Brother LUKE!!

That's where we are going this weekend. Luke is home on leave before they ship him out to Iraq so we're all gathering there. Jose, my sister Penny's husband, isn't able to be there, otherwise everyone else will be.

It should be a lot of fun to go home. It always is and it seems I don't get to do it often enough. Something about that 5 hour drive and gas prices, I don't know.

Chad and I are also going to my 10 year high school reunion for a while. That should be fun. Catch up on how everydoy is doing and be shocked at how many/how old thier children are. And me without a one of them there chilins. And if you believe I feel bad about that, see the post below. NOT READY YET, but someday.

Well, have a good weekend all.

Baby newsletter

Well, Chad is watching the Vikings game with his mom (we’re still in DL) so I thought I’d blog a bit.

Not much really to update on, we got here late Friday night and went to church with the family. Potluck after church (gotta love potluck!) and then a nice nap. (gotta love a nap!) Then we went to Scott and Keri’s the parents of the aforementioned new baby. Alyssa is beautiful, lots of dark hair and very good natured. Keri and I were able to leave the baby with Chad and Scott twice, once for a nice long walk and again after supper for a trip to Wal-Mart for baby supplies. (gotta love … just kidding, I know that’s getting annoying, but it’s fun from this end.) Alyssa cooperated almost too well, sleeping the whole time we were gone.

The only time she cried when we were there is when I told Keri to go ahead and take a shower, I’d been looking for an excuse to hold the baby. She did, and as expected, Alyssa woke up about half way through mom’s shower and started demanding food. As this, ahem, is not a bottle fed baby, I could do nothing but hold her, bounce her and let her suck on my finger or her nookie. (how in the heck does one spell that? Oh well.) But she wanted FOOD and the finger or the nookie was just not cutting it. I felt like a traitor, tricking her like that, but had nothing else to do really. Then Chad came upstairs and bounced her for a while until Keri emerged, ready to feed the crying dear.

It was really frustrating to know what she wanted and be powerless to help, or to at least communicate to her, it’s OK, mom is on the way. Anyway, I know having my own kids won’t be like that, but I certainly know it will be hard.

The let down

Well, I figured since my hubby likes to call me the queen of blogging and Robert is all snobby about people not updating, I'd better put up.

But I don't really have anything to say.

Chad and I are going to DL. spend some time with the fam, meet some friends' new baby. Alisa. I hear tell she's a beautiful baby. I plan to hold her lots, it's so much fun when they aren't yours. Also, it's fun to make Chad nervous. All needless, mind. We's just not ready for children. For SURE.

Have a good weekend all!!!

For CG, and other fans

Here's Sylvester, the mighty, mighty hunter



Yes, we do let our cats be on the table. Yes they do rule our home like tyrant queens.



Here's Precious, the card shark



Here's Precious, looking precious.



Here's Sylvester getting ready for her closeup, Mr. DeVille, but selfish Precious horns in on the action. "Menow!"



Here's the sisters, sharing as ever. Sylvester: "Anything Precious can do, I can do too." Mentally: "Must fit fat butt into small space."

Kitty update

Well, Precious is all better. She finally let me look at it Tuesday, it was all red and some of the pad looked burned away. But by yesterday she was limping a lot less and even playing with Sylvester. (And kicking her butt, thank you very much. Though little, Precious is the dominante one.)

Today she isn't limping at all.

As Chad says, well, she won't do THAT again. But we still have to be careful for what she will do and Sylvester, who is still clueless about hot stoves and dishes.

You guys really need to check this out. Hilarious. If you are at work, just beware that it takes sound to get whole picture.

Thanks to Holiday, through whom I found this gem.

RE: Yes!!!

So I typed this once but lost it. Wrong button pusher!! Grrr.

Anyway, here it is again.

My mom emailed me last night to say my brother got his laptop. Dad bought him one so he can email us when he is in Iraq and he has already set up an email account. So I emailed mom back with the subject line: "Yes!!" Then I asked her to send me some pics from Katy's camera that were taken in Minnapolis at Penny's house and also at the RF.

Mom replied to that message 14 times, with two pics in each email. So my Inbox looked like this:

RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!
RE: Yes!!!

Tee, hee!!

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Oliver's big moment:





Oliver, just after having kissed his cat, Amigo. I missed the actual kiss but got the expression afterward.



Tio Chad tickling Oliver.

blast from past

Mom sent me this photo from my aunt's wedding and I just couldn't resist posting it. I'm not sure how old I am here.



And, in a completly unrelated post, Precious, our littlest kitty, has something wrong with her paw. She keeps licking it, won't let us look at it and isn't walking on it. We're afraid she sprained it, hurt one of her claws or burned it somehow, but have no idea how that happened. Yesterday when we came home from chuch she was fine. Then she disappeared sometime during lunch. I looked for her in all the likely places, was she locked in the basement accidentally or shut up in the entry? No. They sneak in those places then we accidentally shut the door and they get locked in.

Chad finally found her, six hours later, sleeping in a box with clothes in it in our closet. That was strange, but we didn't realize something was wrong until later that night when she came downstairs limping. She must have hurt herself and gone off in a dark corner.

She doesn't mind bending it, even carefully climbing to the top of the cat climber to sleep. But it's ovbiously hurting. Right now she's cuddled on my lap, sleeping.

I feel really guilty, even through we can't think of a single thing we could have done to hurt her. She hasn't gotten stepped on or anything like that. The most likely, and probably not, thing we have come up with is that I took beans out of the crockpot, moving the ceramic container to the table and leaving the underneath part hot on the counter. Perhaps she stuck a paw in and burned it? But I don't think it was that hot... The more I think about it, she only licks the bottom of her paw, the pads. I'm really thinking it must be some kind of injury to her pads, not a sprain or break.

Anway, I guess this post is mostly all about Precious. Now that I'm done I have to disturb the princess. She's so happy sleeping... Oh well, Maybe she will let me carry her into the living room to watch Vikings.

Baby got back

So Chad can't stop singing "Cause the beans and rice didn't miss her" this weekend. But that's the only line he knows, meaning he either repeats it incessently or makes up something to go with it, ussually some variation ending with "your sista".

So. I thought I'd find the lyrics of the song. (see the italics at the end of the song for the actual lyrics about beans and rice, which we, by the way, had for lunch today.)

I was surprised to find a subplot in the song against domestic violence. Who knew? See if you can find it. (Like where's Waldo.)

On another note, I LOVE this song. First of all, it's hilarious. Secondly, when we were kids my mom hated when we would sing it. So she banned it, along with "Roseanne" "21 Jump Street" and going to dances at Highlanding, a story for later. That served to only make them all more attractive, especailly since mom came from a very strict family and hardly banned us from anything. Saying no just made us want it more. (Hi mom!!)

Anyway, the really funny thing about this song is that since it was off limits we sang it a lot. And when Katy was born, she's now 17, 12 years younger than me, she grew up hearing the song all the time. And other 80s songs. One time when she was in 6th grade she dazzled her classmates with her knowledge by singing it. They were like, um, where did you hear that? Hello, I have older brothers and sisters.

And here it is, in all it's hilarius glory.

Sir Mix-A-Lot
Baby Got Back

Oh my god, Becky, look at her butt
It is so big
She looks like one of those rap guys girlfriends
Who understands those rap guys
They only talk to her because she looks like a total prostitute, ok?
I mean her butt
It's just so big
I can't believe it's so round
It's just out there
I mean, it's gross
Look, she's just so black

I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waste
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung
Wanna pull up front
Cuz you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh, baby I wanna get with ya
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But with that butt you got
Me so horny
Ooh, rub all of that smooth skin
You say you wanna get in my Benz
Well use me, use me cuz you ain't that average groupy

I've seen them dancin'
The hell with romancin'
She sweat, wet, got it goin' like a turbo 'Vette

I'm tired of magazines
saying flat butt's the only thing
Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back, so

Fellas (yeah), fellas (yeah)
Has your girlfriend got the butt (hell yeah)
Well shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it, shake that healthy butt
Baby got back

(LA face with Oakland booty)

I like'em round and big
And when I'm throwin' a gig
I just can't help myself
I'm actin like an animal
Now here's my scandal

I wanna get you home
And ugh, double ugh, ugh
I ain't talkin' bout Playboy
Cuz silicone parts were made for toys
I wannem real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Mixalot's in trouble
Beggin' for a piece of that bubble
So I'm lookin' at rock videos
Watchin' these bimbos walkin' like hoes
You can have them bimbos
I'll keep my women like Flo Jo
A word to the thick soul sistas
I wanna get with ya
I won't cus or hit ya
But I gotta be straight when I say I wanna fuck
Til the break of dawn
Baby, I got it goin on
A lot of pimps won't like this song
Cuz them punks like to hit it and quit it
But I'd rather stay and play
Cuz I'm long and I'm strong
And I'm down to get the friction on

So ladies (yeah), ladies (yeah)
If you wanna role in my Mercedes (yeah)
Then turn around
Stick it out
Even white boys got to shout
Baby got back

(LA face with the Oakland booty)

Yeah baby
When it comes to females
Cosmo and got nothin to do with my selection
36-24-36
Only if she's 5'3"

So your girlfriend rolls a Honda
Playin' workout tapes by Fonda
But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda
My anaconda don't want none unless you've got buns hon
You can do side bends or sit-ups, but please don't lose that butt
Some brothers wanna play that hard role
and tell you that the butt need to go
So they toss it and leave it
And I pull up quick to retrieve it
So Cosmo says you're fat
Well I ain't down with that
Cuz your waist is small and your curves are kickin'
And I'm thinkin' bout stickin'
To the beanpole dames in the magazines
You ain't it Miss Thang
Give me a sista I can't resist her
Red beans and rice didn't miss her
Some knucklehead tried to dis
Cuz his girls were on my list
He had game but he chose to hit 'em
And pulled up quick to get with 'em
So ladies if the butt is round
And you wanna triple X throw down
Dial 1-900-mixalot and kick them nasty thoughts
Baby got back

pics, finally

Ok here are some pics from the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Here’s one of Katy with some guy that insisted she take a picture with him. He was nice though, wanted a kiss (note the lipstick marks on him already) but when she didn’t want to do that he switched to a kiss on the hand, which she was OK with.



Then there's my lone pic of Oliver. (speaking of the neices and nephews, I need to visit Grand Forks so I can get some new photos of the Ericksons to post.) Anyway, here is Oliver. Oh, and my sister Penny holding him of course. And if you look closely you will see evidence of the niece or nephew she's cooking up right now. (this girl or boy, Penny guesses boy, will make numero cinco, five, nieces and nephews for Chad and I.)



And here's a pic of my beautiful sister Katy:

Random musings

I haven’t anything particular to say, I figured it was about time I added a new entry however, and hoped I could come up with something interesting to say as I typed.


Hmm…

Well, (I overuse that word for sure!) I guess I can just say our lovely vacation is going well. We’ve visited friends and family, shopped at the outlet malls and done the tourist thing (at the previously described renaissance festival). At Chad’s friend’s house we sat in the Jacuzzi and I caught up with friends from elementary school that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Though Chad and I didn’t meet until we were out of college, friends of mine from elementary school moved to Detroit Lakes where he grew up so people he knows are also people I know.

This part of our vacation has just been lying around reading, playing computer games and watching movies. (I’ll bet you guys know which of us was in front of the computer and which was reading.)

On Thursday Chad and I bought the combined seven books written by C.S. Lewis (I almost wanted to not use any capitalization there, but that’s e.e. cummings.) “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Several of you will know who I am talking about, I know Asa is a big fan, for example. For those of you that don’t it’s this wonderful series of fantasy books written to a child (but for adults as well) about Narnia, and Aslan, the Lion King. It’s all an allegory of God and in the end, making it to heaven, but it’s also full of talking animals, battles and adventures. I read them countless times as a child and started again from the begining soon after we bought the book. I am now starting the fifth book and really enjoying it. I was always a fast reader and I’ve had lots of time to read. It’s been wonderful.

The second book “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” has been made into a movie which will be released sometime soon, but not soon enough for me. When Chad and I first saw the preview for THAT movie in the theater, I nearly flew up out of my seat I was so excited. It looks as though they did a good job, but as is the case when you have read the book, it may be a disappointment simply because they will never be able to fit it all in. I just hope they stay true to the book and don’t change anything, I know it all by heart practically, especially after reading it again now, and will hate it if they ruin it.

Yes, I am a bit of a Narnia geek. It’s better than being a trekie, no offense to the trekies out there. We watch Star Trek, the new generation most days during lunch.

How’s that for having nothing to write about.