Great Signs

Hmmm...I don't think I'll be attending this. I'd love to have comments on what F.G.H.T. stands for.  We saw this one near the NC border on our way to visit friends.

Um,  BLT anyone?  This one is in a little town called Phenix...I pass through it on my way to work.

I Love (and Like) You As Much...

I've come to realize that our family is a little...well...different.  The last nine years (can you believe it?) of marriage has provided lots of examples of this, and I have shared some here.    When Greg proposed to me and we went to my parents' house to tell them, my dad asked Greg if he liked me.  He said that love is one thing, but that marriage will only work if you really like the other person.  I'm not sure if you would call the ways we show our love for one another strange, or weird, or maybe just normal. You can decide.  I think the four of us have a good thing going.

1.  Greg's willingness to drive up to Boston to see my family...and in the course of the visit tasting Gifelte Fish and participating in a Ceder dinner, complete with readings, singing, and some interesting food (see above)  You just had to be there.

2. Standing over the portable crib that is still in our bedroom, and admiring the "roasting chicken" that is actually Marianna, and then squeezing her rump a little.

3.  Deciding that when Kiley turns 8, we will probably have to stop squeezing her rump.

4.  Making up all sorts of silly songs...usually right in the moment.

                 This one is to the tune of  Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel...we made you out of clay.  Dreidel, dreidel,
                                                        dreidel...we play with you all day!

                  Daddy, daddy, daddy...we made you out of gas.
                  Daddy, daddy, daddy...it all comes out your (beep).  (Kiley said rump, but we all know that is
                                                                                                   not how the song goes.)

5.  Sharing these songs with the general public, as in this blog, and knowing that I will still be married when I get home tonight.

6.  Going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast on my last day of summer vacation.

7.  Racing from the car to the post office box we had in North Carolina, and later in Pound...and sometimes falling and injuring ourselves in the process.  (There never was anything good to be racing for, I guess we just thought it was fun?)

8.  Kiley running around the house right before a bath yelling "Naked free!" and Marianna trotting right after her in a similar manner.

9.  Community bathroom time.  Um, how do I explain this.  Marianna, and Kiley when she was little, seem to enjoy some alone time with Daddy and a few books while he is in the bathroom.  Trust me, I do not take part in this, except to let the girls out if needed. 

10.  Greg heating up leftovers and making them pretty for me so I will eat them.  I am a little weird about leftovers.

11.  Greg taking Kiley to the bathroom in places like Wal-Mart and gas stations because he knows I can't stand the bathrooms in places like that.

12.  Not even flinching on trips when I ask to stop at Starbucks because they have nice bathrooms (oh, and yummy coffee and treats). 

13.  Listening to me rant or vent, and then instead of immediately responding, Greg usually says, "Do you want me to say anything, or did you just want me to listen?"

14.  Packing up my breastmilk supply from the freezer into a cooler, and burying it in the three feet of snow from the blizzard of 2010 in our backyard while we waited for three days for the power to come back on (If this isn't love, I don't know what is). 

15.  Greg, who at the time was not a cat person, taking two wonderful kitties in while we were dating.  Maybe he was just trying to impress me, which he did.

16.  Allowing one of those kitties to reside in our freezer next to the pizza and ice cream after she died, because I didn't want to bury her at the rental house we were in.  (She is now safely buried in our back yard, surrounded in cat mint, her favorite.)


I'm sure I will think of more examples...and I'll be sure to share them in the future.  In the meantime, I think I'll go squeeze a rump and sing a silly song. 

                                                      

More Pictures!

Current and Future Music Stars

The Best Book Reader Ever!

Waiting to Catch the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty

I Guess We Can't Take Her to the Shelter...(And I mean the puppy.)

Future Ballerina

New Pictures!

Major gap between the last post and this one....my apologies.  Here are some new pictures, and I'll have an account of our wonderful trip to Boston (which happened a month ago...at least) up soon!  I promise!

Daddy's Home!! Daddy's Home!! (Mommy never gets this kind of reception.)

Let's go fly a kite (one from Unkie Kee)!

Snack is pretty good at this!

It Has Been A While...

This post will be a little scattered, but here it goes.

First, another great quote from Kiley.  We were driving home one afternoon after I picked her up from the babysitter.  She looked out the window and said, "You know, America is like a wild horse, free, just galloping like wind." 

Oh our little Snack...she always says that her favorite part of the day is citizenship...and we do live in "Patrick Henry Country" or at least that's what it says on the Welcome to Brookneal sign. 

And now, a not so great, but still funny, quote from Kiley.  She and Greg were using paper, rock, scissors to decide something...I can't remember what it was...but anyway, they do the paper, rock, scissors thing, and Kiley loses and exclaims, "Damn it!"  It just rolled right out of her mouth.  I think she picked it up from one of the Night at the Museum movies (yes, we know they are PG...but they are hilarious and somewhat historical). 

Last night Greg and I were "making dinner" (frozen pizza) and somehow I got to talking about things I regretted.  I won't bore or shock you with the list here, but here is kind of how the conversation went.

"You know, sometimes I think about the stupid things I did, and I am so sorry that I let my parents down or shamed them somehow.  But then, I get to thinking about it a little more, and I think, you know, I have never been arrested.  I have never been to jail.  Now, I'm not trying to compare myself to some of my siblings who may have been in that boat, I'm just saying..."

"Well you know honey, you did get "removed" from that Medieval Renaissance Convention." 

Awkward Silence.

"What?!  I didn't get removed...they just asked me to stop asking questions.  It wasn't my fault, the girl didn't know what she was talking about, and she couldn't answer my questions.  She was embarrassed, I guess."

"So, you got kicked out of an English convention."

"No, I didn't get kicked out, and I wasn't even asked to leave."

"But you did leave."

"Well, yes, after she was done, and after I  had finished my questions. I was on a panel, I had to finish."

"But you only stopped asking questions because the moderator asked you to..."

"Okay, yes.  So at an extremely nerdy event which celebrates obscure authors and showcases nerds and their strange papers (which, of course, I willingly attended), I was asked to stop questioning the presenter.  And it wasn't like they flashed a giant red light and said "Whoa, whoa, whoa...shut up."  My nice advisor politely took me aside and told me to give the girl a break."

"So you did give her a break, but only after you were asked to."

"Oh well.  If that was the worst mistake I made in my life, then well, I deserve an award."

                                                                              ----

Of course, it wasn't the worst mistake I ever made, but still, I have never been arrested.

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!