Aunt Jill is really smart!!

Out of the blue this morning...

Jake: "Mom. Did you know that Aunt Jill is REALLY REALLY smart?!?!"

Me: "Well.....sure I did...but what makes you say that?"

Jake: "Well, I forgot to ask Santa for some more Bakugan stuff, but Aunt Jill knew that I wanted it and gave it to me! She must be the smartest person ever! How did she know that??"

Me: "She's just really smart, I guess. And maybe a little magic, too"

Jake: "Nah...not magic. Just smart."

Christmas Before and After

Before:

and AFTER:

10 things I like....

....that start with the letter V. (side note - I started this about 10 days ago, but was not feeling very creative, so I abandoned it in hopes of finding some inspiration. Not so much. And then it was the week before Christmas, and my little niece was sick in the hospital, and Jake started basketball, and school ended and the kids were home all the time, and Eric was home from work....and I just couldn't find the time. OY! How's that for an excuse!???!?!)

Jen (who is freakin' hilarious, by the way) over at Sprite's Keeper assigned me the letter "V" for this meme. Gee thanks, Jen! I can hardly think of 10 words that start with the letter V, let alone things I like that start with the letter V. But I'll give it a shot...

1) Vitamins. I like vitamins,because after taking them, I don't tend to feel so bad about having cookies for breakfast.

2) Variety. It's the spice of life, after all, and who doesn't like a little spice? My days may not always be action-packed, but they are never actually dull. Having two kids, a husband, a dog and a cat always leads to a variety of events or non-events.

3) Visits. I like that I am now closer to most of our family and they can come visit us or we can go visit them fairly easily, unlike those 4 years we spent in Alaska, when visiting required no less than 18 hours of air travel...and that's if the weather cooperated.

4) Vacuuming. Yes. I'm a little weird. But vacuuming is one of those chores that makes me feel like I've accomplished something. Those neat little tracks in the rug that the vacuum leaves behind? I like them. They are somehow satisfying. Again..I'm a little weird.

5) Vapor. As in water vapor. For someone like me with heinous sinus issues, water vapor from a humidifier is my friend.

6) Venus. I like that I can see it up there sometimes. And that I actually remember something from college Astronomy.

7) Velcro. Thank God for Velcro. It means that my kids have been able to put on their own shoes since they were about 2, thus saving my back and knees from bending down!

8) Vermouth. Not in cocktails. In a great recipe (Chicken and Vermouth) that came from my Aunt Nancy. Yum. Delish.

9) I'm running out of "V" words....might have to go get the dictionary..Valor? Nope...don't have anything to say about that. Value? No. Vasectomy? No. Vermin? No. Valkyrie? Nope...haven't seen the movie.

10) Vision. I'm glad I have it and can easily see that I need to end this post right now!

Wordless Wednesday

Things that make you go "what the.....!?!?!"

Someone please explain this to me...

I was standing in line at the checkout at Walmart behind a guy wearing a jacket like this one:

Now....I understand the need for camo when hunting...so the deer don't see you creeping up on them. And I understand that sometimes blaze orange jackets are necessary for hunters, especially if you are going hunting with Dick Cheney. But a camo, fluorescent jacket??? Really? Doesn't that just cancel each other out? Or maybe (and it's quite possible in this town!) the guy was just wearing the jacket because he thought it looked gooooood. Let me tell you two things, gentlemen: blaze orange is a hideous color and looks good on no one! And...camo? It should only be worn if it is part of your required military uniform.

Ouch

Can you imagine the crick in your neck if you fell asleep in this position?


I thought she was trying to hide from me, and was quite suprised when I realized she had fallen asleep bent in half like that. I had to remove the blanket from her head to check that she was still breathing!

Check out this giveaway!

A classmate of mine from highschool is a quite talented and creative seamstress of sorts. She makes beautiful purses, burp cloths, pillows, and even jewelry. And she's doing a great giveaway! Check it out:

http://www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com/

Age is just a number

76. What do you hope to be doing when you are 76? I hope to be alive and well and relaxing somewhere tropical with my husband. A friend of mine, Beverly, who turned 76 yesterday, has more specific goals in mind.

Beverly is a little wisp of a thing that attends just about every one of my classes. You might take one look at her and think "oh, what a sweet little old lady". But then you would get to know her or you would see her keeping up with the "young" women in my class. She is the spunkiest lady I have ever met. She recently told me a story about chasing down some bike thieves in her car with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand on her cell phone, poised to dial 911 when she found the little criminals. Message: don't mess with Beverly!

Anyway - back in the middle of the summer sometime, Beverly started talking about what she was going to do in honor of her upcoming 76th birthday. She couldn't decide if she would do 76 push-ups or climb the rock wall! Can you imagine??!?! This morning, after sweating it out in my class for a full hour, Beverly asked for 6 people from the class to join her in doing 76 push-ups. Many people just ducked their heads and walked out of the room, not to be outdone by someone twice their age. A few people volunteered (including me, of course. I couldn't duck out! How would that look? The instructor can't keep up with a lady twice her age??!?!) And then I guilted a few more into participating as well.

So the 10 of us assumed the push-up position (on our knees, not our toes...don't judge until you try it!) and we all began our push-ups with Beverly counting them off. We got to 10 and the lady next to Beverly started to count up to 20 and so on and so on. By about number 28 I thought my arms were going to fall off and we were only about a third of the way through! A lot of ladies stuck around and cheered us all on, hootin' and hollerin! When we all finished (well, most of us. A few people took a few breaks.) the crowd went wild. It was great!

That was all at about 10:15 AM. My arms were still shaking and burning about 90 minutes later. And tomorrow??? Don't ask me to lift anything. Including my arms.

Beverly rocks! She is living proof that age is just a number. I just hope I still have the gumption to even attempt something like that at age 76!