Love & Laughs...

...Or Creativity & Craziness

So the other day I was searching for something among my archived emails and found a copy of an i.m. conversation that I had with my sister a couple of years ago. (She & I get a little bit silly sometimes. A little.) It brought a smile to my heart, so even though it's a bit belated for Valentine's Day, I hope it brings a little smile to yours, too.


And maybe even some wonderings about my oddities.


Whatever.

d: Today's learning moment: Don't try to make a triple batch of Grandpa Cookies in one bowl...even it's a really big one.
L: your cookies overfloweth?
d: yea, my bowls do overflow and my kitchen is abundant with dirty mixing bowls.
L: yea, and my sister said unto me LOOK! and I looked and beheld a mighty mountain of cookie dough. And behold it was my desire to partake thereof. For I beheld that it was good.
d: Yea, and as they did partake of the goodness of the cookie dough, the sons of the household did lick the beaters even until they were clean, and the flour powder did settle upon them like unto snow.
L: And the daughter, upon returning to her home, finding much abundance of cookies, did cry forth with a loud voice, unto the declaring of the desires of her heart. For lo, she did desire a cookie. And she did ask for milk, as it goeth with cookies, much like our forefathers of old did find land flowing with milk and honey.
d: But the childrens' mother did deny them. For she was a mean mother.
d: And she said unto them, "The cookies are for Valentine's Day, which is two days hence. Look, and behold, there are cookies for your class, and they number three dozen."
L: and behold, there was much weeping and wailing on behalf of the uneaten cookies. For lo, they seeketh to partake.
d: And the mother sent forth an invitation: "Come, sit, frost these the rest of the cookies with us. For thy brother is ready--armed with sprinkles and candies and all manner of instruments of cookie decorating. But we must hurry, for the youngest of thy brothers doth nap, and it is the desire of my heart to finish before he awakes."
d: "But take comfort, for after we do set aside cookies for thy class, and for thy brother's class, and for our many friends--yea, after we do give cookies unto everyone else, there will be leftovers. And ye may partake. For thus I planned it."
L: And they did with haste put frosting upon the cookies and sprinkle them, and put all manner of tasty trinkets on them that they may be a joy unto those who partake. And verily verily they did frost for the space of many minutes and did do all that was good to the cookies.
d: And their fingers were sticky and they did lick them off.
d: And their mother did remind them time and time again to wipe their fingers upon a wet cloth for the cookies were to be given away and their tongues were laden with much germs.
d: But they, being a forgetful generation, did go forth and lick their fingers.
L: And when their father did return to their dwelling, he beheld the cookies of such curious craftsmanship. And he did put forth his hand to partake. And lo and behold, my sister did send a cursing upon him who doth partake too soon, lest he put forth his hand and dwindle the number set for for his childrens' classes. But verily my sister did repent of her chastizing and did offer him thus a cookie from those which had been set aside for his partaking. And he did partake and it was good.
d: Yea, and their father said unto his wife, "See the abundance of the cookies. Yea, there is such an abundance that one will not be missed by the classmates of the children."
d: And his wife did sigh and give him one of the broken cookies.
L: Behold, canst thou not hear the voice of one crying in the classroom? That lonely mortal who consumeth not a cookie?
d: But the mother, with all the concern of her heart, did take from the plate of the father and did give to the lonely child with no cookie. And it was good.
d: And thus is the account of the twelfth day of the second month of the two thousand eighth day since the coming of our Lord. And the household was blessed with much sweetness in preparation of the day to celebrate love.




And these cookies taste waaaaaaaay better than they even look. So yummy!

Huh?

I like to take amusing pictures. Well, I like to take pictures of things that I find amusing. They've been collecting, so I just now decided to put them all in one blog post.


(See? I can be spontaneous!)





This one isn't funny until you realize that this WAS a photo studio and was almost done being renovated into a pizza joint. The sign states, "NO CONSTRUCTION PARKING"



I was passing through over a year ago & did a triple-take of this sign, then had to turn around to get a picture. "The economy stinks, housing prices are falling and you can have this lot + house for only $1.3 million!!!" It wasn't even a great location!

I could use a cherry pitter, so this caught my eye. Until I noticed that the descriptive sentences under the three smaller circles read:

"Taller Trays to Fit Larger Gourmet Frosted Cupcakes" (for the berry colander)

"Removable Cupcake Trays are Perfect for Presentation"

"Features Finger Indents for Easier Cupcake Removal

oops.

This one's dark, so look closely at the arrow sign on the left.

Psst! Beef, Bacon and Turkey aren't technically vegetarian.

Umm...

Do you see it?

I had this super-mega bottle of bubble solution for months before I noticed it.

Gotta' love the power of the brain. And someone on staff who reads English.

Funny Man

Lee and I are different. Very different. We have our struggles because of it. But no matter how frustrated we can be at each other, he has one positive trait that is undeniable:

The boy is a crack up.

As parents we're not allowed to have favorites. But it's perfectly okay to prefer one of someone else's brood over their siblings. That's Lee. I've had people say, "Of all your kids, Lee's my favorite." I've also been told, "He makes me laugh. He doesn't even have to do anything! Whenever I look at him I want to laugh." Twice, actually, by two different people.

I've witnessed his gift a few times of late.

I took him to preschool and dropped him off at the door of his teacher's basement. He was hunched over doing his imitation of a robot, because that's the way all preschoolers walk into the classroom, isn't it? Wordlessly and sans eye contact, he had all 5 of the little girls there giggling and tittering because he's so funny. Amazing.

One day last week Riah & I took the younger two to run some errands before the older kids got off the bus. While I was being helped at the counter at Discount Tire I let Cora wander. Enclosed room, lots of windows, nothing to do but walk, touch smelly tires and look out the windows. As I was finishing up, I turned around to see Lee hauling his little sister to me because 'she needed to be by Mom.' I thanked him for being a good big brother and let him know that she was fine and to please put her down. He's a muscly brute, but he still has to lean back to counterbalance the fact that she weighs over half what he does. The lady behind me watched him trudge and stagger across the floor and laughed out loud.

On to Costco.

I've decided that future Costco trips will be during preschool. This time wasn't too bad thanks to the advantageous parent/child ratio. At the register, Riah took the kids & headed out to get a jump start on the car seat buckling. And to get the children out of the store. Mostly the latter. I ended up walking directly behind them out the door. I wish I had a camera.

Strong, broad-shouldered husband, carrying sweet baby with Cindy-Lou-Who hair in his left arm; holding hand of tow-headed 3.5 year-old son in his right. Said son happily walking hand-in-hand with his dad, too-big jeans bunching over too-big black galoshes; big red Spider-Man coat clutched in right arm, blue mittens-on-a-string dangling below, almost dragging on the floor. All the while he's musically moving his voice up and down as his tongue bobs quickly back and forth past the opening of his O-shaped lips, making a cute, typical, untypable sound. (Pretty sure you just tried it.)

The receipt-checker lady watched them walk out, then looked at me. I offered, "We're never bored at our house," which triggered a short conversation as she compared my cart with my receipt. Her end comment was uttered through a laugh: "He's hysterical."

He didn't do anything. He simply walked. And it was hysterical.