YOU BIG DUMMY

I can't resist. This is the funniest commercial to me. The funniest I've seen in a really really long time. This "Phelps Phan" in the commercial (which you can view in my side bar)...this "Phan" is a kindred spirit. She's my kinda gal. She's...well...she's me.

Ok, I'm not a Phelps fan, but it's been rumored that I'm a bit of a zealous fan for some other guy. What was his name? What was his name??? (Scroll down through my blog and I THINK you might figure it out.)

I just can't resist this commercial. I watch it, amused at the crazy girl...both the one in the background who's so excited in her "fanship" (if that's a word...or if it's not.) And amused at just the way the narrating girl talks. (Yes I know they're the same person, but how on earth else do I differentiate??)

So I'm watching...I'm amused...giggle, giggle. And then the big orange AT&T screen comes on and the announcer (who's really trying to ruin some good entertainment, in my humble opinion, lol) starts talking. As he finally winds down you hear crazy girl yell, "YOU BIG DUMMY!" And that is precisely where I lose it.

I love it. LOoooooooooooooooooooooooove it! lol

P.S. - Forgive me Kristen for not mentioning sooner that Kristen tipped me off about this commercial...and developing my habit now for saying, "YOU BIG DUMMY!"

Don't Be Jealous!

Let's hear it for interest-bearing checking accounts! WHOOO!!

This month's dividend: $0.01

Wherever shall I spend it? Heavens! What am I thinking? Money like that was meant to be SAVED! I mean, shoot! If I keep this up, 90,000 months from now I'll have saved enough to pay a month's rent!

You think I'm kidding, don't you?

And to think I was worried about not getting my yearly raise. So silly.

I KNOW it's here! AAUUGGHH!

Ever lose something? Even something that might not matter too much? When I do (and it's more often than I'd like to admit), it drives me crazy!

Tonight it wasn't me. It was Meg. She had a math worksheet and she'd had it out on the table, calling her uncle, grandma, and aunts to ask a question so she could fill out a graph to represent her data.

We interrupted the project to eat dinner. After dinner was over, Meg went back to her work and got ahold of one of her aunts to get more info. But she couldn't find the paper. And so the search began.

We searched EVERYWHERE, Meg and I. Alli knew we were searching but didn't really join in. She was enjoying the fruit of her labor. Translation: she got her homework done in time to cozy down with a video. But Meg and I searched. Meg, surprisingly, was not too upset about the missing paper. I wasn't upset, but I'd JUST seen it. I KNEW it was here. So I searched.

I looked under beds, in the refrigerator, the freezer, in cabinets, under furniture, in closets, in pockets (in case it got folded), in folders, through backpacks, in the garage, through garbage, in the bathrooms...I mean E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.

Finally there wasn't much to do but resign to the fact that it was lost. So Meg headed in to do her reading. But I couldn't let go. I kept thinking (and saying,) "I KNOW it's here!" So I continued searching...through everything I'd already searched, and it was then that Alli came through the kitchen. Assuming the answer would be "no," I asked Al, "You didn't pick her paper up, did you?"

She whirled around with the HUGEST smile on her face and said, "NOW I REMEMBER! I hid it from Megan!!" At first I thought she was being sarcastic and was about to say, "Ha ha, very funny," when she whirled and headed for her room. Then I knew she was serious.

She had taken it and hidden it from Meg to see how worked up she'd get...and then despite our crazy hunting for it...she didn't remember until I flat out asked her if she'd taken it.

Oy! And they wonder why I'm crazy.

The Wall O'Greg

Those who know me really well know that I have quite the collection of photos I've collected of Greg Page...some of them from times I've met him and had photos taken with him...some from newspapers, etc. Zillions of them are on disks (multiple backups, of course, lol), but I have a good number of them framed and hanging on a wall in my room. I reserve the living room, hallway, and dining room, to put all kinds of photos of our family and my girls...and bring a few of them into my room, too, but I always reserve a wall in there for "The Wall O'Greg" (as my good friend, "Squooshy" named it, lol.)

Well "The Wall" is usually the first "decorative touch" I make when I move into a new abode. But this year I had several reasons (I won't bother with going into) that kept me from bothering to do anything in my own room. Truth be told, I was slow to put any decorations up anywhere, but EXTRA slow in my own room.

Anyway, yesterday I attacked my room, and MAN does it look attacked...and not in a good way. Except for "The Wall." I put it up yesterday. I've still got about ten more framed photos I need to add to it, but I think I'll group them in another corner of my room...or a different wall.
ANYWAY, I decided that SINCE I forgot to participate in the Friday Foto Finish Fiesta (I forget what order those words go in, lol), that I would share a photo today instead. And that photo is going to be my "Wall O'Greg."

And just for the record...that wall is RED...not purple...not maroon. It's red...not orange...red. Ok, MAYBE cranberry. But it was SUPPOSED to be RED.

And for those who also know the tales...that "centerpiece" holds the notorious "water bottles"...and that would be the "bowling ball" from Greg's Aussie tour.

I Need Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I need Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...the car, NOT the movie. Let's be practical, people.

Tropical Storm Fay passed us without too big a fuss this past Tuesday. However she must have "outer bands" that are INCREDIBLE. Today's the first day we've had real sunshine since then and even our sunny sky is dropping buckets of water intermittently. I swear when I looked out the window this morning the rain was coming down in the closest thing I've seen to an actual sheet of water. It was incredible. Fortunately it didn't last long, but I'm sure it will swirl back around to drench us again...if this week's weather is any indicator.

So I NEED Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...that feul-burning oracle...that fantasmagorical machine. I at LEAST need to borrow its floaties. Yesterday I put in a looooong day at school. (Actually Thursday and Friday both were 12-hour days for me...Monday and Wednesday I limited to about 9.) So I stayed at school yesterday until slightly past 7:30 (which means it was actually MORE than 12 hours...boo hoo, poor me, lol.)

Our playground and soccer fields have been underwater this week ever since Fay passed through. And at 5:15ish yesterday afternoon a lady at our school came and said that I might want to move my car if I planned on staying much longer because the water was rising. I thanked her and she left my room. Not 30-seconds later she poked her head back in my door and said that she'd wait at the door to let me back in (the school was locked) if I wanted to go do that and that my car was already parked in water. (Now that changed things a bit, lol.)

So I went to the door and looked and sure enough, I was parked in water. So I took off my shoes and rolled up my pants and headed for the car. By the time I got to the door of my car the water was around 4 inches above my ankles. Yikes. Felt a little uneasy wading through that. Oddly enough I was afraid of electrocution. (Don't try to make it make sense....I just worried about a down power line or something.)

But I moved my car further from the "lake" and up closer to the school...in the "parent pick-up" circle drive out front. Then I went back in and continued my work.

At 7:35 my friend Ginny looked in my door as she was leaving. (I was packing to go, too.) She told me I had to come see something. I went to the hall and looked out the doors (from my room which is the third from the front of the building.) I could see water filling the yard that is inside the circle drive I parked in. So I'm thinking it's getting higher, I'd better get out and go home.

Back into the class, gather all the boxes of things I need to do for the weekend, and carry them out (yes, feeling like a pack mule). Ginny drives a mini-SUV thingie so it sits higher than my little Corolla. She was waiting to make sure I got out...and then I saw WHY. It wasn't just the yard that was full, both the exits to the drive were under water as was the whole parking lot!

I made it out, but if I'd been there any longer, I'm thinking my little car would not have done the job. So please...Chitty...if you're out there...could you please come and be my car for a while?

I'll even sing all your favorite songs. (Plus some Greg Page favorites.......and Row Row Row Your Boat.)

Night-night-I-love-you-bye-bye

My girls spend every other weekend at their dad's house and have done this for about 6 years now. Every night that they are at my house, he calls to talk to them. Every night they're at his house, I call to talk to them. And for several years, every phone call I had with my eldest ended not just with "bye bye," but with "Night-night-I-love-you-bye-bye!" She would rattle it off as if it were one huge word sometimes.

Well a little less than a year into this schedule of the girls spending weekends at their dad's, I happened to take a trip. The girls were spending the couple days I was gone with some close friends. It was a treat for them, while I was getting to have a fun weekend myself. Nothing like a sleepover with your bestest friends.

Anyway, I had gone to Las Vegas (no, not into gambling) to see Greg Page in concert. (Not familiar with him? Check out the linkie on the side.) He was the original Yellow Wiggle, but was doing some solo singing with the TCB Band for two nights in Vegas. I went out to see the shows and for the chance to meet him. If you've read much of my blog you've already gotten some glimpses of that weekend, and doubtless more will come at one time or another.

Anyway, one morning...the morning of the evening of his first show (sorry, I can't word that any simpler!)...my friends and I saw him. Ok, yes we were trying to see him, but that's beside the point, ha ha.

I asked him if he'd mind saying hello to my oldest who was then only four and a BIG Wiggles fan. And he was her favorite...wearing her favorite color and...well...he rocks. Anyway, he was very gracious and said he would. So I called her up and got her on the phone and Greg took the phone and had a little conversation.

Now understand, Megan was a great conversationalist from the time she was tiny, but like many children she was VERY difficult to understand on the phone...especially with someone who is unfamiliar with her. But he hung in there and did his best to understand and talk to her for a few minutes.

Finally after he said goodbye to her and hung up the phone, he started laughing as he handed the phone back to me. He hadn't been able to understand much of what she said, but her "closing" was quite clear. He laughed and said, "She said, 'night-night-I-love-you-bye-bye!'"...which was funny at 9 in the morning.

Frogs Freak Me Out!

Ok, so we weathered the tropical storm the night before last. Apparently a small critter took refuge in our garage...and who can blame him? That's a lot of rain...even if you ARE an amphibian.
This photo was taken out in the garage. The clothes you see at the sides of the photo are on the rack where I hang my laundry when I pull it out of the dryer. In the background you see the drawers of my dresser stacked (I'm storing it in the garage until I can sell it...I think). But look at that nasty creature perched on the drawer's edge!

I couldn't live with the thought of it touching me...or worse yet, hiding out in my garage for a sneak attack. So I went to the kitchen and got a grocery bag...plastic. My girls were asleep and I didn't want them to wake up to my screams, so I was trying to remain calm.

Not easy.

I walked out to the garage with the bag puffed open, opening down and I slowly lowered it somewhat over the frog. As I predicted the frog hopped into the bag...at which point I DROPPED the bag.

Try not to focus on the fact that I dropped the bag, but focus on my success at NOT screaming!

The frog was still inside the bag so I reached down, scared silly, and closed the bag and lifted it. So far, so good. (And I'm being generous with the term "good" here.) I carried it into the house, across the living room to the front door, opened the door, (all the while the frog is jumping every which way inside the bag...guess it was freaked, too)... and I managed to get the bag opened AWAY FROM ME and after a bit of shaking (the bag, NOT me, lol)...I got the frog out.

I am SO glad I saw the frog before it jumped on me. The screams would have been heard round the world.