Say Hello

  This is one of the family's pet llamas. Cute little gal isn't she? We have a lot of them in house and they pop up all over the place at unexpected times, singing, dancing, recreating commercials, sneezing, and just being all around fun. 

 Say hello.

Quack!

Birthday Bliss

Way back on my birthday I got one of those gifts that the family knew I would love, but also benefited them. I barely had the box unwrapped when the kids tore it out of my hands and proceeded to use it. It was a whoopie pie maker. You know what whoopie pies are right? Those delicious little cake-like cookies made into little frosting sandwiches. Yes, those. Yum!

Snickers whipped up a batch with little help and we all reveled in the birthday bliss.

Both me and the kids have used it several times since - trying out various flavor combinations - chocolate cookies with chocolate frosting, chocolate with vanilla, vanilla with chocolate, vanilla with vanilla, chocolate with marshmallow. We haven't found a bad combination yet.
 
Quack!

Maybe Someday

Sometimes I shop at the Rescue Mission store. If you have the time to sift through all the old, ratty, worn-out stuff, sometimes you can find something nice. You can also find some nicely broken in jeans. Well, I was in there the other day and I was very excited to see some size 4 long jeans. I have trouble finding jeans long enough and the smaller the size, the less likely you are to find them in a tall size. 14 talls are all over the place, but anything under size 10, you're hard pressed to find a tall version. It's either average or short. But there were 3 or 4 different pairs in 4 long. They were in great shape - looked like they had never been worn. I figure that someone bought them new and put them in their closet expecting that they would fit into them some day. You know how that is. "As soon as I lose those 10 pounds . . . ". 

So I bought a pair. Very exciting find!

And maybe someday I'll fit into them.

 Quack!

Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

  So Snickers came home from a party recently with an awesomely descriptive snack. Now, a normal party bag will have blow pops or pixie sticks, smarties or tootsie rolls or even a chocolate bar on occasion, but this is the first time I ever saw . . .

"Sour Chewy Cubes".

I love that! Sour Chewy Cubes! It reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes "Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs" - Calvin's favorite cereal. It's a very descriptive name. Calvin describes his cereal as "tasty, lip-smacking, crunchy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside, and they don't have a single natural ingredient or essential vitamin to get in the way of that rich, fudgy taste." Hobbes says it's like "eating a bowl of milk duds".

Well, Sour Chew Cubes are much the same. They are sour. They are chewy. They are cubes. And, as you would expect, there is nothing nutritionally redeeming to them. But the name. Oh the name! Whoever invented these things is a master at subtlety, the king of understated sneakiness. I mean, who would guess from the name that they are sour, or chewy or cube shaped?

I almost want to eat them just because I love the name.

Almost.

Quack!

Now That's One Horny Pony!

So I'm sitting at Cirque du Soleil recently with the family, waiting for the show to start. We had just finished munching on some delightfully sweet pink cotton candy and the kids were having fun with the long white paper cone it had been wrapped around - and by fun I mean poking each other in the eye and bonking each other over the head.

But then it got better - suddenly my ears were filled with song. Here are the lyrics:

Horny pony. I'm a horny pony. Horny pony, la la la la la.

Or something very much like that.

It took me a minute to realize that a horny pony was a unicorn. The paper cone on the forehead gave it away. You know, a pony with a horn. I giggled for quite a few minutes at that one.

Quack!

How's It Goin' Boys?

And for the last photo from our recent outing (I can hear you sighing in relief):

And in celebration of the end of this particular set of posts, I've written a silly haiku:

Leaning back so cool

A sultry pose for a tree

How's it goin' boys?

Quack!

Baring Your Roots

And yet another picture from that outing:

A tree uprooted

Baring roots to wind and sky

Awesome to behold

 Quack!

Spiny Little Spiders or Fairy Nests? You Decide!

During a recent outing we came across this sweet gum tree. I'd never seen one before and found the prickly little seed pods intriguing and fascinating. They littered the ground and hung from the trees like spiny little spiders.

Dark and dangerous

Like spiny thorny spiders

Seeds ensconced inside

A dark, spiny globe

Full of trails and darkened paths

Tiny fairy nest

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I Can't Think of a Good Title For This One. Make Up Your Own.

  Here is the first of some pictures from a recent outing:

Encircling the ground

Roots wrapping and embracing

A hug for the earth

A magic circle

Roots, bark, earth, leaves, breeze and sun.

Why not dance within?

Quack!

You're Not Going to Wear Those Out of the House, Are You?

Every once in a while I drag out my Sharpies again. Remember this posts from way back when? You can do amazing things with Sharpies if you have the time. Since I don't have the time I content myself with the decoration of my shoes. Colorful, fun, wild:

And yes, I do wear these out of the house. My husband pretends he doesn't notice. The kids love it. I beam proudly as the colors flash in the sunlight and blind everyone around me with their stunning beauty (or something like that).

If you decide to do this yourself, keep in mind that even though these are permanent markers, most of the colors will bleed when you get caught in the rain, wear them in the bath or splash in puddles. The black stays put, but the colors bleed into the white in a very pretty, but unexpected way.

Quack!