Quenisms of the week

You know I love to share the stuff that pours out of my son's mouth which not only tends to amaze me but send me into hysterics... here a just a few of his most recent ones:

1. According to Q his "favorite snacks" are "co-cos" and "pow-pows". Now, he is way, way, way past baby talk so this is not the mere ramblings of an infant. When asked about them all he will say is "co-co is my favorite snack" and "pow-pow is my favorite snack". I have asked him to describe "co-cos" and "pow-pows" and he only remarks "they are like Scoobie Snacks".... got me?

2. After I spent the whole afternoon in the yard replanting irises and bushes and just literally being up to my ears in dirt and sweat (I must have scrubbed my butt for 30 minutes to get the dirt off of my back side from sitting in the dirt in entirely too short shorts) -- I stood in the bathroom peeling off the layers of grubby, dirt and sweat drenched clothes, Q comes in to hug me. He hugs my legs and looks up at me and says: "Momma, you smell like pooh pooh." I said "Thanks honey, I love you too". Then he said "Momma you still smell like pooh-pooh". I just said "thanks". Then later when I was in the tub, he came in and stood on the bathmat -- I asked for kiss, he gave me one and said "Momma you still smell like pooh-pooh", I said "That's enough, that is not very nice".

3. He is the King of finding random little pieces of detritus on the floor and questioning you at length about what it is -- if you can even tell. Yesterday he appeared with what looked like a single strand of iridescent "Easter grass" -- for an Easter basket. He asked me what it was as he held it up to me. "That is Easter grass", I replied. Quen shook his head and said "No, it's not, its not Easter grass, it's plastic". You got me kid.

4. While in the car on the way to school we were listening to the Sesame Street Podcast on my i-phone through my car speakers -- we love it. The "word of the day" was "mustache" so we discussed mustaches. Then he pops out with "You have a beard". He knows what a beard is because Corby and his best friend Kevin both have beards as well as his Uncle Janson. I knew I have been having a bit of a facial hair issue in my old age (thank you Grandmother Minnie Merle -- or Great Mimi) -- but I keep it under control. Now I am a little self-conscious.

5. Corby covered my planters in the front yard with beach towels because the last two nights have been dipping into freezing temps. When they left the house to get in the car -- Quen saw the beach towels on the bushes and asked Corby about them. Corby explained that he had to cover the bushes so they would not "die". Quentin said "like dying eggs"?

6. The other morning as we were about to go into school he ran off and started to climb up this brick wall with holes in it. He said something about "Spiderman" -- I said "Yeah, Spiderman -- come on we need to go into school" and he stopped what he was doing and turned around and said "I'm not Spiderman, I'm Quentin Douglas Hilley." On that same note, my Dad calls him "Quentus Magnus" (a take on his name in Latin) and he has called him this since he was born. Apparently the other day, Q had enough of it and when Pawpoo called him "Quentus Magnus" he said "I'm not Quentus Magnus, I'm Quentin Douglas Hilley"... but he says "Hilley" like "Heeaul-ly".

Goldfish Containment Unit

On his way home from school the other day, Q reached into the bag on the seat next to him from my favorite store (all in unison: "The Dollar Tree") and found a plastic egg tray that I planned on using when we died eggs to let the eggs dry. He decided it made a much better containment unit for goldfish. He painstakingly filled each little cup with goldfish crackers (while I was objecting the whole time from the driver's seat) and then complained when we hit a bump and they went flying.

Why Corby and I are OLD CODGERS

Do you want to know why Corby and I are old codgers?  

Sure, I'll tell you.  It all started Friday night.  Our old neighbor Martha passed away at the end of last week and we had her visitation to attend Friday evening.  After the visitation we had a few drinks with one of our favorite neighbors Avery.  After drinks, because Mimi and Pawpoo had Quentin FOR THE NIGHT, we decided to have a little date night (Woot! Woot! We can sleep past 6:00 a.m.!!!!).  Corby and I went to eat at Macaroni Grill and then we decided to be the BIG KIDS that we are and go to the 9:20 Monsters vs. Aliens 3D!  I was so excited to see a 3D movie.  I have not seen a true 3D since I was little and I got to see Jaws 3 -- 3D -- which I will never forget and it was sooo scary to the 5 year old kid that I was (my parents should have been investigated by DSS for that).  I will talk more about Jaws 3 -- 3D later, anyway, we were all fired up and we had our 3D glasses on ready to go.  Oh, and these are not your typical red and blue plastic lensed paper glasses -- these were like 1985 black plastic Ray Ban looking jobbies (be sure to see Corby below).  Anyway, the reason that Corby and I are such old codgers is because we BOTH FELL ASLEEP in the movie.  At first I was trying to play it cool... I would nod off and then wake up when something loud happened.  I would try so hard to stay awake only to drift off again.  I did not want Corby to see me sleeping or I knew I would never hear the end of it.  Like the time I fell asleep while I was 7.5 months pregnant sitting on the floor of the kitchen while Corby worked a drill in the same room -- he loves to tell that story.  Anyway, little did I know that Cool Breeze was over there sleeping too.  I was clued in because at one point he had his head kicked back, mouth agape and  even though I am sure he was snoring -- I could not hear it.  He woke up and said "I can't keep my eyes open".  I did not feel too bad then.  We chuckled -- we are sorry dates.  Um, I would recommend the movie -- what I saw of it, at least was entertaining.

Back to Jaws 3 -- 3-D, yeah I do not know who thought it was a good idea to take me to that when I was kid -- probably my big brother.  Anyway, to make matters worse we happened to go to Sea World that summer AFTER I saw the movie, so what would have been a fun trip for any normal 5 year old turned out to be the trip from hell for me -- I was just positive jaws was going to pop out of the water and eat Shamu and/or the handler.   It took an act of Congress to get me to walk through the underwater tunnel that allows you to see the sharks and other scary things they have -- you know the one that was so similarly depicted in the movie that the shark bites in half and people get trapped in while water is slowly filling up the tunnels -- yeah that one.  I cried the whole time. I remember Sean telling me how thick the walls were and I did not need to be scared.  I remember I got to see the water ski show of the Hatfields and the McCoys and I LOVED IT!

That was the scariest movie when I was kid and looking back now at it... I just laugh.  One of my favorite scenes is where the shark (that is not moving a muscle -- just with jaws agape) is slowly heading for the underwater control center -- that no one can seem to get out of in enough time even though they all sit there and yell for 5 minutes -- and the black guy gets eaten by the shark that does not move.... great effects guys!  But is scared the crap out of me as a kid!

Why I love my husband

I just love my husband.

He cracks me up.

In a typical man/husband/Corby move he went out for "kitty litter" (it is his chore to scoop and change the litter) and came back with a $100.00 + "automatic kitty litter box".

I kid you not.

All because he is sick of changing the kitty litter (he never scoops it like he should and he will be the first to admit that) he buys this thing that I hope the cats will even get in. I am afraid it will scare them to death. He bussled around the room trying to find just the right spot, looking for a plug. At one point he had it in the corner that we use as the "time out" spot for Q. When my mom asked him what he was going to do with Q when he had to go to time out, his response was "I'll just put him in the litter box, what do you think about those apples?" He was joking of course and eventually worked out a spot with 50 feet of extension cords -- don't ya just love old houses -- 1 outlet to a room if you are lucky.

Tater watched with fettered brow from a high (when he was not helping me with the Easter eggs) as Corby put this massive contraption together. Apparently it "senses" when they are in the box and then 4 minutes (i think?) later you hear this "hummmmmm" and the little automatic rake is sweeping through the crystals -- swiping up the pooh and pee clumps and knocking them into this little enclosed bin at the end. Corby watched in true "proud man mode" with his hands on his hips as the comb set off on its first pooh seeking mission. Tater got in for a little bit and knocked the blue crystals around and then jumped out. Satch who was oblivious to all of the commotion because he is deaf wandered in hours later, looked at it for about a minute, turned tail and left, but I expect him to do that since he did not acknowledge the fact that we had a baby for the first week we had Quentin home from the hospital.

Now if that cats will use it... it will be great.

8 cups, 5 lbs of candy, 42 Easter eggs, and a 27 lb. white cat

That is what I dealt with last night.

My Mom was nice enough to help me with all of the Easter stuff I have going right now. I had to stuff eggs for Q's class Easter egg hunt and the Easter party that I am planning for the FPDG (Friday Play Date Group, to you novices) along with other "Easter stuff" that you deal with when you have a 2 year old.

I made each child in his class a little plastic Easter cup (actually, I did not make the cup but you get my drift) filled with grass, a hopper, a thing of bubbles in the shape of a carrot, a bendy rabbit, 2 candy Easter eggs and pack of life saver gummies with a personalized tag that I stamped and colored in (Mom stamped the names) all while wearing my bunny ears.

Tater INSISTED on helping. Let me tell you he helped a lot. I have the smallest, oldest dining room table (65 bucks at the thrift store when I was in college!) to begin with -- I already had eggs, candy, paper, pencils, stamps, etc. covering every inch when "Tons of Love" decided he would have a seat amidst it all. Most of the time he watched from the Pampers box.

It was a success. I went ahead and took them to school this morning even though they are not needed until next week just to get them out of the house where "inquiring eyes" might see them....

Please excuse the quality of the photos -- they were taken on my phone!

Celtic Thunder and Why Can't My Sister Take a Good Picture?

Last Friday Mom, Shannon, Bill and I went to see Celtic Thunder -- which I have to admit I really enjoyed! Those guys can really sing and since most of what they sing are traditional Celtic/Gaelic/Scottish/Irish stuff I really liked it. My favorite part was the fact that the guys in the band donned kilts the whole time and at the end the whole group wore their kilts and that was just too sexy. They are a complete cast of opposites, from a 14 year old who has the deepest voice of all of them, a bald middle aged nice looking man who looks like his usual repertoire includes drinking tunes "down at the pub", a blond "boy band"/"high school musical" looking hottie, a 30 something opera singer and a dark haired Lothario who has a bit of a crooked face. I was glad Corby was not there because he would have made fun of the "dance moves" -- or just general stage show that they put on. He never got over "Don Dorca" from Lord of the Dance and to this day makes endless fun of the Riverdance guy. Anyway, I will admit this would give him hours upon hours of material. The end result was that it was a well done show, entertaining and once again, I will say the vocals were amazing. My favorites were "Danny Boy", "Ireland", "Laura and I", and "Caledonia". I will talk more about the "crowd" later.

For those of you who do not know them -- here are some pictures.

(that lady is not me -- i just snagged this pic from the net)

Mom got very excited on the way over there as she started singing and doing the hand movements (and if you know my mother, you know she talks with her hands all of the time and you have to keep your guard up to protect from a well-manicured fingernail to the eyeball if she gets carried away) for a song they do called "Ireland"! Here she is in the car doing it.

We had very good seats that were not cheap -- but we were on the first row of the non-floor seating and we knew that all we needed was a tall person to sit in front of us and/or someone with large hair to sit in front of us and the rest of my wee family (excluding me because I am a "large" woman) would not be able to see. Of course, that is exactly what happened.

This guy was in front of me.

The Celtic Afro was in front of Shannon.

And this guy just had the sweetest comb-forward I have ever seen!

Needless to say as soon as the lights went down, we moved back one row and that made a world of difference.

Apparently these guys have a cult like following who call themselves the "Thunderheads" and they wear green t-shirts and anything and everything else green they can find including odd hats. They also sport glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces like the kind you put on your kid when they go trick or treating. They stand up and dance and wave their arms. They are true fans. They are also (and I am not trying to be mean) a bunch of overweight (in some cases extreme -- and I can say this because I too am a large woman) single, odd looking ladies who have nothing better to do than sit around and watch PBS specials at home and eat ice cream. That was mean I know. On another note, the man above me in the balcony proceeded to hang his hands over the edge and pick dead skin and/or fingernails off of his hands and drop them on me. I thought I felt a water drop hit my shoulder, but it was a nail bit. I thought I would throw up on the spot. I yelled up at him but he did not see me nor hear me. Later his wife had her feet hanging over the edge... great country comes to town.

This brings me to the second half of my post... my sister Shannon and her inability to take a normal picture. It is BEYOND ME. She has a very pretty face and a nice body (perfect hiney, damn her) but she has a talent like none other... no matter how hard she tries, she just cannot take a good picture. Below are the attempts I made to take a picture of Mom, Bill and Shannon at the show before it started... They are in chronological order.

1.

2.

3.

4.

I WILL UPDATE SOON

Sorry readers -- I am a sorry blogger sometimes... I have been swamped lately at work and in life... a ton of birthday parties, Easter stuff, tennis, work is slammed, I am worn out from allergies, and then in the middle of it someone dies... SO I will be back shortly -- PLEASE KEEP READING!

Amanda the Great