Drawing String

Q announced this morning that he was drawing "string" on his doodle pro. This is what it looked like:

He is good at drawing "string".

YAY String!

Cats v. Don Julio Part 2

Cats = 2 Don Julio = 0

The saga continues... and I have photographic proof this time!

This morning I walked through the dining room in the dark and nearly tripped over Don Julio's carcass. I flipped on the lights to see the latest edition of the "Fight To The Death -- Cat v. Vac". When the lights were on this is what I was greeted with.

Poor Don Julio was released from him spot -- and at first I thought he had just taken off and was still attached to his charger cord. Upon further inspection by my main squeeze Cub -- it was determined that he was not attached to his cord -- he ATE HIS CORD (probably in a desperate attempt to kill himself). Not only was he choking on his own power cord, but he was pulling on the cord -- straining the socket and once again he HAD BEEN DE-TRAYED. He had no pants on, poor guy.

I still cannot figure out how the cats get the dust tray out of his backside! Anyway it took me about 5 minutes of good searching (and our house is small) under furniture and in other rooms to locate the tray which was about 9 feet away at the very end of the dining room table. The cats looked very happy with themselves this morning.

Another thing that really has me astonished is how we failed to hear this going on only a room away? As I have said 4 million times -- we live in a shoebox -- a old, 1941 no insulation in the walls shoebox -- you can hear anything and everything that happens in the house usually. Cub and I must have been sleeping the sleep of the dead (or the sleep of full time working parents to a 2-year old, you pick). Got me?

Cub is going to inspect Don Julio further and my hope is that his suicide attempt was not successful so that he can be replugged, and live to clean the floors of our humble shoebox again. LONG LIVE DON JULIO (I want to have a shirt with shadow effect image of Don Julio that says "Long Live D. Julio" -- so it is reminiscent of the Che Guevara shirts)!

AMANDA!

After a few times of calling "mommie" and not getting a response (because I may be talking to someone or concentrating on driving or something) Q has started yelling "Amanda" to get my attention. Pretty smart if you ask me.

BABY GIFTS

OKAY -- I need some advice -- from you, my peanut gallery.


About a year ago I started to buy baby gifts that I actually thought were great, useful things that I either found on my own through trial and error or was something that someone gave me that I liked and found useful -- instead of the cute little outfit (which is always a fine standby -- unless it is horribly ugly and looks like something that your Aunt Muriel hand knitted from a 1975 baby pattern) or other crap that you get that you never use and/or don't like -- not that you were not appreciative to receive it. We all did it -- we all went buck wild with the baby registry -- registering for stuff that we had no idea about but looked neat and useful -- got it and then found that it was not so useful, a pain in ass to deal with and clean, and/or your kid hated it. So I want some suggestions of a some things that you all really like.


JD, my good friend, super neighbro extraordinaire, and fellow NMS member is soon to be first time mom. I would like to impart some of "our" wisdom on her. Please feel free to disagree with anything I have below -- that is the purpose of this -- to find out who likes what and why as well as what they do not like about certain things.


Here are my favorites:


1. Aveeno Baby Wash and Lavender Lotion -- I have tried a lot of different soaps, but this one stood out way beyond the others. Q has a soft, easily irritated skin and this one was a soap and shampoo combination that cleaned and did not irritate, left his hair clean and not greasy -- and it has a nice clean and very light fragrance. The lotion is a good creamy lotion -- the lavender can be overpowering sometimes, but all in all I do think the scent helps calm him and ready him for bed.

2. Diapees and Wipees -- this is a neat little pouch that you can easily put in your purse and/or keep in your car without having to tote around a giant diaper bag. It is made to hold several diapers, a small pack of wipes, and if your crafty (like me) you can squeeze in a small tube of cream. I love mine -- I ordered it online years ago -- but I have seen something similar at Target. Note: Diapees and Wipees is a brand name -- but I have seen these under other names if you go to look for them.

3. Links - An absolute must have for babies that are still in carriers and/or in a highchair or portable highchair seat -- especially at restaurants. Clip several of the links together -- attach one end to the the carrier handle or high chair and then clip the other end to a favorite toy or even a juice cup/bottle and you are set. The babies play with their stuff and you do not have to constantly PICK UP stuff off of the floor -- because it is attached. Note: Every company under the sun has a version of these that they sell -- I do not have a favorite -- but make sure that they are a good, strong and thick because the babies tend to pull hard on them especially when they are in the carriers and/or car seats such that flimsy ones may actually break and pop back and hit Jr. in the face.

4. Bibs with Pockets (especially if they have a rubber coating on them): Some of my favorite bibs I have ever found -- I got from K-Mart. I love them. They are giant. They have a oil cloth-type backing with a rubberized front and series of snaps that allow you to wear the bib flat and/or snap them up to make the bottom into a cup. They are heavy and can take an entire cup of juice in the pocket. They are easily cleaned -- just wipe them down with a little Clorox Anywhere Spray (to be mentioned later) and eventually run them through the wash. Bibs must have pockets. Yes, they can be cumbersome, but I would rather deal with cumbersome than having to devote time later to hosing down all of Q's clothes in spray and wash and then sweeping up all of the stuff that fell (you still may need to do this regardless -- but you have to sweep up less :) ).


This is not my actual bib -- but the closest thing I could find on the net.

5. Aquaphor: The "ointment" of all "ointments" the "cream" of all "creams" -- the Grand PooBah of baby butts (and faces). I love this stuff. I use it instead of diaper rash cream. I also use it on his face and cheeks when his skin is chapped from the cold and it cures it overnight. I also rub it on scratches and they too disappear overnight (small superficial ones -- not any gushers!)... I have even been known to use it on my lips before I go to bed, when they are chapped. I can't say enough about it. Some people like Boudreaux's Butt Paste and others like Desitin. I thought Boudreaux's was gritty and I have used Desitin when he got an actual diaper rash, but that only occurred like 2 times. My rule is -- if he does a stinky, use the aquaphor every time. If the hiney looks a little red, use the aquaphor -- and as a result he has had very few diaper rashes.

6. Sweet Pea Gowns: Soft, open-bottomed gowns that usually have an elastic band (or drawstring) that runs around the opening at the bottom to somewhat close it up so that little feet and legs stay warm. They are great because they keep the baby warm and comfortable and baby butts (for diaper changes) are easily accessible as opposed to footed p.j.s and little pants that have to be removed and then put back on. I used those as long as they made them big enough for little man. Note: A bit of trivia -- the style of "sweet pea gowns" are named after "Sweet Pea" -- Popeye's little boy -- from the comics of old. Sweet Pea always wore them.

7. Puffs: A tasty little snack food made by Gerber. They are little puffed stars that are easier to chew and digest than Cheerios. They come in several flavors and Q must have eaten at least 20 lbs. of them so far and he still eats them. You can easily take them places and they do not make a mess. Sweet Potato is my favorite!

8. Mr. Potato Head: The best toy on the planet for a two year old. It generally entertains them to no end. It is not terribly educational, but entertaining and sometimes you just need them to sit down and shut up. They also make little Mr. Potato heads that come with one set of each part and are about the size of new potato which are the perfect size to fit into a bag to take to a restaurant or so on. I found that one at the Dollar General for like $3.00. Hands down my two-year old gift of choice.

9. Twilight Turtle: Twilight Turtle is a stuffed turtle with a hard plastic shell that actually has star shaped holes cut into the back. Light is projected from within Twilight, through his holes where he projects stars on to the ceiling of the room. You can choose the color of the stars, blue, green or amber -- we always use green. The placement of the stars is supposed to be accurate and it comes with a star guide map. Q obviously can't identify constellations yet -- but that is not why I bought it. It was a perfect "calming nightlight". He would lay on his back with the soft green stars above and drift off to sleep. I got it for him when he was about 5 mos. old and he still uses one to this day except we have now gone to a ladybug that does the same thing. Good thing for kids who are scared of the dark.

10. Mega Blocks: These guys are another endless entertainer. They have always been a hit and they make so many things that go with them -- little people, fire trucks, trains, etc.

11. Classical Baby DVDs by HBO: HBO did a series called Classical Baby that they may still air. I bought my first copy (Art) at Target and then when I realized how cool they were went on to Amazon and purchased the remainder of the series ("music" and "dance" -- and I believe they may now have "poetry"). They use real music (not canned -- synthesized instrumentals like Baby Einstein), it has pop up notes that tell you about the composer, artist, whatever and it is illustrated so that it entertains little ones. All in all Q liked these far better than Baby Einstein -- but we did watch those too. I, also enjoyed them since I had to watch them and I found myself learning something new.

12. Clorox Anywhere Spray: Great stuff -- does exactly what it is says. It is completely safe to use around the babies. I use it to clean everything from bibs and highchair trays to toys and books. It Kills the germs, the smell is not too abbrasive (rather light compared to Clorox Clean-up) and it does not cost an arm and a leg!

Q and the Poo

Luckily, Q has had very few poo-catastrophes in his short life and for that I have been thankful.

He has pooed in the tub twice and was instantly terrified of it -- getting up on his tip toes and trying to splash it away. Both times I had to basically don a HAZMAT suit and cordon off the bathroom while I defogged and intensively cleaned each of the 5,789 bath toys that he insists be in the tub with him as well as the tub mat and tub.

The most recent pooh incident actually made me chuckle, I know I am going to hell because it traumatized Q.

As usual Q is in this crib not napping like he is supposed to be doing and I am downstairs trying to do the 5 million things I need to do while he is sleeping because that is the only time I can do them (you fellow parents know this is a sacred "golden time"). When I put Q down, I made the mistake (at this point my husband chimes in and said "I told you so, I told you so, I told you never to put him down without pants on!" -- like the little angle/devil -- he's both -- sitting on my left shoulder) of putting Q down without any pants -- he was only in a diaper, shirt, and socks. So back to my story -- I am listening, hoping to hear that lull in the noise that indicates he has finally thrown everything out of the crib, flipped, flopped, turned his music box on and off, on and off to his satisfaction and has finally decided to give in to the sleep that he was so desperately trying to avoid. Instead of that lull -- I heard a shriek and something about "poo" and "bed". I ran to the trusty video monitor (which by the way, I can't say enough good things about -- best thing we ever bought) -- and see Q standing up, backed into the corner of his crib -- cowering and whimpering and staring at something in the middle of his bed. He was also muttering something about "poo". I instantly heard Corby in the back of my head -- going on about not putting him in the bed without his pants because HE WILL TAKE HIS DIAPER OFF...

I raced up the stairs -- with visions of a horrible diarrhea mess all over the place -- that was the only thing I could envision given my luck and Q's reaction over the monitor. I could just see it -- on the stuffed animals, bedding, bumpers, Q, his hair, the crib and the smell would be horrible -- I just knew it. I reached the top and threw open the door to see him standing stiff, backed up in the corner of his crib with a sagging diaper STILL HALF ON (thank God) -- however, one hand was clutching the open tabs of the side he had opened -- trying to hold it back on and the other hand was pointing to this tiny little pebble of poo about the size of a gumball that was just casually resting directly in the middle of his bed. He was horrified! "I pooped in the bed, Momma", "Its poo, Momma". I was so relieved to see that he had manged to keep the poo laden diaper still on -- only letting a wee little fellow loose! I scooped him up and changed his diaper made a hasty clean up of the wee poo and all was well.

Phew, man that could have been bad... I get the poo accidents and Corby hands down gets thrown up on the most. Q will literally bypass me to walk over and throw up on Corby -- he had to change his clothes 3 times one night. I find it quite funny, Corby not so much.

Girl Time with my Mom-Dawgs

I got to have a little "mommie time" last night with several of my fellow "Mom-

Dawgs". It was nice to get to sit with these special people and talk about life,

husbands, and kids, but I especially love reminiscing about the old days at Hand

and Dreher and trying to remember names and telling funny stories. Thanks K

and A for the night of wine and teeny tiny hors d'ouvres ! We need to gossip more,

it is terribly fun!

Yeah !!!

YAY -- people read my blog! I am so excited -- as the lovely lady on the left is so perfectly indicating!

I promise to keep you guys in the know with random stuff that you will never need to know while at the same time hopefully laughing about the silly things that happen in my life.

Please feel free to send me pictures of funny and/or tacky things that you see -- I love to make fun and will do so willingly here on my blog (this can include clothes, weddings, houses, cakes, signs, etc.).

Oh, by the way -- I am glad I am not the only one that was totally distracted by Aretha Franklin's hat!

A Trick

According to Q this morning, the singular of Trix is "a Trick", as in "Look Mommie a yellow trick!" and "Ooohh Mommie, I dropped a trick in my seat!"

However, when he wants more than one he says "I need mah trix". Today he was shaking his snack trap (full of trix) and was singing "shake it, shake it!"

He finally did it

Sunday, January 25, 2009, at 10:46 a.m. Quentin finally escaped from the crib -- I knew it was just a matter of time.

I was sitting here on the bed working on my blog and listeneing to Quentin not go to sleep over the monitor when all of the sudden he got really quiet so I asked Corby to turn on the video monitor to see what he was doing -- hoping he had finally fallen asleep. Corby called back from the den: "I don't see him. I really don't see him -- I think he got out." I was then scared because I heard nothing... nothing from his room, maybe he escaped his room too. You would think it would have made a "thud" or something! I ran in the den to watch the monitor as Corby went up to his room and found Quen between the end of his crib and the wall -- on top of all of his stuffed animals -- he was just sitting there happy as a clam. We still have no clue how he did and so far he has not done it again. Later that night in the bath I notice one of his pinkie toes was red -- I can only assume it was a prison break injury.

Cats vs. Don Julio

Current Score: Cats=1 Don Julio=0




Last year for Mother's Day I got a Roomba and I love it. I was always hesitant to get one because of the cat hair -- I just never thought it would do a good job. I was wrong -- it is great.

Most of you who know me know we have two cats Satchel and Taterbug.

Satchel is a 3 year old, black, male American Short Hair and he is deaf. He also has a great big soft belly and he loves to break stuff -- often knocking breakable things from high places -- as only a deaf cat would. Satchel was named after Satchel Paige. He also loves vacuums -- unlike most cats. Satchel's favorite pastimes are breaking things, stealing your drinking straws out of your cup (straws are treats to Satch), sleeping, jumping out and grabbing your legs as you come around a corner (you have to say "you got me" and scratch his head when he does this to appease him), and getting in the tub with me --he sits on my lap and drinks the bath water -- he does it every night -- often waiting on the mat untilI signal by tapping the edge of the tub that he can jump in.

Taterbug is a huge, fat, white, male American Short hair who is not deaf but never makes a sound and sheds like nothing I have ever seen before. He loves to be close and nestle in your lap and nap on anything black that may be around -- like your good sweater or jacket. He also likes to sharpen his claws on all of the the good furniture that is why our good furniture is no longer good. Tater also fetches -- something I have never seen another cat do. Tater's favorite past times include escaping to the other side of the french doors (an "off limits" area to the cats), turning all of Quentin's finger puppets and small stuffed animals into his "critters" (things he carries around in his mouth and then dunks in the toilet), eating treats, shredding paper towels, eating, eating, eating some more, making "biscuits" by kneading his paws and claws into your leg and letting Quentin man handle him.

It was a great shock to the boys when we came home with this little pink thing that cried and pooped named Quentin... we had some nerve.

Then just to make their lives even more horrible I got the roomba, who after a long discussion about what name it should be given (including some suggestions of "R-2-Sweep-Pooh" and "Frank Skippleton") was saddled with "Don Julio". Don sits in our dining room next to the mini buffet where he stays plugged in and charging -- awaiting the time I let him loose in a room. The cats hate Don Julio. He scares them, he is unpredictable and he will run over them. They often sit on Don sometimes.


Yesterday Corby came home to find a situation that he has never faced before. He actually started retelling the story with "If we only had surveillance cameras in the house -- I would love to see how they managed this"... Now I have been greeted with some surprising situations involving the cats like the time they shredded a 3 pack of paper towels that were accidentally left out on the kitchen counter -- it looked like it had snowed in the kitchen. I could not see the floor. Then there was the time that they had gotten into my yarn and managed to wrap the center wall in my house about 100 times round with yarn... they just went in a big circle, dining room, picture hall, den, kitchen , dining room, picture hall, den, kitchen, etc. as if it were a giant maypole. It was amazing. Or the time they managed to get Corby's brand new $100.00 plus golf shoes OUT of the shoebox and sharpen their claws on the nice supple leather on the toe and heel -- destroying them. But this new feat was pretty amazing. Corby said he came home, one of the kitchen chairs was knocked over; Don Julio was not plugged in and he was not in his spot. In the center of the dining room was Don Julio's trash tray (the little part you pull out and dump) and in the kitchen all caught up in the kitchen mat was Don Julio. But the fun does not stop there. There was a rabbit fur puff off of a scarf I have they had managed to get and it was shoved under the door to the front room. In the center of the den was a massive hunk of black fluff --Corby said he thought it was stuffing from something (we still have not identified) and surrounding the fluff was a ton of Satch hair. We have no clue how they did unless they grew hands and fingers. They managed to unhook him, start him up (which is not that hard --a button on top that they usually sit on anyway), get his tray out and then just harass him (i am sure they attacked at every corner) until he caught himself up in the rug... poor Don Julio.

Those pesky kitties.

Nobody reads my Blog

Nobody reads my blog.

Thats okay, but I'll still keep writing.

At least I entertain myself.

The G to the H

I missed my annual MLK trip with some of the best friends in the whole world... the girlherd, because I was sick with the dreaded African Sleeping Sickness that I got from a teetsy fly -- just kidding, I made that up -- but I seriously had several ear infections and a sinus infection and my throat developed golf ball size lumps and I felt like I had swallowed glass shards. ANYWAY, I digress, I am lucky enough to be a part of a wonderful, extraordinary group of girls that have been able to maintain their friendships from elementary school and middles school for some --through high school, college, grad school, med school and law school for some, life in general, marriage(s), divorces and the births of our children. We have made it through heated fights, divorces, broken hearts, broken dreams and many other personal catastrophes. Despite the distance we still remain close and travel to see each other every year. I missed it this year and I miss them very much. I am very proud of each and everyone of them and what they have accomplished in life as they are truly smart, beautiful, funny, and accomplished women -- my girls -- i love you all.

D

R.I.P. Polly

UPDATE:

For those of you hanging on the edge of your seat as to the "Polly Saga"... an update. I was on my game last night -- Polly made a quick trip to the toilet, Q was told that "Safety Sally came and took Polly to a new home -- that she went to see another little boy, that she missed him -- but she needed to go visit other children." It went over well and then my mouth got the best of me... I kept talking... I mentioned that maybe Safety Sally was taking Polly to see L (his best buddy). So, Anna and Kevin, I fully expect Q to be searching your tabletops and cabinets for Polly next time we are over. Sorry... (sheepish grin)

How do you say goodbye to a dead ladybug?

What was once cute, has now become an issue -- a sanitary issue.

How do you get a 2 year old to say goodbye to a dead ladybug that he has become extreeeeeemly attached to?

See, about 2 weeks ago, Q noticed a ladybug climbing around the top of his snow globe in his room. "It's a Ladybug! It's a Ladybug!" he screamed with excitement while pointing his little finger at the tiny (a small ladybug) little bug making circles around the the NY skyline (a NY snow globe from the Shalkhams). We watched it through the the snowglobe and marveled at how the ladybug's tummy was soooo big having been magnified by the water. "Polly" as she was to become known, was a source of great entertainment that night.

The next night when we sat down to read our books, Q craned his neck and stood on a toy wagon to see the top of his table to look for Polly and he found her -- exclaiming so. I thought she would have been long gone, but there basking in the light of the lamp was Polly and she was not moving. I decided to blow over the subject and say: "Yeah, look at Polly, she has gone night, night -- let's read our book" while at the same time making a mental note to remove the ladybug once he was down. But by the time Q was down and tucked in and the lights are out -- I forgot to remove Polly. The next day the same scenerio plays out -- he looks for Polly, talks to Polly -- has to make sure I see Polly and once again I forget to remove the Polly carcass from his table. Well, needless to say by now Polly has turned a light shade of yellow -- she is no longer red and my son is attached to a dead ladybug named Polly. What I should have done a long time ago is to remove the ladybug -- but I forgot and now she is a pal. He even talked about the ladybug on his table at dinner the other night.

Milk Duds offered up some good advice -- she said to tell Q that "Safety Sally came and took Polly to a new home". I leave you with that.

Creative Use of a Car Window Ledge #1 -- submitted by Mr. Q. Hilley

On the way to nursury school this morning, I looked back and saw this.

Quentin had torn his Nutripal bar into pieces and neatly lined them up on the ledge of the car window and was plucking them off one by one to eat them.

I give him bonus points for style.

First Snow

Today Q got to experience his first snow...

in the dark because he woke up at 5:30 a.m. and wanted to see the snow.

He was very excited about it at first.

Then it kind of lost its glory when he realized it was not quite the same white fluffy stuff made of cotton and glitter that are in his books.

All in all I got to spend 2 extra hours with my little man that I usually do not get to do because of work and I enjoyed every second of it.

Thank Goodness

I am not going to go on and on about what a special day today is -- we all know and we will have it repeated ad nausea to us over the next week or so. I love Obama, he was my man from day one. I believe his message and I have faith that he will bring us out of this mess that Bush and Co. have made of this wonderful Country we call home. I am glad I was able to see the first black President elected. I am proud to say I voted for him because of his beliefs, genuineness, personality, experience, and stances on the issues I think are most important to our lives. I feel like I made a change.

I have the State paper announcing his win as President of the United States and I have the "i voted" sticker I wore the day I voted for him, which I am going to put aside for Quentin so that one day down the line, he can have a little piece of history.

Snow Day At Work

Milk Duds and I decided we needed to step out on the porch at work and take a picture of the snow to memorialize this day... it snowed South Carolina. It is a very rare occurrence in South Carolina -- it may be six more years before we see another flake. Of course the 1589th of an inch that we received caused schools to close down for the day (many are closed for tomorrow too), people started panicking and went out and bought batteries, bottled water, Sterno and canned goods, and everyone started hitting each other on the roads. That is the funny thing about South Carolina -- give us a hurricane and we can make it through the week or so of mess and destruction that a good one leaves in it's wake with flying colors -- but show us one snowflake and we declare it a statewide emergency and call in the National Guard -- no one can drive anymore, or apparently work and go to school.

Safety Sally

Quentin came home from nursery school today with a clump of papers that included random little pieces of construction paper with wild colors and pipe cleaners and every other little random doodad attached to them. I LOVE IT WHEN HE COMES HOME WITH HIS ARTWORK FROM THE WEEK, it is like Christmas for me. We usually look through them together and talk about them. Today Senior Fussy Pants was in a mood and was in trouble with us for running down the sidewalk with wild abandon while totally ignoring his mother and father who were frantically chasing and screaming at him... little booger is fast. Picture this (in slow motion for the best effect) -- me, dressed fresh from work bundled up to the ears in a pea coat and scarf with 3 files and a laptop in hand, power cord dragging and clutching a juice cup; yelling at the top of my lungs as I trail behind Corby who has just basically had to drop $60.00 worth of dry cleaning on the porch to run (and might I add, about the fastest I have ever seen Corby run, and Corby doesn't run) who is also dressed for work -- hauling it down the sidewalk deftly avoiding the hurbie curbies and recycling bins like a skilled and seasoned pro football player in sweater and loafers who is also yelling at the top of his lungs for the pint sized running back who has mysteriously gone deaf to stop. Frankly, I am surprised no one called the police there was so much yelling going on. Once tackled -- our little Walter Peyton received a well deserved punishing and needless to say he was not at all happy with us for quite a while. We were not really happy with him either.

ANYWAY, one way that I was able to make him calm down and listen was to pull out his art projects. So with Q perched on the counter top and Corby and I right there we flipped one by one through his art projects. This week's letter was "F", the number was "6", and the color was "blue". As we flipped through the various pages, we counted the blue butterflies with him, asked him about the colors, made him say "eff" and asked him about certain things in his pictures... and then we encountered Safety Sally. Safety Sally was obviously a brown bag hand puppet with blond hair -- but there was something odd and uncomfortable about Sally, she only had one eye and facial hair! She was reminiscent of a blond, cycloptic, yeti with a menacing stare! I LOVE Q's ART!! Corby immediately said: "Its Safety Sally the Cyclops". That just cracked me up and we both held back the chuckles.

Needless to say Safety Sally is by far my MOST favorite piece of Q art I have (and I have everything he has ever done), she is so special to me -- with her "eye" and facial hair issue.

Oh, one more thing, at dinner when asked what he did at school today, Q said "time out".

North Main Style

NORTH MAIN STYLE, DAWG! Yeah, DAWG!

Where do I start... Lets see, when Cub and I first married we bought our first house (the house we live in now) in a very old neighborhood downtown that has many beautiful and historic homes but unfortunately our neighborhood went through a period in the 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's where it was run down, not taken care of and most of the properties were turned into rentals... in essence it became a ghetto. A movement was started in the 90's to reclaim the neighborhood and almost all of the large historic homes have now been renovated, landscaped and have become quite the showplace. I live in the back of the neighborhood where most of the homes are brick or wood bungalows and are a little younger compared to our ancient counterparts, having been built only in the 40's. My street has its eyesores, some houses are still rentals, and they are not rented to upstanding or responsible folks who take care of their homes but would rather hang out in front of their houses (along with any other loser who happens to wander down the street) with their 40 oz.es and pitt bulls and leave discarded highchairs, old exercise bicycles, and collapsed baby swimming pools all over their yards while cramming 15 family members, at least 6 of which are all illigetimate children in a 1200 square foot house (but I digress, that is another post entirely). Despite the few I have mentioned, many of the homes on our street are cute little family owned homes with young families, like us and our immediate neighbors (the neighbros). These houses have been renovated and landscaped and are attractive.
ANYWAY, "technically", we live "out North Main" -- an area of town that instantly causes one to reel back in horror -- the wrong side of the tracks!!!! My neighbors and buddies who live in our neighborhood have gotten tickled lately because there is this ghetto blaster car that we see in the area that has "Savage Life" and then below that "North Main Style" across the back window. We did not know we had a style! Something we could grab on to -- and of course I have taken it and run with it. Also, to add credence to this whole thing, my coworker Milk Duds' (a name I shall give her for her secret blog identity) husband is the manager of several people who live out North Main (farther out than us) and when he questioned the employee about why he was doing something a particular way, said employee replied: "That's how I do it -- we North Main Style". SO THAT SEALED THE DEAL, I knew I had a winner, an established saying that I knew nothing about but think is just great... it says so much about our hood and became a running joke for a long time between Milk Duds and my neighbros. THEN I HAD A FLASH OF GENIUS! You see people with the little white destination stickers in their back windows that speak of lavish and posh places like IOP (Ilse of Palms), OBX (Outer Banks), PI (Pawley's Island) -- as a total poke in the eye -- why not NMS? And there you have it. My fabulous husband who basically is a glorified sticker maker -- made me just a few of the beauties you see above. Yes we all sport them proudly, our hood, NMS 4 EVA!

Is Bret Michaels bald?

While watching VH1 Classic tonight (which by the way is one of our favorite things to do so that we can make fun of bad hair, costumes, and frankly hysterical videos) we were trying to decide if the heavily made up and obviously "worked on" Brett Michaels is bald under his do' rag and cowboy hat? Corby looked at me and said "do you think Brett Michaels is bald as f^&# under his little do' rag?" I would think so.

He definitely had lots of eye makeup on and hair extensions... it just makes me cringe. What do you think?

monsters under the bed

It has started... Even though Q is only just now 2 he already has "monsters" outside of his crib (and yes he is still in a crib and I am going to keep his little butt in one until the day he climbs out -- otherwise I know he would never sleep in a toddler bed but play all night) and "bugs" in his bed... THAT is why (according to Q) he "can't go night night". Now, seeing as how I have never even seen a bug on the second floor that I can think of and the fact that I have a yearly service contract for pest control with Terminix (shameless plug for the old sister-in-law), I know he does not have bugs in his bed -- and since I can safely say that I have never seen a monster anywhere in our house except sometimes, I feel sure my husband can arguabley make you do a double take (just kidding babe, kind of) -- we are monster free at our house.

For the last several months Q's usual crib "night night work out" consists of tossing and turning, pulling off his socks, then proceeding to put them on his hands and declare them "glubs" then throwing them out of the crib one by one, rolling up in the blankets, running the length of the crib dragging blankets outside of the crib and eventually dropping them. He also chunks the stuffed animals out of the crib one by one, lays on his back and kicks the sides of his crib with his heels and then just a couple of moths ago he started manipulating toys and other objects (to be discussed later) from outside of the crib to the inside of the crib. On that note, the following have ended up in the crib -- a giant frog that sits in a chair near his crib, a giant duck that sits on the floor apparently close enough to the crib, a framed Winnie the Pooh Print, a lamp, a snowglobe, a wooden hammer and ball set (even all of the correct balls), and my favorite and his most recent accomplishment -- a toy train that is actually a container for Mega Blocks. I actually watched this manuever over the monitor. He reaches through the bar and grabs ahold of the train (without tipping it over to knock out the blocks). He then manages it to lift it up outside of the crib and stands up at the same time -- then with his free hand, he reaches around the top of the crib and over the rail and takes it from his other hand and brings it into the crib. After all of that he still has not tried to climb out.. go figure (I need to find some wood to knock on).

Today I saw him on the monitor crouching down between the crib and bumper.

Anyway, as far as the "monsters" and the "bugs", I guess we will just have to deal with that when it rears its head again.

Night, Night... don't let the bed bugs bite.

The things I love about today

1.  I am feeling better.

2.  I got to use my "magic bullet" knock off and made a somewhat successful smoothie.

3.  Q is too cute, Cub tells me this morning that yesterday while they were watching college basketball Q announced that they played basketball with "punkins".

4.  I love to to watch Cub try to put down Q for his nap -- I watch it on the monitors -- he is a great dad and it warms my heart.

5.  It is raining -- and I secretly love rain.

6.  My laundry is almost all done.

7.  Q's birthday party is only a week away (good and bad).

8.  Cub is fussing about the Internet connection again in his never ending quest for perfect fast and uninterrupted signal.

9.  Q is finally down for a MUCH NEEDED Nap after putting up a mighty fight.

10.  My family is healthy.