six short stories and a note about toilet paper

* A few weeks ago I received my Cara Box for the month of April. The directions said to blog about it soon after I got it, but I obviously failed at that rule because it is now the middle of May. I sent to Lindsay and received from Angel. Every time I sent her an email I had to triple-check that I spelled her name properly. I have a terrible habit of writing "angle" when I mean "angel". The theme was Earth Day and she sent me all this. Jenn and Co. have similar water bottles so now I'm in with the cool kids. 

* Yesterday I lost Hungry, Hungry, Hippos to a two year old. Multiple times. It was a humbling experience, but I managed to redeem myself four times.

* I've seen a few dolla bills in my day, but it never occurred to me to do this:

* Aidan and his best friend the chicken watching the bathroom redecorating show. I offered to turn on a more child appropriate show, but he (Aidan, not the chicken) was really into new ways of tiling a shower. 

* "She's taking pictures of me again. Doesn't this woman have anything else to do with her life?"

* Our truck died so Christopher spent a portion of the day trying to jumpstart it. He called me over to help look for the engine block which, given my limited car knowledge, was a bit risky. He doesn't seem to be that much more gifted in the car knowledge area because when I asked him what the engine block looks like, he said "I'm not sure."

Needless to say, we never did get the truck working.

*The people of Venezuela are experiencing a toilet paper shortage. I'm very sympathetic to their plight, but it strikes me as SO FUNNY. 

weekend at the symphony

You may recall (because I'm sure you all keep notes on the ins and outs of my highly exciting life) that in March we mistakenly missed a concert I bought tickets for in December. I was so upset over the whole affair that I almost lost the will to live. Almost but not quite. As long as there is cheddar cheese there is the will to live. A very sweet lady named Nancy who works for the Nashville Symphony happened to read the melodramatic post and offered to give us free tickets to a concert of our choice to make up for missed concert. I thought it was spam comment at first but Jenn was all CLAIM YOUR FREE PRIZE! and I'm so glad I did.

Saturday night we went to Elijah and it was so beautiful. We had excellent seats-eight rows from the front! I took these pictures before the announcement about no photography! whatsoever! allowed in the auditorium.  Nancy will never again invite us to another concert. 

Monday night we were back at the auditorium for a Lyle Lovett concert. Seldom (read: never) in my life have I been so serenaded in such a short amount of time. I got Christopher the L.L. tickets to make up for the missed concert before Nancy contacted me, so we basically got two replacement concerts. Not that I'm complaining. 

I was FASCINATED to learn the Lyle and Julia Roberts were married. Was I the only one who didn't know that? When I googled for confirmation (Christopher is not always up on the who's who of celebrity weddings) I found an article titled "Lovett First Sight". I do enjoy a good play on words.

Between Josh Turner and the two concerts this week, it's shaping up to be a very musical year. Maybe Brad Paisley's people will be the next to offer me a ticket...

Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans.

garden tour, edition 2013

The time has come once again for the ever popular Sarah's Garden Tour. I assure you this tour will only take about 3.25 minutes so no need to worry if you have appointments to keep.

Two years ago I had an extensive pot garden. Last year I had one window box and one daisy in a pot. I've had gardens ever since I was little, but that was back in the day of dial tones and rotary phones so they were never featured on el blog. This year I have one flower box and three pots so things have just about doubled since last year.

We hung our new Amish birdhouse above the daisy. And by we I mean Christopher. I stood around supervising and questioning his ability to hang it without some sort of tool. It's not that I completely doubt his handyman skilz, it's just that they're very minimal. After all, there was the afternoon we hung 10 mirrors in the kitchen and upon being asked if he wanted the tape measure, he said, "Why do I need a tape measure?" He quickly realized why he needed the tape measure. Much to the satisfaction of all involved (and I'm thinking especially of the birds here), the birdhouse was successfully hung.

The country's most patriotic (and non-flowering) gardenia plant. I picked up the piece of wood during a walk one day because I thought it looked like an alligator head. (Or a crocodile head. I can never tell the difference)

I have always taken great pride in the wreaths on my door so I was both intrigued and shocked to find that I suddenly had front door decor competition when new neighbors moved in across the walkway. It's become a MAJOR case of keeping up with the Joneses. I may or may not keep a watch on the proceedings through my peephole when they're changing their wreath. I say this with all the modesty I can muster, but my wreaths are always better. As I finished surveying my newly planted flowers with great pride, I happened to notice for the first time that Mrs. Jones deck has three flower boxes, four flower pots, two chimes and a hose.

You win some outdoor decorating competitions and you lose some outdoor decoration competitions.

C & S Daycare

Christopher and I opened a daycare on Saturday. Naturally it's not out of the ordinary for me to camp out in Babysitterville, but Christopher rarely joins me on my adventures. This time he came along to help out because Jenn and Aggie were having some peace and quiet out in the freezing garage a yard sale and I was enlisted to control the little people. We had two 2 year olds and two 1 year olds so it was ALL HANDS ON DECK. 

This is how Molly felt when she learned I was coming to babysit AGAIN. Everything is so dramatic with her.  

I ran the ship alone for the first few hours. Aidan and Levi showed up after a few hours and it was all smiles and laughter until Molly informed Levi that the mothers had fled the scene. 

"Why must they continually leave us? Don't they love us? Don't they want us attached to their hips/legs/arms 27/4? Let us bang upon the door until they return."

The whole operation went surprisingly well, but I almost fell down the stairs when I told the boys I didn't want them playing upstairs and Sammy said, "You're bossy." Sassy Pants. 

Christopher said he'd never spoon fed a baby so it seemed only natural for him to be in charge of feeding the smallest child. Levi sticks to Christopher like a little tree frog whenever he sees him. It's the cutest thing.

We got home a little after noon and I went to Zumba while Christopher took a three hour nap. 

I guess it's safe to say one of us isn't accustomed to life in Diaperland.

snapshots from our second

Many moons ago Monday we celebrated our second anniversary. 

We spent the day in Paducah. (The local country station plays a clip of a man saying, "I'm Bob from Paducah!!" in a southern accent and it cracks me up every time. Jenn is probably the only one who will appreciate that we visited Bob's hometown.)

The traditional second anniversary gift is cotton, so we thought it appropriate to visit the National Quilt Museum. It was more exciting that it sounds. I admire people who sew a blanket so well it's considered one of the top 100 quilts of the 21st century. The potholder I carefully stitched back when I was 15 will never make that list. 

Special occasions call for special sleeping accommodations, so we spent the night at the guest room hotel. Nothing like staying at a hotel where you wash the sheets, vacuum the floor and pay the bills!

At the rate we give each other cards, we'll have 5,458 by our thirtieth anniversary. (There are two more cards not pictured, so make that 5,460 cards.) 

There are few things more romantic that having this poster at the end of the bed.

Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

two years later and he's still my favorite husband

Time flies when you're having fun.

I love you more than bacon!!
(And I LOVE bacon.)

(And of course, happy anniversary to our wedding buddies, Will and Kate!)