Home Again, Home Again...

I've just returned from spending Thanksgiving with Cleggy, Wendy Darling, & their family. Simply put, it ROCKED! Tasty food, fabulous friends ("FABULOUS!"), good movies, general silliness, and lots of love.

We went to Santa Land Thursday night. Watched the pop-up edition of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 on the Disney Channel Friday night. Cleggy, Wendy Darling, & I did some running around on Saturday morning/afternoon and then that night we went to the movies and saw ENCHANTED. It was really good. I laughed. I cried. (I know, how shocking?!) After the Little Guy went to bed on Saturday, we watched POSEIDON. It was really good too. I laughed. I cried. I cheered when Lucky Larry got smote. :D

Oh and Wendy Darling & I totally SMOKED Cleggy & the Little Guy at Password on Sunday evening. Like I always say, Girls RULE and Boys drool! :P

Then Sunday night Cleggy & I stayed up way too late totally geeking out over the extras on the Shimmy & Shake Edition of the HAIRSPRAY DVD. Man was THAT cool! :)

I also took some really cool pictures with my camera phone on the drive up and a couple of nice ones on the drive back. The only downside to the drive home was that a passing 18-wheeler doing more than 80 miles an hour literally blew my car into a concrete construction barrier. I wasn't hurt and actually I wasn't even scared. It did scratch my car, but I guess it could have been far worse.

So my pictures are posted here. Go take a look. :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I know I sure did. Thanks again Cleggy & Wendy Darling! I love you guys! :)

“Hey, I didn’t know you had a tattoo!” and Other Amusing Observations…

Last night I returned from a trip to Shreveport to see my family. Nearly 500 miles and 2 tanks of gas later, I’m tired but very glad I went. Also sad that I had to leave. It was a long weekend filled with too much talking, too little sleep, and lots of laughter. And quite a few life lessons.

I learned that to my 22 month old nephew remotes, shoes, & various toys mean like, but crawling up next to you to share the tiger blanket means love. I learned that movies are more fun when you watch them snuggled up to your 11 year old niece and funnier with your sarcastic sister.

I learned that it takes a blonde, a baby brother, and a friend to hold the cigarette lighter to change a blinker in the dark. I learned that if a really big dude makes you a sky hook out of rebar with his bare hands then you’d best find a way to use it, even if it’s just as a coat rack. I learned that watching my baby brother and his friends build a water fountain is more entertaining than a Three Stooges movie. It also has way more cuss words. :P

I learned that getting only one 30 minute nap can make a baby REALLY grumpy. I learned that you are never ready to learn that your 11 year old niece has started wearing a training bra. I learned that nothing (except my Mommy’s cornbread dressing) feels as much like home as my sister’s broccoli cornbread, even when it’s spinach & ricotta cornbread at my request.

I learned that my baby brother’s girlfriend makes an apple cake that smells amazing enough to make my mouth water. I learned that my baby brother has some very nice friends, but not all of them have very nice wives. I learned that cats know when you are allergic to them and that fact makes you like catnip to them.

I learned that watching the Interactive Spider-Man doll sing “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” is quite disturbing. I learned that toys that make noise are more interesting than ones that don’t if you are a toddler. I learned that watching your niece hanging out the sunroof of your car while you wait for her mom to get out of Wal-Mart can make you laugh until you cry.

Mostly I learned that not only do I love my family but I also like them. And I remembered that sometimes just a simple phrase can reduce my sister and I to uncontrollable giggles. Here are a few…

“We already went. You mean you don’t remember eating?”

“Sharon!”

“Porn Star 12”

Ahhhh, good times. Good times. :)

Adopt A Soldier

A very good friend of mine, Wendy Darling, posted this earlier today on her blog:

"I adopted a soldier last week, and I am really enjoying writing to him and sending him packages. I really hope you will decide to adopt one of our soldiers. They need our support and encouragement."

Wendy posted this blog after receiving an email from Soldiers' Angels saying that they still had over 400 soldiers needing to be adopted. I am working on adopting one soon and I encourage all of you to do the same. Please. Our soldiers are a long way from home and doing a dangerous job just to keep all of us safe and free. Some of them don't have any family to send them love, support, and encouragement. A few cards, letters, and care packages are a small price to pay for the debt of gratitude we all owe the members of our armed forces.

So please go to Soldiers' Angels website and find a way to help. Find a way to make a difference in a soldier's life.

Thank you.

Nothing Is Cooler Than Free...

The wonderful ladies over at 5 minutes for mom are doing it again. These girls are the Queens of cool giveaways. Here's what they have to say...

"A Retro Giveaway — Pedal Car or Record Player — Take Your Pick

Written by Susan

I wasn’t there, but I think I would have loved the Fifties.

Of course I love the conveniences of our present day technologies and the respect and equality women have earned, and I likely wouldn’t trade those for a poodle skirt. But there is something special about the 1950’s… Something simpler… Harmless fun when teenagers rocked around the clock and families listened to their favorite radio shows together.

My mom was there at the right age to taste the best of the times. Born in 1940, she was a teenager in the Fifties and ready to be swept off her feet by Elvis and rock along with American Bandstand on their first television set.

I love to hear her talk about it and I wish I could imagine it better.

The past is always worth remembering — worth preserving and passing on to our children. But I think there’s something extra special about the Fifties that makes it even more worthwhile to celebrate. It was a time of good, clean fun. A time when family values were clear. Sure, there were problems and we may be remembering only the good… but I think that’s okay… We can celebrate the good and pass it on to our kids so that they’ll be able to imagine and dream about a simpler time.

And what better way to let our kids taste the 50’s than to bring the toys of the times to them?

The ultimate toy for lucky kids in the 50’s was the pedal car. The child-sized cars began to appear at the turn of the century, but were only playthings for the very wealthy.

But, by the 50’s, pedal cars were carried in major stores and many children spent their afternoons pedaling their miniature cars around their neighborhoods.

Sadly, these high quality steel pedal cars were replaced in the 1970’s by plastic ride-on-toys and, until recently, were no longer available.

But thankfully they have returned. Quality steel pedal cars designed to replicate the originals are now here for our children to enjoy.

Our store Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles specializes in these retro pedal cars and we’d like to share the fun with one of your children.

Yes, we’re giving away a pedal car!

If you have a 2 - 4 year old, this will be the gift they remember forever!

You can choose one of these cool jalopy cars — The Pink Princess Pedal Car, The Harry Car or The Harriett Car. Or take the equivalent value of $179 as a gift certificate towards any item in our store.

And if you don’t have any preschoolers, don’t worry… you can still celebrate the 1950’s with us.

Instead of a pedal car, you could choose the popular Suitcase-Style Portable Record Player was introduced in the late 1950’s.

The Crosley CR89 Traveler Stack-O-Matic takes you back in time as you listen to a stack of old records.

Or you could choose a Coke Classic Picnic Cooler or take a gift certificate and put it towards one of our most popular retro items — A 1930’s style Coke Machine.

These coke machines are an exact replica of the famous Westinghouse Junior Coke Machine of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Our customers love these refrigerated coke machines… they are perfect for keeping cold drinks handy in the TV room or on the patio.

So you can take your pick… choose a pedal car, a record player, a Coke cooler, or take a gift certificate for $179 and use it towards anything in the store.

If you want to win this retro prize, simply follow these two steps:

1. Publish a post on your own blog linking back to this giveaway post and also linking to our store Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles. We really do appreciate the links to both this post and to our store… you can also link to any of the individual prize product pages if you like for example the Pink Princess Pedal Car.
2. Leave a comment on this post.

If you don’t have a blog, we understand you can’t link back, but then please spread the word amongst your friends.

We are sorry to say we must limit shipping to US addresses. So Canadians, if you live close enough to the border to pick your prize or purchase up on the US side, then you can still enter. It’s incredibly simple to set this up. We help Canadians do it every day.

We'll draw the winner on Friday, November 30th."

So head on over and give it a peep. Personally, I've got my eye on that record player for a certain music loving best friend of mine. :D