Happy Anniversary to Me. Oh,yeah, and to Sane Man Too.

The other day I celebrated 22 years of marital bliss to my dear husband, Sane Man.  Well, bliss might not be the word, but he does put up with me, and aside from being sane, the man's a saint.  I mean, if you had to be married to me, you WOULD understand.

So we're old now.  We really had no big plans for our special day.  We did go out to dinner and that was really it.  We couldn't think of anything else to do.  All we did was stop at the drug store to get my son some medicine and get gas.  How romantic.

There was one thing I did want to do for my anniversary,  get my engagement ring fixed.  You see, I'd lost the diamond out of it (it's okay, I found it), and I wanted to take it to the jewelers.  I did take it with me, but the place we bought it is no longer there, and we weren't sure where to take it.  It got to be late so we never got to it.  (You know all that getting gas and drugs takes time.)

Anyway, I got home and decided that I should probably get my wedding band enlarged a little as it is quite tight.  While I was thinking of it, I decided to take it off and put it with my engagement ring.  Well, boy was it stuck on there.  My poor finger was actually suffocating.  I got out the Vaseline.  I ran my hand under cold water.  I twisted and pulled.   But I could barely budge it.  This is when my dear husband decided to get involved.

Sane Man:  You'd better let me help you get that off.

Me:  NO!  I can do it.  It already hurts enough.

Sane Man:  Your finger is turning purple.  You're cutting off your circulation.

Me:  I can do it.

Sane Man:  You're not doing it.

Me:  But it will hurt.

Sane Man:  You need to get it off.  It won't hurt that bad.

Me:  Okay.  I guess.  But, please don't hurt me too much.

Sane Man:  Come here.  (Starts pulling.)

Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Sane Man:  It's off.  That wasn't that bad, was it?

Me:  It was like giving birth.

Then I had to think about it for a minute.  Just how many women spend their anniversary having their husbands rip their wedding rings off?  Not many I hope!  :)

The Claw Lady!!!

You know those machines that have the big claws that you use to try to win a toy?  You know, the ones that eat quarters like a stressed out mom eats chocolate?  Well, I, for one, hate those things.  Every time I go somewhere where they have one of those, my kids are drawn to them like flies to, uh, left out food.  I have told them over and over that they are just a scam and a big waste of money.  I think they actually started to believe me.

Then a few weeks ago my son Baber was at the bowling alley the day after his birthday.  He had the quarter with him that his grandma had taped to his present.  In went the quarter to the claw machine.  Out came a very cute, but cheap toy frog.

Okay, so now I'm a liar.  I had told him that you can never win those toys.  I had to restate that, yes, you CAN win SOMETIMES, but it is about as rare as one of my kids picking up their mess after being told only six or seven times.  I mean, it really just about never, ever happens.

So, fast forward to today.  I took the kids to the store and was at the register paying the bill.  The kind people at the store had the foresight to put one of those claw machines right across from the register.  My two youngest, Baber, who now thinks he has some serious clawing skills, and Bear who is also a believer.  Well, I'm watching then out of the corner of my eye when I see this nice older lady workin' the claw.  She drops in the quarter.  Grabs a toy.  Then gives the toy to my son.  Okay.  Now I'm REALLY a liar.  But wait, there's more!  She could hardly give a toy to one kid and not the other, right?  So in goes another quarter, and wouldn't ya know it?  Another toy!  So she gives it to my daughter!  And if that weren't enough she gave them a dollar so that they could each try twice.  Okay, well thankfully they didn't win.

When I got done at the register I walked over and talked to the lady and "thanked her" for the toys.  (I put that in quotes as I can't honestly say I am thankful for two more stuffed animals around here.)  She then proceeded to tell me that she was totally into the claw game and would win them throughout the year to give out to kids on Halloween.  She loves the claw so much that she even had a mini-claw game at home!

So now what is a mother to do?  I have been outed as a liar as now my kids are just SURE that all it takes is a quarter or two to get a toy.  I am going to have to avoid those claw machines like the plague.  But like those little guys in Toy Story, I think the claw has come to get me.  I have been chosen.

Just hope I don't become...The Claw Lady!!!

They like me! They really like me!!!

Tito, hand me a tissue.


I am misty-eyed and honored. I have been given not one, but two awards this week from my wonderful bloggy friends!!!

The first was from Creative Learners.  She, too is a Beautiful Blogger.  So check out her blog!

And the other is the (Little Miss) Sunshine Award from Got Chai? which is authored by the most sun-shiny gal I know! 

Now one of these awards asked me to list 5 random things about me, and the other 7.  Then I am supposed to give my own awards.  I am SO going to cheat here as I am just too confused and, quite frankly lazy, to do all that.  So I'll just give you five random facts about me, and list five of my favorite blogs, honoring each of them with both the Beautiful Blogger and the Sunshine awards.  Hey, I do what I can!

So here are 5 random things about me:

1.  I don't have any tattoos. While a girl with a tat was once a rarity, I now think I'm in the minority. 

2.  I love Toby Mac.  It's okay, my husband does too.  LOL 

3.  My little toes are not normal.  In fact, they are rather gross.

4.  I love plain old regular black/orange tea.  Sorry to be so boring.

5.  I find it totally weird to see two buttons lit up on my alarm clock when I go to bed at night.  The one that means the alarm is set  is pretty much always on, but the other one that means it's PM  is lit so rarely that it really stands out to me!  :)

Now on to some fave blogs:

1.  The Legacy of Home
2.  The Homeschool Desk
3.  Pink and Orange Coffee
4.  Marine Corps Nomads
5.  A Life Better Than I Deserve

You know what, I've run out of time.  I am going to simply let you check these blogs our on your own!!!  :)