This cracked me up

Motherhood can be embarrassing

Soooo, I called my daughter from work this afternoon, to remind her she needed to take a shower pronto because she had an appointment to get her hair cut later in the evening. I almost never make personal calls from the switchboard, because with 12 incoming lines to keep track of, it's pretty much impossible. But the shower thing was important. So I called her and told her to get in the shower. She started arguing with me:

"But she's going to wash my hair when I get there!"

"Well, she's not going to wash your body, so get on it!"

"But..."

Yea, you mothers know how it goes...

In the middle of this conversation my switchboard went crazy. So I put N on hold to answer the other lines, put them on hold and went back to pick her up. "Listen, my lines are ringing off the hook, so stop arguing with me and get in the shower!"

Then I heard a man's voice say "Ummmm, this is Mr. So and So...."

Holy cowsnot, Batman!! I have never been so embarressed on the job in my life. I wanted to crawl under my desk and die. Luckily, the guy laughed and said "I have 3 daughters, I understand." But I still wanted to die. Needless to say, this is why I never make personal calls.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends at my sister PJ's house in Indianapolis. So much food and frivolity! Oh, and football! I only wish my sister Anna and her family could have been there. One of these days, Anna, we will all be together for the holidays!

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving.

Me and my girl.

My nephew Tyler making the rolls. They were delicious, Ty!

My sister PJ and her son Kyle

Ah, sibling love: Rachel, Kyle, Tyler

PJ worked hard all day to prepare a wonderful meal for us. Thanks, PJ!

So sweet

Family friend Buddy and my brother-in-law, David

Step away from the pickles!

Kyle and his sweetheart, Trisha

Family friend Sheryl and her daughter Shawna

Let's eat!

Yet Another Addiction

It all began last Tuesday night. I play on a live trivia team at my local neighborhood bar on Tuesdays. Last week we had this question: “What country would you first come to heading directly east from Rhode Island?” The answer: Portugal. I guessed France. Bah!

So it was obvious I needed to brush up on my remedial geography! That’s when I found this nifty online game. Very educational. Very humiliating. Very addicting! Have fun.

Halloween Party '07

Sixteen teenagers, one mother. One very tired mother, lol. We had our annual Halloween party last night. A great time was had by all. The house is still standing, which is a good thing! I must be insane, but I really do enjoy having my house filled with the laughter of these kids. We don’t have much, but we do have laughter. It makes me so happy to see my daughter surrounded by friends. All the social problems she had a few years ago are a distant memory. It’s really an amazing thing to watch these kids growing up right before my eyes! ! I’ve known half of them since kindergarten. Now they are almost adults. Man, I feel old. Parents of all the kids pictured gave permission for the world to see them.

Ablaze With Color

I was worried we wouldn't have much of a color show this year because we had a very dry summer and early fall. But some rain over the last couple of weeks has really made our trees burst into color. Here are some shots I took on a hike Sunday at Clifton Gorge. And a pic of me my hiking buddy took that really shows off the cliffs - this is my favorite spot in the park, a climb that leads down to a pristine little natural spring, way off the beaten path. This is my Prozac.

It's Ghost Night!

I have a new addiction. You know, I almost NEVER watch television. When I do, it’s the History Channel or Discovery Channel or CNN. I just don’t watch regular TV. Which means I am always out of the loop in the lunchroom discussions here at the office. I have no clue about American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, and apparently I’m really missing out on someone called Dr. McDreamy. I usually tune out of these conversations all together.

But over the past year, my curiosity has been piqued by discussions about this show called Ghost Hunters. Have you seen it? These two guys who are plumbers by day and ghost chasers by night have turned their adventures into a hit TV show. Very clever. So about a month or so ago I actually tuned in to watch, and I was hooked!

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of the paranormal, even though I’m not 100% sold on the existence of ghosts, whatever ghosts might be. I think the majority of stories we hear are either flat out hoaxes or cases of the mind playing tricks on us. I’ve had many of those myself. A fraction of incidents, however, do seem to defy explanation. Doesn’t mean they are hauntings, just things that can’t be explained. The word paranormal simply means “above the norm”. Kind of like UFO means unidentified flying object; doesn’t mean they are alien spaceships.

So, I am basically agnostic about the whole ghost thing. I’m an atheist about it, however, when it comes to TV shows. Anybody who gets paid by Hollywood to do what they do automatically lacks credibility in my book. And yet, I refuse to make plans on Wednesday nights because I can’t miss Ghost Hunters! It’s just so much fun.

Part of what makes this show work is that the two founders, Jason and Grant, seem to be really down to earth guys who do their best to “debunk” any experiences the group has before finally concluding whether or not something is paranormal. This is the 4th season, and in all that time, there have only been a handful of occurrences that they have actually said a place is being haunted. Which lends credibility to the evidence they do seem to find.

And yet, curiously, these intelligent, experienced, down-to-earth investigators very often overlook obvious explanations for “finds”. Hmmm. LOL.

My daughter and I watch this show together, which is one reason I make it a priority. It’s the one time all week she actually WANTS to be doing something with me! Something I don’t take for granted with a teenage daughter. It’s also a great exercise in developing critical thinking skills. Instead of allowing her to get caught up in the “WOW” effect this show so easily provides, I try to get her to analyze everything she’s seeing and hearing to look for another possible explanation.

Ghost Hunters: Look at that! It looks like a person with a large cape in the doorway!

Daughter: OMG!

Me: It’s a curtain.

Daughter: Why wouldn’t Jason and Grant know there was a curtain there?

Me: Because they’re paid to find ghosts, not curtains.

(And upon review, they never said it was a ghost. They said “it looks like a person…” Which is what they do a lot. Present the so-called evidence and leave it open-ended for the audience to decide.)

I’ve noticed, however, that I’ve stopped doing laundry on Wednesday nights. Neither one of us is inclined to go down to the basement to get clothes out of the dryer after an hour of ghost hunting. LOL!

Do you have any good ghost stories to share?

Apple Crisp

This weekend's camping trip was cancelled due to the flu bug descending on our house. Instead, I stayed home and made some good old fashioned Apple Crisp:

¼ cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
¼ tsp. cinnamon
6 medium apples, peeled and chopped (we used Gala)
½ cup flour
¾ cup rolled oats
½ cup brown sugar
¼ butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. In small bowl, stir ¼ cup brown sugar with 1 Tbsp. flour and ¼ tsp. cinnamon. Toss with apples and place in baking dish. Stir together remaining ingredients. Pour over apple mixture. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Yummmmmmmmy!

2007 Ohio Renaissance Festival

I can't remember it ever being this hot at Ren Fest. Must have been 95 degrees out there! But we still had a wonderful time. It is always so exciting to see the brightly colored costumes, listen to the beautiful music and the fun accents, to watch knights drinking bottled water........lol! Oh well, it can't be 100% authentic. These are about half the pics I took, but it was all Blogger could hold in one post. Click the photos to enlarge (but you knew that).

Note to Stag: there was a woman walking around in a completely see-through chain link bikini top which I nearly photographed for you, but decided better of it. Perhaps next year you will get yourself down here and you can witness it for yourself!

Me too, pal.

What happens when Mom's not around

Camping at John Bryan State Park

The camping trip was a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work. I've never taken an extra kid with me before so I learned a few things. But we did have a wonderful time, and it was absolutely beautiful weather. We hiked, played lots of UNO, collected buckeyes, cooked over the open fire, and wore ourselves out. Glad to be home, though. As much as I love being in the great outdoors, it's always nice to have a comfortable bed and a microwave to come home to.

Well, this is a test to see if I can post personal photos without attracting trouble. Photos of our friend are posted with his mother’s permission.

Hello Friends!

So sorry to have dropped off the planet there for a while. But it was necessary in order to re-group and re-center myself after major life upheaval.

So, what have you all done with your summers? I painted. And painted. And painted! I completely redecorated my house, with the help and motivation of my big sis. It was sort of like cleansing my aura, if you know what I mean, lol.

I'm so happy fall has arrived! I will be hiking and/or camping every weekend until the end of October. Went on a backpacking trip last weekend that was brutal but good. I am taking my daughter and a friend camping this weekend at John Bryan State Park, one of our favorite spots. The car is all packed up so when I get home from work I just have to throw on some jeans and we're off! Should be perfect weather for it.

I haven't blogged in so long I've quite forgotten how to do it! It took me forever to get this thing set up this morning, especially trying to choose a domain name that wasn't already taken. And I must say, I have really rather enjoyed not having a blog. I didn't realize how much energy I was putting into my old one. So don't expect to see too much of me around here! But I will do my best to keep up with all of you.
















I'm feeling like it's a sunflower kind of day, so here is a sunflower for you. Hope you all have a terrific day and a fantastic weekend!! :)