TINTINTS Thursday (Thanksgiving Edition)

Things I Never Thought I'd Need To Say:



"Happy Thanksgiving from Moab, Utah!"




It's lovely out here, a Mecca of sorts for Hikers, Bikers, and Jeep-ers! Moab sits down in a valley just off the Colorado River in southeast Utah. It borders Arches National Park, and boasts its own Sand Flats Recreation Area which has offroad trails such as Fins-N-Things and Hell's Revenge.

I am a super-stud-jeep-drivin'-chick.

We're having a GREAT time; more posts and pics when we get back next week!

The Launch of "TINTINTS THURSDAY"

"TIN-TINTS?"

"TINT-INTS"

"TINTI-N-T'S"

Whatever. You don't have to SAY it, you just have to DO it!!

I hereby officially launch a Weekly Post Idea. Play along if you like, it can be incredibly easy or incredibly deep. It's called "T.I.N.T.I.N.T.S Thursday."

The topic each Thursday is Things I Never Thought I'd Need To Say.

It all started Monday with my well-received phrase:

"Stop Drinking Your Potatoes. That's Rude."

Which was followed up Wednesday by Janey V's little nugget:

"Here's your Batman underpants back. Thanks for the loan."

So with Janey's enthusiastic endorsement, I've decided to run with this.

Now, TINTINTS started with some funny little statements. OK, hilarious. But while musing on this topic, I realized that there are many types of TINTINTS. Hypothetical examples:

"I can't believe I'm actually _________"

"You heard me, I said _______"

"I can't, I have a meeting with _______"

"Who flushed the _______ down the toilet?"

"What? You're saying I'm going to _______"

And so on and so on. The possibilities are truly infinite. Is there a phrase that marked the turning of your life in a completely new direction? One that devastated you? One that made you cry tears of joy? How about one that was so out of character for you that it became your "calling card?" One your parents used constantly that you SWORE you'd never need to use yourself? One that made you stop right there and rethink your whole life? Or revealed to you something about yourself that you'd never let yourself consider? How about a phrase so ludicrous that only the situation you were in at that very second could validate saying it (like drinking your potatoes, or exchanging Batman underwear with a grown woman).

Any phrase that made you stop, even for just a second, and think, "I can't believe I just actually said that" is fair game.

So here's the deal. If you want to participate, just post something on your blog, let me know, and I'll try to keep up with link-age. You can just leave a comment saying you posted and I'll link you. I'll try to post Weds evening, and I'll leave it up for Friday, possibly even the weekend if I'm busy!

Or, if you want to share a gem but don't want to post, just leave one in my comments section on Thursdays. You can use the TINTINTS to launch a story, or you can just hang it out there for the rest of us to laugh, cry, or scratch our heads over. Doesn't matter.

If you DO participate, could you kindly include linkage to me? I'd love to see a bit more blog traffic!

And with that, let the games begin!! Here's mine:

"Boogers do NOT count as a snack."

Yeah, Lulu eats boogers. Eeeeeew. And you thought she was so cute.

***MY FIRST PARTICIPANT!!***

Student RN Tiffany

It's Official...

(I'm a Nerd)

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Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...

PURE NERD

57 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 30% Dork

"A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer! Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older.

Eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!"

All this time I've been living as a geek, when all along I was a nerd...

What are you?

Take The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test

And Suddenly IT Hits You..."BAM!!"

I had one of THOSE moments this evening. A "Holy Crap-A-Moly" moment. One of those incidents that get stuck in your head for a long time based solely on that initial impact, the "BAM!;" not a-la Emeril Legasse but more a-la a speeding cement truck that you mosey-ed in front of.

I was at the a pizza restaurant tonight, getting the kids settled, barking orders and trying to get them to SIT ON YOUR BUTT, BOTH CHEEKS ON THE CHAIR, STOP TOUCHING EACH OTHER OR YOU'LL BOTH BE EATING IN THE TRUNK OF THE CAR SO HELP ME GOD!! You know, the usual. I was looking around for JeepMan and couldn't find him, so I headed over to the salad bar. Some guy bumped into me and I said "Excuse me..."

That's when the cement truck splatted me.

You see, in my mind, this "guy" that I had only half-paid attention to was "older," as in about 10 years older than me. He was going seriously gray and was stooped over (the salad bar, that is). I just blew him off as "some older dude."

It was JeepMan. And when I realized that I hadn't recognized my own husband because he looked too old to be my husband...you guessed it. BAM!

Wow...I'm still sort of reeling. 'Cause you see, if he looks older than I think he should look, then it stands to reason that I must be the same. Damn. That sucks rocks. (sigh)

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On a funny note, I made a statement tonight that I could have never, ever, in a million years predicted that I would say:

"Stop Drinking Your Potatoes. That's rude."

What the???? Well it makes perfect sense when you know that Lulu had a cup of potatoes and gravy (watery potatoes and thin gravy) and she insisted on mixing them up into "potato pudding." The consistency was such that it didn't really want to stay on her spoon, so I suppose it made sense to her to drink them.

Ugh. I just had a total-body-grossed-out-shiver.

Maybe if I can I'll continue this theme for some short and sweet posts in the future.

I'll call it "Things I Never Thought I'd Need To Say."

Or something like that.

Scraplets and Chunklets

My life has been very disjointed lately, and so this post shall be reflective of that state.

On the Blog front: I have to say this because it just makes me giggle over and over. I've installed the new Feedjit widget, which lets me know where my traffic comes from and how it gets here. I am surprised at some of the searches that lead people to my little thoughtful spot: "Vitamins for Fidgety Children," "Boobs Showing Scrubs;" etc.

But the one that almost made me spew hot coffee out of my nose was this one: "Brendan Fraser Nipples."

Holy Crap. That's awesome!

Now I see why Penelope uses "Rush Limbaugh" as her chumming material of choice. Put it out there, and the sharks will start to circle!

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On the Man front: I haven't mentioned JeepMan lately. Probably because he's being very, very good. In fact, this whole travel-work-thingy has brought us closer together. It's definitely deepened our appreciation for one another, and we cherish the time we have together even more. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder...or (pick a cliche).

I see him mellowing in his "old age," too (37!). Maybe it's because the kids are getting older, and more self-sufficient, and the gap in development has narrowed. He can really relate to them now, and that has chilled him out immeasurably. I really love listening to him talk to the kids, joke with them, play with them. He really is a great daddy, and I can see that very clearly now.

When they were infants? Well, I must admit that I sort of wondered what the heck I had gotten myself into, getting knocked up by THIS guy...!

He did something a few weeks ago that I keep meaning to post but keep forgetting. It's really not a huge thing on the surface, but for HIM? It's big. Huge.

My man, my no-nonsense, pragmatic, get-your-own-door, open-your-own-jar-you-weenie, MANLY-MAN...

(you may want to sit down. seriously.)

...gave up his office - his CORNER office with TWO windows and a DOOR (that closes and locks!)- the office that he earned after 8 years of service in his department- for a CUBE.

Why, you may ask? Is he NUTS? In point of fact: no, he actually isn't (at least not in this particular instance). So what drove him to this masochistic behavior?

Get out your Kleenex.

You're still sitting, right?

He gave his office up for a co-worker who just came back from maternity leave and is still breastfeeding. She has no where to pump except for the ladies' room, and he thinks that's not right. So he gave her his office for as long as she needs to pump.

I'm Verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves.....

After I wiped my watery eyes (which he rolled his own eyes at), I told him, "Now, you KNOW she could breastfeed for the next YEAR or more, right?" He said, oh-so-nonchalantly, "Yeah, well, it's no big deal. I don't mind a change of scenery for awhile."

WHAT A MAN!!!

And before you start getting all suspicious, his cube is NOT close to the hottest woman in the office, or any of the cute work-study students. SHEESH! Like I would'nt see that one from a mile away!!

Besides. I checked.

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And finally, on the Kid Front: Halloween is over, and here are some pics:

We love Halloween - What a blast!

Plato's been pretty quiet lately. He's learning about dinosaurs at school, and by osmosis, I'm always learning about dinosaurs that weren't even named when I was a kid. Like, Teratasaurus? I can't swear it wasn't around, but it wasn't one of the big dozen or anything!!

Lulu has been increasingly chatty. And she's a chatty kid anyway (maybe that's why Plato has been so quiet?). Now that the election is over, she's all excited that Barack Obama won. Which cracks me up! I'm sure it's just because it's fun to say his name.

The funniest thing is that she sees him EVERYwhere. Basically any young-ish, good-looking black man is Barack Obama to her. So far he has been spotted driving a school bus, putting gas in his car, walking his dog, pulling over a speeder, and shopping at Wal-Mart.

We were in the drive through at Burger King the other day, and the guy taking our money was a young black man. Then another young black man came to the window with our food. With both of them at the window, little miss Lulu observed (very loudly): "MOM!!!! DEY HAS TWO BARACK OBAMAS HERE!!!"

I just smiled at the guys. And hit the accelerator as the kids were wailing about ketchup. Ketchup? We have ketchup at home, dammit!

I later had a conversation with her about why she thought those boys were Obama. She said, "Because dey're BROWN BOYS, Mommy! Barack Obama is a brown boy, too!" I explained that just because people have the same skin color, that doesn't mean they're the same person.

Then used a very clever example about Daddy and Brendan Fraser having the same skin color, but obviously NOT being the same person!

Now when she picks up Plato's Nintendo DS and plays basketbal, she yells at the screen, "Shoot the ball, little brown boys!!" Once she caught me giggling and she said, indignantly: "WELL!!! I don't know dere NAMES!!!"

Well, at least she isn't yelling, "Shoot the ball, Barack Obamas!!"

That's all, Folks!

From The Mouths of Babes

Sorry I haven't been around much; not even lurking, which is usually what I'm doing when I'm conspicuously absent. I think I'm having computer withdrawal!

I actually got to be home all last week, which hasn't happened since May. Forgive me, but I didn't go near the computer at all, except one day when I had to do some online expense reports and miscellaneous "housekeeping" chores for work. Other than that, I just enjoyed my kids, my husband, my house, my yard, and my most-favorit-est holiday: Halloween.

Pics to be posted later this week, I hope. For now I am posting a quickie before I embark on my first of 3 flights in the next 3 days.

I try to decorate the yard a bit for Halloween. This year, I put some candy-corn lights in our tree, hung up some ghosts, and made a little pretend graveyard in the flower bed at the corner of our house. I did all this in about an hour on a day when I had to fly out; I wanted to leave the kids a little surprise for when they got home that evening.

When I talked to JeepMan that night, he said the kids loved it.

Lulu sat at the window for about 15 minutes just taking it all in. Then she got up from the couch, walked downstairs, and turned off all the lights.

When JeepMan asked her why, she put her hands on her hips and said, "Daddy! We need to save the batteries for Halloween!"

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Plato has been big into his school's "Election" goings-on. He has been speculative about many aspects of the campaigns. He has already voiced his opinion about who should be president.

The other day he told me that he knew that he could run for president after he turned 35, but that he didn't think he would ever want to be president.

I asked why, and he said it was a lot of work, and that he would probably rather be vice-president.

Again, I asked why. He was thoughtful for a few moments

"Well, the vice president doesn't have to do ANYTHING. Unless the president dies."

Well, honey, the vice-president gets PAID to be vice-president, so he must do SOMETHING, don't you think?

"Well, I guess so..."

(thinks on it a while)

"Well the White House is pretty big...the vice-president must have to be the butler."

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And lastly, we were all getting dressed to go out to the park, and JeepMan walked into the room with no shirt on. Now, he's no, ahem....Brendan Fraser...but my man looks pretty good to me.

Apparently Lulu doesn't agree. She took one look at him, and her jaw dropped.

"DADDY!! I didn't know you had big boobs like Mommy!!"

Poor guy. Guess I'll have to get him a "BRO:"