Every Day's a Holiday

No, no . . . the above are not a commentary on my pro-gun stance. They are a tribute to my beloved Red Raiders as we celebrate the greatest of all holidays . . . College Colors Day.






I might have missed out on this glorious holiday, if not for my status as part of the retail establishment. Nobody loves a good holiday more than a retailer. So, in the spirit of all things Hallmark, I will be going with the flow and making sure that every day is now a holiday. Here's the schedule for next week's holidays.

M - Labor Day (an official post office recognized holiday)
T - "Why does Tuesday feel like Monday?" Day
W - Family Insanity Day
Th - Cottage Cheese Day
F - Hangnail Awareness Day
S - PJs til Noon Day
Sun - Get Out of Chores Free Day

Until then, you can enjoy Flashback Friday and a few pictures of my own college colors. Fabulous fun for my readers few. . .

Homecoming 1998 . . . I look hysterically tired here because I am.

Homecoming 1999 . . . prior to the craziness.

Enjoy the fact that these are scrapbooked. They are some of the few.

This was when J1 was still the BF. Doesn't he look all shiny and new?

By this point J1 was the hubbie . . . and we both look terrified.

I have to assume it is because we both know that

my credit card bill is already in the mail.

RED RAIDERS!!

More Musings about Food

I was a little apprehensive when I picked these treats up in the grocery store yesterday. Would they stand the test of time? Would they be as scrumptious as I remember? I am excited to report that they are just as fabulous as ever. I hear that there was an entire online campaign to bring back the puddin' pop. It was totally worth it. My childhood remains intact. Because my friend Fat Albert would never lie to me.

Baby Craft Bonanza

I have enough half-finished craft projects to last me approximately 10 years. However, the upcoming birth of my little nephew has inspired my craft gene to new levels. Today was his second baby shower and nothing but extreme craftiness would do. Here are some creations. And yes, in my next life, I would like to be a party planner!

Every mom knows that diapers are really the best presents. So the new goal is to see how many things we can make out of diapers. Below is the diaper wreath and the diaper cake. I have passed on opportunities to design a diaper table cloth or anything super crazy like that. We stick with regular grade crazy around here.

We LOVE baby toys, and when I found the pattern for this one it was just too cute to pass up. This is a clutch ball. Of course, after it was opened Jackson seized upon the opportunity to chunk it at the great grandmother.

Designer (as in designed by me) burp clothes . . . because this baby's spit up deserves nothing but the best.

These are a few shots of the delicious buffet, and that is something I can take no credit for. Kitchen magic is the exclusive domain of the mother of the mother to be. I choose to remain mystified . . . and very, very well-fed!

We had a great time at the baby shower. Unfortunately, it just served as a minor commercial break in my master crafter plan. As we speak, there are 3 additional baby craft projects that I have yet to complete. I will be chaining myself to the sewing machine very soon. Send food. . . spinach artichoke dip, anyone?

Awesome Analysis

I have come to realize that the one thing I say consistently throughout the day (other than "Jackson, don't throw that") has become, "That's awesome." Unfortunately, this is stated in a most sarcastic way possible. Like this -

Fellow employee: "We're going to need for you to recap the area's performance from the last year, and we need that in the next hour or so . . . oh, and most of the systems are down."
Me: "Sure, that'll be awesome."

J1: "I have meetings every night this week."
Me: "Well, that's just awesome."

As a rabid linguaphile, such word overuse leads me to fear that I am single handedly reducing the power of language itself. This may seem a little over dramatic, but just try to utter the phrase, "That's hot" without feeling your own IQ drop a few points. Language in all its raw, transforming power . . .

So to redeem myself, I present to you a short definition of "awesome". Here's what the people of Webster's had to say:

Awesome
Awe"some\, a.
1. Causing awe; appalling; awful; as, an awesome sight. --Wright.
2. Expressive of awe or terror.

My favorite part is that awe and terror are seemingly synonymous.

By the way, it has been an AWESOME week so far. . .

Hall of Fame

Molly has submitted another entry to the Backyard Terror Hall of Fame. One evening last week I went outside to check on her. This is what I found.

The unidentified green object to her left is the tree gator. It is the engenious device that wraps around the trunk of a tree and provides drip irrigation. The backyard tree is really suffering in the 100+ degree heat, so I thought I would help it out. Molly apparently disagreed with my backyard agricultural plans. The weirest part about this discovery is that the tree gator zips closed. So should I threaten her with her life for inflicting more backyard trauma or just call David Letterman and tell him I have the Unzipping Dog?

Molly's previous entries for the Backyard Terror Hall of Fame include ripping off a sprinkler head, dismantling a hose nozzel, and attempting her own Big Dig.

Bye Bye Bennigan's

I think that it's the Turkey O'Toole I will miss the most. Though I have not been to a Bennigan's in quite some time, I must say that I was sad to see it disappear from the restaurant landscape this week. There were plenty of signs that this dining establishment was dying a slow death, but as soon as it was gone I was hungry for the turkey sandwich of the Irish. It's the Chick-Fil-A effect - they are only closed one day of the week, but which day do I most often think, "You know, I could go for some nuggets right about now." So now I am left to hunger for delicious pretzel bread. I did go so far as to search to see who else might offer pretzel bread. All I got back was a recipe. It involved yeast and kneading. I think I will pass.