Ever Feel Like You Have Nothing to Say, but Feel the Need to Type Some Sort of Post Anyway?

Yeah, neither do I.

So, since it has been a while, I give what is possibly the most awesome U.S. soldier, EVAH!!

Platoon Sergeant in Iraq, wearing Tartan Wilson, (found here). EPICNESS!!

Now, go fan yourselves 😉

It’s Late Afternoon on Monday, and Topics Are Optional

I lack motivation to write today.

There are no cupcakes in the house.

The laundry is done.

The schools have awards ceremonies tonight and tomorrow night.

I have a gazillion split ends.

My roses are still in shock.

Still, one can find humor in the day.

Here’s hoping Tuesday isn’t a Monday do-over!! 😀

Why I Never Bother With Plans

It’s Sunday. A day to relax and putter around and just enjoy before the craziness of the coming week takes hold. It’s a no brainer day, right? I mean, you can choose to do stuff, or choose to do nothing.

Such a simple, blessed day.

Why is it that I can never enjoy it??

Last week, a friend asked me to attend an acquaintance’s baby shower, to which I said yes. I figured it would be nice to hang out with gals bitching about motherhood talking about similar interests. Then my sister called to invite me to her anniversary BBQ. And in my family, you 1) celebrate milestones, and 2) never turn down BBQ. And…..both scheduled for roughly the same time. But I can manage to make an appearance at the shower and then attend my sister’s BBQ, right? So far, so good.

And now Little One wants to go dress shopping for her awards ceremony this week. Because hey, MOM IS NOT DOING ANYTHING TODAY!!

Fine…. FINE!!! We shall go shopping.

At least that’s something I do rather well 😀

Rats With Better PR

Yesterday afternoon, I went outside to water the flowers, praying that I wouldn’t end up murdering them yet again it would rain, since it was overcast and that would save me from having to roll out the sprinkler. I…..don’t have the best luck with plants. Except my hostas, which weirdly are freakishly huge under the tree.

I guess they thrive on ignorance and neglect.

Anyway, I go get the garden hose, and turn to talk to my calla lily. She hasn’t deserted me, either. Again, ignorance and neglect. I give her a good drink of water, and then turn to the marigolds in the bright teacup style pot, only to find broken leaves, snapped heads, and a mess of dirt. Why? Because some squirrel decided that was where he had hidden his treasure trove of acorns.

Seems legit.

Normally I am not one to get upset over something so small. But they had done it to the newly planted petunias out front, which were BRAND FREAKING NEW AND HAD NO ACORNS IN THE DIRT!! So of course, I snapped.

Me: STAY OUT OF MY POTTED PLANTS, YOU INSIPID BAG OF MANGY FUR!!

Squirrel: *looks at me from the fence edge*

Me: YES, YOU!! I CATCH YOU AROUND MY PLANTS AGAIN, AND I WILL MAKE STEW OUT OF YOUR HIDE!!

Neighbor: Hey Aggie*. How’s…. your day?

Me: Uh, Hey! Just…fine… watering plants.

Neighbor: Need a shotgun?

Me: I’m on it.

Neighbor: I didn’t hear a thing.

Me: I owe you.

I don’t like squirrels, as you can probably surmise. I don’t care that they have bushy tails, or cute little hands (which have nasty claws), or cheeky pouches. Screw that. I think they are nasty little birdseed thieves who conspire to wreak havoc on the roads and make your plants wither and die.

It’s a good thing I was defrosting chicken, because stew sounded pretty good right then 😉

In Defense of the Cupcake

Yesterday I was perusing food blogs and came across my interwebnet friend Marilla over at Cupcake Rehab for some delicious dessert recipes. As her blog title suggests, she loves her some cupcakes. But that isn’t all she makes. Jams, jellies, pickling, pies, sauces, cookies, breads (ZOMG THE BREADS!!!)… it’s all good at her site. But sometimes she feels the need to clarify her stance on the humble cupcake.

I love cupcakes. I won’t apologize for it, I don’t feel bad when a snobby food blogger scoffs at them in favor of a green tea cookie with local honey glaze or lemon curry marmalade, and I don’t care if the people I reading this are tired of them. I am not. Besides, what is there NOT TO LIKE? It’s a small, individual cake. Just for you. That you don’t have to share (!).

And she is absolutely right! What is NOT to like about a cupcake??

Each one is an individual ray of sunshine, just waiting to send your taste buds into Sugar Valhalla. Honestly, peeling off the liner heightens the anticipation of biting into the velvety sweetness by a factor of twelve and seven orders of magnitude. And think about it: no cutting, no crumbs, no messing up the icing, no fighting over the decorations, no “I want more icing!”, no mess.  Choosing a cupcake is a symbol of individuality. YOU pick the one that speaks to you. That’s totally different than a cake that screams conformity.

Don’t get me wrong: I like cake, too. But the cupcake appeals to the rebel inside us, telling the rest of the world, “THIS ONE IS MINE, ALL MINE!!” And sometimes you need to have something that’s only yours, even if it is a cupcake 😀

Best Mom Day, EVAH!!

So, yesterday was Mother’s Day, and the kids and Hubby surprised me with bling and a new Lolita™ wine glass. I think I am getting to be a bit predictable. Anyway, after gratuitous amounts of loving hugs and coffee, we decided to go to the outlet mall to shop for Little One since she had outgrown a ton of clothes, for which Goodwill is grateful. It was a nice day, and I find shopping therapeutic and relaxing.

I do NOT find traffic relaxing, which is why Hubby drove.

Anyway, we decided to have lunch first at a restaurant conveniently located next to Williams-Sonoma™, which is close to kryptonite for me as y’all well know. I had finished eating and figured it couldn’t do any harm to just go look. So off I went, feeling Hubby’s eyes roll as I meandered into the store. Mind you, I wasn’t planning on getting anything, until I rounded the corner and found this:

I had been looking for that size for a while, but was reluctant to pay the $$$ price tag. Seriously, three figures for that small saucepan? No way. So I checked inside for the price in case it was on sale.

$29.97???

Wha……….??

I check everywhere on that pan to see if there is another price tag. Nope, just the $29.97 one. ZOMG!!!! I run over to the checkout and ask if this is the right price and the manager says that usually the current stuff that’s returned to the outlet is priced to move, so yes. AWESOME!!! But if that wasn’t enough, it was an additional 30% off, plus 10% off for military. So my little saucepan cost $20 and change.

And no, this doesn’t mean my Le Creuset™ bargain hunting is over. It just means that I really, really have to downsize a bit more 😉

How to Be an Awesome Mom, Part Eleventy

Last night we went out to eat, a treat from my brother-in-law in honor of Son’s birthday. It had been a long week, so Hubby suggested I have a drink. I was way ahead of him, and ordered a martini sampler: Guavatini, Lemondrop, and Chocolatini. Look, I know those aren’t “real” martinis, ok? But a beer wasn’t going to cut it and I wanted sugar to be my alcohol carrier.

Aren’t they adorable?? And smashing. No, really. You can get smashed on one order alone.

Anyway, Son was interested in trying them. Hilarity ensued.

Son: Mom, what’s the dark one?

Me: That’s the chocolatini.

Son: The what?

Me: (enunciating slowly) Chocolate martini.

Son: May I try it?

Me: Sure. (Don’t y’all wish I was your mom??)

Son: (coughing and gagging) Ugh! It’s like chocolate alcohol!!

Me: That’s the POINT!!

Sometimes, this job is way too easy 😉

Can’t Stop Me Now

Last weekend we cleaned out the garage, and let me tell you, it looks AMAZING!! Well, technically half of it does. We couldn’t clean out the other wall because it has all of my stained glass stuff, and we need protective gloves and eye goggles to clean it out. Still, the garage is a vast improvement over the trash dump site way it was before.

But now I am itching to reorganize something. Some people finish a project and sit back to admire their work. I tend to want to channel that satisfaction towards another problem spot. The problem is, there are too many problem spots.

And Legos come in handy for this.

Picking one is like a Lay’s™ potato chip. You can’t stop at just one.

So I guess I better go get a bag of potato chips and finish that off. That’s something I can certainly achieve today.

Glad I found a way to channel my productive side 😉

Wednesday Sithy

I am away from here all day today, so y’all will just have to go on without me. It’s hard, but you can do it!

Ok, stop laughing.

Here’s a Sithy for y’all.

Alderaan would hurt like a….

Y’all have a great day 😀

In Sadness, Joy

Yesterday was a very long day. We buckled down and cleaned and organized the garage, which meant clearing out trash, donating the useful stuff, putting up shelving, unpacking boxes, and finding long lost memories.

Like baby shoes, and photographs, and cigar butts, and school mementos, pressed flowers, and even old love letters from Hubby-before-he-was-Hubby. There were wood blocks, and old tiaras, and some old children’s books. But among all the papers and photos, there was one item that brought me to tears: my grandmother’s last letter to me.

I stood in the kitchen, reading the once-elegant and now spidery writing, thinking of the woman who wrote it. She was a very proper woman, who never went outside without a parasol to protect her from the Sun. She taught me to read and write before I started school. She loved to have us entertain her with songs. She loved red flowers, and always had cafe au lait at 3 o’clock.

I stood in the kitchen, reading her last words to me, and thinking about how much it hurt her to lose her independence those last few months of her life. She could have been bitter, but instead chose to be thankful for the small acts of kindness shown to her, and for her correspondences with her grandchildren. Knowing how we had blossomed and how we had our own families made her very happy. She told me it would be her last letter to me, since she could no longer hold a pen. As I read that my heart broke again, knowing how much she enjoyed to write. She passed away a couple of months after that, when I was pregnant with Little One. Oddly enough, Little One has the same love of writing that my grandmother had, along with her disposition! She would have been 110 years old last April 27th.

Time to plant geraniums in the garden, and enjoy the day 🙂