The Only Way to Eat Veggie Mashed Potatoes

Pulling One Out..

When I started NaBloPMo (post every day in November) I thought no worries! Today I'm sorry but I'm ill with a cold and want to mong in front of the TV, so I'm "pulling one out" as they say..

I saw this last month and wanted to post it at some point anyway, so I'm not totally lazy. AND, with "Michigan (barf) Week" starting Monday, I'll be on a roll...

So on to this - on a British talent show run by Simon Cowell, the winner gets to sing in front of Queen Elizabeth. All kinds of sapranos and fine artists contend and then along comes Connie Talbot, aged 6.

I DARE you not to cry!

Car Conundrum

I have a car dilemma. I bought this 2001 Ford Escape in Oct 05 and I finish paying for it Oct 08. It's got 107 k miles on it.
It needs an oil change & new shocks. Craig just fixed the brake booster. Yesterday morning I saw gray smoke coming out of the exhaust. I tried to convince myself it was steam as it was bloody cold but when I got a mouth full of it realised my engine's probably burning oil.

Here's my dilemma - I REALLY wanted to get this car paid off and have 1 or even 2 years without a car payment so we can pay off some debt and try to save some money. Craig says I should trade it in now before the transmition goes, as Escapes are apparantly known for it and once it goes I'll get nothing for it.

Do I trade in or do I take the risk & try and keep it going?

My Name is JACK!

Quick one today, done during my lunch hour. Got class tonight and helping Jan get the house "market ready" for tomorrow.

I previously posted about Jack knowing his own name and here's a small video I took this morning during breakfast. He's got a cold but doing great AND didn't cry when I dropped him off at Tsegga's - so he's settling in.

Later peeps.
XXX

Me & Elsie

One of my students came to see me today. He did his internship in England this summer and he loved it. He said "I really miss England and I think about it every day". I do too, so I thought I'd do a posting about all the stuff I miss but soon realised it would end up like War & Peace because there's SO MUCH. Family, friends, food, lifestyle, sports, music and just on and on.

So I'm going to do a posting about just one of the things I miss and that's my best friend Sue, aka Elsie Piddy.

We met in 1990 through our AWFUL boyfriends at the time (shudder). We hit it off immediately and still have a relationship where if we don't talk for a month we just pick right up where we left off. We have done so much together but here's a small list of my favourites:

* We worked for her family "pricking out" bedding plants on a Saturday. We took the money we earned and went out Saturday night - sometimes to The Old Hill Inn in Yorkshire where we'd watch the band, down a few pints of bitter then sleep in the car. It was so cold one night our jeans froze.

* We once went to a party after night-clubbing in Southport and let's just say we were a little tipsy. She knocked all the plants off the entry table and I came out from the bathroom with my skirt tucked into my knickers (underwear). We were classy chicks in those days.

* We made a crop circle together

* My students in England were big fans of her band "Pig Town Fling". She's unbelievably talented in both singing and playing guitar. My favourite song she sings A Cappella is "Waltzing Matilda"

Can't believe she talked me into this ride. We screamed bloody murder through the whole thing and used some rather choice words. Look at those Aaron cardies! Arghh

Riding the roller coaster at Blackpool fair with our friends, Wayne & Lauren

1995 - Waiting to do our parachute jump at Cark. Lots more on Cark for a later blog. Yes, they're superimposed. I believe this was a birthday card she sent me once.

We did it - Yea! We went on to do more jumps and even aerobatic flying (how brave we were).

My favourite parachuting story is this: It was a little windy when we jumped and we were on "rounds" which can't be steered like square parachutes and the landing is rather unceremonious - you sort of pull your knees up, cover your head and hope for the best. Sue always dreaded the landing so I landed, gathered up my chute and tried to get close to where she landed. As she landed a big gust of wind re-inflated her chute and she got dragged horizontally about 50 yards across the field, over cow pats and bumps. She was cursing and screaming but I was laughing so hard I couldn't help her.

August 1996 - She was the witness at my wedding and she drove us to the airport in her small, filthy car, full of sweet wrappers and all sorts of unidentifiable stuff. I can't say too much because I'm a car pig too. She kept hold of my wedding certificate for safe keeping and still has it today.

New York 2003. Her second visit to the USA to see me. OHHH, I miss her.

By the way - "Naked Cowboy" might look sexy but he's hairless & covered in lard - eww

Lake District, UK, July 2005 - the last time we saw each other, not counting web cams. I'm going to see her this year and I can't wait.

You can see what she's been up to on her blog FredSueandMe. Big news too - her & lovely Lee are getting married September 2008!

One last thing. I am not saying I don't love America because I do. I just miss England sometimes.

Mixed Bag

It's a mixed bag of stuff today.

First off, "Bonn voyage" to Char, who left for California this morning to start her new job. We'll miss her very much. Jan is still here getting the house ready to go on the market this Friday. She'll be around till next June. Losing these two friends is going to be AWFUL.

Next, you'll see that I've added to the blog. I've added a link to Sue & Lee's blog in England (FredSueandMe) and I've got a fun survey that I'm going to run every few weeks - vote if you get a moment. I also added the Last FM radio Lee told me about. I downloaded it and now I can listen to all the music I love - fabulous!

Lastly, I haven't posted much stuff about Jack the Lad lately, so there's a new picture on the right and here's a short video of him mimicking his dad throwing leaves in the park yesterday. We've had two new words from him this week: "shoe" and he now knows his own name.

Beanie Baby!

Beanie Wells runs in for a touchdown. OSU beat Wisconsin 38-17. On the front page of the sports section in the local paper today they run this picture. And who's that on the sidelines? Ohhh, I love my job!

Eric ~ thanks for sending me this picture!

ALDI - the good, the bad and the unripened

There's an ALDI shop near us & we love it. Where else can you buy a cart brimming full of food for less than $70? If you can tolerate some of the more colourful neigbourhood characters and their obnoxious children then it's worth it.

During our ALDI years we have identified good buys and terrible buys, so I thought I'd share a few.

Thumbs up:

1. Toilet roll. Double rolls, packs of 12, NO LINT, isn't so small that the roll needs changing every day. Marvelous.

2. Irish Cream. Not Baileys but who cares if it's half the price.

3. Southwest chicken spring rolls. Spicy & just the right midnight snack

4. "Fit & healthy" range of foods

5. Eggs, milk, wheat bread, meat, fish and fruit n veg - all good. Canned stuff on an individual item basis. For example, tuna is great, spaghetti & meatballs is a sugar fest.

Rasberries:

1. The cat litter. No idea what it's made of but it turned our cats black

2. Green bananas that never ripen

3. Yellow stuff that disguises itself as margarine. You can put it under a broiler and it stays intact. Craig calls it "I can't believe it won't melt"

4. A lot of the kids food contains high fructose corn syrup. I bet the people that make it don't serve it to their kids.

O-H-I-O

I love football songs & traditions. During a Buckeye game, each of the 4 sides of the stadium chant O-H-I-O in turn. A bit like a grammatical wave! Four friends can also create the word by doing funny things with their arms.

They are actually starting to archive these O-H-I-O pictures now and they show them on the scoreboard at games. This week I submitted one!

You can see the archive HERE

& GO BUCKS tomorrow - beat the Badgers!

Goodbye Charlie Old Fella

My mum & step-dad Tom's boxer Charlie had the most unusual start in life.

His mum died during the birth and he & the other pups were taken to a dog breeder who had a female dog that could feed them in their first weeks of life. Turns out the breeder had other plans than merely helping the pups out & hoped to sell them.

The owner of the pups (my sister) had to force her way into the womans house to get the pups back, only to find the white pups dead (I guess white boxers aren't money-makers) and the others in serious condition. Charlie, for instance was covered in flea bites and sores. Only two pups were alive - my sister kept one and my mum & Tom took the other, Charlie.

For the last 10 1/2 years Charlie has lived the life of Riley, that included complete run of the house and bed, fresh-cooked meals every day and lots of love.

This week he got very sick so got taken to the vet and he was there until today when my mum & Tom went to be with him while he was put to sleep. My mum said he knew they were there, and he fell asleep peacefully in their arms.

Of course they are both absolutely heartbroken and I hope they aren't upset that I posted about this, but I didn't want the day to go by without saying something about Charlie because he was a lovely dog and a real character. So I just wanted to acknowledge that, and say "goodbye" to him.

It all starts - with a question no less!

Today is the beggining of "NaBloPoMo" where I pledged to do a posting every day in November.

I'm going to start tonight with a question that we seriously need an answer to. Calling all mums,dads and parents to be, we need HELP!!!

Question is, what is a good bedtime routine for a 16 month old?

Ours is not working and results in 20-40 minutes crying and tonight included bursts of screaming.

Please help before we go mental!

Below is our current routine:

5.30pm-ish: Dinner
6.30pm: Bathtime (not every night)
6.45-7.15: PJs and some playtime

7.15-7.30pm: Bedtime, which includes him voluntarily going to his room and used to involve him sitting on my knee while I read a story and he drank his milk but now he struggles out of my arms to play. Does not want his milk, does not want to sit in my lap and have a story read. SO, we put him in his crib and try milk & book and he stands up, throws his sippy cup out of the crib and cries to be let out. So I eventually give up and leave his room and he just goes mad. And so do we. SIGH...