Camp HappyBadFun!

"You people are so not drunking"

I like drunks. I really do. There's something incredibly funny about watching responsible adults be oh-so spectacularly irresponsible, if only for an evening. I think Harvey had the biggest mess to clean up this morning, but i know this party was all over the place!

Oh! And one last thing... I really enjoyed chatting with all of you drunken infidels...er....upstanding citizens and i just want you to know one thing:

I remember everything. ;-)

P.S. Ogre, you STILL owe me a picture!

This one's for Ogre!

Ok, mr drunk ogre man...now it's your turn!

Blog Crawlers Welcome!

Harvey came early to entertain all you blog crawlers!

Nate of Arc

I see my child pensively holding a fork with a watermelon rind on the prongs high into the air for several minutes. Curiosity finally wins out and I ask:

"What are you doing?"

His reply?

"Communicating with God through watermelon."

I swear he gets this from his father's side.

Ok...I swiped this from Bou and i have to say...it's surprisingly accurate. I love both Will Ferrell and Will Smith! I do think I have a pretty adaptable sense of humor, though--if I'm with edgier, sarcastic people...my humor tends to be as well, but mostly, I'm just a silly cornball.

the Ham (21% dark, 60% spontaneous, 38% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | LIGHT Your style's mostly goofy, innocent and feel-good. Perfect for parties and for the dads who chaperone them. You can actually get away with corny jokes, and I bet your sense of humor is a guilty pleasure for your friends. People of your type are often the most approachable and popular people in their circle. Your simple & silly good-naturedness is immediately recognizable, and it sets you apart in this sarcastic world. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Will Ferrell - Will Smith

So apparently a Kenyan man said he offered Bill Clinton 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand in marriage five years ago — and is still waiting for an answer.

I just have one thing to say to Mr. Chepkurgor:

Dude! Have you SEEN her? They don't call her "the other Wandering Eye'd Clinton" for nothing!

The Prodigal Returns...

Our friend Jeff of Ponytailed Conservative (no link, Harvey will explain) has been MIA for quite some time and apart from being worried about him, things just haven't been the same around here.

Well...good news....he's surfaced over at Harvey's place so make sure you go over there and wish him well!

Know what I am?

I am the "cheesey-grinning-happy-dancing-giddy-as-a- school-girl" Girl!

Wanna know why I'm the "cheesey-grinning-happy-dancing- giddy-as-a-school-girl" girl?

Because I got tickets to the U2 concert in Oakland! YAY ME SO MUCH I CAN'T STAND IT!!!!

P.S. There's a very serious possibility that my "cheesey-grinning- happy-dancing- giddy-as-a-school-girl" thing bears a striking resemblence to my "cheesey-grinning-happy-dancing-gloating-like-the- wretched-bitch-I-am" thing. Sorry. hehe...no I'm not. :-P

True Love

Rocket Man and I celebrated our anniversary this weekend. If you wanna know what 21 years of marriage looks like, take a look: View image

Not alot has changed since the honeymoon as you can see: View image

Crushed!

Oh it aaaall makes sense now. Harvey was SO sweet and SO kind to offer a "google bomb" and I fell for it. It's not enough that he's the Big Daddy of a highly disfunctional family and he just couldn't be happy to have a healthy portion of the IMAO pie. Ohhh nooooo...Harvey had to take the one and only thing that mattered to this poor hapless blogger. I'm now on page 4 of google's 1500 sheeps turkey while Harvey sips margaritas in MY #2 POSITION! He stole my #2 position!

Ya know, Harv...what hurts the most is this: When you said "Welcome to the family" all those months ago, I had no idea it was the Gambino Family!

Looking At The Price Tag

Just when I think Harvey can't get any funnier or wittier or prolific, he goes and supplies me with another adjective: poignant.

He makes me proud to call him blogdad. Go read.

Every once in a while...

...you see a bumper sticker that makes you laugh out loud.

Case in point:

"If guns kill people, then spoons make Michael Moore fat."

:-P

*whines* But I don't wanna be first loser...

Hehe...last week I posted a quick blurb about a bunch of crazy sheep who decided to end it all by jumping off a cliff. Well...how cool is this! I am the second entry when you google "1500 sheeps turkey"!

So uuuh...what say you kids hit that link and see if you can't get me to the #1 position. And DO NOT even THINK about acting like you're too busy. If you were too busy you wouldn't be over here reading this drivel in the first place! ;-)

Finally! The Long Awaited and Highly Anticipated Literary Meme! YAY!!!

I got tagged for the literary meme by Songstress of News From The Great Beyond several weeks ago and it’s taken me this long to get my act together and put my thoughts down. Summer fun and all that stuff, ya know!

The topic of books is a highly regarded and deeply personal subject to me. I have always loved books. When I was a girl, I think my first friends were in book form. There was Meg-- a young Nancy Drew type girl with mystery and adventure never more than a decrepit stairway-leading-to-nowhere away. There was Lucy and Edmund, and a girl who discovered a talking dinosaur…there was Laura Ingalls and Fern and Wilbur. Yes, these were my first friends and my fondness for them has not waned with the passage of time.

When my children were young there was barely enough time for the talking, breathing friends let alone the printed ones. At other times, they were my escape from the hustle and bustle of life and I’d hurry through my day just to get to my books. Regardless of my circumstances, these friends were always there for me, awaiting my return.

Over the past three years something that has been a concern has been my inability to sit down and read a book. That may not be a big deal to many people, but tell a pianist her fingers will never make music again, or a singer that he’ll never sing again and then you’ll understand how I have felt at times. It’s been a HUGE frustration.

So on with the meme and my long and sometimes tenuous romance with books…

What is the total number of books you have ever owned?

Ok...here's the thing: I am not a person who feels compelled to own every book I’ve ever read. Some books are good for one read; other books beckon every few years and some books, whether I read them again or not (and I most likely will) demand to be owned. I loaned my Chronicles of Narnia set out then promptly forgot who I’d loaned it to. A few weeks ago, I decided it was time for Natie to start reading them and horror of horrors—they were gone! I called my sister in law because I vaguely recalled loaning them to her daughter when I realized she’d NEVER EVEN HEARD OF THEM (yeah…I had to pretend not to be totally and utterly appalled, too) and she said they weren’t there. All I know is, I made a decision right then and there: If these books don’t show up very very soon, I WILL be buying that set again and it WILL be leather-bound at that!

Rocket Man, on the other hand, wants to own every book that was ever written with the possible exception of the literary endeavors of Jackie Collins and the White House pets. As a result, we have no less than approximately 600 books at any given time in our home with the vast majority belonging to him. And he’s pretty good about reading them, too, or at least portions of them. I’ve had to learn to appreciate his reading style. He usually has a minimum of 3-4 books going at any one time. Depending on his mood and interest, he’ll glean from one of them then move on to another. He may never even finish a book but he’s gotten out of it what he wanted and that’s good enough for him.

What is the last book you purchased?

I bought The #1 Ladies Detective Agency and Seabiscuit last week because I was having trouble getting into The Hobbit. My boys demanded that I read it but the thing is, I DID read The Hobbit when I was in high school, I just didn’t LOVE it the way they LOVE it so they’ve insisted that I couldn’t have possibly been in my right mind because no woman who gave birth to them could NOT love The Hobbit unless she’s “not our mother…hmmm…”. So, yes, I was attempting to prove my parentage to these little punks but I finally decided I’d rather read something else and let them wonder who their real mother is. ;-)

What is the last book you read?

The last book that I read was Seabiscuit. Hillenbrand does a masterful job of telling the tale of this remarkable horse and the characters whose lives were intertwined with his. If you enjoyed the movie, you’ll find the book to be even more fascinating. Also, I read The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis last night. Phenomenal essay but reading that before bedtime is akin to eating a big fat steak right before bed. It was just a little too heavy for late-night consumption and had my mind spinning relentlessly.

What are five books that mean a lot to you?

The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge~ If ever there was a book that has touched me to the core of my being, it is this book. I can’t actually say I discovered it because the truth is, it discovered me. 3 years ago with 5 years of homeschooling under my belt, I hit the wall and was sliding down it with all the finesse of a splattered egg on a hot day when this book captured my heart and rescued me. 3 years later, it still has the profound ability to cut through the veneer and speak directly to the heart. I love this book with every fiber of my being.

Anna Karenina~ I read Anna Karenina last year. It was, without a doubt, my Mt. Everest. I was in the middle of my gloomy reading funk when a friend, who had written a book, asked me to “proof” it. It was “lite fare” but got me into the water after a long dry spell. Hoping to at least stay on shore, I promptly started reading a trilogy I’d previously read and loved. I was barely getting my toes wet but I was in the water and that’s what counted. Next, I read “The Secret Life of Bees” and absolutely loved it and from there, I knew it was time to leave the shallow waters and dive in head first into the deep dark waters of a classic novel.

I went to the book store and immediately eyed Anna Karenina. Man oh man….it was 830 pages of Russian literature! I knew it was a big leap but I had to do it. I had to jump in over my head and see if I could swim. I bought it, got into my car, and promptly broke down crying. It’s one thing for a singer to sing “Mary had a little Lamb” but quite another to sing an aria from “La Bohéme”. I was completely overwhelmed. It took about 2 months but I’m proud to say that I read every last page of that book. And I’d like to go on record as saying that Leo Tolstoy is HIGHLY overrated. Now there was a man with a great deal of time on his hands writing for people with even more on theirs. Oy vie…I should at least get a t-shirt with “I read Anna Karenina. Why? Because it was there.”

Jane Eyre~ this was the first “classic” that I read and completely fell in love with it. The first 5 chapters are a bit dry but if you can get past that…it’s just a fabulous story.

The Chronicles of Narnia~ I didn’t discover The Chronicles until I was in high school. I devoured the series and then promptly turned around and started it all over again. I think I’ve read the complete series 4 times with a few of my favorites edging towards 6 and 7 times. If you haven’t read them, I highly recommend you do so before the movie comes out this Christmas!

So there you have it! Everything you never wanted to know about me and books! :-)

Btw...thanks to everybody for their great summer reading suggestions in the comments section to my previous post. I will be armed and dangerous when I enter the doors of Barnes and Noble this weekend!

Quick! I Need A Book!

Ok...I'm into my summer reading and need a good book. I read The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency last week (good book...very light reading) and finished Seabiscuit last night (great book...I will SO be making kball take me to the horse tracks when I come to KY!) and now I'm ready for a new read but don't know what to get. I am going to get the sequels to Detective Agency but want something a tad bit meatier to sink my teeth into.

So...I'm wondering what ya'll are reading this summer and if you have any "must-read" recommendations to make.

Also...I'm actually going to finish and post the literary meme that Songstress tagged me with nearly a month ago. Geez...I really suck with astounding proficiency, don't I! (Shut up, Jerry!) :-)~

Karnival of the Kidz #???

It's been a while since I entered a pic in the Karnival of Kidz so here's one of my little Nathaniel. That gleam in his eye shoulda been a clue as to what I was in for... ;-)

Btw...Jen at Iowa Geek already has the Karnival of Kidz up and ready for your viewing pleasure!

Three 2's and a 5

We live on a cul-de-sac which means we don't have a lot of strangers passing by. We do, however, have a few "regulars" who come thru on their evening walks. One is a woman we've seen for years now who comes by with her dog. She appears to be in her mid 60's but we discovered this past weekend that she's actually 83.
So Rocket Man and I were standing in our yard, admiring his handiwork after a long weekend of replacing windows and rebuilding walls when this woman came walking by only she didn't have her dog with her. She struck up a friendly conversation about the windows and we were happy to get a chance to talk to her as she is always quick to wave and say a friendly hello.
We asked where her dog was and she sadly reported that he had been put down as he was very old. We then enquired as to whether she would be getting a new dog soon. Hehe...BIG MISTAKE. Dear lovely woman informed us that she would be waiting for the fall to get a dog. I figured she had her personal reasons for waiting and didn’t feel inclined to pry. There was no need, she was all too happy to share her reasons.

"We're waiting til fall because he'll be born under a sign that's compatible with humans. If you get a dog born in the summer, his star alignment will make him very uncontrollable and difficult to manage."

Rocket Man's eyes said "Oooooookaaaaay" but his mouth just curved up in a pleasant grin.

She continued in her very clipped and confident manner:

"Ya know...there's alot to those stars. I started learning about them when I was very young. I figured there had to be a reason my father was such a lousy person. Come to find out, he was a Sagittarius. And a LATE one at that! He had all 4's and a 1. No wonder he was so lazy! He couldn't help himself! And did you knows that Ronald Reagan was a Libra? What's so interesting is the man who tried to kill him was a Libra too! But of course, he was crazy, he had three 2's and a 5! MY GOD! If you had three 2's and a 5 you would be crazy, too!!!

The conversation ended very shortly, as pleasantly as it had begun, but as soon as she had left the neighborhood and our eyes locked, Rocket Man looked at me and said with all sincerity, "Ya know...I think she just might be three 2's and a 5."

I suspect a new phrase has been added to the family repertoire...

Sheeps is sooo stupid...

I know I shouldn't laugh but this article just makes my Friday. In part, it reads:

450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths in Turkey

STANBUL, Turkey - First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media reported.
In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported.

teehee. :-P

Happy 4th of July, Everyone!

We truly do live in a remarkable country! The blessings we enjoy in the United States are unsurpassed by any other people in any other land, past and present. When I consider all that I have, whether it has been realized or merely potential, I cannot feel anything but humility. The freedoms I enjoy are not freedoms I have earned. In the 1500's my forefathers left Spain and became explorers of this great land. In the 1800's people whose names I'll never know left their families and their homelands of Italy and Ireland for the Promised Land. To my knowledge, none of them became fabulously wealthy or even modestly successful. It is on their shoulders I stand and it is their sacrifice to which I am indebted.

Then there are the countless thousands whose blood paid the price for my freedom. I am overwhelmed when I consider their bravery, their courage and the moral conviction that guided their lives and assured them as they faced their own mortality that there are things worth fighting for and things worth dying for. Oh how I pray that my sons are as noble as those that have fought and those that died for this great country.

As we celebrate this wonderful day, let us each be mindful to diligently guard against the temptation to enjoy the fruits of citizenship without tending the tree of liberty. All that we have...all that we are...all that freedom affords us is insignificant if we do not take that which we are blessed with to bless others.

Thank you, Lord, for this most precious land I call home. And thank you to every member of the armed forces, past and present, who have sacrificed so much to ensure liberty's light shines brightly. And thank you to my dear, sweet brother--wherever you are.