Thursday, October 30, 2008
Okay, I know I've posted a gazillion things today but I want to catch up on pictures and videos before they get lost in the depths of my computer. Here are random Sully pics.
He's a fashion god, I tell ya.
The cute caboose view.
He put the hat on by himself...
You may notice in this pic that he's wearing stripes and argyle. Totally my fault. My bad. Oh. And he doesn't have a diaper on. Removed it himself, naturally.
Sweet, Helpful Kittens
Moose and Reuben (Sandwich) are so very, very helpful when it comes to housework. They are especially fond of helping load & unload the dishwasher. Moose is a certified-dishwasher-internal-workings inspector.
Awww...brotherly love... 
Sully Video, Part Deux
This is what happened immediately after the other video shut off...
And, just so you know, this is not an uncommon occurrence in our home. He is always scooting around on something, pushing furniture around, and pushing chairs/stools up to the counter to reach things.
Seriously. As I was typing the above, Sully went into the kitchen, grabbed the colander full of grapes (that I had just rinsed) and tried to pour them into a tiny little Dixie cup. As you may imagine, only about three landed in his cup and sixty landed on the floor. Lol.
Sully Speak
Sully was telling me sooooo much today and I could understand maybe five words. Total. In a sixteen minute conversation. It was terribly funny. I picked up the video camera to see if I could catch some of his chatter. Of course the Sully Speak slowed for the camera but I did catch some funny stuff.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Meet Reuben (Sandwich)
We've finally agree on a name! It only took us a whole month. ;o) Today, Black-kitty-sometimes-called-Jett-sometimes-called-Jack-Black, was totally sandwiched between me and a pillow. And he was in kitty heaven. I texted Debbie that I thought we should name him Reuben, as in sandwich, and she liked it. So I called Mike into the room and suggested Reuben as kitty's name. He immediately said "I like it." That's the first time all month that we have both immediately liked a name. (Not including Moose.) I cannot take a picture of Reuben with my big camera while inside on a non-sunny day. The camera will not focus on him. It thinks it is seeing a big, black void or something. So, I took this picture with my cell phone. I have to use a flash or he doesn't show up on my phone either...but that makes him blurry and with crazy glowing eyes. Next sunny day I will post a good picture of him, sans ghost eyes. ;o)My friend Stacey sent this to me...
Dear Red States,
We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us.
In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii , Oregon , Washington , Minnesota , Wisconsin , Michigan , Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to our two new nations, and especially to the people of New California. We will welcome your ambassador with open arms to our capitol, the Big Apple, New York City .
To sum up briefly: You get Texas , Oklahoma and all the former slave states. We get Waikiki . You get Galveston Bay . We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel, Apple and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss. We get 85 percent of America 's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Sweet Home Alabama . We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, and you can completely do away with all those horrible taxes you hate so much.
Since our aggregate blue state divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get more happy families. You get more single moms, but you can ban abortion once and for all. That's a fair trade, don't you think?
Please be aware that our Blue Nation will be pro-choice and anti-war, so we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq and Afghanistan . If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home.
We do wish you success in all of your wars, but we are going to take a 'time-out' for our country and concentrate on rebuilding our infrastructure, developing our own energy sources and promoting diplomacy with other nations. BTW: You do get Alaska and Texas so 'Drill, Baby, Drill'! We know you'll have fun with that.With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve Texas wines at state dinners, we hear they are wonderful), 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.Please note that you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you. We know you hate and despise Hollywood anyway, so any downside you face should wash with finally getting rid of those liberal elites.Please note we will be teaching evolution and hard science in our schools and rerouting much of our military budget into advanced education for all our citizens. We know that 38 percent of you in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws or collateral damage in foreign wars, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties. Now is your chance to Christianize your schools and get away from all of us horrible, godless, socialist, palling around with terrorist, heathen sub-humans.
We encourage you to follow your own path and build the country of your dreams!
It's been a real slice of heaven. Good luck in all your future endeavors!
Peace out,
Blue States
We've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us.
In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii , Oregon , Washington , Minnesota , Wisconsin , Michigan , Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to our two new nations, and especially to the people of New California. We will welcome your ambassador with open arms to our capitol, the Big Apple, New York City .
To sum up briefly: You get Texas , Oklahoma and all the former slave states. We get Waikiki . You get Galveston Bay . We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel, Apple and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss. We get 85 percent of America 's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Sweet Home Alabama . We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, and you can completely do away with all those horrible taxes you hate so much.
Since our aggregate blue state divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get more happy families. You get more single moms, but you can ban abortion once and for all. That's a fair trade, don't you think?
Please be aware that our Blue Nation will be pro-choice and anti-war, so we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq and Afghanistan . If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home.
We do wish you success in all of your wars, but we are going to take a 'time-out' for our country and concentrate on rebuilding our infrastructure, developing our own energy sources and promoting diplomacy with other nations. BTW: You do get Alaska and Texas so 'Drill, Baby, Drill'! We know you'll have fun with that.With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve Texas wines at state dinners, we hear they are wonderful), 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.Please note that you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia. We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you. We know you hate and despise Hollywood anyway, so any downside you face should wash with finally getting rid of those liberal elites.Please note we will be teaching evolution and hard science in our schools and rerouting much of our military budget into advanced education for all our citizens. We know that 38 percent of you in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws or collateral damage in foreign wars, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties. Now is your chance to Christianize your schools and get away from all of us horrible, godless, socialist, palling around with terrorist, heathen sub-humans.
We encourage you to follow your own path and build the country of your dreams!
It's been a real slice of heaven. Good luck in all your future endeavors!
Peace out,
Blue States
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Venting
Since May of 2007, I have been a paid poster (titled forum seeder) on a local moms website. It was called MidValleyMoms but recently changed to MomsLikeMe. The job was advertised in the paper and on the local paper's website. This was nothing secret.
So I posted about ten things a week and was paid $25 a week. I would like to point out that this is much less than I make in an hour when working as a nurse. I obviously did not do this for the money. I liked the participation and support and it made me participate in my local community.
When MVM switched to MLM, the entire site changed. It was hard to maneuver, difficult to find where things were posted, and the site was incredibly slow. Some moms were complaining and complaining about that...ad nauseum...and it led to an incredibly negative tone of the whole site. These moms were apparently kicked off the site sometime last week, though I am unsure what they did to get kicked off.
This fiasco turned into some moms starting their own site and inviting only those moms (from MLM) that they liked. I was invited but couldn't get access to the site. Today I found out why, via a negative email. Forum seeders were apparently news to these newly angry moms and so they decided to sling doo-doo at us. They accused us of being told what to post, being told when/how to post, and that we were helping to collect demographic data on the local moms. LOL. Like I have the time or the interest for that. Pure paranoia.
So...I've quit that scene. I ended my involvement as of today and I posted, for the whole world to see, an explanation of what exactly a forum seeder is, that they are paid a pittance, and that I will no longer be a member of that site.
Mostly I am annoyed that I am annoyed. This means nothing to me in the long run, right? So I lose a hundred bucks a month. So what. But I think I'm annoyed that people think I had an ulterior motive. That is so not my style that I am really offended by that. I always kept my posts positive and tried to post interesting topics. Grrrrr.
And, now that I'm done venting, here's a cute pic of Sully from today. It was really blurry so I had to make it b&w.
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Monday, October 27, 2008
Trip to the Carousel
Here's Phoebe, Sully, and Keats waiting to ride the carousel.Phoebe is dressed as a witch and Sully insisted on wearing his fireman pants.
Our first time around. Sully had this goofy, open-mouthed smile the entire time.
Here I am taking a picture of Sully in the mirror. Phoebe is in this one too. Oh, and I'm the lady with the camera in front of her face. Lol.
Sully is waiting for the second ride to start.
Keaton waiting for the second ride. I couldn't take a picture of Keaton the first time around because he chose a horse too far away from Sully. He rode a great big horse the first time and decided to ride a small pony that didn't go up and down the second time. Too much excitement, I suppose. ;o)
My camera phone doesn't take great action shots but I thought this was cute enough to share. You have to squint to get past the blurry aspect but, trust me, its worth it. Lol.
Our first time around. Sully had this goofy, open-mouthed smile the entire time.
Here I am taking a picture of Sully in the mirror. Phoebe is in this one too. Oh, and I'm the lady with the camera in front of her face. Lol.
Sully is waiting for the second ride to start.
Keaton waiting for the second ride. I couldn't take a picture of Keaton the first time around because he chose a horse too far away from Sully. He rode a great big horse the first time and decided to ride a small pony that didn't go up and down the second time. Too much excitement, I suppose. ;o)
My camera phone doesn't take great action shots but I thought this was cute enough to share. You have to squint to get past the blurry aspect but, trust me, its worth it. Lol.Illiteracy
I'm trying to teach Keaton to read. He's home with me on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When Sullivan goes down for a nap Keaton and I head to the couch, armed with a bag of books. The books we checked out at the library last week are of the phonetic variety. Lots of rhyming and repetition. The books have pictures on each page...and those pictures (IMHO) are the dumbest idea ever.
Okay, maybe not as dumb as electing W into office...but very, very poorly thought out.
Why do I think this? Let me try to explain...
The first book we started reading is titled "Ike-Ike Rides a Bike" and is the story of...well, it seems to be the story of a clown named Mike but Ike-Ike (a monkey) does make an appearance later in the book.
So.
Mike is a clown. He is riding a unicycle. These two facts have led to my teaching Keaton pretty much nothing in our last two reading sessions. All Keaton can do is ask "Why is the clown named Mike?" "Is that OUR Mike or a different Mike?" "Why is Daddy in the book?" "He's not riding a bike! It only has one tire. Bikes have two tires."
And on and on and on and on....
A month or so ago I had entertained the idea of buying Keaton some superhero learn-to-read books. What was I thinking? Now that I am such a teaching-to-read-or-rather-fending-off-silly-four-year-old-type-questions-rather-than-actually-teaching-anything expert, I can see the folly of my thinking.
Superhero books would not lead to literacy; superhero books would lead to running around the house and jumping off of things and trying to convince your mom that you are NOT using a gun but rather it is just your "power" and doesn't actually shoot although you are making shooting noises while pointing your "power" at things and asking your mom exactly how big are Transformers in real life and are they bigger than Spiderman and HEY is Santa going to bring new Spiderman underwear because you'd rather have Transformer underwear, no wait now you like Iron Man the best so you'd better let Santa know your new preference and then you tell your mom you are going outside to find a spider because today you are finally brave enough to get bit by a spider to see which kind of superhero you will turn into after the bite.
Whew.
Maybe I'll just stick to printing some words out in plain black ink, plain old font, plain white paper?
Okay, maybe not as dumb as electing W into office...but very, very poorly thought out.
Why do I think this? Let me try to explain...
The first book we started reading is titled "Ike-Ike Rides a Bike" and is the story of...well, it seems to be the story of a clown named Mike but Ike-Ike (a monkey) does make an appearance later in the book.
So.
Mike is a clown. He is riding a unicycle. These two facts have led to my teaching Keaton pretty much nothing in our last two reading sessions. All Keaton can do is ask "Why is the clown named Mike?" "Is that OUR Mike or a different Mike?" "Why is Daddy in the book?" "He's not riding a bike! It only has one tire. Bikes have two tires."
And on and on and on and on....
A month or so ago I had entertained the idea of buying Keaton some superhero learn-to-read books. What was I thinking? Now that I am such a teaching-to-read-or-rather-fending-off-silly-four-year-old-type-questions-rather-than-actually-teaching-anything expert, I can see the folly of my thinking.
Superhero books would not lead to literacy; superhero books would lead to running around the house and jumping off of things and trying to convince your mom that you are NOT using a gun but rather it is just your "power" and doesn't actually shoot although you are making shooting noises while pointing your "power" at things and asking your mom exactly how big are Transformers in real life and are they bigger than Spiderman and HEY is Santa going to bring new Spiderman underwear because you'd rather have Transformer underwear, no wait now you like Iron Man the best so you'd better let Santa know your new preference and then you tell your mom you are going outside to find a spider because today you are finally brave enough to get bit by a spider to see which kind of superhero you will turn into after the bite.
Whew.
Maybe I'll just stick to printing some words out in plain black ink, plain old font, plain white paper?
Saturday, October 25, 2008
After mistakenly showing up a day early (Mama thought it was on Friday rather than Saturday night), we took the boys to a Halloween party at the indoor park, NW Kids Club. The place was absolutely packed but the boys had a good time anyway. The parents, notsomuch. ;o)
The fireman heading up to the slide...
...and taking the easy (and safe!) way down.
Sitting at a table, pretending to eat a bowl full of plastic bread.Sounds yummy, huh?
Candy!! The best part of the whole thing. According to Keats, anyway. ;o)
Sully loves this little spinning toy. He can climb inside on his own now and loves to spin himself around and around.
Sully was given these fake, glow-in-the-dark teeth but I passed them on to Keats since I was afraid Sully might
try to eat them. Lol.
This is a great bicycle creation. Five kids can sit on it at once.It just goes around and around. The kids love to see how fast they can go
or to pedal backwards. Great exercise!
Best Question of the Day (so far)
"Do spiders like spit?"
(question courtesy of Keats. Naturally.)
:o)
(question courtesy of Keats. Naturally.)
:o)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Cute Sully Pic
This is a cute picture of Sullivan that was taken in Utah. Grandma & Grandpa sent the photo with his Halloween card. :o)
A Morning of Dirt
The boys and I headed out to the local dirt pile today. This was Keaton's first trip since he was usually in school when Sully and I visited the beloved dirt.
I'm not saying he has rocks in his brain.
On your mark, get set....
...GO!
I believe he was pretending to be a dinosaur that was also King of the Hill.
I'm not saying he has rocks in his brain. I'm just sayin'....
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Atlas Shrugged?
I took the boys to Riverfront Park today and talked them into walking around a bit. It was very sunny but only about 42 degrees so they were reluctant. By "they" I mean "Keats" lol. He said he'd rather be snuggly inside the car.
But...I promised we'd see the world.
And we did. Sort of.
If you can click on this picture and read the description you'll realize this is a pretty cool thing. For Salem. We have so few cool things.
Okay, so maybe Atlas didn't quite shrug...but he did wear a Transformers shirt and pretend to hold the world on his hands. Close enough, eh?
Sully is studying the different flags of the world. I think he has them all memorized by now. ;o)
A close-up of a mermaid on the globe. Keaton loved her because, you guessed it, she has breasts.
*sigh*
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Colors
Which colors do you think show up best on my new background? Please let me know and I'll stick to that color...or those colors!
Okay, I broke down and got the camera out today. It's been sooooo long since I posted a picture of Sully (what...like three days ago?) so I followed him around a bit today.
This is just a cute close-up. You can see that he has a couple of new cat scratches on his face...
...and this would be why...
Sully really loves building with the Legos. For a long time he just liked to throw them or put them in his mouth. Now he really stacks them and makes things...not sure what his creations are but they are definitely things.
Here's Sullivan lying in the toy box. I just missed catching a picture of him burying his face in the toys.
My idea with keeping the toys in this shallow, clear box was that the boys (read: Sully) would be able to see the toy they want and simply reach in and grab it, thus decreasing the mess in the playroom. As opposed to digging through the toys and tossing them over their shoulders....
...ah, but there is a problem with my idea...
...it doesn't work!
Perks & Haunted Houses
Random things without pictures...I haven't picked up my camera since Saturday! Perhaps I am terribly ill? Lol.
1) One of the perks (pun shamelessly intended) of having Mike work from home is that he makes coffee every day. If we're out of coffee he'll go to Starbucks. :o) When I wake up and am not sure if Mike is sleeping or if he's upstairs working, all I have to do is feel the coffee pot. If it is hot then Mike's at work; if it is cold then I need to go wake him up!
2) Having kittens around is very much like living in a haunted house. A light will turn off, a pinecone will go flying across the living room floor, you'll feel something tickle your leg and by the time you look down the kitten is long gone. Moose turns off the living room light by climbing up on a chair and attacking the light switch. When the light goes out and you look over to see what happened, Moose is lying down, pretending to be dead-asleep, as though he would never do such a thing. This morning I found an old chicken dinosaur (think healthy McNugget), with ketchup dried around the edges, a pebble, and a small piece of styrofoam from the carpet steamer we bought Friday....all these things were tucked inside a sock that was under the table. I suspect that the kittens slapped these items around and, when they became stuck in the sock, Kitten Two Second Attention Span kicked in and they were off to chase something shiny. ;o) It is as though they collect these little odds & ends and then save them to attack during a particularly high-energy morning. =^..^=
That's all I have. I'm in the process of making a gazillion (okay, 25...but four layers of paper, a bow, and some puffy tape on each so it feels like a gazillion) baby shower invitations for Sharrie Lee. My goal is to mail them today...if my hand doesn't cramp up or go into spasms from writing all those addresses! Wish me luck.
1) One of the perks (pun shamelessly intended) of having Mike work from home is that he makes coffee every day. If we're out of coffee he'll go to Starbucks. :o) When I wake up and am not sure if Mike is sleeping or if he's upstairs working, all I have to do is feel the coffee pot. If it is hot then Mike's at work; if it is cold then I need to go wake him up!
2) Having kittens around is very much like living in a haunted house. A light will turn off, a pinecone will go flying across the living room floor, you'll feel something tickle your leg and by the time you look down the kitten is long gone. Moose turns off the living room light by climbing up on a chair and attacking the light switch. When the light goes out and you look over to see what happened, Moose is lying down, pretending to be dead-asleep, as though he would never do such a thing. This morning I found an old chicken dinosaur (think healthy McNugget), with ketchup dried around the edges, a pebble, and a small piece of styrofoam from the carpet steamer we bought Friday....all these things were tucked inside a sock that was under the table. I suspect that the kittens slapped these items around and, when they became stuck in the sock, Kitten Two Second Attention Span kicked in and they were off to chase something shiny. ;o) It is as though they collect these little odds & ends and then save them to attack during a particularly high-energy morning. =^..^=
That's all I have. I'm in the process of making a gazillion (okay, 25...but four layers of paper, a bow, and some puffy tape on each so it feels like a gazillion) baby shower invitations for Sharrie Lee. My goal is to mail them today...if my hand doesn't cramp up or go into spasms from writing all those addresses! Wish me luck.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Baumans Farm
Sully is such a bird/feathered-friend nut that seeing the turkeys & chickens may have been his very favorite part of the whole day.
This gesture is how Sullivan asks to get down or off of something.
I'm pretty sure Morgan is looking up to ask "Why does he keep honking the horn when his mom tells him to stop?"
Pheobe & Keats in an ATV-type thing.
Keats loved this little dune buggy. His legs were almost too long for it, which makes me wonder if the thing is made for two-year-olds or what?
The cow had just tried to eat Sully's shirt sleeve here. She nibbled on the lower part of the sleeve for a few seconds before I got the shirt out of her mouth.
Sully is pointing to the little goats.
Keats had a good time riding the oversized trikes.
Sully's legs are too short to reach the pedals so Daddy helped him get around.
I'm pretty sure Morgan is looking up to ask "Why does he keep honking the horn when his mom tells him to stop?"
Pheobe & Keats in an ATV-type thing.
Keats loved this little dune buggy. His legs were almost too long for it, which makes me wonder if the thing is made for two-year-olds or what?
The cow had just tried to eat Sully's shirt sleeve here. She nibbled on the lower part of the sleeve for a few seconds before I got the shirt out of her mouth.
Sully is pointing to the little goats.
Keats had a good time riding the oversized trikes.
Sully's legs are too short to reach the pedals so Daddy helped him get around.
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