Maybe a career change is in order.

As we stood outside yesterday evening, John looked up at the sky darkening with clouds. "It looks like a storm's coming," he said.

"Yeah. The Weather Channel said it is supposed to rain tonight," I replied.

I had to smile as I barely heard him mumble under his breath, "I could so do that job."

Wordless Wednesday

Stuff

I haven't posted in a while because there has just been too much disorganized "stuff" going on my head. Please allow me to purge (like you have a choice - it's my blog)...

* If you've been reading the comments, you know that my sister sent me a picture that she would like me to post here. She says it is a wonderful picture of John and I... and she's half right. John looks fantastic with his big, burly self. I, on the other hand, do not. And I'm not sure why I am so very stuck in the land of the ridiculously vain, and cannot suck it up to post a picture in which I feel I look... really bad. But I am obviously having issues with the idea.

* John and I have decided that we would like to take a safari drive sometime. We would prefer not have an elephant sit on our car.

* If there is a disease that can be prevented by eating scrumptious local sweet corn, our family has no worries this week.

* I swear, in that picture, I look like I live in a tree and bake cookies for a living.

* This has been keeping me up at night. (I apologize for directing you to another host, but it is quite lengthy, and I did not want to re-post it here. Also, please note that Snopes's declaration of "false" refers to the fact that it was incorrectly attributed. However, the person to whom credit was given did pass the message at some point in time.)

* Next door, there lives a wonderful family, the matriarch of which is Carla. She is the only person for whom JJ will wriggle out of my arms and run, arms wide. Recently, he has taken to calling her "An LaLa" (Aunt Carla). Love it!

* I don't know whether to be flattered that my sister loves me so much that she cannot tell that this picture is incredibly unflattering, or worried about her eyesight.

* truTV's slogan claims that it is not "reality", but in fact, "actuality". Can someone please tell me the difference?

* My car is in the shop, and the dealership loaned me a Mercedes-Benz ML350. I don't want to give it back.

* Fine! Here's the picture:

Wordless Wednesday

He knows me too well.

For a while now, Pepsi has been airing a commercial featuring their "gift monster", a 60-foot tall abomination made up of things you can win by looking under the cap of your bottle of Pepsi product. In this commercial, a few friends are sitting on what appears to be the porch of a farm house. One of the people opens a bottle of Pepsi, and looks under the cap. Next thing you know, this conglomeration of stuff in monster form wanders out of a corn field, plucks a hat from himself, and hands it to the guy. The guy looks up and says, "Thanks".

After watching the commercial last night, John looked at me and said, with great sarcasm, "'Thanks.' That's what I'd be saying if that thing wandered into our yard."

"I'm pretty sure I'd have wet my pants," I said.

"Of course you would," John laughed, "That thing's made up entirely of FREE STUFF!"

"No, I think something of that magnitude would have me running away," I retorted.

"Maybe," John said, "But not before you asked it for a coupon."

Bring it on...

Let's fast-forward about 17 years (only 17 years?), and let me throw a hypothetical situation at you:

JJ has been accepted to a college about an hour away from home, where he is going to live in a dormitory on campus. He will certainly miss home, and we will definitely miss him. So, in an effort to make the transition easier for everyone, John and I have decided to rent a room and stay on campus with JJ for his first week at college.

Honestly... no holds barred... what do you think?

The kind of laughter that produces tears...

I ran across this today. I needed it... a lot.

Be sure to check out both pages.

Wordless Wednesday

It's that time again...

I'm back over at the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival, commenting like a mad woman! Once again, there are lots of great giveaways... even John has one going! He'll be representing the family this week. ;)

So get on over there and check things out. You just may be a winner!

True Confessions

After helping John with a little house project this afternoon, he said to me, "You know, that wasn't that bad with you helping."

I was thinking about what a great team we make when he added, "Of course, it would have been even better if you had done it yourself."

Wordless Wednesday

Just in the nick of time...

Happy Birthday, Karl!

You've worked really hard, and in this last year things have really fallen into place for you. I hope next year proves even better. You deserve only the best.

I love you, little brother!

This is John.

This is his blog.

This is what our local paper, The Daily Times, had to say about them on the front page of their Business section.

One Size Fits All

I had a wonderful opportunity to relive some old memories with my mother the other day, as we were going through a box of "stuff" that I had left behind when I moved out of their house. Among other things, we found sweatshirts from all of the productions I was involved with in high school, a vast and varied collection of keychains, my Tae Kwon Do gear and boards, and a black satin robe. As I started to put the robe on, I realized what it was. "This is my college graduation gown!"

And as I zipped it up, my mother excitedly proclaimed, "And it still fits!"

Breakin' the Rules

You may have noticed that, in all this time, this blog has only sported one single, solitary, tiny picture of JJ. It is primarily because I am the teensiest bit paranoid. I have this fairly irrational fear that somebody (let's call him or her a "bad person") will see JJ, and agree with me in my assessment that he is the most adorable kid on the planet. And then my not-even-two-year-old son will have a stalker. Truly, I am not prepared to deal with that kind of drama right now (or ever, thankyouverymuch).

But alas, I have recently heard tell that the world does not revolve around me, and the possibility exists that I may be just slightly prejudiced in my completely nonobjective opinion regarding the adorability of my son. I am not only shocked, but appalled as well. However, I am also just a bit relieved, because now I can show you what we did today...

BEFORE:





AFTER: