The hodgepodge of blogging

Perhaps I should re title this blog, the blog interrupted. I sat down here all ready to write and had to get up to microwave a piggies and pancake, make a peanut butter sandwich, let the dog out, and referee a fight. Now, finally, they are watching cartoons, and perhaps I can have some peace and quiet. I am going to cover several things in this blog today. First off, to your left is a lovely picture of our paper sack puppets we created at Boy Scouts on Monday night. I do believe all the boys had a wonderful time making their creations. The whole evening just seemed very calm, all of the boys were very well behaved. I was thrilled the boys enjoyed it so much.



Secondly, Nathan won an award from school today! He was so excited to get his award. And it really made my heart glad. He won the award for the most improved student during the second nine weeks. My Nathan works very hard in school, but he is handwriting challenged. (He comes by it honestly, there is a reason I type everything.) Forrest was upset that he didn't win an award this time, but we explained to him that he got one the last nine weeks when Nathan did not, therefore, they were now even. He seemed alright with that. They both got an honor roll certificate for a free hamburger at McDonald's. (They gave those out to all the kids. )



And Thirdly, CSI's post has prompted me to tell all of you fine folks a story from the past. It was Christmas 2003, and my wonderful family and I took a trip to visit one of my sisters. She lived in Indiana that year, and of course we lived in Arkansas. Well, I had to work Christmas eve, so I got up at 5am and went to work and got home at about 5pm that evening. My husband had the SUV packed and we promptly embarked on our trip. (Please keep in mind that my husband was not looking forward to this trip) Anyway, we left on our trip. Luckily, the boys soon fell asleep and slept almost the entire trip. (I do believe they were 2.5 years old then.) We made it to Indiana at 7am Christmas morning. Hubby and I were both exhausted because we took turns driving the whole night and then stayed awake to keep the other one awake.



My sister lived in a huge house. (She is married to a colon rectal surgeon (aka asshole Dr.) therefore, she could afford it. Hold on I have to go make another peanut butter sandwich....OK I'm back, so as I was saying, my sister has a huge house. It has a basement fully equipped with a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The toilet even had a Bede (I think that is the correct spelling, for those of you that do not speak French, I'm talking about a toilet that cleans your butt.) Well, we opened our Christmas gifts and then she showed us to the basement where we were suppose to spend the next 5 days. She was showing us around, and my husband noticed a potted banana tree in one corner of the room. He told her that she should move the banana tree plant some place else. She told him that she didn't think the boys would bother the plant, and left it there. BIG MISTAKE!!!!! I'll be right back, all three of my boys are wanting me to take them to McDonald's. ..TWO HOURS LATER>>>

ANYWAY, after breakfast, Hubby and I are tired, so we retreat downstairs with children in tow. We lock the basement door so that the children cannot escape, and promptly we fall asleep for approximately 30 minutes to an hour. I am shaken awake by my husband tapping my shoulder saying, "Hon, Hon, you need to wake up. You have to see what our children have done." Trust me I came awake quickly when I noticed the tone of panic in his voice. Our children had uprooted the banana plant out of it's pot. But they did not stop there. Not our two little Einsteins, no they proceeded to throw muddy dirt all over her white walls, up onto her white ceiling, ground it into her white carpet and smeared in all over her french doors that lead to the backyard from the basement. I'm sorry to say Suzanne, that the banana plant was almost unrecognizable. And no amount of Miracle Grow would save it.

Well, I peered around the room in both horror and amazement, unsure as to what I should do. I whispered to my husband that I though I remembered seeing a vacuum cleaner in a closet up stairs, I thought that we could discreetly clean up the mess and they would never know. But as I crept upstairs, I was spotted by my brother-in-law. He saw the bewildered look on my face and asked me what was the matter. I asked him for a vacuum cleaner, telling him that the boys made a little mess and that I wanted to get it cleaned up. He got the vacuum cleaner and said that he would help me clean it up. I told him it wasn't necessary, but he insisted. So reluctantly, I said OK.

The look on his face when he saw my version of a little mess was priceless. His eyes became the size of half dollars, as he looked around the basement. His head slowly swiveled toward me and in a very hoarse whisper he said, "I thought this was a little mess." "Well, maybe it was a little worse than I thought." We attempted to clean up the mess with the vacuum, but it just smeared the dirt into mud. My sister had watered the plant just before we got there, so it wasn't dry dirt. Well, eventually, my sister was brought down stairs to see her lovely new home decor. She gasped loudly, placed her hand over her mouth and exclaimed, "OH MY GOD!" Then she ran up stairs and called Stanley Steamer. She asked them how much would they charge her to come out and clean up a "plant spot". They really wanted to know who she thought she was asking them to come clean a "plant spot" up on Christmas day. Needless to say, they came out the next day and they wanted to know how in the world we managed to get dirt on the ceiling. To our surprise, it only cost $85 to return her basement back to normal. She refused to let up pay for the damage, because she felt responsible, after all, Hubby did ask her to move the plant. We didn't stay our full 5 days as planned. Instead, we left on the third day. Believe me our reasons for leaving would be a whole other story. But at least we have a legendary tale to tell every year at Christmas time. One that invariably causes everyone to roll in the floor with laughter.