The fun vacation post is coming...

Just wanted to let everyone know that despite all my ranting below, we did have a very nice vacation with lots of fun. The post for that is in Draft form as it contains lots of pictures and Blogger doesn't like to accept them until the wee hours of the night/morning. So I'm doing it in parts. I'm also having a hard time deciding how many pictures to include... y'all don't wanna see the shots of my butt, right? just kidding. I had the camera so most of the pix are of DH & Darly.

Thursday 13: The Vacation Gripe one

Thirteen Things That Ticked Me Off on Vacation!
Disclaimer: If you happen to see yourself doing any of the offending acts listed below, remember... I only take vacation once per year and the chances of YOU actually bumping into me and doing this are really really small. And I've been slammed for my opinions before...remember these are My Opinions. If you don't like them...click on another blog

1…. I've mentioned this one before and other parents have tried to argue with me about it, but you're not going to convince me otherwise... If a venue says that "Children age X and under are Free" this is because those children WILL NOT HAVE ANY FUN THERE and will most likely not remember ever being there at all... DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY taking them there and paying your admission...even though you are saving money on their admission you are just going to bore your child and annoy others with your whiney child. Yes I've heard of Leggo Land and how kids of all ages have fun there...but will they remember going? I think not.

2…. If you insist on bringing your child even though I've warned you not to and your child starts throwing a fit during a tour because they are bored out of their mind... TAKE THEM OUT of the tour! I realize that your are upset because you paid to see the tour too and your child is making it hard for you to hear the speaker... but your child is also making it impossible for everyone else in the room to hear the speaker as well.

3…. When you've been asked to TURN YOUR CELL PHONE OFF OR TO VIBRATE... DO IT! You are not so important that you have to be reachable during a vacation. Your cell phone comes with voice mail, you can call them back...and you're likely to get me mad enough that I will come and destroy your phone!

4…. Please control your children while on a tour. It is extreemly RUDE for your children to cut in front of the rest of us to go see something when we have been waiting our turn. I realize that your "Home Educated" children have not been taught to wait in a line... but get this, my child is Home Educated too and she knows better because I taught her and you can too. (In case you're wondering, yeah, this is directed toward one particular family who were wearing Home Educator badges.)

5…. Change your baby's diaper in the bathroom. Do you know how GROSS it is to watch your baby's stinky poopy butt out in public for the entire world to see and smell? What really chapps me about this is that we are trying to convince the public that breastfeeding should NOT be done in bathrooms and here you are doing something that should be done in bathrooms in the public. GAH!

6…. This is directed to one lady in particular at Busch Gardens... If your child wants to get out of the stroller at lunch after being confined to the stroller since she got out of the car seat...there is a reason. How would YOU like it to have to spend your entire vacation strapped into a stroller??? Let the kid out for Pete's sake instead of leaving her in there to scream and disturb all the others trying to enjoy their lunch.

7…. This is directed toward all the venues that we visited with climate control systems... Just because you have the ability to cool your rooms to 50 degrees does not mean that you should...especially NOT in September. You could save a ton of money by keeping your climate control systems at a temperature that does not freeze the brains of your guests.

8…. And why for goodness sake did someone think it was a good idea to rebuild the buildings in Colonial Williamsburg and install climate control systems??? After spending the day in Busch Gardens and freezing our bottoms off we were looking forward to spending a day in the 18th century where there was no A/C and here you have every building fitted with A/C. What's up with that? It was very comfortable outside, there was no need to have the A/C on.

9…. People, you are not the only person on the planet trying to get a good picture! Please do not walk into someone else's shot! And if you do, perhaps by accident, get out of the shot as soon as you've taken yours so that others can take their shot!

10…. Southwest Airlines...your seating system SUCKS! It's time to rethink that. A much more efficient way of loading a plane is to have the passengers begin at the rear of the plane and fill it toward the front. Your current system has everyone trying to get at the front seats and jamming up the eisle because they're trying to shove their carryons into the overhead storage. If they were in the back of the plane then no one would be trying to get past them. Oh and it would be most helpful if you announced before bording that this plane is sold out...so do not try to keep the seat next to you Empty or put all your bags in the seat next to you, especially since you have to store them anyway.

11…. To Southwest again... You may think that your little ad-libbing of the speaches on the plane are cute, but phrases like "Let's Pretend to listen to the saftey brief" and "We do not serve "Um, Huh?, or Blank Faces" are not appreciated by tired and already ticked off passengers.

12…. To the APVA volunteer in the Jamestown Church... If you are so upset with how little our children are learning about our past in public schools, Do something about it instead of just putting the kids down. It is not their fault that they don't know...it's the lack of funding for public schools. And realize that our children today have to learn much more about US History than you did because a lot more has happened in our world since you went to school way back in the 1950s or earlier. Many of us had questions about the building that we were in, but were unable to ask them because you went off on your tirade.

13…. Parents get to know your children and learn their limitations. You can not expect that a 3 year old will behave like a little adult and sit still on the plane. You can not expect a 2 year old to sit on a bench while waiting for our tour to begin when there are so many cool things to explore under the bench. A child's job is to explore and learn about their world.


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

My Vacation to Williamsburg VA...Part 1

Blogger was acting very funny today when I tried to post my "I'm Back" so I'm doing this in short burst so hopefully I won't loose too much.

We left Lilly at Grandma's house on the night before we left for our trip. She likes grandma and was only slightly upset when we left her there.

Our flight left here at 7:35am which meant that we had to be at the airport at 6am which meant that we had to leave our house by 5am (we thought...it didn't take that long at that time in the morning) which meant that we had to get up at 3:55am. I took my shower the night before, so all I had to do was to get dressed. Dh was supposed to wake me up at 3:55am with him, but he waited until he finished his shower. It turned out to be fine...with me only freaking out a little bit.

Like I said we got all packed and left the house (I had checked on the rabbits one final time as the sitter wouldn't come until the next day) and we left at about 5:05ish. Traffic was fine and we made it to the car park at about 5:40am... maybe earlier.

We got checked in and headed to the gate. Then I decided to go get breakfast...that we had to wolf down because I couldn't take my coffee on the plane. (That restriction was supposed to be lifted today.)

Okay, I'll skip to VA now as Baltimore was pretty boring.

We decided to try to see if our friends might be home on the way to our hotel. We got just down the road from their house and tried to call them...we got the machine and just let them know that we were in town. We then headed for our hotel...dropped off our bags, tried calling again and then went to dinner.

After we had dinner we reached our friends and went over to their house to catch up on old times. DH met them when we lived in FL and we've only seen each other a few times since we all moved away. They had another kid that we hadn't met. Darly had a great time playing with their middle child. The oldest wanted to hang out with us...she's really a small adult now.

DH had said that we wanted to try to leave there by 9pm. We didn't get out until 10:30pm. They're very talkative!

The next morning we were heading to Busch Gardens. We had a great time. I got bit by a Lorikeet and needed to go to the first aid station for some anti-biotic...just to be safe. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait for our pictures as we used the disposable camera only that day in case we decided to get wet...which we didn't.
Darly decided that she wanted to ride on "The Kurse of the Dark Kastle" ride. But she decided to not use the 3-D glasses. She said it made her see two of the images. I should have taken my glasses off to see her experience. I was worried that she might get scared and have nightmares, but I don't think that she got to see as much as we did. All the ghosts tried to eat my head!
We were bummed with the Ireland as their flyer says that they have an Irish Step dance show and there wasn't one. Instead we got to see Dubblin Over (lame singing show) and "The Secrets of O'Sullivan Castle" which was much better...be we saw it with a different actor, than shown here.

As we left we were asked to complete a survey about our experience. We told her that overall it was a great day but that we were too cold in many attractions, the volume was too loud and that there were dead bodies all over the place!

We were especially pleased that this park, unlike it's counterpart in Tampa, offers a lot of rides for children Darly's age. Most places have the little "kiddy" rides and then adult rides... BGW offers rides for kiddy, children & adults.

Wow it's late...more tomorrow and pictures later

I'm back...

We got back from Vacation very late last night...

our plane got in at 7:30pm and then we had to wait for the shuttle to take us to our car...on the way it stopped at a hotel which was a total shock to me!!! And we had to stop the driver from unloading our bags at the hotel.

Then we drove to MIL's to pick up our very Happy dog who was fitting in just fine at Grandma's house, but also extreemly glad that we came to get her. I think she thought that Grandma's was her new home... She sniffed Darly and didn't think too much of her, but once she sniffed me she was like "OH BOY! IT'S MOMMY!!!!!!!!!"

We then drove home and arrived sometime around 10pm or so. I had to unload the suitcase quickly or DH would have taken it upstairs and I wanted the dirty laundry to stay by the washing machine.

I then conked out on the couch...zzzz

In case you're wondering, I did have internet access during our trip, but I just lurked at your blogs. You'll hear all about it when I post my vacation stories...yes, Dawn with pictures. It's coming soon. Today I'm doing laundry and all the back from vacation chores...like weeding through the mail & email & voice mail.

Creapy!

A good friend of mine posted a copy of a picture of Cindy Crawford's baby girl modeling swimwear that grossed me out. I guess to each their own, but you won't find my baby in that.

I'm not going to copy the picture, but you can find it here.


I'm sick of Bratz (dolls with oversized heads, undersized bodies, too much make-up, too little clothes and big feet.) And all the other attempts to make little girls dress up like street walkers.

that's why my blog has a Mom's for Modesty link in the sidebar.

silly rabbit

Darly came upstairs from feeding the rabbits and told me that Trudy had gotten herself stuck in the towel. Oh my.

Darly said that she had tried to get the towel off, but couldn't.
I asked if she was struggling and Darly said that she was not...so that's a good thing.
So I ran downstairs and sure enough she was sitting there, pretty as you please, with a towel wrapped around her body.

She had chewed a hole in the towel that was big enough for her head and front paws, but that's all. So I reached in to where she was and she ducked her head from me, but didn't run off. I'm assuming that maybe she couldn't run off.

I picked her up and noted how blog worthy she was. She wasn't in any noticable distress, so I told Darly to go get the camera. We took her picture so you all can laugh at her see what she did.

Then I set her down so I could get a good look at the situation. Well she was stuck. There was no backing her out or pulling her through. So I had Darly run back upstairs for scissors. As I was trying to get the scissors between her and the towel without hurting Trudy she decided to wiggle. I tried to throw the towel over her head to calm her down but that wasn't working. So I picked her up and was able to get the scissors in where I needed them and I cut the towel. Then I set her back down to see if she was indeed free and she hopped away...under the work table.

Darly, ever the mother, was worried that I wouldn't catch her... but I wasn't concerned and sure enough Trudy decided that under the workbench was not where she wanted to be and let me take her back to Trina who was hiding in a box and promptly thumped at me when I came in.

I'm sure both rabbits are now eating and talking trash about me.

My new pretty purple corderoy shirt was covered in rabbit fur (no that wasn't the look I was going for today.) So I had to use the lint roller on it. That took two sheets of lint tape and I'm still not hare free.

Sunday School Cancelled

Due to severe shortage of teachers, they cancelled Sunday School at the 10:30 hour at my Church.

I'm glad that they did it on the one hand and bummed on the other. They also said that starting in November they would have Children's Church...which is basically the same thing only all the kids would be together with fewer teachers. Hummmm... how did this solve our problem?

So now parents who want their kids in Sunday School will be bringing them to the 9:30 hour and stuffing those classes full and burdening those poor teachers.

My Pastor said that the thing that bothered her the most was that many parents had put down on the Emergency Contact info that they would be at HOME while their kids were in Sunday School. WHY aren't they at Church helping? I could understand if they were at Church in service...but AT HOME?!?!?!? And I know one of the moms...grrr

My DH & I were thinking that perhaps instead of cancelling Sunday School they should offer it only to the classes that have teachers. Then some of the kids could go and some couldn't. Perhaps parents with kids in both classes would be more inclined to help if they could get all their kids in class at the same time.

But I'm thinkint that instead the kids will all probably get dumped into the 9:30 classes...which I agreed to help teach a second 4th grade class of.

UPDATE: The Pastor had decided that we will cancel Sunday School at 10:30 completely for now. And she agrees with me that the Children's Church is not the answer for finding more help.

Sunday School apathy

It is my personal belief that if you have a child that you enroll in Sunday School that you should offer to help with Sunday School in some way. Not many of the parents at our Church feel the same way. It seems that they use Sunday School as free child care for while they attend Church and don't give it another thought. I've had one parent tell me that she just can't teach. I just don't get it...why not?

This year we have a SEVERE shortage of teachers for the Sunday School. It is so bad that there are many classes that just won't happen at all because there is no one to teach them. Now whether or not the Church really cancels the class remains to be seen...in the past they have combined classes (stressing out the teachers we do have) in order to have Sunday School.

I really hope that they cancel classes. These parents need to wake up to the fact that they need to help. I would really like to one Sunday march the kids upstairs, announce "Sorry Sunday School can't happen this week because we have no teachers." and have them go sit with their parents in service. I wonder if that's what it would take to get them to come help?

September 11, 2001 I remember...

I remember that day so well, as I’m sure that everyone who is old enough to remember does. I woke up that morning to hear the TV on downstairs in my mother-in-law’s home where we were living at the time. I went to the landing to see why she had it turned up so loud and saw the loop of the air planes being flown into the World Trade Center. We watched in horror and prayed that the people would make it out okay. The TV reporters were talking about what had happened so far and were commenting on how the buildings were built in such a way that they were strong enough to take this hit. They didn’t show the actual horror of people trying to escape the buildings, just the buildings from a distance getting hit by the planes, over and over. And suddenly they stopped the loop to show to our horror that the towers were falling. We still prayed for miracles and we cried too and we watched our TVs for days trying to find out all we could and make sense of it all. We had to explain to a three year old what was going on…there was no explaining why this had happened. And finally after a day or two we had to turn off the TV because there was nothing more to learn and all they were showing it seemed was the same loop tape.

No one that I knew personally died that day that I know of. So I feel at a loss on how to begin a tribute to a man I didn’t know.

Here’s what I do know about him:
Joseph Plumitallo, 45, bond broker shared love of horses with his son
The Cantor Fitzgerald employee owned several trotters
Date of Death 9/11/2001
By Frank Williams
Advance staff writer Staten Island Advance
Tuesday, 11/27/2001
Joseph Plumitallo loved owning horses.
The former Oakwood resident could be seen most Saturdays "scoping out" his trotters at the Freehold (N.J.) Raceway with his 5-year-old son, Joseph.
"He loved the excitement and the animals themselves. Always, even as a kid, he loved the races," said his wife of 18 years, the former Doreen Manno. "My son loves the horses, too. The two of them would go to the barn for a visit after my husband picked my son up from karate. It was something they did together." Some of the 45-year-old's favorite trotters were El Diablo, Almahurst Frontier, Rebel Rouser and Apple Picker, which was his first.
Mr. Plumitallo, who is among the missing in the attacks on the World Trade Center, had been a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald for 18 years. He was at his desk on the 104th floor of 1 World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, talking to a friend when the plane hit the building, and the call was cut off. Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Plumitallo moved to Oakwood in 1989 and settled in Manalapan, N.J., in 1992.
"He was very happy. He was a guy who always saw the glass half-full," said his wife. "He found good things in everybody. He loved life itself." And he was always there to help out his family and friends.
"He was the big brother I never had," said a friend, who asked not to be identified.
Mr. Plumitallo, who loved getting the family together on weekends, enjoyed taking his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, to father/daughter dances and watching them perform in dance competitions.
An avid sports fan, he regularly attended Rangers, Mets and Jets games as well as many Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and World Series games, including last year's Subway Series.
Mr. Plumitallo, a member of New York Sports Club in Travis, also enjoyed playing racquetball and golf in his spare time.
"I'm going to miss everything about him," said Mrs. Plumitallo. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."
In addition to his wife, Doreen, his son, Joseph, and his daughters, Genna and Lisa, surviving are his father, Louis; a brother, Louis, and three sisters, Phyllis Volpe, Joan Pecocaro and Nancy Brady.
There will be a memorial mass Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas More R.C. Church, Manalapan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Another memorial that I found~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From A&P to Wall Street

Hey, tell the guys in Bensonhurst: Joe's horse came in first at Freehold the other day.

Yeah, the same Joseph Plumitallo who used to be the stock boy at the Stillwell Avenue A&P, where at 17 he caught the eye of Doreen Manno, 16, the meat wrapper. Got married and lived in a room in his parents' house on Lake Street. Talked his way into a bottom-rung job on Wall Street. Rode the F train to his future, as a Cantor Fitzgerald bond broker. Went from a polyester suit at the 1976 Lafayette High prom to wearing pinstripes, buying a few horses, and, at 45, treating clients to Super Bowls.

He was quite a talker. He would start that story of how Ms. Manno nodded off after one drink on a date at Dangerfield's, slept through dinner, dessert, "the whole show, asleep" and — here's where his smile would widen, eyes locked on Ms. Manno's, for the punch line — "in the ladies' room." And so many other stories.

Dressed impeccably, he would take his daughters, Genna, 11, and Lisa, 9, in new white outfits, to the hometown Father- Daughter Dance in Manalapan, N.J. He would drive his son, Joseph Jr., 5, over to the stable at Gaitway Farm on a Saturday to watch his favorite, El Diablo, get ready to race.

Are Diablo and the others still racing? You bet. It was Genna's wish, and Lisa's, and Joe Jr.'s. And you have to believe it would have been Joe's.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 11, 2001.


JOSEPH PLUMITALLO, 45, of Manalapan, N.J., loved the ponies. A bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, Plumitallo could be found most Saturdays checking out the horses he owned at the Freehold Raceway with his young son. "He loved the excitement and the animals themselves," said his wife Doreen Plumitallo. "Always, even as a kid, he loved the races." Plumitallo was talking on the phone to a friend when hijacked airplanes hit the World Trade Center Sept. 11. Besides his son, Plumitallo had two daughters. "I'm going to miss everything about him," his wife said. "Especially, watching him play with the kids and that cute way he looked at me when telling a story."

Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press
********************
I found that New York City named a street after Joseph in Staten Island. They renamed a lot of other streets as well, look here There was also a Memorial Golf outting in his name

Blogger isn't letting me post any pictures today...I'm guessing it's because everyone else is also posting these tributes...which is a good thing. To see a picture of Joseph click here. And here is a picture of a memorial that was placed in his hometown.

I know from what I’ve read that Joseph was a good husband and father. I know that a huge hole was torn in all our lives that day but nothing compared to what happened to those families. I still pray for them all.

While I didn't personally loose a friend or loved one that day this has touched me personally. My next-door neighbor's Son is currently stationed in Iraq and his wife could be sent over too leaving their 9 month old son. My brother is going to Kuwait for a year. My friend's husband is going to Afghanistan for a year. And there is always a chance that my DH could go too although currently his position is taking care of our homeland.

There were 2996 Victims/Heros/Angels that day. Men and women who gave their lives because of some man who is believed to be hiding in a cave half a world away hates Americans. Part of me wants Bin Laden to be dead and rotting in a cave and another part wants him to be alive and still rotting in that same cave.

My Pastor said that he saw a comic strip after 9/11 that had in the first square people wearing t-shirts that said African-American, German-American, Asian-American, etc. The caption read "Before 9/11." The next square showed the same people with shirts that said American. The capition read "After 9/11."

If the goal of the terrorist was to separate us, they failed miserably. All they've achieved is to stir up a hornet's nest.

We'll never forget and we'll never back down.

I borrowed this from Maremagnum. I thought that we could use a little Hope. It takes a few seconds to load.

How do I explain it all to her?

I know that I probably should have told Darly about 9/11 before now...I just couldn't figure out how. I know that if she had been in public school she would have been taught about it by now...but how? Would it be the way I want her to hear it? I don't know....

So today on the way home from Gymnastics class, I was mentioning that we needed to get home to take in the flag before it started raining...and Darly said something to the fact that today was just another normal Monday. She didn't understand why I had put out the flag today. There was my opening

I told her that No, today is not just any normal Monday. Today is the Anniversary of when terrorist highjacked airplanes and crashed them into 3 buildings killing nearly 3,000 people.

and then I waited for the questions...

that haven't come yet.

I plan to show her the pictures, show her some of the tributes that we have posted, and tell her about what has happened since. But I've always believed that it's better to eat an elephant one bite at a time...so we'll take this slowly.

The Camping Reports

We're back from our camping trip early. I see that no one came to clean the bathrooms...must find a better incentive!

I'm going to let everyone tell you about our trip...first off...LILLY!




The FOOD report. Well I like camping because of all the food. Especially when we go camping with our friends with the bazillion kids. (editor's note: they actually only have 6 kids, for a total of 8 kids camping.) There was food hitting the ground everywhere! I was eating like a Queen! (except she looked like a pig with all the mud on her face from eating off the ground!) Mom gave me my regular food, but she added some yummy water to it (hot dog water) which made it taste gooder. Mom also gave me a bunch of tater chips (they fell on the ground when I opened up the car). The bazillion kids gave me some pancakes and some smores, but mom screached at me when I tried to pick up the chocolate and moved a box over the chocolate so I couldn't get it...bummer! I made sure that our campground wouldn't attract any bears or other wild things by picking up all the food that hit the ground. I also made sure to clean up Darly's plate so it would be all ready for the washing pot.

The SNUGGLE report. Well with all those kids there was bound to be lots of snuggles and I was right. Those kids were all over me...who can blame them? What's not to like with this cute face and extra soft fur??? And Mom gave me lots of snuggles too since she was proud at how well I was listening to her...except for the smores part, but I couldn't help it that that lady put the smores on a table that was just perfect for me to get at. She should have put it up higher.

The EXTRA DOG report. The lady with the bazillion kids also brought along her two dogs. They were okay ...well almost okay. The one kept baying at me...he's a hound dog and everytime he wanted something he bayed...he was baying lots. I came up and said hi to both dogs...but they were on chains so if they bugged me too much I just walked out of their chain range. Mom let me be off my chain for most of the time and I was pretty much good. I always came back when Mom called so I got extra snuggles for that.

The SLEEPING report.



Well here's my sleeping quarters. You can see behind me that Mom & Darly had nicer accomodations. But Mom did bring my favorite blanket and some extra blankets too which was a good thing cuz I wanted to sleep in front of the door. It took a while for me to go to sleep cuz the lady with the bazillion kids and two dogs kept hollering at her brood to quite down, go to sleep, shut up, quit kicking your sister. I kept trying to tell them to quite down, but Mom & Darly kept telling ME to be quite...I was just trying to help. I woke up and Mom & Darly wouldn't get up, they kept telling me to get out of their faces and let them sleep. The sun was up, what's with these lazy bones? *sigh*

Okay Lilly, that's enough. Let's give the rest of us a chance to talk now... Darly you're up.




Oh Hi! Well this camping trip wasn't as much fun as some of the other times we went cuz of all the rain. I got lots of play time with one of my friends and we did lots together, but the rain made things cold. Mom and I were having a nice time reading & doing crafts in the tent which was fine by me, but then our friends decided that they wanted to leave. I kinda wanted to stay and camp but Mom told me that Kennedy's mom wanted to leave and Kennedy wouldn't want to leave if we were still there and Kennedy would want to play with me and I don't like Kennedy all that much cuz all she wants to do is play the same game over and over and I don't really like that game at all. So I said it would be nice to go home and have dinner with Dad...so we packed up. Well Mom packed up while I played some more. I wanted to help and I did some helping.



Well this picture of me looks terrible...but that's what I look like when I'm camping. We had a new tent for this trip and we had cots which made the sleeping better, except for our blankets slid off onto the floor. I'll have to come up with a better system for that. Our new tent is very nice and much more roomy. We didn't feel like sardines in there so reading in the tent was much nicer. And this trip wasn't as cold as our last attempt at camping.

But keeping a fire going with all the rain took a lot more wood. I think we used 8 bundles of wood! I'm so glad I finally got a stove which made dinner much nicer...no smoke in the face and I finally had a NICE CUP OF COFFEE for breakfast.

Lilly is snoring beside me and Darly is sleeping upstairs in her bed. I'm on my way to visit everyone who came to see me while we were gone.

Looking for my Thursday Thirteen?

click HERE!

Why does this bother me so?

Am I alone? I don't know.

I've been able to wear pretty much the same size for a very long time now. But it seems I've been dupped by clothing manufacturers. It seems that as I've been getting bigger so has the size of my clothing although it says it's still the same size.

Why do I get such a "high" when I go clothing shopping, spend tons of time in the dressing room with 5 different pair of the same jeans and cheer when I fit into the the smallest one? Especially since I know that if I pick up a different brand that I'll need a size or two "bigger."

Lately it seems that the stores are not ordering the size that fits me. I wear small sizes and sometimes that means a size 4...but the stores order a size 6 and bigger. I'm not paying full price for clothing to have to take it home and learn how to alter it. That's crazy.

So I bought a pattern to make my own clothes. I've been sewing costumes for years...regular clothes can't be that hard, right?

But then I take my measurements and it says I wear a *gulp!* size 10! WHAT THE? Since when did I get to be a size 10? What is going on here? And the sad part is that I can't make myself believe that I'm really a size 10, so I can't cut the pattern out and make myself the size 10 skirt that should be my perfect fit because something in my head is saying "I'M NOT REALLY A SIZE 10!!!! I'm a size 4, see I can prove it, look at these pants."

I know my once 24 inch waist is now a 27 inch. So how can I possibly be a size 4. But really a size 10??? I never imagined.

*sigh* off to sew my size 10. Maybe if it fits me wonderfully I'll be happy and not care.

Happy Birthday Lilly!

Well yesterday our little Lilly turned 4. Other than tell her Happy Birthday and call her "The Birthday Girl" we really didn't do too much to celebrate. PetSmart sent her a birthday card with a coupon for a free toy so we'll probably go today and pick one out for her (right now she's giving me a really pouty look from her sofa.) She can't come to PetSmart with us though because she behaves like a lunatic around other dogs. She would do better if I could take her leash off, but they frown on that in the store.

Darly made her a dirt cake with stick candals in the back yard. Lilly was unimpressed by it though. Darly also left her a treat of unwanted party mix, but she put the bowl in the sink and it got all soggy so I threw it out.

After we had dinner, Lilly got to clean off the plates and there was some leftover steak on them. She did all of her best tricks first to get the plate.

Oh I should note here that Lilly is much better at cleaning off plates than MIL's friend's dog Flick. Flick is totally spoiled by his owner, he has no manners and he doesn't appreciate the good things in life...like licking off plates. We were at MIL's house on Sunday for dinner (friend & Flick had invited themselves over) and Flick was given a few plates to clean off before they went in the dishwasher. All Flick did was to clear off the food and then go to the dishwasher, putting his head in to look for more food. He left the stuck on food on the dish. Lilly would have had that plate so clean that you almost wouldn't need to put it in the dishwasher...well except for the dog slobber.

Anyway back to the Birthday Girl. She got lots of rubbing and some play time outside too...oh and she got to kill a very scary leaf that was moving "by itself" on our back porch.

I decided to cut out my pattern on the coffee table last night while watching TV so Lilly got to lay in my way, over and over because I kept moving to right where she was laying. She never did get it that she would have been better off not by the coffee table...but I guess she wanted to be near me.

Update: I remembered that I had a stash of soup bones from the grocery store in my freezer. We get these as a treat for Lilly (no one here would eat soup if I made it but me.) So I dug out a bone and Darly & I sang Happy Birthday to Lilly...she knew it was for her...I'm guessing she could tell by the look of it. When I first gave it to her she didn't take it right away (probably because it was frozen and it didn't smell) but after a few seconds she did take it and she stayed outside (I do not let her have bloody meaty bones in the house) with it until she had it entirely stripped of all meat & marrow. I have no idea how she gets the marrow out of these 3 inch bones. But then she left the bone on the back porch when she came in and it attracted every fly in the neighborhood and a few yellow jackets. She went to pick it up again and something buzzed. She shook it until the yellow jacket left. She's a happy girl with a new bone to tease the neighbor dogs with.

More blog worthy stuff...

Yesterday on the way home one of my new favorite songs came on the radio..."Wherever We Go" by the Newsboys.

And DH says that in his head is what he thinks the video for this song should be. Click on the ***** for the rest of this because I think Darly's funny is better than this. Dh's idea is really stupid & childish.

Okay, first of all for those of you who do not already know this, the Newsboys are from Austrailia and Peter Fuller has a very heavy accent. He's the lead singer. So the word Party kinda sounds like Potty. (well at least to some people...DH)

So from the chorus:
hands up, holler back here
let's throw this party in gear
we brought the welcome mat
wherever we go, that's where the party's at

Dh thinks the video shows a guy holding a potty and he throws it into a gear. from the line "let's throw this party in gear.." And then from the line "wherever we go, that's where the party's at.." shows a guy going potty and the potty suddenly appears there because wherever he goes that's where the potty's at.

I guess for some people the world should just be a little too literal.

See, I told you this was stupid. Sorry if you feel you wasted your time. DH is not normally this way. I should find something good to post about him. Quick!