Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Packing up the boys to leave today... their flight out is at 10am tomorrow. Olive Garden tonight and just a bunch of family time and games. Gonna miss them...

Are Everyone's 30's So Expensive?

This is what I was asking myself as I watched money trickle through my fingers before it hit even eight o'clock on my birthday morning. When I say I know how to change a tire, I really know how to change a tire. My friend and I had the "luck" of having to change a tire three times in ONE evening due to various mishaps. However, I didn't expect to have a flat on the morning of my birthday. I didn't expect not to be able to get my tire off the car. I didn't expect the tire to be so stuck that we would have to call roadside assistance. I didn't expect to pay for four new tires for my car (that desperately needed it).... and I certainly didn't expect to do it all before I had even left for school on the morning of my 30th birthday. I have a feeling that this year, and the years to come, might be a wee bit expensive for me.

Art (With a little Star Trek thrown in)

To add some culture into our lives, we went to the Columbus Art Museum. For being a free little downtown art museum, it has a ton of neat stuff!

Dale Chihuly sculpture in a boat. The picture does it no justice. It is so gorgeous and vibrant up close.

Eric with his favorite art piece in the whole museum.

I'm pretty sure that this is Mom's favorite piece too. HA!

To prove that I was here when mom visited, I had one mandatory picture with her. :) You know how it is, I'm usually the one TAKING the pictures.

And lastly, an odd discovery that Deanna Troi was actually a 1890s model for some hoity toity artist. I laughed when I saw the resemblance, but then... she was in Star Trek... anything IS possible.

Feeling a little crowded anyone?

The mandatory picture

Scene: Atlanta GA aquarium

Plan: see some fish

Bryan touching some sort of fish... skate I believe

Beginning: after waiting 2 hours in line to get in (even though we got there at opening) we were allowed to come back at 2pm to be let in.

Trouble: I detest crowds, especially large crowds. There were thousands of people there; you couldn't even move without being hit or hitting someone.

View from inside the ocean tunnel

a shark

These are so pretty, I love the wavy tenticles

The aquarium, I'm sure, is a lovely place when you get to actually see the animals up close. I was standing on something to get a picture of most of this with only heads. It was like a kiddie mosh-pit up there.

END: tired and grumpy from being jostled all day, we threw in the towel and evacuated stage left. I just wish they would have said that going on a Friday was going to be a super crowded day. Maybe some day we'll go back when it's not crowded... but probably not.

A Little Civil War

Mom here makes me want to see museums again. Not sure why, but it is fun to take her there. On Monday afternoon Eric, Steve and I took her to the Civil War Naval Museum here in Columbus. It is a smallish museum, but full of slightly interesting (if a little dusty) boating artifacts of the Confederate side of the war.

Steve, Eric and Mom (I'm not in any pictures because someone has to take them)

Forced to pose as if looking at something interesting in the sky

A giant Confederate flag. The picture really doesn't do any justice to how large it really is.

Eric, pointing to the Enlisted Head on a boat, where he needed to go apparently.

Welcome Mom!

Mom has spent the past 12+ hours on a plane... well, after you calculate the time difference it is only 9 hours (with a two hour layover)... But still! That's a long time to fly just to see a grumpy son and daughter in law and their three... um... lovable kids. HA!

I'm excited that she's here... now I have someone to take with me when I go thrift store shopping, pedicuring (yes, that's a word), craft store shopping. In other words, I'm just happy to have another girl around for a while.

The boys did a great job cleaning the house (upon punishment of no food for the next two weeks), and the week's menus are done.

Yay!

Oh the Agony

My mother-in-law, dear sweet woman, has never had a pedicure. Her feet are not horrible in any way shape or form, but she just has neglected over her lifetime to enjoy that one girlie thing. (Yes, men get them too, but really.... come on.... it IS a girlie thing.) So, when she comes out for the two weeks I'm going to take her to get her very first pedicure.

Well, being me, I couldn't very well take her to a place that is foreign to me. I had to scope it out. Make sure the place was legit... had to try it all.

Today I opted to have that tedious task of going ahead and scouting out the nail salons.

 I forced myself to receive a 30 minute manicure and hand massage.

 I was blatantly subjected to a face massage while soaking my feet for a pedicure.

 I suffered through a foot and calf massage during my pedicure.

 And... of course, I endured it as they painted my toes a bright red.

Aahh, mother, the pains I go through for you as I try to find the perfect place to take you for your very first pedicure.

Friends (For the Moment)

Three straight hours of chasing around the house,climbing up onto EVERY surface, both trying to get the same toy and generalized grumpiness on each side... and this is where I find them. Half asleep a foot from each other, contented to let bygones be bygones until they are both more awake.

Meet Elvira



Elvira Swick - 8 months old, abandoned at birth, adopted by a crazy family :)

Already has a favorite toy

Adds some spunk and activity to Hopkins' stodgy days

Not Goodbye, But See You Again

When I come to the end of my journey And I travel my last weary mile Just forget if you can, that I ever frowned And remember only the smile Forget unkind words I have spoken Remember some good I have done Forget that I ever had heartache And remember I've had loads of fun Forget that I've stumbled and blundered And sometimes fell by the way Remember I have fought some hard battles And won, ere the close of the day Then forget to grieve for my going I would not have you sad for a day But in summer just gather some flowers And remember the place where I lay And come in the shade of evening When the sun paints the sky in the west Stand for a few moments beside me And remember only my best                                            Mrs. Lyman Hancock You will be missed, Dad - Rest well Gary Webster 1946-2012

Never to early to learn

Eric teaching Bryan the proper technique for washing the cars:

Learning proper soaping technique

Making sure you get every spot

Spray off soap from top to bottom and side to side :)

And That's Why God Invented Tin Foil!

Finished product. Not going to win any beauty contest anytime soon.

We've all been there: 7:30pm... a kid comes up to you while you are relaxing (folding laundry while doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen and making school lunches... you know, THAT kind of "relaxing") and asks if they can have a cupcake for their "best" friend who's birthday is tomorrow....

Well, for some strange reason (maybe I smoked a little TOO much crack :) - KIDDING), I said I would make some cupcakes to put in their lunches, and he could have one for his friend.

Alas... you go to your cupboard and find no cupcake liners. What does someone who grew up watching the Red/Green show do??? (Not duct tape them) Make tin foil liners of course.

Steve helping make cupcake liners

They turned out ugly, but tasty, and with a ton of frosting on it, who's gonna know how ugly they are.

Ransom!!!

I have two teens, two very messy teens. They haven't cleaned (even with a little suggestion here and there that they should) their room in a very very very long time. It looked worse than a tornado hitting their room. I SHOULD have taken a before picture.

Well, Eric and I decided to try a new inventive way of getting their room clean. We offered them a chance (for two days) to clean it themselves. They didn't do it. So... today, I cleaned it. And, anything that wasn't in its proper place, I claimed for ransom.

                     90% of their clothing, some electronics, and various other items were claimed.

Their room is spotless now. Cleaned by Eric and myself. I was even nice enough to wash their sheets and change them. (How magnanimous of me.)

On their door I posted this note:





if you want to see your clothes and items again... you must pay in chores!

I figure a whole house vacuum is worth about 10 items, an emptying of the dishwasher is worth about 4 items and so on. With the amount of items they have to "buy" back, I'm going to have a clean house for quite some time. :)

I'm such a disappointment

I remember when I turned 18 and got my first tattoo, or was it my fourth ear piercing, I'm not too sure about it. Aaaannnnyyywayz, I remember my mom asking me to promise her that I wouldn't do anything to my face. And, for the past decade plus, I've done just that. However, today, I broke that promise. I went out and got an itsy bitsy nose ring. Not even a ring, just a small little diamond-like stud. I'm sure she'll forgive me. Love ya mom!

Growth

And this is what happens when Alison has NOTHING to do with their care, the world is a kinder/gentler/safer place for plants.

Well that's done

Before I went in. Eric got me lots of books to read while I'm down and out

I had my surgery on Wednesday. It went well. I'm feeling a bit sore and groggy still. Eric is taking fabulous care of me. :) What a good husband I have.

After I came out. I'm pretty sure that I'm high in this picture, especially since I don't remember Eric taking it LOL

Sure, we'll be with you in a minute....

Being kinda bummery and sick lately, I needed a change! I needed to get my hair did! So, after school today, I tromped over to the mall to get my hair permed. I put my name in their appointment book, marking that I wanted a perm. The manager asked what I was there for, I said, "I want a perm." The lady said... "Sure, ma'am, it will be one hour."
Used to waiting, I grabbed a book and sat on a bench and waited. After an hour and a half, I poked my head into the salon and asked a different lady if it was going to be much longer. The lady informed me, quite snidely, that it was still going to be two hours, like she had said. Well... OK then, I thought. I sat back down for another hour, the book was really good and time passed quickly.
Finally, a new lady came out to get me. "Mrs. Swick? I can cut your hair now." "Uh, no, I want a perm." "Oh, I don't do those. You'll have to wait until the other lady is done coloring that hair, and she'll do it." (The other lady coloring the hair was the one who was "so nice" to me earlier.) The other lady looked up from where she was coloring a lady's hair and said, "Oh, I don't do perms, you should have said that's what you wanted. No one does perms here."
Three hours of waiting, being put on their books for a da.....rn perm, talking to the manager and having her expressly say that they did perms.... and this is where I end up. With tears of frustration, I turned and walked away, holding my tongue. Well, mostly holding my tongue.
The nicer of the two ladies ran out of the store and up to me as I was walking away. "There's a salon right around the corner that might be able to help you. Would you like me to call them?" I told her that I had just wasted 3 hours sitting on a bench, and walking around a da...rn corner wasn't gonna kill me.
Needless to say, I met a wonderful woman in that salon who felt so sorry for me that she blocked off 2 hours of her "best permer" of hair. I got my hair did, and felt immensely better about the whole afternoon.

I feel much like my Grandma Pride in this picture :)

My littlest valentine

It was originally going to go to a girl named Jennifer, but he couldn't spell her name. My name he could spell. :)

This morning Bug (Bryan) was very excited that he had hidden something for me to find when I went to school. He was so excited, in fact, that he couldn't wait. He handed me his card for me. It made my heart melt. He's such a cute bug.

Makes me forget all the grumpy times :)

What a great way to start a morning. Happy Valentine's day to all.

Green Thumb, Meet Black Thumb

Let's start this post with the admitted fact that: I have killed a cactus when it was my house plant.

Everyone gasps when I tell them that. BUT YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO REMEMBER TO WATER IT! (That's what they say.)

Anyway, so I'm not good with plants. So I'm the ONLY one in my entire extended family who has plants committing suicide outside her door just so they don't have to be "taken care of" by me. My husband (who, annoyingly fits in better with the "weirdo gardening" side of my family than I do) accepts me for who I am.

However... when I brought home, as a surprise, some herbs in pots he told me to "PUT THEM DOWN! Put down the plants, honey, they didn't do anything to you. Don't touch them. I'll take care of them." I'm pretty sure they had given up the moment that I chose them from the store. It also might be the issue that I didn't listen to him and tried to help them along. Plants need cleaning right? I had to use soap! (JUST KIDDING, I know for a fact that my mother would fly here and take any living plant that was in my house just to save it from my evil hands if I actually did that.) Try as he might, Eric wasn't able to grant them life. They had seen the woman who would be their downfall. They gave up.

Yesterday Eric and I went to the store. He bought seeds (wouldn't even let me hold the packets, silly man) and soil, and some nice window sill pots. He brought it all home and made me some herb pots for my kitchen.

Lighting's bad, but I have basil, chives, parsley and oregano

 He told me not to look at them, not to touch them, not to even think about them. I'll try, but sometimes they look so lonely. :)