Why Beck Will NEVER Miss A Karate Class

Beck has recently started taking karate and last night was his first group lesson. The first 30 minutes was nothing short of annoying as I tried to watch my son, all the while being harassed by some toddler who's father was in some sort of oblivious coma. I don't enjoy being annoyed by my own kids, never mind some stranger's spawn. When 3 more rugrats joined her, and their parents were too self-absorbed to take notice that their offspring were congregating around me, I began to question whether I wanted to hang with this crowd every week.

And then HE walked in...
*

HOLY RALPH FIENNES DOPPELGANGER, BATMAN!




Eye candy that looks like Ralph Fiennes! It's like Christmas came early!

So yes, I think I can *suffer* through weekly karate classes now.



*Yes, I know I need to get a better picture, but I was trying to be all inconspicuous, which was difficult while giggling like a school girl. But trust, the resemblance is AWESOME.

Oh, and if the Eye Candy Fairy is listening, mind getting him to grown his hair like this:

Elf you!

Because I can't resist wasting time every year!

Wordless (kinda) Wednesday

A month worth of posts reduced into one post via pictures. Awesome.

Beck got busted at school for wearing overly revealing clothes.

We're hunting a Christmas tree. Be wery, wery quiet.

You're goin' down!

Morgan and her dance team put on an abridged version of the Nutcracker for a local nursing home. Good thing it wasn't the full proformance - most were asleep by the second dance.

I blame the meds.

Mistletoe

Hangin' with The Big Guy

OK Santa, let's get down to business. I hope you have a big sleigh.

The fam just hangin' around, sitting on the floor. What? We always look this good...and coordinated.

Spook-Tacular!

Hello my sugar-coated webby pals. I hope you all had a great Halloweeny weekend. I know I did!
On Saturday night, we joined the LaBevs and Team E+M for some adult Halloween festivities at a local restaurant.

I forced convinced Joe to go as Billy The Exterminator, and I think he pulled it off well. OK, maybe a little too well. He made it only 3 feet through the front door before the first group of women insisted on a picture with him. That trend continued all night. Joe is now regretting his life choices and wishes he had decided to be a greasy bug-killer rather than going to grad school. Live and learn.

Drac and his Babelicious Elvira

By Sunday afternoon, we had recovered (ish) enough to take the kidlets out for for some good ol' candy hunting.

Beck the Transformer and Morgan the Midnight Fairy

Yes, those wings really do work

Is there anything better than attaching a plastic mask to your face with a rubber band?

So how was your weekend? Who rocked the costume fun?

Tuesday Truths

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer
history if you die.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

There is great need for a sarcasm font.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know
how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories.

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know
that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blu Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

Feel free to add your own.

Another Brick In The Wall-E

And now I will step away from the photoshopping and do something a bit more productive.

Learning To Fly

Yes, yes, yes I've been a very bad blogger. Actually, can I really still consider myself a blogger? Doesn't one have to blog to be a blogger. Yes, bad form indeed.

But moving on.

...or rather, catching up.

Have I ever mentioned I'm a bit on the spontaneous side? Impulsive even, perhaps. Well, I am. Recently, while I was to go visit the local grocery store, I was in a mental slump. It was a beautiful day and I had no good excuse to be so, well, slumpy. So I decided I needed a change in perspective.

This was the new vantage point I needed:

There's no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss

I stopped into my neighborhood airfield where a kindly, yet frightfully elderly, pilot risked his, mine and a few hundred earth-bound beings' lives to give me a crash course...no, no...that's not right, let's say, a cliff notes version of a flying lesson. Fifteen minutes on the ground going over all the doohickeys and things that go ping. Then it was all 'contact', propeller spinning and before I knew it I was taxing down the runway.

Did you know that while on the ground, the little steering wheel thing does you no good? A few close calls off the runway and I finally understood that point.

And while thoughts of a certain DeLorian ran threw my head, we sped faster and faster down the runway and suddenly were airborne. Incredible. While Capt. Ancient shouted commands of the things I've only briefly learned about, and in my shear panic of actual flight, had now completely forgotten about, we dipped and weaved, and bumped our way into the clear blue sky. I may or may not have wet myself at this point. Honestly, I was sweating too much to be certain.

Since we had an hour to burn in the friendly skies, Mr. Wright asked me where I would like to go. I requested a fly over my farm. Thankfully he took the controls as I snapped pictures. I snapped pictures. very. slowly.


Eventually he insisted I take back the controls and we continued our flight. I flew west and circled around my Dad's house and finally turned back towards the airport. He went over all the steps to landing all the while my mind kept shouting over the sound of his voice, "you're freakin' crazy!!!!", so I missed most of the directions. Maybe I could just take some pictures as we land, no?

As we passed over the main road and I could actually see into people's car windows, I felt another surge of panic. He told me to idle down the engine, line up to the runway, BUT DON'T LOOK AT THE RUNWAY! because apparently, if you do, you're more likely to nose-dive into it. Oh good gawd! So with white knuckles, heart palpitations and a renewed will to live, I fixed my eyes past the runway...but only before I notice Amelia Earhart's Dad now sat next to me, slightly leaning back with his arms firmly crossed, like he was welcoming certain death. Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
I held back the urge to cry...or scream, and idled the engine to a near halt, tipped the nose up and...

Gently now, you just wanna kiss the ground, just a little peck, a smooch like you're kissing your sister.

TERRA FIRMA!

And again, that steering wheel thing doesn't help once you're on the ground. Slow, eh?
But after a few quick detours off the tarmac, and back on again, I nervously guided the plane off the runway and to it's parking spot next to other expensive planes I could easily wipe out with one false move. The sound of cutting engine was the sweetest of all.

Another item off the bucket list. Check and mark!

But wait there's more...

Another item on my list; see The Wall live. And well, since the original tour was when I was 4 or 5 years old, that item seemed to have no hopes of being fulfilled without a time machine.

...until Roger Water announce a new tour earlier this year!

Pink Floyd The Wall has been my favorite film for the past 20 years. Call me crazy, call me morose, but I LOVE that film and album.

Well the concert, or rather theatrical performance did not disappoint! It was INCREDIBLE! Our seats were right on the floor, which of course was super cool!


I can't say I've attended many concerts that were this emotional. Roger Water's has tweaked the message a bit from his personal loss of his father to war, to how we all lose something to war; loved ones, freedom, humanity, innocence. On all sides.

08:45 was a super cool moment!

If the tour comes to your neighborhood, run like hell to see it.

hee, get it?

Roger Waters channels his inner Richard Gere;











Morgan channels her inner Bob Geldof.















Goodbye, blue sky

Wordless Wednesday - My Life's a Circus

I say Mr. Dee looks 'crack-a-lackin'!'. Mr. Dee says, "Call the authorities!"

I live with a bunch of clowns!

How did I get 15 people to dress up like clowns and super heroes to represent my farm? You'd think I had incriminating pictures of each of them or something...

ROAR!






And then a little post parade swim in the river.

Three Years To The Day

Three years ago today, Beck stepped off a plane and met his sister for the first time.

Today, for the first, he boarded the school bus for kindergarten.

Where does the time go?