question of the day #4

Q : how many 5yr olds can i take in a fight?
A : this many...
20
OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

booyakasha!

ketchup

seeing as how the last time i posted on here was like, um, roughly 4yrs ago, i thought i'd take time out of my busy shhhedule to update. a few momentous occasions have occurred in the last week or so:
1. fathers day - hurrah for dads everywhere!
2. my mum's big 6-0 - hurrah for getting older but never aging!
3. whit's wedding - hurrah for 105degree-outside-no-shade nuptials!
first up, fathers day; what i will forever remember about growing up with big dave as my pops:
-pizza king pizza
-bad perms all around, dave included
-driving golf balls with his good clubs into the backyard field
-getting scared spitless by the panty-hosed-bandits (aka dad and roger lloyd)
-burying our innumerable "pets" in the woods across the street ("pets" meaning any animal that perchance took up residence in our immense backyard)
-the lightning bolt shoes - i think you scarred all of us girls with those sneaks, dad
-crying when minute (our beloved old dog) died after a bad storm
-never missing a big game or school program or anything that was important to us
-goldman's bike shop, frosty's freezer, selma ball diamonds
-never having to fear anything as long as you were around
I LOVE YOU, YOU BIG LUG!
and con's big day:

my sister's get to enjoy everything with my mom, while i have become resigned to hearing all details second-hand. the consolation is knowing they love and miss me just as much as i love and miss them. (mor and i were flying to california for whit's wedding on my mom's birthday, so i called ahead to have flowers ready for erica to pick up and take to the birthday girl. they were well-received, or so i was told.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA! WE LOVE YOU LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS AND...
whit and brian's wedding:
really lovely. from what i could see, what with the sweat stinging my eyes. no, really, it was very nice. fred, the bishop who performed the ceremony and is apparently one of southern california's most notorious sweaters, made it short and sweat, i mean sweet. "you do, he does, kiss her and let's get to the punch!" the bride was blushing, the groom was groovy and the guests were gushing. mor got to chat it up with old friends; we got to see all the georgia family; and i got to hang out with one of my favorite little girls, tess. (she really is adorable. she'd be one of your favorites too.) we ate yummy treats, snuck inside to cool off in the ac, discussed our favorite colors--tess likes pink, i like green--and her new shoes, very cute flip flops. the normal chit-chat between gal pals, you know. we gave our kisses and best wishes to the bride and groom, hugged the georgia relatives good-bye and packed up the chairs, dancefloor, lanterns, candles etc etc before calling it a night. as for the rest of the trip, we dined on porto's a few times, shopped downtown pasadena, visited with the cooks and their new addition malia, got our tan on at manhattan beach, ate at tarasco's...everything mor wanted to do, we did and everywhere mor wanted to go, we went. almost. (in and out will have to wait till next time. sorry, hubs. but weren't those porto's potato balls the best things you've ever tasted? yeah, i thought so.)
and of course, through it all, we didn't take any pictures. we suck like that. hopefully everyone else involved in all the festitivies--near and far--will love us enough to send us photographic proof...? please?
pretty please?

week of excitement

the tip-top most excitement i had this week was:
1. finding pants at gap for $7.97
2. buying really really really very cute earrings on etsy.com
3. watching the lakers lose game 4 and
4. having my hubs not complain about taking me (and berardi) to see "sex and the city"
allow me to expound:
1. i never find pants in my size on sale. this is what happens when you and the rest of the gap-shoppng women in america wear the same size. sometimes, it really does suck to be "average." i didn't just find one pair of pants on sale in my size, however; i found--are you ready for this?--FOUR PAIRS OF PANTS ON SALE IN MY SIZE!!! now do you see why that is so exciting? four pairs of nice pants (read: pants i can wear to work as well as to play) all for me and no one else.
2. i have been searching high and low (ie the top and bottom floors of dillard's and nordstrom's) for some cute accessories for whit's wedding. i'm not a big jewelry wearer (see #27 on here), but when your required attire is simply a black dress, you need something to break up the monotony of it. so, i found and bought these...

too cute, huh? well, I like them. hopefully they will get here (all the way from the uk) before we leave next friday. cross your fingers.
3. mor is an avid lakers fan. i hate kobe bryant (as a person, mind; one cannot argue his finesse as a ball player) and turiaf's incessant flailing and flopping. (is anyone else stoked that flopping is now going to be a legitimate foul? the nba is getting there, slowly but surely.) not that i love the celtics, but i pretty much despise the lakers. on principle. but mostly because of turiaf and walton (who, luke if you ever stumble upon this take heed of the next two words, IS WHITE) and if you weren't a lakers fan before their rise with shaq and horry and fisher (pre-jazz) and of course kobe, you're just bandwagon. and if there's one thing i'm not, it's bandwagon.* and
4. berardi is getting ready to leave this great state and head home to the big apple. we wanted to get together with him before he goes; he's been one of my favorites and i'll miss him and his crass vulgarity. we picked him up, went to dinner at magleby's fresh, piddled around riverwoods and headed to the movie. it was SO GOOD! so long (2.5 hours) but so good. there is no way mor would have gone with me to see it, but with berardi on my side, there was no arguing. and mor actually enjoyed it. (not that he would admit that should anyone ask him.) granted, there was a little more boop**-action than i ever need to see in any arena, but hello? the first word in the title is "sex," isn't it? the movie tied everything up nicely from how the series ended. there were some teary moments, some out-loud laughing moments and some sentimental sappy moments. it was good. boops notwithstanding.
in conclusion, go to gap, shop etsy, tune in to see the lakers tank (on sunday) and go see satc. you won't be disappointed.

*or concerned with caloric intake, but that's another story.
**borrowed term from "jon & kate + 8." it's what their little girls call their upper body lady-parts. unoffensive and cute. just like all 42 of their offspring.

the bees are back in town

and by town i mean chimney. i can understand the queen taking offense to our burning alive of her most virile suitors, but give me a break. five more yesterday. i had to lock penny in her kennel for fear they would take matters into their own, um, hands (waspy finger things?) and seek revenge. i wield a scary rainbow (or reef, i'm not picky) flipflop, but poor little penelope, lacking those all important opposable thumbs (and feet), hasn't got a chance. so, while she spent a large part of the afternoon in purgatory watching "princess diaries 2"*, i got creative. our cast iron fireplace front wasn't doing much of anything, except not giving me a heads-up on when suitors #1-5 came zipping out of the soot.** now, i took my idea for bee-proofing the fireplace/chimney/floo from a project mor did the other day: weather-proofing the hon's broken driver's side window; all i needed was the clear duct tape and two oversize kitchen trashbags. and voila!

please excuse the sticks, roll of trashbags, spade and long brown thing; there are just some places the duct tape was not so keen on attaching itself to, the jerk, so i had to improvise.
you know the most fun part about the whole thing? hearing the nasty buzzing buggers plead with the oh-so-strong costco trashbags to "let...buzz...us...buzzbuzz...through...buzzzzz." all to no avail, my fine phalanges-less friends. even if they did make it through i was waiting on the other side with my trusty left rainbow and glade berry burst air freshener. at least some of them died a smell-good death. even if it was slow. and painful. writhingly slow and painful. (i had to watch it all. to make sure they weren't teasing just to get at my puppy, you know.***)

*you're not the only one who enjoyed it, orlando. it's one of penny's favorites. that and "handy manny." she cannot get enough of his espaneesh accent.
**mor actually shopvac-ed the fireplace saturday. the fireplace and the cars and the garage and the...everything that couldn't get away from him.
***this was in no way as traumatizing as when i ran over a chipmunk and saw it spasming in the middle of the road behind me. i stopped a block later and threw up. my way of paying homage to dale. and acquiescing my unrelenting gag reflex.

and this little piggy went "wee wee wee wee wee, all the way to the trashcan in the sky"

hellO, pigs and ducky! this has been a long time coming, finding a replacement for penny's first ever and favorite toy: her squeaky pink piggy. she has loved this $2 made in china piece of plastic since her inception to our family almost two years ago. mor and i were helped along in this decision by penny herself. the other night she was showing piggy just how much she loved it--munching, chewing, squeaking, licking, slobbering, goobering all over it--when we noticed the squeaking suddenly stop. penny had eaten the squeaker. i didn't even know it was possible, but she sure showed me. the very next day i made a stop at the local animal ark to pick up her new toys. and she loves them just as much as she did her little piggy.

killer bees

and i'm not talkin' 'bout those of the wu-tang persuasion. they have invaded our home via the chimney flue. the cast iron front hasn't deterred them. neither has the death of many of their brothers and sisters who have come (into our home) before them. today alone we have squashed and swatted and smooshed 15. fif.teen! we had five swarming our ceiling fan lights at one time. so, even though it's about a gazillion (give or take) degrees outside, we're nice and toasty with our freshly lit fire inside. wish us luck as we try to burn out those little striped buggers. and if the flames don't get them then hopefully the bee trap on the front porch will lure them to their sticky death.