Hey - we'll be paying for his therapy anyway...

might as well get our money's worth!

As some of you may remember (or not - I won't hold it against you!), last year for my birthday we headed to the coast and in one of the many candy stores, I stumbled upon one of my childhood favorites - candy cigarettes.


We didn't find any again until yesterday, when hubby and I had almost five (count 'em - 5!) hours to ourselves while the kid was at rehearsal and then at the movies with a friend. We took advantage of our grown-up time and headed to lunch. The place where we ate sold "old fashioned" candy including, you guessed it - candy cigarettes!

After lunch we bought 4 packs, er, boxes and headed on our way. They sat in my purse until this afternoon when hubby could hold out no longer. I told him I thought it would be funny if we messed with our kids' head a little. He agreed. After all, parents have to get their kicks where they can, right?

He called Cody into the kitchen and held up one of the boxes and asked him if he knew what it was. He then informed Cody that since he was at that age where kids experimented with such things, they were going to go out on the back deck and finish them together. All the while I'm trying desperately to suppress the giggles that are rising, while our son is insisting that I've already talked to him about smoking and he doesn't want to go smoke with his dad! At this point, hubby got the giggles. I announced that if he *did* choose to imbibe in cigarettes, these would be the only kind that would be acceptable, then turned around with a candy cigarette hanging out of my mouth. As a look of relief washed over his face, he laughed and there was some mention made of his father and I being freaks.

That may be true, but he has our DNA, so I guess the jokes on him...again. ;D

Forget Shakespeare's Tempest...

Last month we had the biggest snowstorm in 40 years. This month - wind. We live at the mouth of the Columbia River gorge,



where the arctic winds blast down through Canada, are funneled through the gorge and then spat out on the poor souls who live here. We knew this when we moved here. Really. To be honest, they're not much different than the Santa Ana's (for those of you familiar with that nasty southern California wind) except it's cold air instead of warm. The difference this time is that they're not stopping.

Saturday afternoon hubby and I were sitting in the living room listening to the winds howl outside, when we noticed some debris flying about the front yard. Besides a BBQ cover, there were some roofing shingles. Our roofing shingles. So off hubby trotted to Home Depot, cursing under his breath, to pick up some supplies to fix the roof. I told him to be happy - at least we weren't having to deal with downed trees, like most of our neighbors.



Still cursing, up he went on the roof, pounding away in the cold wind. And the winds kept blowing...

Sunday morning we awoke, went outside and found that the continuing "breeze" had blown off more shingles. So up hubby went, pounding away in the cold wind. And the winds kept blowing...

Monday morning dawned. I lay awake snuggled under the blankets listening to the sound of what could only be more shingles being stripped from the roof. So after hubby got home from work guess where he went? Yep, back onto the roof.

Cody and I returned around 4:00 this afternoon to find one of the neighbors cutting his front tree down. Apparently it was starting to pull out of the ground in the high winds and he wanted to cut it down before it fell. Pretty smart thinking considering another of our neighbors not only lost several sections of her fence this weekend:

but she also lost her front tree, which ripped up part of the sidewalk when it went. The city was nice enough to promptly serve her with a notice that it was her responsibility to fix the sidewalk.

So anyway, hubby decided to help our neighbor finish taking down his tree when they noticed that our front tree was pulling up out of the ground as well. Can you guess what the men weilding chainsaws did next? Yep.

Now you see it...

Now you don't...

So what about you, my loyal readers? Any weird, wacky, or just plain wild weather your way?

Eating Around the World - Spain (in theory)

This months Eating Around the World took us to Spain. Or at least it was supposed to. Apparently here in the Pacific Northwest, Spain and Mexico are used interchangeably. No - really. If you type in Portland Authentic Spanish Restaurants, you'll get a listing of Mexican restaurants. If you can actually find something that says it's Spanish, the menu proves to be the same old bean burritos and enchiladas.

We arrived at the first place that we'd found on-line and quickly decided to leave. OK, I was the one who made the executive decision - but I stand by my choice! As hubby so succinctly put it - it was an indoor roach coach. For those of you not familiar with that term, it is the, um, endearing term used for those mobile food establishments that are frequently found near construction sites.

After eating our lunch, the always prepared Jana quizzed us with the differences and similarities between the two cuisines, how the different climates affected the cooking styles, the different foods that were imported from one country to the other, etc.



One of my posts just wouldn't be complete without a Sasquatch sighting. That's what he gets for coming with us ;D



And look! We have a female Sasquatch in the group as well!




We still have to choose next months country. Any suggestions?

It's official. I'm addicted...

Hello. My name is Firefly Mom and I am addicted to Facebook.
(can you say "Hello, Firefly Mom"? ;)

As if I wasn't having a hard enough time keeping up with my e-mails...

As if I wasn't having a hard enough time keeping up with my wonderful blog-buddies blogs...

As if I wasn't having a hard time finding time to come up with semi-witty and entertaining blog posts of my own...

As if I wasn't having a hard enough time staying off the damned internet...

As if I wasn't having a hard enough time doing all of that laundry and cooking...

I now find myself addicted to Facebook. Well, it wasn't like I was really needing to do all of that laundry and cooking anyway. Not when I could be trying to find the girl that I ate lunch with every day in second grade. Or searching for the perfect "flair" for my board. Or wondering *why* the girl who lived down the street from me in 7th grade (who I was never friends with) wants to add me to her list of 150+ "friends".

You hear that loud sucking sound? It's me, being sucked into Facebook.

Wanna be my friend?

Blogger, Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, Classmates - so many ways to get in touch and keep in touch. I've been on Classmates for a few years now and have gotten in touch with a few old friends. Of course, you all know I'm on Blogger (or else you wouldn't be here ;), and yesterday I joined Facebook. 'Cause Kerry asked me if I was on it. You all may know by her alter-ego name: Topsy-Techie. There's only one little problem with this. Other than Kerry - I don't know anybody else on Facebook! That's right - I only have one friend on there. I guess this would be the adult version of being the last kid picked for the game at recess ;)

Most people on there join under their high school or college. I went to a teeny-tiny alternative high school that doesn't even have a listing on Facebook. So I ended up joining under the large public high school that I briefly attended in 10th grade. Although technically I was enrolled for 3 terms, I skipped most of those classes most of the time. Amazingly, I still ended up with enough extra credits by my senior year that I finished 6 months early!

Anyway, my point is that when I went through the people listed at the larger school, I realized that I don't remember most of them! How sad is that?? Nor would I recognize them if I saw them on the street. The really sad part is that I went to grade school and middle school with some of these people, and other than their names and one or two vague stories, I don't really remember them. I only have one friend from high school that I'm still friends with (and she's not on there!)

So what about you? Do you belong to any sites like Classmates, Facebook, or Myspace? Are you still in contact with your old school friends? Have any long lost friends found you?

Masochists are so busy this time of year!

Well, it's a new year and what turned out to be a very quiet holiday season is now over. As I sit here looking over my calendar book (yes, book. No Palm Pilot, iPhone, or Blackberry for me. I like actual pens and paper.) I am struck by the fact that I am now going to have to schedule some down time. If I can even find any down time. The biggest addition to our calendar?? Cody's play. 10 days ago he auditioned for a local production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest". He ended up with the part of Sebastian - a much bigger part than what he'd auditioned for, but he's thrilled. Know why? Because his buddy is playing his buddy in the play. AND they both get to be bad guys. AND they both get to die! He's so excited!! Boys are weird ;P

Going by the schedule that they've given us (and I know it's going to be added to), he has about 60 hours of rehearsals in the next 2 months. This will be on top of the other things already on the calendar, plus any free time with his friends, family activities - you get the picture. Did I mention that our first "real" vacation is next month? How about my dad's plans on coming out to visit for his vacation, too. Did I mention that yet? And just to make sure that I completely lose it, I've started doing the Weight Watchers Points diet. Because our vacation will involve me wearing a bathing suit. In public. I know...it horrifies me, too. There isn't enough self-tanner in Portland to get the glare off these white legs. I can only hope that reducing their size might save some poor islander's retinas.

What's next? Self flagellation??

maybe...

Happy New Year to All!

I know, I know - it's been a full week since my last post. Heck, it's been a full week since I've visited anyones bloggy land. But I'm back with plenty to share and will be playing catchup with all of my friends over the next 24 hours. 'Cause I've missed you all!

Monday was the last full day we had with our houseguests, and my friend and I spent it out and about together without the men folk. We had a glorious time by ourselves, and were repeatedly amused by the fact that she kept tripping the store alarms every time we walked in a store. And while we thought it was hilarious, the security guards - not so much. We never did figure out why it was happening, but it provided us with comic relief. Monday evening we finally broke out the camera for a group shot, because even though we've been good friends with them for over 6 years, we have about 5 pix of them (and visa versa). I know, hard to believe that someone who has so many shots of her hubby blocking his face from the camera could have so few shots of good friends who are willing subjects!

We've never been big New Years Eve people, and have routinely turned down party invitations. I know - what a couple of old married people! Instead, this year we hosted a New Years day brunch with our friends that we were supposed to be having over for Christmas Eve dinner (but had to postpone due to all the snow).

It was actually more of a Christmas/New Years combo celebration, since none of us had seen each other in a few weeks. One of the things we did was a "white elephant" gift exchange (basically, you exchange something worthless that you already own). Can you guess where our stock of giveaway gifts came from? Yep - my mother!

These glasses were Cody's "stocking stuffers" from my mother this year. They came complete (probably from a thrift store) with a thick layer of dust and cracked lenses. We just had to get a shot of ourselves in them before wrapping them back up to give away.

Here's part of the spread: scrambled eggs, bacon, turkey bacon (for Cody, who can't have pork), fried potatoes, pancakes, fruit salad, and several salsas and relishes.

Over here we have apple crisp, zucchini bread, gingerbread and poppy seed muffins.

After stuffing our faces with way too much food, we moved on to the white elephant gifts.

Lindsey drew first and was rewarded with an antler candle holder. Lucky girl.

Next came James, who picked the only really girly thing in the mix: the Troll doll earrings (courtesy of my mother ;) He promptly hooked them onto his suspenders and wore them the rest of the night.

Jana got a set of old bins, also courtesy of my mother ;)

Kala received a lighthouse night-light, which didn't seem too bad, until she was informed that it was battery operated and it would suck the battery dry within 2 hours. So if you need to get up at night to pee, you'd better do it within 2 hours of going to bed.

Cody and Mike with their bunny themed gifts. Can you believe these were contributed by two different families? Mikes already making plans for a bunny cake to bring to Easter dinner...

Here are the boys wearing Jarren's new gift ;)

We actually exchanged "real" gifts, too, but I didn't get a single shot of those.

Oh, and how on earth do I explain this next little beauty?!? Here's a little back story: Jana has a little bit of everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING. I've seen her basement - I'm not exaggerating. Well, one of the things she has a seemingly unending abundance of are little plastic reindeer. At the Christmas craft party of 2007, one of the crafts used them - but not nearly enough. And these things multiply like bunnies. In fact, hubby cleaned out behind our washing machine a couple of months back and you know what he found? One of these little plastic reindeer. These things have become a running joke for us, and Kala and I were totally prepared to find a box full of these things as a white elephant gift. But we didn't...

Instead, after all of the gifts were open, Jana pulled a large box from behind her chair. I slowly lifted a tissue wrapped item from its box, undid the tissue and found this:

Yep, it's a cone covered in little plastic reindeer and spray painted gold. How festive *snort* Mike and I are already planning ways to decorate it for other holidays. It is *so* going to be making appearances at our gatherings ALL. YEAR. LONG. ;)

As our day wore down (well after dinner time) we posed for a group shot. We couldn't quite hold it together long enough for this shot but I included it because - Look! - Sasquatch is not only smiling, he's actually laughing!

Here we're all finally holding it all together.




I hope you all have a wonderful and prosperous new year!