Random Thoughts Tuesday: Springing forward, AFN and baseball

Oh, RTT how I've missed you. Oh, I know we just got together a week or so )ago, but you my friend are so necessary for my sanity.



*For those who read and commented on my previous post, let me clarify something. In no way shape or form could I pass for 27. The guard is a bit older and I'm sure everyone under the age of 40 looks like their in the late 20's to him.

*Europe did their spring forward this past weekend and I am not adjusting well.  Neither is Indy.

*I think changing time is stupid.  I've never really understood the logic behind it.  I've read the ideas and the studies behind it, but I'm not convinced.  All it does is mess with people's heads and schedules.

*Baseball's Opening Day is almost here!!!!  I'm so excited I could burst.  I can absolutely feel it in my bones that this year is the year the Cubs will win the World Series.  Or if not, maybe next year.  I am the eternal optimist.  Go Cubs!

*I have a sore throat.  Boo!

*Babe Ruth was left handed, but played right handed in school because they had no left handed gloves.

*Spring slipped in a few days ago and gave us all a taste of the gloriousness that is slightly warm weather and sunshine, before winter came back and slapped us all in the face.  Our forecast calls for snow this weekend!  SNOW!  Ack!

*A regulation baseball has 108 stitches.

*I hate the stupid "commercials" on AFN.  They are not allowed to play American commercials (something to do with the SOFA agreement), so they fill the commercial time with PSA's and stupid little commercials about military life.  For those of you who have never had the joy of watching an AFN commercial, here are a few for your viewing pleasure.






Jealous????? I know you are.

*Fidel Castro was once a star baseball player for the University of Havana. Imagine how different things might be if he'd been drafted by a US team.

*The time change messes with my stomach. I want to eat at all the wrong times.

*Indy lost his TV for 4 days. This is really more of a punishment for me. When he gets to watch TV after we're finished with school work, I can get a few minutes of silence. When he loses his TV, it's non-stop chatter.

*The very first baseball game was played on June 19,1845, across the Hudson River in Hoboken, New York.

*My first MLB game was in August 1990. I went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.  I still have the ticket stub.  They won.

*It's now almost 10am and I haven't had breakfast yet.  Crap.  Stupid time change.

*Since I have to go eat, I'll leave you with this.  How very specific.

siebenunddreißig

German lesson: siebenunddreißig-literally, seven and thirty, or as we would say, thirty-seven. Why siebenunddreißig? Because that's how old I am today! WHAT? Yep, I am officially in my late 30's.  Man, my parents are OLD.  They have a child in her late 30's.  ;)


Yesterday I had a funny, but very uplifting conversation with one of gate guards on post.  He looked at my id card and noticed that my birthday was the next day (remember this was yesterday).

Guard:  Ihr Geburtstag ist morgen.-(Your birthday is tomorrow)
Me:  Ja.-Yes. 
Guard: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag-(Happy Birthday!)
Me: Danke-Thanks  
Guard:  Wie viele Jahre haben Sie?- (How old will you be?) {literally:  how many years do you have?}
Me:  Siebenunddreißig-thirty-seven
Guard:  Ich denke du meinst siebenundzwanzig-(I think you mean twenty-seven)
Me:  Nein, nein siebenunddreißig-(No, no.  Thirty-seven.)
Guard [switching to English]:  Siebenunddreißig means thirty-seven.
Me [also in English]  I know.  That's how old I'll be:  thirty-seven.  [pulling my ID back out and showing him the year I was born]
Guard:  Oh, well.  You look great.  Happy Birthday.
Me:  Thanks!  {float home feeling much better about my age}


This morning Mr. HH took the dogs out for me (I usually take them in the mornings) and let me sleep in.  Around 9am, he and Indy brought me breakfast in bed (apple pancakes-my favorite-turkey bacon and hot tea), then we walked over to the flea market, but it was a bit of a bust today because it was raining on and off.  Tonight, the Contessa is watching Indy while Mr. HH takes me out somewhere.  He won't tell me where, just that we have reservations and I should dress nice.  Ooooooh.  Curious!


So, there is is.  My birthday.  Happy birthday to me!

My paper bag wreath

Finally, the big reveal! Remember how I was drooling over the wreath from Mary Janes and Galoshes? I actually finished it a few days after this post because I really did feel like a slacker, but forgot to show it to you! How silly of me!  I didn't have a cool paper punch like MJ&G does, so I had to cut all my circles out with my handy-dandy circle cutter. Here are my supplies:  Circle cutter, straight pins, paper bags, crazy edge scissors, styrofoam wreath and Matilda, my glue gun, who was feeling a bit shy and didn't want to be photographed.  She always says I photograph her bad side and was being quite insistent that I not take her photo.  She can be such a drama queen.

So, I started by cutting 3 inch circles.  Several of them had words on them, but I figured I'd work something out with them later.

When I first started cutting, I was only getting 6 per bag, but this felt somehow wasteful.  See?

So, I thought about it and examined the bags. How to get more per bag? Of COURSE! Open the bag and lay it flat! Genius!

Now I could get 12 circles per bag. I've just doubled my productivity!  I should be running a Fortune 500 company.  They'd be lucky to have me!

After I cut out approximately 90 gazillion circles, I folded them in half (I could cut 3 at a time) and used my crazy scissors to make the edges funky.  Really, if I were truly smart, I would have gone to the store and bought a nifty crinkle edge circle cutter, but clearly I am insane and chose to do this all by hand.  Maybe I should NOT be running a Fortune 500 company after all.  Then I took the end of pen and folded my little circle around it to make it all cook looking.

Then I started placing them on the wreath.  I did some using straight pins before I glued so I could see how full I wanted the wreath and how close together I wanted the circles.  I wanted a full wreath and packed them quite closely, which naturally meant that I had to go back and cut about 20 gazillion more circles.

Close up!  Clever me,  you can't even see the words on some of the circles can you?  With proper placement, you don't even know they're there.

It's pretty already isn't it???? Squeeeeeeeeel!!!!!!  I then took them all off and glued them back on.  Really, this took forever and any traces of  fingerprints I had left from my last project with Matilda were completely obliterated. And thus begins my life of crime.

When I was at the flea market a few weeks ago, I purchased an old (not old old, just a few years old) book of music for the recorder that had some interesting aging to is and cut out some butterflies in varying sizes.  I did the same with some pretty scrap book paper and glued them on.

Cute, huh?  Want to see the whole thing?  Really?  I haven't bored you yet?  Of course I haven't!  Here she is:

Do you love it?????   Cause I do!  Everyone comments on it when they come to my door.  When I tell them I totally copied it made it myself, they tell me how absolutely talented and amazing I am.  All true, of course.

Here it is dressed up for Easter with a few simple ribbons and some eggs.

And since we're looking at them, here's a close up of my other Easter decor:

Isn't that little bunny the sweetest thing?

I hope you enjoyed finally seeing my wreath.  It is makes my door happy.

Letters to a soldier: I'm featured!

Hello everyone! Today I'm featured on LettersToASoldier.com!  I'm cool like that.  :)  It's nothing fancy or anything (though I'm featured, so it must be awesome), but how exciting for me. I'd really, really, really appreciate it if you could click the little button to vote for me, so I can move up in the site list.

Mom in High Heels

Place your vote for Mom in High Heels and find more Support Our Troops at LetterToASoldier.com.

Now, I'm going to work on my quest for blog domination and work on getting a Colbert Bump.  Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Random Tuesday: Can I say that?

It's that time. Get with it.

*Mr. HH came home on Sunday. He stopped and picked me up some flowers for our missed anniversary. Wasn't that nice?

*The other day a friend (a dear friend) took Indy to the "big park" with her kids giving me 3 blessed hours of quiet (a dear, dear, dear friend). I read some of my book club book and relished in the lack of chatter.

*That same night Indy and I were eating dinner and we had a conversation something like this:

Indy: Mom, some big kids did terrible graffiti in the top of slide tower (the big park has a fort like structure that is amazing and mostly enclosed with 6 or 7 tube slides of varying heights and levels of twists).

Me: Really? That's not very nice.

Indy: No, it's not. They drew a naked lady!

Me: Well...

Indy: Yeah. Teenagers. Why do the have to act like that? Know what else was up there?

Me [afraid to ask]: What?

Indy: A bunch of...[looks left and right, cups his hand around his mouth and speaks in a stage whisper] wieners!

Me:  Um, ookaaay.  Listen, I'm not really a fan of that word.  You should use the proper terminology and call it a [can't believe I'm saying this at the dinner table] penis.

Indy:  REALLY?  Can I say that?

Me:  Yes, as long as you use it properly.

Indy:  Wow!  Well then, a bunch of [looks left and right, cups his mouth and stage whispers] PENISES!

Me:  facepalm


*72 degrees is the official "room temperature"

*2 days after the above dinner conversation, Indy and I were watching a movie.  He grabbed the remote and paused it.  I asked him what he was doing and he responded as he ran off toward the bathroom:  I have to pee before my PENIS explodes.  Double facepalm.

*I feel guilty if I don't update my facebook status at least once a week.

*Good to know:

Now, click that weird and disturbing button at the top of the post and head over to Keely's and check out all the random.

Lunch with Indy

Homeschooling has a lot of pros and cons. One of the pros (most of the time) is that Indy and I get to have lunch together every day. Well, some days, like today, I'm the super cool mom and let him eat lunch in the school room and watch a little Scooby Doo, but most days we eat together.
Making lunch every day (okay, almost every day, some days I'm the super duper cool mom and take him to McDonald's or his favorite Italian restaurant for brick over pizza) is sometimes a challenge. If it were just me, I'd eat a bowl a cereal. Having to feed the boy though, I try to be responsible and make sure he eats something semi-healthy. Most days we do eat healthy, but I let him throw in some chips or other non-healthy options and we're both happy. Today we hit the healthy jackpot. Lunch today consisted of whole wheat pita pockets stuffed with romaine lettuce, broccoli sprouts (Indy is wild about those) and tuna salad made with celery, dill relish and a smidgen of ranch dressing, celery stuffed with cream cheese, toasted spinach tortillas and red pepper hummus. It was so yummy. I was getting it together when Indy came in the kitchen. Here's some snippets of our conversation:

Indy (staring at the celery and cream cheese on the counter): Celery? AND cream cheese? Oh, mama! You know what I like!
Me: Look good?
Indy: I cannot wait. Give me the big pieces of celery. I'll be in the school room.

A few minutes later when lunch was still in the works, he came back to investigate what was taking so long:

Indy: You're making me 2 pitas right?
Me: Right.
Indy: You know how I love those pitas.
Me: Yes I do.
Indy: You put sprouts in it?
Me: Of course.
Indy: Good. Lots of sprouts?
Me: Yes.
Indy: Okay then. [looking over at the hummus on his plate] What is that?
Me: Hummus.
Indy [looking skeptical] Do I eat hummus?
Me [praying he would eat it]: Of course you do.
Indy: Are you sure?
Me: Yyyeeeeessss. [Brilliant idea comes to me] You know, they eat lots of hummus in Egypt. [I have no idea if they eat hummus in Egypt, but I figured they probably do]
Indy: Oh. Oh, of course they do. I'll bet Indiana Jones eats hummus.
Me: YES! I'm certain he does. He probably loves it.
Indy [licking his lips]: Oh, yeah.

He carried his lunch into the school room and the Scooby Doo watching commenced. I walked in a few minutes later to see how it was going. The hummus and spinach tortilla chips were gone.

Me: So, how was that hummus?
Indy: Delicious! Can I have some more?

Again, this is clearly I sign that I have superior parenting skills. If I tell the boy Indiana Jones eats it, he'll eat anything.

I should note that the boy ate 2 half pitas, I ate one. He had 4 HUGE celery sticks with cream cheese, I had 2. He had about 2.5 tbsp of hummus with tortilla chips, I had about 1 tbsp. He already out eats me at 7. I have no idea what we'll do when he's a teenager.

A Little Pink in a World of Camo: I Will Always Be a Marine Wife

A Little Pink in a World of Camo: I Will Always Be a Marine Wife

A Little Pink in a Camo World-the ultimate sacrifice

This is not the post I had planned for today.  I was going to join in to Dear So and So and write silly little letters to people who've made me crazy during the week.  Just another day.  Before posting though, I went over to a military spouses board that I frequent and learned some heart breaking news.  On Sunday 14 March, 26 year old Cpl Jonathan Daniel Porto was killed while on duty in Afghanistan. His 23 year old wife of less than a year had their first child on 15 Jan, 2010.  Today, she will be flying to Florida to arrange his funeral.  This is one of thousands of stories that happen every day to military families.  Please keep them all in your thoughts.
You can read an amazingly beautiful and sad post written by Rachael on her blog A Little Pink in a Camo World.  There are also moving photos of the Cpl's casket being unloaded at Dover AFB here.

Mr. HH is Army, but to Rachael I say, Semper Fi.

The story of a boy and a girl

Fifteen years ago today a 21 year old girl married a 22 year old boy. They were both still in college, working part time at the mall and had no idea what the future would bring. All they knew was that they wanted to find out together. Four months after the wedding, the girl graduated college but the boy didn't because money was tight. A year and 3 days after getting married, the boy left for Army Basic Training. Life was difficult and the Army seemed the right move for the young couple. It guaranteed a pay check and medical coverage. They would see how it went. The boy, now 23 came back a man. Life got better. They moved. Moved again. Moved to Europe, traveled around and then moved back to America. They moved a few more times. The boy advanced in rank, life continued to get better and 7 years after the wedding, a baby boy came along. Life was good. Money was tight at times, but they managed to get by and were generally happy. War came and the boy went. The girl and the baby, and a couple of dogs picked up through the years stayed behind and waited. The baby grew. The boy came home. Different, but still they endured. The baby grew some more, the boy got promoted, the dogs slept and the girl held it all together. They moved a few more times. The boy went to war again. The second time was worse than the first. The boy had nightmares, anger, flashbacks. The girl was sometimes afraid, but they moved on, worked through it and life got better. They moved again. They grew older and wiser. They fought. They laughed. The baby grew into a little boy who charmed and amazed them. The boy got promoted. They moved. The boy went away every now and then and the girl and the little boy waited. Life was sometimes stressful, sometimes fun, sometimes crazy. The boy went to officer school and they moved yet again. The dogs still slept, and the little boy still amazed them and brought more joy than they could ever have imagined. The boy and the girl were no longer the boy and the girl that got married. They had changed along the way. Grown apart at times and back together. Fought and loved. Laughed and cried. Life was not what the boy and girl expected that day fifteen years ago. The boy did not tour with his band. The girl did not write the great American novel. Those dreams fell to the wayside somewhere along the journey. The boy and the girl came to realize that they didn't mind. The boy and the girl were amazed at how far they came in those 15 years.
Today the boy is spending yet another anniversary away thanks to the Army and the girl and the little boy are staying behind and waiting. The dogs are sleeping. Life continues to get better.

Happy Anniversary Mr. HH.

Shamrock Shuffle and the Naughty Leprechauns

Top 'o the mornin' to ye! Happy Saint Patrick's Day. Erin Go Braugh! And all that blarney.

This past Saturday we participated in the Shamrock Shuffle for the second year. It's a 5k that Indy does for the medal he gets at the end. Last year he jogged for about 2 and half minutes before declaring he was exhausted and had to walk the rest of the way. Never mind that he can run the playground for hours on end which is probably way farther than 5k. This year was a different story. He had a bunch of friends out there this year and they were all for running. I cannot run (stupid plantar fasciitis) so he was waaaaaay ahead of me. I knew several people who were running, and knew one of them would take care of him until I caught up, so I wasn't worried. He finished about 15 minutes before I did. Yay! I have photos on one of our old point and shoot cameras but I can't find the cable to connect it to my computer. Boo!

The Naughty Leprechauns came to visit too. Indy was crazy excited all day yesterday. He couldn't wait to see what they would do. It was almost more exciting that Christmas, but I think that's just because it's so much fun to see how cray they've gotten. Here's how my night went:

2:48 am
Indy (in a LOUD whisper): MOM! The Leprechauns came!
Me: grumble grumble mild profanity (look over at the clock) [Indy], it's 2:48 in the morning! Go back to bed.
Indy: But the leprechauns!
Me: Go to bed.

3:31 am
Indy: Mom! Can I get up? The leprechauns threw stuff around.
Me: Are you crazy? It's 3:30! Go to bed and get some sleep.
Indy: {sigh} All right.
Me: Zzzzzzzzzzzz

4:20 am
Indy: Mom, is it time yet?
Me: NO! Get back to bed and don't get up again!
Indy: Fine.

5:54 am
Indy: Mom! The sun is coming up! Can I get up NOW?
Me: for the love of all that is holy [Indy], it is still too early. Go. To. Bed.
Indy: The sun is coming up! I want to get up too. I'll take a nap this afternoon if you just let me get up now.
Me: Oh, you'll take a nap all right, but you're not getting up. Go get some sleep.
Indy: Cheese and crackers!
Dogs: Mwrrrrrrp.

7:00 am
Alarm.
Me (groping to turn the alarm off) grumble grumble not so mild profanity grumble grumble
Dogs: Mwrrrrrrp. Snort.

I got up and found Indy with his pillow and blanket sitting on the sofa in the living room.
Me: How long have you been there?
Indy: Since the last time I was in your room. Can I get up NOW?
Me: Whatever.
Indy: Look what the Naught Leprechauns did!!!!

Oh yeah, we're definitely taking a nap this afternoon. Interestingly, he did not wake up ONE TIME on Christmas Eve. Weird kid.

So, what did the leprechauns do? They were busy. They threw all of Indy's clean socks and underwear on the floor again, and left some green $1 and chocolate gold coins in his room. They opened all the drawers and cabinets in the bathroom and turned the toilet water green (this is a classic and must be done every year), turned over 2 chairs in the dining room and made a tent with a green blanket. Inside the tent were several of Indy's Playmobil figures, that Indy says they must have played with, and his treasure chest, which they emptied onto the floor. In return they left him another $1, more chocolate coins and what Indy swears is the legendary Peacock's Eye that Indiana Jones searched for in a few episodes of the Young Indian Jones series and then finds albeit briefly at the beginning of Temple of Doom in Shanghai at Club Obi Wan (the night club where IJ meets with Lao Che who had the diamond but poisons IJ instead of trading and IJ kidnaps Willi). Are you impressed or frightened by my knowledge of the world of Indiana Jones? I'm not sure.
Do you remember the Indiana Jones Room Booby Trap Indy got for Christmas? It hangs over his door and when set, will drop spiders on whoever opens the door. It's kind of a pain to refill and set all the time, so he only sets it when company comes over and he wants to surprise them. Well, last night the leprechauns thought it would be funny to fill it with the hole punches from my 2 and 3 hole punchers in the school room closet. Indy thought that was awesome because confetti flew everywhere when he opened his door, but I'm going to have to use my mommy phone and let the leprechauns know that it was quite a mess to clean up. Indy's eggs and tortilla (one of his favorite breakfasts is scrambled eggs, cheese and sliced turkey in a tortilla) were also green, which looked gross, but thrilled Indy. Those naughty leprechauns. I'm just glad they only come once a year.

A Random Tuesday with Indy and phrases

We're going a slightly different direction today. I normally only have one photo on RTT, of a weird sign, but today, I've got some courtesy of Indy. You'll see.

*Indy: Mom, what did Romans use for can openers?
Me: I don't think they had cans.
Indy: They had metal.
Me: That doesn't mean they had cans.
Indy: Well, they should have invented them. Their lives would have been a whole lot easier. Those amphora had to be heavy.

*I have yet to see Alice in Wonderland with my Beloved. (That would be Johnny Depp incase you're new here). Crikey.

*Carnivals used to be the main entertainment for towns. Cigars were often given out as prizes. When someone came close to winning, but didn't the phrase "Close, but no cigar" was used. Meaning they came close, but not close enough to get a cigar.

*The phrase "mad as a hatter" is believed to come from the fact that mercury dye was used in making hats in the 19th century. Mercury poisoning made people twitch (and occasionally turned their hair orange-way to go on authenticity Tim Burton) and they were thought to be mad (crazy).

*Speaking of hats, Indy got a new Fedora the other day. Not an Indiana Jones type of Fedora, but more of a Frank Sintra Fedora. He loves it.



*We're going on a Disney Cruise in May. Indy is driving me crazy talking about it. He asks me a million questions a day. Usually the same questions over and over.

*In preparation for said cruise, we've been watching DVD's about the places we'll be visiting. This week, we watched DVD's about Pompeii and Rome. Last night, Indy was playing in his room and called me in to see what he had done. I had to take photos. He had set up all sorts of little scenes with the Coliseum he got for Christmas.

I particularly like that he has guys working on the structure.



This is my favorite photo. Jail Break!


The whole thing.


Battle!



I really like the crowd.



*Statistically, Monday is the most popular day for suicides.

*There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long. Do you know what they are? (Answers at bottom)

*Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down -- hence the expression "to get fired"

*I haven't mentioned him in a while, so I'll just throw this out there: Edward Culled. Yummmm.

*Finally, you know you're in trouble when they threaten you with NJ.


10 Body parts with only 3 letters: Eye, Hip, Arm, Leg, Ear, Toe, Jaw, Rib, Lip, Gum. Did you get them all?

Head over to Keely's (she is wicked funny) to check out all the other random thoughts.

All about the Benjamins and finally the winner!

No, I haven't gone gangsta, so don't worry.

When Indy was little his currency was Thomas the Tank Engine. If he was acting up, all Mr. HH and I had to do was threaten to put Thomas in the attic (we had a door opening to our attic in the bonus room that served as Indy's play room) and instantly the bad/unacceptable behavior would end. Thomas was his BFF and just the thought of spending a day without Thomas could render him speechless (a rare feat indeed) and make him instantly into the perfect child. Man I miss those simple days.
Now his currency is, well, currency. He's all about the cold hard cash. He guards it with religious fervor. Being as I rarely have cash on me, I've actually had to borrow money from him and he hounds me like a collection agency to get it back. He's quite the saver and sets himself a goal (usually something Playmobil). Once he has enough saved up, we'll go to the store and buy what he wants. The last big thing he wanted was the Playmobil Roman Galleon and he saved (including his b-day money) until he could buy it. He clutched the HUGE box to his chest all the way to the register and was so proud to pay for it himself. I was proud of him. He's got his eye on a new Playmobil temple (so new I can't find it on the internet) and is saving again.
We were doing the standard allowance thing that most families do, but were having trouble getting him to do the chores. Oh, the drama. The other day I hit upon a solution: a chore chart. I had it all planned out in my head. I would get a wipe board and use a permanent marker to draw lines and then use erasable markers to track his project. Brilliant! When we were at the store, I came across this little beauty which had the work already done for me. Hurrah! He now has 8 "chores" to do every day. If he gets 20 stars, he gets $1. 40 stars equals $2 and 50 stars equals $3. He has 56 chances a week to earn stars, so it is possible he can get 50 stars a week. If he collects 56 stars 5 times he gets the much coveted 5 dollar bill or he can hold off and earn it 10 times for the super fantastic much beloved 10 dollar bill (he likes the big money). His chores are mostly simple tasks/hygiene that he can easily accomplish. I used to have to tell him to do these things, but now he's anxious and excited to do his chores. He asks if he can practice his violin, take the trash/recycling out or the dogs out so he can earn the star that goes with it. If he can see that he's working towards a specific goal he's more than happy to do what needs to be done. Yay! This is clearly a sign that I am a genius with superior mothering skills.

And I'm so sorry I'm late with this, but I've got a winner in my giveaway! Drum roll please........ the winner is..............5 boys and a Princess! Shoot me an email with your address in it and you will soon have not only the pretty plate headed your way but a bunch of lovely German sweets. Congratulations!

Who do you think you are?

Mr. Big Stuff. You're never gonna get my love.

Just kidding. I couldn't help myself though. :) If you sing that song for the rest of the day, well, you're welcome.

I'm sure you've heard by now there's a new show on called Who Do You Think You Are? where celebs trace their family tree and share it will all America to ooh and ahh over. Several of these celebs were on Oprah the other day and it sparked my interest. Especially when they mentioned that ancestry.com is offering a free 14 day trial. FREE! One of my favorite words. You know after shoes, champagne and Prada (or bet yet, in combination with). Anyway, I decided to check it out to see if I could find anything on my family. Boy howdy (weren't expecting me to say that, where you? I like to keep you guessing) did I! I've traced one branch of my dad's side of the family back to the 1200's and one branch of my mom's side back to the 1300's. Interestingly, both families come from the same area in England.
On my dad's side, I discovered far too few forks for my liking. Far too few. I know back in the day (what day? dunno) it was considered okay to marry your cousin (ewww), but I have the same great, great, great, great, great grandmother and grandfather 5 times. ACK! Of course that could explain a whole lot about my dad's side of the family. Just sayin. On his side I've also discovered Civil War soldiers, a few Revolutionary war soldiers (one of whom was a spy for the Patriots and again for the US during the War of 1812), several DAR "Grand Dames" who helped the Revolution by supplying necessities, hiding the troops and gathering information, a trader who drove cattle from NC down to the Gulf Coast area to trade with the Spanish settlers, a couple of judges, several brothers who were all Baptist ministers (and sons of a Baptist minister) who are credited with bring the Baptist Church to the deep south, and several Native Americans, including 2 chiefs. Not that you'd ever suspect I had a drop of Native American blood in me, being I'm so very pale. I also found several Howards in England during the 14 and 1500's that are believed to be related to both Ann Boleyn and Catharine Howard (2 of Henry VIII's wives).
On my mom's side, I've found several Civil War soldiers, an American Revolution soldier, a settler of Jamestown, several Native Americans (again, why don't I have any of that awesome coloring?) and a man who lived in Strattford Upon Avon, England and was dear friends with a writer you may have heard of called William Shakespeare. In fact he named one of his son's Shakespeare (my direct ancestor's brother).
Isn't that cool? It's kind of nice to see who all these people were who essentially got me where I am today. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here at all. I've been working fast ans furious going through records before my 14 day trial period is over because I don't know that I want to pay for it.
So, where do you come from? If you want to find out, go get your 14 day free trial and find out who you are.

BTW, I'll announce the winner of my giveaway tomorrow!



(who has no trace of the Native American blood that runs through her veins)

RTT: Johnny still loves ME

Happy day! TUESDAY! Let's get our random on!

*You may have heard the rumors that Angelina Jolie is hooking up with Johnny Depp. I'm so sick of those rag mags picking on my sweetheart. Let me just reassure you, Johnny still loves me. He and I are fine. In fact he visited me just the other day in my dreams and assured me I had nothing to worry about. I don't want you all to worry.

*It is official: I suck at Wii Tennis.

*BTW, if there ever were some sort of digression with that home wrecker Angelina, I would of course be hurt and angry, but we'd find a way to work through it. It may take some time and some Kobe sized diamonds (what? have you not figured out by now that I CAN be bought with flattery and sparkly things?), but we will get through it. After I take that skank out of course.

*While I suck at Wii Tennis, I am the champ at Wii boxing. You do NOT want to mess with me when it comes to Wii boxing. I like to sing Muhammed Ali's chant before and after a round. "Bump-ba-bada-bump The Champ is here! Bump-ba-bada-bump The Champ is here!"

*My plantar fasciitis is really hurting me again. It's been hurting for months (months, people), but over the last week it's gotten really bad again. Boo!

*Indy and I are supposed to do a 5K this weekend and I'm not sure I can do it. I'll have to rest it up.

*My arms hurt so badly from Wii boxing. How lame and out of shape am I?

*We have not discussed who should or should not be president in our view, though we studied the process of election back when it happened. Indy is very interested in the political system. He was watching the Today Show and something came on about John McCain. He looked at me and said "John McCain should have been President. He's been to war and done important stuff. He's a hero. What has Obama done? He's not a war hero." I had no response because, well, I didn't know what to say to that.

*Arf (our super crazy little dog-all 4.5 lbs of him) likes to lick the air. It is weird and crazy annoying. Why does he do that?

*You must see this hilarious comic about Mr. Darcy. Giggle. Swoon.

*The big military resort down in Garmisch, Germany has the worst, most depressing music on their commercials. It makes me want to go slit my wrists, not go on a vacation. They should really fix that.

*How does Sarah Palin get her hair so high?

*The Oscars are not as much fun when you know the outcome. Stupid, stupid, time zones!

*In case you're confused I know Johnny is with that French model chic, but he's just staying for the children. I completely understand. Our love is pure and I can be selfless enough to let him be with his children. I'm the real reason their not married, you know. Shhhhhhhhh.

*I finally finished my paper bag/butterfly wreath! Huzzah! I'll post about it tomorrow or Thurs so you can see how fabulous I am it is.

*Indy has to get shots today and I'm afraid he's going to have a nervous breakdown. Heaven help me.

*Could the people on "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" be any dumber?

*You've been warned!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway(!!!!) before heading over to Keely's to check out all the randomness.

If you're not Johnny, don't read any further.

Johnny, I won't listen to the rumors. I know how you feel about me. Call me. Kisses xxoxx

Giveaway!!!!

Don't we all love a giveaway? Of course we do. SITS is doing a big giveaway blogathon and I've decided to join in! Hurrah! I'm going to give away something from my etsy shop! What? You didn't know I had one? Look at that big old button over there >>>>>>>>>>> There's lots of beautiful vintage home decor items scoured from flea markets in Europe and/or hand made by yours truly. I'm awesome like that.
For the SITS blogathon I'm going to give away a lovely English Ironstone transferware plate. It's a salad plate about 7" across from the "Home Farm" series.





Isn't it lovely????? You can see more views of it here. I actually have 2 of them, so if you don't win, you can buy it! I don't like having to pay a lot for pretty things, so I've priced my items fairly reasonably. Go check them out. Not yet! You have to enter the contest first! Oh, you need to know how, right?

1. Leave me a comment (I pink puffy rainbow heart comments)
2. Become a follower and tell me in another comment (see, told you I like comments). If you're already a follower, let me know (in a separate comment)! Why wouldn't you want to follow me? I'm hilarious.
3. Blog about my giveaway (and link to it in yet another comment-I'm so cheap) for another entry.


Contest ends March 10th at noon EST. But wait! There's more! SHUT UP! I know. Do you NEED some good European candy and sweets? You know you do. The winner will also get some yummy goodies in their package. Including REAL German Goldbaren gummies. That alone is worth entering. Remember, I love comments. You can get a bonus entry if you make me laugh in your comment (or you know, tell me how pretty and fabulous I am). :) Good luck!