Fate and Fortune

Moving can definitely be a difficult transition...and our move from Wise County to Campbell County was certainly no exception.  Just after we moved to our rental house in Gladys, all four of us went to Richmond.  I think it was because Greg wanted to scout a football team.  The girls and I window shopped at Short Pump and rode the cute little train.  After Greg was finished, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, PF Chang's.  Here are the fortunes we received from the fortune cookies...

Marianna:  Hope is the most precious treasure to a person.
Kiley:  A dream you have will come true.
Greg:  Do not let great ambitions overshadow small successes.
Leah:  Sometimes traveling to a new place leads to great transformation.


Hmmmm....pretty good, huh?

Not So Noteworthy News

I'll give you a minute to get back up off the floor after seeing that I have posted twice in one week...pause....

This morning, I survived an uneventful Craigslist transaction.  I was supposed to meet this guy yesterday to have him take a look at our front load washer and dryer that we have been trying to sell for about three months...So, I get to the meeting location, Food Lion, at the prescribed time of 7:50....and wait...and wait.  And it is a no show.  So, after getting back to my office, I get a happy little e-mail from the guy.

"So, I think I was confused.  I was at the Food Lion in Amelia County." he writes.

"I'm so sorry!  I just assumed we were meeting at the Food Lion in Farmville!"  I write.

You know what happens when you assume, right?  Oh well.  No harm done, he agrees to meet me today at the Farmville Food Lion.  This gives me time to worry some more about meeting a stranger in a parking lot.  He had told me that he worked for the Amelia County Sherriff's Department.  I thought two things when I read that.  First, great, he is an okay guy.  Second, what have I done wrong?  Is he going to arrest me?  Is selling a washer and a dryer illegal?  Something about transporting a washer and dryer over county lines  maybe? AHHHHHH!  And then my friend pointed out that he probably would have a gun.  Sigh.

So, this morning, as I was getting ready to leave the house.  I looked at Greg and I said, "Look at what I am wearing...just in case you need to make a report.  Oh, and there is a picture of me on the Longwood website, if you need to circulate a picture.  If you need to get to my e-mail, because I communicated with him several times via e-mail (you know...to establish pre-meditation) the password information is on the "Important Documents" sheet in the bill folder.  Just in case, you know?" 

I'm crazy, but you can never be too careful.  As the guy pulls up, I'm on the phone with Greg.  They look normal (him and his son), so I tell Greg I'll call him in a minute.  Everything goes smoothly, I say goodbye to the washer and dryer.  He gives me cash.  The end.  All that planning for nothing.  Works for me!  Greg calls me back and is probably relieved, but not surprised, to hear that everything went fine. 

In other non noteworthy news.  I have two funny and lewd quotes from Greg. 

Here is some background.  We have been trying to find the cheapest places to buy groceries, and we have decided that WalMart is the cheapest and they price match, so we have been collecting sales papers.  As we are discussing the pros and cons of Food Lion (this time in Brookneal :) ) and WalMart, Greg proclaims, "Yeah, WalMart always beats their meat."  HA HA!  Greg starts to shake a little from the laughs, and I roll my eyes at him.

Another lewd comment from Greg (don't get the wrong idea about him, he just seems to capitalize on these moments).  We are stirring something on the stove.  Spaghetti sauce, I think.  He has a wooden spoon, and I go in with a regular spoon to do a taste check.  I happen to brush again the wooden spoon and Greg says, "I think we just had spoon sex!"  Another eye roll from me as Greg giggles.

I'm pretty sure that both of these comments were made in the same day....Greg, I love you, but you are a weirdo sometimes.

And now, to tell one on myself....I just had to look up how to spell lewd.  I thought it was lude, but that refers to an illegal drug.  Oh well, you learn something new every day!

Why This Isn't a Real Blog...and Other Thoughts

Okay, so those of you who follow this or check in every so often probably already realized why it isn't a "real" blog.  I post like once a month...okay, maybe once every two months.  I'll try to do better.  Really.

Kiley's latest hilarious quote...
    
       "You get sillier as you get older...if you are lucky!" 

HA HA HA.  I guess Greg and I are lucky, because we are pretty silly people.  I am so glad that Paula gave us a little book to record these little nuggets...

In other news, Kiley brought home 50 (yes, I counted) semi-completed worksheets yesterday dating back to November, six of her little readers, and an art project.  I honestly don't know what they do in her class.  I thought about going and volunteering, a.k.a. spying, for a day, but I just don't think I can handle it.  We don't have any other options for school, so Greg and I have vowed to really just work with Kiley at home on the weekends and in the evenings.  I am so not impressed with Brookneal Elementary, which got me thinking...maybe I should try to get involved in the PTA, or the school board, or something...oh well. 

Here are some thoughts on my New Year's Resolutions.  I should have known we would fail from the get-go, because we didn't write any of our resolutions down.  That should have been the first resolution.  Alas...

1.  Lose weight...or at least don't gain any.  I was doing really well on this one, but the problem is that I don't really like to exercise and I really, really, really love food.  For about 14 months, I had the built in solution to weight loss...breastfeeding.  I have thought about marketing this on one of those infomercials..."A Secret to Weight Loss Success!  Woman loses 50 pounds!"  There are, of course, a few obvious problems.  First of all, I would have a pretty limited audience.  Greg did suggest that I could just keep pumping, and I have heard of women selling their breast milk or just giving it away to strangers...that is a little weird though.  And pumping?  It is okay for the first few days, until your nipples realize that the mechanical thing hooked up to them is not a baby.  Boobs are pretty smart.  They know, trust me, they just know. 

Greg was doing okay with this too, until the football clinic stuff started.  His first of the season was last weekend with his coaching buddies from Wise County.  They embarked on the "Fat Man's Journey" otherwise known as "Stop at as Many Triple D's as Possible."  Oh well.  It also didn't help that I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for the Superbowl.  Oh, and the CASE of Girl Scout cookies that Greg ordered...those will be coming soon to crash our diet. 

So, the losing weight thing is not going so well. 

2.  Spend less money...this one is going okay.  It is not so hard to give up Starbucks when your six year old questions you about your spending habits on a daily basis.  "Mommy, did you go to Starbucks today?  You said you weren't going to do that as much any more."  Yeah, yeah.  Seriously though, we are doing better on this front.

3.  Be more organized.  Hmmmm....my desk right now has several piles of papers that I have vowed to go through....there is laundry waiting to be started at home...clutter to figure out what to do with...dishes...clutter...more clutter.  However, Greg vowed to "do something" with our basement which has become the Mullins' Family Depository lately.  He flattened all our moving boxes, organized the things we want to keep, and boxed up the give away stuff.  Now if he could only get me to live up to my half of the bargain, which was to take one box per week to Goodwill.  Doesn't sound difficult, but we are also talking about the person who is supposed to "do something" with the recycling once a week.  Right now I have a giant bag of plastic in the back of my car that has been in there for at least five weeks.  Sigh. 

Recent Pictures and Some Video

Hello Everyone!  I'm sorry for the lapse in posts...holiday lag I guess.  Here are some recent pictures, even a rare picture of Leah (hold your breath!).  The giant yellow parka makes an appearance too!!!



Giant Cat Invades Blessed Moment




Wait a Minute....Isn't This Backwards?




Kiley's Big Present





"Mommy, can we bring it home?"  Look very closely under her chin..it is a bunny (Greg said he couldn't tell what it was).

 


"I still think I should be riding that thing...",  Marianna thinks...




A Rare Picture of Leah (She Does Exist!!!) Snapped by Kiley




Stripe-a-licious




"I want to be an elf too!"



Some Kiley Quotes and Other News

The great thing is that when Kiley grows out of the "funny quote phase,"  Marianna will have just begun...so the fun will continue. 

"Daddy, the sun is too close to us here.  I wish we were back in Norton!"  said Snack after the tiny amount of snow we were blessed with disappeared in a day.  She is also mad because we don't have anywhere to go sledding....oh the things that 5 year olds fret about.

"When I sit in the same spot for a long period of time, the house gets really quiet and I don't know where anyone is."  This one was texted to me via Greg....ah a quiet house.  What is that?  Where does she live?  I think she can block out sound.

"As a matter of fact, how do people get off a Ferris wheel?"  I have no context for that one...an out -of-the- blue Snack quote.

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Wal-Mart was the place to be today in Farm-Vegas.  Apparently everyone here is bracing for a blizzard to beat all records.  I just wanted stocking stuffers for Greg and Kiley and some milk (Mari Mari Quite Contrary drinks lots of bobbies and Mommy Mommy Nothing Rhymes With That has discovered that she can make a homemade latte in her microwave so we go through more milk than we used to...keep up the good work, cows!).

If there are no posts for a while, like a couple of weeks, don't worry.  I'm sure you all are used to the lack of posts...but if The Blizzard of 2010 hits, I won't be at work, and since we don't have Internet at home, I'll be disconnected from the world until returning to work next year.  Although...we won't be completely off the map, we are going to have TV again as of December 27.  Merry Christmas Greg! 

A Snow Filled Morning...

So, we don't have as much snow as those of you reading this in Wise County, but at least we have snow...except that two inches of snow here seems to be like a blizzard.  During my morning commute, I did not meet a snow plow until I was about 10 minutes from work.....I really needed to meet one (at least a sand or salt truck) when I pulled out of my driveway in my front-wheel drive car.  Oh well.  I made it to work in a record breaking hour and thirty minutes. 

When we all woke up this morning and discovered the snow, I was really glad that it was a dress down week at work.  So, I put on my jeans, a nice t-shirt (is there such a thing?), my trusty blue fuzzy (which Greg dreams of burning), and sneakers.  I am into wearing a jacket over a shirt lately because my right boob is now residing in its own zip code (we weaned the baby last week...so it has been a while).  One side of me looks sort of like Dolly Parton and the other side like Meg Ryan...in case you needed a visual.  If you didn't, I'm sorry.  Anyway, I didn't have any meetings, so it would just be me, my blue fuzzy, and my computer.  Oh, and Greg unearthed my giant yellow parka/ski jacket/whatever for me to wear.  I figured that if I was going to get stuck on the side of the road (it has happened before...Ted. G. Bolling Road, Wise, VA, winter 2009), I wanted to be warm.

I make it to work, and soon after I log on to my computer, which won't judge me based on my attire, I read an e-mail reminding me about the campus-wide staff/faculty lunch.  With the President.  So...me and my blue fuzzy, sneakers, and giant yellow coat are going to lunch with everyone else on campus.  Talk about insecurities.  There were people there in suits.  And ties.  And skirts.  And heels.  And then, there was me.  Easily visible in the giant yellow coat.  Oh well.  I did see one person in a bright red velour Christmassy, pajammy thing.  She and I should have had a table together. 

Where is my poop stored? And Other Awkward Questions

Anyone who's ever been remotely close to a 5 year old can tell you that they can come up with some really crazy stuff.  Kiley is no different.  Here is a small sampling of the latest interesting moments...

Q.  Mommy, I know that juice and water come out as tinkle and that is kept in my bladder, but is all food made into poop?  Where does my body keep poop? 
A.  Ask your dad (I could have added "Because he is full of it." but, I refrained.  It was difficult though.)

Q.  Do you have to live together when you are engaged?
A.  No, and you shouldn't, unless you really want to know what you are getting into before you get married.  Hmmmm....on second thought, yes, go ahead.  Try it out.  (Okay, so I didn't really say all of that, but I sure was thinking it!)

Q.  Do you have to have a ring to be engaged?
A.  Nope, but it doesn't hurt to have a really big rock on your finger to remind you why you love the person who gave it you.  (Okay, so that answer was embellished a little bit too.  What can I say?  I'm not genuinely funny like 5 year olds are.)

Q.  How do cats get married?
A.  They go to a church and a kitty priest marries them.

Q.  So then they can have babies?
A.  Yes.  But responsible mommy and daddy kitties get spayed and neutered so they don't contribute to the millions of stray kittens running around the world.

Q.  How do mommy cats have babies?
A.  Ask your dad. 

Okay, I think those are all the ones I can think of right now...but I do have a couple to tell on myself, just because they are funny.

I was talking to my dad the other day and I told him where the new house was.  Here is the conversation...

"So is that Calvary like the Crucifixion or cavalry like horses?" he asks.
"There's a difference?" Leah wonders out loud.  Dramatic pause where Leah remembers that she has an English degree and her dad, on the other end of the phone line, rolls his eyes and wonders if the money spent on Leah getting her English degree was worth it.
"Oh, right, right, the l is in a different place.  It is Calvary like Crucifixion." she says with more assurance than she actually has, probably trying to cover up the fact that she didn't know they were two different words and for the longest time wondered why they were spelled the same (even though now she knows they are not spelled the same) but meant completely unrelated things.  Whew!

Another funny word moment from Leah (someone probably needs to call the college she went to and make sure she did graduate.)

Greg went to a workshop the other day with an author who specializes in keeping kids interested in whatever teachers have to say.  He asked if I knew the author, and I said "The one who wrote Worksheets Don't Grow Dendroids?"  At this point Greg snorts and says "Dendrites, you mean?"  Yes, that is what I meant, although I guess I could have been referring to the Android version of Dendrites...Dendroids, you know? That is a dendrite on steroids.  Or a robot dendrite.  Or something...

Sigh....Hope will understand these missteps (especially because I am always asking her to proofread my stuff...she is the Grammar Goddess), and maybe my parents too, because I think I have a history of mixing up words...was it hupcake for cupcake?  And didn't I once say that I needed some gasoline on my tush (I think I meant vaseline).