Forget me not...

I'm off for 3 weeks. I may not be blogging, depending on how slow the computer is at my Parents house. Hopefully it will not be so bad. I checked the weather forcast for home and it says it will be 100-101 degrees for the first 4 days I am home. It looks like it will be humid too. I'm not happy about this, not happy at all! What did I expect in July..in Nebraska....it figures. I'll be heading to the airport at 4:45AM, I hope you all enjoy your cozy beds, while I am standing on security lines. I'll try to check your blogs while I am gone, again it really depends on Mom's computer.

Just for Katie!

This is a special post for Katie! She makes these really wonderful, yet extremely dirty "paint" birthday cards by cutting and pasting to create a master piece. I made this one for her to put in her purse so she can show all her friends her soulmate....Napoleon Dynomite. LOL, from the looks of this picture it was taken on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday...hence the adams apple. Its an inside joke. Anyway, I personally think the make a striking couple.

Owyhee Idaho Spud candy

I was at the mall the other day and we stopped into a candy store that had some unusual candy. Maybe it wasn't so unusual but it was stuff that was "classic" or it was just off the wall. I bought an Idaho Spud because it was something I had never tried before and frankly it sounded slightly scary. I was in the mood to be adventurous.
Anyway, it had this strange soft center and a chocolate with coconut coating. After the first bite, I thought it was kind of gross. After the second bite, I though...yep, its not getting any better. Just be be fair I took one more bite and decided I'd stick to Snickers or Bit O' Honey. I'm not a fan of "The Candy Bar that makes Idaho Famous" as it says on the package. Seriously, I hope that there is something else that Idaho is famous for...cause this candy bar isn't very yummy.

Camp shopping, gum in the carpet, and Pizza box karate...yep, just another day.

Sam is anti shopping. This is a tough situation when you have a kid that has to get a ton of camp clothes. We went through his closet and basically nothing fits him. The only clothes that still fit are the same few garmets that I have been washing over and over for the last three weeks. We hit the shoe store and he announced on the way in that we were going to be in there for no more than 5 minutes....that included trying shoes on and purchasing them. He needed two pairs of sneakers and a pair of boots that he could use for horseback riding. Luckily there was no line so we actually left with 30 seconds to spare. Then he wouldn't take my word for it that BJ's didn't have any watches....so we had to run through the store at a break-back pace. I was actually pretty happy that we got everything that he needed in less than 2 hours.

After we got home I started marking all of his belongings for camp. I washed the extra blankets and sheets so they would smell nice for his first week at camp. I piled everything on the list up and he is almost ready to go. Now I have to pack my stuff for my trip home. I am half way done.

The guys came over to hang out tonight. I don't mind having them hang out here because they are really great boys and its fun to give them a hard time. Derek and Kevin came early and they brought keeping video game system, so they were having a great time. Eric showed up and when he took his shoes off the padding of his nike came out because it was sticking to his sock. He said he shouldn't have put that piece of gum in his shoe before going to work this morning. I said make sure it doesn't stick to anything else and I thought he took his socks off. Well, later after Eric went home to eat, I walked into the den to play pictionary with the rest of the guys and noticed, red stuff all over the carpet. At first I thought it was lint or strings. NOPE....bubble gum....OMG! Sam was freaking out and I got out the carpet cleaner and goo be gone and went to work scrubbing off the sticky mess. Kevin, Derek and Sam were all very nice and asked if they could help me. I told them that was a very nice offer but there was no sense in all of us messing with chemicals. 45 minutes later you couldn't really tell where it had been, unless you really looked. In the mean time, Sam called up Eric and told him what he had done to the off white carpet. He said, "So what do you want me to do about it? Buy new carpet?" When Sam got off the phone he said he bet Eric would tell his parents and would be calling back soon. Guess what....5 minutes later, he called back and was very apologetic and offered to pay for a professional cleaning service and if that didn't do it, new carpet. Sam told him that we were just giving him a hard time because that is what friends do and that I got it out....so not to worry about it.
After that, the pizza I ordered was delivered and the boys chowed down. Sam was cleaning up the table and put all the paper plates, napkins, and extra crusts in the box, walked to the trash and then decided to show us a trick. He turned around and said to watch the one thing he learned in Karate class...but he said Karate like Ross did on the TV show Friends. At that point, before I could warn him, he brought his knee up into the box, in an attempt to bend it in half. Ofcourse all the contents spilled out onto the floor and Derek, Kevin and I were cracking up. Sam's eyes were huge. I told him I was trying to warn him but he was to fast. He cleaned up the floor with no complaints.

I just sent them off to play mini golf so the house is going to be quiet for another half an hour. AHHHHH! Derek commented that I remain so calm when there is a huge mess, like with the gum on the carpet and the pizza on the floor. I told him, freaking out gets you no where, its a waste of energy, plus its not like anyone was hurt....life goes on.

Tami had a great idea!

My friend Tami had a wonderful idea. She has a blog site that she types on to keep us all up to date with what she is doing and we all love it. Last week she created one for each of her three children. I designed the template and now she is posting for the kids. Todays was wonderful. I just laughed my butt off. Tami has always had a great sense of humor and frankly with three young children, you have to be able to laugh. You have to see what Meredith did, what Stephanie wants to do and what Hayden is looking forward to.

It's the little things in life...

I went to a memorial service yesterday for the Mother of a woman I was in book club with. Her Mom had been quite ill for a number of months and passed away over the holiday weekend. She was an amaizing artist, very talented and worked with every type of medium you could imagine. She carved stone, she painted in oils and watercolor, she designed jewelery out of gold, silver and precious stones, she sewed and did paper crafts. She had a real eye. Well her daugher told a story that I just loved. When Roberta was 5 and her brother Rickie was 3...I think that is what she said, they here moving into a new house. Her Mother walked into the room and discovered the kids drawing on the wall with crayon. Her Mom froze in the door way, lip quivering....Roberta was scared because she knew they were going to be in trouble. Her Mom stood there for a minute, then said, "Why should you kids have all the fun!" She walked over and picked up a crayon and started to draw a picture of the cow jumping over the moon. Later her Mom painted over the drawings and they were told not to do that again...but you know, the damage was done, she knew she had to repaint that wall....so instead of flipping out, she went with the flow. I just loved that story. Roberta's parents had been married for 64 years, can you imagine. I can't imagine how hard this is for him. Her best friend also spoke at the memorial and told of their 49 year friendship...I about lost it. Time goes by so quickly,doesn't it.

The answer to what I did yesterday.

I had to go to a craft store to pick up something for a project I am making for Tami's birthday and while I was there I felt inspired. I look at all the pretty crochet work on everyone's site and I feel so left out. It had been years since I tried to crochet. I was never very good at it and I have no idea how to read the instructions. Looks like Greek to me. Anyway, I bought a a ball of the Sugar n' spice cotton by Lily. then I went home and dug out an F5 hook and decided I could make a simple dish cloth. I am happy to announce that my sides were the straightest they have ever been and I think my tension was pretty good too...not to tight not to loose, very even. So, that is the extent of my crocheting ability. It only took me two movies to get through with it, but I was taking snack breaks, bathroom breaks, blogging breaks...basically any break I could think of. It's hard for me to relax when I crochet. Maybe that would change if I did it more often. Anyway, I think I am going to see if my Mom wants this dish cloth, since she taught me how to crochet. If she isn't interested....I'll pass it on to someone that wants it.

BUSTED!

I am soooo busted and it was sooooo worth it. LOL! I love you my dear Cousin Cindy! Just remember that! Now she knows what her daugher and I do when she is at work. Heheheheh! Visit her site and check it out by clicking here. But please not that Cindy actually forgot to take out Dani's username and password.....so I had to Instant message them:

Nett: HEY
Nett: did you know that you posted her username and password for the WORLD
Nett: jez, spaz
redbudgirl0: omg my mom is dead (Dani responded instead of her Mom)
Nett: read my comment and do what I suggested
Nett: yeah
Nett: what a ding dong
Nett: is she up?
Nett: if not, wake her ass up and make her log in so she can change it
Nett: all she has to do is type this:
Nett: (username given)
Nett: (password given)
Nett: she sure is getting dingy in her old age
redbudgirl0: she told me to delete it
Nett: no...just put those things in its place
Nett: it was funny
Nett: I'm sooo posting this...lol
redbudgirl0: lol
Nett: don't you think I should
redbudgirl0: yea
Nett: its so funny, I just knew she posted it with that info in there...I JUST KNEW IT
Nett: lol
redbudgirl0: lol

Spoons

I was reading Cousin Cindy's post and was reminded of one of the best games of all times. We used to play at at our Grandma and Grandpa Kasters. One holiday we were barred from playing anymore but not because the kids were getting wild, it was our Uncles who were out of control. The jist of the game is to pass cards around the table, picking one up at a time and discarding any cards you don't need. You want to collect four of any one suit. When you get your matching four you want to reach into the center of the table and take a spoon, preferably without anyone noticing. Once the others see you take a spoon, it is fair game and you want to grab one before everyone else. The last person to notice or the slowest to grab is out of luck because there is always one less spoon than there are players. It was always funny to see how long it would take people to notice a spoon was gone. Well, this particular year, the cousins were playing and remained civilized, but when the Uncles joined in...they went ape shit. The were grabbing spoons with such force that they would go flying everywhere...and they would dive on the floor after them, wrestling for control of the last spoon. Well, after a little while, Grandma and the Aunts had had enough...someone was bound to get hurt. It was fun while it lasted.

Anyway, here are some directions incase you want to play. Just don't substitute forks or knives...you will end up in the emergency room.

For this game, in addition to cards and people, you need a collection of spoons, with one fewer spoon than the number of players. The spoons are placed in the center of the circle of players and the cards are shuffled and dealt out to the players so that everyone has four cards.
All players simultaneously place one unwanted card face down to their left, and then pick up the card that the player to their right has placed.A player who collects four of a kind takes one of the spoons. As soon as a spoon has been taken, all the other players are entitled to take a spoon each, even if they do not have four of a kind. Since there is one spoon fewer than the number of players, one player will be left without a spoon. This player is the loser of this deal.
A series of deals can be played in which the loser, or a player who has lost three times, is eliminated from the game. Each time a player is eliminated you must remove one spoon from the game; if playing without a stock you also remove one set of four equal cards from the pack.

You'll never guess....

I bet
you
will
never
guess
what
I did
today.
Oh, no
you will
never
guess.
But by
all means
try.

Great Grandpa Lade's Basement

When I was little, we used to go to my Great Grandpa's house for Christmas. All the adults would be upstairs and all the Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren that were still little, were chased into the basement, where we could run around to our hearts content. You see we weren't allowed in the furnace room but we had full run of one whole side of the basement. It was the full length of the front of the house except for a walk in closet on the south side of the room The room was basically empty but it did have a long bench along one wall. The best feature of that room was the shiny white and black checkered floor. Oh man, with just your socks on, you could skate around that floor, it was nice and slick. We used to stand in the closet, then take a nice running leap and try to slide all the way across the floor to the far wall. You had to help yourself along by grabbing the closet door frame and sling shot your body out. We used to mark how far we got by the number of tiles that we slid. When that got boring we would spin around on our rear ends or arch our legs and arms so we could spin on our stomachs. The basement was always nice and cool but man, oh man, did we sweat up a storm. Hours felt like minutes in that basement. Once and a while, when we were to loud, one of the adults would come down and tell us to calm down a little bit. Yeah right!
When it was time to eat, we were summoned upstairs and once we were done eating, we were sent back down. Oh, of course we made our escape when we could. We would come upstairs and hang on our Parents or Grandparents then try to pick on an Aunt or Uncle. Eventually we would become a pain in the neck and we would be sent back down to the checkered floor.
I once got in big trouble...and I knew it, but I was just defending myself. Our Great Aunt and Uncle had a foster child that they eventually adopted. He was a handful but I never had a problem with him until he found out I was ticklish. He tortured me. I spent so much time trying to stay away from his tickling fingers that I was friggin tired. I snuck upstairs while he was picking on someone else and crawled behind the sofa for a nice rest. I was fine until he come looking for me and one of my big-mouth Uncles ratted me out after a few minutes. I managed to get back downstairs before he cornered me again. I was really getting sick of yelling at him and I had told on him several times but as soon as everyone's backs were turned, he was at it again. Let's face it, there is only so long that you can protect yourself by remaining locked in the bathroom at a large family gathering. Anyway, I had received a lovely new twirling baton for Christmas from Santa. Out of desperation I grabbed my baton and anytime he came near me I took swing at him. He was no dummy, he knew it would hurt and I was able to keep him at a distance with that baton. Ofcourse, my Mother caught me on the stairs, taking a swing at Mitchell and that was the end of my baton. She took it from me and gave me a lecture. OMG...I was one pissed off kid. She took my only form of defense, besides clawing him with my finger nails but even I knew what kind of trouble that would get me into. Leave no proof... that was my moto. A bump on the arm or head could be blamed on an accident...."I didn't see him" or "he fell" but a set of perfectly imprinted half moon nail marks were a little harder to explain. Let me tell you, that was one loooooong family get together after that baton was taken away. I was never so happy to go home in my entire life. Ahhhh, I could relax and let my guard down. I didn't have to worry about being tickled so long that I lost my breath and about tinkled in my panties.

Hmmmmm

Tough choice. I wonder which one was adopted. The husband is kinda cute...but so is the cat. I guess the deal breaker would be who made a bigger mess in the house. I don't know about you...but I think that Jennifer has a great sense of humor.

Awww, look at Cindy!

My Cousins daughter found a really cute picture of her Mom when she was cleaning her room. She posted it on her site. Cindy is older than me, so she is one of the few cousins that I don't remember as a baby. She was a cutie though. She still has big sparkling eyes and the feet are still kind of big for her body. I'm glad to say that her body caught up with her ears.....they don't look so large anymore. She also gave up thumb sucking for something else, but I won't say what...she might be embarassed. lol, right Cindy!

On the count of three...let's all sing together...

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear SUE,

Happy Birthday to YOU!

No ordinary birthday cake would do for Sue...nope, no ordinary cake, indeed!

That is why I searched the internet for the only birthday cake fitting for such a joyous occasion.

So, for the woman with a blog called "Good Yarns"...

a birthday cake made from balls of yarn.

LOL, I hope you have a lovely day full of wonderful gifts and yummy food.

I'm mailing something out to you...but ofcourse it has to be late...that way your birthday will last a little bit longer. It's not over until all your cards and gifts are opened!

I'm a busy camper

My friend Tami is creating sites for her three kids so I am helping her with the template design. It's keeping me busy today. I also finished my book and posted it on my blogger book club but for some reason the site isn't loading correcty. Cindy pointed it out the other night...but I have no idea what is wrong with it. Dang. I have to spend some time on that, even though I would rather be reading the other book I just started. Double Dang! I thnk I will just make dinner and worry about everything later. I'm super tired today...must be the cloudy skies. YAAAAAWWWWWWN! Yep, I'll be back later, I'm sure!

If there is a remote chance...go for it!

I recieved an email a few weeks ago and being the skeptic that I am, I had to try it out to see if it would really work.

Here is the jist of the email. If you are locked out of your car and it is new enough that it uses key chain remotes to lock and unlock your car, you can save money and time by not calling a locksmith. Here is how it works.

Use your cell phone, or borrow a cell phone and call the person that has access to your spare remote. While you are standing within a foot of your car, have them click the unlock button. Guess what! It will actually unlock your car. It doesn't matter if you are at the grocery store, in your drive way or 1,000 miles from home. If your cell signal is not cutting out, you will be able to get into your car.

How wonderful is that! You will never have to wait for someone to bring you an extra set of keys. Well, that is unless you completely lost your keys, if the are locked in the car, you are set...otherwise you still have to have the key replaced.

Happy 4th of July!

Yes, its that time of the year again... if you are lighting off the fireworks, be careful and keep your body parts attached and not scattered across the yard. It happens every year, some crazy person starts getting a little brave and someone gets hurt. Case in point...Cousin Mike when the little gorilla firecracker went off in his hand...he ran into the house screaming that he was paralized and hid behind Grandma's lazyboy recliner. Yeah, it stung a lot but he wasn't even burnt...and far from paralized. I had the same thing happen to me but with a slightly larger black cat 1 incher...and that mother hubbard had a fast fuse and ofcourse I was lighting them and tossing them..dumb but that was the cool way to do it. I was OK but MAN, that really stung. Please note that I did not run into the house screaming I was paralized, nor did I hid behind the furniture. I did however stick my hand in the ice tank the beer and soda was in. Then there was the time that some of my Uncles were lighting off pop bottle rockets and were tossing them into the air at the last second. The were warned to take them somewhere away from people. After all, there were kids there...they could have hurt us when the pop bottle rockets went wacko. Instead of hitting me...one went into the tree, hit a branch and hit my Mom in the arm, burning her as it exploded. I was standing on the other side of her. She started yelling at them and boy, oh boy, did they clear out PROMTO. To this day she is very verbal about their stupidity with fireworks and if she has to be around them when they are lighting them off, she sits in the house. Let's face it they would never mean to hurt anyone...but they are not the brightest sparklers in the box.
Have a fun 4th and stay safe!

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Midwestern

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Now you know why we never let Katie dress herself as a child.

When Katie IM'd me the other day and said she had some pictures that I really had to see....I was a little scared. You never know what you are getting with Katie. lol....and you think I'm joking. Anyway, let me explain what I recall of the story behind these pictures. Katie was hanging with her friends and they were going to the movies. Now since she was wearing shorts she had to go home to put some pants on because she is usually cold at the theatre. So she's in her room with her friends and she strips to her undies...and one of her "friends" says that she should totally go out in her undies. Katie says, " No, but I'll wear these.." and she pulls out a pair of dance pants with a leopard print on them. The start laughing and suddenly they are stuffing tissues in the front so she looks like she has a buldging tummy and then in the back so her butt looks BIG. She then put on a silver shiny shirt over her green polka dotted tank. add a pair of sandal shoes with tie dyed socks, a fake crown and a funny satin scarf wrapped around her head. Then she handcuffed her walking stick to her arm and put in some dangley earrings and a chunky necklace. Then her friend Jaime told her that she would pay her $10 to wear that to the movies. But Katie told her that she always said that and never paid her. (so my question is what kind of stuff has Katie been suckered into doing for free?) Jaime paid her in advance this time and off the went to downtown RVC. Please note that Katie was in full humor mode by this time. Humor is the drug of choice for Katie. Yep, laughter is all she needs to start her engine. It gets her started and keeps her going. Note the two guys in the pictures above...she didn't know them. They just wanted to have their pictures taken with her because she was cracking them up with her antics on the street. I can only imagine what she was doing...Because the girl will say just about anything. She had people coming out of bars and stores to see what she was up to. They were taking pics of her on their cell phones to send to friends. Yes, Katie...who was using an assumed name that night, was quite the happening around town.
They had so much fun that they are planning another outing where they all dress up in their old prom dresses and sing boy band songs while doing a dance routine that they are planning....at the LIRR station. I told her that if they did that, she had to call me and let me come over and get it on my camera. Can you imaging a bunch of girls with prom dresses, stuff to the gills with pillows so they looked preggers or like their butts grew 10 times its normal size, maybe both....singing Bye, Bye, Bye. Oh My!
Just so you know, she didn't get this kind of trait from me. I never dressed up and did crazy stuff like this. Nope, this I am not letting people blame on me. I just raised her until she was 10...and all her crazy stuff was taught after I left, so its either genetics or that high school she went to. LOL, thank goodness!

Oh yeah, your sitting there thinking that you are not a freak, right. Well, guess again. I personally think that anyone that thinks they are not a freak, in some fashion, is probably the biggest freak of all. Let's face it, we are all a litte strange, in our own ways. I am. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a star of the show. Let's face it, if I wasn't...I'd be boring...oh, so boring. I may be bored every once and awhile but I don't think I've ever been accused of being boring.
So suck it up and get ready. The show isn't over yet.

Call me old fashioned..

I like roller skates. Don't even try to get me to put on a pair of roller blades. I've worn them before and I vowed to never do it again. EVER. I'll ice skate but I wont inline skate. I'm sticking to roller skates. I just like them better. I have more control, I can stop quicker and let's face it...when attaching wheels to your body, stopping quickly is a huge selling point. Those are not my skates either. Mine are in my parents basement and are white with bright pink wheels. They are hot, let me tell you. At one point I had big pink pom-poms that were tied on them but I took them off and I have no idea where they went. No wait, I do know...they are in a box of Halloween costume stuff becuase I tied them onto my big polka dotted clown shoes because they had bells on them. Honeslty, I'm a bit old for pom-poms on anything, so their disappearance from my laces doesn't bother me so much.
When I was a kid, I used to love spending the afternoon at the Roller rink, skating in circles, dodging wipe outs and avoiding fingers at all cost. To this day the song, Hot Child in the City by Nick Gilder brings back Roller Rink memories. It is possibly the worlds most repetitive song ever. You know what I am talking about...it goes like this:

Danger in the shape of something' wild
Stranger dressed in black, she's a hungry child
No one knows who she is or what her name is
I don't know where she came from or what her game is
(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
(Runnin' wild and lookin' pretty)
(Hot child in the city)
So young to be loose and on her own
Young boys, they all want to take her home
She goes downtown, the boys all stop and stare
When she goes downtown, she walks like she just don't care, care
(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
(Runnin' wild and lookin' pretty)
Yeah(Hot child in the city)
Come on down to my place, baby
We'll talk about love
Come on down to my place, woman
We'll make love! Hot child in the city
(Hot child in the city)
She's kinda dangerous(Hot child in the city)
Young child(Runnin' wild and lookin' pretty)
Young child, runnin' wild(Hot child in the city)
Hot child in the city(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
(Hot child in the city)
Hot child in the city(Hot child in the city)
Hot child in the city(Hot child in the city)

Yep, it was requested all the time and played atleast twice, more if we could talk the Roller DJ in to it. You'd be sporting your glow stick and skating around in the dark, then they would turn on the mirror ball and you'd swear you consumed to much sugar...talk about feeling high, all that swirling around. I'll admit it, I sucked at roller limbo. "How low can you go?" Not very darn low, that is for sure. Oh well, its OK because I rocked at the circle stop. Eventually I never stopped without pointing my toes out and spinning in a circle. I'm still good at it, a little rusty but I've still got the moves. Remember when decals were the big thing on shirts? Everyone was getting their name on the backs of their baseball jerseys. Well, I had "Annette" in rainbow glitter letters on a red football jersey. I loved that shirt. Well, I was skating and an older girl rolls past and says, "Hi Annette!" in a very perky, friendly way. I said Hi, back but I had no idea who she was. I mean, serioulsy, I remembered faces and I had never seen her before. WELL DUH, I was just being a stupid kid. It took me about 5 laps before I figured out how she knew my name. It was on the back of my shirt. It had driven me nuts trying to place her. Well, its a no brainer that I started doing that to other people. I mean, the looks on their faces was priceless as they kept glancing at you trying to figure out how you knew their name.

lol...Ah, the good old days! Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go download Hot Child in the City from itunes and stick it on my ipod. I'll be annoying people for weeks because I will be singing it at the top of my lungs for weeks. You know, we only have my Parents to blame for this....if they would have bought me the Mr Microphone when I was a kid, I'd have it out of my system by now. ( They were not dumbies, they didn't want to listen to me blasting my tone deaf voice over the radio with the aid of a cheap plastic mic. )