October 31, 2009 at 9:09 AM (Family Life, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat)
Scenes from Halloween ‘01.
A groovy, peace and love, Ab-Cat. Dumping the candy bucket. Let the trading begin! I SO remember doing that with Beeve. We were all about the gum. My Mother was all about the candy bars.
Miss Mouse was her old standby. A cat. I think her collar said Frisky. The Boy was a doctor. But he couldn’t just be a regular doctor. That would be boring.
He was Dr. Zaius from The Planet of the Apes. Ah, those were the days!
October 30, 2009 at 6:58 AM (From the Heart, Honey, Our Boy)
The Boy has been busy. Busy getting into accidents. In the last 2 weeks, he is 2 for 2.
Before I tell you about the accidents, I have to tell you about the ticket.
He got a ticket after he had been driving for about 3 weeks. It was for turning left on a yellow light. He says yellow, the police officer said red. He was sick about this. Seriously, he was in distress. I know how he feels. That is a bad feeling when you are pulled over.
I would be more upset about this, but to be honest, the police in our town have just gone hog wild. They have a new little racket. They like to give a ticket with points for a minor infraction so you can go before the judge and have the points removed if you will pay a higher fine. Honey and I have both gotten tickets in the last 3 years for this. Like I told the judge, it’s a judgement call for me to make if I feel like I can slam on my brakes, so I can catch the yellow light. In that split second, you weigh your options. Sometimes, especially if it is raining, or in Michigan, snowing, or you have someone thisclose on your tail, the better choice is to go. Plus, do all of my passengers need to grab for the safety bars, just so I can stop, when I could have made it through with no problem? Most of the lights in our town have left turn signals anyway.
All of this would not be nearly so annoying if we did not live in a town that has people flagrantly turning left on RED lights as a matter of course. They just keep on comin’. Or speeding, or not paying attention because they are talking on the rackin’ sackin’ phone! Go get those guys!
The boy now has a fear of the yellow lights. Being the conscientious driver that he is, he now stops at ALL yellow lights, if it is in his power to do so. But the woman behind him last week was not privy to his history. When the light turned yellow, he stopped. She accelerated, and drove right up into his truck. She broke his bloody truck!
We were so thankful that The Boy and LMNOP were not seriously hurt. They had sore necks and really bad headaches, but were fine. The Boy was going on a retreat with his jr. high youth group boys that night. It was a long weekend for him! Those jr. highers like to hang from him like baby possums.
It doesn’t look as broken in the picture as it really is. It looks like a giant stepped into the truck bed and bent it.
They want to throw it away. That is probably for the best, it has over 160,000 miles on it, needs a new exhaust, every warning light is permanently on, door locks and windows are haphazard. After he got home, the truck bed door fell off.
The woman who hit him was really sorry. She said that she thought he was going to go through. She was not paying close attention.The Boy said she was so rattled that he gave her a hug.
Honey and I both agreed with The Boy that we were GLAD that it wasn’t his fault. That made it a little bit better.
Last Sunday, The Boy was on his way to church with his friend, Tiger BatBoy. In Tiger BatBoy’s car. Tiger BatBoy was going about 45 through a yellow light when a car turned left, right in front of him. WHAT UP WITH THAT?????
Now Tiger BatBoy’s bloody car is broken.
They both have sore chests where the seat belts caught them. The airbags didn’t go off.
Honey and The Boy have been spending quite a bit of time looking to replace the bloody truck. They are sharing Honey’s Grandpa Gray Taurus. I am back in the big high top conversion van, which I quite like. Comfy leather seats, good cd player, temperature on the rear view mirror, chapstick, kleenex. Honey’s car lacks certain amenities.
All of this is inconvenience. A big, fat, costly inconvienience. A little treat we like to call Michigan No Fault Auto Insurance.
We are most thankful to the Lord for the safety he provided to The Boy, LMNOP and Tiger BatBoy. We know how quickly your life can change in a vehicle. We are grateful for the hedge of protection.
October 28, 2009 at 6:28 AM (Family Life, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat, Way Back When-sday)
This was Once Upon A Time when we used to carve pumpkins. The last couple of years, they just sat out on the porch looking natural. Then I would throw them out into the field as a special treat for our pets, the groundhogs. Or whistlepigs, as I learned from Capri Patt last week. I am an absorbant sponge of information.
This was the year of Harry Potter for The Ab-Cat. She went as Hermoine herself . Her love for all things Harry was at its highest point that year, although she remained a Potter-head for several more. My best guess was she was in 7th grade.
I’m not sure about the look The Boy was going for this year, but he had been all about the knives and swords since he was about 3. He was probably Albert Einstein that year. He was also in an Albert Einstein phase for quite a while. If my best guess was correct above, He was in the 5th grade.
No surprise here, Our Mousey was a kitty-cat for the majority of her Halloween outings. Actually, when she was 2 and 3 and 4, she probably had her cat costume on 4 or 5 times a week. Everwhere she went. Yes, that was us at Meijers. This is 2nd grade Mouselina.
I heart these Precious Pumpkins!
September 10, 2009 at 6:18 AM (In's and Ism's, Nut Hatch Dictionary, Our Boy)
Hey Guy’s! Guess What? The NutHatch Dictionary is up and running! There are only a few words and phrases in it so far, but I will be sure to alert you when I add more to it. I know, you are on the very edges of your seats!
Look over there on the left, under pages, and BAMBO! there it is!
The Boy has offered to contribute the first phrase in a post. Bless his little pea pickin’heart. You all have a great Thursday!
After many years, my mother has switched the duties of the parent and the son around. The norm is that the parent will tuck the child in bed at night. That’s the way we always did it. Since my mom now goes to bed with the pumpkins, and I am such a night owl, I usually tuck her in, or come in her room for some reason after she has gone to bed. I come in her room to the sight of her reading, watching right wing news stations, or the Discovery Health Channel, and sometimes, if she’s in a crazy mood, she will watch animal cop shows.
The phrase I am contributing is, “Pull the door to”.
Now, from the look of it, it makes no sense, but from the beginning of time I have known what to do and exactly what it means. One night, I picked up on the nonsensical nature of the Hatch phrase, and questioned my mother. Her response was “I’ve just always heard it” which is another typical response to the questioning of our unusual vocabulary.
Now the definition of this phrase is, swing the door all the way to the frame without actually shutting it, so the kitty’s can get out. This is because if a kitty gets locked in her room, which she always has all three in her room at night, and that kitty has some business to take care of elsewhere, it will howl incessantly to get out, waking my dear, sweet, mother. To respond to my mothers request, I would sarcastically say, “Pull the door to where?”
After awhile, I stopped questioning my mother’s requests and did my duty.
Sincerely, The Boy
September 9, 2009 at 6:20 AM (Family Life, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat, Way Back When-sday)
Since our kids won’t allow photographs on the first day of school anymore, I have to go pawing through my pictures while singing “Memories” to myself.
Here are the precious little pumpkins, all dressed in their finery, and thrilled to have some place to go! Remember that? Kindergarten, when children could not wait to get to school!
First up we have Darling Ab-Cat in 1994. I coerced the Dr. to induce my labor with Mousey so I could be home 2 days later to take Abby to her first day of kindergarten. I was not missing that once in a life time experience because of some 10 day overdue child ! Sheesh, people who have cesareans PICK the day they want to give birth! But they expected me to wait for the entire 14 days before they forced that wee mouse out? There is no justice in the world.
Who is not AT ALL impressed with their cute self? Ah, that one, she was a poser.
The Boy was not quite sure what was going on. But he wanted to be in the picture. He was not happy when he discovered his best friend in the world was gone every single morning. Her backpack was The Little Mermaid, as were a great many of her belongings at that time. It would have been even cuter had it been turned around.
Here she is in first grade, 1995. We never made that turned the wrong way backpack mistake again. Hello Pocahontas!
1995, now it’s HIS turn! While he did not like his best friend being gone all day, he sure was excited to go do whatever it was she was doing! I am quite positive he had Batman and Robin on his backpack.
1998, There’s our Baby Girl! She was SO ready! She had been hauled all over that school by now, she could not WAIT to get over there and do some learning! She had herself a Pikachu backpack, and Girlfriend already knew her way around the building! She had the same teacher that the other two had. She hung that pack up on the peg and said “see ya”.
It’s only fitting to have another one of The Boy with his other sister. Cause that’s what he is, the sweet middle of a sister sandwich.
Thanks for going Way Back with me, I know I enjoyed myself!
September 7, 2009 at 7:33 AM (Family Life, Honey, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat)
I saw this Labor Day meme over at Rocks in my Dryer, so I decided to copy it. It’s what I do best.
How long were your labors?
The Ab-Cat-active labor, about 8 hours. I had lost the mucus plug hours earlier, but nothing happened for a while. Labor waited until dinner at Mexican Fiesta.
The Boy- about 10- 12 hours
Mousey-I don’t know, sweet forever? The eternal night of the most BORING television I have ever had the misfortune to watch. 14-15 hours.
How did you know you were in labor?
Ab-Cat-mild contractions that soon became bend over painful. She was in a hurry. After waiting for 10 days after her due date.
The Boy-When the prostaglandin gel kicked in, about a half hour after application. YIKES! He had no intention of ever coming out. He was a full 2 weeks overdue. They made him come out.
Mousey-After the prostaglandin gel did NOT work and they cranked up the pitocin. This one was NOT coming out without a fight. She was 12 days overdue.
Where did you deliver?
Hospital with all three. Rocks in my Dryer said “where the drugs were” ! I laughed out loud at that!
Drugs?
After having The Ab-Cat naturally, I never wanted to do THAT again. Even then, drugs only helped with the contractions, not the pushing. It was the pushing that I so disliked. The pushing AND the episiotomy.
C-section?
No.
Who delivered?
All three times I had different doctors. And all three times it was not my Dr. What are the chances? Honey cut the cord all three times. So he was the constant fixture in the birthing process.
Have a loverly Labor Day!
August 28, 2009 at 9:56 AM (From the Heart, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat)
Not only did The Ab-Cat and The Boy get their drivers licenses this week, they both started college! WOO HOO!!
Ab has been taking on-line classes at a community college for the last 2 years. She started this route because she had a major super duper spine surgery the summer after she graduated from high school in 2007. We weren’t sure about her recovery time, and we knew she was going to have another surgery in the fall of that same year. We knew she wouldn’t be able to make it to classes physically, so on line seemed a good option. It WAS! She is a very organized, self-motivated student, and she did very well. The next year, since she still did not want to get her drivers license, she did the same thing.
This year, she is driving to college! Which started Wednesday. And that girl I told you about? The one who could not navigate her way out of a paper bag? She drove herself to COLLEGE! And then, later that day? She drove to Target, the library and the vet to pick up Katie’s medicine. ALL BY HERSELF!!! And then I asked her to take Mousey to swim practice. In that day alone, I saved 6 trips! What ever am I going to do with all of my free time???
The Boy also did admirably. He wanted to drive by himself once before he had to start his big college day. He decided to drive up to LMNOP’s work and surprise her. They are both ALL ABOUT the licenses, driving and college lately. Despite my detailed instructions, he got lost and never did get there. They did meet up later though, somehow.
His college day on Wednesday was very complicated. Like we dropped him off a tanker in the middle of the ocean, in a rubber raft, and said GO, kind of complicated.
He had to drive himself to work, which was easy, but then drive to the college about 20 minutes away, that he had only been to twice; to register and buy his books. THEN, he had to drive across towns to his second class that was at an off site campus, maybe another 20 or so minutes away. The thing that most worried me about this process, was that there was construction on the road that was best for him to take, and I was worried that it could cause him to run late to the second college, he would get all frazzled and not be able to find his class room, and then his head would explode. He would then fall out of his rubber raft, all alone on the ocean, and be eaten by a shark.
He texted after every arrival. He did great!
There were arrow prayers flying all day for these kids. God knew we were ALL anxious. He knew all about Ab not knowing where she was. He was well aware that The Boy was travelling in cities that he had never knowingly been in. He knew that we were letting our children fly out of their comfy nest for the first time. Un-flown by us.
This is one of my favorite verses. I saw it the other day on a blob, that had nothing to do with anything that I have described here. But, that’s just one of the things I love about God. He applies. To all of His followers in their own special set of circumstances.
Ephesians 3:20
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…
I like that word immeasurably. I looked it up. It said “not capable of being measured”. That sounds like a lot. If God is doing more than can be measured, more than I can ask for or imagine? I would like some of that, please.
I like immeasurably more. I need immeasurably more. I ask for immeasurably more for our children. And that’s exactly what He did.
I asked for them to have safety from all harm and evil. He did that. I asked that they would not be overwhelmed by circumstances, and not get lost. He did that.
AND THEN, He gave them a sense of accomplishment, they DID it! They learned a new kind of dependence on Him, something they need to experience for themselves. And finally, they have a new confidence. See? Immeasurably more than we asked for.
I am immeasurably thankful.
August 27, 2009 at 7:32 AM (Family Life, Help Me Please, Honey, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat)
This has been a monumental week here at The NutHatch. Mon-U-mental.
Ab-Cat and The Boy both got their drivers license on Monday. Yes, you read that correctly.
I realize that this is a natural progression in a teenager’s life, and many of you have already lived through this. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to live through this. I mean, they ARE 20 and 18 years old!
I was seriously beginning to consider that Mousey may beat them to it. She already pesters us to drive.
Those older two just did not have the desire to drive. We made them.
Ab-Cat has owned her own van for 3 years, and she still didn’t want to drive. Over the course of the last 3 years, she became a very good driver, but her directional skills did not develop along with her driving skills. She continues to amaze me by not knowing where she is. Ever. Except the library, she can get there, from our house, on her own.
The Boy finally decided he would take drivers ed when he was 16, then spent the next 2 years declining to drive whenever I handed him the keys. He always had an excuse. He was tired, he didn’t want to drive on a busy road, it was raining. Whatever. He was content to bum a ride from his many friends who had been driving for years.
Monday was the day. Honey called and scheduled their road tests back to back. The rest of the day was such a typical NutHatch day, that I have to tell you all about it, in excruciating detail. Because this is SO how our life is, and I just need to share it with someone. Lucky Ya’ll.
Honey and I arranged to meet at the church where the kids were taking their tests at 7 a.m. so we could leave a car there. The instructor uses your own car, and I didn’t feel like sitting there in the church parking lot for an hour with my second child while he tested the first child. So I dropped Ab-Cat off in her accessible van and drove myself home. Wait a second, back it on up. As she turned out of our street, her gas light came on. First snag of the day.
I casually mentioned this to the instructor when we arrived. But surely, he wouldn’t be driving her around for 20 miles, would he? Of course, he might. So she got out and they had a little get to know you chat while I raced to get some gas.
THEN, off they went. I went home and puttered around, got The Boy up, and we returned to the church parking lot. There, the instructor told me that her permit was expired. WE HAD NO IDEA. She has been driving with an expired permit for almost a year. He then told us that we needed to head right on over to the Secretary of State and have it renewed or else he couldn’t giver her her passing certificate. It seems the State of Michigan is nit picky about things like that.
Guess what? The Secretary of State has been closed lately on Fridays, something about a 4 day work week, and EVERYBODY and their brother, and grandma, neighbor and cousin were there too. We waited in that beast of a line until an employee, assigned to separate customers to help facilitate a speedier wait in the beast of a line, told us to go to the handicapped window. So now we know the 2 best things about being paralyzed; getting special privileges at theme parks and the Secretary of State.
Because her permit had been expired longer than 6 months, she had to take a test. It was four pages long!!!! That took a bit of time, so she was not finished before I had to go back to the church and pick up The Boy. I had planned on showing the instructor the permit, gathering her certificate, and paying him for both tests.
I still didn’t have the permit and when I opened the checkbook, there were no checks. This man was going to think I was the villiage idiot.
When I told him I had no permit, and no checks, he suggested we come back in an hour and a half when he had his next test. He let me know that he was giving me a lot of breaks.
So The Boy and I went back to the Secretary of State, where he got at the end of the beast of a line. It had not shrunk. I think it had grown. And because he does not have the misfortune to be paralyzed, he had to wait in it the entire time.
I went to check on the Ab-Cat. She had passed her test, had her permit and 53 other documents in hand. She opted to go wait in the van, and I went to wait with The Boy. Where he entertained me, and I told him that he and his sister needed to take me out for lunch, because they had hijacked my whole, entire day. And then, he got his license! WOO HOO!!!!!
We then ran home, got some cash to pay the instructor, because I still could not find the checks, that have always been in the same place since we moved into this house 10 years ago, and went back to the church to pay the patient instructor man. He accepted our cash, looked at Ab’s brand spanking new permit and gave her her certificate. Goodbye instructor man, we will see you when Mousey has need of your services!
Back in the car, we commenced discussing lunch. We discuss eating a lot. It is a family hobby. We decided to go home and get The Mouse to discuss and eat with us. Discuss can be a funny word if you use it many times.
The power had gone off at some point in the morning, and startled Honey awake because the clock was blinking 3:30. This was alarming to him for some reason, I am not sure why, as he had no where to be. But it caused him to get up a little rattled, none the less. So his misfortune, became our fortune, and he was able to join us, with Mouse, at our favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. On the 2 oldest kid’s dime. Always a treat.
We parted company at this point. They all went home and Ab-Cat and I went for her 2:45 appointment with an oral surgeon. Because she has a hole in her mouth. Well, actually, her gum. Our dentist and the oral surgeon both said they had never seen anything like it in over 40 years of practice. She is special-special.
After her appointment, we went back to our new hangout, the Secretary of State, and the beast of a line. Still no shorter, maybe even a tad bit longer. I saw our buddy at the handicapped window and took a chance. I asked her if we could just come on over, or did we need to wait for the crowd facilitator lady to send us? She said COME ON OVER!!!!
She was my very favorite person that day.
And then The Ab-Cat got her license. WOO HOO!!!!
The End.
August 24, 2009 at 6:56 AM (Family Life, Our Boy)
Little Goomba was here. He was trying on The Boy’s shoes, and modeling them for The Grandma.
When The Boy arose at the crack of noon, he read a book with him. This is Goomba’s book of preference this week. It’s a wild animal book. He was fascinated with the page that had a buffalo and a bison on it. I must have said that 25 times. Buffalo, Bison, Buffalo, Bison.
The Boy was telling him the animal names that they used in “The Jungle Book”. Bagira for panther, Ba-loo for bear, and Sher Khan for tiger. All need to know information for a growing boy.
Then, lunch time! He brought leftover baba ganoush from home. He likey the ganoush!
He dips the bread in, and licks the ganoush off. He never did eat the bread.
Ganoush, galore.
All gone.
August 22, 2009 at 9:59 AM (Bargains of the Month, Cats and Dog, Family Life, Honey, Muggins Q. Mouse, Our Boy, The Ab-Cat)
I can hardly believe that another month has flown by. Where is this summer going?
My very favorite bargain was found in Virginia. It will be my consolation prize for when summer is over, and I have to put the jeans back on. Always a sad day. It is actually a sadder day when I have to put on the socks.
These Lucky jeans were found on the clearance rack at TJ Maxx. For $20.00. They are oh, so comfortable too! I had a thought to show them actually ON my hindquarters. But, alas, no one is up at our house except me. And the cats. Who have just now discovered a plastic bag that has been sitting in the foyer since yesterday afternoon. And they are making a great deal of racket with that plastic bag. Think big time wrestling, in a plastic bag. And PLEASE, don’t get all worried that they could actually accidentally get themselves in the plastic bag and suffocate themselves. They have both auditioned for the feline version of “Biggest Loser”. They could no more get into the plastic bag than I could. They will just rustle it around annoyingly, then lay down and sleep on it.
The kids and I went to Value World ( where the plastic bag came from), once last month, and again yesterday, because we had a 30% off cou-pin. Mousey and The Boy love the Value World. I have to admit it is my favorite thrift shop as well. Mousey purchased many, many things to accentuate her new style. When I asked her where she spent the most time, she said in the old lady/ grandma sweater department. She has found some other really cute things as well.
The Boy insisted I help him look for shirts. I’m sure I don’t know why, he seemed to know instinctively if a flannel shirt was going to work or not, by just looking at it. If it was too big, he just said “No, it’s too George Costanza”. Which, I guess, meant it was too big in the belly. All I know is that George Costanza was the reason I never wanted to watch “Seinfeld”. He made me uncomfortable. He still makes me uncomfortable.
The Boy was also looking for a shirt to please LMNOP. That’s how much he is in like with her. He wants to dress to please her. Never mind that I have been trying to get him to stop looking like a dark HOBO for years now. She evidently likes a type of light blue and white striped shirt. He dutifully tried on every single one they had, and even though some genuinely looked nice on him, he couldn’t do it. They were too light. He said he felt like a cloud. What ever that means.
He did manage to add to his extensive collection of flannel. Four, all for $2. Cause we had the cou-pin.
Ab-Cats twinkie was a Red Wings hoodie, that I snatched up the second it left the stock girls hands. It was an authentic NHL brand, because that is uber-important. Not really. For under $3, with the cou-pin.
Honey received nothing, which is how he prefers it. He’s a saver.
The whole kit and caboodle.
Pile ‘O flannel on left (including, as he called it, the Ray Romano dad shirt), that aqua thing looks like something I wore in the seventies. Bat wing sleeves, unflattering stripe across the chest, color and all.
I thought this was particularly darling with all the moving bling. Mia was loving the moving bling as well. Who needs cat toys?
My purchases. The black is Icelandic, which I have never heard of, and the white is Talbots, which I have. All cotton.
These were my finds the last trip, on July 29th. So close to August, that I snuck it in. I LOVE that Columbia long sleeved shirt on the left for $1.90 !! I have great plans for it! The black top can be dressed up, or dressed down. Which suits me, as I am pretty casual. Also all cotton. I was complaing to Mrs. Schmenkman that I don’t like all of these material blends that the kids are wearing these days. Some I have never heard of. So, my motto is, if I don’t know it, I don’t wear it. Because chances are, those fabrics cause my deodorant to not work. Since I have the nose of a blood hound, I don’t ever want to go there. So I have become a fan of, the look, the feel, the fabric of our lives, cotton. The anti-stink material.
The green Old Navy hoodie was for Ab-Cat, who is the most casual person I know. Zebra, for Goomba to play with, was a quarter at a garage sale. It is SO cute! Our kids would have loved that little Serengeti surprise!
All for a little more than the price of a movie for our whole family. Except it lasts longer!
After we pick up some jeans for Mouse-stine and Mr. Jiggy-Fly, we will be finished with all of the shopping. The Ford Fiasco Family Budget and all.
It’s kind of fun to be creative though!
