Real TV

Do you watch reality television? I do. I watch So You Think You Can Dance. I love Tabitha and Napoleon's choreography. Mia Michael's annoys me to pieces. Interpretive dancing is not my favorite style. When Mia choreographs I roll my eyes and skip to the next dance. Thank heavens for DVRs. Last night J walked into the bedroom while Lorelei and I were watching SYTYCD. She loves the music and likes to dance along. It was the Mia piece. J is extremely anti reality television. The look on his face told me that he was not impressed with the performance. "I know" I said, "I do not think it looks like dancing either. I mean, I can have a seizure on stage as well as the next person."Season 5 Top 20

Go phillip and jeanette!

What is with the strange stories? I like it when the dancing tells a story but aliens impregnating people? crash test dummies? I think I will pass. Remember the mother/daughter fox thing Wade Robson did? He is kind of a strange bird. I think working with Britney and the various boy bands caused a mild mental breakdown. The traditional Russian dance was interesting. I don't think it was necessary. No matter what couple pulled that card it was bound to be a disaster.

wade robson's crash test dummy jazz routine

Um, that is really my only reality show. Not into Survivor, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Bachelor/ette, etc.
I like the discovery or animal planet shows where people just happened to be filming at the right time. You know the ones. Silly zoo goer wants to get a close up picture of Ting Ting the Panda. Fast forward to Ting Ting laying the smack down on silly zoo goer. Recently saw some divers on Untamed and Uncut have a great white hop into the shark cage with them. Reason #3569821 why I do not swim unless in a pool.
Medical Mystery, Worst Highway Chases in history, these are the shows that label me as a train wreck watcher. Only on TV. I think it is just wrong to stop your car on the highway to watch someone elses misfortune. Rude, rude, rude.

Run away rodents

My voles are back. (Kind of like mini moles) I still have Mickey and Minnie living in the wood pile. I don't mind them so much as long as they stay outside. With as many cats as we have it is their funeral should they decide to come in. In this case I still don't see them. I am fine with that. I hope they stay outside. The idea of being ripped apart by a creature 3X the size you are is just not an appealing death. J has a vendetta going with the voles. You see voles eat earth worms (among other things I am sure). We have a very nice lawn that J worked 2 years to attain. The earthworms really like our lawn. We grow very fat, happy voles. If they did not make little holes all over the yard J might not hate them.

side track moment...
The first time I saw them I swore it was a snake hole. In Texas holes like that house snakes, not this weird rodent I had never heard of. I didn't know what one looked like up close until Linus (our golden) dumped a dead one in my lap. I was very pregnant at the time with Lorelei. Happy camper was not the best description for me that day. Poor Linus. He really payed the piper for that.

...back on topic.
Take a walk through my yard. You will see the little dudes sprint through the grass. They are flat and dark so at first I thought it was a giant water roach. I totally prefer rodents over roaches. Our bug guy told us how to get rid of the buggers. Spread citronella granules over the grass. Earthworms eat it. Voles eat citro worms and die. I am not sure how I feel about it yet. They ARE outside. Our yard is not destroyed. Just a few tiny holes. They DO eat the bugs so a purpose is served. Why do I care? I think it is the little noses that do it to me. They twitch to the beat of my heart. Look at the picture below.
How can you say that ain't cute? J has a horrible memory. He never reads my blog. I think the voles are safe. Geez, I can't believe I am conspiring with rats.

4th of July Mall Crawl

We started our fourth of July by watching wall-E in the "big bed" together. Good thing we have a king size or all four of us would not fit. We didn't have anything planned. No cook outs or fireworks. After nap time we got bored. Kids and adults piled into the van. J drove around aimlessly until somehow we ended up at the Galleria in Brentwood. I was getting Lorelei out the car when i realized she had blown out her diaper. She has been on antibiotics for a double ear infection. They give her the runs. I had a spare outfit or we would have wasted a trip.

I know kids grow fast but wow she shot up quick. Brave man to have her up there after the diaper I just changed. In this particular mall is a fantastic pizza place called the California Pizza Kitchen. There are so many choices for pizzas. I was a little overwhelmed. i will let you in on a little secret. I don't like pizza that much. They have more than pizza at CPK (California pizza kitchen not cabbage patch kids). I am trying to bring my cholesterol down so pizza and pastas are not on my list. Neither is much in the way of dairy, sugar, and red meat. I am reduced to granola and cardboard all because of 30 points. (kill me now) Oh well. Now is the time for that healthy living over haul I have been pondering.

She lasted about 45 seconds before the crayons went in the mouth.

Pizza and coca-cola. What kid could be happier?

Back on topic. I ordered a chicken won ton wrap thing. Won tons are bad for the diet but better than pizza dough. They were thin, I promise. The won tons were stuffed with chicken, tomato's, avocado, and bacon. i would have done without the bacon. I tried to scrap it out so J could put it on his pizza. He appreciated that. J's pizza was the epitome of all the things I cannot have right now. It was called the meat cravers deep dish pizza.

Mmmm, Kiwi Lemonade. So delicious.

What did you do for the fourth?

Swiss Sofa

There is a war being waged in my house. (Seems like there always is these days.) The main aggressor is under 2 yrs old and has a limited vocabulary. Her current opponent is not even human. It is princess general lorelei vs. inigo the pugliest for the rights to my lap. She won the first two rounds because she is louder. Being the most annoying gets you a lot. Ever hear the phrase the squeaky wheel gets the oil?
Inigo is in the proverbial dog house so he should not be getting any momma time anyways. The rotten beast ate a hole in my mother's chaise. Call me crazy but I prefer the furniture not resemble swiss cheese. While we are on the subject of Inigo's indiscretions I should mention that he brought me a gift he found in the back yard. Buster.
Another Internet celeb bites the dust. It is possible that it was one of his siblings. When I look down to spot a dead bird at my feet I really don't care much beyond how quick I can dispose of it. I don't know if Inigo is responsible for the death. It wasn't in bad shape if you get my drift. Could have been the massive downpour, lack of food, various animals, divine intervention, who knows? I do not plan on dwelling on it after this post. I love animals and nature. Sorry he died. Really sorry he chose my backyard to keel over. In the end Mother Nature is a harsh taskmaster. That is why I try to avoid it.

Buster

lots of commotion over here. I tested my hand at wild bird rescue this afternoon. Got the kids up from nap time to this pathetic chirping. Some Internet research and phone calls led to the events that follow in video below.

Meet Buster


This is where Buster is supposed to be.


Buster's siblings


Rescue attempt #1


Rescue attempt #2


Just going to hang out and wait for Mom.


I am happy to report that both Mom and Dad bird have returned to tutor little Buster more. No idea if they will get him back in the nest. I went out to check on him but his parents let me know I was not welcome. I backed off, happy to no longer feel the need to worry about him.

The Bed Wetter

Woke up to a nice little wet spot in my bed at 7 AM. Lorelei had removed her diaper. She peed on me. She is a sweet girl. Have to change all my linens. We needed a lighter blanket on the bed anyway. I hate washing our sheets and blankets. They are king size. We just bought new front loaders so it should not be such a pain any longer. I have to go sit and figure out my new washer and dryer. They have more buttons than my car.

It has been very hot here this week. Unusually so for this area. Our ceiling fan wore out yesterday. we run that poor thin 100% all day, every day. I would wear out too. J replaced it and I am happy to say we now have our fast fan back. J and I are extremely hot natured. we passed that tradition to our children. I think the summers in Alaska would make our family whine that it is too hot. Really we are just a bunch of wimps. I survived in Texas for 15 of my 25 years. It was miserable but I made it. I look back now and wonder how. Seems unfathomable to me. Texas, I love you. You are just too smokin' for me.

Games little girls play

Lorelei has a new game she likes to play.



What does the dog say?




In case you are wondering that is my Mom holding Lorelei. I was the director. Yes I know I sound like Jeff Foxworthy's long lost relative with that accent. Might have something to do with growing up in Texas. Just a thought.