Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Prayer

Parent Bedtime Prayer

Now I lay her down to sleep,
I pray she will not make a peep,
But close her eyes and rest her head,
And, just this once, remain in bed.

But if, instead, she stays awake,
I pray thee, Lord, my head not ache;
And when I hear a pitter-patter,
Lord, help me not to be mad at her.

Amen


~ borrowed from a friends scrapbook

Old School

Back to old school fun for Lyric Tuesday -- House of Pain's "Jump Around". Obviously these lyrics aren't grand or meaningful, but I just love the fact that everyone who hears this song suddenly begins to wiggle in their seat and can barely stop themselves from jumping around.



Jump Around, by House of Pain

Pack it up, pack it in
Let me begin
I came to win
Battle me thats a sin
I wont tear the sack up
Punk youd better back up
Try and play the role and the whole crew will act up
Get up, stand up, come on!
Come on, throw your hands up
If you've got the feeling jump across the ceiling
Muggs is a funk fest, someones talking junk
Yo, Ill bust em in the eye
And then Ill take the punks home
Feel it, funk it
Amps in the trunk
And I got more rhymes than theres cops that are dunking Donuts shop
Sure nuff I got props from the kids on the hill
Plus my mom and my pops

Chorus

I came to get down (2x)
So get out your seats and jump around
Jump around (3x)
Jump up jump up and get down.
Jump (18x)

I'll serve your ass like john macenroe
If your girl steps up, Im smacking the hoe
Word to your moms I came to drop bombs
I got more rhymes than the bibles got psalms
And just like the prodigal son Ive returned
Anyone stepping to me youll get burned
Cause I got lyrics and you aint got none
So if you come to battle bring a shotgun
But if you do youre a fool, cause I duel to the death
Try and step to me youll take your last breath
I gots the skill, come get your fill
Cause when I shoot ta give, I shoot to kill

Chorus

Im the cream of the crop, I rise to the top
I never eat a pig cause a pig is a cop
Or better yet a terminator
Like arnold schwarzenegger
Trying to play me out like as if my name was sega
But I aint going out like no punk bitch
Get used to one style and you know I might switch
It up up and around, then buck buck you down
Put out your head then you wake up in the dawn of the dead
Im coming to get ya, coming to get ya
Spitting out lyrics homie Ill wet ya

Chorus

Jump (32x)

Yo, this is dedicated
To joe, da flava, dakota
Grag yo bozac, punk

Monday, September 28, 2009

Branches of the Tree

On Labor Day, we had a big family picnic / BBQ at my cousin Rachel's because my Uncle Scott & Aunt Marie were in town visiting from Florida. Although not all of our family could make it (my Auntie Mary Jo & Uncle Keith and kids were missing, as well as my Auntie Barb & Uncle Bill and my sisters, Molly, Katie & Hubby Jim. I am sure I am forgetting others too). Below are several shots of our family.

Three of the five sibilings -- Auntie Lynda, Uncle Scott, and my Mommy

My Aunts, Uncles & spouses with my generation of cousins
My generation of cousins, some spouses and our children
All of the cousins children (on my side of the family).
Can you believe that only FIVE cousins made this many children?! Let's see if I can do the math right. I believe that between the five of us we have SEVENTEEN children (one of my daughters is not pictured).

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sleep Deprived

For the record, you know that you are really tired and sleep-deprived when you go to the bathroom mid-morning and realize, you put your underwear on INSIDE OUT that morning, while you were cross eyed and stumbled about trying to pretend to be coherent.

Nice. Real nice!

Potential Weapons

Hubby was recently given an award to celebrate his five-year anniversary with his employer. It's a fabulously thoughtful gesture for his employer to bestow this crystal thing on him in the middle of a special all-staff meeting. However, as you will notice -- the srystal thing is potentially dangerous to small children. I see the potential for the wee ones to fall and impale themselves on it.
Or, of course, there is alwyas the possibility of being blinded by it's shiny appearance.
Oh! Wait!
That would never happen because it would be full of tiny, dirty fingerprints in our house.

Needless to say, Husband chose to keep the award at work.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

You Don't Say

Sometimes children say the funniest or most innocently profound things. Or often, in my case, my children say the most inappropriate things, which in hind sight can be amusing -- or not. For example...
Out of the blue, my two year old walked up to me, big his pudgy little hands on either side of my cheeks and said, "I was a baby in your tummy. When I was really big, I fell out."

* * * * *

While at one of my nine-year old daughter's baseball games, my sister offered to take my three-year old daughter, Little Boo, to the park rec building to go to the bathroom. When they entered the bathroom, Boo ran ahead and locked Auntie out of the bathroom stall. Boo was yelling, "Me do it myself! I can do it." Auntie waited outside the bathroom stall and tried to casually peer through the door crack.

A few seconds later Auntie heard Boo yell, "Awwww! NUTS! It's in my underwear."

Auntie said, "It's okay. Just come out here."

Boo started yelping, "Come in! Come in! Peas help."

Auntie said, "Honey, I can't. You locked it."

Boo started wailing louder. "Yes, you can come in. Just push it open. I said it's okay. Peas come in. Just push it open NOW!" It took Auntie a while to convince Boo that she couldn't bust down the stall door and that Boo actually had to get off the toilet to unlock the door for her.

* * * * *

A friend's five-year old son recently had the following conversation with his mom:

E went through a phase when he was younger where he would ask me questions about how the baby gets in “there” on almost a daily basis. I started out very vague (but no lies) and finally got exhausted with all the questions so I gave him the “correct” terms, i.e. egg & sperm, and he seemed satisfied then that I was giving him the whole story. Not sure why he started asking again but good God!

The other night, after reading our nightly bedtime story at the cabin, E asked me, “How does the egg & that other thing make a baby?” (He had seen his new cousin 5 week old baby Isabel that day.)

I said, “You mean the sperm?”

He said, “Yes, that thing.”

I said, “Well, you know how our dog Willie digs down into the sand on the beach when it is hot out so he can lie down in the cool sand? No one taught him how to do that. He just knew how."

Explanation sounds good so far so I continued and said, "The sperm & the egg, when they get together, just know how to make a baby. They have the right tools to make the baby, not like hammers though.”

E says, “Oh. I didn’t think they have hammers; I thought they had wrenches.”

* * * * *

Driving along in the car with my 2-year old son, 4-year old daughter and 9-year old daughter. The children are all screaming and fighting and hissing and spitting and basically attempting to annihilate each other in whatever way is humanly possible while strapped into the proper car seats.

The shrieking banshee, formerly known as my 4-year old daughter, keeps screaming, "Where are we going? Are we there yet?"

I sigh LOUDLY. I have already told her twelve bajillion times in the past 30 seconds where we are going.

Thankfully my 2-year old son jumps in and yells at the top of his healthy lungs: "We're going crazy and Mommy says I AM DRIVING!!!"

Alrighty then. I guess the little parrot must have heard that one too many times...

Friday, September 25, 2009

Dirt

Maybe you've always wanted to create some artwork for your living space, but never had the talent. Maybe you like to imagine you are a treasure hunter, discovering clues along the way like your favorite childhood movie, The Goonies. Or, maybe you just like getting dirty. Well I have good news. You can do all of these things with Roland Tiangco's new poster.

Check out this and other rockin' designs on Fubiz.

http://smolderingeyes.blogspot.com/2009/09/get-your-hands-dirty.html

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Jenna Vie Photography

Do you need a professional, independent photographer?

Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! I hope you do because I know one who is positively, phenomenally talented -- Jenna Vie Photography.

She has a brillant eye for detail, great knack for helping her subjects feel comfortable with her, and a serious talent that allows her to capture the unique spirit of each person in candid shots that showcase their personality.

You simply must check out her website at http://www.jennaviephotography.com/. Her galleries include examples of her work! Give her a shot!

Call or email to book your appointment asap. At a minimum bookmark her website until you can't hold yourself back any longer -- then call Jenna and book your sitting.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

I'm Baaaaaack!

Well then! It has been forever since I have blogged on a regular basis. Lots to catch you up on and tons of things I want to get on my soap box about!

Let's begin with the public outrage that President Obama allegedly approved, and more importantly whole-heartedly endorsed, the USPS's decision to issue a new 42-cent postal stamp to celebrate the Muslim holiday, Eid. There appears to be an outcry that by having a stamp celebrating a Muslim holiday, we, as American citizens, are somehow unpatriotic, choosing to thumb our noses at the memory of September 11th, and thereby are choosing to support all religious zealots who consequently must be Muslim. Right?

Seriously, people?! How can we be so small minded?

I do not follow how the government releasing a Muslim-themed holiday stamp leads to anyone who purchases the stamps to be classified as unpatroic and therefore choosing to spit on the memory of September 11th.

I have received no fewer than three emails this week imploring and instructing me to boycott the Eid stamp because all Muslims are evil fanatics. I find these emails to be vile, close-minded, infantile reminders of how egocentric our culture is. Their messages of intolerance churn my stomach and make my heart ache for the stupidity of a few, un-informed souls who now have access to the grand world wide web and can attempt to poison others through their email blasts. (Much like I am attempting to do by complaining in this blog, eh?)

Let's see what history can teach us. Who remembers what year we elected our first Roman Catholic President?

1961!

And for the record, that would be approximately 185 YEARS after our nation's birth.

Our Bill of Rights clearly states:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Remind me why Catholicism (which I don't personally follow) was deemed so full of deviant characters that our nation had reservations about a Catholic man's qualifications to hold the highest elected office of our grand country? For 185 years?

I had many other fantastic examples of our nation's historical stupidity (women rights movement, slavery, civil rights movement, Japanese internment camps...) but I have decided not to waste my breath -- or rather typing energies to combat imbeciles. I just don't have the time or energy

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Falling for You

Back to Lyric Tuesday...

I love Colbie Caillat's song "Falling for You"! It's a fantastically whimsical, teeny-bopper-ish, bubble gum song. Nothing deep about the lyrics and the video is a bit odd, but I find the tune is so catchy. Tap your toe along... (Video can't be embedded, so you need to go to YouTube to watch it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7qtLrQVUFQ

Falling for You

I don't know but
I think I maybe
Fallin' for you
Dropping so quickly
Maybe I should
Keep this to myself
Waiting 'til I
Know you better

I am trying
Not to tell you
But I want to
I'm scared of what you'll say
So I'm hiding what I'm feeling
But I'm tired of
Holding this inside my head

I've been spending all my time
Just thinking about ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I've been waiting all my life
And now I found ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you

As I'm standing here
And you hold my hand
Pull me towards you
And we start to dance
All around us
I see nobody
Here in silence
It's just you and me

I'm trying
Not to tell you
But I want to
I'm scared of what you'll say
So I'm hiding what I'm feeling
But I'm tired of
Holding this inside my head

I've been spending all my time
Just thinking about ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I've been waiting all my life
And now I found ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you

Oh I just can't take it
My heart is racing
The emotions keep spinning out

I've been spending all my time
Just thinking about ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I've been waiting all my life
And now I found ya
I don't know what to do
I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you

I can't stop thinking about it
I want you all around me
And now I just can't hide it

I think I'm fallin' for you
I'm fallin' for you
Ooohhh, Oh no no, Oooooohhh
Oh I'm fallin' for you

Monday, September 21, 2009

Golf

I adore Robin Williams. He is the funniest comedian ever! He does this fabulous little bit on golf. It never fails to crack me up, especially since I think golf is one of the oddest sports ever. I don't play it and I don't enjoy it, and I have been told that is my loss. Enjoy!

Beware: Don't watch it with children around. It is a bit vulgar and includes "coarse" language.