Late Night Craving...

A little bit ago we were breezing through the American Idol finale (love TiVo...and our favorite won!) when I suddenly felt super hungry.  I ignored the feeling.  Now I'm sitting at my computer getting a few things done and I'm having a harder time dismissing my stomach as it gurgles and begs me to feed it something.  It's usually not an issue for me but tonight the hunger is different...my tummy is begging for vegetables.  What the?!  Late night cravings usually hit me when watching cooking shows and are supposed to be reserved for things such as the following:

• Dove chocolate, Guittard milk chocolate maxi chips or PB M&M's
• bean and cheese burritos
• ice cream (perhaps vanilla layered with peanut butter...with Magic Shell on top?)
• freshly popped popcorn with melted butter and Lawry's Seasoning Salt
• a New York steak - grilled medium/medium rare - possibly with a nice caramelized onion & blue cheese sauce on the side (this is yet to be available at our house late at night...strange)
• salsa rice with sharp cheddar cheese melted on top - to be eaten with tortilla chips
• some sort of high calorie baked treat that I may or may not have hidden from my family in the freezer

 Apparently my insides didn't get the memo on these things.  Even as I typed the above list, it still whined for something green.  The thought of eating a different - aka normal - late night snack did precisely NOTHING for me.  I want an enormous mixed greens salad (with gorgonzola or blue cheese crumbled on top, sunflower seeds, sprouts, chopped hard boiled egg, cucumber slices, maybe some dried cherries or cranberries, chopped or sliced beets, shaved carrots, peas...).  Or maybe a caprese salad with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar.  Roasted brussel sprouts also sound really tasty as does a huge bowl of sauteed fresh vegetables like zucchini, carrots, red onion and grape tomatoes.  I'm actually salivating as I think about these options.  Now, I know that Team Veggies definitely beats Team Evil Food in terms of nutritional benefits and lack of weight gain.  But seriously.  Who craves healthy food late at night?  Something is wrong with me.

And no, I'm not pregnant.

Wouldn't THAT Be Nice?

This evening I'm sitting here at my desk lamenting the fact that I haven't posted anything in nearly a month.  I know, you've all been lamenting this as well...bored stiff waiting for me to sit myself down in front of my computer to blog, you are.  I have plenty to write about and have had said plenty for a while.  i just haven't done it.  However, tonight is different (I am posting after all, right?).  While I was perusing some of my favorite blogs a few minutes ago, I had the most wonderful, dreamy and unrealistic thought (or wish) come to mind:

I should whip up a totally incredible blog.

I would write a single post (maybe two?) each day and blow the minds of all my followers with my humor, charm, knowledge, ideas, wit, craftiness, opinions and overall amazing-ness.  I'd have thousands of followers reading my brilliant words on a daily basis and over to the side of my posts would be advertisements and links for companies that would pay me serious dinero just for having a blog that people read.  I'd make several thousand dollars each month just for being me and writing about it.

There are real stay at home moms out there who do just that.  And they have the bank rolls, freedom to go shopping and followers to prove it.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Too bad I only write every once in every 5 blue moons...and maybe not even that often.

2012 Blog Goal

This isn't a New Year's resolution but I'm making a blog goal for 2012: 50 posts by the end of the year.  That's an average of 4.1666666666666666666666666666667 posts  per month (yes, I actually counted the 6's on the calculator...it confused my eyes and my head) and a whopping 8 posts better than I did in 2011.  If I make it to 50 sooner than expected, maybe I'll up the ante at that point.

Oh - and I'm being good and considering this post a "bonus" that doesn't count in my tally for the year.  I can do it!  I think...

Beat THIS Man's Good Attitude

I don't recall exactly what part of the New Testament was being covered on this particular Sunday, but some weeks ago in our Sunday School class the lesson touched on trials and hardships in life and how we get through them.

One man who has had cancer a couple of times (2 or 3...can't recall exactly) and lost an eye due to the most recent case commented, "You can go through a lot in life if you know there's a reward at the end."

Obviously knowing of his battles with cancer, the teacher asked in return, "What's the reward for losing your eye?"

The man only paused for a moment and then with a big smile across his face he said: "I only cry half as much."

Everyone in the class laughed and smiled.  I don't think that even one of us didn't marvel at this man's character.  Finding that kind of a positive in that kind of trial?  Now that is what I call a good attitude.

LIST: Busy Little Bee

Last month I posted a whopping 8 times...that's one seriously insane record when compared to the previous months.  June hasn't been quite so lucky.  My most recent post was the 6th of this month, and that was only because I scheduled the post sometime the week before.   I know.  I can be a sneaky little devil sometimes.

June 3rd was the last day of school.  Hallelujah!  Happy day!  No getting up early and getting the kids ready for the day unless I want to!  And believe me, that's seldom the case...

The next day, I got a call from my sister telling me that her mother-in-law had passed away and that they were coming in town within a couple of days for the funeral.  She was originally going to drive out with her kiddies and stay with us in later July but considering the circumstances, they decided to just stay here for an extra week+ after the funeral.  They arrived Monday the 6th and stayed until last Friday.  We had a marvy time (more on that later) and while I've fully intended to get blogging since they left, I've been very busy each day.  I'm even going to give you a glorious list of everything I've been doing over the past week or so.

MY BUSY BEE LIST

• sleeping in or just laying in bed in the morning
• making beds
• yelling at my kids
• doing my daughter's hair in a simple pony tail
• pretending that I didn't notice the 3 baskets of laundry that needed folding
• making lunch for my kids
• going to the grocery store or Costco
• sitting around doing nothing
• taking my daily shower
• taking my kids to the zoo (once)
• making dinner
• reading the news online
• avoiding moving...it's getting hot and I don't want to be sweaty
• yelling at my kids
• putting my kids to bed
• staying up way too late while sitting around AND doing nothing (epiphany: I ought to write a book on multi-tasking!)
• eating ice cream
• sleeping

 Very, very busy indeed.  Just recalling all that I've done has left me worn out!  However, in spite of my well earned exhaustion, I've decided that I'm going to take a break from my busy life and get a bunch of posts up before the end of the month.  And to my girlfriend Jen: as promised, I'll even get a recipe or two up so you can drool until you're out of that super stylish cast and able to cook again.

A Case Of The Sevens

Seven years ago today, Hudson came into the world. Thinking about my boy turning seven years old on the seventh day of the month got me thinking about what we started when he was born. A trend in my family. A case of the sevens, as one might call it...

Hudson was born on the 7th of May. Two months later, my sister's Becca was born on July 7th. Seven months later, my middle brother's girl Emma was born on February 7th. Then, that November, my oldest brother's boy Ethan was born on the 7th of November. Finally, fast forward a couple of years and my little brother's boy Tyler was born on March 7th. That's five babies in a row born on the 7th of the month. One "seven" born to each of the 5 siblings in my family (not in order by age of us siblings...now THAT would have been really impressive) with no other births in between any of the kids.

When Anne and I both had our babies on the 7th of the month, we just thought it was cool and fun. But then, when our three sisters-in-law ended up being due within a time frame that would easily allow for a baby to be born on the 7th of the month, we'd always guess that the baby would be born on the 7th. And so it was and so we have our sevens. While there have been opportunities, none of us has ever taken a picture of the five of them together...definitely on my list for the next time the whole family assembles.

(picture taken July 2010)

Happy Birthday to the first - and my personal favorite - "seven".

You Can't Judge An Ear...

A few weeks ago I picked up a few ears of local corn to have with dinner. I was shucking them and everything was fine until I came to prepping this beauty:

Now tell me...what in the world am I supposed to do with THAT? Apparently you can't judge an ear of corn by its husk or the perfect looking kernels peeking out at the top.

One-One-Hundredth of a Second

Watching the Olympics last night, I was hoping to see a segment with Mary Carillo. I wasn't so lucky but instead, I was totally glad to have caught a very amusing segment of Bob Costas and Jimmy Fallon. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2010/03/thank-you-notes-in-vancouver-with-bob-costas/

There is one kind of "off" remark - and I apologize for that - but other than that, this just tickles my funny bone. There are so many things in this clip that make me smile (and/or giggle) but in case you choose to watch the clip after reading this, I won't spoil the fun by listing them here.

Finding A Seasonally Appropriate Background...

I just spent a good long while looking for a new background for this here blog. Normally, it's a quick process for me. I pick something that goes with the current season or holiday, change my colors, and I'm all set. But not today...problem is that we're past Valentine's Day which means no hearts, it's not quite snowy enough around here to do a wintry theme, and it's too soon for me to use a St. Paddy's or Easter background. So I searched three of my favorite sites looking for something that would really hit me between the eyes...something that said "no upcoming holiday, dirty snow on the ground, not warm enough for spring (though it is coming soon), and not too plain." Yeah - doesn't exist.

RANDOM TIDBITS FROM TODAY...

The first two things I'm going to blabber on about today have to do with my all-time fave chore: LAUNDRY.

First. As of this morning, I had three hampers full of clean clothes (approximately 5-6 loads)sitting in my laundry room. They had been sitting there for 2 or 3 days. Calling my name. Staring at me every time I glanced in their direction. Begging me to fold them and put them away. But you know what I did for those 2 or 3 days? I left them sitting there. And it wasn't like I just didn't remember. I actually put forth effort in doing so. Avoided them like the plague. Kept telling myself, "I'll do it later." And then I didn't. But this morning, the state of my laundry room (and kitchen) finally got to me. I pulled those baskets of clean clothes and towels out and folded every last piece. Want to know how long it took me? All of about 15 or 20 minutes...if that. How lame am I? I spent a few days mulling over the fact that I wasn't doing the laundry. I probably spent over an hour thinking about how I should have been taking care of it. I need someone to remind me of that next time I consider putting it off.

Next laundry issue actually came up yesterday but I dealt with it today. Here's the deal: I have a 2-year old. This isn't an issue in and of itself but how her clothes end up as dirty as they do is a true mystery to me. When I went to pull an outfit out of her closet yesterday, I discovered that a few of Claire's shirts had obvious grease or oil stains on them. And they had already been laundered. This poses two questions. 1) How did I miss the stains the first time around? 2) When did my daughter roll around in a tub of Crisco? I mean, these stains were all over the place! End of story goes as follows: I pulled her hamper out of her room today and washed everything except for the tops with the grease-stains (which are sitting on the counter overnight being obliterated by a stain remover). But I know in a week or two, I'll discover another shirt or six with unnoticed stains on them. Maybe I should just put a raincoat on over her cute clothes every day.

Last thing...a couple of hours ago, I was up in the kitchen making a quick pizza sauce to set in the fridge. No biggie. I made the sauce, poured it into a jar, put the jar in the fridge, cleaned the pieces to my little mini-food processor, and wiped the counter down. I then did what any other person would do: I walked over to the fridge, opened it, and started to put the mini-processor on one of the shelves. Just before I actually set it down, I realized my lapse in intelligence and took it to its rightful home in one of my cupboards. Please tell me that you've done things like that...

ONE BIG BOOM

About 20 minutes ago, Claire and I were sitting in the kitchen when there was an enormous boom. It startled me, sent Miles running for the front door, and shook the house a bit. I went out front to see if there was evidence of anything and then called my friend across the street. Without any kind of greeting, she immediately said, "What was THAT?!" Neither of us could see anything outside so we ended the call, still a bit surprised and shaken.

Then a few minutes ago, she called me back and told me to look out my back window. Sure enough, there was a huge, dark grey plume of smoke rising up from the valley below. I checked online and found out that it was what we figured it must be: there was an explosion at an oil refinery a few miles from here.

I've been listening to the radio online and a number of people are calling in to report what they've seen, heard, etc. One lady that called lives about 20 miles north of here and said that she heard the boom. A man who lives in the same area that we do said that he thought that his plate glass sliding door was going to shatter. Another caller said that he was at a friend's house very close to the refinery. The house has 6 blown-out windows, the front door jam buckled, and their neighbor's garage door was blown in. Yikes!

The initial fire that created all that smoke is reportedly out now and that big cloud of smoke is slowly dissipating and blowing away. Here's hoping no one was hurt (or worse).

HELLO...WINTER?

About a week ago, the weather finally made a real dip down into more fall-like temperatures. I was thrilled to check out the local forecast online and see that we were supposed to get some rain with the highs being somewhere in the 50's and 60's. Little did I expect to look in my backyard around lunchtime on the 30th of September and see this:



Granted, there wasn't much snow and while a bit more of the white stuff did fall that afternoon and night, it wasn't nearly as bad as the 11th of October last year when we woke up to this:


I guess that when I think about it, this happens every year. We get an unexpected early snow whether it's a dusting like it was this last week or a real dumper like last year. But it still seems a bit early for snow. I'd like some good old fashioned colorful autumn before getting stuck inside for the winter.

GROCERY STORE TRIUMPH

As I normally do about 14 times each week, I went to the grocery store the other day. Everything was fine and dandy. I took a leisurely stroll through the market, working from produce on the right end over to the bakery and deli on the left end, checking out the sales, putting unnecessary items in my cart...you know, the usual. I finished up in the frozen foods section and as I exited the aisle and headed for the shortest (and coincidentally the nearest) line, a lady came speeding down the row of checkout stands, took a sharp turn to her right, and cut me off to get in the envied short line.

Ms. Speedy seemed to be avoiding looking at me and I avoided calling her bad names out loud. Even if she had looked at me, it's not like I'd have said anything anyway. If she's in that much of a rush and gets her jollies by putting herself first (and cutting someone off to do so) then whoop-dee-do for her. Besides, I realized that maybe she had a good reason for being a punk. Anyway, I just pushed my cart on further and got in the next checkout line over. I was behind 2 people in line and Ms. Speedy was behind a single lady who appeared to be just about out the door. Well, as her apparent bad luck would have it, said lady was extremely slow making her payment and such and as my good luck would have it (and did!), the people in front of me both took care of business in a more than timely manner. By the time my friend's groceries were just starting to be scanned, I was swiping my AMEX and ready to head out the door. And when she was just getting to her car, I was already in mine. Groceries loaded, daughter strapped in her car seat, and the engine of my dear Expedition roaring to life.

This was definitely a case of a person's self-serving actions backfiring on them. Shame on me, but I couldn't help but smile and gloat all the way home.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

So, as I slaved away at cleaning up my craft room/office last night, I kept finding all kinds of precious little treasures. Some of my favorites...

The Blue Day Book: my mom gave me this a few years ago. It's a really fun little book. Good for at least a few smiles and giggles. It's full of pictures of animals with a single line written below each (like the one with a pictures of a monkey sitting on top of a cactus and the line, "Maybe work is a pain in the butt."

An unopened copy of Anna and The King. It's a fantastic movie. But we already owned it when I received this copy when I was sick a little over a year ago so I tucked it away. And I mean really tucked it away. It has been sitting in the tornado alley that is my craft room for just as long.

I also found a baby teether that no one in our house has needed or used for close to a year.

Then there was the Pez dispenser with Santa's head on top. He's kind of a strange looking Santa...he has these white stripes on his face that I'm sure are supposed to be a moustache but they have light blue lines on them. What's up with that?

Oh - and Elmo's hand. No, we aren't doll/toy destroying weirdies...it's a paper hand that was ripped out of a board book we have. There's a pop-up Elmo at the end of it and his hand was apparently torn off when some excited child (aka Claire) was "reading" the book. And it wasn't the first time it had been amputated, either. It's totally covered in tape - obvious evidence of skillful tape-surgery on my part when Hudson was a tike. Now I just need to locate the book and perform my magic again.

Next we have my 2-lb. weights. Bought them years ago when I was working out to an exercise DVD a few times each week. I'm actually really glad I found them because I need to dust that DVD off and get crackin' on working out again.

There is also an old card that I found many years ago. It's a picture of Han Solo and Leia going in for a kiss. Her thought bubble says, "I'm the luckiest girl in the galaxy." and his says, "She's the luckiest girl in the galaxy." I still find it amusing.

Next we have a little plush bunny on a ribbon. It goes to a "plush"/fabric book that my mom gave to Hudson when he was just a wee toddler. You're supposed to move the bunny from page to page as it goes about getting ready for bed. Can't really do that when the cute little rodent hasn't been attached to the book for at least a couple of years now, can you?

Lastly is a little pair of white, tan, and pink argyle mittens that I purchased from Crazy 8 for Claire...about 18 months ago. Still new with tags. For some reason, I don't think she'll be using a pair of size 6-12 month mittens anytime soon.

Anyone want a DVD of Anna and The King or a pair of baby girl's mittens? Both are up for grabs and if you're the first one to leave a comment claiming one, it's all yours. I'll even pay the postage.

In my mission to clean up my messy room, I went through my old records and paper files (and I mean OLD) and found just a few things to shred.

The sink that my shredding stack is resting in is about 6 inches deep...nearly 5 inches of that is taken up by the papers. And speaking of the papers, I found some interesting stuff there, too. Like the sales contract and a copy of my insurance information from when I got my Land Rover Disco II. Not such horrible things to have. But I bought it back in 2003 and traded it in for my Expedition back in 2005. Not so sure that I need the paperwork anymore. I also found some documents from when we replaced all the windows. In our old house. Before Hudson was born. Uh....

The one thing that I found interesting in my going through all those papers (no paper cuts, by the way, thank you!) was a number of old bills from hospitals and documents from our insurance company showing the cost of some of the "stuff" we went through back in 2007 and early 2008. Here are a few fun figures:

Hospital charges for 2 nights/3 days when I had Claire:

Mine $4,729.85 (and that's before my OB or the anesthesiologist)

Claire's $1,473.63

MRI of my 1st spinal MRI back in November 2007: $1745.94 (one of the "cheap" MRI's I've ad)

Charges for my spinal surgery in November 2007:

Neurosurgeon $6,676.90

Hospital $49,632.81 (if I remember correctly, my tiny little titanium implants were around $5,000.00 alone)

Anesthesiologist $2, 925.00

Assistant Surgeon $4,000.00 (it was more than that but I can't find the paper now)

Charges for Max's hip resurfacing in February 2008:

Physician $5,225.00

Hospital $48,711.07

Charges for my brain surgery in March 2008:

Hospital $23,105.52

ENT $9,640.00

Neurosurgeon $$23,531.27

Anesthesiologist $2,111.00

I left out Max's two hand surgeries that were in September and October of 2007...didn't see any of the figures on those. All I can say is thank the heavens above for insurance, adjustments, and having met our out of pocket before my surgery in November '07. Granted we had to meet it again in '08 but that was taken care of with Max's hip surgery.

P.S. Also found some AWESOME recipes that had been hiding with Anna and The Kind in my ironing basket (where else should I have put them?). You can bet I'll be posting a few in the next week or so!

I AIN'T LAUGHING...

On Tuesday morning Hudson and I went to the dentist (aka my brother-in-law Robi). While Hudson had been to a pediatric dentist for a checkup once before, this was his first official cleaning...very belated, I know. Speaking of belated, I had not been to the dentist since Hudson was just a wee bern. As in about 4 years ago. Maybe even 4 years and a few months. So very naughty of me! But it's so totally not my fault. Robi up and moved to freaking Omaha, Nebraska. His youngest daughter didn't want to go because she was afraid of the "tomatoes" but they packed up and went anyway. And left me without a dentist. How rude.

Okay. Back to my story. So we went to the dentist. I think Hudson did better in the chair than I did...he completely rocked. Sat there calmly while the girl took his x-rays (except for when the digital disc made him gag at one point), breezed through his cleaning, and happily let Uncle Robi check his teeth with his tooth tickler. He does have a couple of tiny cavities in a back molar or two but thankfully Robi said that with continued brushing and flossing we may get away without filling them or having them get any worse for quite some time. Guess I need to kick up my at-home dental care a notch...bad mommy.

Then there was me. Like my little boy, I did fine through my x-rays. And my cleaning went well. But then Robi came along and ruined my good record....5 cavities to be filled. Now mind you, I was expecting the news to be FAR worse after my long absence from his chair. But that's not the point. Point is that Robi brought out his precious little tooth tickler and proceeded to tickle the largest of the holes in my teeth. Let me tell you a little secret: it didn't tickle at all. As a matter of fact, it really, really hurt. I considered biting off Robi's fingers but decided that may be a bit harsh. After this painful experience, I gladly left the chair and set an appointment to get my cavaties filled on Thursday/yesterday.

So yesterday afternoon, my awesome husband came home early and stayed with the kids while I went to spend some quality time in the chair at Robi's office. All five of the fillings were on the top, 2 on one side and 3 on the other. Aside from the typical "little pinch" when he injected the anesthetic and feeling a bit of the drilling on the aforementioned largest cavity, things went off without a hitch. When Robi was finished with his handiwork, I went to the sink for a quick rinse and spit....wait a cotton-pickin' minute! I couldn't freaking get the water in my mouth or spit it out properly. It was dribbling all over the place thanks to my upper lip being about 50% numb. The only part with normal feeling was the center. I quickly looked in the mirror and said something to myself and moved my mouth around so that I could assess the problem. I couldn't pucker or make fish lips. And while my lower lip and jaw looked normal when I smiled, my upper lip looked a wee wider and flatter than usual. The corners curved up and sat in a different way than normal...I looked like Jack Nicholson's Joker:

Thankfully, that morning I had decided against wearing my usual clown make-up so I wasn't quite a spitting image. But it was pretty un-awesome. And not terribly attractive.

As of yesterday evening, the numbness was gone. And my fillings weren't hurting one bit...bonus! But it didn't wear off until the end of a dinner with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in ages. I managed to get through the meal without too many problems but had issues with drinking my Dr. Pepper and eating strawberries as the juices tried to escape my pitiful lips.

NOTE TO SELF: In the future, do not schedule dental work for the same day that you have invited company over for dinner.

Okay, the dental work is over. But it's time for a RANDOM FLASHBACK: I couldn't help but smile when I heard (and sang along with) a commercial I heard from the next room as I typed this post last night. Cue Biz Markie: "And you say he's just a friend. And you say he's just a friend. OH BABY, YOU! You got what I neeeeed. And you say he's just a friend..."

It's going to be makin' my head bob the rest of the night.

IMAGINARY FRIENDS

When Hudson added his imaginary son, Seventy, to his list of favorite people/things the other day, I thought that doing a post about Hudson's little pal might be appropriate. Since then, I've been thinking about imaginary friends in general and how many kids do or don't have them.

I had an imaginary friend. Her name was Jefinner. I'm not even sure that I spelled it correctly but it was either that or Jeffiner and I think that the first looks better. Either way, I'm sure that you get that it was my way of saying Jennifer incorrectly. I don't remember ever playing with her but Jefinner was the coolest chick around. She had all the toys that I wanted but didn't have, went on the best vacations, did the most amazing things. Oh - and she had brown hair. I remember driving to the city with my family as a child and pointing out all of the houses that Jefinner lived in. Each time I saw what my little mind thought was a cool looking dwelling, I'd say something like, "That's where Jefinner lives." To which one of my family members would respond, "I thought you said that she lives in that pink house a few miles back." Then I would say something like, "Well, she used to live there. Then they moved to the new house a few days ago." Very flighty, that family of hers. Anyway, enough about my girl.

Seventy came to live with us some time ago - maybe a year or 18 months? He popped up out of the blue. I don't remember the first time that Hudson mentioned him but I do remember thinking, "Wow. That's an interesting name." I have two strong memories of Seventy, both being from sometime this last fall.

First, we were driving to Target one day and Hudson had just informed me that Seventy was in the back seat buckled in next to him. He then proceeded to tell me that Seventy's parents were in the car in front of us...the conversation then went something like this:

Me: "I thought that you were Seventy's dad."
Hudson: "Well, they're allergic to kids so he's going to be with us for like, a month."
Me (quietly laughing): "Okay."
Hudson: "Mom? Seventy is sad."
Me: "Why?"
Hudson: "Because someone shooted his mom with a gun-shooter (aka gun) and she died."
Me: "I thought she was in the car in front of us."
Hudson: "I know. I'm just kidding...she's just going to the doctor."

Uhhhhh, okay then!

Second memory takes place in our local WalMart. We were walking through the store when Hudson starts hollering at the top of his lungs, "SEVENTY! SEVENTY!" I asked him what in the world he was doing and he informed me that Seventy had walked away from us and that he was trying to find him. I wasn't even aware that he was with us on this particular trip...had I known, I would have informed both Hudson and Seventy that they needed to stay with me while we were in there. And yes, I have spoken to Seventy before. Usually to keep him in check by telling him to stop talking or to knock off whatever nonsense he's pulling.

Yesterday evening a neighbor/friend came over for a minute and we somehow got on the topic of imaginary friends. She friend said that neither of her boys ever had one. But her sister did. And that imaginary friend's name? Black Monkey. When she told me that, I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it and I'm guessing that you just did the same. Am I right?

I told her about a niece of ours who had an imaginary friend that once scared my poor sister-in-law half to death. My SIL was upstairs when she suddenly heard her daughter screaming downstairs. She ran down wondering what was happening as they were the only two home. Her little girl was standing in the middle of the room crying her eyes out. "What is going on?!" Our niece pointed to one side and yelled, "She started it!" Turns out she'd gotten into a massive argument with her imaginary friend. If that had been Jefinner, I would have dropped her like a hot potato.

All in all, imaginary friends are fun. Lots of fun.

Now here's my request to each and every one of you: Please e-mail me with a list of the imaginary friends that you, your spouse, or your children have had along with an experience that you don't mind sharing (if you can remember one...but at least tell me who had the friend and the friend's name). I'd like to do a post in the next couple of weeks with all of these fun tidbits in it. If you need my e-mail address, just leave a comment stating such and I'll send it to you.

AN UNSATISFIED CRAVING

I really love me some fish. Any kind of seafood (except maybe raw oysters). I love shrimp, scallops, salmon, squid/calamari, mussels, swordfish, clams, Ahi tuna, halibut, and so on. Yum, yum, yum.

Mahi Mahi

Yesterday I was very close to a Rubio's Baja Grill where I could have easily grabbed myself some uber-tasty fish tacos for lunch. But I had Claire in tow and was picking up lunch for Max, his brother, and Hudson so I opted to just get a Pad Thai rice noodle bowl (with shrimp) at the restaurant where I was getting lunch for everyone else. Figured that I'd somehow feed my fish-craving at dinner.

Dinnertime came. We picked up hot dogs and pizza for Max and Hudson, respectively, at Costco. I wasn't super hungry and still had a hankering for a meal that revolved around some fabulous fine-finned friend (say that three times fast). So I waited until Claire was down and my tummy said it really wanted to eat. I then called down to our local Cafe Rio to make sure that they were running the usual Saturday special: Mahi Mahi fish tacos. Yes, indeedy, there were. So I hopped in the car and headed to Rio, making a quick stop at the market/pharmacy on the way.

I arrived at Cafe Rio, practically drooling at the thought of those tasty vittles. Two corn tortillas filled with Mahi Mahi and fresh cabbage. A slice or two of fresh lime on the side (an absolute MUST) and a little container full of their Creamy Tomatillo dressing/sauce. Don't care about the rice or anything else on the side. I just need that fish in those tacos. Mmmmmm. I'm drooling again.

I walked up to the counter and said, "Two mahi mahi tacos, please." I really did say "please" at the end. And you know what the lady's response was? "I'm all out of mahi mahi." I BEG YOUR PARDON?! I just waited to eat my dinner so I'd be really hungry and then drove all the way down the hill specifically to get these tacos. And you're "ALL OUT"? She's lucky I'd had some berry smoothie from Costco and that my stomach wasn't actually growling...because it just might have been angry enough to jump out and bite her on lip for such language.

I settled on a chicken tostada. Quite the tasty dish but not my precious fish tacos. As of this evening, I'm officially craving them about 82 times worse than I craved them yesterday. My mission this week? At least one meal of fish tacos. That means I either have to drive about 15 minutes to get some at Rubio's in the city or wait until Saturday for Rio to offer them on their special again. Guess which one it will be...

IT SMELLED LIKE WHAT?

I stayed up late last night. Climbed a mountain of laundry and washed and folded it all. Finally made up the bed in the guest room which had been stripped of any decency since my parents left in early February. Wrote a few long-overdue thank you notes and got them ready to drop in the mail this morning. In the midst of all of this, I went to check on my kids...

With a quick glance through his cracked door, I could see that Hudson was out cold and all was normal. His arms were in kind of sprawled-our positions and his mouth was hanging open, ready to catch moths or bats or owls or whatever imagined creatures might happen to fly around his room at night.

Next was a stop by Claire's room. Her door was closed (as it is at the beginning of every night) and as I opened it up and walked in, I couldn't help but notice the smell of:

Chinese food.

What? Yes, my friends, you read it correctly. Chinese food. Won Ton Soup? Spring Rolls? Sweet and Sour Pork? Peking Duck? Fried Rice? I have no clue exactly what dish it was but I'll be a monkey's uncle (or aunt) if her room wasn't a dead smelly-ringer for our kitchen on a night when we've brought home take-out. The rest of the upstairs smelled like the Mexican Chicken Soup I made for dinner last night. If anything, shouldn't her room have reeked of that? Besides, we haven't had Chinese food since I made Foil Wrapped Ginger Chicken about a week ago.

Everything else in her room was totally standard for an evening's check: Claire asleep on her tummy in her crib, floor free of toys, closet doors closed, no garbage on the changing table. I walked over to her closet and opened it, pulling her dirty clothes out of her hamper. The whole time I'm doing this, I'm thinking, "The stench of a poopy diaper I can understand. But seriously, CHINESE FOOD? What dish am I smelling anyway?" As I left, I stuck the foam "u" on the door that keeps it from closing all the way. And then I stopped the door from reaching the frame long before that "u" could even come in handy. It aired out just fine overnight...no fortune cookies in her room this morning.

Hopefully tonight's scent will be something a little less greasy and salty. Perhaps something chocolate. Or something with a citrus or fruity tinge to it. I'd like to order up something sweet, please.

AN ORDINARY TRIP TO COSTCO

Shopping at Costco is risky business and never turns out as planned. It's like going to a candy store to pick up some chocolate - which, of course, is very much needed - and leaving with more chocolate than was needed. Along with two pounds of Holland Mints, some caramels (they just looked too good), a large lollipop, and a pack of discounted Christmas colored jelly beans. Do any of these things go un-eaten or un-used? Is it wrong to buy them? Are you a bad person for perusing the aisles and looking at each item? No...but that is what makes Costco like a giant black hole that sucks away any logical thinking and the ability to follow any list or plan you may have had. And this happens the second you flash your card at the door.

My all-time cheapest, least risky, and most successful Costco trip happened some time ago. I went in for a bottle of Kirkland's generic Motrin/Ibuprofen and came out with...a bottle of Kirkland's generic Motrin/Ibuprofen. It cost me less than $9.00. I was so proud of myself, I think I actually called Max to tell him about this.

On the other end of the spectrum are the numerous times I've gone there to pick up 4 items and came out with 12, only 1 of which was on my original list as I ended up forgetting to get the other 3 items.

Here is today's Costco experience: Max had the day off because of the holiday today. We didn't have any plans for the day but we did have a short list of things that we needed to get at Costco (no really - we did need them). So we all hopped in the car and set out for the Black Hole. We didn't forget anything and came home with everything on our list. Plus a bottle of olive oil, an extra case of water bottles, ravioli, disposable cloths for our dust mop, Go-Gurts, and a berry smoothie from the food court.

Unexpected purchases at Costco...if that isn't ordinary, I don't know what is.