Ki-Yah!

Day two at Karate went well! He got a free t-shirt which he hasn't taken off yet. It is the white and black one in the pictures below. I took some pictures of him practicing his moves at home tonight too. I didn't want to disrupt the class by taking pictures in there. I will eventually, just not yet.

/

AJ!!!!

It's my niece's birthday today. Hop over to her site and wish her a happy one!

Brain Dump

I need a green highlighter! Actually blue, orange, or purple would work too. I've got so much on my calendar now I have to color code stuff to keep track! I am not this kind of person people! I like to stay close to home and only run around when I have to. Ever since I had Jaykeb I have been wondering how I would handle it when he started playing sports, started school, etc. and I would have to be running here and there. I thought about easing into it. You know, getting him into one thing, going with that for a while then adding something else. That plan must have slipped my mind though because he has something almost every day now! What have I done?!?

Thursday we go sign him up for preschool. I finally found one I feel comfortable with. It is at a church which is what I was looking for and it is closer to my house than the original one I was planning on. Then they threw something at me I wasn't ready to decide. Do I put him in the 3 year old class or the 4 year old class? Eeek! How am I supposed to know? I called my decision maker, my mom. She said to go with the 3 year old class because it is only 2 days a week and he will still be going to Mom's Morning Out one day a week, he has Karate 2 days a week, and we are still going to squeeze Mom's Club in when we can. Okay, I agree with that. 3 year old class it is and if he needs to move up we will rearrange.

I'm glad he isn't starting soccer now! I also almost signed him up for swim lessons which started Monday but decided to wait. I started working with him in our pool this evening instead. Next summer will be soccer and swimming along with karate. Hopefully they won't overlap too much. I don't want to over schedule him. He is loving it so far though.

We have a couple of really fun things coming up with the Mom's Club. We will be going to Splash Zone next week and the following week a working goat farm and Kid City which is an indoor playground that will be open only to the Mom's Club. I even volunteered to host a playgroup coming up! Yikes! I may just have that at a park so I don't have to do a bunch of stuff here to prepare. I did put down a date as my first choice when my mom will be here though...just in case I need help.

I found out today that Katie, Patti, and Cheeky are coming to SC. Well, Patti already lives here but we are all going to try to get together. I really hope it works out so that I can join them! Thank you Cheeky for the coke code! You and Katie are hooking me up!

To top off my day of making plans and filling my calendar, I got a DOUBLE drunk dial this evening. My two friends from home (Indiana, the land of corn and high taxes) called me after having a few too many 'ritas at Puerta Vallarta, our favorite place to drink. There was lots of talking I couldn't understand and then the obligatory request for me to move back home...aaawww...I'm missed. Then they told me to call them later and hung up on me. I called but only got a hold of one of them...the other one must have gone home and passed out...ahem...Ang. Calling her out is the only way I can get her to leave a comment on here even though she reads faithfully and calls to request me to put pictures up if I don't do it often enough.

I'm off to find that green highlighter now...I know I have one here somewhere.

Another Conversation with The Boy

I was cleaning the bathroom this morning...Yeah, I do that occasionally...when I had an interesting conversation with The Boy. It went sonmething like this...

Jayke(standing on his stool watching me clean the sink): What are you doing?

Me: I'm cleaning up Daddy's wiskers.

Jayke: Why? (His favorite word these days)

Me: Because Daddy gets them all over when he shaves.

Jayke: Why? (I don't here this word in my sleep yet, but I think I will soon)

Me: I don't know why he can't get them in the sink.

Jayke: Sometimes Daddy is a moron!

I think the boy is watching too much television. I promise he has not heard me say this. I know some of you don't believe me but I PROMISE! I even asked him where he heard that and he told me on the movie Cars. I told him how this was not a nice thing to say and NOT to say it to Daddy. All the while trying not to crack up. I have a hard time not laughing at the kid, he is a hoot!



I was going to save this news for another post but I'm too excited about it to wait a whole day. Jaykeb started Karate tonight! He was so excited. I called the place to get information and they said I could bring him in tonight and he could join the Tiny Tots class to see if he liked it and wanted to do it. I made the mistake of telling him about it early on in the day. I brought him in to the computer and showed him lots of pictures of kids doing Karate so he would know what it is. He also knew some what from watching Spongebob and Sandy doing it. He was all for it and the child drove me nuts all day about when we would be going.

I was a little nervous about taking him since he has never played any kind of sport before or been in anything like this. I explained to him over and over what he would be doing and that it was very important that he listen to the instructor and do what he is told. Mike met us there so we could both watch. I don't think the three of us have laughed so much in all our lives. These kids were too funny. The instructor was wonderful with them but the most impressive thing was Jayke's behavior and perfomance. Now I know everyone thinks I'm biased but honestly he was fantastic! He was the only child that sat and listened and did what he was told when he was told. He had a little trouble remembering his, "Yes, Sirs" but it is only his first day. He did a bunch of kicks and punches, rolled down a mat jumped up and did a kick, and walked down a balance beam jumping off then doing a kick. We were thrilled.

After the class we heard the instructor talking to the owner and the manager about how this was Jaykeb's first day and he did better than all the other kids. Mike and I just stood at the counter beaming with pride. They told me he would probably want to move up to the next level pretty quickly. That is when he will get the cute little uniform. You know I'm all about that. This will provide me with tons of pictures for the blog and the scrapbooks. So, Mondays and Wednesdays we now have Karate. We all three are very excited and happy about this, which doesn't happen too often that we are all in agreement! Mike and Jayke even came home and went through the entire routine again on the living room floor. Then the poor kid went to bed because he was exhausted.

No pictures of the Karate yet but they will be coming! Stay tuned!

Kudzu...It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

In Georgia, the legend says
That you must close your windows
At night to keep it out of the house.
The glass is tinged with green, even so...

From the poem, "Kudzu,"
by James Dickey



I first took notice of this vine when we were driving to South Carolina from the Atlanta airport to begin searching for a house. We were moving from Indiana to either Georgia or South Carolina, we hadn't decided yet. Driving along I85, heading north I saw fields and fields of this vine literally eating forests, telephone poles, signage, and anything else it could grasp ahold of. I know from reading about it that people have a love/hate relationship with Kudzu in the South. They either love it or hate it. Personally I think it is beautiful. It makes forests along the interstate look like tropical jungles. I try not to think how it is killing the trees it is climbing and just enjoy the view.

I took this picture along I85 somewhere between Atlanta and Anderson, South Carolina...




Kudzu is a native vine of Japan and China. It was brought to the US in 1876 as an ornamental plant. later, it was used to prevent erosion along roads and highways. It grows approximately 1 foot a day and is almost impossible to kill. Livestock like to eat it, it has culinary uses and even medicinal uses. In 1972 it was declared a weed and now has been a nuisance to southerners.

It hasn't bothered me yet but then again, I don't have it growing in my yard. I hope I never do! I will admire it from afar.

Here is a house in Seneca, South Carolina covered by Kudzu. You can see lots of other pictures like this at Jack Anthony's website.

There is a history and whole list of websites with uses for Kudzu at this website if you would like to learn more or see more pictures. I just thought I'd try to edumacate you Yankees who read this. If ya come down to visit I might even fry some up for y'all!

Good Books

Occasionally I like to write a blog entry about what I'm reading or some product that makes my life easier for those who read this who don't care what my kid is doing. Today I'm in the mood to write one of those posts.

When I moved to South Carolina a little over a year ago I was obsessed with all things Southern. So much so that I even found myself at the Jockey Lot of all places. The Jockey Lot is a huge flea market. Something I have tried to avoid most of my married life. The hubs loves a good flea market and even better, an auction. He likes to try to drag me to these events occasionally, knowing it isn't my thing. I have to admit though, if it hadn't been 30 degrees hotter than hades out there I may have liked The Jockey Lot. Maybe we should check it out in the fall, but I digress.

In my quest for anything Southern I was turned onto Mary Kay Andrews by my mother. She is an author who writes comedic books about the south for women. (Mary Kay Andrews, not my mother.) I supposed a man might read them too but I think her main audience is women. I loved that the books were mainly set in the Charleston area of South Carolina, Savannah, and Atlanta with a little Tybee Island thrown in for good measure. Her descriptions of antique hunting always makes me want to run right out to an estate sale. I learned what that pesky vine called Kudzu, growing all over the place is from reading her books. They are about as Southern as you can get. My only complaint is that there aren't enough of them!

I've read all but two of her books. One of which I am reading right now. Blue Christmas.

One of my favorite things about her books is she uses the same characters but in different stories. I like to be able to follow a character through more than one book. I think that is why I have put off reading these last two until now, because I know there isn't another one yet to follow them up. I did, however, find something to tide me over until she writes another tale of Weezy and Bebe's adventures. Mary Kay Andrew's blog, appropriately titled The Kudzu Telegraph . Check it out! And, if you love books about The South, read hers. You will be hooked!

"Pop" it Like it's Hot

When Jaykeb went to VBS I wrote an entry about how he wouldn't dance because he was afraid the people there would laugh at him. I remember a couple of people in my family commenting how he could not have gotten this behavior from them! Today, in the mail, Jaykeb got a package from Colorado. It was a book my cousin, Kelly, wrote for him about a boy who was afraid to dance. Very cute! Jaykeb loved it. I read it to him and he immediately demanded I read it again. He even got up and did a little dance. So, thank you Kelly! Jaykeb says thank you! Then he wanted to know where you are. He always wonders where everyone is.

Since I am talking about the boy dancing it reminded me I haven't mentioned his new thing. It kind of started when we were staying at my dad's in Indiana a couple of months ago. My dad has a full length mirror at the end of the hallway next tot he bathroom. Every time Jayke would go to use the potty he would have to stop, turn around, and shake his, "Funny butt" at the mirror. Well, that carried over to him shaking it at people too. Now since we have been watching So You Think You Can Dance on FOX, he has a new twist on the "Funny butt". The dancers on the show do a lot of "Booty poppin'" which Jaykeb apparently really liked. He made me rewind the DVR many times so he could watch Lacey, one of the dancers, "Booty poppin'". Now he goes around "Booty poppin'" all the time. It is quite hysterical too. I need to get it on video. I do have a picture of him doing it though. We were on the boat which just goes to show, he will "Booty pop" at random! The picture can't give you the full effect, you really have to see it in person so I will try to get him on tape doing it and post it. AJ, I know you will love this!



Look at that rotten look on his face! So I already broke my new rule about Saturday being "Meme Saturday" and posted a real blog entry. I had to say thanks to Kelly though for the cute book. After that I just got distracted and kept babbling. I tend to do that. Oh well. Today you get both, a meme and a real entry. No complaining!

Meme Saturday

It's the weekend! I don't know why I'm excited...everyday is Saturday for me. I may be putting an end to that soon, but I'm not going to talk about that today. I've decided to make Saturday "Meme day". I will post an entry but it will only be a meme unless I have something really interesting to say. Most people take the weeken off from blogging and lurking so I doubt it will matter much. Apparently most people only blog or read blogs when they are at work and are supposed to be working. I know that is true of most of my readers...ahem...you know who you are, don't make me call you out!

So I got this meme over at Tommiea's site. She got it from someone else but I didn't feel like going through all the links to find the orginal source. Feel free to go to her site, read her meme, then click on the link to where she got it to read that one too! Let me know if you play so I can come read!

1. Last weekend, I was thinking that _____.
2. If the weather continues like this, _____.
3. Will my _____ ever grow?
4. Often, on a summer's night, I think _____.
5. Right now, I could use a good strong ____
6. My favorite summertime meal is _____.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!

1. Last weekend, I was thinking that I was glad I was out of the house for a change!

2. If the weather continues like this, I won't be going back out of the house until December!

3. Will my Arbivitae ever grow?

4. Often, on a summer's night, I think I wish I were 18 again!

5. Right now, I could use a good strong rain so I won't have to water anything tomorrow.

6. My favorite summertime meal is anything with corn on the cob.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on my blogging and shows, tomorrow my plans include going to the grocery, and Sunday I want to go swimming!

I know I'm too exciting to handle. Oh well. We have had a busy week so I deserve a weekend of doing nothing. That is unless Mike has some big outing in mind that he wants to go on. Guess you will find out on Monday!

His What?

Jaykeb is learning the planets. Oma bought him a t-shirt that has the planets on it and also a sticker book. She sat with him and went over the planets on his shirt, naming each one so that he could learn their names. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.(We are still calling Pluto a planet...poor thing) Then it was Jayke's turn to name them, "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, My Ranus, Neptune... Wait, What? His ranus? Or was this his anus? I had to have him say it several more times. It was, "my Ranus" that he said. I laughed and laughed. The kid is a nut!



He has cracked us up a bunch of times since Oma and Opa have been here. He told Oma, "Stop mumbling, Oma!" when she was talking to him the other day. On the boat he was sitting driving us across the wake another boat made when all of a sudden he yelled, "Don't lose your camera's ladies!" Ladies? I know it doesn't come off as funny when you read about it on here, but when you hear that tiny voice say it it is hysterical.

Here he is in his planet shirt...the picture is one I took when we went to the town of Abbeville. Very historical little town. We toured some of the historical locations while there. This bell was one thing but I can't remember the story about the bell. I was too intrested in making my way over to the old Opera house, the old hotel, and one of the many churches you could go in. Abbeville is the place where Jefferson Davis held his last war council meeting and signed the succesion from the union documents.




This fountain interested me since I am such an animal nut. It is a fountain for animals, mainly horses. The top level for the horses, the bottom for cats and dogs. They had them in other towns too. This is one of the few that is still in the orginal location. Put there in 1912.

The old Opera house was really neat. You could go up to the box and balcony seats. They still have shows there. There was an old hotel and an old church you could also tour. The mansion where the succession papers were signed was not opn the day we were there so we couldn't go in it. I got a picture of it though. Everything else is in the slideshow below.



This will probably be the last slideshow for a while. Mom and Jim leave tomorrow. We haven't done anything the past coupld of days. Just hang out. Jayke has been worn out so he needed to stay home and rest up. Back to my normal boring routine again after today.

Under the Sea

I know I was supposed to post about our trip to Abbeville today but I couldn't wait to talk about the aquarium! We went to the Gerogia Aquarium in Atlanta today and it was wonderful!

We met up with Opa's parents and sister, Jennifer, for our tour. They all live in Atlanta so it was a good place for us to meet although we didn't get to visit much. We were too busy looking up. Looking up at the huge fish swimming over our heads! I've been to other aquariums but this was by far the best one yet. Why wouldn't it be, it is only the largest aquarium in the world! It houses 8 million gallons of water and has the most diverse collection of fish any where.

Ocean Voyage was by far my favorite exhibit. You found yourself walking through a 100 foot tunnel surrounded by 6 million gallons of saltwater and many many species of fish. Included in those species was the whale shark. The largest fish in the world. I also really liked watching the different kinds of rays swim gracefully past in large schools and the Goliath Grouper just hanging out at the glass staring back at you.

The Beluga Whales were beautiful and gracefull. The sea lions and otters were playful and cute. The penguins looked bizarre. We saw Nemo and his anemone, even got to touch the anemone. You could also touch rays, sharks, starfish, horshoe crab and shrimp. Jayke was very excited about touching the starfish but a little scared of the sharks. I don't blame him.

We had to hit the giftshop before leaving, of course. Oma bought Jaykeb a stuffed otter and a cute t-shirt. I wanted to ask where the heck was my souvenir but held my tongue. I guess I'm all grown up now and don't get souvenirs anymore. Whatever!

On the way home Jaykeb managed to talk literally for 3 hours straight. We got stuck in traffic so the 2 hour trip became 3 and we got to listen to an extra hour of chatter. He was too excited. He is at a really fun age to take to places like that right now, even though he didn't meet the height requirement to play on the climbing equipment. Made me feel bad. His dad did a great job of finding something else fun for him to make him forget about it though.

Once again, I put the pictures in a slide show. I just like the format for when I have a lot of pictures to share. Enjoy!

It is in My Google Ads

I know i've already posted today but I was just reading my ads over <--- there in the sidebar and noticed an ad for an auction. Normally this would not have caught my attention but today it did. Today it was an ad for this property...



We saw it from the boat yesterday. The bidding is expected to begin around 1.2 million dollars. This is an orginal homestead house with everything orginal still in it from the 1800s. The ad is for Auction:Lake Keowee property. I hope the ad is there when you read this since they change periodically. There is a virtual tour of the house available on the website. So if ya want to check it out go click on the ad over there <--- (and down) to check it out! Finally Google crawled my site and put an ad that is something local. Interesting.

I have pictures of our trip to Abbeville which I will post later and another funny about Jayke. I have heard that my Colorado readers, (my aunt, and cousins) are going around quoting the boy by using his "Bwain" phrase. Funny stuff.

THANKS TO KATIE FOR SENDING ME MORE COKE CODES! YOUR THE BESTEST!

5 Things

It has been a while since I've done a meme. I found this one at Tommie's site and liked it plus it was fast and easy so I slapped it on here.


five things
5 things in your refrigerator:
1. bing cherries
2. chocolate milk
3. diet coke
4. beer...many kinds of beer
5. fat free cheese


5 things in your closet:
1. clothes of many sizes
2. tons of shoes I never wear
3. towels and sheets...my closet is pretty big.
4. a bunch of purses, most of them black
5. all my scrapbooking stuff

5 things in your purse or backpack:
1. Cell phone
2. hello kitty coin purse
3. hello kitty wallet
4. checkbook
5. baby wipes


5 things in your car:
1. back pack with anything I could possibly need for Jayke, 1st aid kit, wipes, extra clothes, bug spray, sunscreen, etc...
2. Movies for the dvd player
3. atlas
4. 2 pair of sunglasses
5. tide to go pen


5 things in the world you want to see before you die:
1. Jayke graduate from college
2. Jayke get married
3. another child of my own
4. granddchildren
5. Europe

Let me know if you play so I can come read.

Land Ho!

I have a sun burn. I have not had a sun burn in proably 10 or more years. I don't go in the sun. Couldn't help it today though. We went out on a boat on Lake Keowee. I'm glad we went on Keowee instead of Hartwell. I think it is a prettier lake. It is closer to the mountains for one thing and it has a waterfall that you can stop at.

We were out there all day. Jayke was excellent. I think he has watched too much Backyardigans though. As we headed out towards an island in the middle of the lake he started shouting, "Land ho! Land ho!" which I know is from that show. He was also saying, "A'hoy Matie!" and calling Opa captain. It was very funny. He got to drive the boat too. He did a great job! Opa would tell him what to aim for and he would just do it. Drove us all around the lake.

We got out and got in the water a couple of times. Mostly we rode around and looked at the HUGE houses all along the shore. This is where mom and Jim have looked at properties with a realtor. I think after this outing they may be back to wanting a place on the lake. That would be fine with me! We stopped at the waterfall that falls into the lake. We all loved that. There was a nice sandy beach and you could easily get out and walk right up to the falls. The water was cold in front of the falls but the lake temp was like bath water. There is also a place on the lake where you can cliff jump. We didn't do this but we watched other people do it. Looked fun.

I have been putting the pictures together in slide shows since I'm putting so many on. That way those (my family) who want to see them all can and those who don't, don't have to scroll through them all.




Tomorrow is our trip to Abbeville. I'm going to need a vacation after my company leaves!

Just Monkeying Around

I finally got to go to Monkey Joe's today. Maybe I should say, Jaykeb got to, after all, it was for him. I really wanted to go too though. I am thinking about having his birthday party there this year. You can get the whole place in the evening for just your party. But I digress. Jayke absolutley love it! Like you thought otherwise. If you have one in your areas and you have small kids, I highly recommend it! Especially on a rainy day. If you don't have kids, steal your neighbor's and take them. You only have to pay for the kids and you can join them on the blow ups for free! My mom really wants them to make one for adults only. Good exercise!



There was even something for the guys to do...



After Monkey Joe's we went to the mall then to downtown Greenville. I had to show them Falls Park. They have an interactive fountain in the park for kids but we have never let Jayke play in it before. Well you know the kid was going right in that thing with his grandparents here to say it was okay.



We ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Wild Wing Cafe, after Jayke was done playing in the fountain. On the way home I stopped and picked up some fireworks and stuff to make smores. Mike built a fire which not only let us make our smores but finally got the lot cleaned up where the trees fell in the storm a couple of weeks ago. After all that Jaykeb was exhausted. I can't believe he made it to watch fireworks. Tomorrow we won't do much so he can be well rested for out day on the boat Monday.



Jaykeb has recently introduced us to his new friends. Icky, a boy who is invisible and Mr. Nobody. Mr. Nobody is only around though when Jayke has done something he isn't supposed to and he blames it on Mr. Nobody. It goes like this, "Jaykeb why did you leave crumbs all over my chair?" Jaykeb replies, "I didn't do it, Mr. Nobody did!" Icky is just a boy he talks about who goes with us everywhere now. Weird name for an imaginary friend, but then again I did have Barber Carson the dog when I was little. It has been funny listening to him tell us all about what Icky is up to.

I Don't Know What to Title This...

Well, The Boy is happy. He has his Oma here waiting on him hand and foot. I can only imagine how spoiled he would be if we still lived near them!



Mike turned our builder into the BBB about the condition they left our empty lot in. They did a terrible job grating and planting it and it never grew plus they filled in a ravine that shouldn't have been filled in and now there are drainage issues. We got a response that they are going to come out and redo it all so we had to go out and discuss it with the expert (Jim).



While we were out there Opa found an arrow head for Jayke. You know how boys get excited about these things. He immediately stuffed it in his pocket so he wouldn't lose it. In the middle of the night he started yelling in his sleep about the arrow head. Scared me to death. I couldn't figure out what he was screaming about. The Boy has as many conversations in his sleep as he does when he is awake and that is A LOT!



I have to post this next picture because it is something few people have been lucky enough to see in there lifetime...



That would be two men in the kitchen, cleaning! One with a broom and the other with the vacuum. When Opa went to get a glass to drink that berry whine/shine stuff it flew out of the cabinet and shattered all over. Every time he is here something falls at his head. He thinks I plan it. I don't. No really, I don't!

Today I took Oma and Opa around to look for houses. Eventually they are buying one down here. Jayke got tired of that real quick. The Boy has to learn as I did when I was little. Looking at houses is what we do. Opa is a developer/builder, my mom is an interior designer, my grandfather was a builder, my grandmother was in real estate and I worked in interior design with my mom for 10 years. It is in our blood. I hated it as a child too but grew to love it. Jayke will too, whether he likes it or not. At least today we only drove through neighborhoods. Wait until we start dragging him to models!

Mom and I took him swimming this evening. He really wasn't into to it though. My mom actually thought she would be able to get in the pool with me and not get her hair wet. Ha! She should have known better. Opa and Mike stood on the deck above us and just watched and shook their heads as we tried to drown each other. She tried to talk me out of it by telling me she thought I was an adult now. Bwahahahahah!(evil laughter) That just makes it easier for me to dunk her!

Tomorrow Opa is going to unhook all my audio visual equipment and hook it all up correctly. Mike can operate multi million dollar robots but he apparently can't hook up av equipment correctly. Don't tell him I said that! Last night he told me he only checks my blog about once a week just to see what embarrassing s**t I've put on here of him. I told him I'm sure I can do better than what I have so far. I will have to work on that. Right now, I'm going to work on going to sleep before 4 a.m.

P.S. I have been reading how everyone is reading their Harry Potter books so when I got this in an email I decided to post it for all you HP fans out there...This is my cousin and her family at the book party at Borders in New Jersey. They made the paper. Cracked me up.



Note: Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and check out the really interesting clock down there.

"Shine"y Happy People

"I was talking to you, berry man!"

"I'm not berry man, I'm two berries and a Dickle!"

Yep, Oma and Opa arrived safely this evening. Opa and Mike decided to bust out the "special" jar in the fridge that came down out of the mountains with a guy Mike works with. Also a bottle of "sippin' whiskey" Mike picked up at a distillery in Tennessee. George Dickle whiskey or something like that. Hence the conversation I had with Jim after two glasses of the "special" stuff and one of the whiskey. Mom and I were not amused. Jayke just went to sleep. I should have joined him.

It's Utter Chaos!

I can't talk now! Mom and Jim will be here in a couple of hours. I need to run to the store to get something to feed them tonight. I was up all night again last night. I assembled a table at 3 a.m. It is for the patio. It has been sitting in the garage waiting on Mike for a couple of months now. He will never get around to it so I went ahead and did it. I don't like to do too much of this though because then he will catch on that I really can do stuff and when I ask him to do things he won't anymore.

My house is clean, my table is assembled, my deck and patio are nice and neat, the kid is clean, Oma's room is ready for them, and the beer is cold. I think I'm ready if I just get something planned for dinner.

Jayke keps walking around the house randomly saying, "It's utter chaos." I don't know what he is referring to. Maybe my new sleeping habits, maybe my whirlwind cleaning, I don't know but it is kind of funny.

I will try to get around to blogs later. For now I have to run!
Oh yeah, Dona, I cleaned my ceiling fans!

It's Time to Up My Dosage!

I think I have reached a new degree of psycho. I have screwed up my sleeping pattern so bad I don't know how to get it right again. I have done this in the past. I know what causes it and how to prevent it but I can't help myself. I am a night owl. I love being up late at night all by myself. I get a lot done with no one to interupt me. Tonight I spent 3 hours cleaning and organizing Jayke's room. Normally I would have made him help me but I didn't want any arguments so I did it without him. The trick now will be keeping it that way until after Wednesday when Oma and Opa get here.

The first time I had a run in with insomnia was when I was living at home after leaving Ball State and not having a car or a job. I was bored out of my mind and would just stay up all night since I didn't have anything to get up for. I'm sure I was depressed too but that is a whole other conversation.

I have gotten my sleep screwed up a couple of times since living here but not like this. I'm writing this at 6:20 a.m. and I have not been to bed yet. I think it started with that stupid Big Brother 8 being shown on Showtime from midnight to 3 a.m. I started staying up to watch that but I could go to bed at 3 and still get up around 9a.m. and everything was fine. Then I got sick and couldn't go to sleep at 3 anymore so I am staying up all night. Last night I thought I would get a handle on it by taking some Tylenol pms but I waited too long. I took them too late and was feeling the effects all day. I couldn't wake up. I did manage to go to bed around 4a.m. but because I took the pills too late I couldn't wake up all day.

Right now I feel like I could easily go do a few loads of laundry, dust the entire house, and unload the dishwasher. Nuts. Jayke is up now too. He got up at 5 a.m. when Mike left for work. I have to fix this fast or I will have him all screwed up too. Tonight I am taking the Tylenol at 10 p.m. so I can be in bed and asleep by midnight...I hope. Wish me luck. At first I didn't mind it cause I love being up at night but now it just sucks and I want to be normal again.

If you are wondering what Jayke is doing while I am sleeping don't worry. I get up feed him stay up with him for a while but then take a nap while he is watching a movie or something or he takes one with me. He likes to bring his cars in and drive them on me while I'm sleeping. I am his road, he says. Sometimes he does other things though and I discover them at a much later date. Like I discovered that while I was sick he was doing this...








That is me sleeping on the couch under that orange blanket while The Boy is photographing random objects throughout the house. There were over 50 pictures that he took. There was a lovely one of my backside that I chose not to post.

He also did this...



That is Moon Sand if you are wondering and this was NOT the only place I found it. I think there was a little in everyroom. Made it easy for me to see what all he had been up to at least, I just followed the trail.


We had a Christmas Story moment yesterday. Jayke came in with a cup of ice and had an ice cube stuck to his lip. I tried to get to him but he ripped it off in panic before I could. Blood all over the place. He had just bit his tongue earlier in the day too. Poor kid, he has to have a very sore mouth today. He asked for his ice pack thing after I got the bleeding stopped. He hasn't complained since.

I got my print I ordered using my Coke rewards yesterday. I love it and can't wait to get it framed. I am on my way to earning enough to get another one and will be getting there even sooner thanks to Katie who has been sending me her coke codes. Thank you, Katie!

I think I will go do that dusting now. Maybe put the kid to work so he will nap with me in a few hours. Someone please send the Sandman to my house tonight!

Random Thoughts Spewing All Over

I have been one giant ball of snot all weekend. Lovely visual, huh? I think I am on the mend now though. I slept in until 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Yeah, you heard me right. I didn't get to bed until 6 a.m. the night/morning before. Insomnia decided to join the snot-inducing critters who invaded my body and they were up late partying. The hubs kept The Boy out of the room and quite after the horrible day I had on Friday.

With Jayke and I both sick and home alone together ALL day (Mike worked late)we ended up having a terrible day. I was told that I was a Big Poopy, he didn't like me and he also poked me in the eye. He also told me that, "His Bwain tells him to be mean to Mommy!" I'm thinking we need to get out of the house for a while. Good thing Oma and Opa will be here on Wednesday!

Opa called today and had me look into making reservations at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta for while they are here. I am stoked about that! I have been wanting to go there since we moved here. I think we are going to meet up with his sister and parents, who live in Atlanta, have lunch then hit the aquarium in the afternoon after the crowd starts to thin out. Anyone been there and have some good tips for me? I think we are going to see the 3D Deepo show while we are there too. I heard it is good. I've been watching all the videos on the website and I can't wait to go!

I have a tentative schedule made out for while the grandparents are here. So far I have 5 days filled. I'm trying to leave a few open for spontaneous activities such as the excitement filled game of croquet we had last time they visited. I'm thinking of getting a Hillbilly Ball game, aka ladder ball. Ang's son, Matthew, dubbed it that and I think it is a very appropriate name for the game so I'm going with it. So what are the things I have planned you ask? Well, we are taking Jayke to Monkey Joe's on Thursday and then I want to take them to Falls Park to show them the waterfall. They have been to Greenville but when we were there with them we didn't know about the falls so I'm taking them back. On Saturday I want to go to Abbeville. Cute little historical town about 20 minutes south of us. Mom wants to go there too so that is on the list. The next week, is our boat day on Monday and the aquarium on Wednesday. I'm sure I will get something else penciled in somewhere, there are tons of things I want to do. Maybe a trip up to The Biltmore or something like that.

I just heard on the news that people were stuck in the arch in Missouri for over two hours today. I remember going up in that thing when I was pregnant. I am not the type of person to be claustrophobic but riding up and back down in that tiny capsule thing was too much for me. It was all I could do to not freak out. It probably would have been better if they hadn't crammed another couple in with us. The entire time I was thinking what if we got stuck, what if we got stuck? Well, some unlucky person did and I feel bad for them. I don't know why I felt I needed to talk about that...I guess that is what happens when you have been sick and on too much cold medication. Random crap just spews out of my head onto the keyboard. I need to make a list. Things You Don't Want to do While Pregnant:

Go to Las Vegas (while 6 months pregnant with feet the size of melons)
Go to the St Louis Zoo(in the rain in October while 6 months preggers)
Go up in the arch in St. Louis
Run down the street chasing 7 dogs who have escaped. (I'm sure Angi agrees with me here!)
All dumb things I did while pregnant and regretted immediately. I'm sure there were plenty of others but that is all that comes to mind right now.

Speaking of random...Here is how The Boy finally conked out this afternoon.



He is asleep on the foot rest part of the recliner in between his dad's legs. He is also holding a back scratcher. I'm going to make a montage of all the pictures I have of him sleeping in random places and positions around the house. It amazes me sometimes. Especially when I can't fall asleep for anything laying in my comfy bed with my two down pillows and my old quilt that has been washed just the right amount of times to make it perfect. My blanky. My sister actually offered me $180 for my blanky and I turned her down. That is how much I LOVE it. I don't know which one of us is crazier...her for offering that much for an old quilt or me for turning that much down. Anyway...more random tidbits from my over medicated, sleep deprived brain. I will stop now.

Little Monster

I've never really been around little boys much. I have 3 step sisters but no brothers. The closest thing to a brother I had was my nephew who is a year younger than I am. I would see him on weekends every other week when I went to my Dad's. We would fight like brother and sister and play together but eventually he moved to Florida and I didn't see him as often.

My point is I wasn't aware of how little boys act. I keep asking my mom if Jayke's behavior is normal but how would she know, she only had me. He is such a boy at times. He wants to rough house with me almost every night before bed. He also does it when I'm on the phone. He just picks at me and won't leave me alone. He wants to "play karate" or he says, "Let's fight!" I am assuming this is normal behavior for little boys but how would I know? He doesn't really do it to Mike so much, just me. On the other hand, he is a Momma's Boy. He comes to me for everything and unless Mike is taking him outside to play, Jayke is glued to my side.

Don't get me wrong, I love having a boy. I wanted a boy...I have just been shocked by how much he likes to wrestle and stuff. It is almost non stop! So, someone tell me...is this normal? Are all boys like this?



I am sick. It always amazes me when I get sick from Jayke how bad I feel is how bad he had to feel and I had no idea. He doesn't act like it affects him that much. There is no way I could not be sick after The Boy decided it would be funny to give me, "Puppy licks" all over. Disgusting on a normal basis, even worse when he is all snotty and doing it. I should have gone and hosed myself off but I didn't and I'm paying for it now. I have been trying to explain how germs work to him but he isn't getting it.

Mom and Jim will be here on Wednesday. I hope we are all better by then. We got a day nailed down that we have rented a boat to go out on Lake Keowee. I am excited to go out on that lake instead of Hartwell because I know it has some falls on it. I'm sure I will get tons of pictures of everything while they are here. Jayke is claiming he is going to start sleeping in his own bed when they are here so we will see. He has tried all on his own a couple of times recently but never makes it the whole night. After a couple of failed attempts he gets mad and doesn't want to anymore. Maybe Oma and Opa in the next room for a week will be the key!

I have to go drag my butt back to the couch now before my head explodes. I'm hoping I won't have a little munchkin crawling all over me as soon as I lay down yelling, "Lets play karate, Mom!"

Yucky Snotty Cold

Well, just as I thought. I woke up with Jayke's cold this morning. I knew I would but I was doing everything I could to prevent it. The worst part is the sore throat. I can deal with a runny nose but I hate to have a sore throat. So I am resting today. Jayke, on the other hand, is on the mend so he is full of energy and wanting me to play and do this and do that. Not fair. We should be sick at the same time so he will lay around with me. I mean, how dare he expect to be fed and stuff when I'm sick! Right?

Love Free Stuff!

I have a sick kid. I suppose this means I will be sick next. It isn't anything too bad, just a yucky summer cold. Keeps him up at night though. Keeps him up, his dad up, and keeps me up.

Since Jayke is not feeling well we haven't done anything so I don't have anything to talk about. I've been busy cleaning out closets and cabinets. Trying to get more organized. Seems like that just makes a mess somewhere else though.

I am looking forward to receiving my next reward from Coke. I do the Coke Rewards and have gotten a couple of great rewards. AT least I am excited about them! My first one was a memory book. Normally this is $40 from the Kodak website, however, you can get it for free along with many of the other items from Kodak through the rewards program. My second reward I just ordered is a 20x30 poster of one of my pictures. I used the one of Jayke with his helmet on when he was learning to ride his scooter. I ordered it in black and white and I'm going to do an entire wall of black and white poster size pictures going down the basement stairs. I can't wait for it to get here!

I added Adsense to my blog. I have heard that some people make a lot of money from it so I decided to try it out. I earn money everytime someone clicks an ad on my blog so if you feel like it click one of my ads in my sidebar. I will do the same for you if you have Adsense on your blog. I don't want to beg or anything, but PLEASE click my ad...I need money for Cabo! Okay, enough of that. I hear the dryer calling me.

Just a Question

Does anyone else watch Big Brother or am I the only loser in bloggerland? Just wondering.

Oma is Coming and Opa too!

Can you say excited? We finally found out today that Oma and Opa, (my mom and step-dad) are coming on the 25th and staying until the 4th! That is like 91/2 days. They have never stayed that long before. Hope I don't end up kicking them out before the 9 1/2 days is up. Joking...sort of!!

I'm glad they are staying longer because we always feel rushed and never get to do everything we have planned. This time we will be able to do more without Opa complaining about having to drive too much. We are renting a boat for next week some day. We are going to take Jayke to Monkey Joe's and Splash Zone. I think I may have run through all of this already...so I will stop now. I'm sure I will have a post about everything we do anyway.

Now I have something to use against the kid for the next week. "Jayke you better pick all your toys up or Oma won't want to come." I'm so mean, but it works. Whoever coined the phrase, "Terrible Twos" obviously did it before their child was three! He was an angel at two! I would have 10 two year olds but one three year old is almost more than enough some days. I said some days people, back off! I know I am lucky and he really is very good. I wouldn't trade him for anything, just lock him in the basement occasionally.

Right now he is outside with his father who is up on a 20 foot extension ladder cleaning the gutters. He is almost finished which I am happy about because I'm afraid he is going to fall off that thing and kill himself.



I have to go write a letter for the Home Owners Association now. We are preparing to sue our developer and every homeowner has to write a letter. One of my specialties. I swore when I got off the HOA board at my old house I would never be involved with another one. Too much fighting and stress. So what happens when we move here? Mike volunteers to serve on an advisory committee for the HOA. Yeah I said Mike, but that means that I get to do things like write letters, etc. I have yet to have to go to a meeting though and I intend to keep it that way. Six years of listening to people complain about their neighbors was enough for me. I still can't get away from it though since Mike is involved. He sends all the correspondence to me to read. Several of them are feuding right now too and when I read or hear about it it just gets me all fired up. THAT is what I'm trying to avoid. At least Mike is not involved in the argument so I don't have to get that worked up about it. I'll just write my little letter and be done with it...let the others fight it out.

Bad Hair, but Fat Free!

Say goodbye to these way too long bangs! I can stand you any longer, stupid bangs. I'm cutting you as soon as I finish this post. I think this may be the longest I've ever gone without a haircut. 7 months is way too long...and so are my bangs.



Jayke is not trying to bite me, by the way. He was going to give me a kiss but started laughing. I thought it was kind of cute. He was into making silly faces for the camera again. Somewhere along the line he has picked this one up...



I think they all do eventually. He got a really bad haircut this time. The girl really chopped it up on top and both Mike and I hate it. Poor kid. He kind of has weird hair. Next time I told Mike to try to get the same girl who did it the time before this one. He can't remember what she looked like though. I may have to go with them. I try to avoid that like the plague though. I had enough of taking him back when he through a fit everytime and turned the task over to Mike.

Speaking of Mike, he and I have both gone "fat free" as in our diets. He has had to do it for his cholesterol and I need to do it to lose weight so I figured we might as well go all the way. We went shopping this evening for our new "healthy lifestyle". We will see how this goes. He has been able to stick to it without any problem but he is a man. I don't think they get cravings like women do. I have been shocked to find how much the fat free stuff has changed though. It isn't bad and some of it is pretty good. My down fall could be Jaykeb though. I HAVE to stop eating his left overs...have to...have to...have to! Wish me luck!

Stupid Question, Mom!

I have a terrible habit of never turning off my ceiling fans. Since I never turn them off I never see how dirty they get. Yesterday I was in my little computer room reading blogs and email when I heard a banging noise. I hear banging noises quite often since I have a boy but this one wasn't familiar so I asked what was going on. My answer was not a good one.

"I'm cleaning your fan, Mom!"

I stopped to think what fan I had plugged in in there then I realized the only fan he could be cleaning was the ceiling fan, but how?

"How are you cleaning it Jayke?"

Stupid questions usually get great answers...

"With my weed whacker!"

WHAT??!!?

I ran into the bedroom and there he is standing on my extra tall bed with his toy weed eater hitting the ceiling fan with it and the dust was just a flyin'. What on earth would posess him to clean the ceiling fan? I mean, it isn't like he ever sees me doing it... obviously... so why would he all of a sudden attept this...and with a weed whacker of all things? Well another stupid question answered so plainly as if I were the dumbest thing on the planet...

"Because I wanted to" with a shrug

Of course! Why didn't I think of that?

I'm just happy to report that the fan wasn't damaged, the kid wasn't fried, and the dust was very easy to sweep up off the floor.