Saturday, May 29, 2010

It's All About The Boobs - Part I

I know, I know. It’s been two weeks since I tantalized you with the promise of three boob stories. Sorry to leave you hanging. [*snort* That made me think of the old song I used to sing to my mom, “Do your boobs hang low..." But I digress.] Without further ado, here is part one of the boob trilogy.


For most of April and the first week of May I was lied to left and right. Todd lied to me, my friends lied to me, my kids lied to me... and I didn’t know. It’s a little scary how easily these people, people who supposedly care about me, could tell me falsehood after falsehood with a perfectly straight face. Let me give you a small sampling of the bevy of deceptions perpetrated against me.

Early April:

Katie
Katie: I need a tropical recipe for school for extra credit.
Me: How about Hawaiian Chicken? It’s easy and yummy.
Katie: Okay.

Late April:

Laura
Laura: Do you think Katie would want to babysit for us on the 7th?
Me: Probably. We have a surprise birthday party to go to, but I’m sure she would sit for you.
Laura: Great.
Me: So what are you going to do?
Laura: Bill and I are going on a date.
Me: Good for you!

Friday, May 7:

Taylor
Taylor: I’m going to Nick’s.
Me: Are you going to come to Mark’s party?
Taylor: Yeah. We’ll probably swing by at some point.

Todd
Todd: Katie just called and said there’s a leak under the sink at Bill and Laura’s.
Me: Oh, no.
Todd: She said it’s not bad. We’ll just stop on our way to Mark’s party and you can come in and see Laura’s new tile.
Me: Alright. I’ve been wanting to see it…

It went down like this: I walked up to the front door with Todd so I could "see Laura’s new tile while he checked under the sink." When the door opened up there were all these people on the stairs and in the hall yelling “Surprise!” Turns out Todd had spearheaded a surprise party for me with some of our neighbors to celebrate five years of being cancer free. Mark’s wife, Amy, was in on it, too. She happened to be throwing a surprise 40th birthday party for him on the same night and even told him he was going to my surprise party.

They got me good! I had absolutely no inkling of their diabolical plan – the bunch of consummate fibbers. They had a luau for me, hence the Hawaiian Chicken recipe Katie wrangled out of me. Todd played the guitar while Katie sang "Grace" by Saving Jane - one of my favorite songs she sings. After that Taylor played his guitar some while we all sat around, eating and laughing and just having a good time. But the fun didn’t stop there. Oh, no it didn’t. There was also a cake. A boob cake.


(I blocked out the nipples ala Girls Gone Wild commercials so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of my virtuous readers. Or reader. Whatever.)

And that', mi amigos, is Part I. I promise to endeavor to attempt to try to get Part II up in a more timely manner.

Labels: anniversaries, breast cancer, family, friends

Mused by Jenster :: 8:31 PM :: 11 People musing:

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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Expanding My Mind... Groovy...

Thanksgiving vacation is quickly coming to an end. Five days in a row of sleeping past 8:00 will be a thing of the past until Christmas break. Tomorrow will be the beginning of just another week and life will resume its routine.

Our friends, the Stenmans, invited us to share Thanksgiving with them since we don't have any family around here and we were happy to accept. The food was delicious and the company was so enjoyable. After dinner some of us played Bananagrams:

Have you played it yet? It's like Scrabble only better. I love Scrabble, but it can get tedious while you're waiting for your turn. (I never claimed to be incredibly patient.) But you're on your own when you play Bananagrams so you don't have to wait on anyone! (I think somebody in my family should get it for Christmas.) Not only did I leave the Stenman's feeling pleasantly full and happy at spending a nice day with them, I think I may have left a little smarter, too.

Friday and Saturday were spent baking, cleaning the kitchen and working in the dining room. Katie and I were able to prime above the chair rail and I'm hoping to get the bottom part primed this week. I'm going to have to re-paint all the woodwork, which I'm pretty sure is going to be a pain in the rear, and my plan is to start painting next weekend. We'll just have to see how that pans out. By the way - I love the smell of primer and mineral spirits. I just hope they didn't kill any new brain cells I may have amassed at the Stenman's Thursday.

Today was an enriching day at the theater. I mentioned about a month ago that Katie and her friend, Alexis, sang "Sisters" for their voice recital. It turns out that the Broadway production of White Christmas is currently in Philadelphia.



So Katie, Lexie and I left church after first service, had an early lunch at the King of Prussia Chili's and then headed into Philly for a matinee. (If you'd like to see what we saw on our drive into the city you can reference my last post. And just for the record - I did not take any of those pictures, though I wish I could take credit. I just got them off of Google Images.)

Our seats were in the very last row of the beautiful old theater. It doesn't look nearly as tall from the outside as it feels when you're walking up, up, up the stairs. And the actors' faces were pretty fuzzy from way up there, kind of like when they block out faces on the television to protect their identities.

Still, it did provide a different view. For example, we got to see the beautiful chandelier from the top before they raised it for the performance.



The play itself was delightful, even if we couldn't make out any features on the cast. Katie and Lexie enjoyed it and they held back when "Sisters" was sung on stage. I was a little worried they might get up and sing with the performers!

After the play we walked a block or so down Broad Street and got our overpriced beverage and pastry on at Starbucks. (No, I'm not dissing Starbucks. I'm just telling it like it is.) Then it was time to come home. Who knew the Eagles were in town today? I didn't. And I chose the wrong route to come home and ended up in horrendous traffic. Heinously horrendous!

But we did finally make it home and we're enjoying the last couple hours of our break by eating chocolate crinkles and watching "The Amazing Race". Well, the family is watching "The Amazing Race". I'm typing. Obviously. I just hope that all this culture and brain calisthenics will make me sharper tomorrow at work.

Labels: friends, fun, holidays, theatre, traffic

Mused by Jenster :: 7:16 PM :: 7 People musing:

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Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Neighborhood Street Walkers

Every morning as I leave for work I pass the neighborhood women, and the few men, who stand on the corner after walking the streets. Men and women of the oldest profession. Parenthood. "But Jenster, people don't get paid for being parents so it can't be a profession." Au contraire, mon frere. Parents may not receive cash for their efforts, but they do receive cards and home made gifts and kisses and hugs... it's more like a bartering system.

Sometimes I stop in the middle of the street, roll down my window and chat for a few minutes and sometimes I just slowly drive by, waiving furiously and hoping I didn't miss anybody. I would hate for somebody to feel left out. And then I drive off, feeling a little bit sad because that has never been part of my world.

When my kids were in elementary school I drove them every morning because I refused to let them ride the bus. Where we lived in Arkansas there was one bus for each neighborhood which meant my kindergartner and third grader would have ridden to school with the high school kids. I'm all about educating our children, but not THAT much.

By the time we moved up here I had a high schooler and a middle schooler and that first year I still was having a very hard time getting out of bed and moving in the morning. So there was very little street walking and corner-hanging-out going on for me.

I've decided, however, that I'm going to start being a part-time street walker. On Friday mornings, my days off, I'm going to walk up the street with Sookie (the corner usually looks like a dog park) and hang out on the corner, plying my trade in the form of, "When my kids did that I would ____", and then come home and head to my Bible study.

Then I, too, will be a neighborhood street walker!

Labels: friends

Mused by Jenster :: 8:05 AM :: 6 People musing:

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Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Whidbey Island: A Photographic Tour - Island Living - Saturday: Coupeville

I hope you haven't forgotten about Whidbey Island because this blogger certainly hasn't. I had only gotten through Friday in my Whidbey Island Photographic Tour series. My intention was to post all of Saturday today, but I only got through half of it. Hopefully I'll get the rest of Saturday posted this weekend. And hopefully you don't fall asleep before you get through all the photos!









There should be four bluddies in this picture, but we lost one to the alluring promise of hot coffee.






















My typical view as Precious and I were usually lagging behind. There were just so many great things to photograph!







The sign says it all. And it was great food!










Italian Raspberry Soda
Cream





Italian Raspberry Cream Soda








Our uber-delicious homemade lunch: Tomato Basil soup, grilled cheese sandwich (on homemade bread) and fresh grown salad greens with homemade dressing.


Our foamy bookmark craft to keep us kiddies occupied while we waited for our yummy lunch.

Labels: friends, photography, vacation

Mused by Jenster :: 9:22 PM :: 7 People musing:

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Whidbey Island: A Photographic Tour - Island Living - Friday

Following our adventurous morning on the beach we all kicked back at the house for a while - napping, reading, whatever - and then prepared to go into town.

I think we clean up purty good.



Gretchen drove us to the quaint town of Langley. We made dinner reservations and then explored up one side of the street and down the other.


Aren't these Monopoly streets?




















This bell is to be wrung when a whale has been sighted.























Finally it was time to hasten to The Edgecliff for dinner.

Fresh cut flowers on the table.









Mussels and clams in garlic butter sauce. I actually ate a mussel. Or maybe a clam. Not sure. They pretty much look the same to me when they're nekkid.


I thought the salad was colorful and pretty. After that they brought the real food and I lost all thought for anything other than the culinary delights awaiting me so no more dinner pictures. Sorry.




Then it was back to the house for endless talking and laughing with a little bit of sniffling thrown in for good measure and a big bowl of Kellie Krack - my newest obsession. Hot, buttery popcorn with peanut M&Ms tossed in. I don't even want to know how many Weight Watcher's points we're talking about!

Next up -- a farmer's market, another charming village and a lavender farm.

Labels: food, friends, photography, vacation

Mused by Jenster :: 9:22 PM :: 7 People musing:

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