You Know You Are Lame When...

You know you are lame... (okay, okay, I am lame) when you are 37 years old, dressed like a skater chick and excited to go out on a friday night without a curfew because the kids are all at a sleepover! (And you think that complete strangers aren't wondering why that Mom is dressed like she's 17.)

Even lamer when you (okay, I) siddle up to the bar and ask for 4 shots, "something chik-like and yummy."

Even lamer still when you (okay, I) and my friends are the ONLY ones on the dance floor, and you frankly don't care because you've been out dancing about 3 times in the past 8 years.

And, lastly, lamest when you... I and my friends scream in unison and sing every single word to the Violent Femmes song, "Add it Up," while the entire rest of the packed bar knows not a note.

And the night only reaches a crescendo when you (okay, okay MEEEE) pay a crazy cover charge to be gloriously basked in 1980's songs for the rest of the evening. Dancing until your calves hurt the next morning.

Lame. Old. Old and lame.
But fun.

Lots and Lots of Knots

I think my oldest son is turning into his father...

Ethan found Ric's "Pocket Survival Guide" last night, a small book (fits in your pocket) with all manner of info about making it on your own when you're not in civilization. Ethan spent about 90 minutes copying the Table of Contents into his journal. Such topics as:

* Shelter and Making Camp
* Organizing the Camp Tools
* Jungle Travel
* Survival at Sea
* Abandoning Ship
* Severe Bleeding
* Emergency Childbirth and
* Warm Climate Diseases

(merely a sampling)

And tonight he found the section on knots. Believe it or not (knot), there are like a million ways to tie a knot. (And us girls thought there was ONE.) The reef knot, the fisherman's knot, the half-hitch, the whoo-de-doo, and the half-kilter-ya-ya. Whatever, there's a lot of knots out there.

Well, I had to cut him 2 equal sections of string so that he could practice tying different kinds of knots.

You may wonder why this is news.
Well, I kid you not (knot), when Ric and I were married before we had kids, Ric kept two strands of string by the bed and he spent time every evening practicing his knot-tying.

I think between these two boys, I should have no problem getting my knots tied in the woods. Good thing too. I'm knot sure how I'd cope.

Who Does Your Hair?

Here's me, having "yearbooked" myself to my past lives:
1960, 1976, 1984 and 1990.

Ugh, I only WISH I could've gotten my hair that big. I tried, Lord, I tried.
see http://www.yearbookyourself.com
to waste as much time as I did on this fun shit.

Friday Night (Clean) Party Was Out of This World

You'll never belive what happened friday night. I had a house showing on saturday morning and at dinner was still dreading having to clean the house for it. And just as I was thick in my despair, these Aliens from another planet kidnapped my kids and beamed some other (very similar-looking) kids down from the sky!

And these Alien kids asked me:

"What can we do to help you?"

At first I wondered if I should grab my secret super-powered laser-light beam-alien-kid-zapper to protect myself from these crazy extra terrestrials. But then, I thought: "Well, I did need to get the house cleaned."

And you'll never believe what happened next! The Alien-Ethan DID the DISHES! and VACUUMED DOWNSTAIRS! Alien-Evelyn and Alien-Alex dusted the WHOLE HOUSE, while I merely cleaned the bathrooms and vacuumed upstairs.

What would have taken me well over an hour to get done, these sweet kids from outer space helped me do in about 30 minutes. And they even asked to have a house cleaning EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT!!

I guess those Parent-Aliens out there have scheduled friday night dates and I'm the new babysitter. Well, I can use the help! I knew that my regular kids were back unharmed when the whining started at bedtime. No one can fake that.

Party on, dudes.

Things to Miss About Colorado Springs

As I walked out to get my newspaper early this morning, this is the sight I beheld, about a block from my house, this giant hot air balloon.

On any given Saturday or Sunday when the air is still, you'll find ballooners early in the morning here. It's the coolest thing. But this is the closest one has gotten inside our neighborhood.