SOOC Saturday | Trying on New Hats

Big Brother was home from college for Spring break this week. Harrison accosted him every chance he got to play or talk about a video game.

But yesterday we got out of the house as a family and headed down to Long Beach to find a little shop called "Hot Licks" Big Brother was looking for only THEE HOTTEST hot sauce to take back to college with him.

While there we had some fun at the hat shop too.

 Big Brother Spamming

 "Ahhh! I'm a Shark Head!"

The {hunky} Guy I Dig... need I say more? 

And the DEATH sauce!

There were a lot of tears when we got home, as the boys had to test everything. In some twisted way, they were tears of joy. 

Harrison and I? We stuck to the Mango dipping sauce.

Have a happy weekend! 

SOOC Saturday - Orb Season

 [WARNING - this post may be disturbing to some viewers.]

As much as Autumn is my favorite season, it's also a time that I despise in terms of arachnid.

Orb Spiders to be exact. Blech!

I never experienced them until moving near the beach almost 10 years ago. But, ugh, ever since... from late August through early October we have to be on guard not to walk into any spiral webs.

It is not always successful, as was the case last fall when I traumatized my child.

We were leaving for soccer when Harrison went running out the front door, down the steps and right into a web [that I saw at the last minute] - spider and all - before I could grab and stop him.

Immediately after I didn't see the spider, I thought we had dodged a bullet as I looked around the ground.

Harrison turned around, still seemingly unaware of the whole web thing to see why I was making such a fuss, when there it was... planted comfortably right in the middle of Harrison's chest.

What happened in the next few seconds was miserably out of my control; as my eyes locked onto Harrison's shirt, a half scream impulsively popped out of my mouth before my hand could fly up fast enough to suppress it. I felt like I was frozen in time there - staring a the FREAKIN' HUGE SPIDER on my child's chest.

"What?" he asked nonchalantly, catching my eye, following my gaze [before I could divert it] down to his shirt. And then...


BLOOD-CURDLING, HAND-WAVING, TOTALLY HEART-WRENCHING SCREAMING! and if that's not bad enough...my hand left my mouth to let out the rest of that scream...and another one.

{lucky for me} Daddy FLEW out to save the day and remove said spider.

Yeah, NOT one of my better Mommy moments.

Then my three-year-old continued to stroke my bruised ego for the next few days by retelling the story to all who would listen.
All. Who would listen.

yes, I got {that} close...

Fortunately, based on his ceaseless retelling of the story {how mommy screamed, then he screamed, then mommy screamed} and the fact that he is still enthralled with these spiders {at a safe distance} and their webs a year later, I can safely say he isn't too traumatized from the experience. 
I think I still am though...

Seriously, if this guy wants to hang out in our front yard for a few weeks - so be it.

Just remember the rules, Mr. arachnid.

1. no webs across any entry way to the human's home
2. no webs blocking human pedestrian sidewalks, in front of, or leading up to door
3. no use of human cars and/or driveway structures to build, secure or display webs

You live by these rules and we'll get along just fine.

Head over to Melody at Slurping Life for more [not-so-creepy-crawly] SOOC Saturday.

It Only Gets Better From Here

This is NOT my friend.

This is what's left of that phallic, aftermarket gearshift that broke two weeks ago. The mechanic called me to let me know the parts were FINALLY in; but an hour after I dropped the car off for the repair he called me back...

The shaft had been altered and the original threading is no longer there. Another part to order, another week to wait.

So he sent my home with this...

Kinda reminds ME of the robots from the movie - ROBOTS.

You don't see it? Imagine the red one - green.  Okay, okay. but I think so.

Alas, it's not a robot, it's a gear shift.

Oh man! I. am. so. Ghetto!



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

what I DO know about my car and then some

We pulled up to the curb and stopped in front of the small crowd gathered at our house for lunch after Big Brother's graduation, when - POP - the knob flew off the gear shift of my car. [the aftermarket, phallic, need-for-speed-wannabe gear shift that was installed in my very conservative Toyota by the previous owner's 19-year-old son - and after all that he didn't want the car - he joined the Marines. The later being of sound judgment, BTW.]

Now I can't get it into reverse or park.  Gah!

Let's just go in and party with the graduate!
******************************************

Cut to this morning. There's a little rectangle piece of plastic that if popped off  evidently reveals a button [or something] inside allowing me to override the gearshift and put the car into reverse - or park...or not. Nope.

I call Triple A - thank goodness for AAA. When he arrives, the driver says, "I can show you a trick..." [the little rectangle tab - been there, done that...] He tried it - didn't work. [I told you so!]

I may be a woman but, really, I'm not an idiot. I once had to teach a friend how to change his car battery... and use jumper cables.

Cut to the garage. It's after Noon. Can't get new parts, can't get a rental car. My mechanic fiddles around inside for a moment then calls me over and shows me a screwdriver.

"You're going to need this" he says.

In the mean time his assistant comes over, "Hey there's a...", "Rectangle tab that allows me to get it into gear, yeah, tried that."

He tries anyway.
No luck.

Told you so! [seriously people]


So what do I do with that screwdriver?

Fun, huh?

Get out the lawn chairs, Pabst Blue Ribbon and muscle shirts - I'm feeling SO Trailer Trash!

I'm all SOOC today! Join in or check it out.



5/31/09 edited to say: "Publishing your post always works when blogging."

More From Latvia

While I'm away for Thanksgiving I thought I would leave you with some more of my favorite images from Latvia.

This photo was taken from the front of an old school building we stayed in. We walk down to the end of this path take a left and walk a mile to the beach of the Baltic sea. I gave this an Orton photo effect.

 Here is the original.

This next shot was taken on a solitary walk I took through the cobblestone streets of Tulsi, Latvia. We spent the bulk of our stay in Tulsi and I fell in love with the timeless, peaceful beauty of this country town. The cat in the window just reminded me of images I had only seen in books up until that moment - images of villages untouched by modern times
. 

The architecture of some of the older buildings in Latvia's capital, Riga, is like most any European city - simply magestic and breathtaking.  I took several pictures of buildings; I was fascinated with them. Riga's history dates as far back as the 12th century. I also have pictures of the Powder Tower, the only remaining tower of the original wall that once surrounded the city in the 14th century.
The thing that saddens me about So Cal (and the US in general) is the lack of regard for history and historical landmarks.  You always have to make way for all things Modern. But that is another conversation all together.

 

While traveling down the coast of Latvia, we stopped in a little village, in the upper room of a small school I saw these children intently working on something - the light streaming in gave the room a warm, red glow and I took my camera out for a quick picture hoping I would capture the moment.

 

Since I traveled to Latvia back in 1995 and only had a film camera (on loan) I scanned these pics in to the computer. But they are straight out of the camera!

Did you know that the Latvian language is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn? Well, that was the case some 10+ years ago. It was still fairly rooted in it's ancient past and only a small percentage of Latvians were speaking it as Russian was the official state language during the Soviet occupation. When Latvia regained it's independence in 1991 the task of reestablishing Latvian as the official language began.

Latvia is one country I wouldn't mind returning to again someday.

Uz Redzēšanos

SOOC Saturday - Day 22

Thank goodness for a theme! I'm heading to bed after a long day. Harrison may have a urinary tract infection, which left him quite disgruntled this evening. We're going to the doctor tomorrow (woo-hoo! his office is open on the weekends!) I found that bit of information out when I called the peditrician on his cell phone - 2 minutes after office hours ended. Bummer.

You see, these are the things that go on behind the scenes that I don't blog about... And since we're on the subject of what happens when I'm not blogging. The GID came home feeling quite a bit warm and fuzzy after a STRONG win for Florida State and the a Rhodes Scholar win for one of their teammates. Needless to say,they had a good night.

And when FSU has a good night, the hubby has a good night.

And that makes it a good night for everyone.


What else today?
Before Harrison's health and well-being went rogue on him, we set up his newly decorated bird house outside on the front porch. We'll probably have every critter in a one-mile radius vying for the birdseed by sunrise, but it made one little boy happy. And there's always the BB pistol...

Kidding! Don't go PETA on me!

As if...

Anyway, back to the pictures.

Move over pumpkin...It's bird house time. If you didn't see this birdhouse before, those paint colors were chosen by my son at the craft store - two bottles of red, one bottle of hot-pink, one bottle of orange and a mini bottle of glue. He was set on the largest bottle of glue, but since I'm set with glue at home, he went for the compromise. Phew!

Harrison decided that the birds needed seeds inside the birdhouse, too.

Ready for action! (I should go peek at it on my way to bed - make sure it wasn't carrried off by a raccoon.

Yes, there are raccoons in the bid city. Crazy. [I know I've said this, but I never saw a raccoon up close and personal until I moved to the city; not once growing up in South Dakota. Not once.]

See how much fun we have! Oh and BTW, thanks for the comments yesterday. They reminded me that my Reader was feeling neglected and has piled up a 1000+ posts for me to catch up on.

I think I'll go to bed now.

Hyvӓsti! - until tomorrow.

SOOC Saturday is hosted Melody at Slurping Live.

SOOC Saturday - I'm Lovin Me Some New Sheets!

After 8 1/2 years of gorgeous deep plum colored heaven (a.k.a. the softest sheets in the world), I had to break down and buy new sheets for our bed. The flat sheet ripped somehow and the rip grew and grew... and well, GREW.

And although I can't buy the bazillion-count thread sheets that leave me feeling like I'm sleeping on cloud (and that's what our Plum sheets did some nights) I decided to at least get a softness I can live with and a color I don't want to live without.

It was time to go a little more neutral and earthy and I found just the right color - on sale!
They are called Oat, and blend with our comforter perfectly. (this shot is not SOOC)

Ahh, new, freshly washed sheets on the bed just makes me want to stay in and nestle in the warm coziness longer. So I did.

Harrison also tested them and approved.

He jumped, burrowed and snuggled in them.


I guess you can call them kid-tested, mother-approved.

SOOC Saturday is hosted Melody at Slurping Live.