Randomly Renee

Beki at Artsy-Craftsy Babe tagged me for this meme, 8 random things about myself. Let's see if I can think of things I haven't blogged before b/c I have a tendency to repeat myself.

1.) I had two favorite dolls as a child, the one above (her name was Corrine and I thought she was just lovely!) and another little plain rubber baby that I had when I was much younger named Rosie. I still have her, but she's naked.

2.) I don't like clutter. I like my countertops, tables, etc. to be neat and organized. Just don't come look at my desk. Or my kids rooms. Or my garage. Anyway, that's not the point, I still don't like it.

3.) I don't have much body hair, but I do have a lot of facial hair. Thick eyebrows, nose hair and a moustache. Don't you just want to see that in person?!

4.) My dream is to retire to the islands somewhere and just live in a little hut on the beach and listen to the waves.

5.) If you want me to buy something online, let me DEFER payment. Nothing turns me on more than letting me WAIT to pay for something, with no interest!

6.) I've had 8 mammograms (this is on my mind since my last was yesterday) and some don't hurt at all, like the one I just had. Woo-hoo!

7.) My favorite song at the moment is 'Rockstar' by Nickelback.

8.) Sometimes I just can't wait to get to work, so as to escape the drama of my three children.

So, there you have it. I'm not tagging but if you want to play along, please do. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

1995 was THAT long ago, huh?

In 1995 on this day, at 12:07 pm, I saw this face for the first time. It was love at first sight.

I can't believe that face is 12 years old today. She loves shopping (see our plans below), IMing her friends, her cell phone, listening to music . . . I swear she's been a teenager for years now. But she's still my sweet girl who brightens my day with her pretty smile and makes me laugh with her silliness. I'm so lucky to have her. Happy Birthday, Anna! I love you.


(Raise your hand if you're going shopping at midnight for Black Friday deals.
(I'm asking as I raise my hand).
AKA 'Raise your hand if you're nuts'.
See you there.)

John-isms

Scene: John M. comes in crying, holding his head. (After I heard a loud 'boom').

Me: Awww, did you hurt yourself?

Him: Yeah.

Me: What did you hit?

Him: The ground!



Scene: Lying (or is it laying, someone help me here) next to John in bed.

Me: Can I have a kiss.

Him (nods his head 'no')

Me: Please.

Him: (he tilts his little head my way)

Me: No, not that kind. On the lips.

Him: I don't have any lips.

Who CAN'T use a free printer?

Jamie at BlondeMom blog is giving away a free printer! Don't you just love FREE stuff? Go check it out for a chance to win.

Thanks for all the nice comments regarding my post about my grandfather. They all meant a lot to me.

Pod

My grandfather died yesterday. He was almost 88 years old.
My sister and I always called him 'Pod', never 'Paw-Paw' or 'Grandpa'.
When my sister was born, he was 47 and said he was too young to be a 'Grandpa'.
He asked her to call him 'Podnuh' (Cajun for 'partner', friend, goodfella, you get my drift).
She couldn't say it so she called him 'Pod'. It stuck.

I admired him more than just about anyone I can think of.
He dedicated so much of himself to his community and his church.
His family was very important to him.
He raised my dad which says so much right there b/c my dad was such a great man.

When I was little, all I can remember is him making me laugh.
He'd had Alzheimer's for the past 5 years or so.
The past couple of years, most days, he didn't know me.
Every now and then he did and that made me feel so happy.

I know that he's where he should be now.
With his wife and his son; the two people he loved more than anything else.
I'll miss him though.

Pod (1920 - 2007)

I just noticed something . . .

Look to the right, in my 'About Me' section. See anything uh . . . a little off?
I swear I did not change that. Intentionally, at least.

Our Eyes

Stuff that we've been doing . . .

As usual, I'm behind on posting about the day to day. I wanted to make sure and do a Halloween post because I love to look back on the pictures from year to year.

Here we have Emma starring as Hannah Montana and John M. as Rocket from Little Einsteins:

This is the first year that John M. actually 'got' the trick-or-treat thing and seemed to enjoy it. He stripped 'Rocket' off about 1/3 of the way through, and just looked like a kid dressed as himself, but oh well. I love this picture of my mom looking like she just scalped Miley.



Here's the whole motley crew. Notice Big Hannah (Emma) and Little Hannah (Jenna).
Anna was an Indian girl (I prefer squaw).



The other high point of last week was discovering that our banana plants actually produced little tiny bananas. Non-edible seedy bananas but hey, they were cute. Here they are.



Now, if that's not excitement, you just tell me what is.