Happy Birthday RT !

You should all drop by RT’s Place to wish her a Happy Birthday on Saturday, December 1st.

Have a Good One, RT!

Road Trip, Part Two !

I'm heading back to Cape May tomorrow to help my daughter and son-in-law unpack. They moved into their new house this past week, in Erma NJ. Little Grim and I are going down until Wednesday, and we are leaving earlier than expected, due to the incoming wintery weather that is due Sunday. So, we are heading out tomorrow afternoon instead. I won't have any blogging time tonight or tomorrow before I leave, so have a good weekend, All, and I'll 'see' you later in the week.

Out of the Mouths of Babes....

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY? (written by kids)

You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
-- Alan, age 10

No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with.
-- Kristen, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
-- Camille, age 10

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
-- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Both don't want any more kids.
-- Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
-- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure)

On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
-- Martin, age 10

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?
I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns.
-- Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
When they're rich.
-- Pam, age 7

The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.
- - Curt, age 7

The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
-- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
-- Anita, age 9 (bless you child)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
-- Kelvin, age 8

And the #1 Favorite is........
HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a truck.
-- Ricky, age 10

Mrs Grim's Holiday Gift-Giving Tips

In the spirit of the upcoming Christmas Holiday and since we are deluged with junk gift catalogs at this time of year, I decided to seek out some interesting and mainly useless gifts for you to give your loved ones this year. So here they are.

This is my favorite - For the pregnant missus or girlfriend. If I had a pregnant friend, I would seriously buy her this shirt, but I don't. But Wyatt, if you are interested, you can find it at www.femailcreations.com.


Here is a towel you can give, in case you know someone who is confused after their shower. Or maybe they are just a buttface and you want to let them know that.



This one is for that special homeless friend who is living in their car. It is a heated blanket that can cover up to two people (for those nights when a special friend is invited to sleep over), the cord of which can only be plugged into the lighter of a car. In the old days of Drive-in Movies this might have come in handy.


Here's one for the good cook in your life. It is an egg separator. Personally, I wouldn't be able to eat anything that came out of his nose, but the ad says "You get the job done - with a giggle!". How about with vomit?


Here is a good one for the bitter, scorned woman in your life. I'm not hanging up a sign in my house that says testicles, but if you know someone whose favorite song right now is "I will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, this is the gift for them.


Here is another personal favorite. What a Turn On! Cuz we women love a man with a square penis.


Here is a party game I bet you don't have yet. Sit around with your loved ones after your holiday dinner and share the sounds of laughter (and much more). NOTE: Includes compact disc with flatulence noises that can alter the course of the game in an instant.

Watch out for that 'Silent But Deadly' penalty card.


Or how about a 'Bog Monster' for your nervous friends who are afraid of everything. Imagine their surprise in the middle of the night when they lift the lid and this guy jumps out. I guess I'm old school, I think Saran wrap over the seat is funnier for your guy friends. And for the special woman in your life, just leave the seat up so her a$$ hits the cold bowl. Hey, I just saved you $16.95 with that suggestion.


Lastly, we all know someone who is saving for something special - maybe a trip or home improvement, or something for their kids. Why not give them a place to put their spare change? As an added bonus, the bank makes farting noises when coins are deposited! Who wouldn't love that? This will make saving their money so much more entertaining. This can be yours for the low, low price of $14.95.


Those are my holiday gift tips for today. I hope this was helpful.

Take the Booze test....

82%LUSH

Colorado Springs Dating

I swiped this from Jeffro at The Poor Farm.

I didn't expect to be a Lush, I guess I know more about alcohol than I actually drink it.

Count Your Blessings

From our Family to Yours - Safe travels to everyone going to visit loved ones, and we hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! Don't forget to count your blessings!

My week

I haven't been doing much blogging lately, either on my own or on others' blogs. The last few weeks have been busy, as they are for everyone. With the upcoming holidays, things will probably not calm down until after New Year's.

Here is what has been going on this last week:


* I've started working on some Christmas gifts. My newly married daughter Megan was in the Campfire Girls for about 6 years, when she was younger. It's sort of equivalent to the Girl Scouts but they don't sell cookies. They earned badges, went camping, raised money themselves for traveling to events, and so on. They sewed or glued their badges and beads onto ceremonial gowns that they made themselves and would proudly wear to meetings and events. One of her Campfire leaders, Jackie Bolger, was a wonderful woman who became a mentor of sorts to my daughter. Jackie encouraged her in everything she did and I'd like to think that my Megan became the wonderful woman she is, in part due to Jackie. A few months ago, Jackie became ill. I had been wanting to do something with her Campfire gown and decided to make two shadow boxes, using parts of the gown and all her awards that she worked so hard for all those years. Jackie died the day before Megan's wedding. I completed the shadow boxes this weekend, and they turned out beautifully. I made them to hang one above the other, so it looks like the front of her gown. Jackie would be proud.

The other gifts I am working on are scrapbooks for each of my older kids. When they were younger, they sometimes complained that they didn't have complete baby books. Two of them didn't even actually have baby books. With 4 kids in a relatively short period, who had the time? So I decided to go through all my pictures, and make each of them a scrapbook from their childhood. I just finished the oldest's book today. I know the girls will love them, I'm not so sure about the boy. But he will get one anyway, hopefully along with all of his Cub Scout gear and badges in a shadow box as well, if I have time. He'll probably care even less about that - his shadow box is more for me. I was his Cub Scout leader for a time so he earned a good portion of his awards due to our joint efforts.

Oh, shoot, I hope they aren't keeping up with my blog.

* Our dog has really been agressive lately, and even more so since she was boarded for those few days while we were away for the wedding. I work from home and she's been making my life miserable every day, by barking incessantly when she wants attention, and nipping. So tomorrow we have a dog trainer coming to the house to observe her and teach us how to re-establish leadership and dominance. Hopefully this intervention will help. Otherwise I'll have to replace her with a little tiny dog I can carry to the Mall in my purse. (I would never do that, but I have seen it in our local mall, and I don't get it. Why would you take your dog to the Mall? They don't even have a pet store in ours.)

* End of a Discussion between Little Grim and I (I don't recall what we were discussing but according to her, she was right and I was wrong and she was getting increasingly frustrated with me):

Me: I'm sorry, I'm afraid you're incorrect.

Kara: Well, I'm afraid you're...stupid.

That was the funniest thing she said to me all week. To her credit, she looked very sheepish when I turned and walked back into the room to explain that was very rude and she owed me an apology. She did apologize. I can't imagine what she will be like in 10 years.



* I joined Weight Watchers (again) last week. I go on Tuesday nights. Coincidentally, Kara's pre-school teacher, with whom I went to high school, does also, so it gives us a chance to catch up on the last 25 years. It's like my big night out, since I don't get much interaction during the day. My first week was very successful, I lost 4.8 pounds. That is a great motivator and hopefully this time I will see it through. I'll be 47 next year, and being on the slippery slope to 50 sure makes you re-evaluate your health.

* Oh, and I lost a part of a filling tonight during dinner so I now have to try to get into the dentist tomorrow.

Support Operation Bedding

My daughter went to a fund-raising Holiday Gala last night, held at the William Penn Inn in Gwynedd, PA. The Gala was held to raise money for Operation Bedding. This link takes you to the website. The Gala included cocktails, dinner, Art Viewing and a live auction. Here is the information provided by Mary Conboy, mother of Lance Corporal Adam C. Conboy, killed in Iraq Friday, May 12, 2006. Mary Conboy attended the Gala and their Guest Speaker was Petty Officer Christopher Painter.

"Operation bedding came to be after a Sunday morning phone call from our son Adam. At the time he was serving in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He asked if we could send him sheets and pillows, he requested forty sets. He explained that the troops had no sheets and the weather was so hot that the comfort of a clean sheet would be nice, Adam was concerned that his friends have the same comforts that he had and that's why he needed forty sets. He jokingly said, "Get Operation Bedding going, Mom."

That Friday he was killed.

Without even realizing it, Adam had inspired his own memorial fund. For the funeral services, we requested donations instead of flowers so we could grant Adam's last request and send a shipment of supplies over to his friends still serving in Iraq.

The outpouring of gratitude from our troops was so overwhelming, we knew this effort must continue. Since then, with the support and generosity of others like yourselves, we have been able to send nearly 10,000 boxes of basic supplies to our troops, bringing the comforts of home to Iraq. We believe it is a simple and personal way to express our gratitude to those so willing to lay down their lives for our freedom."

I just wanted to share this information. I only heard of this through my daughter, who is dating a former Marine. We have in the past sent care packages over to Iraq, but it has been a while and this was a good reminder for me to keep our soldiers in mind, especially with the holidays coming up. If my son or daughter was serving, it would make me happy to know that someone cares.

All Gave Some, Some Gave All

We're Back

I finally have some time for blogging. Thanks to everyone for your Congratulations and Best Wishes!

My daughter's wedding turned out wonderful. They had to virtually do all of the planning themselves, with frequent phone calls to us, since they live two hours away. Everything was terrific, in spite of my daughter being the Supreme Procrastinator. (As an example of her procrastination - her aunt had to do alterations to her wedding dress the MORNING of the wedding - I kid you not).

My four girls are the two on both ends.



The ceremony was held at the Cape May Lutheran Church. My daughter was raised Catholic, but her husband Chris is not, but my daughter really wanted to get married in a church so they selected that one. The pastor was a young, very personable, former military chaplain. His personality came through and the ceremony felt intimate even though he did not know the kids well. Although I admit, we had to focus on keeping control of Little Grim, who was the flower girl, and our grandson Benny, who was the ring-bearer and is 18 months old. So we probably did not hear as much of the ceremony as we could have.

These are my four kids from my first marriage along with Chris the groom and Benny.



The flower girl and ring bearer walked down the aisle hand-in-hand, with him dragging the pillow next to him. Kara held on to him so tightly, she forgot to drop the petals from her basket. She decided to do that during the actual ceremony, which kept her busy for a while. Unfortunately we don't have clear pictures of them going down the aisle.

After the ceremony, we adjourned to The Peter Shields Inn around the corner for the reception, where our new son-in-law is a chef. He actually made the crab cakes for his own wedding. The kids planned the whole menu and the food was fantastic. (Two of the girls and I ate dinner one night there last summer, when Chris cooked, and it was the best meal I'd ever eaten.)

There was a digital baby grand piano at the Inn. If you've ever seen an old Player Piano, the keys move while the music is playing, as if someone is actually striking the keys. Kara thought that was great and was trying to play at the same time. So someone gave her a Tip glass. She made $2.25.


Cake Cutting


Here is the bride dancing with Kara, Benny and our other grandson Bo.


Here is a close up of their cake topper.


You CAN have your cake and eat it too!



We took Benny after the reception on Friday so the kids could take a short honeymoon in Williamsburg, VA. They picked him up last night - I am so out of practice with having more than one young child in the house. Fortunately he is a great sleeper, so we had some respite at night!

Here are Kara and Benny in our hotel room Friday night, enjoying their 'healthy' dinner - hot dogs and cheese fries from a local pizza joint.


We did take the kids out into town for while Friday night, since the reception was a luncheon, but we didn't spend much time walking or shopping,etc. Luckily for me, I am going back down around December 2nd for several days, to help them get settled in their new house. They have closing 11/27 and have to be out of their rental house by Dec 1st. We'll try to squeeze in some Christmas shopping at the Delaware outlets while I'm there. We can just take the ferry over.

A great time was had by all. It is hard to believe it is already over.

Road Trip !

We are leaving shortly for my daughter's wedding down in Cape May, NJ. So I will not be blogging for a few days, but I'll stop in and catch up with all of your writings when we get back. I leave you a link to a song, click on the post title.

Toodles!

The Charles "Chuck" Cassidy Family Memorial Fund

You may or may not have heard about Officer Chuck Cassidy, a Philadelphia police officer who was murdered this week. Our Philly detective friend Wyatt at Support Your Local Gunfighter is appealing to his readership to Please donate what you can to the Charles "Chuck" Cassidy Memorial Fund.

Here are the details:

Members of the Philadelphia Police Department's 35th District have established a trust fund for the family of Police Officer Chuck Cassidy, who was killed in the line of duty on Thursday, November 1, 2007 .

Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so in the following ways:

By mailing a check payable to:

The Charles Cassidy Family Memorial Trust Fund
901 Arch Street
Philadelphia PA, 19107

Donations can also be personally taken to the 35th Police District, which is located at 5960 N. Broad St. Philadelphia PA, 19141 or to any of the following Philadelphia Police and Fire Credit Union Branches:

901 Arch Street, 7604 City Avenue, 8500 Henry Avenue, 3338 S. Broad Street, Leo Mall - Byberry and Bustleton Avenues, 7500 Castor Avenue, and 3330 Grant Avenue.

Thank You for your support.

Reminiscing about 1977

Someone emailed me a post from the 15 Minute Lunch blog, which I had not visited previously. Apparently Johnny Virgil's post about a 1977 JC Penney Catalog he came across has rocketed his blog to insane viewing proportions. I'm sharing it here because it was hilarious and deserved pimping. Check out the rest of his Blog here as well.

Ah, the good old days.....

Perspective

I had to go to Walmart the other day, for jeans (you know why, if you read an earlier post titled 'My Embarrassing Moment"). They carry Talls in jeans, which I have trouble finding. Plus, let's face it, they are cheap.

Anyway, I pulled into the parking lot, and noticed a black Hummer on the right. Not sure what model exactly, but it was one of the bigger ones. There were a few parking spots available past it on the same side, but I noticed a women standing in the spot next to the Hummer so I pulled in the one down from that. I got out of the car and went around to get Little Grim out of the back of the van and happened to glance over at the woman in the empty parking spot.

I then did a double take. The woman was....drumroll, please....DUSTING the outside of the Hummer, with some sort of duster. I kid you not. That is why she was standing in the empty parking spot.

I wanted to remind her that she was in the Walmart parking lot and most shoppers would not care if her Hummer was dusty. Now there is one woman who needs a dose of reality and has too much time on her hands.