From Inmates to Playdates

Posts Tagged ‘Thirteen Things’

I was going to write about thirteen things that give me the creeps, but then it dawned on me that its likely y’all don’t want to hear about things that give me the creeps, SO, I thought instead I’d let this post serve as a brain dump. That will be a fine end to a long day.

So, in all of  its unedited glory, here are thirteen random things that are rolling around my head today.

1. I have the distinct feeling that my beloved iPhone is dying a S-L-O-W death. It is doing things. Scary things. For instance, when taking the phone away from my ear to hang up after a call, the screen goes completely blank. So blank in fact that the red ‘END CALL’ bar does not show up at the bottom of the screen which means, obviously, that I cannot end phone calls. This happens about every fifth call or so. For some reason when I answer the phone, the caller cannot hear me until I say hello again. Like I said, slow death. I am trying to prepare myself for the possibility that some morning I might wake up to find that it did not survive the night. That will be a sad day indeed.

2. Before the school year started, I had a rational talk with Alex about his morning moods. We spent many a morning last year engaged in battle because something was not going his way. While I can certainly sympathize with throwing a fit when not getting ones way, it gets old very quickly. Plus, I don’t want Stevie’s day to start out that way. So far (three mornings) he has been as pleasant as pleasant can be. I’ve only had to remind him two or three times that ‘we are really working on our morning moods this year, remember’ and without missing a beat, he gathers himself and away we go. It makes my heart smile to know that we are at this point in our relationship because there was a time.

And I’ll leave it at that.

3. When I was in the bathroom gathering the laundry earlier today I noticed the carnage. Apparently the Little Einsteins toothpaste decided it might be fun to pick a fight with my two boys. There was toothpaste on the counter-top. Toothpaste on the toothpaste basket. Toothpaste on the door facing. And enough toothpaste to last the next month on the toothpaste lid. There’s a whole lot I could say about that with the first thing being, “HOW IN THE HECK DID THEY GET TOOTHPAST ON THE DOOR FACING?” The other thing that I have to ask is, “What in the heck is this stuff made of?” It’s like dried plaster once it sits out in the open air for a bit. It took me a good five and a half (I know it should be five and an half, but that’s just not natural for me) minutes to clean the darn toothpaste off of the lid.

[Note to self: Have a talk with the boys explaining the correct procedure for dispensing toothpaste so as not to cause a ruckus in the bathroom.]

4. Stevie is playing baseball on the Wii. The animated version of Derek Jeter is not not nearly as hot as the real version.

5. McDaddy is currently on an airplane flying toward LaGuardia. He left early Sunday morning and after travelling with him for much of the summer, I’ve missed him lots more than usual. I’m glad he’ll be home tonight.

6. While shopping at Kohls today, I saw a tee-shirt with the golden arches on it. It said, ”McLovin”. I was thisclose to purchasing the shirt for McDaddy.

7. I recently discovered that the jail where I used to work now has a facebook page and a twitter handle. Would you believe that both the facebook page and the twitter stream  provides mugshots of each and every person incarcerated at the jail and is updated every 15 minutes. I was a bit shocked to discover this information. Needless to say, I ‘followed’ and ‘liked’ both pages.

8. Have you ever been bored out of your mind ran a toothpick under the keys on your laptop? I was surprised at the amount of stuff (in my case, hair) I found lurking under there.

9. I love Big Brother. I’ve been a fan of the show since the very first season. This season, my favorites are Hayden, Enzo, and Matt. I’m still perplexed about why Brenden would fall for the likes of Rachel. McDaddy has long said that I wouldn’t last a week in the Big Brother house. Still, I’d love to give it a shot.

10. Stevie is having a great time in second grade. I’m thrilled that he has a great teacher and several of his good buddies are in his class. I know it sounds so cliche’ but time is whizzing right past me.

11. I’m hearing a lot of hub-bub about pretzel M&Ms. Me? I’m not a big fan of pretzels and quite frankly it doesn’t get much better than the peanut M&M for me. So, they can keep the coconut, the pretzel, and any other M&M they want to throw out.

12. I am so thankful for the break in the weather. The morning grass is covered with dew, the afternoon sun is refreshing, and the humidity seems to be but a distant memory. I love everything about fall except for the time change. I don’t like the fact that it gets dark so early.

13. McDaddy is planning an off-roading extravaganza on Saturday. I have agreed to go with him. Hopefully I won’t act like a crazy person this time.

But I make no promises where me and the crazy are concerned.

Happy Thursday, y’all!

Back in 1997, just after graduation from college, McDaddy took a position with Honeywell.

In Ashland, Kentucky.

It was about an hours drive from West Virgnia, yet, for the first year of our married lives, we called it home.

And since we’re back in Kentucky visiting this week and I’m fresh out of ideas for Thursday Thirteen, I thought, hey, why not?

So, I present to you thirteen things you should know about the great state of Kentucky.

1. McDaddy and I were residents of Flatwoods, Kentucky for one year. We lived here (in the middle townhouse) and our phone number was 836-8365.

2. Flatwoods, Kentucky is the home of Billy Ray Cyrus. There is a sign stating so. The year we lived there, he was the grand marshall of the Christmas parade.

Mullet and all.

3. Last night, the McFamily ate at Tumbleweed in Maysville, Kentucky. There is a smoking and a non-smoking section at the restaurant. I think smoke is nasty. Smoke in a restaurant is doubly nasty.

Kentucky, you need to do away with that smoking in a restaurant business.

4. Pikeville annually leads the nation in per capita consumption of Pepsi-Cola.

Well, that’s fun.

5. Post-It Notes are manufactured exclusively in Cynthiana, Kentucky. The exact number made annually of these popular notes though is a trade secret.

The fact that it’s a ‘trade secret’ makes me want to know it even more.

6. More than $6 billion worth of gold is held in the underground vaults of Fort Knox. This is the largest amount of gold stored anywhere in the world.

7. The Chevy Corvette (McDaddy’s favorite automobile) is manufactured in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In fact there is also a Corvette Museum there, too.

8. When we lived in Kentucky, I was the human resources officer for a company called PCI (Primary Colors Incorporated) which manufactured the color blue. Technically, they manufactured blue dye which was used in textiles, paints, and anything else you can think of that is the color blue, but before working there, it never dawned on me to think about how colors were made. Inevitably, the blue dye was everywhere. (When a person *ahem* sneezed the debris inside the tissue had a blue tint to it.)

Sick, but true.

9. The first cheeseburger was served in Kentucky, but I can’t recall where.

10. The first KFC was in Corbin, Kentucky.

11. Maysville, Kentucky (where we are currently staying) is home to George Clooney’s family. George co-owns Maysville Productions which is housed on the Warner Brothers lot.

12. The song ‘Happy Birthday To You’ was written by two sisters (kindergarten teachers) from Louisville, Kentucky. The tune is the most recognized song in the English language.

13. Steven Curtis Chapman is from Paducah, Kentucky. Oh, and just in case you are wondering, he is an awesome performer.

Happy Thursday, y’all!

I know y’all are probably tired of reading about our family trip to Florida.

I promise after this post, I won’t mention it again for a long time.

This little list came to me during our FOURTEEN hour stint in the van on our way home from Florida.

I present to you thirteen F-words that remind me of vacation.

1. Family – It is no secret that McDaddy has a big, honkin’ family. We enjoyed lots of family time and the cousins enjoyed playing and swimming together.

2. Fussing – We had a total of seven babies under the age of two. It should come as no surprise that the babies were not always happy. There were a few moments where the babies showed their discomfort with being away from their homes and their surroundings.

3. Food – Sweet Holy  Moses there was enough food consumed to feed the entire country of Belize for a week.

4. Feedings – With three babies under the age of five months, there were plenty of nursing sessions around the pool and on the beach. Three babies, every three hours = Busy nursing mamas.

5. Floatation Devices – The corner of the pool area looked like the swimming aisle at the Mart of Walls. Floaties, rafts, life jackets, dive sticks, water bombs, goggles, noodles, and swim rings. There was something for everyone. It’s hard to believe that every bit of this crap belonged to us. It was quite the sight to behold.

6. Facebooking – Yes, I said facebooking. Most late nights were spent gathered around the dining room table talking, posting pictures to facebook and writing on eachother’s walls while sitting across from one-another.

7. Folding – We were blessed to have the use of a washer and dryer. The pair stayed pretty busy and there was rarely a time when someone wasn’t folding their laundry at the dining room table.

8. Finaggling – The ten of us (McDaddy’s siblings and their spouses) spent one whole afternoon figuring up who owed money to whom, and for what. There was the catering bill, the anniversary gift purchased for the inlaws, the anniversary dinner cake, Yankees tickets, shared rental cars, shared hotel rooms, and on and on and on. Needless to say there was lots of financial finaggling to be done.

9. Fortieth – The whole purpose of the family vacation was to celebrate the inlaws’ fortieth anniversary. This was the 100% edible custom cake designed by Stephanie at All About Sweets in St. Petersburg, Florida.

10. Fifteen – grandbabies under the age of eight = LOTS. OF. CHAOS. and also lots of blessings.

11. Fotos – One beautiful evening was spent on the beach taking a family portrait. Each of us wore coordinating colors and believe it or not the family picture was pretty quick and painless. I myself took well over 300 pictures for the week. Of course I don’t have any of the entire family pictures because I was actually in the picture.

12. Fun – We had a wonderfully, relaxing week with lots of family time. We participated in a shuffleboard tournament, and some of us visited Busch Gardens, Magic Kingdom, and a Yankees game. There was miniature golf, movies, Wii playing, playing in the sand, and lots of swimming.

13. Facial Injuries – On two seperate occasions occurring on two different days, Stevie received two black eyes.

Seems my sweet boy has his mother’s knack for freak accidents.

Happy Thursday, y’all!

We are at the beach with McDaddy’s family and we are having a blast.

We went to Busch Gardens yesterday (Many thanks to the Busch bunch for offering free admission to military service members and their families. AND IN THE INTEREST OF FULL DISCLOSURE, I am not receiving any compensation for mentioning that fact, I’m just very thankful for their commitment to the military and hope to spread the word!) and I am one tired mama. Before dragging myself to bed, I mustered up just enough energy to edit a few shots for this week’s You Capture challenge which just so happens to be PLAY!

And people, I am not playing around when I say I am dead dog tired.

Only I’m not a dog.

Nor am I dead.

But I’m not far from it because we walked for miles and miles in the blazing hot humidity (OH MY WORD IT WAS SO FRIGGIN’ HOT!) and the early morning, midday and evening sun and even a quick rain storm that lasted long enough to soak yours truly.

McDaddy has four siblings and between the five of them, there are fifteen (15!) grandkids. The entire family (plus a few extras) are spending the week together here in sunny Florida.

Of all the topics that could have been assigned this week, PLAY is just perfect for this special time we are spending together, playing, laughing, eating (oh my word are we eating?!), and visiting.

While waiting for our family portrait on the beach my sweet Stevie (shown holding the yellow DS) plays DS with his cousins.

And speaking of cousins… Can you just imagine the amount of chaos play taking place this week?

And speaking of play, the family is having a shuffleboard tournament this week. We are playing shuffleboard round the clock to get the brackets filled in. For those of you keeping score, you can mark it down that McDaddy and I have been eliminated from the tournament. Pictured here are my sisters-in-law, Michelle and Stephanie. (Hi Girls!)

And of course, no beach trip would be complete without lots of playing in the pool! [Note: My sweet boy was not in the pool alone even though it certainly appears that way. I snapped the picture while hanging out of our third story window!]

While playing around with the settings on my camera, I took this shot from our balcony on Sunday.

The thunder and lightning were playing around with the atmospheric pressure just before the actual storm hit.

And speaking of playing.

Here’s Stevie playing baseball on the beach with his Uncle Mike, and cousins, Mallory, Zachary and Noah.

And guess who mentioned the word PLAY at least thirteen times in this post.

Yup, you guessed it. Thursday Thirteen.

There you have it.

Two birds. One stone.

I don’t play around when it comes to efficiency, folks.

[Fess up. How many of y'all scrolled right back up there to the top to double check my math skills?]

It occurred to me recently that some of you folks are newcomers to this here blog.

For that reason, I thought it might be fun to visit a few of my favorite posts. I’m diggin’ deep in the archives today because that seems easier than filtering out some of the nonsense rolling around in my brain tonight.

Enjoy the crazy. Clearly, there is plenty to go around.

1. The one where I watch an embalming – What I Learned At The Funeral Home.

2. The letter I wrote to the naked lady – Y Are You Naked?

3. Very often here at From Inmates To Playdates, I write letters to crazy people. On days that I’m feeling, oh, I don’t know, particularly crazy, I might even write a letter to myself. – Dear Me.

4. The longest post ever and one you’ll certainly want to read if you’ve ever considered getting Mirena – A Long, Windy Tail.

5.  A post about what ails me – The Heels And The Spurs.

6. My first trip to The Price Is Right - The Price Is Right, But The Fashion Was All Wrong.

7.  About my time in Jail - I Spent Five Years In Jail. Really, I did!

8. One of the few times I’ve blogged about the Saturn Sky – This Is How I Roll!

9. Kicking deployment in the booty, after six long months – Taking A Deep Breath.

10. Topless and Shoeless - all in the same night.

11. The crappy job you’ll have if your child swallows a coin. – This Too Shall Pass.

12. Because I’m a control freak, I’ve planned every detail of my funeral. – Over My Dead Body.

13. Visiting McDaddy during his deployment on Guantanamo Bay – It Don’t GTMO Better Than This!

Happy Thursday, y’all!

And happy reading, too!

It’s one of those days where my head is swimming.

Not that it’s any different than most days in my head, but today, I suspect I could come up with thirteen very random things to purge from my brain thereby making room for other, more important information.

Let’s see what we can do, shall we?

1. I heard (or read?) somewhere that Harry Connick, Jr. may be the replacement judge for Simon Cowell.

- This news? Sweet hallelujah, this news absolutely thrills me to death!

2. At this very moment, I am playing Words With Friends with both Big Mama and MckMama. I feel like I’ve hit the big time.

- Do you play Words With Friends? I’m JulieWV if you’re looking for a game with a crazy person.

3. Earlier today, my sweet Alex asked “if we could get a pogo stick?”

- Why yes, sweet boy. Yes indeed we can get you a pogo stick. I can think of no better way to crack your head and bust your teeth? On top of that, what else does McDaddy have to do besides fixing a hole in the ceiling?

4. The new 4.0 iPhone software allows you to put your APPs into folders. Did you know that?

- Simply hold your finger on an APP until the little black delete x’s show up allowing you to delete or move them. Drag an APP on top of another APP and release. It will create a folder that you can name and show all the APPs in that folder and will consolidate your eight or nine pages of APPs into fewer pages.

5. Am I the only 30ish woman on the planet who has yet to get swept up in the vampire, Edward, Eclipse nonsense?

- Really. Have. No. Desire.

6. Stevie’s speech teacher had another job lined up for the upcoming school year. In her words, something “just didn’t feel right about the new job!” so she asked if she could have her job at Stevie’s school back.

-Answered prayers.

That’s all I’m sayin.

7. Very excited about two very cool blog reviews coming up in the next week.  Stay tuned!

8. Our boys are participating in an eight-week program at our church called Centershot Ministries. Their web-site says ”The Centershot Ministry teaches children the life-skill of archery while sharing the good news of Christ at the same time.” That means my four (4!) year old will be shooting a real live bow with real life arrows at a real life target at thirty feet.

Wow. Just wow.

9. Summer is more than half-over. That makes me very sad. Especially when you consider how s-l-o-w the school year creeps by.

10. McDaddy’s cell phone suffered a fatal accident this week. His new phone arrived today. I was concerned that he might need my precious for a few days while out of town on business. Thankfully, my old phone (two phones ago) charged right up and accepted his SIM card. Me and my iPhone have been inseperable and I’m not sure how either of us would have fared if forced to spend time apart.

11. Stevie’s left front tooth is loose and crooked. When he smiles, he looks like Tow Mater.

12. I’m planning an impromptu birthday party for a friend. I’m giving out princess treat bags and may even wear my tiara.

13. I am in the mood for Chili’s chips and salsa. Would love to have some at this very moment. They are warm and salty and wonderful.

I know. I know. I shoulda never brought it up.

Happy Thursday, y’all!

From time to time, I run a special edition Thursday Thirteen straight from my feedjit reader because I get a kick out of the things people search for on Google that land them here on my blog. It is like cheap entertainment for me.

And I love cheap entertainment.

For your amusement…

1. Saint Paul, Minnesota arrived from Google.com on “Letters To Crazy People” by searching for letters for crazy people.

• There is an abundance of crazy around here so it should come as no surprise that quite frequenly I write letters to crazy people. On really good days, I might even write a letter to myself. So there.

2. Melbourne, Victoria arrived drom hk.search.yahoo.com on “The Love Dare” by searching for lady Gaggag.

• Melbourne, I don’t know who you are, but I like you. A lot. I think Lady Gaga should change her name to Lady Gaggag. She takes crazy to a whole ’nother level and I can’t quite grasp why people find her entertaining. Her singing is average and her wardrobist (is there such a thing?) should go back to school or the circus or wherever he came from. Now, my question is why would Google send you to my Love Dare post when you were clearly searching for lady Gaggag?

3. Hsinchu, Tai-wan arrived from google.comtw on “Your Kiss Is On My Lips” by searching for “it’s your kiss on my lips.”

• You readers would be shocked if you knew how many hits I’ve received on this post simply because of the title. What shocks me even more are the people searching for “your kiss on my lips.” I guess I’ve missed something.

4. Bombey, Maharshtra arrived from in.yhs.search.yahoo.com on “breastfeeding” by searching for “wife breastfeding husband wallpaper”

• Wow. Just wow. Somebody is sure waving their crazy flag high and proud.

5. Boca Raton, Florida arrived from google.com on “A Little Bit Of Gross!” by searching for “peach and willowbark deep pore scrub milia” 

• Boca Raton, um, I have no idea about peach or willowbark, but I can tell you that milia removal is a tedious job. I am quite sure I could remove it, but have never had the nerve to actually attempt it. I’d love to hear how that goes for you! If I ever run out of blog fodder, I just might try it.

6. United States arrived from google.com on 2009 July by searching for “pediatrician do x Ray to make sure it wasn’t swallowed”

• I’m not really sure what you are referring to but you can take this to the bank: If you are referring to your child swallowing a coin, you’ll have a long crappy seven-to-ten-days ahead of you because you only need an x-ray if the coin is not found in the ‘pile’. Oh, and I’d advise you to buy plenty of gloves. And a boat load of patience.

7. Carlsbad, California arrived from google.com on “Broken Jaws” by searching for “Solid Mahogany Wood Casket bling”.

• Carlsbad, I have a feeling you and I would be fast friends. It is my wish to have a solid mahogany casket at my last hoo-rah and if there is bling available for the cakset, BRING. IT. ON. (Are you listening McDaddy?) I say it all the time – Go big or go home! Everything is better with bling.

8. Warwick, Rhode Island arrived from search.yahoo.com on Thursday Thirteen – 13 Recent Visitors by searching for “child swallowed plastic fork”

• Dang, what is it with you folks and your kids swallowing stuff? A whole fork? Really? I’d say if he swallowed the entire fork, you should take him to the ER because the fork prongs could damage something as its making its way through the digestive tract and that’s not even considering that eventually it will attempt to make its way out. Um, not good my friend. Not good at all.

9. Laie, Hawaii arrived from google.com on “Thursday Thirteen – Thirteen Things In My Purse” by searching for “10 things I should have in my purse”

• money, beloved iPhone, keys, concealer, personal girl items, floss, credit card, ink pen, beloved iPhone charger, and extra underwear. I told you I was crazy.

10. Punta Gorda, Florida arrived from bing. com on “Jeep” by searching for “sexy topless jeeps.”

• If you’re looking to purchase a sexy topless jeep, I would advise a red wrangler with removable doors. Totally fun. But, I’d watch the shoes if I were you. The shoes have a tendance to fly right off your feet when you’re acting all giddy with your husband and rocking out to 90′s rap. Or so I’ve heard.

11. Henning, Minnesota arrived from google.com on “Going Topless… And Shoeless.” by searchin for “mom and I topless.”

• Sheesh people. Really? Who types the words mom and I and topless in the little search engine box? Unless of course you are referring to a jeep. Yes, we’ll just go with that.

12. Puyallup, Washington arrived from bing.com on “Thursday Thirteen - iTunes Picks” by searching for “Why isn’t ”All I Need Is A Miracle” not on itunes”

• The bigger question is why would you be searching for “All I Need Is A Miracle” on iTunes?  The only miracle I’m looking for is a break in this friggin’ West Virginia heat and humidity.

And last but not least.

13. Hillsboro, Tennessee arrived from m.bing.com on “breastfeeding” by searching for “comes home from kindergarten to breast feed”

•  Hillsboro, you need to get a grip and spring for some Vitamin D milk. It’s time. Just ask anyone.

Happy Thursday, y’all! And just remember… the next time you visit John T. Google, you just might end up here at From Inmates To Playdates among the crazy people.

Just sayin’.

Thirteen things I was doing this time last Thursday. You know, because you have nothing better to do than to read about what I was doing 168 hours ago while sitting in a hotel room in Monaca, Pennsylvania.

1. FEELING … crampy becuase the mones are raging.

2. DRINKING … a bottle of water because water is very good for you. And, because the hotel only subscribes to Pepsi machines, so there are no Dr. Pepper or Cokes for sale in the building.

3. RELIEVED… that it is summer and we can sleep until we wake up naturally or until 8:45 am because there is free breakfast at the hotel.

4. THINKING… they don’t really clean the carpet in hotel rooms. Likewise, the bathroom floor feels funky, too. My flip flops stick to the floor when I walk in there.

5. LISTENING … to the hum of the air conditioner and Garfield blaring on the TV.

6. SEEING … my iPhone light up every time it’s “my move” on Words With Friends. (By the way, I’m JulieWV if you’re looking for an other opponent!)

7. EAGER … to spend the evening with ‘the girls’ and to go camping with our friends next week. A relaxing week in the Amish Country with our closest friends. Good times, good food and good friends. It doesn’t get better than that!

8. HOPING … that we get started on our new deck soon because the deck project got pushed in front of our basement renovations and right now the basement looks like a tornado ripped through it because there. is. junk. all. over. the. place.

9. WANTING …. what else, my friends? A 2009 Saturn Sky Redline. Standard transmission, please.

10. READY … to check out of the hotel but just waiting around because once we check out we’re on our own until McDaddy finishes the job he came here to do.

11. SEEING … room 021 at the Holiday Inn Express. Yes, I said 021. That means we are in the basement. But, we have a window, so it’s not like we’re really in the basement, except, that we really are.

12. NEEDING … to take a last look around the hotel room to make sure we are not leaving Lightning McQueen or any of his posse under the beds.

13. DECIDING … whether or not to have my hair trimmed in the mall here in Pennsylvania because my hair dresser is on vacation until after we’ll already be on our trip. I need it trimmed badly, but hesitate, because? My hair dresser knows my hair very well and knows exactly what I mean when I say ‘thin it out’. Not sure these jokers will understand.

What about you? What were you doing last Thursday? I’d love to hear from you lurkers to day!

McDaddy’s civilian job requires him to travel.

A lot.

Before Stevie started school, we travelled with him quite a bit. At the drop of a hat he’d find out his expertise was needed in another state and we’d pack our bags and head out with him not knowing what day we’d return. We travelled to Phoenix at least once a year for his annual training for a number of years. We’ve been blessed to travel with him to Louisiana, Ohio, Toronto, Houston, and Detroit.

Such is the case today.

McDaddy was needed at some plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania, so I packed clothes for three days and here we are. The “plant” where McDaddy is working is about six minutes away from the hotel and it’s a straight shot without any turns, which means I had very little opportunity to get lost.

Hallelujah. And Amen.

The even better thing is that there is a mall just across the street from our hotel. Granted, it’s a four-lane “street” but the point is I can see our hotel from the mall parking lot which means even if I get lost, me and the kids could risk life and limb and cross the highway to the hotel.

A friend of McDaddy’s is also here working here in Monaca, so he runs by the hotel to pick-up and drop-off McDaddy each day so that I can keep the grocery getter van.

As much as I hate for McDaddy to travel and be away from us, it does have its perks.

I thought it might be fun to share thirteen things I love about hotel rooms.

1. Staying in a hotel, typically means I don’t have to cook. And any day I don’t have to cook is a great day in my book.

2. Free Breakfast. Free breakfast is great. A free breakfast that I don’t have to cook is even better!

3. High Ceilings – I love the tall ceilings in hotel rooms. I remember from Industrial Psychology that hotel rooms have higher ceilings so that the rooms appear larger than they really are.

4. The little shampoo/conditioner/lotions. I am a fan of little bottles of stuff. Plus, every once in awhile you’ll find that a hotel uses Tommy Bahama’s line of toiletries. The Tommy Bahama lotion is the bomb diggity. (Am I too old to say that?) I might have even confiscated one, or two, or twenty a few from the housekeeping cart while we were in Florida.

5. The matching carpet, curtains and bedding. – The matching decor warms my OCD heart.

6. The card key thing – I’m a nerd oh yes, I am.

7. An assortment of  pillows on one bed. – The bed I am sitting on while composing this post has four pillows. Firm, soft, and extra fluffy. Okay, maybe not extra fluffy, but it certainly should say extra fluffy because it is.

8. The Pool – My favorite pool is an indoor pool because it means I don’t have to fool with that blasted sunscreen. It gets in my rings and makes my hands greasy and I’m just generally not a fan of it. I do use it though if we are out of doors. Also, an indoor pool typically means that the pool is heated and I am all about comfort. (Here on the east coast we couldn’t use an outdoor pool except for six or so months out of the year).

9. The Reward Points – Because McDaddy travels frequently for his civilian job, we generally have thousands of gold or platinum points which means we generally don’t pay for hotel rooms.

10. Nearby shopping – Folks, today in particular, I have hit the jackpot. As I mentioned earlier there is a mall just across the main drag. For dinner, McDaddy travelled past the mall and I found my homeland. Kohls, Marshalls, Target, The Mart of Walls, Cricut (whatever that is, I’m thinking its a Cricut store like the Cricut scrapbook machine I have), Michael’s, A cinema, Pier One (even though I don’t shop there), and I can’t remember half of what else I saw. I plan to check it out fully tomorrow.

11. The curved shower rod – I’d like to find the sweet soul responsible for designing the curved shower rod and shake his or her hand. As best I can remember, the first place I ever remember seeing a curved shower rod was in a hotel room. I used to hate being in the hotel shower and feeling my bare butt rubbing  against that shower curtain wondering how many hundreds thousands of butts had rubbed against the thing prior to mine.

12. The elimination of the bedspread – Sweet Moses, it was time. The only thing nastier than the shower curtain in a hotel room is the bedspread. When I first learned that those things were not laundered after each patron checked out, I was appalled. It disgusted me that someone somewhere thought that practice was acceptable. The bed at this hotel has what appears to be four or five sheets on it and a fuzzy blanket (which will more than likely find its way over to my 2/3 of the bed tonight!)

13. Less Responsibility – If I’m staying at a hotel that probably means I am not being depended on for most of the things that I am required to do at home. There is no laundry, no stove (in most cases), and more than likely no jam-packed schedule. Not that I at all mind a jam-packed schedule, but sometimes its nice to have a break.

And speaking of breaks, I hope you get one soon!

Enjoy your Thursday, y’all!

This post generously provided by: Alex Ryan

I guess I should have titled this post – Thursday Thirteen. Plus Seven.

I did a little interview with my sweet four-year-old a few days ago. Here are his responses.

1. What is something mom always says to you?

To Clean up

2. What makes mommy happy?

Hugging you and kissing you.

3. What makes mommy sad?

Uh, not giving you kisses and hugs

4. How does mommy make you laugh?

By tickling me.

5. What was mommy like as a child?

Did you like ponies whenever you were a little girl?

6. How old is mommy?

I don’t know. Are you 42?

7. How tall is mommy?

About this tall *holding hands about 18 inches apart.

8.What is mommy’s favorite thing to do?

Like shopping.

9.What does mommy do when you’re at school?

Goes somewhere like Stevie’s school or just stays home.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

I don’t know.

11.What is your mom really good at?

Like exercizing and changing laundry.

12.What is something mommy is not very good at?

Fixing something like vehicles.

13.What does your mom do for her job?

I don’t know. Maybe the laundry.

14.What is mommy’s favorite food?

Candy

15.What makes you proud of your mom?

Buying something for me and Stevie.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Jerry

17. What do you and your mom do together?

Shopping to get color changers…  (which are CARS cars that chance colors when they get wet)

18. How are you and your mom the same?

We’re both persons

19. How are you and mommy different?

Because you’re a girl and I’m a boy.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Becuase you rub my back.

You are so right, sweet boy. I love you so much!

And now, I’m off to do some laundry or something.

You know, because it’s my job.

And becuase I am really good at it.

Happy Thursday, y’all.