All About Angie

Congratulations!!!

We have a new member of the family. Extended family, if you will. And really, it’s a stretch that we are related, but I would love to lump him and his family into ours. See, his mother’s brother is married to Mark’s cousin. So that makes us…….oh,……well, I guess nothing really, but it’s fun to postulate.

He’s a cutie, anyway. And his name is Josiah! (That would’ve been Luke’s name if Mark had played the game fairly. But I’m not bitter!!) Well, go on over to the Horne’s and leave a “Congratulations!”.

Welcome to the world, Josiah!!!

Driving Miss Lydia

Conversation with 3 year-old in car:

Lydia: Momma, that light was yellow.
Me: What?
Lydia: I said, that light was yellow. You just went through the yellow light.
Me: Yes, I think I did.
Lydia: Well, you’re not supposed to do that.
Me: ??
Lydia: You’re not supposed to drive through when the light is yellow. That’s bad driving.
Me: How long have you been driving now?
Lydia: (wild laughter) !!!!

How she is all of a sudden the expert on EVERYTHING, I will never know.

I C A IKEA

(Picture taken while driving in construction zone. Not recommended by this blog.)

Yesterday, I (with Luke in tow) ventured where no one in our family has gone before. The shiny, new and impressively illustrious IKEA store just down the road a ways was the destination of choice. Why? I’m not sure. It’s popular, that’s for certain. Which is one reason I was glad to leave. The published opening time is 10am and at 950, I waited (with about 70–I’m seriously not exaggerating!–other people) to enter the decorous showplace. Prices were cheap(er than other places), everything was in its place, the smell of money changing hands was in the air. I was there to look at a specific piece of furniture. Once I figured out where I was (tip: use maps and throw breadcrumbs) and figured out where the particular furniture was that I was searching for, things were much better. I purchased my furniture and “quickly” exited the building in a little under 2 hours. Why did it take me 2 hours, you ask? Probably because of my overwhelming curiosity as well as the massive amounts of fellow moths attracted to the same disasterous end and all fighting for the shortest checkout line.

Too many people with too little to do on a Wednesday morning, definitely. I could take or leave IKEA, to which many of my pals will gasp in horror, but it’s true. I’ll tell you why….. This is your wake-up call. People, the Swedes are taking over America one store at a time. And from what I saw yesterday, we are the willing sheep into the slaughterhouse. Now is the time to brush up on your Swedish. The day is coming when everyone will have blonde hair and blue eyes and all we will be able to say is: “Var ligger den n�rmsta bankomaten?” (Where is the nearest ATM?) or “�r jag arresterad?” (Am I under arrest?). And those pesky Scandanavians will laugh at us and try to sell us little plastic doggies or a really cheap dining table that you have to put together yourself.

Run! Hide your wallet! Flee!

Diaper Wars

I’m fairly sure not a lot of readers will care about this entry and if you don’t, I’m not hurt. I just want you to know that I fired Hampers* as the Official Diaper of the Dishman Household. Every night, another leak (that would be The Understatement of the Year). Everything soaked. Frustrated Mommy cleaned sheets every morning. Put Mommy in baaad mood first thing. So, I went out on a limb and bought a pack of Puggies Supreme*. But I am a cheapskate and HAD. TO. FINISH. THE. WHOLE. HAMPERS. PACK. HAD. TO. But that was last week.

But today is a brand new day! Hello, Puggies! Hello, dry, happy, giggling baby! Hello, clean (or mostly clean) sheets! Hello, big beautiful world! Birds are singing, flowers are smiling, angel choirs are rejoicing……

It’s the little things, isn’t it?

*Diaper company names changed to protect myself from frivolous lawsuits.

Lunch

My lunch today was SU-premo. Not because of the food, but because of the company. I had lunch with about 100 5-7 year olds. Ok, I really only talked to about 10 of them. The one I enjoyed most was, of course, my own 5 year-old. So there we were. Sitting in the school cafeteria. Eating lunch. Having fun. I could tell she was thrilled with me being there. The other girls were too, apparently. One of them practically talked my face off, but she was a sweet girl, so I didn’t stop her. All of the children who sat near me were very well behaved. Even the one I mentioned earlier here (you know, the Britney Spears dress-alike?) had superb manners and was very nice.

Interesting, though, the conversations you can have with a bunch of 5 year-olds….
(General talk of mommies, daddies, siblings, the like….)
Kindergartener #1: My mommy is very smart. She remembers EVERYTHING!
Me: Wow. Sometimes mommies are like that.
K#1: But not my daddy. He has trouble remembering where he left his keys. Almost every morning!
——–
K#2: I have a joke for you….Knock, knock.
Me: Who’s there?
K#2: Catch.
Me: Catch who?
K#2: Bless you! Ha ha…get it? You made a sneezing sound! Ha ha ha!!!
——–
Glad to brighten anyone’s day, I am.

There was a lot more “loose lips”, shall I say? But I can’t remember it all. It was a great experience. The sad part is that when it was time for me to leave, Susanna’s lower lip was quivering like crazy. It was only a short matter of time before the proverbial dam burst. She was sad that I was leaving, but she understood. She knew I would be back to pick her up soon. And I guess that’s how it’s been the last few weeks. She has come to the realization that she does indeed have to go, so she will try to make the best of it. And she has a pretty good attitude about it. I’m really proud of her.

Yessiree, nothing like good company for lunch!

Unbelievable!

Miracle of miracles……

I just checked my email and lo and behold, of the 9 (nine) incoming messages, all 9 of them were real. No spam! 100% known persons. That’s a first! Ever! What is the likelihood of that ever happening again in my lifetime?

(For the record, I don’t usually get 9 whole emails at one time. I just haven’t checked it in a few days. I guess they’re starting to stack up! Even better, no spam in a few whole days!! Pinch me, I must be dreaming!)

Back In The Saddle Again

Labor Day this year brought about a new activity for me. Well, maybe not “new”, but more like “re-newed”.

Back some 6-ish years ago (before kids when we had just moved to Columbus, Ohio), Mark bought me a mountain bike. We went biking at a great little park in Westerville almost everyday after he got home from work. In truth, frequently, he would zoom off and leave me in the dust because he had a road bike while I had a mountain bike. But it was fun. Sweaty, icky and tiring, but fun.

Well, once the kids started coming along, I really didn’t ride my mountain bike too much. I have been pregnant for about 3 out of the last 5 years and the last year or so, I let a sweet wonderful friend borrow it. Through no fault of hers whatsoever, my bike went to that great bike race in the sky a few months ago (it was in the back of her minivan when this happened and it was totalled). Losing the bike wasn’t all that upsetting for me, as I hadn’t ridden it in quite a while (almost half a decade!) and as they say, “…out of sight, out of mind…”

Zoom forward to Labor Day 2005. At Mark’s insistence, complete with him babysitting, I tagged along with the Master Mountain Biker himself, as seen here. (The Grand Pop really is a great biking companion. He didn’t even leave me in the dust once!) He took me (riding Peter’s bike…Thanks, Peter!) on one of his “usual” rides. Nine miles of pretty easy terrain. It was great!

I felt so young! So free! And….so …sweaty. Ick! But it was a good kind of sweaty. And (surprisingly!) my muscles don’t even hurt much at all!! Not bad for real exercise, eh? And I might just do it again. Better yet, maybe someday, I’ll become a member of high society! Yay!

WARNING!!

Notice: If you are in preschool, love your craft time there, and have recently made a craft using Cheerios and glue, do not, under any circumstance, leave said craft project in direct reach of your baby brother. Who is probably hungry (as he always is). And who is quite good at destructional activities.

I can only give you Exhibit A (all other exhibits have been consumed):

Apparently, glue and Cheerios are non-toxic.