Be Thankful I put a New Blog up, nah, I'm not really that presumptuous

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Mine was nice, but now I am as full as a bloated tick and not sure I ever want to eat anything ever again. Who am I kidding? I will probably be nomming on party mix before the night is over. This is sorta a combo post--encompassing the triumphant return of the deballed Ghost and a Thanksgiving calvacade of pics.


Annie made this little welcome back package for Ghost. It included a pencil (he has a vast love for playing with pencils, he steals them all the time and then invariably shoves them under the couch and acts all butthurt about it), a baggie of Meow Mix, and a little stuffed whale that she found ( he also likes to go in the basement and rummage in the toy box and liberate old teeny stuffed toys). Annie must think he is a supercat though, she just set in down in front of him and looked at him expectantly. I felt at this point it was necessary to explain to her that in addition to not possessing testicles anymore, the cat never had opposable thumbs, and for sure he wasn't going to be opening the bag, much less a ziploc of Meow Mix.

He still seemed slightly zonked out for the rest of the day. You could say this cat is literally butthurt, but he forgave us pretty fast. Also, that book he's laying on is Annie's favorite one of all time, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. It's set in the Dustbowl, go figure, and it's a collection of journal entries from a little girl who had what sounds like a depressing life. Guess Annie is a little Goth or something. Oh wait, she just yelled at me that it ends happy.

This is what we see most every night while we are trying to mind our own business and sit on our butts and watch tv. The little peanut gallery of kittens staring, and they follow us with their eyes, like they are watching a tennis match or something.

A heart shaped potato Terry's sister Patti found, she didn't have the heart (hah! get it! heart?) to peel him up and toss him in the Thanksgiving vat of mashed.

And evidently it was the special themed "internal organ" bag of taters, this kidney one turned up too.

Al and her cousin Amelia with Ike, the kitten eating dog. In addition to kittens, he only likes to eat people food. Which might be bad for him, but as he will eat his own poop before he eats dog chow, can't be toooo terrible.

Cows. Hmm, I actually don't know the names of these cows. My sister-in-law is oh so witty though and her cows always have names like Sir Loin, T-bone, and Ribeye. Hey Patti, if you leave a comment, you can tell us the names of this lot.

Roosters, happy that people don't eat chicken on Thanksgiving. Which is what I said to Patti trying to be all funny, and then she pointed out they were bound for processing in the next couple of days. Sorry boys, at least you got a pardon for today.

Friday Night Follies

We are a weird family, that I do not deny. Some days, we are weirder than others. We had hot dogs for dinner tonight, and being from the South, I don't eat my hotdogs without slaw, because that would be going against whatever God you have. Trust me, if Buddha or whoever was into hotdogs, the word would be to put slaw on that puppy. Okay, to make slaw, you need cabbage, which led me to buy the cutest little cabbage ever today, it was so teeny. I made the mistake of peeling the outer leaves off and turning around and making them talk, because I am weird like that, and Al immediately fell in love with a veggie. One Sharpie session later, we ended up with this. I think the name she and Annie settled on was Earlfred. (One wanted Fred, one wanted Earl, it was how I kept the peace) And I think Al looks creepy and pretty in this pic all at the same time.

Oh Miss T, here is what your begging gets you. Schmexy, no? I will be amazed if I can get to sleep tonight so they can record my snoring. It's a pressure thing, thank goodness, not an actual microphone, so it doesn't matter I had beans with dinnner.

And I typed this whole thing with that stupid thing on my finger, the very nice person at the sleep center told me to put the rig on an hour before I was going to bed so I could get used to it. Um yeah, not so much. The things up my nose aren't bothering me so much, but these tubes over my ears are (shout out to Miss T) getting on my tits.

My Brush With Death, A Tale Recounted by Alyson

God has a sense of humor and I do not care for it what so ever.

As you all probably know, my mother does not like my friend, one Bailey last name shall remain anonymous, at all. Well, recently she (my mother) has decided to let the ever so hated girl in question drive me places. (I think this is mainly due to not wanting to get up and go get me all the time, but whatevs.) Anyway, moving on, shortly after I had seen my darling husband audition for a role in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" I asked my friend, my mother's enemy, to drive me home so I could be able to make it home ON TIME for dinner, like I said I would. Bai complied.

So there we are driving along, talking about tech for one acts and such when we take a left hand turn at the freaking green light where we have the freaking right away when all of a sudden I look out the window and there is this what looks to me like the biggest white van ever in recorded history coming straight toward us.

Bailey: Oh my God! *is a good girl and does not swerve into oncoming traffic like a dumbass or speed up for us to be hit in the rear causing us to spin out, flip over, and end up upside down in the Tim Horton's" parking lot.*

Me: Oh sweet crackerdoodle! (edited for grandparentental concern I DID NOT say this, also I was thinking about how the white van was totally gonna eat Murphy; Bai's car's name, fitting isn't it?)

Needless to say, I did not get eaten by the scary white van. My arm and knee did get pretty banged up though.

After Bai and I made sure we were not on the verge of death we got out of the car to find out that the driver of the white van was none other than that of a little old lady who can't tell green from red. No offense grandma, but there is a certain age where little old ladies should not be allowed to drive anymore.

After Bai called her mom and told her what happened and the cops arrived I used Bai's cell to call mom the conversation went a little like this:

Mom: Hello.

Me: You're gonna kill me.

Mom: Why?

Me: Bai was in a car accident.

Mom: Were you with her?

Me: Yes.

Mom: Are you hurt?

Me: No.

Mom: I'm gonna kill you.

Anyway, dad picked me up and I was late for dinner, which was what I was trying to avoid all along. Bleh.

-Also, side note, the picture at top is of me holding Ghost as a comfort object in my time of need. It is also shot blurry ON PURPOSE to depict my pain and has absolutely NOTHINg to do with the fact that my mom cannot take a decent picture.-

Side note from Carrie--I do not have that big of a hate on for Bailey, Al exaggerates. But all I can say is--I TOLD YOU SO. And yeah, I can't take very good pics, that's why Terry is designated photog. But he's at a meeting right now, so you get soft focus. I CAN take a decent pic (some of the kitten ones) I just didn't WANT to.

This Free Pot Cost us Thirteen Dollars

So, new template. The other one was kinda hard on my old eyes, and as I know there are even older eyes than mine that peruse this place on occasion, I thought it would be easier for everyone. I wonder how many Google hits I'm gonna get with a title that involves the words "Free Pot."

My new little Thanksgiving cactus thingamajig. See the story goes like this--Terry's mom won a pot playing bingo at dialysis, which I guess is a good way to pass the time if you're gonna be stuck there anyways, although they should have better prizes, like for instance a kidney or something. The pot is the one in the pic below, cute, no? And she was all generous like and gave it to me, and I immediately wanted to shove something in it. I had been wanting one of those cute little cactuses, they had been waving to me with their cheery little petals. But alas, cactuses with pink flowers sorta clash with orangey leaves. But as I am spoiled, I got to get it anyway, and a little pot for it, and I chose the nice fallish mums to go in the free pot. So there, the painfully boring story of how a free pot cost us thirteen dollars. Nothing much has happened since Wednesday, what can I say?

You would think he would at least get the paper off the table, but noooo. We don't live like slobs, well mostly.

Seriously, is this week over yet?

Oh my heck it seems like this week is taking forever to go by. I think it's just the dreary weather making me want to hibernate. Or possibly sleep apnea, which my doctor wants to test me for. So next week I get to sleep with some weird contraption, oh, I can hardly wait. And now, the half week in pictures:

Alyson in her natural habitat. Add a mini fridge and a cot, and I don't think she would bother coming home during play season. This particular play was Peter Pan, lots of singing, many mikes, sound effects, etc. Oh, and I think she may have had to run Tinkerbell's spotlight a couple times too. If only I could get her to move that fast around the house!!

The view from Al's little nest. The play was very good, I think they had a full house for most of the shows. I complained about how much they rehearsed, but it did pay off, those kids put on a flawless show. I know I couldn't have sang while being hoisted about the stage on wires connected to my nether regions. I do admit to having a tiny MCR flashback when Peter launched into that I'll Never Grow Up song.

Miss T, here's that ham omelet roll thingy I had to leave chat the other day to make. Looks scrummy, no? You are welcome to jump the pond any old time and come taste my cooking. That goes for the rest of y'all too, unless you're like psycho killer types, then, no food for you!

This is Annie's extra credit project for um, something. Social Studies, maybe? It's a woven basket thingy, she was going for a Native American vibe. I was pretty impressed, because she didn't have any directions or anything, she just cut up a bunch of paper and started putting that thing together, weaving and rolling, and ok, taping. She actually took this pic, she is getting way into this blog thing. She was supposed to be clearing the table for dinner, and I look over and she is circling the table with her camera like Giselle what's her face who used to go with Leo DiCaprio was in the middle of the Lazy Susan modeling some toxic Victoria's Secret bra. I'm all like, Dude, what are you doing, and she's hell--ooo, I'm taking a pic of my fabulous basket for your blog. So, here ya go.

Something that I won't be having any more pics of though is my beloved Chicken George. The neighbor caught him (yes, HIM, so far, I think I've been 100% wrong on guessing kitten genders) in a trap he had set out for the possum, and took Chicken off to the SPCA. We were going to take the girl cats to my sister-in-law's farm, but now they have a kitten eating dog, plus they take a very dim view of cats who try to eat the chickens, and I'm afraid Killer won't be able to restrain HERself. So, I might be taking them to the SPCA too. Tis the season for kids to be begging for kittens and all, so I'm hoping they will all find nice cozy homes. But I will really miss those little whiskery faces pressed up against the glass at night watching us watch tv.

More Fall stuff, and oh, a pic of the other one

Weird looking leaf Annie picked up the other day at school. They went on a walk for gym class that day. Which made her happy, because she hates gym. We had a parent-teacher conference on Monday, wherein it was divulged that she's not the best at basketball. Her natural inclination (and I say intelligent response) when someone tries to pass the ball to her is to jump out of the way of the hurtling object. This pic reminds me of the book Moosetache.


We have had a really hella nice week, weather wise. The balminess of spring coupled with the leaf crunch and earthy smell of Fall. Wish I could bottle it and save it for the dreary winter doldrums. At any rate, because of said wonderful weather, Annie has been trying to soak up the leafy fun in the backyard. This is her in the process of making a Leaf Angel. It's crunchier and doesn't freeze your bum like the snow variety.

The finished product.

Proof that I still have the other daughter. Believe me, I sure didn't want to use the picture that I was actually in, a heads up on the shitty looking hair would have been just great, Mr. Photographer. This was taken at the National Honor Society induction ceremony, that we, the horrible parents that we are, MADE Al go to, and even made her wear something other than a band tee. The horror!! Someone report us to the proper authorities! After suffering through a whole 30 minutes of us being proud, she bolted back to her stupid soundbooth, she is an artiste, you know. Pbbbllttt to you Al, the Chinese food we ate in your honor was way good, and no, you can't have the leftovers.

Halloweeny, and Fallish stuff

Annie and her friend K, all dressed up for trick or treating. They cracked me up with their theme. I was almost disappointed that it wasn't cold here. Annie was all concerned that she would have to wear a coat over her costume, but I told her if she did, she could just tell everyone that Hell froze over.

And now, they appear to be flashing gang signs.

I totally love the Mr. Potato Head, Halloween version. He has fangs and ears and other accesories, but the Ghost sheet just sends me into paroxyms of laughter. And yeah, that's a Spike mug, as in Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, behind him. I also have a Spike tag on my keychain, and a William the Bloody Awful Poet mug floating around here too. What can I say? I was a little ate up with that in the day. Um, there's still posters in my basement. Yes, I am approximately 13.

My Jack Skellington pumpkin. He was pretty easy, but I thought he turned out pretty cute.

OMG, these dang eye things. I saw them in a magazine and thought How Cute! How Easy! First we had to search through the store for the dang lights, and then all the other crap to make them. We put them up in the window with packing tape, per the instructions, and it actually looked way cool for five minutes, and then they stopped working. (Of course, we took no pic in those five minutes) Terry ripped them down, got out his voltmeter and other complicated crap, and yeah, bad batteries, bad bulbs, these babies were cursed. We used ONE of them on Halloween night, I threw it into the big tub o' candy as it managed to light up for maybe 10 minutes? Am I bitter? Oh yes I am.

This is a big ass pile o' leaves. Evidently she cut a flip the first time she jumped in there, but I missed it. I love Fall soooo much, I just want to squeeze it and feed it soup and stuff.