Never Question the Nickname

Scene: Driving home from an impromptu day trip to the Cape.  A day which featured orange soda and fried clams at Spanky's Clam Shack, hitting two buckets of balls at the driving range, hundreds(ish) of dollars spent at the arcade, and frappes at Four Seas Ice Cream.

From the backseat, we hear HRH:  I don't remember too much appreciation these last few days... 


You and me both, buddy.

What Would You Do With $6,500.00?

I could buy this Rolex for Andy:
I could buy this diamond ring for me:
Apparently, I could buy a Civil War musket from this guy:
(God love the Google search)

I could rent this place in Cabo San Lucas for a week:
Excuse me, I meant a night. Yeah, that deserves a second photo:
Or this place in the South of France for a week:
(but not in June, July, or August)

I could buy this original Star Trek artwork:(and no shit, there's a ton of other Star Trek paraphernalia that I couldn't buy with $6,500.00!


I could buy this Corvette:
I could buy the boys 1,200 Wii Games:

Or we could buy a new boiler. Guess which one we're doing?

What would you do?

What I Want For You

Dear Six Year Old Boy:

I want to gather up you everything you'll ever want and hand it to you on a silver plate. But because I love you, I won't.


I want you to be happy.

I want you to see the humor in people and events and yourself.

I want you to find pleasure in life's small moments. I want you to build sandcastles and create wonderful worlds and stories for them.

I want you to know that you are safe.

I want you to have adventures.

I want you to be carefree.

I want you to have the friendship and loyalty of your brother. No one will ever have your back in quite the same way he will.

I want you to make mistakes and I want you to learn from them.

I want you to be kind to yourself when you make those mistakes.

I want you to know what you want from your life and how to attain it.

I want you to have a back up plan.

I want you to find someone who will love you almost as much as I do. Someone who will laugh with you and at you. Someone who will hold your hand and be your partner and your friend.

I want you to remember not to take yourself too seriously.

I want you to remember where you come from and be proud of it.

I want you to be proud of yourself.

I want you to understand the importance of helping others.

I want you to love learning and continue the journey throughout your life.

I want you to know learning exists in places other than books and classrooms.

I want you to always, always know that we are your family and that we are here.

I want you to feel how very much you are loved by your mommy and daddy. No matter what.


Happy Birthday, my wonderful, special, brilliant, sensitive angel. Thank you for making me a mommy. I love you, up to the sky.

Always,

Mommy

Who Needs BlogHer?

When you've got Old Cape Cod?

WWSD - What Would Stimey Do?

Has everyone been over to see Stimey's inspirational chronicle of her quest to rid her house of unwanted items, The Junk Pyramid? It's like porn for organizational freaks. I used to be an organizational freak, now I fear I'm just a freak. I have lovely, labeled fabric cubes for all the kids' toys but sometimes, I'm paralized by my own anal-retentiveness. Wherein, I don't have the [inclination] time do do it right, so I don't do it at all. And the clutter grows...

Well, since The New Girl turned me on to Stimey's truly awesome blog, whenever I'm trying to clean up and run across say, a McDonalds toy, I ask myself, "what would Stimey do?" Inevitably, the answer is pitch it, donate it, or recycle it. And so I've been ridding our little Cabina Contenta item by item of unwanted/unloved/unused or just plain, unknown crap. One piece at a time.

Saturday, we had a quiet at home day, which was a nice change of pace from the parade of preschool birthday parties that seem to fill every weekend (this is not a slam; RC's is the end of April). Anyway, Andy was down in the basement with the boys building a fort so I got to do this. This is a before shot of (one of) our kitchen junk drawer(s).

In the process, I found belt clips for cell phones we no longer own, batteries of every shape, size, and voltage, a zillion little felt pads for the bottom of furniture, a useless DVD cleaning kit, tons of fasteners of all sizes and descriptions, and enough birthday candles to celebrate clear through my retirement.

Oh, and I also have this from my Nativity Set (given to us by my Auntie Marie at our wedding shower).
Each year, I try to find the little cut out in the styrofoam where poor Gloria belongs and each year, she ends up back here. And here she stays for at least another year.

At the end of the cleaning, I arrived here. Sorry about the poor light but obviously, the Junk Drawer is by the window. Take my word for it; it's a work of art.


Then, just for good measure, and because the fort-raising was still in progress in the basement, I took a swipe at the wraps and [weapons cache] sharp stuff drawer. This picture gives me vertigo.

As an added bonus, while Andy and the boys were playing around down in the basement, he straightened as well.

Ahhh. Music to a organizational freak's eyes...