The General is coming to the party!!!!

OMG! I just got a call from Mrs. Ham (the General's wife) and they are coming to Indy's b-day party! WOW! She said they have another event later in the afternoon and can't stay for the whole thing, but would love to stop by for a while, if that's okay. If that's okay? Are you kidding me? That is awesome. Indy is going to be over the moon. I called M at work and told him and I think he nearly fainted. He asked me what we were going to do, and I told him we are going to do exactly what we have already planned, which is throw Indy a kick ass birthday party. The party is about Indy, not the General. Though it's so cool of him to show up. If you don't know what all this is about, scroll down and read yesterday's post.

Random Thoughts Tuesday, Awards, Generals and other nonsense. Now with pictures!

Random Thoughts Tuesday, now with pictures!


*Germans call "ER" (you know, the TV show) "Emergency Room" I don't know why, but it always cracks me up to hear them say it on TV. "Jetzt (now) Emergency Room." Why not call it "ER?"

*They call "Murder, She Wrote" "Murder is her hobby"

*We get quality TV over here, as you can tell.

*I had my first session with my personal trainer yesterday. I can barely move my fingers to type this post. She's evil. In a cute, peppy, I-only-want-the-best-for-you way. I can't believe I pay her for this.

*In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

*We happen to live right next to the Commanding General of the US Army Europe. He lives in a big compound that we can see from Indy's bedroom window. Indy has been driving me crazy to invite the General to his b-day party. I KNOW! He says the General is our neighbor and we are very rude not to invite him to anything. When we went on the boat ride the other night, guess who was there? That's right, the General. Indy freaked out and said he had to meet the General. I took him up to meet him and the General and his wife could not have been nicer. Indy told them all about the party and that he wanted to invite them (even though I've already explained that the General probably won't be able to come). They were gracious and said we could bring an invite over to them one evening this week. Here is a photo of Indy with General Ham (he has his own Wikipedia page)


We went over last night to deliver said invite, but General and Mrs. Ham weren't home. Indy was bummed, but he asked the guard if they could deliver it for him. The guards said that would not be a problem and called me later to let me know that it had been delivered. M, being a lowly W1 (not really low in the grand scheme of things, but certainly not 'hanging out with the General' rank) has stayed far away from all of this. Silly man.

*Kids laugh approximately 600 times a day. Adults laugh on average only 15 times a day.

*M is death to anything electronic. Seriously. He has killed more laptops than any human who is not electrically charged should. His latest, which he's had for a year and a half died today. Now we have to get him a new one. Should I be concerned that the US Gov't entrusts him with multi-million dollar computer thingies (that's the technical term)? Maybe the gov't should be worried.

*Indy thinks M needs a blog nickname. He's suggested Grumpy (for obvious reasons) and Hound Dog (because he says M likes to sleep all the time like a lazy hound dog). M was not impressed when I told him.

*I was given two awards (TWO!) by the super duper awesome Jenny Mac over at Let's Have A Cocktail. Have you ever been there? If not, you should check it out. She's awesome and oh, so funny and real. And she thinks I'm fab, so she is obviously a woman of taste. :) I'll be giving said awards out either tomorrow or Thursday. You never know, you might get one. (See, this is how I get repeat readers).

*My oldest dog, Pepper, has an ear infection. It smells. Over share?

*One-third of all potatoes sold become French Fries.

*I read somewhere that polar bears are left handed. How do they know that? And technically, they don't even have hands, so how can that be?

*Cerulean Blue <----RANDOM!


*And finally, a funny picture to close out the randomness. You need to click the photo and read the advert on the side of the bus.

"If you don't have GIO Third Party Property Insurance, we suggest you don't hit this bus."

Thanks once again to the Un Mom for sponsoring all the randomness!

Indy's 7th birthday and Neckar River cruise

Indy turned 7 on Saturday! I cannot believe that my sweet, tiny little baby is 7! He's such a big boy! This is him when he was new. Look how little he is! That was a preemie outfit and it swallowed him whole.



Yes, that is a normal size coffee mug. He was super tiny.

Today we got up and had breakfast together then he got to open 1 present (his party is next Sat, so we have to save most of them for the party). He opened the Wii LEGO Indiana Jones video game, which I have to say is awesome. It's the first game we've ever bought for him (he prefers to be outdoors). M and I spent most of the morning playing it with Indy cheering us on. As a result of not owning video games, Indy's not too good at them, which IMO is not a bad thing.

In the afternoon we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (yay!) and Indy won the costume contest. He came home with a HUGE jar of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. A jar full of sugar. Just what he needs. Later in the evening, we went downtown for a boat ride down the Neckar River. The Warrant Officer's Association sponsored the trip so M was kind of obligated to go. It was so much fun. Every summer, up and down the river they have castle illuminations, which means they light the castles up and simulate the burning of them (apparently most of the castles were burned at some point or other during their history) and put on big fireworks displays. The castles we went to see are just down from Heidelberg in a little town called Neckarsteinach. There are 4 castles on the mountains in various stages of ruin. Actually, one of them is NOT a ruin and is still inhabited.

At the dock in HD.


M and Indy.


My sweet baby.


Waving to one of the many, many other boats out on the river.


Part of the old fortifications of HD.


Heidelberg. Can you believe I live here?


The Alte Brucke (old bridge) and city gate.


Houses across the river. The lady sitting next to me was German and told me that some of these houses are actually fraternity houses from the University. Not bad for Frat houses.



Indy waving to other boats in the lock. He was fascinated by the whole lock system. They packed as many boats as they could into the lock before flooding it to raise us up. It was actually quite cool.


Cruising along.


Several of Indy's friends were on the boat, which made it even better for him.


Hey! There I am.


Scenery.



This is the castle that is still inhabited. It was getting difficult to get good photos as it got darker. Actually, if I knew how to use my fancy schmancy camera, I probably could have gotten some better shots.



This castle is now a ruin. It was built in the 1200's. M and I hike up to it several years ago. It's very cool. You can go up into the towers and look down at the layout of the castle. They were just starting to illuminate them in this photo.


Part of the town along the river. They had a huge festival going on.



I played around with my camera settings and actually got a pretty interesting shot of some of the fireworks.


I hope you enjoyed Indy's birthday cruise as much as we did. Next Sat is the BIG Indiana Jones party. Pray for me.

Dear So and So 6: Return of the Jedi and the Shoe Show!

Oh, double duty post today! I've got Dear So and So AND the shoe show going on today! My 2 favorite things rolled into one day: griping and shoes. Woohoo! Let's start with DS&S, shall we?



Dear Creativity/Inspiration,
I appreciate that you visit me, I really, really do. I realize that you don't work on any particular schedule and come whenever you feel like it, but could you please just do me on, itty, bitty, teensy, weensy favor? If it is at all possible, could you please, oh please, make your visits a little earlier in the day? Getting the urge to make invitations/empty toilet roll torches/braided whips/etc for Indy's b-day party at 11pm is so not cool. You know I can't go to bed while you're rattling around in my brain. Would it really be so bad to strike around, oh say, 1pm? I'd really appreciate it because right now, you're kind of keeping me up late. Can you manage that? KTHNXBYE!
Tired,
MIHH



Dear George Lucas,
You might get it from the title of this post that I am something of a Star Wars fan. Return of the Jedi came out when I was 10. It was my favorite movie forever. I so loved Han Solo. It could have something to do with my pre-pubescent crush on Harrison Ford, I don't know, but I loved that movie. In fact, I loved ALL of the original Star Wars movies. Yes, the special effects are terrible by today's standards, but for their time, they were freaking amazing. I was (and still am) so disappointed with the "prequels." You wrapped Star Wars around trade tariffs? WTF? Even with all the high tech special effects, they just weren't good. TRADE TARIFFS?
I understand you have a Star Wars TV series in the works. If it's anything like that travesty that was "The Clone Wars" I would appreciate it if you would just stop right now. Don't you have enough money? Must you continue to poop all over my childhood memories? The characters I loved are now all wrapped up in these horrible animated versions that have nothing of the originals in them. Please, for the sake of all those wonderful memories, just let Star Wars go. Let it live on in cinematic history,but leave it alone.
Disgusted,
MIHH





Dear House,
Look, we've got to come to some sort of agreement here. I've put things away, I've wiped things down and I washed things. Why are you still a mess? Can't you help me out here? This is just getting crazy. I'm thinking of moving because you won't get your act together. Then what? You'll get someone in here who doesn'tmake you look pretty, that's what? Is that what you want? Is it? Get your shiznit together!
Disgusted,
MIHH



Dear Idiots Parents of children that you can't handle but are totally "desperate" to have another one,
First off, you need a shorter moniker. Secondly, I am sick to death of you. Why, oh why, do you want another child when you avoid the one you have at all costs because s/he is a holy terror? You gripe and moan about how much work s/he is and how tired you are and how you’re just burned out at the end of the day. Do you think it will be easier if you add another one to the mix? I’m pretty sure it won’t. Yes, babies are cute and adorable, but they grow up and turn into what you already have. Please, do us all a favor and do not inflict another child you “can’t handle” onto the world.
Mother of 1,
MIHH

Now, onto the shoe show!!!!! You know I’ve been waiting for this right? It was really, really,really hard to figure out which shoes to show you. This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg, but I went for a spring/summer feel. Did you know that I have 62 pairs of and boots? Shhhh. Don’t tell M. Did you also know it’s really hard to take good photos of your own feet? It’s true. Try it. I took photos in my shoes because, shoes must be on a foot to be truly appreciated. Ah, enough of this chit chat, let’s look at some shoes!
The first 2 pair I wear quite a lot. The heels are just gorgeous on the first pair, and who doesn’t need a cute pair of red wedges? Nobody!

The first pair have about a 2 inch heel to them. Cute huh? The second pair are Anne Klein that retailed for $90,but TJMaxx had them for $45, but I scored them on clearance for $15! Bargain! And just look at that toe cleavage! Proper shoes with a bit of sex to them!


These are some of my all time favorite shoes. Both pair! Aren’t they to die for? They are fuzzy, which is hard to tell in the photos, but trust me. They also have gorgeous candy apple red bottoms. And really good toe cleavage.


These two are my “go to” shoes. If I’m running out the door and need some shoes, I’ll go with one of these. The first pair are the ones I wear most. I have a brown pair almost identical, but without the buckles.


When I’m feeling very Sex and the City, I can wear the first pair, and when I’m felling 1940’s Pearl Harbor, I can wear the second pair.

I love the first pair here. Very comfy and the second pair,well,every girls needs a good pair of sneakers. :) I have 4 other pairs of high/heel or wedge sneakers too, but these are my favorties. Look at that color! BTW, my shoes do actually fit me. They look big because of the way I was leaning over and putting pressure on the balls of my feet so I could get the pics.

Oh, I’ve had this pair for years! Aren’t they adorable? They’re so cute, I had to take 2 pics.

Indy picked out the first pair here when he was about 3 and a half. He liked the bugs on them. I bought the second pair at the same time, because you need a little bling sometimes and what's more bling-y than gold lame heels studded with faux stones? I feel like JLo (minus the bootay) when I wear them.


Aren’t they all lovely? I’d love to show you all of my shoes, but I’m afraid it would use up all of bloggers bandwidth.
Have a lovely weekend and thanks for stopping by. Do you have a favorite pair from the photos? Let me know in the comments!

More Twilight Deliciousness

Yep, I'm a dork, but I can't wait! If this is like the book, Edward isn't in much of it though. Sadness. Yeah, Jake is all buffed up in this movie, but he's not Edward.
Enjoy anyway.

RTT! Aerosmith, Chocolate and other things

Randomness! I love it. My brain hurts. Let's get it out shall we?

*Have you ever taken all the keys off your computer keyboard and cleaned under them? A few of my keys weren't going down all the way and it was annoying so I decided to see what was under them. It was disgusting. Seriously. Gross. There was dog hair, people hair (mostly mine), pretzel salt, and other various bits and crumbs of whatever. I seriously thought about just tossing the whole thing she was so gross. But I have a lot of stuff on it and it would cost a pretty penny to replace her (her name is Yuka, BTW. She's Japanese). In the interest of frugality and laziness (who has time to copy all those files?) I cleaned her up and put all the keys back on. I'm happy to report that the keys now all work beautifully. If you do this, the first thing you should do is make sure you know where the keys actually go or you could end up typing a 'c' every time you mean to type a 'v' and it makes spell check go crazy.

*I painted my bedroom a gorgeous chocolate brown. I'm wondering if I'll crave chocolate in my sleep.

*I dreamed about Aerosmith last night (not dark chocolate). Weird. Steven Tyler kept following me around and singing "Love in an Elevator" and telling me I should ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster at WDW. It is an awesome ride, BTW.

*There are buttons on the sleeves of military coats because it grossed out a Navy captain when sailors wiped their noses on their sleeves. He had buttons added so they couldn't do it anymore.

*Indy's 7th birthday is on Saturday and it's killing me. He's growing up so fast. He was sick the other night, so I let him sleep with me. M is still TDY and it was easier on me I worried about him. He almost never sleeps with us, unless we are on a trip. He went to bed before me and was asleep when I came in. When I crawled in bed, he reached over (in his sleep) and grabbed my hand. I cried. I know there aren't going to be many more times when just the comfort holding my hand is going to make him content. Man, now I'm sad. My baby!

*The couple in the painting American Gothic were actually the artists' (Grant Wood) sister and dentist.

*Ritz crackers are my own personal crack. I seriously cannot function if there's one in the room with me because all I can think about is how delicious they are. I love them and could eat an entire box in one sitting if I let myself.

*The first season of Friends is really bad. Ever catch it on reruns? Yeah, I know you do. It was just bad. I'm amazed it got picked up for a second season. I'm glad it did though. I still miss that show.

*When dh and I were newly married, we used to watch Mad About You and wonder if they were following us around before writing their scripts. Not that we lived in NY or anything, but we had many of those same conversations/arguments.

*You know how you can sometimes get a teeny-tiny little bump on your face that no one even notices, but you feel like has a giant blinking Looney Tunes style arrow pointing towards it? You know how you're NOT supposed to mess with it because it will just go away on it's own, but you can't and then it turns into a weird little red thing with a scab? Yeah, I thought you would. Here's a tip: if you do mess with it and make it a weird red thing, make sure it has scabbed over before you put retinol cream on your face. You'll thank me for this.

*The names of Popeye's four nephews are Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye! Poor, poor
Poopeye.

*I wonder if all the people who bought the Amazon Kindle when it was $399 are now pissed that it's $299. BTW, if you're looking for the perfect gift for me, this is it! They won't send in to Europe though, which doesn't make sense. I know you can't use the Whispernet feature, but I can still hook it up to my computer and download books. Come on, Amazon!

*Ever wonder why we have 5 fingers and toes? What is so special about 5, other than the fact that you can count to 10?

Whew! I feel better. Head over to Keely's, grab the button and let loose!

And that's the way it was....

When I was a little girl (seriously, little, ages 4-7 ***EDIT my mom says this started when I was about 2) I loved to watch the news. Odd, I know, but there was something about knowing what was going on in the world around me that I found exciting. Every evening, I would sit in my dad's lap (he's also a newsie and probably where I got it from) and we would watch it together. He would patiently explain things I didn't understand and we would discuss things way beyond my age level. This was a special time between me and my dad that I will carry with me forever. The man who delivered us the news was of course, Walter Cronkite. He condensed a whole days worth of news and human interest stories into a calm, comforting half hour show. His voice was soothing and his manner serious, but friendly. Even in the midst of a crisis, he was there to report on in and somehow reassure that it would, somehow, be all right.
When I heard of his death the other day, I actually cried. I had never met the man, but he was such an integral part of my childhood that I felt the loss keenly. He reported on some of the most important events of the 20th century and did so with a dignity and respect that is often missing in today's rapid fire, on the go, scroll at the bottom, interchangeable reporter, newscasts. He will be missed. And that's the way it is.