Speechless

This is how we found C at bedtime.

I have no words.

Write your own caption.

Pet Humor

I have an allergy to pet dander, so we don't have a dog.

This is A's hamster, Peanut.

Every time I hold Peanut, I have to wash my hands so that my eyes don't swell.

I think it's funny when Peanut licks his fur when A puts him down.

Maybe he's allergic to her.

More weird weather

As if it wasn't bad enough that our state had the hottest July of any state, EVER:

I was up late late last night, playing LEGO Harry Potter, and I was so into the game, that I didn't even notice that the electricity had gone out. Once the light from my iPod Touch was out, I could see that my ceiling fan was slowing, and there was not a single light on in the room. It was a little weird to not hear the air conditioner humming. It has been my constant companion since June.

A smile crossed my face as I heard rain gently hitting the windows. Boy, do we need rain! So, I went back to my game. It didn't last long. I began to hear what I thought was hail. When I looked outside, I realized that it wasn't hail - the wind was blowing the rain so hard that it was pelting the windows. As I stood in the doorway, watching the tree in my front yard being whipped around by the wind, I heard a loud snap. I have never seen anything like that! I starting shaking uncontrollably. The storm woke A, and she was so frightened, that she didn't want to stand and watch it.

And to think, we didn't get the worst of it on our side of town. I can't imagine what hurricane force winds must be like. We were blessed to only have some fallen limbs. My hammock was blown over, but my patio furniture was still standing. Others in our city had trees uprooted and have lost their roofs. One church even lost their steeple.

the tree in our front yard

my neighbors to the west

neighbors down the street

limbs from our neighbors tree in our yard

Our Family Pasttime

One of our family's favorite things to do is spot retail signs which have been made humorous when one or more of their lights burn out. These are our all-time faves. We have laughed about them so much that we actually refer to these stores and restaurants by their new names. Can you guess their origin?

the der

Hobb Lobb

1-hour phoo

um's

SMO

Honorable mention goes to : elf Storage (which was eventually disqualified because the missing letter was simply hiding behind a tree)

There is, indeed, no place like home

Someone started a "Remember [my hometown] When..." group on facebook this week. I was invited to join and spent nearly an hour and a half in NostalgiaLand. I currently live in the town where I grew up. My family moved here when I was almost 2, so I spent nearly my entire childhood in this town. That's what it was back then - a town. A small suburb to the north of a big city. Of course, today, it is a city of its own, big enough for 3 high schools which are again close to bursting at the seams.

I attended university almost an hour away but came home on weekends when I could. And I lived with my parents during the summers. When I graduated, I married Super D and moved 2 hours from home. And that's what my hometown has always been to me - HOME.

My parents continued to live here, and Super D and I came home to visit several times each year. We lived in the next closest big city. I found out that while I enjoy living in the city, I don't enjoy living in a BIG city. So when life offered me the chance to move back home, I was ecstatic. Super D had mentioned many times in the past that he would love to live here and raise our kids here. I found it was very easy to move from the place which had always only felt like a second home. I think he would say that this truly feels like home to him, too. It always was.

I love my suburb. I like that I can drive anywhere I want to and be there in 15 minutes. I like seeing remnants of my childhood hangouts. I enjoy telling my children about the box store that used to be a Godfather's Pizza or the cable building which used to be a skating rink. It is pure joy for me to make new memories with my family at some of the same places which hold my old memories, like the bowling alley or the library. We still attend the same summer festivals which have been city staples since I was my children's ages.

Some things have changed very little, but most of what I remember has been altered or is simply gone. But the memories are there. And apparently, other people remember them, too. That's comforting.

Harry Potter mania continues

Like a good mom, I awoke at 4 a.m. and helped my daughter find the magical quill to gain early entry to Pottermore.com. I guess J.K. Rowling doesn't have enough money yet, so she will soon release a new website to further the Potterhead experience. To fuel the mania, she is allowing a lucky million fans early access to the site, if they can answer one of 7 daily questions in order to find the hidden magical quill somewhere on the web.

A was forlorn that she missed the first day. Yesterday, she arose early, but registration had already closed by 6 a.m. So, she set her alarm for 4 a.m. today. At 5 a.m., the question was posted. It was a race through "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" as we sought to find out how many points ahead Gryffindor was over Slytherin when Harry caught the Snitch in the Quidditch Finals. (Am I a geek, or what?) Next, we had to multiply that number by 35 to find the right answer. Then, we had to type in the proper web address with our answer at the end of the address line. Once we had found the magical quill, we had to levitate it, which took several tries. We were redirected to a registration page to complete, given a login name, and told to wait for a verification email.

A is still waiting for her email. I went through the whole process again and received my verification email about an hour later. Fortunately, I verified my email quickly enough and received my reward:

It will be the world's biggest bummer if I get to play early and she doesn't. Well, maybe I'll let her watch over my shoulder. ;)

A mother's work is never done

Why do I bother sweeping the kitchen floor? As soon as I sweep, my family messes it up again. Just now, I swept up 4 dead leaves, 3 (diabetes) test strips, 2 Walmart receipts, pringles crumbs, elbow macaroni, and a partridge in a pear tree.