Another Day in Paradise

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Who can turn the world on with her smile?

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Who can take a nothing day,

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Well it's you girls, and you should know it

With each glance and every little movement you show it !

- Love is All Around, Paul Williams

So... we got this new pool toy. . .

Does anybody know how to use it??

The pictures look fun, but what you don't see is that you simply
sink straight down once you hit the water.
How do you make it surf?

No Parkin', Baby . . .

. . . No Parkin' On the Sidewalk.

Jen and I stumbled across this. Poor guy - his wheel is totally off the ground. AND he has a parking ticket AND an insurance agent left a card for him.



Is anybody else breaking into disco with me?

Don't park your booty, don't park your can

It's time to party, it's time to jam

Don't park your booty, don't park your can

It's time to party, it's time to jam

No Parkin', Baby,

No parkin' on the dancefloor. . .

{{{{{{{{{{{Grrrrrrrrrrrrr}}}}}}}}}}}}}

I have no cute
little story to go with this.

A Reminder to Us All:

The Fish is Stepping on my Toes

On August 27, I posted The Fish. Also on August 27, Tim Challies posted "The Incident of the Fish." How freaky is that. Upon completion of reading his post, I had to pop open my eyes and say, "Are you talkin' to me?" (in my most Italian Jersey accent) Why, yes. Yes, I think he was.

Arthur's Nose

One night soon after Nana arrived, Eva crawled up in her lap and said, "Nana, want me to read you a book? I only know how to read one book."

So she ran off and got her book, "Arthur's Nose."


She called me and Grampsy into the room and her mother, as well.







She climbed up into our recliner and spread us out around the living room. She called herself "Teacher" and kept telling us to be quiet or she wouldn't read.


I insisted she show us the pictures.


She told me to stop talking.

She was very bossy and maintained control of her classroom admirably.

Even Nana raised her hand to ask a question.


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And Tom, of course, was teacher's pet.

Thanks to Patti, our photographer.

The Fish

So at the beginning of summer, we took a tremendously fun trip to Bryson City, NC. (If you missed it, read about it here and here.) But let me get back to my point. . .

Tommy and Eden caught a couple of what seemed like the world's largest fish and what seemed like a good idea was to bring those suckers home. Upon arrival at home, Tommy and Eden both said they had no plans for the fish. ---
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Not yet ready to part with such gems, they decided to stick the fish in my freezer. Heads, eyeballs and all.

I cleaned the freezer yesterday, two months after the fish moved in, and discovered the forgotten fish when we came, ummm, eyeball to eyeball.

I took them out of the freezer and decided it was time for them to leave. I cleaned and rearranged my freezer and set the fish aside so I could mention them to Tommy and Eden when they came over for dinner, in just a few minutes, y'know, let them dispose of the fish.

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Guess what. . .

I forgot all about the fish.

I left them sitting out beside the freezer.

Tom found the fish tonight, unbelievably stinky and bloody.

(I found it quite humorous, but he wasn't too amused.)

When you call me, Call me Al

There are a couple of you that know: this is for you.
This always cracks me up.
Have a great day.

Sunday Worship III

It all started out so well.

Several local church youth groups got together at the Wagener/Salley Young Farmers Mud Bog (keyword here) Complex for a time of joint praise and worship.

There was awesome praise music, led by a local band, All Will Be Won.






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They got the kids stirred up, involved.


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Wait a minute now, is that Trevor?
Singing into the mic?
Leading the praise and worship?
Lynn, were you aware of this talent?







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... but then I saw it.... out of the corner of my eye..
a couple rabble rousers. I know this look.


rabble-rouser - Noun -
a person who stirs up the feelings of the mob.








But of course... their leader... Mr. Rabble Rouser.






I've been reviewing, trying to figure how things went wrong and I'm thinking maybe when the band was announced "All Will Be Won!" - just maybe the kids misheard:

"All Will Be Mud!!"

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Ethan and Marj didn't get the memo:

They lost tug of war.

(don't they look like they're running for president and vice president?)

But seriously. . .

We had a great time at the first quarterly "Encounter" youth events. Pastor Tommy Richardson from Town Creek in Aiken was the speaker. The music and the message were excellent.

My favorite scene is one I have no picture. After the message, about 20 high schoolers were on their knees before God while a town policeman, a couple high school football coaches, and a couple youth pastors prayed over them. Who said God isn't in our public schools? I beg to differ.

Weekly News Digest VI

1. Cops follow cheetos trail to nail burglar suspect. The link. 3 teenagers burglarized a recreation center vending machine and apparently got hungry while fleeing the scene. Quote: "The officers followed the orange, dusty trail from the rec center, around the side of the building and to a nearby home. Inside, they found numerous vending-sized bags of Cheetos and other snacks."

2. Satisfaction brings man out of coma. The link. Sam Carter, a retired baker, was in a coma for ten weeks. His wife played I Can't Get No Satisfaction and the man immediately came to. Mr. Carter "said he would like to thank Mick Jagger and the other Rolling Stones." Probably the only good thing to result from The Rolling Stones.

3. Fisherman's ashes become bait. The link. "Pete always said that when he died he wanted his ashes to be mixed in with ground bait," Caroline Hodge said. "He wanted the fish to gobble him up so he could swim up and down the river after his death."

4. Mexican woman fights off lion with machete after it attacks donkey. The link. My favorite this week. First of all, I love the title, that's a lot to digest. Secondly, this quote: "A Mexican woman says she fought a 225-kilogram lion with a machete near the resort city of Acapulco and scared him away." What I wanna know: Did the lion just sit and wait while she calculated his weight from pounds to kilograms? I'm more impressed with her command of the metric system than her machete skills.

5. Toddler makes late-night candy run. The link. A 3-year old in England left home in the middle of the night to go to the candy store. Quote: "While the boy's timing was bad, he had come prepared with money and a front-door key to his home, although he left the door open behind him." The kid sounds more responsible than my 20 year old. I say: let 'em have the candy and give him a later bedtime.

Happy Birthday to Mom

Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

(be sure to take note of the hairstyles)

Awwwwwwwww!!!!

Many years later, as a working gal:

Finally, settled down, married, kids.... domestic bliss....

A few more years later, Steevie Weevie came along and rocked our world.

... and rocked it . . . and rocked it . . . and

good grief, dad grew a mustache.

A few more years later, the grandkids started arriving. .

Gee. . . who is that in the background, getting into all our family pictures again??? Yes, it's a grown-up cousin David. Remember him from this post? Yeah, well, he's still hanging around. (although in this photo, he looks more like a cardboard cutout)
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So here's J, also all grown up. You might wonder "Where did he get that sense of style from??" . . .



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You guessed it - from the matriarch herself, Nana, previously seen at your local Starbucks.


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There followed many years of inlaws, grandkids, family meals, holiday dinners . . .






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Fun, fun times. (btw - carleen is not a midget in real life)-

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More holidays, more grandkids . . .

. . . talented grandkids.

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Did I say how very, very talented these grandkids are?

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By golly, that cousin just won't go.

Then Steevie Weevie produced another granchild and really rocked our world.

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One thing has remained constant in your..... how many years??? . . .
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in sickness and in health . . .


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The two of you.

Always N Forever.

Happy Birthday, mom!

Wish I was there, I'm sure Cousin David is.

I love you.

My Hometown

I strolled through the old neighborhood while I was in NY and was shocked at how small everything is. The big hill I used to ride my bike down -- not so big. The giant A-frame house the wheelocks built -- a tiny playhouse! In my memory, that A-Frame was huge!

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This was Matt's house, my cousin. We'd rike bikes to each other's houses and he had an awesome treehouse with carpeting and windows! We dirtbiked and snowmobiled together, went out on the job sites and collected bits of treasures off the ground . . .
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This was Rene's house, "but 'cept" it was a pretty slate color back then, now it's quite a bright shade of peach.

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Awwwwww. . .
My uncles built most of all of thsese houses and they named the road after their mom, my grandma, Mary. I used to ride down the hill to grandma's house while grandma stood in her doorway and mom stood in our doorway to make sure no boogerman got me. Grandpa was in bed, sick, most of the time and he had a hospital bed towards the end. So Matt and I would go in to visit him and crank the bed up or down either way, then go running out of the house with grandma right behind us, shooing us out.
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Here she is -- my house. I remember one Halloween we all hid in the upstairs windows to drop water balloons on any tricksters who planned to soap our downstairs garage windows. And one time - those same four windows was mom and dad's room -- so Julie and I waited for them to fall asleep and we sneaked into their room, intending to tie them in their beds with tons of pantyhose. Well, they woke up. I got out. Julie just hid inside the room. Dad charged to the door and peeked thru the door crack. Guess what Julie's view was? Dad's naked backside. Honestly. I never dreamed someone went to bed without pajamas. Things were different back then. Kids were innocent.

Here are Nana's and Aunt Becky's houses. Aunt Becky's has had quite a facelift. Ruth or Jim - did your kids move in there?

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Nana's is on the right. There's a creek down behind the houses that was a lot of fun to investigate. One time, Nana was out hanging her clothes and a swarm of bees got inside her britches. She tossed those britches off and ran towards the creek, naked. David, I think you got to witness that one.