"9-1-1 What is your emergency?"

Tonight, we rode out as a family to check an errand off our list. My phone has died (well, actually the charger, which costs $35 to replace died - when Rodney dropped it in my big cup of Crystal Lite in the van. Because I had no more "juice" in my phone, I guess the statement I made earlier is, in fact, true).

Luckily, there is a SPRINT store in Rolesville, North Carolina. It's right "up the road," in fact. On the main drag through town, even. Well, Rodney knew what phone I wanted to get, so he went inside to do the business, and I sat in the van with the boysies. We (or THEY, while I listened) watched the Backyardigans.

Well, we had been sitting there for only a few minutes when an Ambulance sped by on the highway. Followed closely by a Firetruck. So, I did what any scaredy-cat mother with good forethought would do. I had that little talk with the kids about what to do in case of an emergency when Mommy couldn't get to the phone to call 9-1-1.

I explained that the first thing to do is to press the talk button. We're 20th century like that, with only cordless phones. I say we need one that is NOT cordless, just for emergency preparedness, but I am now digressing. Which I am very good at. Back to 9-1-1. So, Jackson knows he is to pick up the phone, press the talk button and call 9-1-1. I told him the lady on the other end of the line would say something like "9-1-1 What is your emergency?" and then gave examples of scenarios where mommy was "out of commission" and how he was to explain it to the nice lady at the hospital. SO. All was well. (*I'm so sorry this story is taking so long. I just can't skip these details. I just can't!!!!)

Some of the examples of a mommy in distress were "Suppose mommy fell down the stairs and I bonked my head so bad that I fell to sleep and couldn't wake up," and "Suppose mommy got burned on the frying pan, and fell to the floor crying because it hurt so bad!" LOL!

Ok. THEN. Then, I realized another good piece of information to guard them in this sort of dilemma is to go quickly to our neighbor, Ms. Gillian's house to let her know what is wrong. I explained that he is to QUICKLY go to her house, ring the doorbell, and explain "Mommy is hurt! Come quick!" Well, as a followup, I decided to role-play that exact scenario. It went a little something like this.

*Mommy, pretending to be Ms. Gillian: "Hi Jackson, how are you?"

*Jackson, knowing he is supposed to be role playing with a specific reply to say: "Good."

*Mommy, not pretending to be Ms. Gillian anymore: "Jackson! You are supposed to say, 'MOMMY IS HURT! COME QUICK!' Let's try this again."

*Mommy, pretending to be Ms. Gillian: "Hi Jackson, how are you?"

*Jackson: "NOT TOO GOOD. Mommy is hurt! Come quick!"

I'm so glad I've taken the whole night to type out an incident that took all of 4 and a half minutes. If you got here (the end of the post) and the punchline was funny to you - thank you. You are a true friend. If you got here by skimming along, and the punchline doesn't make any sense. I don't care. Go on with your bad self. ;)

22/18

Dinner - 22 votes (55%)

Supper - 18 votes (45%)

Votes so far: 40

So the majority of you call the 3rd/final meal "Dinner." Huh?!


I kid. I realize that most people do. I guess what I did find out besides having my speculations confirmed is that about 18 people from Carteret County visit my blog. HAHA! :) Love you all the mostest. Those dinner-answerers do NOT know what they're talking about. I'm glad I said it.

BTW. You're probably a little perplexed by why GWB is the picture I chose for this post. It started with a search for the word "huh" on Google images... And then it ended with me laughing quite hysterically at the appropriateness of his expression (as in - it looks just like me right now)... :)

Friendly or Not?

So this morning at Wally World (Dad?), a most unusual thing happened to me. The kids behaved, but that wasn't it. It was during my check out. You know how those little credit card swiper thingies ask you questions? It is no secret that I'm one of those who usually has a sunny disposition. I can't help it, I declare! Well, what happened next made me lose it. The sunny disposition, that is.

The question I was asked was "Was your cashier friendly today?" What's a girl like me to do when the cashier never spoke to me or made eye-contact with me until she handed me the receipt. Seriously. I'm in the south, y'all. EVERONE greets you. Just last night at Rodney's softball game, the little old man heading to his car (or truck, rather. I'd bet $10 it was a truck) spoke to Carter in his little stroller with the sweetest, "What do you know, li'l buddy?" Nobody made him do it. Nobody was paying him to be friendly. It just happened. I can't forget to mention that Carter's reply was, "Not much, friend, but one day I will." :)

Back to Walmart. My answer was "no." Now I feel like the unfriendly one. You see, it's true! What goes around definitely does come back to bite you in the butt around. I guess I've learned my lesson. Next time, I'll lie.

A little shout-out

to Matt.

Matt blogs, of course. I too, blog. Well, one day a couple months ago, my reader decided that I should be introduced to Matt. In cyberspace, of course. I do love to check his site, and see what's new. I should also mention that Matt takes some of the most interesting photographs I've ever seen. Makes me wanna come see the LA in all its glory one of these days.

Matt recently challenged his followers to guess baby Madeline's 4-month stats for her pending checkup. Don't be surprised when you click here and find that someone by the name of "Leah," along with one other lucky lady guessed CORRECTLY! You are probably wondering how many contestants I was up against - oh, just FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE! Matt had informed us that the prize would be either a cd or a book.

So, after a little exchange over email (during which I informed him that I don't read), the promised gift was picked (by Matt), and I was sick with anticipation of what it might be!!! LOL!

The package arrived!

It is a fabulous CD entitled "Ghosts of the Great Highway," by Sun Kil Moon. The day it came in the mail, my little Steelboys didn't take long to realize that the TV in the van would be temporarily out of commission. The vocals fit right in to the likes of James Taylor, Don Henley, John Denver, & Don McLean. Awesome, huh?!

I must say, on my roadtrip over the weekend, I do believe I listened to this album for at least 2 hours. About an hour and a half of that was replaying the tracks, "Glenn Tipton" & "Carry Me Ohio". He also sings a haunting "Somewhere" from West Side Story. It is quite different from the Barbara Streisand version that I'm so used to, but no less loverly. I listened to that one over and over again, too.

Here is a youtube of Carry Me Ohio, if anyone would like to listen.

Thank you, Matt! I'm glad I found your blog, glad that you issued the challenge, and glad most of all that I won!!! :) Madeline is a lucky little girl to be able to claim you as her daddy. Speaking of Luck,


That was especially for Matt. :)

...Cheesy I know - it's the Celine-lover in me. What can I say. :)

My deep apologies, and some ramblings.

How truly sorry I am that my devout followers (all three of you) have been left in the dark, wondering...

Wondering what the heck has LEAH been up to for the last two weeks to make her so ... absent... ;)

AND Why the heck is Leah sitting at the PC at 7:30 on Saturday morning, when she's at Harkers Island all by her lonesome with no kiddies to wipe and clean and transform (*transformers, that is) for.

The short answer is - I have been trained over the last 5 years to not be able to sleep past 7:30. And well. I guess that's the long answer too. So there.

Well, I came down this weekend for my 10-year HIGH SCHOOL REUNION!!! Last night we hung out at The Dock House in Beaufort and I could not be better satisfied with how the evening went. I can't wait to recap how the whole weekend goes. Let's just hope that the fun that was had last night only continues tonight at the Aquarium. I'm sure it will. :)

Seriously though - I have truly thought of blogging at least 62 times in the last two weeks. And 61 of those times I was either too busy, too tired, too blank, or too hungry. (*Why why why did God make us that way?! ...especially the last one!?)

Here's the long and short of it - Rodney took a little vacation time two weeks ago - and for that whole week... Shoot - I should start THREE weeks ago - My boys and I did the Harkers Island vacation scene way back at the end of July and had the best time! Because I'm Leah and forgetfully like that, I'll try to sum up what I do remember...

~The drive down. Dude. It was the best 4-hour leg of ANY trip with ANY three boys and ANY mama in the history of driving. Makes me sorry to think of the Mormon Pioneers, in more ways than one, when I consider how much my trusty DVD player means to me. And wheels. And gasoline. And air conditioning. And bug juice.

~Josy's new house. I can't wait for her to get a BLOG too!?! Then she'd have somewhere to publicly show how fantabulous it must be to have a house fit for a queen mommy of four! Two washers, two dryers, two dishwashers, four bathrooms, and the list goes on. I'm not a hater though. Promise. Truth be told - that's two washers, two dryers, two dishwashers, and four bathrooms that I would further neglect beyond my own! LOL!

~Mosquitoes.

~Green grass. And blue skies.



~Porch lounging/Back yard lounging. IF I had to sum up what makes my Ma & Pa's house dreamy - I'd probably let this one hold the number one spot. Those of you who don't have said porch and/or all the wrought iron rockers and swings (intermingled with a few old plastic chairs) do NOT know what you're missing. I'm talking breezes. Sunsets. Tall drinks of postum. Kids wearing you out while you sit and try to remedy the problems as best you can while STILL sitting. Really - there's no way around it... That is, classifying the lounging as number one, not the kids thing - There IS a way around that. It's called getting up. I don't advise that though. Someone might take your chair.


~Dogs. Actually one dog. But it's Maggie. And she likes to torment. ;) Pa disagrees. Click the picture of Pa to view larger. Just look at that face. It SCREAMS torment, am I right?!

~Golf cart riding. My dear Tiffner had the boys up to her MIL's (short for monster mother-in-law...yes, I'm joking. Kind of.) pool one night, and while they did their bid'ness, she and I hit up the golf cart and headed down to the shore. The one that lies way beyond (like 150 yards, I'm guessing) the shore that is their back yard. The shore that extends out like a thumb where marsh grass is high, and smell of gasoline and stinky boats live. We talked of something deep, I'm sure. That Tiffany and Leah combination is like. no. other. :) (*Dont' worry. Allen was watching the kids. I think.)

~Photography. Aly is probably about ready to throw in the towel of helping Leah with Photography 101. The thing is - I'm a mom. To three boys. AND I'm blonde. Now that's a sure-fire way to ensure that there are just a few brain cells left. Seriously. Back to Aly. Girl - Thanks for teaching me what you have so far. And then teaching me again. And again. One day my beautiful photographs of babies and weddings and old people in wrought iron rocking chairs will be the clear manifestation of what I DID remember. Hopefully sooner than later. There's only so much time!

~Pool fun. At ma's in the wading pool - which Carter-man really attacked with a vengeance. At Aunt Drex's pool - which Jackson & Brady (*along with some WAY cool older cousins, Ethan and Tanner who totally know how to make my little ones feel right at home) hit up with a similar vengeance. At Brenda's pool with their homeys Tommy and Garrett AND......... Emily's pool, where all the youn'uns this side of the Mississippi like to gather.

and last but not least.........

~The ride BACK to Rolesville. This deserves it's own post. I'll keep it that way. Maybe I'll get to it in the next, oh I don't know, two months. But seriously. I WILL get to it, if it's the last thing I do. Those memories must never be forgotten. I only wish I was talking good ones. Oh well.

Here I sit. Five chapters later, and never even got to Rodney's vacation. At least you know what to hurry back for next time!?! :)

Cheerio!

What do YOU say...

...when someone says "I love you" to you?

I'll tell you what Brady says.

...

...

...

"Thanks."

I think I'll keep him anyway.

:)



Ok. Ok. While I'm sitting here I might as well go ahead and document another Brady funny from today. This morning, while he should have been getting dressed up for church, he kept delaying by saying he wanted to go bug hunting. That's his new favorite thing to do, btw. That $1.50 bug-catching set from Tar-jay was (*again*) $1.50 well spent.

So. Brady continued negotiating with Rodney as to why it should be ok to go hunting for bugs. One of Rodney's reasons was "because bugs don't belong in the house." Fair enough. Brady thought for just a moment before coming up with a seemingly valid rebuttle. He then said, "But daddy. Bugs don't pee!"

I COULDN'T make this stuff up. :)

caption this!

i'll tell you what i was thinking after i get your responses. don't want to taint anyone else's creative juices, since mine are a little lame-o at the moment. ;)