Bargain Hunting

Who doesn't love a bargain? Sales seem to draw me, kind of like bugs to a light. You just have to be careful not to get zapped. Is it really a bargain to spend money on something you didn't need in the first place and most likely won't use or never would have missed in your life if you hadn't seen the "SALE" sign?

That said, beware these kind of "clearance" signs.

Do you see what I see? CLEARANCE: You could have paid this, but we now we want MORE.

Disturbing Disappearances

Strange things have been happening around here... (cue eerie music)

Things have gone missing and not just any kind of things... things that are vulnerable have seemingly vanished without a trace.

These are well loved and well worn things... better known as worn out or BrOkEn toys.

Only one or two mortally wounded toys have disappeared at a time and ONLY every other day or so. It has not been frequent enough to arouse the notice of the young toy "caretakers". (I use that term loosely.) It happens when everyone is distracted or in the dark of night. Once it even happened when the boys simply looked the other way.

You may wonder how I have noticed....

I confess: I did it. I personally disposed of the toys... and I LIKED it. I did it quickly and quietly and I'm certain that I'll do it again. The urge is just too strong to resist.

This house has been a broken toy sanctuary for far too long; the boys' protests cannot protect the misfits if they are not vigilant.

Mwahahaha!!

Yesssss... I did it and I'll do it again.

Signed,

The Serial Toy Killer

Everyone Gets Tired Sometimes

And I'll be sure to snap your picture when you fall asleep... especially on a road trip.

This is Micah. He is using the Slump method. It's when you just relax where you're sitting and don't even bother with the head nods. It's a good way to prevent the Open Mouth side effect though you may have Stiff Neck syndrome later.

Holly used the I'm Going to Get Comfy and Sleep method. This method requires a pillow and whatever else you can put between you and the hard wall of the vehicle. This method does have its risks. Notice the slightly parted mouth but her neck muscles will probably remain unknotted.

Dave goes for the Relaxing at the Beach method. This requires a seat in front of you to either prop your legs against or over. The Slump and Slide move keeps you from the Open Mouth and Snoring risks. Although I could say he was snoring and he couldn't prove otherwise since he and all the other witnesses were sleeping at the time...

My Dad managed to pull off the I'm Really Awake but Resting my Eyes look. He was definitely out though. It's a good thing he didn't use the Head Back method; he would definitely have the Snoring effect and startle himself awake.

And since I'm a good sport... I took a picture of myself sleeping.

It took me a few tries since I couldn't stop laughing and then I woke up everyone else with my hysterics.

But I was determined. Pretty good, huh? It's the I Don't Have Anywhere to Lay my Head but Back method. Open Mouth is a given with this particular sleep position. Micah told me the only thing missing with my picture was some drool. I wish I had thought of that.

Or maybe I should be mad at Micah for insinuating that I drool...

This Makes Me Laugh

At the Salvation Army Family Store.....

Do you see what I see? Clever marketing? or a DIRE WARNING

The Places I Went

I was told to take a lot of pictures on my trip to the Dominican Republic. So I did.

This "restroom" was not restful. It was in a separate building behind the church and there were no lights. Picture this with just the beam of a small flashlight. Three of us ventured out back to use this toilet. We made plenty of noise as we approached and Cheryl threw rocks at the building. Why? Because we didn't want "company" in there in the dark. Rats and spiders, PLEASE let the girls have a turn. The rocks and noises did their job. *whew* When someone asked if I had actually used these "facilities" I responded, "Hey, I was just glad that I would have a door!"

The next outhouse I came across was brand new. It was built at a construction site (which I have yet to tell about). Isn't it cute? Then they said we had time to use the outhouse if needed.

So, of course, I quickly took advantage of the offer AND took a picture. The door latch was a little tricky.

Here's the bathroom I used everyday. The showers were cold but surprisingly refreshing to me. The lantern was for when the power was out. (The power goes out nearly every day for hours and usually comes on again in the evening/night.) That toilet had me practicing me my patience; you had to hold that handle until it was completely done flushing in slow motion. The water bottles were for brushing teeth. You don't want to put even a minuscule amount of tap water in your mouth.

Ah! Another church bathroom. Better than the scary dark outhouse but it had its own setbacks. Notice there is no t.p. No problem. I came prepared. (The other girls called me Walmart. Not that I had packed a lot; I just packed what I remembered needing in a third world country.)

And there was no running water. This bowl was filled with bleach water for cleaning your hands. Yes, I used it. Then I used my hand sanitizer too. What? Wouldn't you?

Even the nicest bathrooms have their occasional challenges. The house was running out of water. Cheryl had ordered a water truck to fill the cistern but it hadn't arrived yet. I said, "We could just carry some water up from the other house so that we can flush the toilets here." She agreed but didn't let me do it. She had the guys on the team carry buckets. Buckets and buckets. *ahem* Sorry, guys. My fault.

I will admit that I didn't go here. Holly did. And I asked her to take a picture. That's right. I knew that Josiah would want to see a picture of the airplane's bathroom. But I totally could have gone here; I was just, well, I didn't want to get up and squeeze past the nice man sitting next to me.

So there you have it. I did miss a few places. Thank me.

My dad laughed at me for taking all these pictures. (So did Micah and Holly and Cheryl and everyone who knew) My response? "It's a lot more fun using a questionable/scary bathroom when you are collecting evidence for bragging rights!"

I hope you are sufficiently impressed. And please, please, tell me your worst bathroom experience. Okay, maybe I should clarify; please tell me about the worst bathroom you have used or the one that made you suddenly realize you didn't have to go so bad after all.

Republica Dominicana Project #2

Okay, so the Dominican trip wasn't all fun and games, cleaning water, and church services .... unless you call this part "The Painting Game". I like the sound of that!

Come to think of it... they DID hand me a machete and a shovel as well as paint, brushes, and rollers. And that ramp to the roof could be a slide of sorts with only a 50/50 chance of sliding right off and twisting or breaking something...

And leaning over the side of the roof to reach the top of the wall could be a balancing game of sorts. You just don't want to lose your balance because, well, you could end of losing a lot more. Loads of fun!

Notice that Holly spent some precious painting time dancing around when she thought no one was looking. Okay, maybe I made that part up; we knew that she knew that we knew that she was dancing. It was all part of "The Painting Game" I'm sure. Maybe she was practicing her brush stroke technique.

Hm? What was the shovel and machete for? The machete was to cut back the trees and other growth from the walls we were to paint. Then we lost it. So I "borrowed" some one's shovel that happened to be laying around and dug up the weeds that were growing on the roof. That's right. Weeds. On the roof. And I made the ants really mad too. You can see the pile of dirt, weeds, and ants behind the dancing Holly. No, you can't really see the ants; but you can see the dirt in which they live. It's the ant penthouse.

This is the wall beside the water filtration building. Beautiful, yes? No? Micah cleaned it up and painted it too.

Tah dah! Now there is a freshly painted, clean wall next to the freshly painted, clean water building.

This is one of the outside walls of the church/school and that is the path to the water filtration building. We cleaned the wall, swept the path, and then painted the wall. Since we had already played the "balancing over the side of the roof game" with this wall on the first painting day, we remained on the ground this time.

A little story on the side: There was a bird that kept whistling at me, so I whistled back and forth with it for quite some time. My competitiveness took over. I had to outlast the bird! My whistler was getting so tired... and then the bird... I think he started mocking me. He did learn a new whistle from me though; if he ever migrates to my house, he can call my dog.

After we ran out of white paint and the wall/path was sufficiently finished, I helped Holly do the finish work on the water filtration building. Those poor brushes! Brush work just isn't the same when you're working with bricks. I felt a little bit sorry for them.

What? Yes, those are the same jeans I wore the first painting day. No, that's a completely different shirt. Did I wash those jeans? Um, no. Were they disgusting then? Wow. You're really asking some personal questions. Um, yes they were disgusting but not SO disgusting. I sprayed them with Febreze the night before and once again that morning for good measure. So although they were disgusting, they smelled fresh. Now while you're at it, why don't you give me a paper cut and pour some lemon juice on it? Did I bring those jeans home? NO! They told me that they wanted to stay and be a missionaries in the D.R. so I let them.

I consider "The Painting Game" to be won. Yes, it was a team game. Us against the walls. We won.

Because I'm Sure You Want to Know...

I am aware that lately I've left some things hanging. You're probably just barely restraining yourself from asking me what's up. Shh. I can have my delusions and feed them too.

Tatatatata DAH!

Last week my dad had a showdown with Tim. Yeah... Tim didn't stand a chance and has been banished NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

In December I asked Santa for a few highly reasonable items for Christmas.

1. Vacuum- preferably one that would recognize Legos and spit them into a separate compartment so that I can rescue them without all the bending and crawling currently needed to avoid sucking them up.

2. Carpet Cleaner-
Is there a super fast model? One that dries as it goes too? Or maybe one that
vacuums, saves Legos, cleans, AND dries? That would be good. Then you could skip
#1.

I didn't receive either of the models I asked for but I did get some new vacuum bags.

Oh well. At least my vacuum still sucks.

In other news...
After being missing in action for nine days, Cai showed up and was instantly welcomed back into Noah's arms. And there was much rejoicing. The dog, also called Cai, who filled in for Cai may need counseling due to feelings of abandonment. But don't worry; we have a Woody doll and everyone knows that Woody takes good care of all the toys.
Note: No one received the promised reward since it was Noah himself who found his Cai.

Speaking of dogs...
Miss Hepburn, my fabulous seasoned citizen client, moved and DID get to take her dog with her. And there was much rejoicing.

Regarding the boobies discussion...
Apparently Josiah is correct. It seems that John may have what can be categorized as "man boobs". I felt obligated to tell you this since it is ... uh... well ... just HILARIOUS to me!

That about wraps it up. In the words of Paul Harvey, Now you know... the rest of the story.

Waiting AND Getting Shiny Teeth

It's a waiting kind of day over here. There is the waiting for my dad's surgery to be done and the waiting to hear how John's job interview is going/went. Just waiting.

Did you ever realize that when you say or write a word very often, it starts to sound and look strange? Maybe your words are different than mine. waiting. waeting. wating. whaeting. I think it's pretty cool that in the old days people just spelled a word however they thought it looked best and that they liked to be creative about it. Sure. Standardized spelling is nice but where's the creativity in it? Hm?

Okay. Enough weighting. (See? That spelling brings up a totally different meaning. Oh well.)

Here are the latest Nathanisms:

"I'm your hero."
"Welcome to my world!"
(This one is completely John's fault.)

"Mommy! My teeth are shiny! From wipes."
(This is a result of too much unattended time in the bathroom.)

Obsess Much?

I've been having a lot of thoughts this morning but nothing in particular is screaming for attention (except my citrus loving children who keep asking for more oranges).


Then this thought comes to me: I need to get a Dr Pepper. And I keep thinking about that wonderfully shiny can of deliciously satisfying Dr Pepper until I get up and get one.


Then I thought, "I bet I can find a picture of Dr Pepper online." You see, I didn't want to post the picture of John holding a Dr Pepper because it would bring back too many sad thoughts of betrayal and what not.... aaaand I'm feeling a bit lazy about taking a picture of my current can. (Besides, there's too much clutter around here this morning to get a clear, non embarrassing shot.) So I went to drpepper.com and found THIS:

Yeah, apparently they don't sell cans of Dr Pepper in their online store. Go figure.

**Excuse me while I go run the vacuum so that my boys can run around like screaming banshees......... OKAY. I'm back. I hope you didn't mind waiting. **

But while I was there, I discovered that under the entertainment link there is an online game (games are nice) and that you can watch a cute and funny little commercial for Diet Dr Pepper (which I don't drink). Oh. Sure. You can drink it if you want! I just realize that it's winter and our bodies need an extra layer of fat in order to keep warm in these frigid temperatures so a LOT of regular Dr Pepper and brownies help me out in that area.

HOWEVER, the most important discovery I made is in the "About" section. There is a timeline which shows you what Dr Pepper has looked like throughout the decades! You know, in case you were to time travel, you can know exactly what you're looking for without having to question whether it is a counterfeit Dr Pepper or something. I think it is a very thoughtful and informative slide show. I'm going to study it diligently, just in case.

ANYWAY... now that I have my Dr Pepper, what am I going to write about this morning? *sigh*

Just a Few Questions Please

I write so much about my family and myself that I thought today would be a good day to find out more about YOU. Yes, you. with the hair.

And so I'll ask a few questions and just so you don't feel put on the spot, I'll answer them too (but not instead of you, just along with you -only I can't hear you at the same time and it's all typed out so you can't really hear me either... ).

*Ahem* Let's get started.

1. If you have a blog, what was your reason for starting it?
I DO have a blog! Thank you for noticing. I first started this blog when my dear friend suckered convinced me to do it by telling me it would help us keep up with each other since we live so far away. Little did I know it would become a vice and the PRESSURE to top each post, to talk about interesting things besides the latest diaper catastrophe, to let the whole wide world know what a weirdo I can be.... Um. What was the question? Right. I just wanted to keep up with friends and have fun with it.

2. What is your favorite movie line?
There are so many movies and so little time.... Hm. The quote I most closely relate to at this time is that of Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles. "No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit? I feel like the maid; I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for... for ten minutes!" Did you really think it would be anything else? I have three little boys after all.

3. What is your favorite color?
That's an easy one. Red. Wait. Do you mean the color I like to wear? or the color I like my interior decorating? or my favorite color of crayon? Does anyone else love the line from Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail when Tim asks, "WHAT is your favorite color?" and the guy goes "Blue. No, yellow." and he gets thrown into the thingamagig because he got the answer wrong? Okaaaay. Next question?

4. How do you feel about Christmas being one week away?
Christmas. It's such a wonderful time of the year. My favorite really. I love the visiting, the food, the games, the laughter, the expression on people's faces when they open their gifts unless, of course, they hate it. I'm sorry. Did you say ONE week? As in 7 days? I gotta go.

*Disclaimer: I am in no way a professional interviewer and somewhat stink at casual conversation. My apologies for any awkwardness to you or for you. Yep.

How Rude of Me!

I just received a phone call which was from NCB on the caller I.D. readout. Since I didn't know who or what that is I answered the phone thinking that it may be a call that John needs to take. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hello?
Caller: Robin?
Me: No. You must have the wrong number.
Caller: Is Timothy there?
Me: No. No Timothy or Robin live here. You have the wrong number.
Caller: Is this the Perino residence?
Me: Not Timothy or Robin Perino.
Caller: Well, they gave this number as a number of contact...
Me: I don't believe that.
Caller: Would you take a message for them?
Me: No!
Caller: You won't take a message for your relatives?
Me: I don't even see them!
Caller: Just take a message and pick up the phone, call them, and pass it on.
Me: No. I'm not taking a message. I don't see them. I don't call them. You have the wrong number. Please don't call here again!
Caller: Well, I can see that you're just being rude...
Me: You are the one being RUDE. Don't call here. Good-bye. *click*

I don't know why I stayed on the phone as long as I did. Does anyone else have people calling their homes and telling them they are rude? Or do you hang up before that happens? *sigh*