Memory Lane Monday (#16)

Memory Lane takes us way back. Remember when my house looked like this......a week ago?
When it was being swallowed hole by those monster bushy/tree things. And if we hadn't kept trimming them, they'd be twice that size!!!












And today, it looks like this!!!











I discovered a nest the day before the landscaper was to come. It was up too high to see in it, so I held my camera up above to take a peak inside for eggs. The landscaper had started work before I could discuss options.

R.I.P. little red robin :-(











PS---Now when the Funaholics come to our house, they'll know which one is ours!

Take Off Tuesday--KY Edition #3

OK, OK, since we had to postpone Take-Off Tuesday due to sickness this week, we'll call this one "Fieldtrip Friday". I have NEVER seen one of the kids that sick---that didn't require hospitalization anyways. But Gman is pretty much back to normal. He couldn't speak above a whisper for over 3 days, & his voice is still a little squeeky.

Tonight, we went to Kids Night at Long John's/A&W. Al didn't don a pirate hat---cramped his style. Princess hooked her arm and said "AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" What a difference 7.8 years makes, eh? (FYI--I worked for LJS/A&W when they first started combining them into one restaurant. I was the Construction Coordinator. The one in the International mall in San Diego? Yeah, that was my project! Did a bunch in TX, too.)











After dinner, we went to the Free Friday Flicks at the park, the show was Madagascar 2. They had a moon bounce for the kids (I love when I catch them holding hands!) And facepainting...Gman's is supposed to be Wal-E, like on his shirt. We got home at 11pm, both fell asleep in the car....we'll see just how permanent that ink is on pillowcases tomorrow.






















Al did not want his picture taken, so I had to be slick. Kind of like I had to be this morning........when I caught him watching TV................wearing a spandex book-cover on his head. But as he said, "I look tiiiiiiiight! Don't you think I look tight?"











Yes, Al, I do.

Dear Mom, Please send $$$

Only in Kentucky........So this guy, I'll call him McFly, is in need of a quick $1400. So McFly allegedly gets an idea!

McFly allegedly calls up mom and allegedly says something like this: Mom, these guys are holding me hostage. They said if someone doesn't meet them at the gas station and bring $1400, they're gonna rough me up.

So mom calls the police and they go into undercover sting, commando operations-mode at the gas station.

McFly allegedly shows up to pick up the ransom---McFly's all alone.
No kidnappers ANYWHERE.

For the real kicker......why didn't McFly call dad?
.
.
.
.
.
.
Yeah, Daddy's unavoidably detained.....on death row.
Some apples just don't fall far, allegedly, do they?

In lieu of Take-Off Tues

The route to my mother-in-law's house is about 3 hrs long and has really had nothing noteworthy other than the "The bizarre billboard baby," UNTIL a couple weeks ago. We just happened to be driving by during a giant Grand Opening last month.










A new Harley dealership in London, KY! Because of my new Honorary Biker Chick status bestowed upon me by Ann, I felt it required of me to stop and take some pics (the kids are not in the pics because they really didn't seem to care for some reason, and I WAS NOT about to loose my Honorary Biker Chick status if one of them tried to self-entertain by testing the domino effect on expensive motorcycles.)















































And for Kim & Laura's new collection, the ladies' room door sign:

Postponed due to illness

Take Off Tuesday will probably have to be postponed. My little Gman is terribly sick. I think it will be at least Wednesday before he is feeling up to anything. Poor guy usually can't stop making noises and jibber-jabbering about whatever, but now he can't even muster a whisper! He is enjoying the big box of popsicles he earned while waiting for an hour at the pharmacy because some intern doesn't know the the definition of the status updates: "in-store waiting" and "called in."

Happy Father's Day

Here's 3 awesome guys to celebrate on Father's Day! In order of being able to find a picture of them in my phone:

Craig, who is an amazing hubby & dad who refuses to smile for pictures!


My Grandpa who is here visiting us from Washington! He's such a funny smart-alec! Where'd you think my brother, my dad and I get it from?


And my dad, he's awesome!

The Sock Basket

Our beds, drawers, washer & dryer are NO-TOR-I-OUS for eating socks. It can take months, years even, for a sock mate to show up. It is not uncommon after folding a load of laundry to have a dozen singletons. Thus, the necessity for
.................The Sock Basket


How many singleton socks can one family have? Well, at the moment we tally

• Craig - 6
• Paula - 2
• Al - 0 (only because his socks = his business, I'm out.)
• Princess - 13
• Gman - 5

Yeah, baby! Twenty-six socks!!
And this is LOW!!! I've seen that basket overflow! I eventually throw out socks that I know have been in there for a year+ or that kids have outgrown. But I about fell over yesterday when these 2 showed up! It's been almost 3 years since those fit anyone here!!



Is this normal??? How whack-o is it to have this many singletons at once???

Take Off Tuesday--KY Edition #2

And so yesterday we hit several of the items from Andrea's and KY Visitor's lists since many of them were literally "Stop, take pic, leave" kind of things.

Number 1 from the list were the Horse Mania horses....unfortunately, that was a local art/charity project from about 8 years ago and the 79 horses were auctioned off for charity. Between me and the 4 people I called, we knew of 3 that were still on display.
Al finally smiled after being reminded that I had all day to wait.


I am not a donut person. I can pass on them every time. EXCEPT Magee's. They are awesome! We arrived at 3pm to discover they close at 2pm in the summer.




At Thoroughbred Park (tiny park with some statues):
Yeah, just try doin' this to a REAL horse!


Princess & Gman--about to be trampled.




We've never been to the downtown branch of the library since there's a branch only 2-3 miles from the house. There's a Foucault Clock at downtown's branch. I've flipped the pic so you can see that its a map of the US with the center being were Lexington is. The gold ball is the pendulum that hangs from the atrium ceiling. Gman was running wild on adrenaline by this time and so I didn't read the lit on it until we got home....there's actually a lot more to this and I'll get better pics and explain more when we return the books we checked out.


Outside the library are 6-7 of these raised plaques of signatures of authors' with a KY connection. This was the name I recognized, she was born elsewhere, but grew up in KY.


And I absolutely can NOT wait for the Funaholics to get here!!!

A Pedi Complaint

I rarely get pedicures because my feet are very ticklish. I think today's was my 3rd ever.
I assumed there would be a language barrier, so I drew a picture of the daisy I wanted painted on my big toes & labeled it. But then I assumed she may not be able to read English, so I also demonstrated with bottles of nail polish. We were cool. I felt confident that she knew what I wanted.

See!! Wouldn't this be soooo cute!!!
She finished the pedi and told me the other lady would do the flower. I heard her say "Daisy" and the new lady looked at my drawing.
I've heard of

• language barriers
• barrier reefs
• sound barriers
• barrier contraceptives
• vapor barriers

but "drawing barriers"? That's a new one!

(side note....my toes look so short & stumpy in this pic! I actually have rather long toes. Funny!)

Mr. Postman

Please, Mr. Postman, look and see,
if there's a letter (or package) in your bag for me!

Here we are at the post office....mailing the contest prize to Jenn Ann!!! And what kind of Longaberger Lady would I be if there wasn't a little Longaberger in that prize box!!!

The pained look on Princess's face is due to me telling her to stop doing the potty dance long enough to pose for the picture....the angst had to be expressed somehow!!

Challenge: ACCEPTED

Andrea challenged me this morning to do the Lexington version of her "Take-Off Tuesdays"---she even made a list of field trips! I'll probably skip the "dead peoples' houses" tours for this summer because when I suddenly yell "DON'T TOUCH THAT!!," my 3 year old hears "IT'S TOTALLY FINE/SAFE TO GRAB THAT AND RUN WITH IT" (you would be soooo grossed out to know what he picked up off the floor in the ladies' room this past weekend) . I'd hate to have to pay for some one-of-a-kind antique.

Since Andrea's the one who challenged me, I'm stealing her graphic.



As I mentioned in my comment, the Valley View Ferry is literally less than 15 minutes from my house, so I threw the kids in the car. Al begged not to go since he's in too much pain (I am now calling him "Crispy Bacon" due to the scorching he got at the pool. Who knew sunscreen doesn't work if you leave it at home?)



It holds up to 3 vehicles and can tuck in a few motorcycles too.


In the background are the posts from an old railroad bridge...those are trees that have grown on top of them!


The post behind the kids shows the water levels reached during various floods over the last hundred years. There's at least a 15 foot drop off at the end of that sidewalk to the current water level.


So Andrea....I challenge you all to come up here and we'll all go to a horse farm or two, and to the Ale-8 factory. I personally think it tastes like pond water, but most everyone else likes it. It's kind of like Mountain Dew, but bad.

Window Graphics from Down Under

As promised to Laura, here's the family window graphic pic I snapped for her. It's hard to tell, but the bears are wearing what appears to be tribal-type necklaces...leading me to believe these are Aborigine Koala bears.