I Need One of These

Or rather Joseph needs one of these so his father and I can keep our sanity at the dinner table, especially after this weekend's squash soup encounter. Unfortunately, there are no videos of that.



This could also be filed under the "Why didn't I think of that?" category.

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

I can't believe I almost let the day slip away without posting this gem!

Well educated?

I have to admit it, I am a sucker for all those blog quizzes and such. I take them, I just don't post them because I am ashamed to admit how many of these quizzes I have taken. There is one that I have been particularly curious about, but too afraid to take -- The Blog Readability Test (TBRT). I was afraid to see Elementary School level pop up.

I started this blog knowing I was not much of a writer. The problem is I am not crafty enough to scrapbook, I am not disciplined enough to journal, I am not talented enough to photograph well. Basically, I was going to have to deal with the fact I am not talented in these areas, but I needed some way to capture this time. As the quote on my sidebar says, "The days are long, but the years are short." The blog has become my outlet for capturing day-to-day memories.

I wanted to take the TBRT, but I didn't necessarily need a reminder of my lacking skills. Today, I worked up some courage and I took the test. After all, taking the test does not mean I have to post the test. Imagine my surprise when this was the result:

Wooo-hoooo!! I guess I am smarter than I thought. I can't wait till dh sees this as he is always second guessing my grammar :) We all know these quizzes are reliable indicators of character and personality. Certainly, they are just as reliable when it comes to measuring education!

I think the real compliment goes out to all of you reading this blog. After all, you are the ones doing the reading. I guess that college education was good for something -- reading blogs! It's good to know the small fortune paid for that education is finally paying it's dividends :)

Food Drives

I don't know if this only happens in my area, but the week of Halloween always seems to bring out kids collecting can goods for food pantries. I actually look forward to this. I like clearing out the cans that seem to collect dust. I also much prefer this to other fundraisers where I am asked to spend $14 for a roll of wrapping paper I could pick up for a buck fifty.

This year, the first group was a handful of girl scouts on a scavenger hunt. They were panting and out of breath trying to hurry. I think we made their day. A month or so ago dh was at our parish as they were cleaning out the pantry. They had the absolute biggest can of spaghetti sauce I had ever seen. Dh, being unable to pass up something free, brought it home. It took up half a shelf in my pantry and, really, the jar was more appropriate for a dinner of 50 rather than our family of 5. So the girl scouts got the spaghetti sauce. I now have half a shelf in my pantry too. It was a win-win situation.

The next group introduced themselves as the local high school National Honor Society. You know top of their class, smartest kids around. I was in the NHS when I was in high school as well, so I was happy to retrieve 4 large cans and clear more space in my pantry. I bring them out to the two young girls at my porch who then exchange funny glances and look back at me and say, "How do you think we should carry these?" Apparently, we were the first house they had solicited and they had not thought about how they would actually carry the cans they wanted to collect from our neighborhood. Remember, this is the National Honor Society. I went in to retrieve the sturdiest bag I could find. After thanking me one girl turns to the other and says, "you think anyone else thought about how to carry this stuff?" The group of 10 year old girls scouts were smart enough to bring a wagon, I guess it is a good thing I gave them the spaghetti sauce.

Antidote to the bad joke

If I didn't make you chuckle with my bad joke yesterday, maybe this will do the trick. I needed a good laugh and this worked for me.

It is a few years old, this is Bear (now 5). Her reaction to seeing the camera is priceless. It is much the same reaction I have.