Peace out

I'm off, y'all. ATL is my home base for the next 5. Not bringing the laptop wit me, just chillin.
Martha, I'll hit yo tag another day.

Peace out.

(See? Tragically suburban and still hip! How does she do it?)

Never going to be a morning person

OK, I don't really get this whole "morning person" vs. "night owl" thing. See, I've never been a morning person, but as I get older the "night owl" has also vanished from my personality. How can that be? Is there a classification called, "Really more middle of the day, even better with a nap" kind of person?

I got up this morning, and it's my day to drive the carpool to the tech center. (You know, in lieu of a private school, or moving to the area in question) I was REALLY sleepy, so I hopped in the shower hoping it would wake me up. It didn't, really, but at least the shower was out of the way.

Problem is, I'm so used to taking my shower later in the morning (or early afternoon - as those of you who know me are going to shout is the real truth), now I keep looking at the clock thinking, "I have got to shower before DH gets home." Then it hits me, I've already showered.

Early onset Alzheimer's, or just 42 and confused?

Anyway, the moral of the story is that it never pays to get going too early in the morning. It just throws off the entire day.

Anybody score World Series Tickets?

BESIDES MY BROTHER, that is??!!!!!!

Sister, Sister, Brother, and myself agreed to go in on tickets so that my dad could go to see his Rockies play in their first world series... IF one of us could score the tickets. Thanks to my brother my dad is going to the World Series for the first time in his 81 years - and he has been a faithful Rockies fan since their inception.

My brother and dad will be at the Sunday game (game 4?). They have two tickets in a suite. How cool is that? AND, since they got the tickets at face value, it isn't even like the 4 of us kids have to come up with a fortune.

My brother? ROCKS!!!

Update on the Ebay thing....

OK, my 4 items sold for a grand total of: $90.89 (not including shipping)

Think I should print a copy of each sale out and deliver them personally to the ebay store near here who wouldn't sell my stuff for me because they thought it wouldn't sell?

(insert evil laugh here)

Pardon me while I rant

To the Parents of the filthy little street urchins children who come in contact with my daughters on a daily basis,

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for being the cause of an upsurge of family togetherness we here at the Morrison household have recently experienced. However, family time for us is usually more enjoyable when one or more of us is not moaning in discomfort on the couch, or afraid to leave the bathroom for fear of not being able to get back there quickly enough.

My DD1 has now got strep and coxsackievirus (which has resulted in herpangina and high fever). Of course, coxsackievirus is VERY contagious, so my DD2 gets to share in the fun. Hers has manifested itself in herpangina, a high fever, and hemorrhagic conjunctivitis. (If your response was "ewwwww", you hit the nail on the head.) Now, this in itself might not sound that awful to you - as a single sickness doesn't really interrupt one's life for more than about a week. However, your viral carrying unwashed offspring kids have given my kids several viruses and or bacterial infections in the last few weeks, which has resulted in my being sick for 6 weeks, and has cost us upwards of $75 in doctors' office visit co-pays, and $40 in prescription costs to alleviate either the nasty bacteria or horrific viral symptoms such as not sleeping for 4 days because DD1 couldn't lie down and still remain breathing at the same time.

I am working with my children to wash their hand whenever possible. I insist that their teachers keep hand sanitizer in a handy location and mention it's use several times a day. But you know what I do that y'all don't seem to understand? I KEEP MY KIDS HOME WHEN THEY ARE SICK because I know that kids are kids - and don't wash their hands often enough if an adult isn't right there to remind them to do so. I do not let them go to school with a fever. I do not let them go to dance class when nose and eyes are running uncontrollably. I do not let them play soccer when I know the running will cause them to start coughing uncontrollably (again) in to the faces of the other players.

Please, for my sanity if nothing else, stop infecting my family. Because I? Am QUEEN of revenge...and no one is capable of spreading germs like a secretious 4 year old! (Which, as luck would have it, I happen to have!)

Consider yourselves warned.

Ebay

Those of you who know me know that I love Ebay. LOVE IT! I have bought lots of stuff – books, kids clothing, toys, house wares, etc., and I could spend hours searching for obscure things that are for sale. I am highly amused by ebay, and think it is a wonderful invention.

That said; I am a person who (even though I buy from ebay) should NEVER sell things on ebay.

Why?

Because I become a woman obsessed.

I obsess over how many people have viewed my items. Are the pictures still showing as well as they did yesterday? Why aren’t they bidding on my stuff yet? Don’t they know that there are only 6 days left on the auction and this is PRIME STUFF? Stop “watching” my product and JUST BID ALREADY!!!

Now, I may be overly a bit hypocritical. I myself own what is known as sniping software. (You enter all the information and the software goes in at the last 15 seconds of the auction to bid for you.) Some people think this is cheating. I don’t. Auctions are competition, and it’s not like they’re doing random tests on the winners to see if they used power bid enhancing substances. (Which in reality would be what? Coffee?) It levels the playing field for those of us who cannot spend those last 10 minutes of each and every auction they enter to bid over and over again in hopes of winning. Also, because I tend to get a little caught up in the Auction Action, I find that I overbid if I don’t use my snipe software to control my top bid amounts.

But should other people use this? Maybe… but not on my stuff! I want to see bids out there. I want the excitement of watching my shower curtain (new in package) fly past $4.00 to $5.95 that first day!

Stop me before I sell again!

You’d think I’d have a fighting chance once in a while

I’m getting closer to being 43 years old than I like to admit, and have had at least 2 colds every year of my life since birth. Probably twice that, actually. Now, as I understand viruses, once you have them you develop immunities towards that specific viral strain. Yes?

My daughters have YET to bring home a virus to which I am immune. Have all the colds I experienced as a child left the country? Do they live in Estonia now, infecting 40 year olds there, while their germs are now around this side of the globe? Will that particularly harsh cold I had when I was 9 head back this way to torture my children in their 50’s?

I realize that there are literally thousands of different types of viruses out there, what with mutating being such a popular viral Olympic sport. But come on! NOT ONE that I’ve already had has been around in the past 7½ years?

These upper respiratory germ killers that I have been cultivating for my entire life? Useless. Absolutely useless. Every time one of my kids starts to get stuffy, it’s only a matter of time before I’m right there with them.

Cough cough.

Snuffle.

AAAAUUGGGGGHHHHHHH.

From Antique Mommys blog

"So I ask you, if you were ridiculously wealthy, what is that one (just one) extravagant thing you would have?"


Dodi's response: A live in maid / cook. (She / He can live in the toy room!)

And you? What would your extravagant thing be?

The Fundraisers start early in Cherry Creek!

DD2 is doing a preschool fund raiser? Who knew about these? Have preschools in CC always done fundraising?





Anyway, at least it's a good one. It's........ (drum roll please)............

BUTTER BRAIDS!

Butter Braids are so yummy and gooey and delicious. The perfect treat when you have the neighbors over for coffee. Also, the holidays are coming up - nothing impresses a mother-in-law more than a freshly baked pastry for breakfast or brunch. How about a new Thanksgiving dessert tradition? Hey, maybe you could try leaving something original for Santa this year? The possibilities are endless!

Anyone need to stock up? I could mail to Aussie, but they'll probably thaw and spoil on the way! (Plus, I don't think they make a Vegemite Butter Braid!) I think I have a week or two to take orders. I'll even have DD2 bring the order form around to you for signing.



Big Love!

Do you read The QC Report?

OK, if you have children and they have ever been sick you MUST read this blog entry on the QC Report.

She is a wonderful writer! This post had me laughing out loud.

Say Goodbye to my little G rating!

OK, this? Probably the funniest thing I've seen in a while. (My comedic sense is obviously VERY upper class and refined!) Look closely. It took me a second to figure it out. (My dh? Got it immediately!)

Spamalot

OK, I'm sorry Mrs. Nielson... I loved it. LOVED.

It was so darn clever, and I laughed so hard. It was like a two tiered plot, in that they told the Monty Python Holy Grail story, with all the wonderful whimsy and british humor you expect - but they also wove in satirical references to other big musical productions and they seemed to totally fit in to the chaos that is Monty Python. It was fresh - and I didn't think that was going to be possible. I was delighted, and DH even liked it. (He's not much of a theatre guy.)

I would see it again in a heartbeat - because I think I was laughing so hard in spots that I missed some really great stuff.

I really wanted to get the soundtrack and the killer bunny slippers - but we're on a budget. Damn!

Hopefully she'll recover from the shock

DD1 loves banana chocolate chip muffins. Love may not be a strong enough word.

I had some aging bananas on the counter, and after she went to bed the other night I thought, “hmmm, I’ll bet she’d love it if I surprised her with banana chocolate chip muffins in the morning.” (DH is out of town, so I don’t have anyone to talk me out of it.) So I start down the list of muffin ingredients. Flour, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Those are a given. We always have those. And baking soda, another staple. Butter? We’re out. We do have some Crisco though, so that’ll work… and what is that behind the Crisco? Brown sugar, and it’s soft!. Rock on! Mashed bananas? My bananas are getting so old they’ve practically mashed themselves. Why don’t I bake more? I seem to have all the ingredients. Chocolate chips? Well, hey look at that – right there in the pantry of doom. Who’d of thought? Baking powder. Oh. Problem. Can’t I just use more baking soda? Suppose they probably wouldn’t have listed it separately if it didn’t really matter. The odds of me having baking powder? Not great. I’m just going to rummage in the cupboard above the stove… HEY! I have Baking Powder! And it’s in a can that has never even been opened.

The Gods are smiling down on the Morrison household – all the ingredients are here in my house. I would have never believed it, I can actually bake something without making a special trip to the store. Now, some of you may take things like this for granted… but some of you don’t live in my world. My world is never so simple.

I bake up the muffins.

They turn out perfectly. (Another thing that wasn’t a foregone conclusion!)

DD1 wakes up in the morning and is totally thrilled by her breakfast surprise. (DD2 hates muffins on general principal, which is weird for her since they are composed of refined carbohydrates. Her main food group.)

DD1: “Mom, I didn’t even see you buying muffin mix at the store.”
Me: “I didn’t have to. I actually baked them from scratch.”
DD1: “No, these are good.”
Me: “Thank you. I really did make them myself.”
DD1: “Well, it’s good. You need to get some more of that muffin mix.”

Martha Stewart? No.
Me? Yes. And even I can make some darn good muffins if I just stop to look around the kitchen once in a while.

Need my neighbors help

Been a while since you've had a family portrait done? Here's the deal: I need portfolio material, and I'd need permission to use your portraits on a website next year. If you'd like me to shoot a family portrait for your Christmas cards this year, I'd love to. No charge, but you'd have to pay for the cards yourself! I will give you the pictures (retouched to your liking, as in I can make you younger or thinner if you are in to that kind of thing - like I am!) to you on a CD, and recommend a company to do the photo cards for you, or you can do the Safeway or Walgreen's photo cards. I will shoot in any location you choose - but if you want a shot in the mountains you'll have to let me ride up with you. I know where a few locations are that might be neat here in town.

Seriously, I really need you guys. I can either do photos of the entire family, just kids, or just individual shots of kids and create a collage for you. Let me know if you are interested and we'll come up with something that is perfect for your family.

Come on, it'll be so fun! Help a sister (wife) out! Tell your friends that don't read my blog (so, that means tell everyone, because almost nobody reads my blog!). My goal is 10 finished portraits for card use, or you could print and frame them to give as gifts if you like, I can have them professionally printed for you at cost.

Enough begging yet?