Things That Get Yer Goat

OK, we've been busy... very busy. I was actually scolded by my mother the other day for not posting. Sorry Mom. We are heading to MN for our annual vacation tomorrow and I promise that I will catch up then.

In the meantime...

We live a stones throw away from an elementary school and while sitting out on our deck at night, we often hear people throwing their trash in the schools dumpsters. Really... seriously?? You only have to drive a mile to get to the public trash dumping facility. How much is it costing the tax payers for you to dump your trash in a public schools dumpster? Come on now people...

Yes, random, but that's what got us tonight.

Wish us safe travels and wi-fi at the hotel so I can update ya'll on everything that we've been up to.

Conversations with Kids

I have to admit, one of my favorite things about being a parent is getting to see the world through our kids eyes. Sometimes I have no idea where they come up with some of the stuff they say.

This morning while getting the kids ready, the conversation went like this:

Me: 'KK, come here, be a good listener and let's get you dressed.'...she actually listened for once and came over to me.

KK: 'I'm so proud of you Mommy.'

Me: (confused look)

e: 'Congratulations on being a grown-up!'

Me: (still confused look) 'Huh??'

e: 'Well, you've been alive for a really long time. I mean, they didn't even have cars when you were born.'

Me: (laughing) 'I'm not that old.'

e: 'Oh yeah, Grandma & Grandpa are pretty old... they definitely didn't have cars back then.'

After thinking a little more...

e: 'Were Grandma & Grandpa in the war?'

Me: 'What war?'

e: 'You know the one that happened a million years ago?'

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On the way home today, e noticed that a lot of people were mowing our neighbors lawn.

e: 'How come a lot of people have people mowing their yards?'

Me: 'Well, some people have a lawn service to do it for them.'

e: 'How come we don't have one? Oh! We do... it's Daddy!'

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We had a storm here last night with lots of wind, rain and according to KK...

'Lighbening and Blunder'. 'Can you save me from the blunder Mommy?'

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Now, if I ever get any of this on video, that would be so much better. On the old note, is it still even called video anymore??

Ticki Ticki Tembo-...

...no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo. An interesting book, Tikki Tikki Tembo, retold by Arlene Mosel... try reading that to your kids after a glass of wine.

Where was I? Oh yeah, ticks.

Starting in late April, early May, Southern Maryland is riddled with ticks... and living on an acre and a half, a majority of which is woodsy, does not help.

The current tick count is: little e - 2, with 1 tick head embedded in her head; super K - 2; big K - 2, plus 2 more found crawling on me; and leading with a big goose egg - super big E. Way to go Superman!

Whilst enjoying ice cream with the girls tonight, I mistakenly thought KK got a glob of chocolate on her head... which is by no means unusual. Instead, I found this...
Yuck, ewww... definitely something to make your skin crawl.

With the help of my trusty assistant...

...I employed this technique:

'To Remove the entire TICK safely..........

Tick Removal Please forward to anyone with children .... or hunters, etc!! thanks! A School Nurse has written the info below -- good enough to share -- And it really works!! I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it's sometimes difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc. Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and let it stay on the repulsive insect for a few seconds (15-20), after which the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away. This technique has worked every time I've used it (and that was frequently), and it's much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me. Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can't see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor's wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn't reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, "It worked!"'

...provided to me by my good friend Amy's mom, Doris, when she originally heard about e's tick head-head problem.

I did not work quite as promised, but did stun the nasty bugger enough for me to get it completely out.

As for me, one of the two little f*%@ers that bit me a month ago, must have had it out for me. For the past week I have been extremely tired and have had horrible knee pain. So, I loaded up the crew, including one 2 year old, sans nap, and headed to Naval Medical. After speaking with the doctor and providing three viles of my precious blood, I received a 21 day course of antibiotics to treat Lyme Disease. My results will not come back for a week, but hey... definitely better safe than sorry, right?

Darn, military housing or model home are sounding really good right now!

Reasons Why Not...

...to leave a 2 year old unattended for a minute.

Example 1:
Mom's bright idea to give her a plate of crackers and easy cheese for dipping.



Example 2:
Dad's bright idea to set up a paint station in the garage.

Incredible Hulk Jr.


Punk rock highlights.

These two events happened a day apart from each other.

Will we ever learn?

Happy Mother's Day

To my Mom... thank you for being you and helping me to become who I am. I love you!

Random Thought Friday, Part 2

I swear I will get back to regular blogging soon as we have something brewing as usual, but in the meantime...

Some things are better left to the professionals.

Random Thought Friday

So, this is the first time that we have had an actual mailbox since we moved from CT in 2001. Apartment mail, post office box in Guam and community mailboxes in CA. Anyway...

I do a lot of looking and thinking when I walk the dog and I started focusing on everybody's mailboxes. Hey, I didn't say I was doing great or profound thinking.

What I found was that every single mailbox has this on it...


What happens if you have one that isn't approved by the Postmaster General? Will they deliver your mail? Is anyone crazy or daring enough to find out? Do ya think?? I wonder...