccoons dig?"

So, just to be safe, add tacos to the list.

She said any wild animal or even a neighborhood cat would eat the old stinky BBQ smoker grease drippings that smell like puke.  But the question is COULD THEY PULL OUT THE TRAY?

How about a fox?

Lots to consider as we build the suspect profile.

I'm puzzled.

And a little scared.

And still kind of skittish about that lizard thing.  Cause the window is RIGHT BEHIND THE CHAIR IN THE DEN WHERE I ALWAYS SIT.

I'm not too cool with the lizard on my patio.  But I'm way way way not cool with the lizard in my den.

OK, that's all.

Stay tuned.

And, Happy Friday.

Oh, and GO HOGS!  We've got a big one tomorrow.  So, y'all send me some good Woo Pig vibes.

Peace out.

Fish and adventures ahead

The Captain and Jordan are headed out on a youth group adventure.  And by adventure, I mean sleeping in a tent, peeing in a bucket, avoiding snakes, bathing in a pond and probably getting to know Isaac.  

Cooper and I will be sleeping in the soft bed, watching football, embracing electricity, and drinking water that doesn't have to be purified first.

Stay tuned for more info on Fish Center.  We did get some fish last night.  Two tiny tetra casualties have already occurred.  RIP Mike and Ike.  This whole thing is going to be an adventure for sure.  But it's fun... so far.... and they are fun to watch...  except for the whole floating on the top part. 

Even The Figures are excited about Fish Center.

This is Kane looking at his namesake. 

 

OK, everybody have a great weekend.  Happy college football kick off!!!

Crazy now. Fish later.

Life and my brain and all my stupid hormones are spinning around right now.

I'm just not liking me right now.  And my tolerance for humanity is low.

Best if I just kind of keep to myself for awhile.

You're welcome.

Maybe I should send myself to time out.

I'll just say I've been looking for pants for Jordan that are thick enough to resist a snake bite.

Stay tuned for more details on that.

And, after buying her friend a little fish and a little fish bowl as a birthday gift, Jordan decided we needed a fish too.  But apparently she and Cooper decided on more than one fish.  And a not so little fish bowl. So now there's a fish tank on my kitchen counter.  Fish coming later.  And everything that was on that space on the counter (i.e. my desk) is now on the kitchen table.

Clutter like that drives me nuts.

But who am I to say that since I've still got a WWE wrestling arena set up in my den floor.

My house is a wreck right now.

I guess since I'll be rained in this weekend, I'll clean up this pig sty.

Anyway, stay tuned for more details on Fish Center.

Here's a picture for you to look at.

Once I take myself out of time out, I'll be back.

RIP Mr. Tree

Bad storm came through last night.

The lightning lightened.

The thunder thundered.

The wind blew.

And, my tree fell.

Timber.

Mr. Tree had been a little sick. 

The Tree Man said he had a root problem.

So he was probably going to tree heaven soon anyway.

But last night at 12:30 am, he went bye bye.

I watched it happen.

It was a sad moment.

I loved that tree.

RIP Mr. Tree.

Watching TV

USA!

I'm not the only one glued to the TV watching the Olympics.

Temporary Fix

The latest mug shot of Mr. Table.

Southern Living it's not.

Temporary Fix it is.

And we may or may not have duct taped our coffee table while we watched Monday Night Raw.

Yeeee hawwww.

RIP Mr. Table



A sad thing has happened in our den...

Poor Mr. Table.

He broke his leg.

Sadly this is the end of the road for Mr. Table.

Because what you can't see, is a big bolt on the other side of this broken leg which repaired another fracture. 

The table is old.

It's seen a lot of life.

If you look closely you can see Gauge chew prints on the leg.

It's seen coloring.

Homework.

Action figures.

Nail painting.

Gift piling.

Food.

Food.

Food.

Feet propping.

Bootie sitting.

Laundry stacking.

A SWAT team party.  (It did sustain a slight injury following that event)

Life.

Lots of life.

He's not really a pretty table.  He's not a fancy table.

I think Connie and I bought this table maybe 20 years ago.  For probably $50... if that.

But Mr. Table has been a good table.

He's been the center of lots of living. 

Good times.

RIP Mr. Table.

You have served us well.

fore!

That's my backyard.

The Captain made this for Cooper.

A chipping green.

Isn't it awesome?

Yes, that's a baseball pitching net in the background.

Dual sports.

But it does occasionally catch an errant golf ball.

Every once in awhile a ball still sails over the fence.

Sorry, Mr. Johnny.

OK, back to the chipping green.

The boys were out there last night just chipping away.

They were also trying to make a hole.

With a can.

Didn't work.

Stay tuned.

The Captain is out there right now watering the chipping green.

Love.

wanna' play?

My den is very ... lived in ... during the summer.

Cooper kind of takes over with his toys and things. He plays all day. He's ten.  That's his summer job. 

I try not to get too twitchy with all the stuff that's taken over the whole den floor.   It's a little tricky walking through there.  And the poor dog.  Occasionally plows right through. 

But anyway, it is what it is.

And this is what's currently in my den:

Marble run track running from one side of the room to the other.

Wrestling arena complete with back stage area, medical area, stage, ring, announcers table and 599,127 wrestling figures.   Oh a a "money in the bank" suitcase suspended over the ring via huge lego tower

Four golf putters and three golf balls and a little practice putting hole thing

Pair of binoculars

Stackers cup game

Summer reading book that's not seeing much action

Xbox controllers and games

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Guess that's what we'll all be doing this weekend since it's going to be 275 degrees every day.

Peace out.

Scenes from mi casa

A few apples.

Marble run in the floor.

Guns in the dining room.

Sleeping dog with frisbee.

Monday morning

Proud to say that the Captain and I came in third out of 19 teams at the Trivia Night.  There were lots of President questions.  I answered Grover Cleveland for all of those.  None of those were ever right.  Poor Grover.  He's never the answer to any trivia questions.

The rest of the weekend featured watching tons of US Open golf.  Good stuff.  If you like that kind of stuff.  We do.

Other happenings....

Earlier in the summer, Cooper put up the Man Cave for a few days.  That has been replaced with a homemade marble run track.  Ramps, paper tracks, tubes.  He's been quite creative.  It's also a fairly decent size and is in the middle of the den floor.  When the ceiling fan is on, it alters the track placement.  Also, a big ol' dog running through the den alters the track placement.   

Jordan's taking Driver's Education this week.

And I'm headed to take a TB test.  More on that tomorrow.  How's that for a tease?

Peace and love.

Tuesday night review

A recap of the evening at mi casa.
Jordan went to the gym and the Captain was going to pick her up on his way home from work.

Then we found out the Captain was at his mom's house working on his boat.  That was fine.  It's near the gym.

Text from Jordan:  Somebody come get me.

Text from me:  Text your dad.  He's near.

And she waited and waited. 

Then their exchange went something like this:

Hello??  Want me to start walking?

And he apparently said yes. 

Because she started walking.

But then he picked her up part way. No worries.

My dinner was nuts because I really didn't feel like making anything.  Or even thinking of anything.  So we had some pasta.  And pizza bites.  Because they are kind of Italianish so it went along with the theme and I pretended like it was a perfect side dish.

Then I heard Cooper say, "Hey dad, wanna' whittle?"

The Captain told Coop to go find some sticks.

I don't think this is what he had in mind.

They broke off a few small pieces off that tree thing and then they started whittling.  Like Jed and Jethro.

Me and my kindle had grand plans to sit outside with the Clampett boys but those were thwarted by Jordan and a 5 page study guide for an English final exam.

So we reviewed all sorts of poetry terms and fancy things like that.

While she held Gauge in her lap like a baby.

It was ... odd....

Because he usually doesn't like to be held.  Much less cuddled.  And he is ... big. 

Look at these goobers.



Then Cooper started catching sticks on fire with my bug candle.

And I actually said these things out loud:

Do not catch the dog on fire.

Do not catch your sister's hair on fire.

Do not catch the chair cushions on fire.

Then it got dark and we all came inside.    Cooper started asking about how fast cardboard burns.  I may have a problem here....

Then he drug out that geo gami book again. 

So I took a stab at a hexahedron.

Whatever that is....

It only ended up with a little kite looking thing.  I don't think that's a hexahedron.

I told him he can't wait until 9pm to start working on these things.  Because my brain is tired and my eyes don't work.

So we all went to bed.

And I woke up at 3am. And have been awake ever since.

The end.

Monday, Monday

Hi, my name is Angie, and I'm off work today.

What am I going to do, you ask?

Exciting things like perform an intervention on my closet, clean out my frig, take a bunch of stuff to the goodwill, tame some of this clutter.

You know, stuff like that.

Call me weird, but I call that a good day.