This week in sports

This is not what parents are hoping to find on the end of the year highlights cd, but these are the shots I love. One year I swear I'm only gonna include stuff like this.

Working from home

Anyone who says they don't have enough room in their house for a year supply of food clearly isn't committed to the plan. Jim found cereal on sale today at Bel Air (4 boxes for $6) and brought home a whole bunch of it. Now we have a tower o' cereal art montage in our entry hall and he is going back to buy more because the tower isn't big enough. But before he goes back to Bel Air he decided to teach Jamie how to change the oil. What is the theme of my post? Jim is "working from home" today! I'll spare you the pictures of him falling asleep while watching Oprah:)

Dig him!

I really want to get my backyard into oasis shape. I think it will help curb my urge to flee to exotic places. But before I go on a plant shopping spree I needed some man power to fix my waterfall leak. This year when we started up the waterfall it flooded the other side of the yard. So Jim and our friend Todd went to work searching for the broken pipe or whatever. When I looked outside to see how they were doing I saw the kids crowded around them. Isn't that how it goes when you have kids?! Which got me to thinking about all times Jim has patiently worked side-by-side with our little "helpers!" Doing a job in double the time and always making it fun. Here are a couple favorites.

Which got me to thinking about how happy our life is because Jim is that kind of guy. Our anniversary is coming up...we've been married 16 years! That's a lot of digging down deep to find what's broken and fixing it! And tons of fun and laughter because I totally scored 16 years ago:)

I'm it!

Seriously my life is not very exciting, but I've been tagged and I like to play along. So here's my info!

THREE JOYS...

1. Summertime...laying out by the pool, water balloons, bbqs with friends, running in the not-cold and not-dark mornings.
2. Reading...getting so lost in a book that I hear the garage door open when Jim gets home and I realize I haven't gotten off the couch since lunch. This hasn't happened in a long time, but the little kids go back to school in a week, so I'm hopeful.
3. Photoshop...I'm a junkie.

THREE FEARS...
1. The garbage disposal...that it might somehow turn on with my hand in it.
2. Turning on the lawn-mower. You know when you pull the starter string thingy and it sometimes jerks your arm back really hard? That totally freaks me out.
3. High School girls...that I have a son consorting with them.

THREE GOALS...
1. Back-up, print, organize, scrapbook, or frame the boxes and files of photos I have.
2. Figure out what all the cords in my cord drawer go to.
3. Get my backyard in oasis shape.

THREE CURRENT OBSESSIONS...
1. Candy orange slices...the roof of my mouth is all cut up.
2. Shutterfly.com...they have an awesome photo book system.
3. Toenails, I guess. That sounds so lame to say it out loud, but I love pretty toes.

THREE RANDOM/SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT ME...
1. I can say/sing the alphabet backwards.
2. My first kiss was with Jason Bateman. You gotta admit he's making a pretty good comeback-Juno, The Kingdom, Hancock.
3. I hate cheesecake. Not mind-blowing, I know, but I can't think of anything else!

If you're reading this and want to play along then consider yourself tagged!

Card trading

Dean: "Mom, do you have any old credit cards you don't want?"

Me: "I don't think so. Why?"

Dean: "Cuz I'll trade you for Jesus"

Heartbreakers

Although it is adorable now, this might become a problem in the future! If not with my boys, certainly there will be others. Those Hogge girls are just too loveable! Good thing Dusty has a gun:)

Two neighbors with one batch of lemon bars

Sometimes there is a down-side to having me as a friend. Maybe my kid breaks all the branches off your prized Japanese Maple. Maybe I laugh when you are crying because your x-husband just ran over your cat. Certainly the list is long and will continue to have additions I can't predict. But I will always try to make up for all of it. Put your orders in now, so when I screw up the payment will at least be something that melts your heart enough to love me again!

Does this bathing suit make me look fat?

Tried on bathing suits all weekend. Couldn't get this picture outta my mind. Please, somebody bring a tranquilizer gun and put me out of my misery! Doesn't matter what we look like, I think this is how we all feel!

For Billie!

I love it when Billie does her nose thing. So when I laughed at Missy's blog Nelson asked what was so funny. When I showed him the pic he was like, "I can do that!" And then I laughed even harder. Who knew?! We've gotta get a pic of them together!

This butt's for you!

I have been running on the industrial roads near my house for 9 years and have never had any problems with road-rage commuters, tired truckers, or burrito trucks. No problems with the packs of Harley dudes or the people trying to drive tractors out of the rental place. But since the city police and eTran have moved in I have been flipped-off, almost hit, and told to get off the road. So to the policemen who run the stop signs and don't look where they're going and to the bus drivers who apparently need more space than a semi...this butt's for you. I'm sparing you the current version, which you totally deserve, as that wouldn't be a very attractive blog shot!

Speed demon

Thanks to my new playlist I am like a bolt of lightning on my bike. I took 5 minutes off my time and I can now average a whopping 15 mph! Thanks for the music hookups. Keep 'em coming as I always like to change things up. Favorite pedal pumper: Light Up the Sky by Yellowcard

What's in your dryer vent?

I finally got my dryer vent cleaned! No more 90-minute drying. When the guy was finished he asked if I wanted to see what he found in the vent. The guy is so excited, I'm thinking a few mangled hot wheels, maybe a bird's nest, hopefully a huge wad of long-lost cash, etc. Anti-climactic...a bunch of lint. Granted it was enough to knit sweaters for my whole family, but not the skeletal remains I was imagining. Anyway, made me think of this picture of the Loveking's little brother. Now I bet you would find some good stuff in the dryer vents at the coin-op!

Tour de France

I've been training for the Tour de France (see me in the #2 seat?). Not so I can participate, obviously, but so I am better qualified to yell at the tv from my butt-on-the-couch-popcorn-in-hand VIP living room seating. What I lack (beside rock-hard abs and glutes and a supply of "performance enhancers") is a pump-it-up play list on my iPod. I need your help! If you can think of some fast-paced (not Metallica!) tunes for me (like Move Along by All American Rejects) please respond or email! I don't quite need 2174 miles worth...10 miles is my limit. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks guys!

Dollar Deals

Jimbo Loveking has been out of town this week, but his parents have been here hanging out with us. They took me to Burger King for lunch yesterday. I'm not sure what they think I needed!

Guilt-Free Time-Killer!

Here's a fun game you can feel good about playing. For every vocab word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated by the UN World Food program. Check it out!