Baby Roadkill

My sons, Rabbit and Horse, are 11 and 8. Kids around this age are confusing. I know what my boys like but other kids the same age can be into completely different things.

The Greek's grandson is only a year older than my oldest son. He likes hunting and BB guns. The video games he plays are the sports and racing ones. I've seen him play with nerf guns and matchbox cars.

My kids love animals. They won't touch them but love to learn about them. I think they'd be scarred for life if they ever shot one. They prefer the fantasy type video games. The things that still surprises most people is that that they love babies.

I''m not talking human babies, but stuffed animal babies. When The Ex and I had a family bed, there were more than 25 of them sleeping with us every night.

Whenever we go to somewhere memorable, like an aquarium or Disneyland, we almost always come home with a couple more to add to the collection.

These are their favorites.

Spud and Kutesy

I've been given instructions to not pack them in a box for the move.  Heaven forbid that they should travel that way.  They might suffocate or be squished.  They have to travel to our new state...in MY purse!  At least they are small and cute.

Some babies are not so small...or cute. The Ex took the kids to a rummage sale at their church and bought a whole bag of babies for them. This from the man who complained about them being in our bed and told the kids 5 years ago, "No More Babies!"  (We all just laughed at him btw.)

Last Christmas, Horse brought a new baby with him. It's a beaver, I think. He calls it "Scarf" because he likes to wear it around his neck. I call it "Roadkill".

I must be an awesome photographer because believe me, Roadkill doesn't look that cute in person. Sitting on the bed, he looks like something you find lying on the side of the highway on a long road trip.

Just before heading back to his father, Horse tells me, "Mama, I'm leaving Scarf here with you!"

"Nooooooo, not Roadkill! Ewwwwww!"

"Yes Mama, he likes you and wants to stay here with you!" He hangs him around my neck.

So, I am in charge of Roadkill. He's become a part of the family now and he's kind of starting to grow on me.

BUT...I am NOT carrying him in my purse to Arizona!

Alexa Blog Hop - Week 4

Here's a chance to boost your Alexa stats!  Join the Alexa Blog Hop with us.

Go to your host, A Helicopter Mom for the list and full instructions!  After you install the Alexa tool, come back and visit me again too!  Let me know by comment or email and I'll make sure to come visit you too and help boost your ratings!



Have a great week all!

If I Fall In...!

I can be talking with The Greek or my daughter and laughing about some video or picture we found on the internet.  The urge strikes and I tell them I'll be right back.  I walk out of my office, into the bathroom to find this

Not my toilet but a fair representation

I don't know what it is about leaving the toilet seat up but it's like a slap in the face to me.  It's like someone flipping me off.  Who wants to look IN the toilet bowl.  Even if you clean it all the time, it still gets gross between cleanings.

"Someone" still can't get it all in the bowl.  They can write their names in the snow, but can't aim it to make sure it doesn't hit the rim and outside of the bowl.  So it's only polite to put the seat down and cover some of it up.

I grew up in a house of girls.  I have three sisters and no brothers.  My father NEVER left the toilet seat up.  The Ex was good about it too.  The one time he forgot, guess who blindly went in to pee in the middle of the night?  I screamed so loud that he never did it again.

My boys have a phobia about touching the toilet seat (thanks to their father),  One even uses his toes to manipulate the seat and to flush.  They don't leave the toilet seat up either, they know better.  I've taught them that's it's as important as opening the door for someone, maybe more so.

The Greek's never done it.  I know because he only uses the master bathroom never the main one.  He's more inclined to lower the seat AND the cover.

So who is the culprit?  His son.  Only one of them and I know which one.  I've been watching and it frequently happens when the one is at work.

I have other issues with this one anyway but I'll reserve them for now.  Maybe it will be another post someday.

I've been thinking of putting a sign up above the toilet

"Put the toilet seat down.  It's the polite thing to do."

"If you can't put the seat down then don't use this toilet"

"Don't be rude or a jerk.  Put the seat down when you're done"

Or maybe just this one with the caption "You Could Be Next!"

Does this bother anyone else as much as it does me?  What is the norm in your house?

As Time Goes By

Just goes to show, I shouldn't pat myself on the back to soon. Or maybe never.

A month ago, I was in a sort of "zone". I was posting daily. One BOTH blogs! Then surgery got in the way. For some reason, I've been having a harder time. It's been tough trying to come up with topics and to get the daily post done before the day is over.

That's so me!

The closer it gets to midnight, I get what The Ex used to call "brain to hand interlock".  My mind goes blank and the few ideas that do occupy it, don't get sent to my keyboard very well.

The boys will be here in two weeks and I need to figure this all out before they get here because I'll have less time to myself.  I will have more topics and stories though. My kids are ha-wear-ee-us (hilarious, as Horse used to pronounce it).

I am NOT a morning person. I never have been. I can go to bed at 8 pm and still not be able to function until at least noon. I am at my most creative and alert between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. The Greek will vouch for me. Usually by that time, he's winding down for bed.  I'm all, "You wanna play? Huh..huh...do ya...do YA?"

The afternoon flies by and then if I have any shows, I'm busy with them all night. Soon I look at the clock and it's almost midnight and I haven't posted yet.

I'm up for suggestions. Do you write a post every day? Do you pre-write posts for later publication? What works for you? Do you have a time of day that you prefer to publish your posts?

Maybe I should just write late at night and then set it to publish later in the day. Like at 8 am! Fool everyone into thinking I'm a morning person, while I'm really still in bed dreaming of... Wait! That's a topic for my other "other" blog, but you get the idea.

Week 10 of Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop

It's that time of the week again!  Come join us at Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop!  Last week they had over 200 participants!

1.  Please follow your hostesses My Saving Game and The Advetures of J-Man and MillerBug, they are the first two blogs listed.  Leave them a comment and they will follow you back! (If you already follow them on GFC, they'd LOVE it if you would follow on Facebook or Twitter.)

2. Please follow our guest co-host (BLOG #3) who this week is Cat from Yippie Momma.

3. You don't have to post our button but we sure would like it if you did. Not only does it help our hop grow so we can all get new followers, but each week we will choose a guest co-host and to be considered you must have our button somewhere on your site!  If you post our button and want to be considered for guest co-host, please email me atjmanandmillerbug@gmail.com to express your interest.

4. You can link up blogs, facebook, twitter accounts, whatever - just be sure to specify what each link is.

5. Hop around and find blogs that you enjoy. Be sure to tell them you are following them from Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop so they can follow you back!

6. Have fun!

On My Mind Or At Least My Head

It starts out to be a good day.  Weather is nice.  I have great plans for getting things done.  Then it happens.

A slight pressure between the bridge of my nose and my right eye.

I know what's coming.  I try to head it off and pop a single Excedrin Migraine and drink a glass of water.

Throbbing in my right temple.

Time for coffee.  I usually drink decaf so my heart doesn't race from the caffeine.  This time I make half a cup of mine and half a cup of The Greek's regular.  Hoping the extra caffeine kick works.

The back of my neck stiff and sore but only on the right side.  The right side of my head is tender to touch.

The Greek massages my neck and shoulder.  It feels so good but only lessens the pain for a few minutes.


My head is pounding.  My brain feels foggy and thick. 


My concentration is zip.  Even online shopping hurts, so you KNOW it's bad.  Time for that ice pack.

My Favorite Ice Pack

Light hurts my eyes.

It's a beautiful day outside but I have to close all the blinds...tight.  Then lie curled up on the bed with all the fans blowing on me.

Most sounds make my head pound.

Gentle piano is the only music I can listen to.  No strings, no percussion, no singing and especially no bass.  Only TV I can stand is a cooking show with a single host.  Mostly even keeled, no yelling.  Ina Garten or Giada is good.  Volume set to like 8.  (I usually listen at 10-12, The Greek's kids turn it to about 18)

Some smells make me nauseous.

Coffee, vanilla and chocolate are warm and soothing.  Taco seasoning and Manwich sauce are not.  Unfortunately for me, this is what The Greek's son eats most days.


This is how it's been almost every day since my surgery.  It's been going on more than 6 hours today and only starting to subside now.  I even had to cancel my show tonight.

The Dr. started me on a low dose hormone patch but it could take 2 weeks or more for all this to go away.  I'm hoping for sooner rather than later.

What in the Hexies?

I'm always looking for new things to do and new things for my daughter to do.  She's going nuts.  Stuck in Canada waiting for her immigration papers too go through.  She can't legally work there yet so needs things to fill her days.

I ran across a post at Simply Crunchy, one of the blogs I follow, on hexies.  I did a little more checking and thought it was perfect for my daughter.

Di  loves doing things with her hands.  When she was young she'd come and tell me, "I want to do something creative, crafty and fun!"  She hasn't changed much at all since those days.   This project will allow her to take her work outside on beautiful sunny days and not drag it through the dirt and grass.

I was going to leave this one up to her as I probably wouldn't keep my interest long enough to make a whole quilt.  Then I saw the cutest table runner made out of hexies, so I guess I'm going to try my hand at it.

My tastes run to the oriental or the tropical.  I couldn't find any Hawaiian prints when I went to the fabric store yesterday but did find a few oriental ones.  So this is what I got.

There are only 3 pieces of fabric there but the one to the left has so many different patterns I wanted to show more of them.

I'll give it a try and keep you posted.