The Liebster Award

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Shoes

I was quite surprised and more than a bit excited to find out that Jodi over at jodistone had presented me with The Liebster Award.  Thank you Jodi for recognizing my blog with this award!  Jodi’s blog, which tells of her adventures with her two dogs Sampson and Delilah, is always a joy to read and usually has me laughing out loud.  Sampson is such the handsome gentleman dog and Delilah, well, she is always eating things she shouldn’t and is usually up to some hilarious and mischievous tricks.  So Jodi, congratulations on your award and thank you for mine!

liebster-blog

From what I can determine, The Liebster Award is given to blogs with fewer than 200 subscribers by a blogger who feels they deserve more recognition.  It sounds like a nice way to let bloggers know you like their blogs as well as to share your favorite blogs with your fellow bloggers.  There are some general rules that go along with this award.

  1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
  2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
  3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
  4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favorite bloggers and keep it going!

Last night after telling Husband about getting this award bestowed upon me and telling what goes along with getting the award he said “That sounds like a chain letter.”  If I were a man with a big bushy moustache I would have immediately and loudly huffed into it to show my displeasure with his reaction but since I am neither a man nor do I happen to have a moustache, I just loudly huffed.  Not nearly as theatrical, I know, but one must work with what they have.

Husband is not a blogger nor is he one who reads blogs so he just doesn’t get it.  Sure, The Liebster Award may sound like a chain letter but unlike a real chain letter, if I don’t follow the instructions I will not loose all my money or have three years of bad luck or have all my friends turn into zombies who will come hungrily banging at my door tonight.  Instead, if I disregard the award, I will miss an opportunity to bask in the glory of winning (hooray for me!) and most importantly I will not be able to share with my blog friends some blogs that I truly enjoy.

So without further adieu here are my five picks in no particular order.  They are a mixture of blogs I have followed for awhile and ones I have recently stumbled upon; all I very much enjoy and hope you will too.

Patchwork Of Life

Elephants & Rutabagas

Filth Wizardry

My Quest

Piles of Laundry in the Holy Land

Posted in Blogging/Writing | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Simple Sunday – For the Birds

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Shoes

Hummingbird at twilight.

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Uphill Both Ways

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Shoes

My dad used to tell a story of how when he was a boy he had to walk miles to school, across farm fields and up steep hills, in rain or snow, to get to the one room school house in rural South Dakota.  Throughout the years when he told this story, his trek to that little white school house got longer and more strenuous.  The distance grew.  The hills became impossibly uphill no mater which direction you traveled on them.  There was never a sunny day and the wind always blew.  This story usually came up when my sister or myself complained about some great injustice or another that we were forced to bear, such as having to help haul firewood from the back pasture to the little woodshed next to our house.  Dad would put down the ax he was using to split kindling, wipe his brow with a red and white handkerchief he always carried and start recounting.

walktoschool

It is in this spirit that I feel it my duty as a mother to provide my children with similar experiences that they can embellish upon, if they see fit, when they have kids of their own who complain about having to clean their room or mow the lawn.  The walk to the bus stop is as good a place as any to start building these stories.

The distance is roughly a quarter mile on mostly flat, paved ground.  About half the walk is in a wooded area with the occasional house tucked almost out of sight.  There is a nice sized grassy field bordered by a blackberry thicket that grows wild and is supplied water by a natural creek, fun for throwing rocks into.  Past the creek there are a couple more houses and then the neighborhood nursery that specializes in trees, shrubs, and landscaping.  If we are lucky we get to wave at a dump truck driver or a passing excavator.  The actual bus stop is on the nursery’s property and is decorated with some nice plants and two large statues; a rooster and a turtle.

Cody with the rooster on his first day of school. Ah, how I miss shorts weather...

In my unwritten mother code, if it is above freezing, not too windy, and does not look like immediate rain, we walk the quarter mile to the bus stop.  Sometimes this bites me in the arse and we get caught in the rain without an umbrella.  On most days the boys actually prefer to walk.  I am sure the time will come when they won’t want to walk and it will be then that the seed to their I-had-to-walk-miles-in-the-rain bus stop story will be planted.

I enjoy our four day a week walk to the bus stop.  We are making memories, building character and supplying the boys with material for their childhood tall tales: “why, when I was your age…”

Posted in Little Feet, The Great Outdoors | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Inanimates Who “Live” in Our House

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Shoes

Hello sticker

I read somewhere that people who name their cars actually take better care of them, thereby extending the “life” of said car.  I don’t know if this is true or not but it does make for a good excuse.  When people who find out that we have named our Subaru give us the maybe-those-people-should-be-in-the-loony-bin look, we can drop this bit of trivia on them and stand there looking smug.  Don’t think I haven’t done this a time or two.

The problem is that those lookers may be on to something.  You see, we don’t just name our cars, oh no, that would be much too commonplace, we have named various appliances and other odd objects found around our house.  Allow me to demonstrate.

Exhibit 1:  Our Subaru

Stanley and frog

Behind the cute face of Carter dressed up as a frog for Halloween lurks our Subaru, Stanley.  Before him was the great Hubert the Honda and before Hubert was my much loved, Betty a three tone (if you count the reddish primer) 1969 VW Bug.

Exhibit 2: Our washer and dryer

Lola and Ken

On the left you have our LG washer, Lola aptly named from the movie Run Lola Run, because she is always running.  To the right is her sidekick Ken the Kenmore dryer.

Shall I go on?  Yes?  Ok, then.

Exhibit 3: Our dishwasher

Porcupine

Here you have a nice shot of Porcupine our dishwasher covered with dinosaur magnets.  Cody named him Porcupine due to the numerous pokey things on the top and bottom rack that hold your dishes up.

Exhibits 4 and 5: Cody’s toothbrushes

Electric Pants

If you can tear your eyes away from the ultra cute baby picture of Cody, you will note two toothbrushes that stand out from the crowd.  The one front and center has been named Electric Pants because it is a spin brush.  The smaller purple and green one responds to the name One Legged Suction Cup Pants.  Yup, Cody named both of these.  Also as you can see the boys bathroom has way more than two toothbrushes but we only have two boys.  They have a hard time throwing the old ones out.

While I can not think of any other examples of inanimate objects with names at our house, we also have the tendency to name vague and somewhat obscure locations.  The small mossy corner at the end of our driveway has gone by the name The Mossy Patch for years.  In our woods you will find places like Three Hill Hollow and Cat Bridge Crossing as well as various places the boys have clamed to be an office, a store, and a UPS truck.  Blackberry Alley is in our neighborhood and we have named a very short and worthless road in town The Super Secret Street.  Last weekend while Husband was hanging Christmas lights up and down our hallway, Cody coined it Christmas Light Alley.

We have not named our toaster oven or even our waffle iron so I don’t think we are quite certifiable just yet.

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Simple Sundy – Unlocked

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Shoes
P1030342

Rain door latch

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My List of Thankful

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Shoes

This Thanksgiving we (myself, Husband, the two boys, and our two dogs) will be heading up to my parents house.  I have quite a bit of anxiety over this due to the rapid progression of my dad’s Alzheimer’s.  I would say that about 95% of the time he is not who I remember him to be and that during that period he may not know who I am.  It is stressful.  It is hard to accept.  It is not what past visits to my old childhood home with my husband and children used to be.

It is not all doom and gloom by any means.  I love the feel of going home again.  I love watching my boys erase the worry and tiredness from around my mom’s eyes as she laughs and builds marble mazes with them.  I love how the boys have no reserve about leaping into their Grandpa’s lap and tickling him.  He may not know who they are but he likes them.  He may not know who I am but he knows that he loves me.

So without further ado here is my list of things I am thankful for.  It is lighthearted and in no specific order.

  1. Hot coffee, black and strong, first thing in the morning.
  2. The snoring of little boys fast asleep in their beds.
  3. Furry dog paws.
  4. Burt’s Bees lip balm.
  5. The great assortment of birds that visit our backyard even when they guilt me into trudging out in the rain to refill their feeders (shame on me for letting them run low in the first place).
  6. This link to a video of farting dinosaurs – it makes the boys and I laugh every time.
  7. Flannel sheets.
  8. Microbrew beer.
  9. The sound of the ocean.
  10. My vacuum cleaner.
  11. Waving neighbors.
  12. Our one acre of land on which sits our little house, complete with forest and mossy patch.
  13. All the people and places in my past, good and bad, that made me the person I am today.
  14. Spray ‘n wash.
  15. Kisses of both the lip and chocolate varieties.
  16. The smell of lemon verbena.
  17. Grilled cheese sandwiches.
  18. Books.
  19. Hot showers.
  20. My family & friends.
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All Thumbs

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Shoes

Carter, who is three, has been paying a lot of attention to traffic signs and rules of the road.  He will inform me when traffic lights change.  He will tell me to slow down when I drive past one of those speed limit signs that check your speed and blink the message “slow down” in red letters.  We have had numerous discussions about the difference between red and yellow fire lanes (the color of the paint depends on the width of the road and the use of the building located next to the curb).  Yes, we have some rather riveting conversations.

He has recently learned that a red circle with a line through it means that whatever the picture is in the circle should not be done.  This caused him some worry today when he saw this sign as we got on the freeway.

When I see this I think No Hitchhiking but that is not what Carter thinks.

He tells me he sees a sign with a circle and a line and a thumbs up.  I open my mouth to start explaining what hitchhiking means but he is faster than I.  In a voice that can only come from a slightly panicked, dramatic three year old boy he sucks in his breath and says “Us not have thumbs up day on freeway, momma?”

At the end of everyday at Carter’s preschool the kids do circle time and when they are waiting for the buses and parents to come pick them up they sing a simple song about how they had a thumbs up day.  Carter likes this song.  I feel that it is borderline brainwashing so that a child who peed his pants, dropped paint on the floor, and stuffed a bean from the sensory table up his nose will be inclined to tell his parents when he gets home that he did indeed have a thumbs up day.  Whatever.  I explain that we can have a thumbs up time on the freeway and never even get to my spiel about hitchhiking and how it is unsafe to pick up strangers because he has seen a bridge ahead and is hollering for me to put my hands up.

Then I get that damn “I had a thumbs up day, oh yes, I had a thumbs up day” song stuck in my head.  As I am wont to do, I change the lyrics to something that usually involves one of our dogs, Rosy and Dexter, or one of the boys.  This time I start to sing “Oh, Dexter had a thumbs up day!  Oh yes, he had a thumbs up day!”  Carter, quick to correct me, says that us have thumbs (we are working on the pronouns thing) but Rosy and Dexter do not.  They have paws up days.

Yes indeed they do, my sweet little boy.  How can I not help but love him.

Posted in Furry Feet (and fish), Little Feet | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Full Moon and a Platypus

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Shoes

What does your underwear look like?  I hope you all know that I am asking this in the most rhetorical way possible, so please don’t answer that.

Yesterday we bought Cody some new underwear.  This would normally not be a blog worthy event (and perhaps it still isn’t) but he is beyond excited about them.  You see, they are not just your run of the mill, boring ole tighty whities; oh no.  They are Phineas and Ferb underwear.  If you are unfamiliar with these hilarious brothers I recommend you check them out.

Here they are in all their triangular headed, green and red hairedness glory.

I did a late in the day wash of laundry so that Cody could wear his new underwear that night.  He picked out a pair that had a large picture of Agent P’s face on the rear end (Agent P is Phineas and Ferb’s pet platypus Perry who, when he dons his brown fedora, becomes Agent P a secret agent whose mission is to stop the evil scientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz).  It was so cute to see Cody running around way too excited about his new article of clothing.  He kept mooning Husband and I to show them off.  It make me laugh but then I had a thought – what if he does this at school?

I have a great picture of Cody sporting Agent P on his rear but for privacy's sake, I give you this instead. You get the idea.

We had a talk about when and to whom it is appropriate to flash your underwear.  I hope my message came across loud and clear.  I will let you know if I get a call from his teacher.

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Simple Sunday – Purple and Fall Colors

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Shoes

During our walk around the zoo yesterday, I spied this splash of purple amongst the fall colors.

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This Just In: There Were Two Extra Monkeys At the Zoo Today

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Shoes

The high today was 45 degrees but there was no rain predicted in the forecast.  In the fall and winter here in the Pacific Northwest this means perfect weather for a trip to the zoo.  We were a little slow getting out the door this morning so there was plenty of time for me to get this song firmly planted in my head.

We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo
How about you, you, you?
You can come too, too, too
We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

After an hour plus drive to the big city, a quick stop at a speciality grocery store, and a yelp search, we found ourselves at a great little mexican restaurant.  It was way past lunch time, the boys were hungry, and there was a wait for a table.  Lucky for us (and everyone around use) the restaurant had a sliding glass window that was open right at the front where we were waiting.  The boys were entertained.

They found it quite exciting to ask me every thirty seconds or so to let them know when our table was ready. Oh, but I was to make sure to tell them this through the window and NOT the door.

The meal was amazing!  I found myself dreaming about lounging there all day with Husband sipping margaritas.  But that was not to be the case.

The time we spend at the zoo was cold but we all had a lot of fun.  If you asked Carter what his favorite parts were I would have to guess he would bring up the fire hydrants, peacock, and the indoor play area.  Cody was all about a large leaf he found on the ground and carried around for most of the day until the stem broke and he promptly discarded it.  Husband liked the playful river otters and I was partial to the two large brown bears we saw wake up, stretch, and lumber off out of sight.  We also got to see some of the zoo keepers take a blood draw from an elephant’s ear.  You don’t get to see that everyday.

As fun as it was to check out all the animals at the zoo, my most favorite thing was to watch my boys watching the animals at the zoo.

Running towards the zoo! I had to run, quick turn around, and take the picture before they caught up to me.

Passed out in the car on the way home.

 

Posted in Little Feet, The Great Outdoors | Tagged , , | 4 Comments