Extra Stressed Tonight

I'm stressing out tonight. My house always appears clean, and for the most part, clutter free. Now that we're getting it market ready, I'm realizing how much junk we really have. We've taken embarrassing amounts to be donated. We've probably thrown out an equally embarrassing amount. We do go bare minimum when we have a house on the market, but geez, this is ridiculous! And it's not even over yet.

To make matters worse, Army says I can't have a new laptop until we sell our current house because he doesn't want to pay a double mortgage and pay for a new laptop all at once. I'm LOST without my laptop. We close on the new house in a month. Cross your fingers, toes, hair, ANYTHING that we sell soon.

And even worse, I'm having to stress with NO chocolate at all. WHAT was I thinking? I even had to deal with a female monthly issues (my apologies to any male readers!) without chocolate. UGH!

I'd be lying if I said I'm doing it without any sweets at all. Pralines are my current best friend. I'm going to leave you with a sinfully easy and good recipe for pralines. It's actually my mom's recipe, but since she doesn't have my blog addy, she won't know that I'm taking credit! Best part: you make them in the microwave!

Lanny's Pralines
1 Cup brown sugar
1 Cup white sugar
1/2 Cup evaporated milk
2 Tbsp butter (not margarine)
1 Tbsp rum extract
pecans

Mix sugars and milk in a glass microwavable pitcher. Microwave on high for 7-9 minutes (until soft ball stage). Stir in butter and rum extract. Add pecans. Drop by spoonful on aluminum foil. *It hardens pretty quickly, so you must move fast!
Enjoy!

Extra Bad Luck

I'm becoming convinced that my house does not want to be sold. Let's review what's happened since we decided to put it on the market:

*Light bulb explosion
*New laptop broke
*Old laptop broke
*Linus pulled towel rod out of wall
*Lost electricity to entire upstairs

So, what do you think?


Linus has been tossing funny things our way a lot lately, but some of her stories will have to wait. I'll leave you with one for now though. The other day I couldn't get something to work. Linus came over to me, put her arm around my shoulder, and said, "Where there's a will, there's a way." I asked her what that meant thinking there was no way she understood the saying. She said, "Mommy, it means if you want something badly enough, you'll find the way to get it or to make it happen." I was impressed for at least a second until she said, "And I really want a snack." Being the fabulous mom that I am (haha), I turned to her and said, "Where there's a will, there's a way." I thought I had her on that one, but by now I should know better. She gave me a sly grin and said, "My will is I'm hungry, but I'm not allowed to cook. YOU are my way Mommy since you can. So, how 'bout that snack?" Why do I even try? I don't think I'll ever win!

Since my Dell laptop is now shot too (it was five years old, so I'm not too surprised), it's getting harder and harder for me to get on here. I've got a really good give away for March though, so even if I miss a day or two here and there, make sure you check back the first and second days of March!

Extra Lost!

I've been lost for the past (almost) 48 hours! When I turned on my old Dell yesterday, I didn't have any internet connection. We had horrible storms the night before, and if we lose power, I lose my wireless connection, so I wasn't really surprised. I went upstairs to reset the connection, and was shocked to find we had no power upstairs.

When Army came home, we ran out and got a new circuit breaker to see if that would fix the problem since simply flipping it didn't work. It didn't work. I called an electrician today to come find and fix the problem. He was late, but that's not all that unusual. I finally heard a knock on the front door, and when I went to answer it, I was greeted by the electrician who asked if I hadn't heard the doorbell. This is one of those times I need my dog to bark, but as usual, she didn't. So, now we know the doorbell is out too. Fabulous. Anyway, he eventually found the problem (and he was wonderful with Linus who wanted to know everything he was doing. Poor man!) and I now have internet access again. Oh my gosh, I didn't realize how lost I was without it!

I'll be back later tonight, but for now I'll leave you with a Linus story:
Yesterday evening we had company on the way. I gave Linus a quick bath and got her out to dry her off. She looked down at her tummy and said, "Oh, I'm full! Look at my belly. I'm reeeaaalllllllllyy full." Then she looked at me and said, "I don't think I must have eaten as much as you did." Thanks kid! Just want Mommy wanted to hear.

An Extra Bad Night!

We had a bad night last night. In the middle of the night, Army and I were startled with the sound of breaking glass. That's never something you want to hear, especially in the middle of the night. Our alarm never sounded*, so it was confusing. Army went window to window checking, but none were broken. We searched and searched. Nothing. Finally I noticed broken glass in Linus' bathroom. A light bulb exploded. It completely shattered.



Linus slept the remainder of the night in my bed, and Army slept on the sofa. Linus doesn't just sleep near you, she sleeps on top of you. Literally. She drapes her body over yours. It's not exactly comfortable. I finally fell asleep, and was jolted awake when WonderDog got into an awful fight. I'm not sure if she won or lost because she was dreaming. She started with whimpering, then it became a deep guttural growl. I don't think my dog has ever growled in her life.



Shortly after that the thunder started. Ugh! I'm tired today!



*Funny side story: Our alarm talks. This annoying female voice tells you where the fault is in the system. She's in our bedroom, and she's loud. If you open the garage door, it beeps, then she says, "Fault! Garage door." Shortly after we moved in, I slept in while Army was getting ready for work. He had to go to the garage for something, so she spoke. Then he walked out the front door for something, so she spoke again. Next he let the dog out and she spoke. Then he let the dog in and she spoke yet again. I have NO memory of this, but Army swears that at this point, I sat up in bed and yelled, "SHUT UP BITCH!" rolled over and went back to sleep. It's totally unlike me to say "shut up" so I doubt it happened.

PS--Spell Check is BACK baby! YIPPEE!!!!!

Extra Confident

It seems as though Linus might be extra confident. I'm all about children (and adults) believing in themselves, but I think I'd like Linus to tone it down just a wee bit. In all fairness to her, she is used to hearing such things from both Army and me, other family members, and people in the general public when we go out, but still!!! And the older ladies at church go nuts when she wears this particular outfit...

When we got home today from running errands, Linus immediately asked to change to her pajamas. She knows better, but she dropped her clothes where she was and didn't put them in the dirty clothes basket. As we were coming down the stairs later on, she said, "Look, my clothes! Can I wear that outfit tomorrow to school, Mommy? Can I? If I do, people will say, 'Oh, that's cute! Linus, you're beautiful! And you are stylin'!" I wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or cry!

I owe a meme that Daisy tagged me for. I'm working on it. It should have been easy, but for some odd reason, I'm making it hard! Ugh! It's coming...at some point.

Extra Talkative

First of all, thanks for the input on computers! Our main computer is a Dell, and all our computers are networked. Will a Mac be compatible? I'm assuming so, but I don't really want to ask Army and listen to him go on and on. I wish he'd just give me a yes or no, that's really all I care about. It's pretty much all I'm capable of comprehending also.
__________

Army and I had an appointment this afternoon. We picked Linus up from school and took her to the babysitter's house. Her house is near where we were going, but it's at least 25 minutes from where we currently live. As usual, Linus was quite talkative. I finally began timing how long she could be quiet. On the entire 25 minute trip, the longest she ever went without speaking was SIX SECONDS! WHAT am I going to do when she's a teenager? I'll be thrilled if she'll talk to me, but oh my goodness, can you imagine what it will be like if I need to make a phone call?

The girl definitely has the gift of gab!

BEGGING for Extra Help!

Have I ever mentioned I HATE my computer? I'm a laptop girl. I can't function without one. I had a Dell for years, but it finally got so slow that I was pulling my hair out waiting for it to turn on. Army got tired of listening to me complain, so he took me to get a new one. We researched and researched and finally got one. It's a lemon. It's spent half its lifetime in the mail between us and the factory. Today the screen quit working. Army is ready to trash it and just get a new one. We're tired of the back and forth with the company.

SO, anybody have a Mac? We're seriously considering making the move. I don't abuse my computer too badly, but I do have a small child in the house, so it can't be super sensitive.

If you don't have a Mac, but LOVE your computer (especially laptops), what do you have?

Help me, please!!!! You'll be my best friend forever! :)
Speaking of help, when is that damn spell check going to work again? I'm lost without it!

Extra Congratulations!

Katie very graciously agreed to judge the February contest.

CONGRATULATIONS LEIA! She has chosen you as the winner. Your MIL re-ironing your hubby's pants and the coke incident made you a front runner, and living with your MIL for two years sealed the deal.

If you'll send me your address please, and I'll get the yummies in the mail.
-------------------
Linus got in a wee bit of trouble today. Yesterday we made the decision to put our house on the market. Today Linus pulled the towel bar in her bathroom out of the wall. Army was less than thrilled with her, and she was in tears because she knew her daddy was disappointed. She tried very hard to get back on his good side. When showering him with, "You're the best Daddy in the whole world" and "You rock Daddy!" didn't work, she pulled out the big guns. Army has to check his stocks every single day, and he is constantly looking at a stock ticker. When he said he was going to Home Depot to get supplies to fix the wall, Linus asked, "Daddy, is that a publicly traded company?" It's way over my head, but she knows enough to ask the important questions!

Extra Honored

Cynthia Matzat over at What's For Dinner gave me the Excellent Blog Award. It's quite flattering to be honored with such an award. There are so many blogs that I find rather excellent. In fact, if I read a blog regularly, chances are I find it excellent! I'm amazed I could possibly be grouped with such blogs. Thank you, Cynthia, you made my day!

As part of the award, you must pass it along to other blogs you find excellent. I've come up with three catagories, and I'm going to award one to a blogger in each catagory.

Family Oriented blog award goes to Leia. I've read her blog for quite a while now. She's an excellent mother, and she's influenced my parenting in many ways. Her blog is private, but that doesn't make it any less worthy.

Witty goes to Monkling. If there's a joke to be made, Monkling never misses it, yet her jokes are not offensive, mean, or inappropriate. She makes me laugh constantly with her one liners. Shh...she's got a really soft side too. :)

Nostalgic goes to Daisy. I seriously doubt she would want to be considered nostalgic, but I love reading her blog because she reminds me of my twenties. You know, a month or two ago. ;) She calls it like she sees it and is really funny too.

To all of those whose blogs I read, thank you for entertaining me, teaching me, and making me laugh!

Extra Painful!

When I was in third grade, my music teacher told me not to sing because I'd ruin the school play. I'm not kidding. No sugar coating to it.

I really didn't sing after that. Not because I was scarred by it or anything, but because it really is true, I cannot sing. At all. It never caused too much of a problem: I'd mouth along in music class and in church. Then Linus came along, and I was scared if I sang her lullabies, I'd ruin her ear for music thus making her a bad singer. Eventually I got over it and sang to her. She loved to be sung to. Loved it. I even finally got up the nerve to sing along with her children's cd's.

Tonight I was singing along with one of her songs, and she said, "Mommy, please don't sing. You're hurting my head." I laughed and said, "Yeah, Mommy isn't a good singer. You really need to think about how that could hurt somebody's feelings though. If a friend said that to you, how would it make you feel?" With that, she said, "I'm sorry Mommy. I should be more specific. You're hurting my ears. Badly."

So it's official. My singing is extra painful!

Extra Valentine Wishes

Happy Valentine's Day!

Or as Linus would say, Happy Balentine's Day! No matter what you call it, we hope you have a fabulous day!



My little Linus woke up bright and early this morning. After wishing her daddy and me a Happy Valentine's Day, she sat on the sofa and wouldn't eat breakfast. She's like me; neither of us can eat until we've been up for a while, so I wasn't too concerned. We discussed the play (Jack and the Beanstalk) we were going to see today, and she confided that she was worried the giant would come get her. I reassured her she was fine and it was just actors. A few minutes later, I began to do her hair. As I brushed, I noticed she had a half frown/half worried look. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, "I'm a little nervous." When I asked her why, my poor baby said, "Well, I'm just a little disappointed that you'd let the giant get me." With lots of hugs and kisses, I promised her once again the giant would not hurt her.



We got separated when I went to park (we dropped the kids off with the teachers, then the parents who drove went to park), but since she was sitting with one of the teachers, I thought she'd be ok. I caught her eye and blew her a kiss and we did our special hug. She mouthed that she was ok, so I let her remain with the teacher. At the giant's first appearance, one of the other parents nudged me and pointed to Linus. She had her hands over her eyes and ears. As soon as she removed them, she looked at me, and I waved. She seemed ok, though she did repeat the hands several times.



When the play ended, the characters were waiting in the hallway as we were dismissed. They did a fantastic job with the play and with interacting with the kids. They were having a ball in the hallway, and naturally Linus had lost all her fear and was hamming it up with them. She was chatting away.



When we returned to school, I helped her hand out her Valentines. I planned to stay and help with the party, but Linus had other plans. "Thank you for protecting me from the giant, Mommy. You may go home now."

-----

And a funny from just now...As I was typing, she told me I was bothering her so she was mad at me. A minute or two later, she made a comment to me in a chipper voice. I told her that I thought she was mad at me to which she responded, "Oh yeah, I forgot. Nevermind."

Extra Mess

My parents sent Linus a Valentine's card with some candy. Have I mentioned I really love my parents? It's a good thing I do because the card could have changed all that. As most children's cards do, it was covered with glitter. And I mean covered. The minute Linus saw it, she jumped up and down and said, "It's got sparklies on it! I love sparklies." As she said that, she began to fan the card throughout the air which began the glitter shower. And if that wasn't enough, she then began scratching off the glitter. So now my floor is covered in glitter. Yippee. The joys of cleaning glitter up are never ending.

Tonight we addressed her "Balentine" cards. Linus quickly wrote her name on the cards for her friends, then we began writing their names on them. According to Linus, all other names are now boring, stupid, and yucky. Poor child has lots of children in her class with long names, so as I'd spell out W-i-l-l-i-a-m or M-a-t-t-h-e-w or E-l-i-z-a-b-e-t-h for her, she'd balk, "Why can't they just all be Linus? That's an easy name." As I'd remind her to write small sized letters, she'd say, "Why? They have big names?" She truly wasn't being rude, she was just exhausted writing name after name. After all, she had to write eight whole names for her classmates, and two whole names for her teacher.

Extra Trouble Being Quiet

We ran an errand tonight. We knew better than to try because Linus was tired and hungry, but we attempted anyway. As we walked out the door, she grabbed a Toys-R-Us catalog, so we thought she'd be happy thumbing through it. And she really would have if she hadn't dropped it.

Linus: UUUUGGGHHHH!

Army: What was that about?

Linus: I'm angry!

Army: Why?

Linus: I dropped my book. And. That. Makes. Me. Angry!

Army: Did you drop it near your side or near my side?

Linus: Mine. And I'm anrgy! Can you turn off the radio? I'm angry!

Army: How 'bout I turn it down?

Me: How 'bout we play the quiet game?

Linus: I can't do that. That's too hard. I just can't win that game. I don't want to play that. I can't be quiet that long. That's not fair. I just can't play. It's too hard. waaahhhhh.

Well, at least she's honest...

Extra Rude!

My dog is extra rude. Actualy, she's quite disgusting. She's a regular size golden retriever, but her hiney is huge. I think it's as wide as mine. I'm not kidding. Right now she's got her winter coat, so it looks even bigger. Hmmm, wonder if mine looks larger when I wear my winter coat? Good thing it's not that cold here!


WonderDog isn't really tremendously fond of dog food. She doesn't get human food at all though. You have to invite her to eat over and over. How she developed her ample hiney is beyond me. She loves to drink though. She manages to get water from one end of the laundry room to the other. She also gets it about three feet up the wall near her bowls.

After every single meal, she burps two, sometimes three, times. We're talking BIG, manly, rumbling burps. LOUD ones. We always insist she gets one of her burps out before she ever leaves the laundry room. She usually does her second monstrous burp on the way to the back door.

Tonight when I fed her, she ate some then stopped. I encouraged her to eat some more. She looked at me in the eye, let out a tremendous belch, and went back to eating. Before she finished, she began whining. I went ahead and took her outside. While she's pottying, she lets out this HUGE burp.

Then I heard, "Army?" from the other side of the fence.

"No ma'am. It's Lanny. Everything ok?" She's an older lady who lives alone, so I was worried about her.

"No." Giggles. "I, well, I just heard you outside, that's all."

"Oh, no ma'am. That was the dog. I promise. It really wasn't me. Really. Oh my goodness. Really. I promise it wasn't me."

Yeah, I'm sure she believes it was the stupid dog. She probably thinks I'm the rudest neighbor she's ever had! Keep in mind, my dog does NOT bark. Seriously, I could count on one hand the number of times she's barked in her life. UGH! Damn dog! Now I get blamed for a horrid burp!

Army Is Extra Scared Tonight!

Poor Army! He heard the words no daddy ever wants to hear.

We were driving down the street, and from the back of the car comes, "Shhh, you have to be quiet. The hot luv-ah is about to errupt." As my eyes bulged out of my head, I turned to Army to see his reaction. He was nearly trembling.

I asked Linus what she just said. Surely there was no way I heard that correctly.

She said, "I said, 'The hot luv-ah is about to errupt."

Uh-oh. I've heard it twice now. Chances are I did hear it correctly. My brain went wild trying to figure out what she was talking about as poor Army tried his hardest to not give in to his convulsing fit.

I wasn't really sure if I wanted an explanation or not, but I figured I had to get to the bottom of it, so I asked Linus why it was about to errupt.

"So it can spit the hot luv-ah juice out."

*cough, cough*choke*gasp*

At this point, Army's fingers are turning super white as he grips the steering wheel harder and harder. My head is spinning as I gasp for air. I just know my four year old is not saying this. It just can't be. No way!

I asked Linus to tell me a little more about it.

"You know Mommy, it builds up and up and up and then it blows. The hot luv-ah juice come exploding out. Ssssppppsssshhhh!"

I mentally scan the television she watched today, but I'm rather certain that isn't discussed on Little Bear or Little Bill. Did I watch any tv today that she might have heard? No. Did I play a sound clip or video on the computer? No. Did I say something on the phone (not that I would)? No. I can't think of a single place she could have possibly heard something like that.

I asked her to tell me what it looked like. I cringed and braced myself for the answer.

"It looks like red hot luv-ah juice that sprays from the top of a volcano. You know that Mommy."

The conversation immediately went to "Linus, can you say lava?"


Don't forget: Drop down here if you want to enter the contest. It ends tonight.

An Extra MIL Story

Linus just announced that she has finally given her rocking horse a name beyond Horsie. Let's just say Linus calls one of her grandmothers Nanny. She's decided to name her horse Whore Nanny. Ok, so not exactly, it's more like hor-nanny, but I still found it funny! Of course since it's a really nice hand-made horse that the father of one of my friends made, that makes the name somewhat of an insult.

I can't believe I forgot to mention my little incident with my MIL last weekend. I'm allergic to a food. I even have to carry an EpiPen with me all the time. My MIL offered me the food I'm allergic to. I politely declined, but she kept insisting. We went back and forth many times with her insisting and me declining. In her mind, I should taste it because it tasted good, and one little bite couldn't hurt, right? Um, a bite of something that tastes good in exchange for a nice fun trip to the ER? No thanks. Not that she's trying to kill me or anything...

If you haven't shared your story yet, (and there's a LOT of you visiting who haven't shared) be sure to go down two posts and share! Misery loves company! And really, what's better than chocolate? Speaking of which...I'm doing well so far! How many days left?

Extra Stock Options

*Contest info in post below*

You might want to buy some extra stock in Kleenex. I'll be using a lot over the next few months! In May Linus will 'graduate' from preschool. In August Linus will start kindergarten, and I'm sure some tears will be shed (mine, not hers). Neither of those events are the big tear-jerkers for me though.



LINUS HAS TWO LOOSE TEETH!!!



WHY??? She's FOUR. Ok, she's almost five, but still. She should not be losing her sweet little baby teeth yet. She's SO proud of her loose teeth. I dutifully tell her how fabulous it is, but secretly I'm dying. I'm not ready for her to be that grown up yet.



Boo hoo hoo hoo!

Extra Misery...Fixed with Chocolate!

Many of you know Katie over at Overflowing Brain. If you don't, you should check her out. She's witty and cracks me up. She's shared some stories lately that have made me think that The Fiance is actually a son of my MIL. You know it's bad when your husband likes your mom better than his own. Army's mom is a good person deep down, but Lord can that woman dish out some back handed compliments. She's the queen of playing games too.

I think the time I was hurt the most was shortly after I miscarried she asked me what I did wrong to cause it. Nice, huh?

There's also the time she asked me how long we'd lived in our house. When I told her three years, she said, "Oh, I guess that's not long enough to dust the windows, huh?" They were clean, buy the way.

Then there's the time I cooked dinner, and she asked me why I didn't cook things her son liked. Funny thing is she's asked me for that recipe several times.

Or the time she asked me exactly how much money I made (cause, ya know, I was marrying her son for his money). I didn't give a direct answer, so she pushed and pushed.


One time she gave me a hug. As she backed away, she said, "Oh, you mustn't like perfume, huh?" I'm guessing I smelled distinguished that day!


Those are the tame things she's said. It's gotten so bad that Army refuses to let Linus or me be alone in a room with her. She's much worse when Army isn't around, so he just makes sure he always is. Poor guy won't even go to the bathroom if it means leaving one of us alone with her.



Back to Katie. She's had a rough week! Not exactly how I'd want to spend my vacation week! So I thought for my little contest, we could share our MIL stories, 'cause you know, misery loves company. You have between now and Monday night to share yours in the comments section. Katie has graciously agreed to judge the entries. Remember that she's a busy person (work, school, wedding, making dinner that her MIL refuses to eat, etc), so don't expect a winner to be announced at midnight. Give her some time to laugh and decide!



The winner will get two pie mixes---Mississippi Delta Fudge Pie Mix and Plantation Pie Mix. One is chocolate, the other has chocolate in it, and I just can't have them around during Lent. They are super easy to make. You don't even need a mixer! :) You can either spike them with exlax and offer them to your MIL, or you can make them correctly, sit back and savor every bite, and not offer your MIL a taste! You choose.



I know I'll enjoy these stories! Hope you do too!

My poor parents! Today is their anniversary. It's the first one since Dad's accident. They were looking forward to going out to a nice dinner. Instead, Dad's in the hospital. Hopefully he'll recover quickly and be home soon!

Linus heard me on the phone with my mother and immediately began packing a suitcase. She remembered everything but clothes and a toothbrush. ;) When I told her we weren't going down there today, she got a devilish little grin and said, "Oh nobody told you?"

I was going to do a really nice give away for February, but since I've given up chocolate for Lent, I need to get some out of my house. I'll give more details about it tomorrow when I know if I'm going down to my parents or not. If I go, it will have to wait until I get back, otherwise I'll put it up tomorrow or Friday.

Extra Chocolate Anyone?

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!!!

With the end of Mardi Gras comes the beginning of Lent. For years I gave up all sweets, but since Linus, my niece, and I all have birthdays during Lent, I was constantly faced with cake and petit fours (they get cake and cupcakes, I'd MUCH prefer a petit four). I've since adjusted it to giving up chocolate. Trust me, it's still a sacrifice. I have to go six l-o-n-g weeks without mini Reese's peanut butter cups. Army has to deal with two massive hormonal fits without chocolate to calm them. No hot chocolate. No M&Ms. No. Chocolate. Period. Ouch!

We tried to explain Lent to Linus. After a brief explanation at a four year old level, I asked her if she wanted to give up something. I suggested juice boxes or her goodnight light. After looking at me like I was absolutely nuts, she said, "No thanks. God already has everything. He doesn't need my juice boxes or my goodnight light." I tried to explain the whole concept again, but she didn't want anything to do with it. She's got another few years until she really has to participate, so I'm not too worried.

I also try to make a positive change in my life during Lent too. I'm trying to figure out what I'll do this year still. If you give up something or make a positive change for Lent, care to share what you're giving up/doing?

Extra Sad!

Tonight is the night my dad's parade rolls. Unfortunately, he won't be riding. Army, Linus, and I planned to go anyway, but somehow it just doesn't feel right. Linus knows her grandfather is not quite the same as he used to be, but she associates that parade with him, and since the riders are masked, I'm worried it would confuse her. It feels odd not to be there though. It's also very sobering to know that he was riding happily last year, and this year it's just not happening. He's made tremendous strides, but he's just not ready to ride yet. Hopefully next year.

Linus LOVES Mardi Gras. The first Mardi Gras that she was able to really speak, she called it Party Bra! :) Nobody encouraged it, that's just what she heard. The riders on floats are masked, so you don't really know who they are. Since my dad was wearing a mask, he tipped it upward so she'd recognize him. Each float afterwards was met by Linus making a tipping gesture with her hand near her face and asking if the riders were her grandfather. She'd call the riders by my dad's grandfatherly name. That netted her lots of throws. It didn't take too long for the association to be solid. From there on out, she'd scream, "Hi PawPaw" or "I love you Pepere" as floats rode by. Little stinker!

GO ELI!!!

I know I'm in the minority, but yippee! Go Eli! :)

Some Extra Crud

Like many kids, I didn't like crust on sandwiches when I was younger. My mom would cut the crust off our sandwiches so we'd eat them. My father was a short cut kind of guy. When mom went out of town one time, Dad took us out to dinner. Both of my grandmothers would have happily cooked for us, but Dad liked the excuse to eat out. Dad pulled up between McDonalds and Baskin Robbins (Metairie road in the 80s anyone?) and told my sister and me that we could go to McDonalds if we really wanted, but if we could keep a secret, we could have Baskin Robbins---one scoop for dinner, a second scoop for dessert. Yeah, short cut kind of guy. He would cut the crust off sandwiches for my sister and me, but at some point he told my sister that she really needed to eat the crust because that's where all the nutrients were. She believed this for years. After high school graduation, she went to Florida with friends and when one of her friends left the crust of her sandwich behind, my sister let her know that she really should eat it because it contained the nutrients from the bread. Those around her laughed hysterically, but the father who was on the trip laughed so hard he could barely breathe. Once he caught his breath, he said that my father had to be the one that told her that because it sounded so much like him. Everybody was shocked that my sister actually believed this. Nobody was more shocked than my father though. We still tease her about the crust.

I've always been quite pleased that Linus eats the crust with no complaints. On occasion she'll eat most of the sandwich and leave the crust behind, but she has never complained about it, nor has she asked me to cut it off.

When we started discussing dinner tonight, Linus mentioned what she wanted and asked if I'd cut the crud off. Army and I cracked up. She got her feelings hurt and asked what was so funny. Before either of us had a chance to answer, she said, "It tastes disgusting, isn't it crud? Hey, stop laughing! If it isn't called crud, it should be!"

Extra Awesome...Totally Awesome

Swiped from another blog. What year do you belong in?

You Belong in 1987

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

HAHA! I love 80s music, but I'm not so sure this is accurate! ;)