Just in case you were wondering...

Evidently, if anyone needs to know the answer to the question "Was Harry Potter's mother a mogel person?", I'm the one you need to see...

The honeymoon is over

When I started this silly little blog, I chose blogger because...well...I didn't know anything else existed. I lived in a lovely state of ignorant bliss, but that feeling is starting to wane a little bit now that I've gotten my feet a little wet.

Blogger is simple enough to use, but there are some things that are definitely lacking. My biggest thing is that it doesn't have an auto-post feature. I really would like to have that. Cause sometimes I don't want to wait around 5 days to put my "day specific" posts up. My Wordless Wednesday drafts are piling up, I tell ya.

So, I'm thinking of moving to Wordpress. But I don't know much about it either. So it's time for you to chime in, my loyal readers.

What platform do you use? What do you love about it? What do you hate about it?

Help me, PLEASE!!

Crossing the line...

O.K. I will be the first to admit that I have crazy hair. I've always had crazy hair. I will continue to have crazy hair for the rest of my life. Unless I shave it off which I would never do because if it's crazy now...God only knows how it would grow back.

It's thick. It's coarse. Some parts are curly, some parts are straight. And overall, it's pretty unruly. I know that, which is why I'm pretty comfortable making fun of myself as far as my hair is concerned. I can't find any right now, but I'm sure that somewhere there are pictures of me when I had long hair and I would do my Cousin It impression...

Now it's a running family joke that whenever I wake up in the morning with particular bad bedhead that everyone must be sure to tell me that I have "Craaaaazy Hair". Another fun one is when people lose things and they come check to see if it got lost in my hair. Just the other day Jake was looking at a picture of my nephew (who happened to have long, curly hair in the shot) and said "Look, he's got Mommy Hair". And it's all in good fun. Like I said...I admit it, I have crazy hair.

But this morning, while we were watching Doodlebops, Jake said. "Rooney doesn't wear a wig, he just has crazy hair like you Mommy. Deedee and Moe wear wigs, though."

O.K. At what point did my hair turn into blue foam????

Who's that girl?

Have you ever heard a song on the radio that took you back to a time in your life that you never really think about until you hear the song?

I've got one. And those who know me (and even those who don't) might find it a strange choice for a song that conjures up good memories. It's Closer by Nine Inch Nails. I never really liked the lyrics, but the song was good to dance to at the "club" I used to go to a long, LONG time ago. I use the term "club" loosely because this wasn't your typical college campus, meat market, everybody knows about it type of place. To say this place was on the fringe would be putting it mildly.

If there was any color other than black that was worn in the place, it would be the electric blue of the lint that showed up on your black shirt as you walked under the black light at the door. Things were displayed at the bar that make me blush just thinking about it (hot candle wax anyone?), but I really liked the music. It was music you could dance to without the implication that you were only there to find a date. It was just a place to go and hang it with your friends...who were all dressed in black and laid claim to several different body piercings.

But anyway, one of the songs that was played quite regularly was Closer, and it makes me smile and start to dance in my seat a little bit whenever I hear it on the radio. It just brings back this feeling of youthfulness...memories of a time when being home by 1am was early and the only person you had to worry about was yourself and where you parked the car.

On Monday, Dave and I had a parent/teacher conference at Jake's preschool and one of the things we discussed with them were the pros and cons of all day Kindergarten. We decided we needed to visit the classroom before registration in March so we can weigh the full-day curriculum against the half-day's program. We then went out to lunch where we finalized our travel plans for Christmas so that we could make a stop in Indianapolis to visit the children's museum there. And on the way to pick up the kids from the bad spellers is when I heard Closer.

How can these two lives both belong to me????

There's something in The Mist

Dave and I went to our favorite theatre over the weekend to see The Mist. I have never read a single Stephen King book or novella, but I really liked The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption so I was hoping that I wouldn't spend the movie with my face buried in my hands.

No such luck.

This was one of the most gruesome movies I've seen in a long, long time.

That being said, I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. It was not a fun movie. It was not at all a happy movie. And I would never watch it again if given the opportunity (purely because I'm a big scaredy cat), but all in all...the movie was really good.

The premise of the movie is that after a big storm in Maine, a town tries to pick up the pieces the next day. As the day begins, however, a strange mist starts rolling in off the nearby mountain and across the lake. And, as they say in the movie...There's something in The Mist. And it's not very nice.

The majority of the drama (and I do mean DRAMA) plays out in the town grocery store where people are trapped once The Mist rolls in. The movie takes the very best and the very worst of the human condition and throws them into the fire together to see which side makes it out on top. Neither side does very well, though. And although I hated Marcia Gay Harden's Mrs. Carmody with every fiber of my being, she really deserves some kind of award for that role. Andre Braugher (who I loved in Glory and City of Angels) is totally wasted in the movie.

The lead was played by Thomas Jane and he was awesome, as was the little boy who played his son...although I kept wishing someone would give the poor boy a Kleenex. They WERE in a grocery store for goodness sake. Couldn't someone have just popped over to aisle 3 and helped him out? Anyway...

The end of the movie had me crying as we left the theatre. Not in a good "I feel better now" kind of way...but in a "I feel totally violated" kind of way. Not necessarily a bad thing as far as things go, just not what I was expecting for my date night.

Bottom line...if you like horror movies, definitely go see it. The movie was really well done and very well acted. If you don't like horror movies, wait for it to come out on DVD and then watch it with the lights on. And pray that it's not foggy the next day.

In pursuit of the perfect car ride

As the kids' arm spans grow, so does our desire to get a new car.

Right now, we have 2 cars: a Hyundai Santa Fe (which I we use to cart the kids around and has become their mobile sparring ring) and a Hyundai Elantra (which Dave uses for work and when one of us has the glorious chance to go someplace without the kids....and date nights). We have been making noise about getting rid of the Santa Fe and getting a minivan for almost a year now, and the end of the year is the best time to buy.

But, minivans? Yeah. They are expensive. And there are so many to choose from. We love the Hyundais...they have been really good to us and they have great warranties. So now that they have a minivan, the Entourage was the first car we looked at.

But I keep getting seduced with terms like Dodge and Grand Caravan and Stow 'n' Go.

And Dave doesn't want to get a used car because he "doesn't want to inherit someone else's problems". Which is fine with me because, I got problems of my own.

And as my problems' arm spans grow, so does our desire to get a new car.

So I ask all of you loyal readers, what kind of car do you drive? Do you like it? What would you change about it? If you hate it but it's still running, can I just have it?

That'd be swell. Thanks!

Silent Night

I have a confession to make. And it may make you hate me. But I have to get it off my chest and I refuse to feel ashamed for it...

I don't like Christmas music very much.

I like a good song every once in a while and there are definitely ones that make me cry every single time I hear them. Really, you haven't heard "O Holy Night" until you've heard Christine sing it in a candlelit church without a sound coming from the congregation. Gets me every time.

And I enjoy listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas (performed bye the wonderful Vince Guaraldi Trio) because I like the Vince Guaraldi Trio....not just because it's Christmas.

But to sit down and just have Christmas music playing in the background? It makes me want to get up and put in a different CD or change the radio station. We have one radio station in town that starts playing continuous Christmas favorites in mid-October. Or maybe it just feels that way, but they do play them for a REALLY long time.

I like to listen to music because I actually like the performer or band, not just because it's a certain season.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas....just not the "continuous Christmas favorites". So I am resigned to wait patiently until December 26th when the world returns to it's regularly scheduled programming.

Oh, and Bah Humbug.

Making a list and checking it twice

To all of you crazy sleep deprived determined folks out there who got up at last night to go shopping, I commend you. I don't really understand you, but I commend you. That takes courage.

I have my shopping list almost all done, except for Emma. I just don't have her figured out yet. She doesn't play with toys really, but she loves her some stuffed animals. I hate to spend her budget all on Care Bears though, so we might have to do some serious thinking on that one.

Serious thinking is not my strong suit. So maybe Care Bears aren't so bad. Or a Cabbage Patch Kid with red hair....oooh...I'm liking that idea.

Anyway, once I have my shopping list totally done, I'll hopefully be able to get everything I need on Amazon. Gotta love free shipping...and not having to leave the house to face all the crazy sleep deprived determined folks out there hitting the stores.

A Time That Changed Me

When I was in grade school, it became very apparent that I was going to need braces at some point. My teeth were beyond crooked, my jaw "clicked" every time I ate, and my sister yelled at me almost nightly to chew with my mouth closed. It was obvious things were not growing the way they were supposed to, so we made the appointment with the orthodontist.

Little did my parents and I know what a huge ordeal we had just undertaken. The orthodontist hinted very early on that I may need oral surgery. He said he would give my braces four years to do their job and that we would reevaluate when those two years were up. I got my braces on in the spring of my 8th grade year. I remember that my class was taking a field trip to a nearby high school to watch their "student performance" of their spring musical. I missed the first act because I was getting my braces on. I wished I had missed the 2nd act so that I could go home and tear my teeth out.

Over the course of the next four years, I made my monthly visits to the orthodontists' office. In that time, I even had to go get an adult tooth extracted because it was not coming in. But when the four years was up, the changes that needed to occur to avoid oral surgery didn't happen. So we scheduled the surgery. I would have my top and bottom jaw broken and pinned back together in 4 places. I would be wired shut for at least 6 weeks, during which time, my diet would be limited to anything I could suck through a straw or otherwise get around my clenched teeth.

I had the surgery the summer between my junior and senior years of high school and spent my 17th birthday with my jaw wired shut. I had countless follow up visits. My parents had to rearrange the living arrangements at our house because I wasn't allowed to sleep by myself in case I started choking or had to be sick. My equilibrium was thrown completely off kilter because of the swelling and how close the surgery had been to my sinuses. I had to learn to talk and articulate without moving my jaw. My sister and I joked that I had turned a major corner when I was able to pronounce "Philip's Milk of Magnesia". I wouldn't let my mom take pictures of me because of how hideous I felt I looked with all the bruising and swelling. To this day, I ask my husband, Dave, to check my chin for spilled food because I never regained full feeling there.

And through it all, my mom and dad showed me what it was to be a parent. If it weren't for them, I'm not sure how I would have made it through that surgery and the two more surgeries that became necessary. From rolling me over in bed when I didn't have the energy to do it myself, to picking me up from the bathroom floor because I had fainted yet again, to putting Peanut Butter Cream Pie and vanilla ice cream in blender to celebrate my 17th birthday, they exemplify what it means to love.

As you prepare this week for your Thanksgiving holiday, don't forget to take the time to remember those people and times in your life that have changed you. Without those experiences, whether good or bad, you would not be who you are today.

This is an entry into Scribbit's November Write-Away Contest.

The glass is just EMPTY!

I was sitting here today thinking about what I was going to blog about, because I had "writer's block". My first actual thought was:

"I've got nothing to blog about...nothing bad has happened..."

Can anyone say ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT?

For tomorrow's installment, maybe I'll do something crazy and blog about how WELL everything is going.

I know, it'll be a stretch.

Taking a breather...

Thankfully, my hand is feeling much better today so I thought I'd try to write a post with substance...and type with 2 hands. It's the little things in life, really...

The last few weeks, I have not been paying very much attention to my calendar when it comes to scheduling new things. This is everything I've had to do this week:

Sunday: Sang at 9:30am service, home by 11:00 and back out the door by 11:05 to go to the grocery. Got home by 1pm, out the door by 2:15pm to take Jake to Christmas Pageant rehearsal, back home to make dinner, after dinner made a snack for monthly Mom's group get together on Monday morning. I made enough to hopefully last 2 or 3 days at our house (Jake loves him some muffins).

Monday: Went to Mom's group from 9:15am to 11:15am. Relaxed (read: blogged) in the afternoon. Made dinner and then went to another meeting Monday night.

Tuesday: Took Jake to school and then ate an unbelievably unhealthy a really good breakfast in the car. I shopped at Wal-Mart for nearly 2 hours then picked the only self-checkout lane that was broken. I picked Jake up from school, took both kids to the bad spelling daycare, so I could go to the doctor about my hand. I called my parents once I got to the doctor to ask them if they could pick the kids up from the bad spelling daycare because the doctor was 45 minutes behind. I waited 45 minutes for them to tell me that I have tendinitis and a possible chipped bone in my hand. On the way to the x-ray facility, I stopped and ate an unbelievably unhealthy a really good lunch in the car. I waited 30 minutes to get x-rays and then went to the pharmacy to pick up an ungodly sized pill bottle and wrist brace. While picking up my prescription, I remembered that I was supposed to bring snack for bowling on Wednesday and picked up an unbelievably unhealthy a really good cinnamon pound cake and grapes. I called Dave to ask him to pick up an unbelievably unhealthy a really good dinner on the way home (hey, at least I was sitting at a table this time).

Wednesday: I took the kids to school and went to bowling...even though I couldn't bowl. I ate too much unbelievably unhealthy really good cinnamon pound cake and grapes. I came home and had lunch and then put the kids down for naps. I tried to read and comment on blogs while trying to mouse and type only using my left hand. I finally had a decent meal for dinner and headed off to choir practice until 9pm. Come home and had ice cream.

Thursday: Took Jake to school and came home with Emma to...do nothing. I finally started feeling a little normal with my hand. Got a call to confirm that our furniture will be arriving between 9:30am and 1:30pm tomorrow. Got another call to confirm that our microwave will be repaired between 1:00pm and 5:00pm tomorrow. Got another call to confirm that the kids have to be at the doctor at 10:00am tomorrow. Got some stuff done around the house and remembered that I was supposed to bring snack for the preschool board meeting that night. Since the first batch of muffins didn't make it past Tuesday, I made more muffins, hopefully to last 2 or 3 days at our house (Jake really loves him some muffins). I went and had an unbelievably HEALTHY lunch with Dave and the kids. Relaxed (read: blogged) in the afternoon. Ate dinner and headed off to preschool meeting where 2 other people also thought it was there turn to bring in snack. I had 1 brownie, 2 muffins, 2 cookies, and 3 pieces of Halloween candy...then tried not to explode during the meeting.

Friday: In light of the furniture being delivered at the exact same time that the kids had to be at the doctor, Dave had to work from home this morning. I Took the kids to the doctor and came home. The furniture was delivered 30 minutes after I got home, and we realized the furniture showroom must be much more spacious than our sunroom because the chairs look huge. We wiped the half chewed carrots off the brand new chairs because Emma spits a little when she talks with carrots in her mouth. I put Emma to bed late because the microwave repair guy got there right when I would normally be putting her down. I paid the microwave repair guy and thanked heaven that one of the two parts that broke had a 5 year warranty (instead of 1 year like the rest of the microwave) and actually costs more than the microwave itself. I put Jake down for his nap and realize that I REALLY want to type something...anything...with two hands and put up an insanely long rambling post...

Medically necessary blogging break

You know it's been a bad day when you come home with a bottle like this...

that's actually as big as your hand...

which now has to wear one of these 12 hours a day:

After a week and a half of wrist pain, I finally went to the doctor today. After ordering an x-ray and determining that there was no break, I've been diagnosed with tendinitis in my wrist so I'll be taking the rest of the week off save for a few short posts...using the mouse and typing with your left hand is a lot harder than it sounds!

TV Time

Dave was in a show over the weekend (he played one of the brothers in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) and while he was gone for rehearsals over the last 4 weeks, I fell into a familiar trap...

Jake and Emma have been watching WAY too much TV. And I completely recognize that it's totally my fault.

I just got finished reading The Read Aloud Handbook and the last chapter talks about the role TV plays in kids development and school performance. It talks about a couple electronic devices you can buy to monitor and administer TV time. But I'd like to think that there's another solution.

How do all of you handle TV (or Screen) Time in your house? What suggestions and advice can you offer. I'm up for anything (well...almost anything) at this point!

Notice to my loyal readers

This is your fair warning that this week will be a very light substantive blogging week. Shannon is hosting the Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway starting tomorrow and if you participated in her last giveaway carnival...well...you just know that there won't be time for much of anything else.

Bear with me. Enter the contests. Enjoy the break from my unbelievably intellectual discussions. Have a cup o' joe, and I'll see you on the flip side.

Have you ever...

...stayed up too late knowing you had a busy day tomorrow?
...had your child scream at you for no apparent reason?
...send that same child to his room before 9am because he was being so rude to you?
...had your other child start in on you, too, 5 minutes later?
...gotten out of the shower 30 seconds after you got in because your husband comes to tell you that your daughter found the TUMS?
...in an effort to find out if you need to call Poison Control, used the search engine on Scribbit's site because you were certain that another Mom had posted about her daughter finding the TUMS?
...been very happy to know that the kids over at Rocks In My Dryer found the TUMS, too, and a call to Poison Control would not be necessary?
...been more mad than concerned that your daughter found the TUMS?
...took 45 minutes longer than you wanted to at the grocery?
...realized when you got home from your insanely long grocery trip that you STILL forgot something?
...arrived at an all day scrap an hour after you wanted to because it took you so long at the grocery?
...realized when you were unpacking your materials to start scrapping that you had forgotten to pack any adhesive?
...spent 2 hours talking instead of scrapping and leave an all day scrap without having completed a single page?

Yeah. Me neither.

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

I did it.

I finally did it.

I got my first haircut in over a year. And I got nearly 7 inches cut off. And I did it a week ago.

And I still don't have an "after" picture of myself yet.

I know, I know. How could I not have a picture?? That's like a cardinal sin in the blogging world! Well, in the past week, I haven't seen anybody who would be able to take my after picture! Dave has been super busy (his play opens on Friday) so he's been at rehearsals nonstop and I don't trust my 4 year old to take a decent picture of my locks.

But I couldn't wait anymore. I dutifully took my before pictures to get ready for today's post...but still no afters. (Sigh)

But I really did do it. I swear!

Rock on!

I'm running a little low on blog fodder today...time for a MEME!!


1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Missy Santa Fe


2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Mint Chocolate Chip Thin Mint (I'm telling ya, I'll have the freshest breath on the block)

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)T-Rud

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Blue Horse

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Ann Columbus (with a name like that, I have to be the walk on character at the coffee shop. How boring!)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Rudthe (to be a Star Wars name, it would have to be pronounced Roodthay...otherwise it just sounds like you've got a lisp)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Green Kahlua and Cream

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Dominic Christ (this is not a misprint, my grandfather's name is actually pronounced "Chris". Teachers always thought I was trying to be clever whenever I had to write my grandfather's name)

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Juniper Breeze Butterfinger (Um, no)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Rose Hedegard


11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Strati Sacramento


12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Fall Tulip

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)Orange Shorty


14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Cream of Wheat Weeping Willow (that's actually an excellent hippy name)


15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Scrapbooking Snow Tour


Wanna play along? Leave me a comment and I'll come visit!

One for the record books

Sometimes when I do scrapbooking, I'll make theme albums (as opposed to just the everyday pics of us in the backyard). I've done a couple already and I have plans to do 2 or 3 more. I have started one for Jacob's school years and am going to make one for Emma's school years, too. Also, I really, REALLY need to do my my wedding album. I think 6.5 years is a long enough wait, don't you?

Well, I've got an all day crop coming up at the end of the month so I thought I would get my backside in gear and buy all the stuff I needed to do the albums. When I do a theme album, I came up with one layout that I use on every page. I also use all the same materials on each page so that when all I have to do is put the pictures in. Basically, every page is the same except for the pictures. It sounds boring, but it actually looks kind of nice.

Anyway, I went to the store to buy all the paper I would need for 2 theme albums. I bought multiple sheets of 4 different patterned papers. When it was all said and done, I had 103 pieces of paper in my cart.

And the cashier? Yeah, she rang up every single one...individually. She literally put each piece of my 103 papers through the scanner. I couldn't believe it. And the conversation Emma and I had going was riveting, I tell ya.

Emma: What's that sound?
Me: It's the cash register.
Emma: What she dooying?
Me: Ringing up my paper so I can pay for it.
Emma: What's that sound?
Me: It's the cash register.
Emma: What she dooying?
Me: Ringing up my paper so I can pay for it.

She literally kept asking the same 2 questions the entire time. And I'm not even exaggerating for the sake of a good story. The exact same 2 questions for what seemed like 4 hours straight. O.K., now that was an exaggeration. Really it was 6 hours straight. When the cashier was all done ringing up 103 pieces of paper, it took her 30 minutes to fold the receipt up into a small enough wad to fit in my purse.

So what do I do when I get home? Take a picture of course! The first one of the receipt all by its lonesome on my counter didn't quite have the effect that I wanted, so I forced payed asked the kids to lay down next to it. Now that is one LOOOOOOOONG receipt!

YouTube Fun

Driving me nuts!

Nothing is so unnerving as realizing how much you depend on your computer...

...WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO IT FOR 3 DAYS!!

argh. the internet here at the house has been going in and out since Monday and it's driving me BATTY! It'll be on for 5 minutes than off for 3 hours. I finally put in a call to the cable people (we have cable for our internet and phone which means our phone has been spotty, too) and I made an appointment for them to come out yesterday afternoon. Dave came home on Tuesday and jiggled a cord and everything was hunky dory...but I forgot to call and cancel the cable guy. Which I felt really bad about when he showed up at our door. So we've been going strong for 2 whole days.

Then I log on today and it starts getting all persnickety again!

HELLO! Does my modem not realize how much my fans need to hear from me everyday? I'm behind in posting. I'm behind in reading. I'm behind in surfing. I nearly went catatonic on Tuesday when I had to get out the actual phone book in my cabinet to look up a phone number...

So I figure I better post while I can, while my modem is being good to me. Maybe I'll give it the weekend off and get back to regularly scheduled posting next week.

If not, I may just lose my mind!