the grass is always greener…

my sweet, dear ringo starr has a drinking problem.  he only wants to drink water out of his bowl after he’s moved it around the kitchen floor.

ordinarily, this would not be a big deal.  however, the finish on our floor is not ordinary.  when we moved into this house, there was ratty linoleum on half the floor.  one day a couple of years ago, we decided to pull the linoleum up.  unfortunately, the glue, and the bottom of the linoleum -or maybe a tar paper of some sort- would not come up.  rich rented a sander, but to no avail.

the result is that whenever the floor gets wet, the brown stuff turns to mud; the kitties then leave little muddy footprints all over the house.  I discovered accidentally, that if I scrape the stuff when it’s wet, it will come up, but man, oh man, that will take me forever!

it’s a good thing I love that cat!

“A to Z Meme” I was tagged by Helen

A. Available or Single? neither
B- Best Friend: rich and mama tie, but my best girlfriend is Tammie
C- Cake or Pie: cake
D- Drink of Choice: depends on the time of day. I start with a few cups of coffee, then move to sweet tea, then Diet Coke.  of the three, the latter is probably my fave.
E- Essential Item: flip flops and a good book
F- Favorite Color: red
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: bears, best if they’re sour
H- Hometown: Dayton, OH
I- Indulgence: cake, and ebay…both of which have been known to get me in trouble
J- January or February: February, it’s closer to spring
K- Kids: 3
L- Life is incomplete without… my fam, my friends, my kitties, cake
M- Marriage Date: December 23, 1995
N- Number of Siblings? 1 1/2
O- Oranges or Apples? apples
P- Phobias/Fears: spiders
Q- Favorite Quote: “In dreams, we enter a world that’s entirely our own” Albus Dumbledore (I know it’s not a serious one, but I love movies, and they provide some great quotes)
R- Reasons to smile: my chirren, cat antics, cake
S- Season(ing): summer-beach, flip flops, no school (garlic, fresh ground pepper)
T- Tag Three: Heather, Ellen, Patti
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I feel a dark spot in my soul, and I worry that it will stay that way
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: oppressor, wholeheartedly
W- Worst Habit: slothfulness…all too often, I would love to curl up with a good book and let the world carry on without me
X- X-rays or Ultrasounds: X-rays
Y- Your Favorite Foods: prime rib (from Green’s Supper Club, YUMMO), cake, cake, tiramisu
Z- Zodiac: Gemini -that’s the reason for my split personality (you think I’m kidding?

just for the record, I liked johnny depp way back in the day.   I watched him faithfully as tom hanson on 21 jump street in the late 80’s.  I have followed his career over the years, gleefully.  I have always loved off-beat movies (my current fave is little miss sunshine), and johnny boy has made more than his share of them:

• what’s eating gilbert grape
• benny & joon
• edward scissorhands
•  sleepy hollow
• the corpse bride
• charlie & the chocolate factory

but I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE captain jack sparrow!  I realize that I join a million and two other women in this fascination.

sunday afternoon, I took my youth group to see the third installment in the pirates franchise.  jessica and dixon went later in the afternoon, and then rich and I took tony to the drive-in sunday night.  so I got to see it twice in one day!  I cannot wait until it comes out on dvd; we are going to have a pirate marathon.  y’all wanna come?

on his last day of school, jess and I visited him for lunch. he sits with 4 boys and one lone girl; she’s a tomboy, otherwise she’d definitely feel out of place with these dudes.

I try to eat lunch with him several times a year, but this time, I just sat back and watched. they “borrow” each others’ food, they trade, they put it in their hands and then someone else puts it in his mouth…I’m so glad I’m neither a student, or their teacher.

I love this kid, he makes my heart smile 🙂

patsy is my next door neighbor. she has been a huge blessing to us over the years. she and her son are paramedics and we’ve borrowed her expertise more times than I can count.

when we moved here, she had peepers the turtle in a little fenced in area of her dog yard (she used to breed and show english bulldogs, she had several grand champions). her husband wayne made her this little lot -about 6 feet by 10 feet or so- for peepers. he filled a cooler with sand and buried it, he made little houses and lean-to’s.

over the years, we have added to patsy’s turtle family. every time we find a turtle trying to cross the road, we pick it up and bring it to her. now she has 9, all named for the person who brought them home, then when she ran out of our names, she started with the names of the places where they were found.

it’s always neat to discover them when they emerge from their little hidey holes every spring. last week, patsy hollered for me to come look. she found a baby when she was feeding her children. she was so excited!

sadly, wayne passed away a couple of years ago, so he can’t enjoy the fruits of his -and, obviously some reptile’s- labors.

pure sweetness, originally uploaded by hockamama.

I miss this little stinkerbell. she went to indiana on friday, and while it’s nice to have a break, I really miss snuggling and kissing and hugging and loving and tickling…

mandi sent me this in an email, and I had to share it.

Why do you have to “put your two cents in”.. but it’s only a “penny for your thoughts”? Where’s that extra penny going to?

Once you’re in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they “slept like a baby” when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They’re going to see you naked anyway.

Why is “bra” singular and “panties” plural?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive inthe carpool lane?

If the professor on Gilligan’s Island and can make a radio out of a coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it’s in your butt?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

sometimes I regret being open and public about the fact that I have a blog. because mama and jessica read sometimes read it, this prevents me from occasionally letting my hair all the way down. not that I ever plan to say anything that will hurt my loved ones, but sometimes things slip out, or more likely, they are taken the wrong way. 

what do y’all do (the ones who’s people know of your blogs) when you need to vent? maybe I need to open a new blog…

well, at the moment, I have nothing to gripe about, so I don’t reckon I’ve got much of a problem.

I LOVE LOVE that song, even if it’s not totally accurate.  it always brings joy to me to hear it in may or june.

tomorrow is the last day of school, but tony is going to play hookie.  it’s actually only half a day, so I don’t feel guilty.  I have a dr. appointment in the morning and I’m not sure I’d be able to pick him up on time.

maddie is going to indiana for 2 weeks, and they’re leaving in the morning.  mandie and the baby will be back monday, so I’m getting a 4 day break from babysitting.  I’ve been looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time.  I sure do miss that little stinkerbell when she’s gone.

today jess and I went to eat lunch with tony, for his last day.  next year, he’ll be in 4th grade, on the other side of the school.  the big kid side.  I’m having a difficult time believing that my little boy is not so little anymore.  I remember when jess was a colicky baby, and people would tell me “this time will be gone before you know it”.  boy, were they right!

I was watching noggin this morning, trying to find something to hold emma’s attention while I took a shower.  I saw an advertisement for ‘go diego, go’ on stage.  now, back in my day, diego wasn’t on dora, so I only know of him from commercials.  I could never stand dora, but tony and madison were faithful little followers.  one time when rich was tickling tony, he hollered, “mama, ayuda me!”  we just thought this was the funniest thing.

so anyway, from the commercials I’ve seen, diego is a little boy, but the guy playing him on stage is a grown up.  I wonder how kids feel about the discrepancy… but then, these show biz people are probably raking in some serious cash.  I wish I could come up with an idea for a kids’ show.