{SQT} Completed While Santas Were Watching

I just read over at Jen’s that I need to “be myself” to be a successful blogger. I guess that means that this weeks 7 Quick Takes are going to involve lots of curse words and pajama wearing, capped off by a warm glass of boxed wine.

Okay, seriously, nominations are finished and I need to get my act together for voting, otherwise, I’m going to wind up two steps below “sheenazing”; just a paltry “sheen-a-rific” or worse a forgettable “sheen-a-roo”.

But my creativity is drained. Teddy and Fulton are sleeping only slightly better than nursing newborn twins and I’m so focused on portraying a cute twenty-something teacher for an upcoming production at my parish I can hardly slap together enough words for a decent introduction….help me Obi Want A New Idea, you’re my only hope! Moving on from my night-cap spurred mutterings to the giving and taking…

1. Honestly, nothing quick happened this week. It was all long, and tedious and full of expletives. January is how God ramps us up for Lent; if we can make it through this dark, cold, homebound month, surely we can survive the 40 days of fasting and penance that lies just around the dark and snotty corner. And seriously, what I wouldn’t give for 40 days alone in a hot desert right now.

2. “Addie, if a weird guy, with a big house shaped head comes up and tries to kiss you, just spit in his face and run away.” Top notch dating advice from Byron and Edie to Addie. I pity the kid with the house shaped head that tries to make a move on my oldest

3. Byron’s brilliant Tuesday night idea:”I’ve come up with a game called make someone scream, cry or yell for 15 seconds.”.  Or, as Mama likes to call it “Stiff drinks and ear plugs before bedtime.”

4.We went to Chuck E Cheese on Monday. I wrongly assumed that if we got there before 11:30 it wouldn’t be to crowded, even though most schools were off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I don’t know what was worse, my eensy supply of hand sanitizer or the employee in a mouse suit who wanted my kids to shake it to a racy pop song for free tickets. Sorry Chuck E., you’re not an organ grinder, and my kids aren’t dancing monkeys tipping their caps for plastic prizes.

3. Here’s my husband in an awesome t-shirt my sister got him for Christmas. It’s a DALI LLAMA, get it??? Sigh..do I need to explain it to you too or do you understand why it’s more than just a llama with a mustache.

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Some people think Tony looks like Jake Gyllenhaal, This is his Jake Gyllenhall face.

2. I noticed lots of views to the blog coming from Pinterest. Seems people are pinning and repinning a photo of my school room. I find this hysterical. In the vein of keeping in “real” I feel I must publish a photo of my school room in its normal, “resting” state. Unless acted on by an outside force, this is how our Lyceum rolls.

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For all you pinners, those are Home Depot in stock, unfinished oak cabinets we painted with Cabinet Coat paint. In stock cabinet hardware and flooring also from Home Depot. All very budget friendly. My kids can help you decorate for a reasonable fee as well.

 

 

1. Now, coming to you live, via the wired DSL connection at my parent’s house in Lancaster, PA, the stunning conclusion to this week’s Quick Takes. Seriously, you’re reading it faster than this connection could upload it.

 

We survived the drive from Jersey to PA in snow and ice despite our best efforts to get out of dodge ahead of the storm. Our usual two and a half hour trip came in at more than three hours; it was like maneuvering a Big Wheel on a Slip and Slide.  I was riding shotgun, slamming my foot on my imaginary brake and saying Hail Marys, while Tony was driving and making comments about winding up in a ditch or “This is not a good place to have to make a sudden stop!”  Meanwhile the kids were in the back, completely oblivious to our white knuckles and playing their version of rock, paper, scissors, which also includes gestures for meteorite, some Star Wars droid and a windshield.

Now it’s time to settle down on the lumpy guest room mattress and dream of tomorrow’s fun family time surrounded by the watchful eyes of a couple hundred of my mom’s collectible Santa’s. For some Quick Takes written and uploaded on the latest personal computer, visit Jen’s version 2.04.

11 Comments

  1. The screaming game: we tried to play this once on a long road trip and my friend’s mother said “no more screaming!” so we decided we had to say the phrase “bird nose” instead. Pinch-pinch-PINCH-“BIRD NOSE!”-repeat

    I have been begging for Lent for 2 weeks already. At least there’s a challenge you know? January is just a suck.

  2. Oh my gosh, January has been crap here, too. I thought maybe it was just us. And, yes, your husband does look like Jake. But Jake in a fantastic t-shirt.

  3. You are quickly becoming my very favorite blogger, my only complaint is that you don’t blog enough. Please write more and I will send you a something. Not money, maybe raisins… or aged sand box sand… I just need more of your posts in my life.

    1. Thanks, but we’re fully stocked on raisins from the crotchy old lady who hands them out at Halloween, “Just one box each! One box!”
      I’d love to be writing more, it’s just this darn life of mine with it’s kids and their needs and my desire for a shower once or twice a week. But maybe I can give up brushing my teeth to squeeze in another post here and there.

      1. That ok, I will just go an peruse all of your archives, that should keep me happy for at least a few days… and, you know, it’s not creepy at all…

    1. We got a gift card for Christmas as “family” gift, so I wouldn’t have felt right using it without Tony. We can still go again with you! Amazingly enough, my kids were not as sick of the place as I was by the time we left.

  4. I’m definitely with you and the alone in a hot desert thing. Frankly, someone’s missing a money making opportunity for moms to go out and become hermits in the desert for awhile…although these things are really called “spas” and are only for rich people.

    And I’m dying over the Dali Llama tshirt…pretty brilliant!

  5. your husband’s shirt. Killing it.

    Now it’s off for ‘stiff drinks and earplugs before bedtime.’ I may frame that and mat it against some adorable damask print so my children learn the family mantra…

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