A Rose is a Rose...

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

"You say 'poe-tAA-toe.'  I say 'poe-tAH-toe.'"

Much has been said (and sung) about what we call things. 

There are differences created by geography, family, culture, etc.

Geography - soda, pop, Cokes

Family - I've been mocked endlessly for calling handing out Christmas presents "opening the tree"

Culture - think of your mom's sister.  Is she "ant", "aaaahnt" or "aahntie"?

And then there are those that are just WRONG. :)

I heard a lady on the news the other day talk about being "FUSS-trated."

I'll be honest.  I died a little inside.

Does she not SEE the R?!?

I once knew someone by the last name Wilkes.

People REGULARLY would read it "Wilkison".

YOU ADDED AN ENTIRE SYLLABLE TO THE END.

Just created it from thin air!!!

Then there's my husband.  He's a middle-namer.  But his first name is Joel.

Good, strong, relatively common American name.

Want to know who telemarketers and spam mail look for?

Juan.

Yep.  That's close.

And don't get me started on people in the south adding S's to store names.

WalMartS, TargetS, KMarts, Krogers

Makes my skin crawl!!!

You've got your "X-specially" and "Let me AX you a question."

But the world's most ironic mispronunciation?

My Spanish teacher, Senor Tic-Tac (bad breath), used to instruct us daily on our need to work on our

"Pro-NOUN-ciation"

Yep.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

Love, Shipoopies, and a Happy Weekend to you All!!!

Leslie

Lyrics

It's probably no surprise to anyone who knows me that I'm a lyrics girl.  I'm sure it's the English degree in me, or maybe it's that part of my soul/mind/heart that lead me to the English degree.  (So many things in life follow the chicken/egg arguement.) 

I'm sure my mom gets sick (and tired - Hello, Bill Cosby!) of hearing me say, "This song has the GREATEST lyrics. Listen to it.....Now be sure to listen closely to this part.  Aren't those awesome?!?  Let's listen again!" Poor thing, I do it to her all the time!!

Why am I telling you this?  Well, The Hubs had his Spring concert at school Tuesday night and one of the choirs did a little Les Miserables.  I've always loved the music, but suddenly, this particular lyric is standing out to me.  Maybe I just never understood the lyrics before now?  Maybe I just never caught the beauty of the words before, but I've been singing it non-stop since Tuesday night.

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

As they turn your dream to shame

Love.The.Imagery!!!

Anyway, my new attachment to this lyric got me to thinking of other favorite lyrics.

Everytime I think of you, I always catch my breath! 

Still possibly the most romantic lyric every written.

It's no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy, 'cause every now and then I kick the living sh** out of me.

Never was a truer word spoken.

 

You find this situation just a bit uncomfortable;

You'd rather stay far away from reality.

For you to understand would be clearly impossible;

So you shut your eyes and swear you can see.

Claiming there is a God, but does that mean anything?

So condescending to those that you don't understand;

Just too easy to make them your enemies.

Like an ostrich, you bury your head in the sand,

And then shout about all the things you believe.

But if there is a God, don't you think He can see

What you really mean? What you're doing?

You can't find the answers

Till you learn to question;

You won't appear stupid

Just ask for direction.

You're insecure and it clouds your perception

So stop and listen

And learn a lesson in love without condition.

So place all the souls that you know

in their own little box;

Quite convenient to handle them that way;

You're the only one you know who carries a cross

You don't care what they care about anyway.

And You talk to your God,

Prayin' for those who sin,

For their eyes to be opened.

You can't find the answers

Till you learn to question;

You won't appear stupid

Just ask for direction.

You're insecure and it clouds your perception

So stop and listen

And learn a lesson in love without condition.

I tried to find a clip of lyrics from this song by Ginny Owens, but really the whole song is amazing.  I love the lyrics. Powerful, life changing lyrics.

And then there's my latest ringtone - from back in the day.

We'll keep on spending sunny days this way

We're gonna talk and laugh our time away

I feel it comin' closer day by day

Life would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie...

*Ok, MAYBE it's really "you and me endlessly", but as a kid, my parents TOTALLY told me it was Leslie and I LOVED it.  Still do.* 

Do YOU pay attention to the lyrics?  Do they move you and change you?  Or do you just bop along, never knowing the meaning of those great beats?

What are YOUR favorite lyrics?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays -- Someone has a birthday coming up...

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Monday, Monday... Can't Trust That Day

People always say Mondays get a bad rap.  I always say if they didn't bring a long, hectic week at a job that I.... umm... less than love, I wouldn't mind it at all.  It's not the fact that it comes after Sunday or something about its name that makes peole dread it.  It's that it signifies the end of family fun and relaxation and the beginning of very little time for family and lots of  busy and stress.  That being said, I try not to actually dread Mondays (though I do always wish my weekends had a little more time in them).  I don't always succeed, but I try to always enter things with a positive attitude.  It helps.

This morning, however, began with my sleeping right through my alarm that was to wake me up in time to get some exercise before the rest of the fam gets up and going.  I don't mean I turned my alarm off or snoozed a little.  I mean I woke up almost an hour after it was set with no recollection of it ever going off.  The hubs swears it did. 

Then I burned my toast.  And when I say burned, I mean it was completely black - except for the orange, glowing part.  Yep, actually set it kind of on fire.  I had to throw it into the sink and run water on it.

That can't be the start my Monday needed. :)

OR, maybe I'm just getting all the bad for the week out of the way from the get go, thus prepping myself for an amazing day. :)

Here's hoping.

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Carrying your load

An Unloading.



That’s what I gave my poor friend Ashie as we “played tennis” the other night.


In fact, she gets a good bit of my unloading. To be fair, she’s unloaded her fair share on me as well. That’s what besties are for, right?


And to fess up, I have kind of unloaded the same load on her more times than I care to count lately. I mean, I’m not like sinking into a hole of depression and my life’s not falling apart or anything. I just have this overwhelming – Uuuuugh and Waaaaah mixture boiling right under the surface for longer than I’d care to imagine. I’m certainly not living my day to day life in misery. I am a blessed person and I recognize that most of the time, but that boiling mixture is ever present and comes to the surface more than I’d like it to these days.


It’s why my blogging has been…err…. struggling lately. Anytime I get deep enough in my head to write anything of interest, all my thoughts go to my load. *insert potty humor at will* And, to be completely honest, I can’t unload my load on my blog ‘cause people around whom my load revolves read my blog.


So there. I won’t.


But to the point of my blog today…


I unloaded… all sweaty in the car while the air conditioner dried our sweat in what maybe only Southerners recognize as the most amazing cool that ever is – your sweat evaporating in the car’s air conditioner, that is.
I don’t think I’ve expressed a new thought about my load in ages to her. It’s generally the same old frustrations and fears and worries and stresses. And she listens and agrees and chimes in in all the right places.


She’s a really good bestie.
But then she said, “I’m worried about you.”
I don’t think it was a conversation stopper. We didn’t break down and cry or drive off a cliff all Thelma and Louise or anything. It was just a comment in the middle of the conversation.


But here’s the thing. The next day, I woke up and put that load on my back, but it didn’t seem so heavy. And the boiling either cooled to a simmer or moved further away from the surface.


We didn’t really come up with solutions or any specific plan.


But knowing someone other than my Mama (big shout out there to the ones who worry about us always) didn’t just listen, but listened closely enough to know that it wasn’t just complaining, but a real load I’m carrying with no end in sight… it helped.


So here’s to besties and to really HEARING people and letting them know we hear them.




Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - Judge Me Not, Lest You Be Judged

Family Night at CFA

Yes, she refused to wear the goggles as anything other than a headband.

Yes, I let her use the hammer anyway.

Don't judge.

Cute pic thought, right?

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Uuuuuuuuuugh!

Last night, Ashie (aka my bestie whose real name is Ashley) and I decided we're gonna start playin tennis post T's bedtime as many nights a week as we can.  We both want to lose weight, and though she'll be doubling up with structured exercise in a gym during the day, for me, fitting in one any kind of exercise a day with a partner who will always go with me and make it fun is monumental.

Now, to backstep for a moment, I feel it's only fair to tell you that it's really not fair to anyone who has ever actually played tennis to use that phrase to describe what we were doing.  I use the phrase for lack of better-suited terminology.  There were raquets and balls and a great deal of running and that ever-present Tennis grunt (Uuuuuuuuugh!).  But tennis it was not.

Our rules are basically "If it's still bouncing, it's in play," and "If there's another ball closer than the one you're chasing, it's ok to switch balls."  We've also decided we need to make sure that the adjacent courts are empty when we play, lest we injure some unexpecting tennis player.

It wasn't pretty.  It wasn't regulation.  It wasn't something I'd do in front of anyone who didn't already love me in spite of my flaws, but it was FUN!!!  And MAN did we get some aerobic exercise (and my abs are even a wee bit sore this morning). 

We reserved a court for two more nights this week.  If exercise could always involve that much laughter, I'd do it way more often. :)

I hope you are all doing well (and still visiting my page even through my long absence).

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Big News!!! (Nope, not THAT news.)

Who has two thumbs and has been wearing big girl panties with NO ACCIDENTS for two days?!?

THIS GAL!!!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Easter Pics

Sooooo.......


I've been busy. 


Like crazy, can't see straight, haven't slept more than 5 hours in more than a week now busy.


BUT.....


I've been busy living my life and loving my family, so it's been nice busy (well, most of it).


Soooooo......


Until I can get enough free minutes to formulate actual thoughts and few more free minutes to type them into Blogger, you get some pictures!!!  (Howluckyareyou?!?)

Learning to fly like an airplane (and look at Mommy at the same time)

T and her big cousin, Eli

Please note the eaten carrots after the Easter Bunny left.  (You'll see why in a second.)

"Mommy, the carrots are BROKEN!!!"

"A Chocolate!!!!"

Napping between church and lunch

"Look! An airplane!!!"

Classy!!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

*I decided, while ordering pictures from our Disney trip (Our last day of the trip I got the email that Snapfish had 111 prints for $1.11 to celebrate their birthday.  Yes, please!) I decided I was going to start making a little flip book of pictures for Tucker to have of our vacations so she can look at them when she wants and, hopefully, remember the trip and her favorite things.  The book came in yesterday, so last night before bed, I was looking at it with her. I kept asking, "Who is that?", "Where were we?  Do you remember?", "Who are you with there?  Do you remember?"  I was just trying to spark her memory. 

Flash forward about 10 minutes when T is flipping through the book a second (and third and fourth and fifth) time by herself, still sitting in my lap.  She flipped to a page (with a picture of herself) and said, "Mommy, who is that?  Do you 'member?!?".  Hahaha!

*Last night, on the way home from dinner, I asked Drew if he minded if I ran into WalMart for a minute (which quickly became 20) to get a handful of things we needed so I didn't have to come back out post T's bedtime.  I was getting Fruit Loops and marshmallows ("marshallows - pink ones!") to fill eggs for hunting at our house next weekend - a little better than all candy; a doorknob, as our garage doorknob came off in Drew's hand the other day and, although you can poke it back in temporarily, it falls off again each time you open it; and double stick tape to finish some birthday party invites for one of my cousin's girls (and can I TELL YOU, they are CA-UTE!!!).  Of course, I left with those things PLUS light bulbs, erasers, double stuff Oreos (the hubs' favorite), mini bubbles and rubber lizards for egg-filling, a fresh supply of jelly beans for the hubs, and mini Cadbury eggs for myself. 

I tell you this because this morning, as I was leaving T's daycare, I had this strong urge to go home and eat Cadbury eggs with a Fruit Loop chaser for breakfast.  I didn't, but...  In case you ever wondered why I struggle so with my weight. :)  I might have a small sugar-love. teensie.  insignificant.

*So as I was pulling out of McD's (buying a skim milk caramel mocha Cadbury egg substitute), this sweet, younger-looking guy sitting at the red light (in the line of traffic I was trying to enter) backed his car up to REALLY signal that he was going to let me in when the light changed.  He kept making eye contact while we waited and smiling and pointing.  Very sweet. 

And then he turned into my neighborhood behind me (heartbeat raises).  Now, it's totally possible that he is coming from that direction and lives in the same neighborhood.  It's a grand total of 1 redlight and two blocks between the two.  I understand this logically, but man, all I could think was, "What if all that eye contact was a Ted Bundy thing deciding I was his next prey?!?"  Yes, I'm crazy paranoid like that.  So when I pulled up to the stop sign, at which I turn to go to my house, I didn't turn on my blinker until the last second, and then quickly glanced up to see if his came on immediately.  (It didn't.)  So I slowly turned onto my street, all the while watching my rearview mirror to make sure he wasn't turning behind me.  He didn't, of course, but welcome to my brand of crazy!  Paranoia abounds!!!  I'm a nutter.

*And in the strangest of all weekend plans, I'm funeral-hopping.  I've been asked to sing at, not one, but TWO funerals for people I don't know.  I'll literally drive from one to the other.  The good news is that one of the funerals is for a lady who was in her 90s and lived a long, full life.  The other one is for the mother of a friend of a lady who goes to my church (Whew!) and in everything I've heard about the funeral, they are truly viewing it as a celebration of her life.  They're having her friends speak, her favorite song sung ("Ave Maria"), and serving her favorite German foods after. Losing a loved one is never easy, but it's always so nice to see people celebrate the amazing memories they have rather than wallowing in what could have been. 

*Want to know what I'm doing tonight.  It's not my usual slammed with too many things weekend night or it's cousin the "fly by the seat of your pants and end up watching TV" who visits everytime Slammed is away.  We have a PLAN. That plan is to go buy body wash while it's on sale (you know you're old WHEN) and then go buy a special copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 that has extra footage and interviews and watch every last second of it!  Woohoo!!!!

Hope your Friday night is as cool as mine's gonna be!!!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Super Mommy Has Left the Building.

*Blogger, why do you hate me so?!? It's still deleting all paragraph breaks and I can't make it stop. I apologize, once again, for the giant paragraph.* My husband has called me SuperMom three times in the past three days. *I know, "awwwww", right?* There's been little sleep, many middle-of-the-night wake-ups, way too much puke, three days of the little one out of school - two of which I was working full-time while watching her, a coffee pot malfunction, and a few crafts thrown in for T and a friend. Needless to say, I'm a bit frazzled and running on adrenaline at this point. But I've been holding it together - getting stuff done, keeping her as happy as a 3 year old with a high fever and strep throat can be, and helping him out here and there. But at the end of day three, after working a full day at work while keeping a whiney toddler safe and pacified, when I was rushing to get myself showered and both of us dressed for church (I assure you, she'd been on antibiotics for more than 24 hours before I took her to church, which is when the doctor said she was safe), and I got the 400th "evil smirk" before she did the opposite of what I was asking her, SUPERMOMMY LEFT THE BUILDING!!!!! Gone was the Mommy who rarely yells, and instead gets on her child's level and secures her child's attention before presenting her with acceptable options, thus gaining the desired behaviors/actions without a battle of wills. Gone was the Mommy who patiently lets her child do it herself, thus developing both her independence and intelligence. Gone was the Mommy who laughs at all the silliness that, even though entirely precious, usually doubles getting ready time. Do you want to know who showed up in her place? The Mommy who yells, "If you don't stop that RIGHT NOW!!!!" 10 times in 30 minutes; the Mommy who counts to three adding sidebars such as, "If I get to three and you don't have your shoes on..."; the Mommy who yells middle names. I went from SuperMommy to SuperLOUDMommy!!! *sigh* I'm quite ashamed of my alter-ego. I really work hard at keeping her hidden deep within. She's WAY less effective at getting things done. And she makes my head hurt (and usually my knees, shoulders, and elbows as well, since when she's around, I'm in a huff and tend to bump into things more frequently). She is NOT my favorite person. Who knew the super hero and her nemesis could reside in the same body?!? Hopefully today, when I get to do my two full-time jobs consecutively, rather than concurrently, SuperLOUDMommy will go back to her cave. Love & Shipoopies, Leslie

Back to His Mommy and Daddy

*Blogger refuses to save my paragraph breaks today, so I apologize for the jumble.* We have had one sick little puppy in our house this week. The fever started creeping up around dinner Sunday. At 1am, she woke up crying inconsolably. At 5am, she woke up throwing up. At 8, we went to the doctor, came home, and the throwing up began again. Then she napped a bit. Then her fever spiked up to 104.7 (heart attack!!!). It was a rough day. And this morning, it looks like she either is getting pinkeye OR she busted a blood vessel in her eye while throwing up yesterday. The poor thing is just falling apart. Also the overnight strep test came back positive this morning. Yikes! Now the poor baby worries everytime I give her medicine for her fever, afraid it will make her "get sick" again (throw up). Last night, as I laid her in her bed we had this conversation: "Mommy, I don't want the sick to come again tonight." "No, honey, hopefully the sick is all gone bye bye." "Did he go back to his Mommy and Daddy?" "Ummm, yeah, he went back to his Mommy and Daddy." "Did he go to Will and Ashie's?" (our best friends) "No, I hope not. They don't want the sick either." We said our goodnights and I came down stairs and then I heard, "Mommy! Mommy?" "What, baby?" "Did he go to Nana and Poppa's house?" The way their little brains see it all is just too funny! Love & Shipoopies, Leslie

Per my absence...

In case you wondered why I haven't been blogging, here's a few hints as to where we've been.

Stories to follow!!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Things That Make Ya Go Hmmm...

Any ideas on what this mannequin is supposed to be doing?

I mean, seriously, WHAT was the mannequin designer thinking when he created this pose?

Hmmmm.

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

These are a few of my favorite things...

Some things I'm currently into:

1.) Skim milk, Caramel Mocha at McDonald's - seriously, I like it better than most Starbucks stuff and it's half the price

2.) This:


Love Glee. Love Gwyneth. LOOOOOOVE this song!


3.) The maid service I have coming to my house this afternoon. It's our Valentine's gift to each other - we're just REALLY late getting around to it. I'm pretty excited about someone else scrubbing my tubs and showers and getting rid of all that dust!!!

4.) The idea of my next week consisting of 2.5 work days and then a trip to "Mickey Mouse's House". :) Yipee!!!

5.)This:



Love Chris (the soloist). Have loved Blackbird for AGES. Love the simplicity of it all.

6.) The the thought of some quality time with my Mama this next week. (She's going to see the mouse with us. The hubs is taking his choir, so she's coming to be second parent for me.)

7.) Bubble Town - it's a ridiculous mindless game that I sometimes play online while doing my job. I know it seems counterintuitive, but for my job, having a game to focus on while I voicewrite (I'm hands-free while working) helps me stay awake and allows my brain to do its thing better.

8.) Ralph Macchio on Dancing with the Stars -- Is he the cutest thing you ever saw?!? Love it!

What are YOU into right now?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Things I Don't Get...

1.) How can you make and HOLD eye contact with someone, say at the grocery store or at your kid's daycare, and not smile. I mean, I get we're all in our own world sometimes and don't notice people, but if you make and hold eye contact, why the stern face? Lift those cheeks, people.

2.) When lanes are merging in traffic or construction or any other similar situation, why do some people REFUSE to just do the "one from my lane, one from your lane" routine? Why is there always one guy (or sometimes 10 of them in a row) who looks at you and then slams the gas to close the gap, refusing to let a car in, then slamming on their brakes so they don't hit the car in front of them?

3.) When exiting a parking lot (or subdivision) where there's a left turn lane and a right turn lane, why do people in the left turn lane INSIST on pulling up farther when they know they aren't going to be the first to go since they're waiting on two directions of traffic when the right lane is only waiting on one lane? And why is this habit more consistently practiced by people in GIANT vehicles - Hummers, FedEx trucks, School buses?

4.) Why do some waiters/waitresses not get the line between being friendly to get a good tip and driving me crazy by not leaving me alone? I want you to be friendly. A little banter is good. But when I can't have a conversation with the people at my table (you know, the ones I chose to come have a meal with?) because you continue to tell stupid stories and jokes and will NOT go away, it makes me want to tip you less, not more. And if you talk so long after finding out my requests/order that you forget anything special I asked for and, thus, get my order wrong, I am even more irritated with you. It's not that hard of a line to find, guys (and gals).

5.) How is a skim milk Caramel Mocha from McDonald's so amazing at some McDonald's and scorched swill at others? (Thankfully, I got a really good one on my lunch break today.)

What don't YOU get?

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

Wordless Wednesdays - My Fair Funny Face

We had Tucker try on her Easter dress the other night to make sure it and the matching shoes fit. I got this snap and immediately thought of Audrey Hepburn. (I'll admit I'm a bit obsessed, so it's not a huge stretch for my mind to jump there.) The fluffy dress (Hello, Funny Face) and the toes pointed out (an almost constant Hepburn placement) - so sweet. Love it!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

A Rose is a Rose... but an Almond?

Anyone ever really contemplated Almonds? Probably not, I guess. I never really did until this weekend when I opened a new pack of coffee called "Toasted Almond". I was expecting this smoky, toasty, yummy, nutty flavor in my coffee. Want to know what it tastes like?

Amaretto.

Now, I know that amaretto is "almond-flavored" which, I always assumed, means it's made from almond oil. Thankfully, I like amaretto flavoring, but have you ever really thought about almonds and amaretto being the same? They're completely different beasts. It's like learning that corriander and cilantro are the same thing at different stages. (True story, folks.)

And then there's toasted almonds which, to me, when you get them on a salad, don't taste really like almonds OR amaretto. It's like a third incarnation of this crazy little nut.

And don't even get me STARTED on how cherry Runts taste like amaretto, 'cause they do. Try them.

So I have cherry candy that tastes like almond oil, toasted nut coffee that tastes like almond oil, and two forms of nut that don't taste like either of them.

I guess to heck with it! Give me some sour mix and a glass of ice!

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie

The Neverending Story...

Be honest. How many of you are now singing that song and picturing that kid flying on the big dog-thing? You know you are.

*Editor's note: It drives me NUTS when Blogger doesn't save paragraph spacing so it's all just one big jumble!!!*

My story doesn't have a kid being bullied at school or a flying dog (which, to be honest, are the only things I remember about that movie other than the song), BUT it does have two silly two-year-olds and a purple unicorn. :)

To begin with, I will say, I have always wanted to have a cool aunt name. I've always wanted to have a name unique to just me that held all kinds of magic for my nieces and nephews. Actually, to say "always" isn't true. I didn't really think of the idea until after my first two nephews were born. But then one of my friends, named Amy, became "Aunt A". And then we got "Ashie" into our lives. Then my brother declared his uncle name to be "Unc". I knew I HAD to have a cool aunt name. Of course, I couldn't think of one until one day, my niece, Carly, in an attempt to say my name, said, "Sassy". I BEGAN SQUEALING, proclaiming it as my aunt name. Afterall, Sassy is AWESOME and it kind of fits me. LOVE IT!!!

So I told her parents and my parents, "Don't call me Aunt Leslie in front of Carly anymore. I'm Sassy!!!" They, of course, still all call me Aunt Leslie in front of her. So now my name is somewhere around "Srashrie". (And since I know at least a couple of the people responsible for this -- *ahem* Nana and Poppa, who are both called by their desired names because I never call them anything else *ahem* -- read this, I'll throw in a huge *hint, hint, nudge, nudge* here. Start calling me SASSY!!!

Flash forward to this past weekend when I was at the parents' house. The conversations would go something like this:

"Carly, can you call me Sassy?"

"Assy"

"No, Ssss assy"

"Assy"

"Saa"

"Saa"

"Sea"

"Sea"

"Saa"

"Saa"

"Sea"

"Sea"

"Sassy"

"Assy"

Yep, like a katrillion times. (It's accurate. I counted.)

(My two best friends, though maybe not for much longer, keep explaining to me that this name applies to me just as accurately as "Sassy". Hmph!)

Flash forward to earlier this week. I was at the grocery store after dinner with T. They had a bin of little, tiny Pillow Pals. They're like half the size of the original ones, maybe a bit smaller. They are ADORABLE!!! T has one of the original Pillow Pals and uses it as a pillow, but it's a little thick and I worry about her neck sleeping on it. Plus we're taking a trip soon and I decided a teensie one would be easier to keep up with and would fit in her lap in the car better. (Plus, did I mention they're really cute?!?)

So I let T pick one and she picked the purple unicorn. This was doubly exciting for me as I had a huge purple unicorn (aptly named Uni) when I was a little girl. It was bigger than I was until I was at least 5 or 6. I kept her until after I was married. I think Drew and I actually moved her a couple of times before I finally decided she was loosing too much stuffing and just plain sad. I have a theory that all children should own at least one stuffed animal that's bigger than they are. It's a magical thing. (Can I mention here that when my *ahem* "girls" came in in middle school, one grew a bit faster than the other and for a while my dad, smart tail that he is, called me "uniboob" and it wasn't until YEARS later that I realized it wasn't just because I loved unicorns and was getting boobs. Awesome.)

I digress. (Shocking, I know.)

So I asked T if it was a girl unicorn or a boy unicorn. She said it was a girl.

I asked her what the girl unicorn's name was. She said, "I don't know." (She hasn't really gotten into the concept of naming her dolls and animals yet.)

I said, "Well, what name do you want to call her? What name do you like?"

(Have you guessed yet what's coming?)

"Ummmmmmmmmmmm........... I call her SASSY!!!"

Yep.

There ya go.

B. T. dubs, in the picture at the top, she posed herself. I asked her to let me take a picture and got this:

"I can stand by my UNICORN!"

"Oooh, I put my foot on her."

"Oooh, Mommy, wait. I put my hands in my pockets."

My child is a hoot!

Love & Shipoopies,

Leslie

Only Because It's My Life

All I have are random tidbits, but it's not because I'm lazy or don't want to develop a thought. It's just that well, my LIFE is random tidbits surrounding my same old job these days. :)

*Last week, I drove to my parents' house (since my husband was away on his third almost week-long trip since mid-February). It is 215 miles from my house to theirs. Around 6 of those miles were NOT under construction and not a single one of the 215 miles wasn't covered in rain while I drove them. And my iPod died about halfway there so my awesome "driving mix" I made myself was for naught. Misery, my friends. Misery.

*WHY do people have such a hard time understanding the "solid line = you can't change lanes/ dotted lines - you can change lanes" phenomenon on interstates? Seriously when did this become a rule that it was totally ok to ignore? And for that matter, since when is it ok to get into a turn lane approximately 6 turns before you actually TURN? When did it suddenly become ok to drive straight through turns because you're going to turn eventually? Do you REALIZE how many wrecks you almost cause when you do that? 'Cause, you know, the rest of us are trying to get in the turn lane at the appropriate time and assume that you're turning before then because you've been in the turn lane for 3 miles.

*My laptop screen shorted out this weekend. The computer was somewhere around 6 years old and had multiple other things wrong with it, and once they told me the time/cost continuum for having the screen re-wired I decided it was time to break down and buy another laptop. I, thankfully, had an external hard drive that is relatively current, so file transfer shouldn't be hard. But HERE'S the thing - none of my websites (aka bloggy friends addresses) are on this new computer. I have them all on my iPhone, but I'm going to have to find time to transfer them all over. And speaking of iPhone, my iTunes isn't on here. (Thankfully my music is backed up on that external hard drive as well.) As a matter of fact, NOTHING on this computer is where/how it should be. The keyboard's all different and nothing is where it should be (or easy to find since this computer runs on Windows 7 and so far I HATE IT!!!). I know eventually this computer will become second nature, but for now, it's a giant pain in my patootie!

*Speaking of my laptop, it came with 6 months of free Geek Squad support (from Best Buy) by phone or internet chat. So yesterday, when I became completely frustrated while trying to network my two home computers together for file sharing, I decided to give them a call. Afterall, on my non-Windows 7 computers, this task was so simple even I could do it without an assist. But here's the thing with Windows 7. They decided to make creating a home network SO SIMPLE on Windows 7. There are videos and people expressing jubilantly how easy it is to network your Windows 7 computers... to other Windows 7 computers. But if you want to network a Windows 7 to, say, an XP computer? You might as well be attempting to expose the truth about Area 51.

So I called the Geek Squad. The first guy I got seemed relatively knowledgeable and put me on hold while he researched doing the task with Windows 7 because even he admitted it was trickier than your usual home networking. Then as he took me off hold (I heard him begin to speak), he accidentally disconnected the line. He hadn't taken a call-back number, so I called the hotline again and got another "agent" (Yes, they introduce themselves as "Agent Jonah" and "Agent Natalie".)

I could tell with the second this agent that answered the phone, that even if she knew the answer to my question, she didn't care enough about the job to use the energy it would take to explain the process to me. She was going to do as little as humanly possible. After first asking if by "having problems creating a home network, networking my two home computers" I meant "having internet connection problems" ????, she took about 2 minutes to "research" the problem, came back and told me I needed to buy an external wireless thingamabob in order to network these two computers, which is interesting since they are already physically connected to the same router with cords. When I pointed this out to her, she said, "Well, that's what it's telling me. If you need more help than that, I can arrange an appointment for a Geek Squad member to make a house call and help you (a service for which one must pay extra, of course). I told her I wasn't going to pay to have them come to my house when this should be a very simple technical question that any help desk should be able to help with. Without another word, she promptly hung up on me. (Now THAT'S what I call service, folks.)

I called a third time and could immediately tell I had Agent #2 again, so I hung up and tried a fourth time, ending with an Indian accented Agent. She, too, after I explained my dilema, said, "Ok, so you're having internet connection problems..." (WHAT?!?). When I re-explained that I was trying to network my two computers, which are sharing a router, so I could file share, she said, "Ooooh, WOW!!!" in a tone that implied I might as well have told her I was trying to get my husband pregnant or my 2-year-old into Med School. Apparently, she's never heard of anything so magical and complicated as a home network. She immediately explained that this amazing task was far beyond the "basic technical support" they are there to give and she would gladly arrange for an in-home visit by a Geek Squad member.

Can I just say how glad I am I didn't PAY for this amazing technical support?!?

More tomorrow...

Love & Shipoopies,
Leslie