The devil lives here!

And he goes by the name of Ross. Seriously, that boy is just a HANDFUL! Anyway, I was snapping pictures the other day and this is what he greeted me with:

Lovely, isn't he? This is one to save for those moments in life when I want to embarrass him!

Critters!

So, it has been a long time since I posted -- too long. My apologies -- there isn't much point in keeping a blog if I'm not going to post on it. I have my reasons, which range from not having enough time (but then, who does have enough time?) to irritations with the world on a whole. Anyway...I want to try to do better.

So, I'm going to get back on track by telling you the tale of our critter problems. It has been a few weeks -- maybe a month or more since this happened -- but the story needs told. One day I walked into the kids bathroom to see something green on the shower wall. Now, the kids bathroom is very white and bright -- white tub and surround, white shower curtains, white trim and very pale beige walls. So, a neon green object on the wall stands out. I look, expecting to see something of the kids glued to the wall, only to find a tree frog (such as the one pictures below that I found in my flower bed) clinging to the wall. Okay, how on EARTH did a frog get in my kids bathroom?!?! The window doesn't even open!!!


So, what to do? I can deal with furry critters, but I DON'T DO AMPHIBIANS!!! I briefly considered calling Jeremy and telling him he HAD to come home over his lunch to take care of this. Then I thought again, since I'm pretty sure he would have said no anyway. Ok, so who do I call? Yup, you guessed it, poor Betty got a call. The first thing she asked me was how much Jose I had consumed that morning. And she asked me that again after she peeked around the bathroom and couldn't find it. Once we found it hidden on the window sill, she finally believed that I wasn't skunk drunk at 11:00 in the morning. So, luckily, Betty got it outside for me. But a few hours later, I look out my front door to see it clinging to the side of the house at eye level right by the door. Poor thing...I got my broom out and played a game of hockey-frog until it was out in the street (I don't think I killed it, but it was pretty sad looking by the time I was finished).

Jeremy almost always gets up about 20 minutes before I do. On good days, I get up once he's in the shower, so that I'm ready to get in when he gets out. About a week after the above incident, I did just this. As I was opening the door to the bathroom, Jeremy says to me (from the shower), in a very serious voice, "Michelle, stop. There is a frog on the window." Now, just so you know...Jeremy likes critters even less than I do. So, I backed out of the room and shut to the door. Crap! How are these things getting in? There isn't a window that opens in our bathroom either!

These things were too big to have come in through the exhaust vents. My only conclusion, after having read dozens of blog posts with similar problems, is that they were coming up the drain of the tub. So, we keep our drains closed now, which is slightly annoying because we have a perpetual puddle of stagnant water in our tubs. And I check under the toilet seats, and behind the toilet and around the windows, etc. before I do anything else in the bathroom!

And somewhere in the middle of these two incidents, I went out to my garage one day (actually, Lucy puked on the garage floor and I went out to clean it up) to hear a funny skittering sound. I look around and note that the noise is coming from an empty box on the floor (we're getting ready to put a bunch of stuff in storage before we put the house on the market, so I've been hoarding boxes). I look in the box to find a mouse. A little thing -- a creepy, ugly little thing. Sorry, but I don't like mice AT ALL -- or rodents of any sort for that matter. Luckily, the box was really tall, so it had apparently crawled up the spare car seat on the floor and fell in, but couldn't get out. Now, normally I have NO compassion for critters in my house. I don't usually let critters escape alive. But, since this thing was already contained in the box, I picked it up, carried it out to the road and down the street a little before letting it out. Wanna know that little ~!@# did? It ran back up the street, straight up my driveway and back to the same corner it started in. Gah!!! It was WAR now. I put rat poison down...I haven't seen the mouse again, but most of the rat poison was eaten.

The worst thing was that we had THREE spare car seats sitting on the floor of the garage, all of which had obvious signs of mouse habitation. One ended up in the trash (it was too old really anyway), but the other two had to be taken apart and cleaned. I really HATE having to wash car seats.

So, apparently my home is just a bit to inviting...I need to find the critter welcome mat that is apparently hidden somewhere and remove it!

I've been stewing about this for a few weeks now...

...and it has finally gotten the better of me, so now I'm going to "speak".

When we were visiting Ohio a few weeks ago, our arrival was greeted with the report that my family had been informed I was expecting another child. Um, no, I'm not pregnant, thank you very much.

I had a rather long rant on this subject typed up, but deleted it because, well, it was angry and nasty and, though well deserved, sure to cause hurt feeling somewhere. So, I'll just say, I'm really upset about this. And, no, I'm not pregnant.

My little goons!

Since all I can seem to muster today is a post centering around pictures, I suppose it is better than nothing! I think stress is hurting my ability to think clearly, so articulate and well thought out posts are apparently on hold for a while.

Anyhoo...here are a few recent shots of the kids.

Ross, being an absolute goon in Ohio:

Hannah at her soccer game in Archbold (and, yes, they really were playing on a soccer field and not in a soybean field):Lucy sporting her latest accessories (I'm addicted to knee socks right now):

Reid getting ready for the Buckeye game (poor kid was really sick this day, too):

My little cheerleader:

And, you know, I really should get a new shot of me for my blog header. Hmmm...maybe not until after my next visit to the colorist -- y'all might be frightened of my hair the way it stands now!

Since my sister said it was okay...

...I thought I would post some pics of my niece.

These were taken last weekend when Laney was just shy of 6 weeks old:

Hannah and Lucy love their little cousin!




Isn't she the sweetest little thing?

And these were taken in September when she was about 3 weeks old:

Ah, yes, Aunt Michelle showed up and insisted on bows. Doesn't she look thrilled?

I'm totally bummed that it could be a really long time before I see Laney again, even though I totally understand the difficult logistics of trips (I'm soooooo not trying to guilt Val & Steve into visiting more often). I never understood what the hullabaloo was about us moving away, but then everyone that I knew was grown and pretty set in their ways (well, except Hannah, but we see her frequently despite the distance). But now I get it...Laney is little and changing and I don't know her yet. She'll be a different person the next time I see her. And my kids are little and constantly changing...family & friends miss out on all kinds of stuff when we're away. Still doesn't change that things are the way they are (the way they need to be, for us at least), but I get "it" a bit better now. Miss you already, Laney Lou (I've already saddled the poor girl with a nickname -- my two little Lous -- Lucy Lou & Laney Lou)!

Really, who thought THAT was a good idea?

Mondays are my cleaning day and, invariably, the day the kids get to watch the most TV. (Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do...and those floors are DISGUSTING after a week of kid crud hitting them.) So, today, Ross requested "Pete's Dragon" as the video to tide them over while I was mopping.

Now, I never liked "Pete's Dragon" as a kid. It was just a bit too sentimental and sappy for me(things I just don't like in movies -- you won't often find me heading to the Hallmark channel). It was interesting, however, to see (what bits I caught when I was flitting around the house) it from an adult perspective. And, my biggest question is this: who the heck thought it would be a good idea to include a drunken old man as one of the main characters and several bar scenes in a movie geared at the "G" audience? Seriously...beer...in a kids movie? WHY? Now, I'm obviously not so offended by this that I'm tossing the movie (it didn't scar me too badly, I guess), but it did make me laugh.

My other gripe with the movie is this: why is the teacher the bad guy? For that matter, why are almost all the adults seen as bad guys (well, except the pretty lady -- apparently pretty ladies are okay)? It seems like an unnecessary inclusion. I mean, really, why would we want to teach our children that teachers are scary creatures to fear? And do we want to teach our kids that you can judge a person's moral content by the way they look?

Okay, so maybe I'm picking the movie apart. And maybe I've been brainwashed with all the PC junk that floats around anymore. However, I think "Pete's Dragon" gets a D in my book for children's viewing. It can stay in the house, but only because the kids think Elliot is a hoot and were giggling uncontrollably at some of his antics.

P.S. I do this to all our kids books/movies/shows, so don't be offended if you are a lover of "Pete's Dragon" (I could nit-pick apart "Beauty and the Beast" next, if that would make anyone feel better, or even "Clifford" -- the opening song on that ticks me off every time). I over-analyze them and can find fault with almost any story.

A Niece!

I guess I touched on this a bit in my last post, but didn't really go into detail. My sister and her husband welcomed their first child into the world in August, which also happens to mean that I finally get to be an Aunt! I didn't think to ask if my sister was okay with me posting pictures or revealing names, so I'm going to call her L. for now. She is sweet little thing and I'm glad I got to meet her a few weeks ago when I was in Ohio!

I was totally thrilled when I learned months ago that she was indeed going to be a she and started planning my knitting right away. I've been just dying to show off my work and I finally can, as I gave the gift to the my sister and her husband when I was visiting. Since they live in Guam right now, but visit Ohio a lot and will eventually move back, I wanted to make something that they could use in either place. So, I picked a lacy pattern, hoping it would make it light enough to use in Guam, but something that you could layer over turtlenecks and leggings. So, this is what I came up with:

I'm totally in love with the pattern and definitely going to make Lucy one for next spring.

And, while I was in Ohio, I got to be a sponsor for L.'s baptism. I also got to make the cake (and in this case, cupcakes) for the baptism. I am really very happy with how they turned out, especially considering I made them in an unfamiliar kitchen. I think I'm really getting the hang of fondant now...

I can't wait to visit again next week -- and this time everyone but Reid will get to go! Jeremy is a closet baby-hog, too, so I know he will be happy to meet little L., too!