This one's for Echo

Here are the red boots. Oh, the obsession over that Batman shirt. I gave it to Frank for his 2nd birthday and he loved it. He cried when I washed it. Once he stood next to the dryer, sobbing, until it was done. (What happened at bedtime? He must have survived. I think he had Batman pajamas.) At Christmas his aunt gave him two more Batman shirts, thank goodness. We accumulated more and more Batman shirts that year. Because that's all he would wear. This phase wore off around his 3rd birthday.

I'm (slowly) making a quilt out of the Batman shirts. The original one is stored in his baby book, but there were enough others (and a couple of Ernest's too).

Results are in!

And the winners are....drumroll....cowbell ringing....

1. Vanessa, with the Valentine surprise. (I'll be surprised too, since I haven't put it together yet.)
2. M-i-l, with chocolate. She doesn't blog, so she will pay hers forward with 30 home made hand decorated cookies for a 3rd grade class she volunteers for. (I know you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but how else could I phrase it? The class for which she volunteers?)
3. Echo, with Stephen King. (Will you ever have time to read it?)

Goody!

And a big mea culpa from me for forgetting to mention that in my pay it forward from Bunny, I also received a CD of awesome music burned especially for me. Thank you again, Bunny! Great favorite stuff!

Responsibilty Checklist

When you have a senior in high school, responsibility is imminent! In 1990, I thought I would just have a baby. I didn't really comprehend that he would grow up. Lucky me, he grew up nicely, with very little trouble. We've been working on what I call "Life Lessons" or responsiblity lessons for a couple years:

• Driving safely, check. BIG check. VERY IMPORTANT check. A+++ on this one.
• No illegal substances. ANOTHER BIG check. Another A+++ Don't think this has ever been a question.
• Keeping your cool car full of gas and clean, check.
• Good grades, check.
• Laundry, check. (He knows how to do it. This year's goal--do it on a regular basis. It's usually all black. One load!)
• Cooking, check (He can cook his favorite foods--pork chops, mashed potatoes, pancakes, fried eggs, and other things I can't think of right now)
• Telling us where you're going, check.
• Locking yourself out and what to do afterwards, the newest check. (Call a locksmith.)
• Appropriate usage of your new lap-top, check pending........
• Job, we'll give him a pass until he talks to the honchos at his dad's office. A little nepotism, but a lot of responsibility. So the checkmark is pending....

And coming soon....

• Going to Japan!....
• Balancing the checkbook...
• Grocery shopping...
• Paying bills...
• Enrolling in college....
• Moving.....(small steps, hope he moves into our upstairs apartment first).

Your Idea of perfection.

I stole this from Vanessa. Feel free to steal from me!

• The perfect outfit: whatever fits and looks good! In my case, from Coldwater Creek.
• The perfect meal: steak and asparagus
• The perfect hangover cure: chicken flavor Cup Noodles
• The perfect road trip: Carmel
• The perfect facial feature: cheekbones and smile
• The perfect drink: Sunstone Merlot
• The perfect song: changes frequently. Currently "Radio Nowhere" by the Boss
• The perfect sign of affection: a friendly touch, a caress, an unexpected hug
• The perfect afternoon: relaxing!
• The perfect vacation: what's perfect, I don't know. My best vacations have been to New York with great food, museums, tall buildings, and ....whoo-hoo... Broadway shows!!!
• The perfect invention: I have 2--the printing press and electricity
• The perfect type of wedding: your heart's desire
• The perfect album: Dark Side of the Moon
• The perfect accent: I do like those Aussie blokes. But Hugh Jackman may fall off my list because I can't find an "official" website for him. And Heath? May he rest in peace.
• The perfect date: dinner and whatever happens afterwards
• The perfect weather: calm and mild, or... cool and rainy with the toasty fireplace
• The perfect party: Hopefully, our 25th anniversary party in September.
• The perfect sport: I don't do sport. I will suggest... belly dancing? (She's definitely not me, she's my teacher.)
• The perfect thing to say: "I love you."
• The perfect day of the week: Friday, the part of the weekend that is farthest away from Monday morning.

Pay It Forward

In December, I was a lucky winner of Bunny's Pay it Forward. I am the proud owner of a jelly-bean pooping reindeer!

And I have been procrastinating as usual about paying it forward. But here goes my version.

I have 3 fabulous prizes:

1. My beloved copy of Stephen King's Duma Key (because books are falling off the shelves and I have to declutter) (and it's a great book!)
2. Something chocolate (probably both milk and dark)
3. or a Valentine-themed mystery gift

Leave a comment with your choice of prize. First come, first served. Then pay it forward on your own blog. For my non-blogging friends, what shall we do? Pay it forward to 3 of your friends.

Ernest's Error

I love alliteration. But "Frank's Fiasco" wasn't really a fiasco. Now "Ernest's Error," that is accurate.

• fi·as·co /fiˈæskoʊ / [fee-as-koh] –noun. a complete and ignominious failure.
• er·ror (ěr'ər) noun. a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention

Key word here: inattention.

Tuesday morning Ernest realized he didn't have his retainer. Working back in time, we established he hadn't had it since Sunday afternoon. Since the out of town pizza party. Since he wrapped it in a napkin and left it by his plate. Since the party trash was thrown away. So we've made a trip to the orthodontist for a replacement. It turns out our "retainer insurance" was on an annual basis, but they don't send out renewal bills. How would I have known! But the orthodontist kindly let us pay the insured price instead of the full price.

Finally, enough cowbell!

I picked Ernest up at school today. He was late, so I walked towards his classroom. What is that funny noise, I wondered? It got worse and worse. Clang-a-CLANG-A-CLANG-A-CLANG-A! Herds of middle-schoolers all shaking.....COWBELLS!

They had been to an assembly for the Amgen Tour of California, which will be in our town February 22. Every child got a souvenir cowbell. Give a child a noisemaker, and of course the child will make noise with it.

So I can truthfully say, I have finally heard enough cowbell.

Wind part 2

By morning the bluster has died down.
Still raining.
Trees OK.
Plastic lawn furniture blown around a little.
No new leaks! Yet. Knock on wood.

Ernest and I are leaving in 2 hours for McQueen's birthday party. We also have a present for Mr. Thomas.

Which Hogwarts House are You?

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

But I tied with Ravenclaw! Aren't they the smart ones?

Your in-depth results are:
Hufflepuff - 12, Ravenclaw - 12,Gryffindor - 10,Slytherin - 7

WIND

I might have mentioned it was blustery today, but now it is really freaking BLOWING outside.

The last time I remember this much wind (1998) we lost 4 trees.

• A beautiful huge California Oak tree on our patio fell toward our house, just on the edge of the roof outside Frank's bedroom, but he didn't even wake up! The sleep of the innocent. This was the saddest tree loss, as it was planted as an acorn by the son of the original owner in 1963-68.
• A pine tree fell on a car, but actually it was beyond our back property line. So not our insurance problem, thank goodness.
• Two already dead trees just tipped over, and smashed our bridge. Yes we, have a bridge to nowhere. There is a hot tub on the other end, but it doesn't work anymore.
• And Ernest did not like the resulting chainsaw noises because they were "youd" (loud). He was only twoish.
• A block away, a pepper tree completely crushed a garage.
• I've got photos.

I'm still hearing the wind blow. Update tomorrow.

I won't cook pizza ever again

So here goes. He suggested making homemade pizza. I bought all the stuff, but I was gone most of the day, so I hoped he would take charge. And let it be known, I hate making pizza. I'll do a Boboli if I have to, but it is stressful. It's never cooked right. You can get really great pizza from so many places, even in our Small Town or neighboring areas.

I cook dinner almost every night, usually a really good dinner that most of us eat. I hoped that since I would be gone most of the day, he would take charge.

So I got home at 5:30 tonight and he wanted me to help and I was freaking. The dough was recalcitrant. My portion would not spread out. And my old thin pans...the teflon was flaking off. When I saw the black mystery specks, I threw that dough away. I pulled out my other "good" cookie sheets, but warned, "These are the insulated kinds, they may not cook right? I have a pizza stone (which I think I suggested before) we could use?" Damn me for my questioning female voice but he gets mad if I out-and-out BITCH. Well, he says he's not mad but it sure feels to me that he does.

I prefer one cook in the kitchen.

I had possibly the smallest hissy fit of my whole life (I went in another room and actually shredded a piece of paper), because it's close to but not quite PMS time. I offered to get Bobolis. but no, he muscled the dough out with a rolling pin. Rectangular. I cowered at the edge of the counter and cut up the sausage and veggies.

He chose not to use the pizza stone. The pizza did not cook thoroughly. The boys ate theirs, we cut ours in half and baked it longer on some other non-insulated pans.

My point is, I cook dinner almost every night. We don't go out that often. I do not need dinner to be an ordeal. I do not need to struggle with it, and question it, and beat it with a rolling pin. I am pissed, but being the passive type I am, I will not say anything. He decided to throw out the leftovers. That says it all.

HH, if you read this, remember I love you, but I this is why I don't want to cook pizza at home anymore.

SNOW!!! Part 2

This is 2 days later, after the clouds cleared.

Clear this morning, and totally blustery tonight. Must....watch....Pooh....

Photo Credit: the Handy Husband. As I was driving the Ernests (their real names are the same, so they must have the same blog names, but the one that's not my son will be Ern for short) to their P2P meeting, I called my HH begging, "When you go to the hardware store, please take a picture of the snow! " He done good.

And to all of you who have REAL honest to goodness inches of snow on your streets, I apologize for getting so excited about this. Where I am, this doesn't happen every year.

The wind is blowing ultrahard... hope we don't lose any trees. That also doesn't happen every year, but this is the most wind we've had in a long time.

Cuddle up with your loved ones and some hot chocolate.

Frank's Fiasco in the Spare 'oom

My cell phone rang at school today. I don't talk on it a lot, so it's either a wrong number or a family emergency. "Private Number Calling." (That's us. I need to un-block us.)

Frank said, "We're locked out of the apartment." That's our spare 'oom. A friend stayed over and they left the key in the 'oom. Ernest visited them, and left the EXTRA key in the 'oom. (You're wondering why he was home on a Friday? He had the day off after finals.)

In the morning they left the 'oom. The door shut. Panic ensued. They tried to pick the lock (evidence of miniature screw drivers and straightened-out paper clips left on the counter). They were unsuccessful.

I told him I didn't think there was another spare 'oom key. He tried the two mystery keys in our key dish but they didn't work. (It's true, one is labled "Mystery" and one is "?." Why do I still keep them?)

So I said, get out the phone book and call a locksmith, and you can pay for it on your VisaBuxx. This 17 year old boy doesn't like to call people, but he did. And the locksmith came and opened the 'oom and everything was fine. And I have to compliment the locksmith, they were there in about an hour.

I was proud of myself for not rushing home and fixing things. For me, that's the hard part of being the mother of a teen: sit back and let him solve the problem. But that's what I need to do.

And his job tomorrow is to go to the hardware store and have some extra keys made.

P.S. the next day: he didn't get the keys made (which ended up to be job #3 on my final list), but he did clean up the room (#1) and figure out how to return his broken Rock Band guitar controller (#2). I gave him a pass on #3 until tomorrow.

SNOW!!!

Not in my yard, but in our mountains about 5-10 miles away. That's pretty exciting in California! I remember in high school, kids would cut school to go to the snow, and bring back a truckload. That still happens. Frank says there was a snowball fight at school until the security guards stopped it. In my day, there were no guards.

Zoolander Syndrome

About two weeks ago, Frank got a pair of Heelys. Yes, they are made in adult sizes. The stage band guys, (Kenny, Kyle and Stan), all have them. They heely around the band room, at school, in the house, in town, at the skate park, etc.

Ernest discovered Frank's Heelys last weekend. Now he is heelying around the house whenever he can get them off Frank's feet.

But both boys have one problem: they can't turn left! I've been calling it Zoolander Syndrome. They are trying hard to overcome this sad and misunderstood affliction.

As Ernest was zipping around the hall this morning, he said "I love the turning of the right path. It's EPIC, I tell you. It's NOT epic going that [i.e. left.]" He has a strange way with words.

Batter Blaster

This new product is a hit here:

It's great to be able to make 1-2 [who am I kidding?] 3-4 pancakes at a time, instead of a big batch. Really nice on a school/work morning!

However, both my kids are pancake chefs so they will continue to be responsible for making the big batch on the weekend.

Finals Week

It's Finals Week for Frank. The final for Stage Band was to master a song on Guitar Hero III. The grades depended on the level they played, something like this:

Easy - game score minus 5 points.
Medium - game score
Hard - game score plus 5 points
Expert - game score plus 10 points.

Frank (Cartman?) and Kyle played expert and passed (95 and 100). Kenny and Stan played easy, and failed. But get this, the teacher played on easy and ALSO FAILED. I'm not sure how much weight this is actually going to have on their grades, but it sure sounds like a fun class!

Let's hope he aces his REAL finals.

Photo Shop

The handy husband recently reconnected with Harold, a buddy from high school. Some of you remember Harold. HH wanted to send him a picture of our family. Do you know how hard it is to find a picture of all 4 of us? (That's why I always get the theme park pictures.) I found this one from The Pirate's Dinner Adventure* in 2006.

The HH was disturbed by the "bald, fat guy." (His words, not mine.) So he put in his 16 year old head, which his friend would recognize:

Then he got creative:

*The Pirate's Dinner Adventure is a pirate version of Medieval Times. Frank thought that seeing pirates dance to "Y.M.C.A." was deeply disturbing.

Whack-A-Mole

The Kindergarteners just started staying in the afternoons. They haven't learned appropriate lunch behaviour yet. Their little bodies keep popping up at the tables, and one day I had this wild image of a giant Whack-A-Mole game.But I'd never whack them with a mallet! Just a gentle verbal reminder to "sit down and eat your sandwich, please." I wonder how many times I say that in 15 minutes!

I'm Feeling a Little Sally Fieldish right now....

"You like me, you really like me."

STORY #1
Last week I had a call from an insurance agent that sold policies for the company I used to work for. He offered me a job! How great is that? The only problem... I hate insurance. I did customer service for 15 years and I don't want to do it anymore. Even though I could make a lot more money.

But I told him thank you, I don't want to burn any bridges, but I just don't want to do insurance anymore, and I like love the vacation schedule at the school. I told him he made my day.

STORY #2

This week I was stressed about the lunch duty because the kinders are staying for lunch now and since one K aide quit, we are shorthanded for lunch. I spoke to our new "interim" principal about it, and besides a "wait and see attitude" about lunch she also asked, would I go back to second grade?

Second grade, my nirvana last year? With the teacher who loved loved loved me? And who communicated with me and treated me like a partner Of course I would go back to second grade, but due to budget cuts I will only be back with her for part of the morning. The other part will be with another second grade teacher (I volunteered for her when Ernest was in 2nd grade) who is very particular, but apparently she wants me too.

P.S. The school secretary called yesterday to say they were putting me on lunch duty all five days but I wouldn't have to do morning recess. WhooHoo.

It feels good .

Pissed Off

There are often little wet spots around my toilet. No one takes responsibility for them. But I know I do my business sitting down, so they are not mine. There are 3 "men" that also use MY bathroom and they all deny any knowledge of any the marks. Who splattered on the back of the toilet seat tonight??? (And left some rebound wetness on the seat, which I sat on, which pissed me off in the first place, which started this whole rant??) Who left a small puddle on the floor to the left of the toilet, between last night when I made Ernest wipe up the previous puddle, and tonight??? There are 3 of them. SOMEONE IS LYING. Do I need to be the bathroom police, and check it out after every pee? I think I do. I am irritated and they have spoiled my party mood.

Thanks, Friends

Thanks for celebrating my 100th blog. It was a big event for me. Thanks to my new and wonderful blog friends! Thanks to my LURKERS for finally showing up...even though I had to e-mail a lot of you! It was a great party and I am vicariously enjoying your food and drink. Maybe we'll do another [virtual] party for my birthday in May. And then there's the 25th anniv. in September. I think that will be a real party.

It's My [Virtual] Party for my 100th Blog

Yes, I've done it! WhooHoo! 100 blogs in just slightly over a year! For an introverted, non-communicative, average writer like me that is an awsome achievement.

I will pause for congratulations... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... thank you, thank you all. I'd like to thank the Academy--- oops, wrong fantasy. If I can find the picture of my 13 year old self accepting the pretend oscar from my BFF's pretend awards show, I'll add it here.

To celebrate, I am hosting a VIRTUAL party on this post. I invite all my loyal (or not) readers to post a comment with your favorite beverage(s) and appetizer(s). Remember, there are no calories at a virtual party! I will start with two choices each since I'm the party girl.

Beverage: Pomegranate Martinis and a Merlot from Sunstone Winery.

Appetizer: Alaskan Rolls from Kabuki and something really decadent like Artichoke Dip (mayo, parmesan, all that great non-diet stuff).

Next?

P.S. Please make a music selection, too. Mine is Bruce, and I'm sure the HH's is Led Zeppelin. Give me 2 songs and I'll put it in the mix for the big 25th anniversary party in September. Maybe the food too!

Thank you friends!

You know you live in a small town when...

...last week's biggest social event was the annual Christmas tree burning:

Watch out people, you're getting too close!

My husband took this picture. (Since I am the anti-social lazy type, I stayed home. Also because I was hoping Frank would show up at home, which he did.) It's hard to see, but on our original, you can see upside down silhouettes of the trees above the fire. Tree ghosts!

I don't know PhotoShop...maybe Ernest can teach me how to crop it so we can get a closeup of the tree ghosts.

Nummies

I made the best chicken salad for lunch one day last week (I confess I stole the idea from the chicken salad sandwich at Panino's).

diced chicken
diced granny smith apple
dried cranberries
mayo
curry powder

I wanted to put nuts in it. I thought I had walnuts but after an exhaustive search of my cupboard, all I found was a bag of pecans which expired in 1999? WTF? I am not THAT bad a housekeeper and I HATE old food. The pecans went in the trash.

The salad was good without the nuts.

Progress

How are you doing on your resolutions?

I won't discuss 1 and 2 - TMI. But #3: "finish what I start" is, surprisingly, coming along OK. Friday I cleaned the oven, Saturday I finished recovering the seat of a child's rocking chair* (after 2 boys it was dirty and frayed) and today I washed the floor.

*Now there is no place to put the chair. It was in the garage for more than 6 months while I procrastinated, and now its space has been taken up by the Rock Band equipment.

The Handy Husband was proactive today, and fixed the washing machine when it started making a noise. He's never fixed the washer before, so he looked up diagrams on the internet. It made the same noise a few months ago and $80 later, it turned out to be a wire in the pump. Probably from his pocket. Same thing this time! Glad he saved us the $80.

Happy Birthday House!

Dear House,

It just occured to me that we have lived in you for 20 years today. Happy Birthday, House! I'm sorry I haven't taken any pretty pictures of you recently. Here's one from this afternoon, a little bare. You would look prettier if your wisteria and roses were in bloom.

Here's your front yard in September 2006. Ernest and I were on our way to a Pirate Faire.
Here's our patio in August 2005, where the Handy Husband has barbecued many a yummy tri-tip . And where Frank and Ernest learned to manage the stilts and pogo stick. (Thank you for keeping them uninjured when they fell off!) Here's the back yard in April 2005, hosting Ernest's 9th birthday party. Give that pinata a good whack! (There's the path where Frank whacked the lights!)
When we saw you, we weren't even intending on buying a new house. We remembered you from when we were kids. The Handy Husband delivered papers to you. So we walked through your open house just for fun. Little did we know we would fall in love.

We did a lot of work on you at first. Kitchen, floors, ceilings, doors, bathroom, even doorknobs! 20 years later you need a few more touchups (like my hair!). You could use new paint and new windows.

Thank you, House, for taking care of us for 20 years. Thank you for not complaining when your empty rooms grew overstuffed or when I forgot to clean you. Thank you for keeping us warm and safe and together as a family. We love you.

Love, Mom, Handy Husband, Frank, Ernest and The Cat.

Squeezing Blood from...

...an orange.

There was a box of blood oranges in my way. So I bought some. The checker mistakenly kindly charged me the navel orange price. What to do with blood oranges? Why, Blood Orange Martinis of course! They were pretty good. Tasted a little bit of the oil in the skin, but that may have been the fault of my vigorous juicing with the pit droid juicer. (Mine's an older version, the handle is not as curved.)
At this time, the Pomegranate Martinis still have the edge. The Handy Husband said he felt like a 50's husband, coming home to a Martini. But I was not wearing a housedress and a frilly apron. I have decided to invest in a real cocktail shaker (Tupperware is not cool) and Martini glasses. When they arrive, I may don the frilly apron as a joke. (Yes, there will be clothes beneath it. There are children in the house.)

Growing Up

Even my youngling is growing up. He doesn't want toys anymore (except for the $$$ lego which we aren't talking about till his birthday).

Today he said, "I need a flash drive. Can we get one at the hardware store?" I only laughed a little, then said, "No, but we can look at RiteAid." We found one. This is so he can move files between school and home, for the school newspaper his GATE class is starting.

Now he is asking me math questions. What the heck are complementary and supplementary angles? I looked that one up on Wickipedia. After the second question , I said, "Ask your brother!"

I don't remember Ernest every being naughty. I used to call him my Angel Baby, because he was so good and looked like a curly haired chubby cherub. He liked to wear costumes year round. One favorite was the silver "robot suit" with helmet, which I made. We just gave that to our g-nephew Mr. Thomas, who expressed an interest in becoming a robot. (We'll need a picture, hint hint.)

A Choice is Made

In my last post I mentioned Frank was taking Calculus instead of Concert Band due to a scheduling conflict. Yesterday he asked if he could switch at the semester. He laid out his reasons: he's taken more than enough math to satisfy the requirements, Calculus is a little boring because they covered most of it last year, he misses band, and the band misses him (the saxophone section is a little weak). So we thought about it, and we thought, "Why not?" Let him have some more fun in his last semester. That would make 2 music classes, 2 computer classes, TA in Physics, and only two classes which require studying: English and Government. Lucky bum! My senior year was crammed with academics.

He's a good kid. He does well in school (even English is better this year), he is a careful driver, he doesn't take drugs, he comes home on time, he doesn't argue with me, he has a great sense of humor...I could go on. I was trying to think of anything really naughty he'd done (besides failing English) and all I could think of was when he was 3 and got hold of a big barbeque spatula and happily went down the backyard path smashing the ceramic lights on his way. We still haven't replaced them all. Fourteen years later.

Rock Band Live -- some names changed to protect the innocent

Yes, ROCK BAND LIVE has performed here in my living room. After the usual Monday all-you-can-eat-taco-night (which Frank used to just be invited to, but now he does the inviting), they all showed up: Frank plus 5 others. Plus Ernest who is now Baby Jesus or Little Jesus.*

There's a South Park name grouping: Frank could be Eric Cartman (some of you know his real name)...but far less disgusting... and his stage band+ friends are Kenny (no one's killed this Kenny), Kyle and Stan (only Stan's real name is different but it uses some the same letters),

Also there was Gonzo, plus the singer in Frank's real garage band^ whom I have not nicknamed yet, and a girl who is the daughter of an English teacher#.

+Stage band: the 7th period class where sometimes they do drumline and sometimes they just jam. Frank couldn't schedule Concert Band because it conflicted with AP calculus B/C. He chose calculus.

^Garage band: In the drummer's garage, they are trying to be a real band. They have played "Paint it Black" in public.

#He got a D- last year, but the teacher still liked him.

*OK, final footnote. We don't want to insult anyone who loves Jesus. Here is the story behind the nickname: 2 years ago, Frank went to Australia and had a home stay. He went to school with the boy from the home stay. Someone at the boy's Christian school shouted out, "It's Jesus" and took Frank's picture with his cell phone. (Frank had lovely long hair and a beard.) So Frank (the older brother) has been called Jesus for a while, and this year when his friends met Ernest (with lovely long hair and no beard) they called him "Little Jesus," or, my favorite "Baby Jesus." No offence meant to anyone, it is based on portraits of Jesus, especially the one that hung on my godmother's wall for 50 years.

This post has gone on long enough. Goodnight!

Centerpiece #3

On Saturday we had an improptu visit from the Beloved Niece and sons. Her sons are technically our great-nephews. That makes me feel old. I'm only 47. (Handy Husband just turned 48). So I cheat and just call them nephews.

So the older (11 in January) g-nephew, a real car guy, provided our centerpiece for the evening. He knows everything about cars.

I was going to call him CarGuy, but that's just too... ordinary and garage-mechanic-y. So I'm going to call him McQueen (as a tribute to both Steve and Lightning) which is uber-cool. If he would prefer another name, he can e-mail me.

His 3.5 year old brother will be called Mr. Thomas. Because he is obsessed with... yeah, you know. Mr. Thomas loves to visit us because we have Thomas videos and Thomas toys (...from the early 1990's. We don't know if they are lead infected but Frank and Ernest survived them OK.) There's "Small Thomas, " the small box of metal Thomas toys. Then there's "Big Thomas," the huge yellow box of Brio trains with some Thomas trains added.

So, McQueen and Mr. Thomas, come back soon.

New Toy

I got a Kindle! See my book blog for details.

http://smalltownmombooks.blogspot.com/2008/01/kindle.html

My resolutions

Not so noble or lofty as some, but doable.

1. Use hand lotion on a regular basis.

2. Ditto dental floss.

3. The biggie: finish what I start! I am the world's best (or is it worst) procrastinator. Today's job: put the Christmas decorations away.

UPDATE on #3, yes all the decorations are put away. And I also put away most of the crap in the "sewing room" aka "spare 'oom" aka "room of one's own" aka "room of requirement" aka "retreat from snoring room." 1/7/08