Last Night

A review of last night, in pictures. (I don't know why I got so snap happy, but whateves.)

Ella's zinnias

Life is tough when your name is Maggie Mae

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Ella goes inside to use the bathroom. A few minutes too long later, this is what I find...

Somebody thinks it's bathing suit time!

Then later...

We took these,

and made these.

Remember my offer for serving up a mess o' peas? OK, gonna need to retract that. We finished up the peas last night as well and it only made a pint! If you want some of those then you're going to have to high tail it over, PDQ.

The bell peppers are coming on like mad. I hear that I can chop them up and freeze them too, but I have to be sure to disperse some to Angie Jo. She's had dibs on them since they were planted! Maybe some kabobs are in our future?!

Pea Body

We've been having a pea pickin' good time. If that's what you'd call it.

Tonight we are going to freeze some of the loot for some post summer pea eatin' goodness. Feel free to come visit (in November, perhaps?) and I promise to serve you up a whole mess o' peas!

Pink eyed something or anothers. Direct kin to the Southern staple, black eyed peas.

A.K.?

We have come to an agreement on the name of our new baby girl. I feel pretty sure (!) in saying that the newest sweet baby M will be Miss Ashley Kate. There is the ever so slightest chance that this could change, but I doubt it. Besides, Ella has decided that she likes Ashley and so it will be!

I realize that the name Ashley Kate makes most think of the Olsen twins but I don't care. Waif-ish Olsen twins, be damned! I'm naming my girl whatever I want to! As my mom said, may she have all the money of those two but a little more meat on her bones!

Growing Buddha

This morning I went looking for something that I had dropped in my lap and discovered that I was actually looking for my lap. There was literally a moving of the belly involved. Still didn't find what I was looking for, on both accounts.

Ah, and so it begins.

Who wants a poke... cake?

In the wake of my nudie photo happy birthday post, David still managed to be friends with me. It might have been out of pure greed since I had yet to give him a couple of birthday presents and who wants to miss out on goodies?! (I jokingly told David that I was going to label the nudie pic as him striking the pose which I then realized that it's best that I didn't.)

We celebrated the big 2-9 with steaks, beer and the company of the Wallace fam. Quite a nice evening, overall. The twice baked potatoes that I made, which contained cayenne pepper, had enough heat that I found myself saying "Is is hot in here?!". Mercifully, I was not the only one having a hot flash as the pepper had heated us all up! We found that birthday cake is an excellent flame putter outter even if you are full to the breaking point of steak, potatoes, salad and beer (or baby).

I made David a poke cake which is oh-so-good. I had never had one until Angie Jo introduced me a few years ago. It's a really nice summer alternative to a traditional cake with heavy frosting and it's got fruit on it so it has to be good for you. It's good enough to share with you here, so that you can make your own damn cake, because I'm not sharing the real thing.

"You won't need a plate, I can tell you that. Just dig in with a fork and go."

Stawberry Poke Cake

1 box white cake mix, plus ingredients to make the cake

1 small box strawberry jello

3/4 cup hot water

1 container Cool Whip

1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut into bite sized pieces

Prepare cake in a greased 9 x 13 dish and while hot poke lots of holes with a toothpick. Dissolve jello mix in hot water and pour (or spoon) over cake. Let cool and top with Cool Whip, then strawberries.

Let me know if you make this and how long it hangs around!

Happy Birthday!

Today is the birthday of two of my favorite people! Big Daddy David turns 29 and Sarah Kate Cato is 28! Wow, I really do like the ring of Kate...

Much like my birthday wishes for Ashley (gosh, I really like the name Ashley, too), I tried to find a picture of something that both Katie and David would appreciate. Umm... In case you don't know both Katie and David, there's not a whole helluva lot that they have in common, other than some love for me. The two things I could think of are Harry Potter and beer.

Unlike the birthday post for Ashley, I actually did try a search for HP and beer. I didn't find what I was after but I did stumble across this photo of the boy wizard in Equus. Not that David would appreciate this, at all, but I know me some Katie Cato and I don't think she's one to turn down a peek. :)

Happy Birthday, Kids!

Cuteness

** If you are a Harry Potter fan, be sure to head over to Ashley's new blog, Post Potter, for discussion and group therapy. If you are not a Pottermaniac, be glad that I will take further Potter discussions to the new blog and will leave you alone!**

I thought that Ella's outfit today was so cute. I found the capris on clearance and they matched the little green stripe in the tank perfectly!

Me: "Smile, sweetie! One more, I didn't get your shoes." E: "I'll point at them!"

I asked to see her face. I guess technically she obliged!

Is it really over?

Friday was a day of sheer anticipation. I almost didn't make it to the midnight release party due to a 'quick nap' on the couch but alas! I make it. No butterbeer, though. I stayed up until 4 am getting a good jump and then throughout Saturday managed to while away some time reading. I closed the book at 1 am on Sunday to little fanfare.

Below is my review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I tried to come up with a way to review it without giving away pivotal points, but I can't think of any. Read below at your own risk!!











I can't say that I have ever reviewed a book before but certainly our fine friend Harry deserves the honors. I apologize for my ineptitude in advance. I tried to compose thought out paragraphs to help wrangle my thoughts and let them flow seamlessly, but bulleted points is all I got.

* Wow, it starts out with a really dark scene and murder. I think it really sets the tone for the whole book. It's a lot darker than I expected, although I guess it has to be.

* I really was surprised that all we hear from the Dursely's is their departing. After all the hubub about Petunia and then nothing?!

* Didn't Hedwig deserve a little more ceremonious death than that?!

* A noticeable mention of "God". And prayer later on.

* I was flabbergasted that the first death was on page 78! So soon!

* There was a marked maturation of Ron, Hermione and Harry. Almost a little too much, too soon for me. It seemed like Rowling realized "Oh yeah! They are 17!" and started making them act 17, cussing and all.

* How did Harry get access to Voldemort's mind again? I thought that Voldemort was using occulemency against him?

* Rowling didn't make me really care about the quest for the Deathly Hallows. I felt that it was annoying and got in the way of the Horcurx task.

* The only time I cried was when Dobby died. Poor, sweet Dobby!

* I was a little let down by the revelations about Dumbledore. I wanted him to be as good as we thought!

* Snape! Good all along! Wow, those memories explain a lot, don't they? He's my new favorite character.

* So Voldemort's soul was in 8 pieces, not 7. Hmmm...

* Harry should have died. I wasn't ecstatic that he lived! (How terrible is that?!) I feel that he should have accepted his fate, walked into the woods, been killed and someone else finish off Voldemort. I think Rowling copped out. How could Voldemort's curse only kill the piece of his soul and not Harry? The 'King's Cross' bit was nice for what we learn from Dumbledore but come on...

* Neville does it! Yippee!

* How can you not love Molly Weasley after "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"? Hell yeah.

* The final scene between Harry and Voldemort was anti-climactic. He does use Expelliarmus, which Lupin made fun of him for, and it worked!

* I thought Rowling didn't want to leave the story open for other books? The epilogue being 19 years later? That sounds like a gaping hole for some "fill in" books. I want to know what Harry's job is!!

* Albus Severus. I almost choked.

* So who was the person Rowling said would do magic late in life and under dire circumstances? I must have missed it.

* Does this mean that Harry and Voldemort are related (through the Peverell's)?

Overall, I was very mild about the book. Looking back on my list here, however, it would appear that I hated it! Not true, but I didn't love it like I have the other ones, thus the negativity. I am sure that once I reread it and have more time to think it over it will grow on me. Maybe it came off bad because it wasn't the standard prescription of the prior books that I guess I was secretly hoping for.

I feel bad hammering the book that I have looked forward to like no other. I think I need to go back and think of all of the things I liked about it... I'll update later.

K.O.

Most evenings when I head away from the daily grind I head toward they gym to work out. My gym isn't like most other gyms with a plethora of exercise machines and racquetball courts. It's a boxing gym. I have been boxing for over 2 years and I love it.

I take the adult fitness class in the evening and while we do other 'work out' things, boxing is the mainstay. It is a phenomenal work out and a great stress reliever! (Don't worry! Our class doesn't spar, we just hit the heavy bags. There are people training there who do spar, but I'm too much of a weenie for that... and too vain!)

I have learned the proper names and execution of the 8 punches and the right stance for pulling them off. Also, I know how to defend, block and counter punches coming at me. There is no 'hitting like a girl' going on at K.O.! I think that's pretty damn cool! David thinks it's cool too but I must be somewhat scary because he won't let me hit him (I've asked!). And I don't think he's too keen on making me angry, either :).

K.O. uses red and black as a color theme (like Title) so of course that goes over well with this Bulldog fan! Here's a shot of one of our workout rooms:

and the owner/trainer Lorissa (who is pretty bad ass herself):

Pregnancy has altered my workouts slightly but nothing too drastic so baby M is learning all of the moves too! Maybe she will come out swinging? Sometimes I would swear that she is practicing already...

CinderELLA

Sometimes a girl has to dress up and feel special. Last night was one of those times for Miss Ella Grace. Quite the ensemble, really. A lot of Cinderella with a dab of Snow White, looks like! Once princess-fied she cracked out a microphone that plays music and treated us to lots of dancing and singing. Good times!

What a Fancy Pants

Are you happy now?!

I don't know what it was about the picture of me from the horse show that made me look hardly pregnant. Trick lighting? Camera angles? Smoke and mirrors? Andria and Karen were kind enough to comment on how great I look and they sure are sweet words to hear. But I know the real truth!

Lest any of you agree with Andria about my state of affairs, I present to you a bona fide profile shot. I tried to create definition between heaving bosom and burgeoning belly but it proved difficult. Use your imagination and I'm sure that you will see what I see! Preggie Meggie!

Party Time

I went to Hastings and reserved my book this weekend. Guess what I found while there? Details about the 'really cool' party! David told me that he would never publicly acknowledge me again if I went to it :). I told him that I was going to get a Hungarian Horntail painted on my face along with the obligatory lightning bolt! Ha! Oh, and yes, there will be butterbeer! I'm gonna get some... I bet if Jeff were here he would go with me! (Wouldn't you, Jeff?!)

Showin' Off

Saturday was a big day for Miss Ella Grace. She was in her very first horse show! It was a real laid-back affair but local and free so we were all about it! She and Scooter were in the lead line class which is just for little kids (6 and under). The kids ride and are supposed to be 'in charge' of the horse with the reins but a parent walks along with a lead rope, just in case. (Which could mean to control the horse should they spook, or could mean to make them do what the judge is asking and just make it look like the kid is doing it!)

The judge asked them to walk, trot, reverse, stop and individually back the horse up. Ella did really well and David only had to help a little bit! She was quite proud of herself for being such a big cowgirl!

I had mistakenly told her that she would get a ribbon, and oops! they didn't give any out! We were on the way home when it hit her that she didn't get a ribbon and she really wanted one. Well, of course I felt that she deserved one and cussed the cheap-o show for not giving them out. In true Mommy super hero fashion, I told her that I bet they gave the ribbon to Daddy after we left, stopped by a party store where she got to pick out a treat and I bought a shiny red ribbon on the sly, swung by the horse unit and passed it off to David and he gave her the ribbon that they gave to him after we left! Whew! And she loves that ribbon. It's the best $2 I've spent in a while! (Mom told me to have one in my purse just in case and from now on I will!)

Practicing turning Scooter

Hanging out, waiting her turn

Miss Too Cool For School

Just the two of them in the class

Backing Scooter (look at her go!)

Here we are!

I hope that last picture makes all of you clamoring for a preggo pic happy! It's not a profile but I think you can get the idea!

I (heart) Harry Potter

Good grief, y'all.

I am joining the mass hysteria surrounding the release of book #7 and I don't care. Call me a nerd or dork or whatever but I am SO EXCITED! And if truth be told, David is too. It's really for his own safety that he read Deathly Hallows because I will explode without someone to discuss it with!

I finished book 6 earlier this week and have quite a few questions about what will come in DH. Ashley is doing a very thorough job of evaluating every question left unanswered and theory proposed so I might just rely on her to cover the bases.

I am going to Hastings this weekend to reserve my copy for pickup at 12:01 on Saturday. Yippee! Oh, and yes, I will be there at midnight to get my paws on the thing. Apparently I will be joining in the festivities of a 'really cool' party (Hastings lady's words, not mine) and I'm sure I will feel like a humongous dweeb. I wonder if there will be butterbeer?!

Blog Reunion, of sorts

I make it a habit to regularly check the blogs of friends to see what they are up to, what their kids' latest adventures are or their commentary on a variety of subjects. Every now and again I will pop over to other websites/blogs to kill some time and goof off.

One such site is Tomato Nation (http://www.tomatonation.com/). I used to read it semi frequently (thanks to Niki's link) but have since forgotten about it for, like, a year. Today, for whatever reason, I clicked on over and was reminded of why I liked it so much two years ago.

Sarah (Sars) lives in New York City and will post movie reviews, advice or just short stories. I found this entry and laughed and laughed. I actually laughed until I cried, more than once. I'm not sure if it is truly that funny or if I was just on a hormone high, but either way she's got a way with words.

Lifted from http://www.tomatonation.com/:

Buggin'

[about two weeks ago]

Eating lemon sorbet at my desk, straight from the pint with a serving spoon like the classy dame I am, I drop a nickel-sized blob of sorbet next to the keyboard. My desk is actually not a desk, it's unfinished lumber laid on top of two bookcases, so I can't really wipe up spills; I blot them and try to forget them. Usually.

[about ten days ago]

…But not always.

My fridge gets a little overeager at times and just straight-up freezes everything — better that than the alternative, I suppose, but it's a bit difficult to see the bright side when you've just sprained your wrist trying to cut an onion-sicle. After dressing a salad with some vinaigrette cubes and eating in front of the TV, I settled back at my desk with a (frozen, unbeknownst to me) can of Diet Coke, which promptly [chonk!] convexed on the bottom of the can, [spenk!] convexed on the top of the can, [fffffsssss!] announced its displeasure with this room-temp state of affairs, and then [fsshhplap!] Bellagio-fountained the left side of my desk with ice chips and denatured aspartame. Three hectares of paper towel later, I settled back at my desk again, with a glass of lime seltzer this time, because of course that was the last Diet Coke in the refrigerator. Explody little bitch.

[Sunday before last]

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked like an orange cat doing the hokey-pokey. I closed my eyes for a moment, reminding myself that while I do have an orange cat, he does not dance, and perhaps I should think about getting more sleep, but when I re-opened my eyes, sure enough: you put the left paw in, you draw the left paw back, you put the left paw in, then you pat the floor nine times, you do the Hobey-pokey and you pounce on bits of lint, what is that all a-bout.

Well, he'd found a very very tiny ant, is what, and the two of them were locked in a pat-pat-pat-pat-pat/play dead/run off/pat-pat-pat-pat-pat paw de deux, which went on for another twenty minutes, at which time I couldn't take it anymore and blew the ant under the TV.

This may have been a mistake.

[six days ago]

"Oh, hello, ant."

[five days ago]

"Beat it, ant. [flick] Beat it, other ant. [flick] You too, other ant…s. [flick flick]"

[three days ago]

I got to my desk and found two ants standing on the site of the sorbet blob, shooting the shit. I mushed them both; minutes later, another ant crossed the keyboard and over my hand to get to the blob. After snacking on the blob for a few seconds, it strolled over to a former Diet Coke puddle. "I have ants," I said, to no one. "Faaaaaan-tastic. Not." The ant zipped behind a brass bookend and out of sight.

I cleared off the desk and Lysoled the hell out of it. When I could kind of breathe again, I Febrezed it for good measure. I put everything back on the desk. The next ant is apparently hoping for a career in show business, because with perfect comic timing it waited exactly three beats after I'd sat back down, then made its entrance from behind a Bill Bryson book.

An hour and a half was then wasted trying to arrange a Post-It that says "FUCK OFF, ANTS" on it next to the sorbet blob, then waiting for an ant to walk in front of it so I could take a picture.

[two days ago]

I cleared everything off the bookshelves. It was a dusty, shoulder-muscle-twanging pain in the ass, but I knew this would not end until I flushed out the queen and flattened her with a vintage dictionary, so into the breach I went with Swiffer sheets, soapy water, and the righteous rage of a woman who has excused her horrendous housekeeping failures for years on the grounds that at least she never had insects.

On the plus side, I forgot I even owned that biographical dictionary of film. On the minus side, many sneezes and no queen. It is true that I did not see any ants on the desk afterwards, but I did see one on top of a picture frame on the living room table, carrying a tiny set of surveyor's equipment and wearing a tiny tinted visor. I leaned down to the ant: "You tell Big Mama that when I find her, she's toast." The ant was like "whatever man" and then I was embarrassed because I tried to threaten an ant, and it didn't even work.

[also two days ago]

It was nighttime; I had plans later, but right then I was chilling on the couch paying bills and watching Rocky IV on Spike. The cats, typically, remained quiet and unobtrusive throughout the relatively dull "Apollo, I must warn you for the purposes of dramatic irony that this fight with Drago is a bad fucking call" lead-up. Nor did the scuffling start during the interminable James Brown performance (but how awesome is Apollo's short-sleeved sequined Star-Spangled Banner tailcoat? In fact, how awesome is Apollo Creed? Can someone please start a band and name it "Apollo Creed's Restless Ghost"? That guy is a honey-baked ham. What ever happened to Carl Weathers, anyway?). No, they waited until the climactic moment of the exhibition match when the Cold War is punching Apollo in the head, to death, to come barreling out of the bedroom all scrambly pouncy, and Hobey's tail was so fat, he looked like a beaver, but it's not like that's anything new.

The cats chasing a beetle the size of a baseball? Yeah, that's new.

I have never seen a creature like that in my life. It looked like a toy, or a beetle crafted by the effects department for a movie about…I don't even know. Baseball beetles from outer space. And where did the cats chase it? Straight at my legs. That thing was fast, too. I think. It sounded fast. The sound of its hooves on my wood floor sounded pretty fast to me.

So, it ran under the couch. Terrific. I assume it's still under there, snacking on a mastodon leg or whatever it is prehistoric carnivorous beetles who owe me fuckin' rent do in their spare time. I promptly packed up my bindle and went over to Skyrockets's house, and the cats followed me to the door all "you're going to leave us alone with that thing?" and I was like, "Nice knowing you, bye," and ran away.

The SIZE of a BASE! BALLLLLLL! Gee-ROSS!

I will not sit here and tell you I don't eat on the couch, drop crumbs on the floor between the table and the couch, and leave the crumbs there for a couple of days until I get motivated to sweep. I will not sit here and tell you that I pull all those board games and books and photo albums and dead labor leaders out from under the couch every time I mop the living room, either, because I don't, because it's a pain in the ass. And I will not sit here and tell you that I'm going to start now, because the Beetletron 3000 is under there, and if I scare him out, he's going to Drago me.

But I have to. Otherwise the next chapter in the saga is going to involve coming home from work and finding rats trying on my shoes.

Why now?

OMG! Did you laugh as hard as me?! Maybe it's funny to me because we are currently fighting an ant war at our house. Sorry bastards. No beetles, however, thank goodness (keeping fingers crossed)!

White Cat

White cat, who lives at the barn, soaking up the sunshine.

White cat patiently endures relentless petting from Ella Grace.

This Seems Familiar...

Two things noticed yesterday that confirm a blossoming pregnancy:

* Closing the refrigerator door and hitting my belly (must stand progressively farther back from now on)!

* Hunger appears instantaneously. I have started stashing snacks everywhere (even in the car) because I when I want food, I want it NOW.

Garden Update #3

I have had these pictures for a week now, so I apologize for my tardiness in updating you on our garden's progress! Of course now everything is bigger and producing more/bigger fruit. We are beginning to feel that it is, in fact, garden season and starting to enjoy the fruits of our labor! Saturday night we had a wonderful meal of grilled pork chops, squash casserole made from garden squash, corn on the cob (not ours) and sliced cucumber and tomato from the garden. Oh, man, was it good!

I know that eventually we will come to dispise the sight of cucumbers and squash but for now we are thoroughly enjoying it!

Ella with her new Little Mermaid phone and our staked tomatoes.

L to R: Row of peppers, giant squash, okra, row of cukes, row of carrots with two little celery plants at the bottom, row of onions .

Onion giving the 'all done' signal (top laid over) and a chili pepper plant

One of the squash plants with lots of babies

A bell pepper coming on and one of the carrots we pulled to thin them out

The haul from yesterday (tomato not pictured). Those are japalenos!

Water Play

Yesterday was a pretty hot one in big KS. Ella put on her bathing suit and we went out for some good clean fun in the sun with the water hose. She had such a good time! Ella would run up to David, ask to be sprayed and then book it away as fast as she could. The camera doesn't do it justice, but I made a fine attempt at capturing the essence! Just imagine a really high pitched squeal with each shot of water.

What a pose! and Oh boy that's cold!

Ella sprayed David so this was retaliation and then a little hiney shaking!

Ashley's Birthday!

A most Happy Birthday goes out to dear Miss Ashley from Kudzu Jungle!

She is a fan of cats and perhaps some drinks to drink so I thought that this picture is appropriate for birthday celebration wishes! (She's also one of the biggest Potterholics I know, with some great theories btw, but I refuse to look for a picture of Harry throwing some back.)

Have a great 28th!

4th Celebration

I hope that everyone had a good 4th yesterday and is recovering nicely from any festivities. We went over to Angie and Scott's again this year for supper and their big fireworks blowout. It is just unreal to me what can happen when fireworks are legal!

Ella did really well, although in hindsight we should have gotten her some ear plugs! Angie bought some glow necklaces for the girls and seeing them reminded me of going to Stone Mountain and just begging to get one. (I wore Ella's for a little bit, just for fun!)

Little Miss with her Pops and some snazzy sunglasses

Both Little Misses

The arsenal

Yep, that would be a watermelon full of fire crackers

Not for long!

Four boxes of these 'ammo style' fire crackers going off at once almost made my ears bleed!