Flashback Friday

1979

What girl DOESN'T love race cars as a kid?!?!
(I'm the blond)

What every mother wants...or why I wish my son could join the army now

So yesterday I had a pounding headache. I didn't bother even LOOKING at my backyard. THIS was a mistake!!! When my son came home from school, with his cronies, I began to hear clanking sounding. I turned towards the direction of the mystery noise (it wasn't a pipe bomb..whew!) and saw a wheelbarrow and three teenage boys wielding shovels and assaulting my backyard. WTF?!?!

I looked up some more and saw a large hole forming. Again...WTF?!?! My son came in and told me that they were digging because they wanted to...and were interested in digging a trench. Ah yes! THAT is what I thought my backyard needed...a trench, to hide from the invading Plano people, I'm sure (as that is SUCH a problem here in the N. Dallas suburbs)! With every clink of a shovel onto the wheelbarrow my head had little tiny explosions going on inside. I informed my darling son that if he was SO interested in digging a hole, why not dig UP the tree that had grown on its own next to the house and replant it in this sinkhole (aka trench).

He and his buddies then turned their attention to the tree and started "uprooting it". After they had replanted it, he came in to share his pride.

The boy: Mom, we got the tree moved. We put it in the middle of the dog crap land mine.

Me:(thinking: of course he did! You wouldn't want a trench in hte middle of a mine field.) my reply: Where?!?! NO BOY! You were SUPPOSED to put it in the hole you already had dug up!!!

This morning I peered outside and saw the tree down on its side. So obviously I needed to fix their replant. Its a nice tree, I just didn't want it growing its roots under my house and screwing with my foundation.

I walked outside and immediately went to where the tree had been moved. Hmmm...seems kind of shallow. So I placed it upright, stepped on the roots and tried my best to shove it back into the hole. It fell over again while I went to inspect the area where it originally resided. Ah ha! That explains it. The hole left by the boys where the tree USED to be COULD HAVE BEEN DUG BY MY CHIHUAHUAS!!!! It wasn't even 1/2 a foot deep!!!! Oh yes, that tree will die soon.

I took some dirt (clay) from the wheelbarrow and packed it into the replant hole and pounded it down so that it would stay upright. So far, so good. I didn't even need to install supports to keep the tree up.

Then I went back to look at the "trench". OMG! Words cannot describe! Here's pictures of the "damage".

The downed tree

The reinstated tree

The hole where the tree USED to be

The "trench"

So you tell me...think he'll make it to his freshman year of high school?

Random Crap...or maybe not?

So the other day I was looking at a scouting group of ants searching my kitchen floor for food remnants. Usually they attack the dogs' food bowls minutes after we put food into them. But a while back my BFF turned me onto a cool little food bowl attachment.
So its called a Sani-Moat Ant Barrier and I got it at Petco. Basically the white circle in the center is a strong sticker-type thing. So you peel off the protective cover and stick it to the bottom of your average food bowl. After you've gotten it all stickied on it looks like this...


Now the base detaches from the bowl with just a little twist and then you have two pieces...like so...


Then you just squeeze a little liquid dish soap into the "moat" and twist the top back on. And for some reason the ants don't cross the soap moat. Pretty cool, huh?

But here's what I was wondering. What if you had a particularly crafty group of ants. And these ants threw themselves, one after the other kamikaze-style, into the soap moat. Until they had built up a dam of ants, and a bridge of sorts. Then the less self-sacrificing ants could just walk across their fallen comrades corpses and get to the food. But then I figured those little fire ants probably wouldn't do that. It would probably be something better conceived by those big army ants, and they're better organized any way...and it likely wouldn't take a whole platoon even, just like 3 or 4 ants.

I shared this idea with my BFF and she asked "why they wouldn't just throw leaves onto the soap and crawl across the leaves?" Then I was all..."because there's no glory in walking across a leaf bridge!"

Have you ever had random crap thoughts like this and hoped that those you shared it with wouldn't just cock their heads to the side and whisper to your family members "Has the ALWAYS been 'special'?"

Photoshop is your friend?

So I went out and bought Photoshop Elements 7 at Fry's this past weekend, and am hoping to hone my skills at repairing photos in the coming year. So here's my first attempt. And yes that's a picture of me...hehe probably on a boat on the lake when I was around 8 or so.

Before


And after I toyed around with my fixin' skills

I have another picture that I am desperate to fix the color on, but have yet to figure out how to do so. But if anyone has any helpful hints for me, BRING them on, please!! dorseybell(at)gmail(dot)com

Flashback Friday, a couple days late

Sorry all, I got busy on Friday and had to take my computer apart in an attempt to get the power working again. Ugh! I got the power to work, but it is still not charging. Ah well...didn't have to spend $200 on it, just $30 and some time.

So here's a picture that was taken about 24 years ago in the Bahamas on a family vacation. This is a picture of me, simply enjoying the surf and sand on a beautiful day.


Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Very TAKSing, indeed!

So this past weekend my hubby somehow managed to break my son's glasses. And I'll have you know the child is BLIND without them!! Ugh! So today, Tuesday, he has his Math TAKS test. And he is required to PASS this in order to continue on to the 9th grade. So I took him out of school yesterday to try and get him a new pair of glasses, even if they were sub-par frames and such. But unfortunately his prescription is too strong for anything to be done in about an hour. Everyone has to order them. So we were left with only a couple of options:

• Keep him home from school
• Have him attempt it "blind"

I managed to track down the home number of the school's counselor, and test coordinator for the campus, and talk to her about these options. The only problem with keeping him home is that we'd have to keep him home and unable to go up to the school all the way through this Saturday. So that wasn't going to work because they'll resume normal class instruction on Wednesday after the test was over. And of course I didn't want him missing any of that.

So we were stuck with the second option. But the counselor assured me that if he opened the testing booklet and couldn't even do one problem, then he could turn his test in and it would be coded as "other" then taken up. I made sure that this would not mean he'd failed and have any effect on his scheduling next year. He's been told not to just try and "soldier on" as is his usual way, but if it is seriously beginning to give him a headache or he just feels too uncomfortable attempting the test to SPEAK UP!

He took his iPod with him to school and was told he could probably just hang out in the library and listen to it if he couldn't complete everything as normal. (Obviously sitting quietly and reading a book isn't going to work out too well) But I did assure him and the school that he could always call me and I'd come get him and bring him home. I managed to convince the counselor that if they resumed normal classes this afternoon then I'd be happy to bring him back up there at that time, I just needed to be notified.

The counselor also told him that he could not be penalized in his regular classes for having difficulty with seeing his work. So his teachers should be giving him extra time, if he needs it, and just overall working with him during the time that he doesn't have the glasses. Luckily his frames are still under warranty, so they're just ordering another frame and when that comes in (a week to 10 days) he'll be back in action.

I'm doing alright overall, just wish this freaking cold weather would STOP!! I'm ready for SPRING weather!! Not freeze alerts in APRIL in TEXAS!!!!! Ugh! I'm even attempting to grow some veggies at home. I have planted cucumbers, bell peppers, squash, zucchini, and jalapenos in several plants/pots. I had to move them all inside last night. Today I'm going to chance it and plant my flowers in the front flower beds and hope this ill-timed cold weather has bitten us for the last time this season.

Flashback Friday

This Flashback Friday is dedicated to my son. Today he is 14 years old! He's grown into quite the little man. It only moderately pains me that he and I are almost the same height. hehe I'm personally looking forward to when he's 16, Whoop!! Can you say designated driver?!?! I'll be the envy of all my friends...hehe So here's to Josh.

Even with a room full of toys (including a ball pit just his size) he would run to the kitchen and find the toaster and pull it around the house...hence it became renamed his "toaster pull toy" - age 2

Chillin' on Lake Eufaula while we were on vacation - age 5

March 2009 - Josh moving the Cavalier (his future car) into the garage

Happy birthday, my boy!

A New-Age Weight Loss Plan?

So, who knew that I'd lose 4 lbs over the course of a day when I was blessed with migraine headache?! Day before yesterday I had a headache when I woke up. It was all on one side of my head and throbbing slightly. And since just a few days, maybe weeks, before I'd watched the Today Show special on headaches, I KNEW this was for sure a migraine!! So I took some Advil and tried to start my day. About 2 hours later, the hubby and kids had vacated the premises and the throbbing was getting louder. I had a small bowl of soup to try and convince myself it was just a hunger headache. Good thing it was soup, since even crunching the saltines made the throbbing worsen. So I gave in and decided to try to sleep it off. So sleep I did, for about an hour and a half. Damn!! Still there!!!

Next I moved to the hard stuff...hydrocodone. Within 30 minutes I had that all over floaty feeling, but still a minor headache. I hoped it would go away though. I called the hubby to let him know that there were plenty of leftovers in the fridge and he and the children would be fending for themselves tonight for dinner. I was going to bed early. And with that, I dozed back off. Woke up when hubby was home and having his dinner next to me in the bed. He offered me some, but I knew I'd have to chew and at this point even opening my eyes caused piercing pain, so I KNEW I didn't even want to try chewing. Besides, at this point I was beyond nauseated. I asked what time it was and he told me. Ugh! Headache still here!!! And it had been a good 5 hours since I'd taken my happy pills. So I took another and drifted back off to sleepy land.

When I woke up the next morning the headache had decided to go away...FINALLY!!! So I did my usual morning routine...pee, brush my teeth, kiss the hubby through the shower door, and step on the scale. To my surprise..I was down! FOUR pounds! Yipee!! Whereas I'm not going to try this method for long term losses, I am using it to continue on my path towards a skinny me. =)

I also just spent an insane amount of money at Sally's Beauty Supply on manicure supplies, well insane to me is anything over $70. I realized that I can probably do it by myself just as good as the chick at the nail place. So I'm off to do just that right now, and watch some downloaded episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place (just LOVE that show..hehehe). Do you have some kid-type show that you really like to watch, and will even if the kids aren't in the room?

The Apology

Hey all, this is going to be a short one...

I've been MIA for a bit now. I went this past weekend to my niece's birthday campout and had no internet access at the lake. Then I just didn't feel like blogging on Monday. Tuesday, yesterday, I had something great in mind, but the migraine I had all day put the kabosh on that one. So sorry I haven't been around. I've got about 150 new posts to read through throughout the day, which I plan on devoting my morning to right after I take the kids to school.

Hopefully that bright idea I had stolen from me yesterday by the headache wil reappear later on today. =)