Now that the calendar has flipped over to November, my thoughts, as well as all retail decorations, have turned to Christmas. My thoughts are of one thing. The Christmas Picture.

At the beginning of the year, I was all cocky. Oh, I have all year to get that. Our cousin Lindsay married her honey, Robbie,  in March, and we seriously tried to get a good one. During the summer, it crossed my mind several times, and I tried to get one at a family function where everyone is usually dressed fairly decent.

And now, here it is the beginning of November, and I have no presentable picture for our Christmas card.

There’s still Thanksgiving.

We have a lot going on for the next week, so posting could be spotty.  Have a fun Friday!

Remember on Tuesday, when I told you all about how we were going to spend Mousey’s 1/2 day off from school?

We were going to take her glasses to the mall to get them fixed, and have lunch at Sonic, then head over to Value World?

Well, two out of three ain’t bad. At least, that’s what Meatloaf says.

We looked high and low, over hill and dale, in every place we could possibly think of, but we could not find her broken glasses. Now, where could a pair of broken glasses get to? Hopefully they will turn up. Because I am NOT buying another pair right now. She has only had these since June, for goodness sake!  They have to be in our house. Somewhere.

Scratch number one.

Because we did not go to the mall to fix the glasses, we were not by the Sonic. So we still have not had the pleasure of the full Sonic Experience. Perhaps another day.

Scratch number two.

We did eat though. At Panera’s. Where my dining experience was NOT complete, because I did not have a bearclaw. Yes, a bearclaw is all I need to get by. You may be wondering why I did not have a bearclaw. I really don’t know why. Perhaps I was trying to give the false impression that I was adhering to my professed low carb lifestyle. No, that can’t be it, I did eat my bread. Can I just leave it at “I don’t know”?

On a bright note, we did make it to the Value World. Mousey found a whole cart full of stuff. I found 3 books; The Stand by Stephen King for $1.91, The Prophet by Frank Peretti for .80,  and I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron for $1.87, which I must say, looks hilarious. I am gathering that it is about the problems that occur in upper middle age women. I also bought a Willi Smith sweater and another sweater by FieldGear.  For $2.80 and $3.70. I find the Willi clothing is flattering for me. I don’t know what that says about Willi though.

What I really want to understand is the pricing. How do they decide their odd pricing? Is it totally random?

We had a very nice time, even though nothing turned out as we planned. And that, my Friends, is the story of our life.

Three year old Mousey at our neighborhood pool. She logged a lot of time on those steps.

We loved the neighborhood pool so much, we put one in when we moved down the road to our newly built home in 1999.  It was GREAT for years! Now? Not so much. Honey just takes care of it, and no one really goes in it.

This must have been the summer before we moved in, because that is the temporary fence. I’m pretty sure this was the first time we ever swam in it. If you will notice, the small mouse hand pointing the #1 finger. The other kids were holding their fingers up.

Here is Honey teaching 4 year old Mousey how to swim, without the floaties. She was fearless with them, and in about 15 minutes, was fearless without them.

Ta-Da!

She loved being thrown around. From an early age,  she was like a seal in the water.

Or a sea monster.

I think that Way Back When-sday went swimmingly!

Our Halloween had several activities going on, but none of them were trick or treat related. Our children have reached the age where this is all but a non-holiday.

Evidently, so have the kids in our neighborhood. We had a grand total of 7 knocking on our door. Maybe our ugly yard scared them away.

Speaking of our ugly yard, the City Sewer Guy called yesterday afternoon to set up another meeting. It will be the week before Thanksgiving. Still praying for that end result.

I wasn’t going to make our traditional Halloween snacks, until The Boy said that they were the best thing about Halloween anymore. Well, how could I resist that? They are SO yummy. Just what Honey and I need. Extra snacks.

Thanks to LMNOP for taking the picture. I couldn’t get the flash to work and she is a professional. She also said that she knew  when she came in the house that the plate of cookies was staged for the blob. She’s like a little baby genius.

I have been knitting a lot. Halle Berry enjoys napping in the nest-O-scarves.

The AquaMouse was in fine form on Saturday. Her team had their Division meet and they came in first place! She swam 3 events. A 200 medley relay with 3 other girls (her leg was the butterfly), and individual 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Her times in the  medley and the Fly qualified her for the Conference meet. Don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about? I’m totally copying off the schedule paper.

What I do know is, if she does well at this next event, she qualifies for the State Finals! And that would be nothing short of AMAZING!!!! Imagine, our Baby Mouse swimming with the big fish!

She doesn’t think she will qualify, but she didn’t think she would make it this far. We are just so proud of that Fly Girl!

This is her cute little stance. She always does it. The other swimmer is getting near her. She is getting READY to dive in!

Off she goes! She’s a beast.

Today is that funky election day, so our high schoolers have no school. Mouse said last night that she heard it was because the voters were scared of the highschoolers.When did adults get so wimpy?

As a happy result, The Mouse and I are spending a half day together. She needs to go to the mall to have her glasses fixed. The arm fell off, and I cannot do my usual trick of jamming a toothpick in the hole to extend it’s life. The hole is too small. In all of my 35 years of wearing glasses, I have never encountered this phenomenon. I should have copyrighted it while I had the chance.

Since we will be in the area, a trip to the Value World will be in order. That ought to make her the happiest Mouse in the land.

AND, when Mrs. Schmenkman was here, and we were spending all that quality time together with the other Capri’s, we heard from Capri Patt that there was a new Sonic that had opened where there used to be a Denny’s. And it is RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO THE MALL. I have read many blogs telling of the unimaginable delight that is the Sonic.

I have been to Sonic exactly twice. Once, years ago with my family in Orlando, where they had ice cream, and where I did not, because I was actually embracing my low carb life style  in the correct way. The second time, was when Schmenky was here 2 weeks ago. Capri Patt and The Ab-Cat had ice cream, Schmenk ordered a  sugarfree limeade, that the worker girl did EVERYTHING in her power to switch to a CHERRY limeade, and I had a Diet Coke. With ice. That is one of the things that I have heard ya’ll waxing so poetic about. Supposedly, the ice at Sonic has magical properties.

It was a very good Diet Coke, but I don’t know about all that magical stuff.

All that to say, I have not eaten their food. So, perhaps today, Mousey and I will partake of the food. If we do, I will surely let you know. But I have to tell you right up front. Food is food to me. This annoys Honey to no end. He likes to think about food, and talk about food, and talk about how to prepare food. I could either enjoy a yummy meal or have a bowl of Cheerios. It’s all the same to me. I’m just meeting a need. The need of satisfying hunger.

Hope you all have a Tom Terrific Tuesday. Who was Tom Terrific anyway? I forget.

The Air Supply song has been running through my mind.

My large stash of chai, so thoughtfully found for me by Capri’s Patt and Deb, is gone, used up. Drank, drunk, drunken. I am back to the unworthy tea bag. Big sigh. Really big sigh.

I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you, for all my liiife.

Someone help me, help me please
Is the answer up above
How can I ever tell them
This is not a puppy love

Don’t do me like that, don’t do me like that
What if I love you baby, don’t do me like that
Don’t do me like that, don’t do me like that
Someday I might need you baby, don’t do me like that

Show me the meaning of being lonely
Is this the feeling I need to walk with (tell me why)
Tell me why I can’t be there where you are
There’s something missing in my heart

Every night in my dreams
I see you. I feel you.
That is how I know you go on.

I will survive.

I have done it before. Barely. Here we go.

When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.

Corrie Ten Boom

I need to remember this, regularly.

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!

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.

I  asked Honey last night if he had any idea what I should post about. He was not helpful. He was watching some dumb baseball game. The World Series, or something like that.

Last week, I had a ton of ideas, but I had no time. This week, I have a bit more time and I am wishing that I had written some of those sparkling beauties down. My memory is faulty. To say the least.

I offer you an example.

Just today, I went to Sam’s Club. Because we were out of cream and cheese.  I do remember the important things. I bought a few other staples, broasted chickens, lemon juice, kosher salt and apples. Only to return home and have Mousey ask, what do I do with all that lemon juice? Honey chimed in about the salt and apples.

The cooking show that we have been watching this year is called “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef” and Chef Anne Burrell is a fan of the kosher salt. Honey kept saying that we should try the kosher salt. Is kosher salt any different than regular salt? I do not know. So I bought him some. I said Honey, I bought you a little treat!  Evidently I said the exact same thing when I brought home the last kosher salt. 

I put the new kosher salt in the pantry next to the old kosher salt.

It taxes my brain to remember these things. On these types of days, I wish I could just do this.

Well, it’s not much of a post, but it’s all I can remember.

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!