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You Know You’re Old When…

You take your baby to the airport. You haven’t bought his ticket. Not only did you not provide funds for the ticket, you didn’t book the flight or even lend him your credit card to make the purchase. You didn’t make a little name tag, complete with address, to safety-pin to his backpack. You gave him ZERO cash. And, the next to last thing you said when dropping him off is, “Bring me coffee!”

I’ll get to the coffee in a sec. Most of you have seen Eric in the last few years and know he’s no baby. Not only will he be 20 in October—OMG, no more teenager!—he’s a big boy.

Here’s a photo taken by my sister-in-law, Sharen, shortly after I delivered my parents to the anniversary party. That’s me in the middle, wearing the brightly colored shirt. That’s my “baby” on the far left. The perspective makes him look only slightly bigger than he really is. I haven’t measured lately, but I am thinking he’s at least 6 feet. My nephew, Josh—the one wearing pink—is only 13. We grow them tall in this family!

As for the coffee comment… let me just start by saying I am no coffee connoisseur. I can’t tell you why I like a particular coffee. I also cannot describe the flavor in proper coffee terms, e.g., bold, bright, roasty, acrid, malty, etc. I just know what coffee I like.

I am very brand-loyal, too. Know what it is?

Seattle’s Best. That is, hands down, my favorite brand of coffee. How much do I like it? So much that I remember the very first time I tasted it. (Now, as much as I love a good Java Chip Frappuccino, I cannot tell you the first time I had one of Starbucks’ infamous frappuccinos.)

Anyway, I think it was 2000 when Hubby, Eric and I visited Washington state. Our first stop was Seattle. We didn’t spend a lot of time there, but we did go to the Space Needle. Oddly enough, I have a picture from that day. Hubby scanned it at some point and saved it for me. Eric was 10 at the time. We all look so young!

After the Space Needle and before hitting the Cascade Loop Scenic Highway, we stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast. It was there that I had my first taste of Seattle’s Best.

It wasn’t until recently that Seattle’s Best became available in grocery stores here on the East Coast. I was thrilled. I was even more thrilled when I got a taste of their Vanilla Bean and Hazelnut varieties.

Vanilla Bean is impossible to find locally. I only had it once, having purchased it on sale at Target after Christmas a couple of years ago. The Hazelnut, on the other hand, has been my coffee of choice for several years now. But it is getting harder and harder to find.

So, knowing Eric would be in Seattle, I told him to bring me some coffee.

Yes, I could but it online, but it ain’t cheap. If he can get it for less there, he’ll have to buy me multiple bags. At the very least, he’d better come home with some Vanilla Bean.

His trip to Seattle isn’t the only reason I have coffee on the brain. I just used the very last of my Hazelnut coffee. I’ll have to go to Food Lion today, the only local grocer I know who sells it, to see if I can get more. I hope I can.

Starting a work day, especially a day like today that I KNOW will be busy, just wouldn’t be the same without it.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and some very cool person from the Seattle’s Best company (which was acquired by Starbucks in 2003, by the way) will read my Blog and send me some freebies.

I could be the East Coast Ambassador for Seattle’s Best Coffee. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

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When Hubby is Away…

Hubby is in Chicago as I write this. He left on Sunday morning and is coming home on Monday. It’s some work thing. There’s a factory tour involved, but I forget what factory. He went to a baseball game on Sunday, too.

As everyone knows… when Hubby is away, ToadMama will PLAY. I have to whoop it up every now and then, right?

I didn’t really whoop it up, but I did have fun. Shannon, the oldest kid (and my most-frequent blog commenter), came over for dinner.

We started off with modified Insalata Caprese, which is tomatoes, provolone cheese and balsamic vinegar. Typically, you use mozzarella cheese. Fresh basil, too. But provolone is all I had. And it was way too hot to run out for different cheese.

I have to say, the tomatoes were AWESOME. They were grown by my Dad. But they were just the appetizer. We topped those off with…

… steamed shrimp. The only thing missing was corn on the cob. But we ate enough Insalata Caprese to make up for it.

And we washed it all down with our new favorite summertime beverage (thanks to Kathy and Barry Spice for this one). Fresh blueberries (slightly smashed) topped with crushed ice, Stoli Blueberry vodka and Simply Lemonade. I suppose any lemonade will do, but Simply Lemonade tastes just like fresh-squeezed. And you can use a less-expensive blueberry vodka, but Stoli gives it a much better flavor.

Enough about the food and beverages, let’s talk about Shannon. Have I mentioned here that she’s planning a trip? It’s not just any trip, it is an around-the-world voyage. Literally. You can read all about it on her blog, Where’s Shan Now?. She’ll be backpacking (traveling on the cheap, staying in hostels, etc.) around places like Barcelona, Prague, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, etc.

She got her hair cut for ease of care during her trip. Not like THIS though, much to Hubby’s relief. I made a comment on her blog that, if she came over on Sunday, I’d take some pics so she could show the world her new hairdo.

So (drum roll, please), here’s Shannon and her very cute new do.

Doesn’t she look fabulous? And worldy? And cool? (Did I mention it was oppressively hot yesterday?)

She’s very photogenic. Unlike someone else we know and love.

I was making her laugh. This is probably not one of her favorite pictures, but I love her smile.

Belle wanted in on some modeling action, too. We had to cut the shoot short anyway, the mosquitoes were eating us alive.

This is my favorite picture from the shoot. Gorgeous, ain’t she? And brave! She’ll be gone for a whole year (at least). She’s going by herself, too. Around the world!

I’ll miss her terribly, but am very excited for her to be taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

She’s leaving on October 1. Be sure to visit her blog to see how she’s doing, where she is, etc.

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On Mom Jeans and Muffin Tops

This is not about body shape, it’s about clothing.

One of the reasons I don’t pay much attention to the news is that it’s either unpleasant or stupid. But, since stupidity is far more entertaining than bad stuff, I tend to gravitate towards the offbeat, weird and just plain dumb. Yesterday, it was this video on Obama and his “Mom jeans.”

Because I am so totally un-hip and out of touch, I didn’t really know what Mom jeans were. But, since yesterday was Thirsty Third Thursday (Shannon, Amy and I actually managed to get together on the scheduled day this month), I got to touch base with my own, in-house experts, i.e., the kids.

As Shannon lined up her shot on the other side of the pool table, and Amy watched from the end, I asked, “Do you guys know what Mom pants are?”

I can’t remember the exact answer, but it was something along the lines of, “Duh. Yeah! But they’re called Mom jeans.”

“Well, maybe I shouldn’t talk, because for all I know, I wear Mom pants…” says I.

“Um, I don’t remember seeing you in Mom jeans,” Amy reported. I was sort of relieved. I mean, really, I’m at the age where I don’t really care if my clothes are trendy. Though I admit, the label “Mom jeans” is just sort of embarrassing.

Anyway, as I told them, I’d much rather see women in Mom pants than those awful, low-waisted things that look absolutely adorable on only a select few women with about -10% body fat. But, if you’re even the slightest bit plump, as many women are, and you wear those things, your fat hangs over the waistband and it’s rather unsightly. Especially since the jeans are either worn with very tight shirts or, worse, short shirts that leave that flesh exposed. They are completely unflattering.

“You mean Muffin Tops?” Shannon asked.

I chortled. Leave it to Shannon to know a term like that. Amy knew it, too, of course. And once they said it, I realized just how appropriate a term it is.

Here’s a blog post from someone else that talks about Muffin Tops.

Even better is this YouTube video…

For the record, I don’t consider Obama’s pants to be Mom pants or even Dad pants for that matter. I thought they were sort of cute. (Wait, can you hear a loud shrill? That’s my oldometer going off…)

One thing I have to give Obama, he’s certainly the most attractive Pres we’ve had in a long time. I’ll bet Michelle will never be called a Muffin Top either.

So, do you feel enlightened after reading this? Or did you already know about Mom Jeans and Muffin Tops?

Publish Post

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The Son is in Arkansas

How weird is it that Eric’s first big boy road trip had him sleeping in Arkansas last night?

Yep. Arkansas. And today he’ll be driving through Oklahoma, right past Medicine Park, Lawton and Ft. Sill, which is where Hubby and I spent a significant amount of time exactly one week ago.

It’s pure coincidence, but strange. This is the first time Eric has driven any significant distance on his own. He’s actually on his way to Wichita Falls, Texas. That’s where his former(?) girlfriend is stationed. She joined the Air Force in late 2008. Eric’s going to visit with her.

He would have flown, except he’s too young to rent a car. And they’ll actually be going to some anime convention in Dallas this weekend. So he needed some wheels.

I think it’s cool that he’s out exploring the world. All by himself. My baby isn’t such a baby anymore.

He’d probably get a good chuckle out of me posting this picture for the world to see. I took it as a joke after he received his first mail from Heather. I told him she’d get a kick out of seeing how excited he was to get her card. I doubt he ever sent it to her. ‘Cause he’s a boy. And they’re like that.

He never reads my Blog, so you can all just chuckle for him. He looks a bit scruffy, but, again, he’s a boy and just doesn’t care.

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Military Order, Magenta Style

As reported here previously, my son-in-law, who is in the Army, is away on Army business. Being a military wife is rubbing off on Amy, I think. Why do I think this?

First, there’s the forced child labor…

Yep, your eyes see properly. My 5-year-old grandson, Gaige, is doing the dishes.

It’s his job (this week) to rinse the dishes and fill the dishwasher.

Klondike is Inspector General.

After the kitchen was all cleaned up, it was time for PT. Don’t know what PT is?

Physical Training.

Here’s General Amy looking on as the boys give her 50 push-ups. Brianna was off in the shower, exempt from PT for the evening.

Joey can’t count to 50. He’s just 20 months old after all. So General Amy got down to his level to help him count.

When PT was finished, Joey got to watch Brianna dry her hair. This is a new routine both boys like to watch for some reason.

After her hair was dry, I told Brianna to strike a pose for me.

Joey wasn’t very happy last night. Amy said it was because he’d missed his afternoon nap. I think it might have been the 50 push-ups. But I’m a softie…

Joey perked up considerably once Aunt Shannon started teaching him how to make funny faces.

He’s got quite a sense of humor.

Speaking of Aunt Shannon… she got her hair dyed. It was supposed to be red. It turned out pink.

Shannon asked Gaige if he noticed anything different about her.

“Um,” he said, studying her carefully. “Your shirt is too small.” (She was wearing a short-cropped jacket over her dress.)

“Anything else?” Shannon prodded.

“Um, you got different shoes.”

“Anything else?” she asked again.

He stared intently, thinking hard. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he said , “You got red hair,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s sort of pink,” Shannon told him.

He studied her carefully again then informed her, “I think that’s magenta.”

And that was Thirsty Third Thursday for March…

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Improvisation

I did something different today. Finally. Life’s been quite predictable lately. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just makes it hard to come up with blog posts. As evidenced by the fact that I made up that crazy post about Meg that ended up ticking my Mom off and convincing Belle’s foster mother that my vet is a quack. But that’s another story.

As for today… my son-in-law is traveling on some Army business. That means Amy is left home alone to deal with three kids–ages 8, 5 and 20 months–and one very large dog. That alone is enough, but add to the mix that she works full-time and Brianna, the oldest, has lacrosse practice three days a week. One could easily get overwhelmed. So I decided to sit with the boys tonight while Amy and Brianna went off to do the lacrosse practice thing.

So you get to see new pictures! Of the boys anyway…

It was sort of nice today, so we got to play outside. I snapped this one while Gaige and I were playing soccer. He sure looks like a fearsome goalie, doesn’t he?

The funny thing about this picture, which you’d never guess from looking, is how well Joey rides this little tricycle. Except, um, he rides it backwards. But he was having a blast. I’m going to have to get him a rear view mirror though.

I couldn’t leave Klondike out. He is one of the boys after all.

The funniest event of the evening was the look I got from Gaige when I started singing. He was humming and singing the chorus of the Sublime song, What I Got. All he kept repeating were, “Love is, what I got…” So I filled in the rest of the chorus and sang a little more of the song. His mouth dropped open and he looked at me like I had two heads.

“How do you know that song, G?” he asked with his dimpled smile.

“I just do,” I told him. So we sang it together. It was cute.

I’m going back to Amy’s tomorrow for Thirsty Third Thursday. I’ll try to get a shot of Brianna to post.