I Love BFFs

Aaaaaand for this week (yeah, I know I'm a few hours early):

• I think little-kid-OCD is hilarious. And around our house with 3 screaming banshees we keep military schedules--otherwise we parents would not survive. So if any little thing happens in the wrong order, tantrums ensue. The latest came from the 2.5-year-old. He got sent to time out, only to have a complete nuclear meltdown. When we asked him what was wrong, he said he wanted to go to that time-out (points to the other corner where the older boys sit in time out). Once there, he sat quietly like he was supposed to.


• Headline on my Blackberry from Reuters on Tuesday: "Swine Flu Not Kosher for Isreal". So they refuse to call it swine flu (this was before the Nightly News reported that the World Health Org was going to stop calling it swine flu to due potential negative impact to the pork industry.) I just thought it was funny.


• I was sitting at the doctor's office with my youngest the day I saw that headline. I had the very first appointment of the day, and somehow the doctor was STILL 45 minutes late! And what would happen if I showed up 45 minutes late? How'd you think that would go over?


• Hubby and I have somewhat been at each other's throats over stupid stuff the last few days. Tonight it was about bird crap. Yes, totally stupid. Anyhow, neither one of us were going to give into the other and we ended up throwing low blows and then total silence. I have this habit of taking my anger toward my husband out on the house by - get this - furiously cleaning! (Yeah--I'll show you! I'll go clean the upstairs and then you'll really be sorry!) During the inevitable make-up, we always joke that he should piss me off more often.


• The fight about bird crap was that a giant seagull dumped his load all over my driver's side door. In a nutshell, we fought over whether or not I could take the truck to the car wash. I told you it was stupid.

Anyhow, click over to Jaci's page for more farts!

Almost There!

Why, yes, the Wrenns are still alive and kicking--I've just been in a whirlwind of last-minute school assignments and graduation preparations. YES--I made it!! One last final exam, and a week of giving presentations at the main campus, with commencement at the end--and I'll be a full-fledged graduate degree owner.

So, don't be alarmed that I haven't posted anything in a while, and may not post anything new for a few weeks--I'm relishing the thought of having my evenings back. Whatever will I do with myself?

This Week's BFF

• My husband saw Twilight and liked it. He chose to rent it himself, with no prodding from me, and he chose to watch it when I had to do schoolwork all night. He just saw a commercial or something about the next Twlilight movie, and is stoked. And he freely admits this. I have not seen the movie yet, nor do I see what the big deal is about the skinny dork at the center of many girls' universes right now. That's right, I'll say it again--EDWARD CULLEN IS A DORK. Someone pleeeeeese explain the hysteria.

• I really enjoyed last weekend's great weather--not too hot, not too humid. The kids played outside almost all day, I got a lot of yardwork done (picked up dog poop), and was finally able to stop, sigh and enjoy myself ...when it was spoiled. My little bubble of bliss was busted by the first mosquito signting of the season. Why the heck did God create mosquitos? They serve no purpose except to spoil my perfect weekend...

• Folding laundry is perhaps the only peaceful time I have to myself around this house. So I try to make the most of it. My husband thinks it's funny that I turn on "angry clothes-folding music" (alternative rock) and drink "beer" (Mike's Hard Lemonade) while I fold clothes. Hey, normal people get to hang out and listen to music while relaxing on the back deck with a beer in their hands--while Mommy gets to pull fighting kids apart, chase dogs away from said screaming kids, and pick up yet more dog poop (and resist flinging at husband).

• The pollen has been thick these last two weeks--everything around here is dripping in the green-yellow stuff. It's washing up on the shoreline, sticking to all the cars...it's on all the doorknobs outside, and the air is hazy with it. Everyone's running around sneezing and hacking it out of their lungs. And my husband pointed out that pollen is really tree sperm. Nice.

A Pleasant Experience at Chuck E Cheese?!

We just might be one of the few parents on earth who had a pleasant experience at Chuck E Cheese--can you believe that? It's true! The planets aligned and everything went perfectly. Of course, it had something to do with the fact that I scheduled the very first party of the day, 10 AM (right when they unlock the doors). So the only screaming brats were mine, the boys' cousins, and a few of the boys' friends--no big, bullying kids or other people's rude children to put up with. We practically had the place to ourselves! And the staff was fresh, so they were actually polite and helpful! Check out the slideshow:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Boo Bear!

It's our big boy's 7th Birthday today! While waiting for yesterday's Chuck E Cheese party pics posted, tide yourselves over with some pictures through the years:



Happy Birthday Boo Bear--Mommy & Daddy love you so much!

Family Easter

Yes, yes--I'm running a little late with this. I was gathering photos together the other day for the Easter re-cap when I saw this posted by Mad Housewife (she cracks me up). Regardless, we had a good Easter with Bryan's family--and as usual, the menu was delectable (not sure if it's readable in this picture):

Here's what the cheap Easter Bunny brought the boys back at home:

And here's some pictures of the egg hunt at Nana & Pops' house:

Hope all you out there had a fun Easter like we did!

Blog Fart Friday

I am new to the whole "theme" blog, or whatever the heck you call these things, and have in general steered away from them because I'm just not that creative, nor do I have much time to think & write for anything outside of school right now. HOWEVER, I just could not resist the title of this one! (probably due to all the boys running around the house farting and giggling about it all the time).

Blog Farts – noun. Def: Crappy ideas that are too short to make a real blog post, but when combined, join forces to make one unified, albeit half assed, post. Hosted by Jaci.

• While watching "Paranormal State" last night, I suddenly wondered if ghosts & spirits use Daylight Savings Time, since dead time is always 3 AM. While thinking about it, my husband piped up about people never seeing ghosts of cavemen--it's always people from the 1800's...
• Speaking of the supernatural, there are penguin zombies painted on the side of a costume shop that I passed the other day. Yes, zombie penguins--they were obviously hand-painted by an amateur and they are creeeepy.
• Caught Brandon shedding a few tears watching Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame--tears of sadness when Quasi thought Esmerelda had died. I thought it was super sweet, coming from my first grader who likes to use scissors on his friends' shirts, sit on his brothers and fart, etc.
• I have this weird quirk about comparing people's facial structures and finding similarities. Recently, I saw a guy at work who looked like Alex Lifeson from the rock band Rush, and another guy who looked like Sting. I wonder who else out there has this awesome power?
• For several months just after that alien invasion movie "Signs" came out in theaters, I didn't know that Joaquin Phoenix was pronounced "Wha-keen". I always called him "Joe-quin" and had no idea who this "Wha-keen" character was. Yes, I am blonde.

If you wanna read more Blog Farts, check out this blog (great for laughs!):

Sippy-Cup Caper

Over the last few days, I have noticed missing sippy-cups. Here is where I keep finding them:



Yep--they had milk in them and they were frozen solid. Couldn't even get the lid off them! Little Nick-Nick has finally learned how to open the fridge/freezer doors.

Getting Something Off My Chest

My company has launched a big corporate initiative this year to promote women and minorities--this is not a new concept for my company, but now it's been brought out in the open as one of the "Top Priorities". Rather than encouraging me, this pisses me off because I have witnessed great people being passed over for a promotion just because they weren't the right gender or color. Meaning they weren't a "minority" or female. It bugs the crap out of me that people may look at me and think I made it to where I am because I'm a woman. I bust my butt to be the best at my job, and I am smart enough to educate myself and do things to make myself a great asset for my company--I certainly don't rely on my gender to get me anywhere. It makes me sick that this country continues to make a big deal out of race & gender in the workplace--I have yet to witness someone being discriminated against for not being white or for being a woman. And I work in a shipyard. Those of you who may be offended by this, I don't apologize. You cannot blame anyone for where you are--get up, take responsibility to get where you want to be and do something constructive about it. I am a woman in a male-dominated workplace, and it drives me to be better than all of them because I'll be damned if any of them are going to question if I rose through the ranks because I'm a woman.

You may be asking what set me off. I am interviewing for a big promotion, and the first thing people around me have asked is "How many other women are interviewing?" Because as long as a woman is going for the job, they all assume no man will ever get it. What a bunch of shit. I will not be known as the person who got that job just because I am a woman. That doesn't mean I'm withdrawing my application--it just means that there is a fire under my butt. I am now driven to show everyone in my company that I am the most qualified and best person for the job, reagardless of gender. And if I don't get the job, I will know that I did my best and didn't just sit back waiting for a hand-out.

Our Little Jedi Knights

Our kids are obsessed with Star Wars, particularly the animated movie that came out on DVD recently. Can you tell?

P.S.--Tyler's absence is due to a post-flu ear infection.

Tooth Grinding, Jaw Clenching, Exhaustion?

I woke up this morning exhausted. Not because I stayed up late with schoolwork or a movie, but because of a little contraption I brought home from the dentist the other day. Years of raising kids, trudging through my master's degree program, work, and just normal life has caused me to pick up a nasty little habit of clenching and grinding my teeth at night. I've known about this problem for a while, and so has my dentist, but I just couldn't bring myself to do something about it after years spent with braces and retainers--the last thing I want is to revert back to having something wrapped around my teeth at night again. And now I'm at the point where I have some serious wear on my molars. Behold, the thing that will save my teeth:



No, it's not soft, thin and plasticky like today's retainers worn after braces--this thing is a thick, hard, molded piece of clear I-don't-know-what. One thing's for sure--it does not feel remotely natural in my mouth and I tossed and turned all night trying to get used to it. And here I am this morning, exhausted. But my teeth were protected, and it's worth it to stay away from the dreaded dentist's chair!

Busted!

Those of you who know our family, particularly the four-legged part of our family, know that we have one smart dog and one not-so-smart dog. It just so happens that the smart dog is an adopted mutt--we have no idea where she originated. And it also happens that the not-so-smart one is a purebred with some show dog heritage. The smart one is half the size of her 110-lb not-so-smart counterpart, so needless to say, one dog is very energetic and lean while the other is fat and doesn't move from his food bowl. Anyhow, I had to go out to the garage, aka doghouse, to get something out of the freezer and LO!--see for your own eyes what I found:

Why yes, those would be large-size dog bones. And yes, the bucket was filled up just this last weekend. And yes...it is now half empty.

Alas! I see an accomplice! I just know that my not-so-smart dog would have figured this out all on his own...notice that she is getting rid of the evidence as fast as she can. Smart dog.

And now the bucket of bones rests on top of the deep freezer, well out of reach of all four-legged beasts.