Scummy calls me in absolute hysterics the other day to tell me the following story:
She called over to Marc and Tarah’s house to check in on the 9 month prego lady. When on the other line she hears in a very deep and masculine (and poetic) voice….”Well hello Thackers.” Scummy immediately asked when they got caller ID. Marc got pretty serious at this point, and described the horrid encounter their family endured the night before. Marc said they had been harassed twice by an unknown caller, and in an effort to protect his family…he thought caller ID was, at this point, a necessary evil.
Scene II….The night before
Micah and I were heading up to LAX with Skilly and Scout. We were heading out for the weekend to North Carolina on a red eye. On our way up, in an effort to have some fun, I started dialing my regulars for a little crank calling. Some of the regulars were available, but instantly called me by name. I don’t get how they always know it’s me, but no matter what accent I use, they know the culprit. (Could be that all of my accents are the exact same like Micah says. I swear that I hear my crystal clear English accent very differently than my Australian one. But just like my singing voice that sounds perfect in my own ears, I guess others hear something differently than I do. Basically…I totally get those poor saps trying out for American Idol, who REALLY think they sounds good.) Anyway, the crank calling turned out to be shorter than usual, so I hit up a few new ones. And I must say that Marc Hemeon AKA HeMan, always makes for a good story one way or another….so I dialed.
In order to appreciate the call, I must give a little background. Our big, athletic, clean-cut Marc used to sport a more Greenpeace/Rennaisance get up. You know…the cut off painter’s pants, Birkenstocks with socks, and long hair look. I always picture him with a pipe in his mouth when I think about it. He had a special liking for names like Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Frost and Emily Dickenson. His idea of a perfect evening was lighting the fireplace, breaking out a little poetry and reading some excerpts. Hence…the call.
Marc: Hello
Me (in a very great,poetic accent - according to me): To be…or not to be.
Marc: Who is this?
Me: Romeo, romeo…where art thou Romeo?
Marc: Seriously…who is this? (Honestly, how he didn’t pick up that it was Scummy or me by now was hilarious)
Me: (by this time I was out of poems, so Micah was feeding them to me as we were cracking up!) A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…..
Marc hangs up.
Micah and I were dying that he didn’t immediately know it was me, so of course I HAD to call back.
Marc: Hello
Me: starting into another poem……..
Marc: If you call back, I’m gonna call the cops on you. AND HE WAS SERIOUS!
When he hung up, Micah and I were almost in tears. We immediately called the Tacky’s to tell them the classic Marc story. Scummy was dying! But things only got better when Marc decided to finally spend the $$ and get caller ID due to the harassment!
In conclusion, I have two things I must say. #1 - I will abide by the 10pm calling curfew you set out for me and Scummy (I know she is the real culprit). #2 - Marc…haven’t you ever heard of *67?
Micah had a business trip to North/South Carolina, so Scout, Skilly and I went along. One of the things he had to do was meet with a family fun center company. As a byproduct of the trip, we spent the entire day (until 11:00 pm when we forced Skilly to turn in her tickets) at the place. And the best part……free of charge. Micah was in meetings about 3/4 of the time, but came out and met up with us for some of it. We bowled, played video games, went to a movie, tried one of everything on their menu, etc. We had a blast, and of everything we did the entire time, the arcade version of Deal or No Deal was the ultimate! I swear it was like we were actually going to win real money. it was really just tickets, but Skilly, Micah and I all won 200 tickets at least once! Now that is a deal!
I know it is a little white trash, but I crack up over this goofy hat, so the poor Scout wears it all of the time. It was chilly outside, but inside was nice and toasty…poor little guy!
checking his left side mirror
I don’t know what it is about these places that I love. And to top it off, this place was spotless. No sticky joysticks like nasty Chuck E Cheeses. My mom doesn’t understand my obsession, and put a quick stop to my original idea of having my wedding reception at Boomers. She didn’t share my same enthusiasm to let everyone and their kids come and play all afternoon for FREE!
All I have to say is…..if these walls could talk! I spent the majority of my life at 13 Morning Dove, and that house is filled with more memories than I can count. My dad built it for my mom, and when we were building it, we all got to say things we would like to have. Hence, the fire pole and 50’s diner! Some of my favorite things from the house were:
The lock on the pantry door for fatso’s like Tristen and me! (my mom’s suggestion during those meetings?)
The incredible views….(this was what I looked at from my bed every morning)
the picture doesn’t do it justice, but this is from my morning bath…..bright green trees against the blue sky (my personal favorite!)
This was our valley view. I have realtor friends who will fight me to the death on this one, but unless the ocean view is a whitewater view, I prefer the valley view with the mountains in the background! The fact that i am less than a mile from the beach, but can see snow capped mountains is pretty great!
The raquetball court where I would challenge my dad. We would play to 21, and he would let me start with 20 points….and I STILL couldn’t beat the guy! It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t trash talk him the entire time. But he would just look at me with a snide little smile and whip my rear!
I loved the architecture. I loved the rock we took straight out of the Utah mountains. My brother Shem especially liked the rocks as he would rock climb our fireplace. My parents had a cardiac attack when they found out, but apparently the mortar was solid!
And I especially loved all of the woodwork throughout the house. If and when Micah and I build a house someday, I definitely want some serious woodwork.
I loved our yard. My dad built the house so friends would come to our house, and he certainly accomplished his goals. Our pool and pool house were so fun throughout the years for BBQ’s and family get togethers.
Our slide was from before I was born. It was especially good with a hose at the top, because that steep water slide was SLICK!
And last but NOT least…….every person in my family’s favorite thing………….the ICE MAKER! Micah has commented several times, that no matter the cost….we will definitely have an ice maker in our future!
(it wasn’t usually this dirty…..this was the day we moved out, and had survived the entire move!)
13 Morning Dove was the greatest place to grow up. The memories will always thrive! Somewhat sad to see it go, but we are on to bigger and better! (actually smaller and better!)
AKA……. The Constipation Blues. The little guy has been so stopped up ever since I have been giving him milk instead of formula. Although the little clenched fists, grunting and bright red face always make me crack up, I was on the search of getting him regular without overdosing him on prune juice — GROSS! After a few weeks, I finally had my idea…..I was going to get the newest juicer on the market by Breville, and add a little fresh veggie or fruit juice to his milk. At first, I just added a little apple, and it worked like a dream. Now I am getting more creative to get the max amount of nutrients and good stuff in his diet. Hence, this morning he had his milk with a splash of pear, a squeeze of carrot and a wet pinch of parsley. How’s that for healthy!
How stinking cute is the little Scout Master?
So basically, I am all for exercise if it is fun. None of the mundane, same run every day at the same time for me. Instead, I like to try out new things to keep the excitement alive while I try and shed the unwanted pounds. While we spent V Day in Utah, I set up an afternoon of Cross Country Skiing. We had a nice afternoon in Park City with Scout in a sled that was strapped to Micah’s waist. Scout loved it, and even fell asleep during the ride - as was predicted by the lady we rented our stuff from. I checked on him twice, and his cheeks and nose were warm. He was covered/stuffed everywhere else like the boy in A Christmas Story, so I figure I was covered! But I guess the cold air he breathed in the whole time backfired on us and gave our little guy the heaviest and deepest breathing. His nights are the worst, and every time he sneezes he gets tears in his eyes from the pain and about starts crying. I used to get Bronchitis when I was little — I actually almost died from it (even though my mom doesn’t remember, I have a crystal clear memory of the entire saga!) — so I feel for him. I guess I’m off to the doctor tomorrow…
The Schmickster and I are in Utah celebrating V Day. We are also off on our own little family vacation with Scout. At the beginning of February, I put my homemade Valentine’s decorations up. It spiced up the month, and Scout loves to stare at the sparkle.
With a LOT of haters out there (Mr. Hemeon “I’ll pay Tristen 50 bucks”, Tacky “I’ll give you 60 miles at most”, Kirk Lindahl “good luck” to name a few…) I am proud to announce the world’s two newest centurians…..Tristen and Lindsey AKA Team Red! All I have to say is:
#1 - we weren’t the prettiest on the course! That is probably the most true when Tristen tried to do the whole “surfer change” in front of thousands of bikers. The problem was that she didn’t have a good size towel. Instead she used her tank top and put it around her rear end…tried to be stealth and pull down her shorts underneath, but accidentally pulled it all down at once. At least we were on top of an overpass, so the drivers underneath had some funny entertainment. the other time Tristen wasn’t so pretty was when a pack of riders enveloped her and she got wobbly and almost fell. She didn’t, but the whole pack freaked out because it would have been a disaster. I was laughing so hard I had to pull over!
#2 - we weren’t the most stereotypical on the course. Tristen and I both wanted the same playlist of tunes, so we rigged a ghetto blaster to the front of her bike and had music blaring the whole time! Everyone commented that they wanted to ride around us because we were making it so fun, but then we informed them that it was going to be a long day - probably 10 hours long - they politely declined and pedaled faster. For fear of our bodies not taking the 10 hours easily, we got some poor volunteers to rub our shoulders for a little loosening up at the aid stations. We also had mini Evian water misters on hand so we could spritz ourselves whenever we were too salty or hot. (BEST TIP EVER) everyone loved the mistings, and I will never ride a long ride without one.
#3 - our motto was slowly but surely! That proved itself over and over again as we closed down every aid station. It was pretty cool because we were personally catered to at each stop. The last aid station even held our bikes for us for 20 minutes as we went to see the offerings.
#4 - My favorite part of the day was when I rode in and heard that my very own husband….the ex collegiate athlete, the 1/2 Ironman, the triathlete, the etc. etc. etc……….didn’t finish the very same race!!!!! It was like the stinking cherry on top! It was like the whole tortoise and hare story. Actually in all fairness, I think he was trying to wait for me?!? and his dad, who had already finished, swung by and picked him up. Regardless….stinks for him when I tell the kids about this one!
It was a very fun weekend. Weather was great - 70’s and sunny. Tim and Diane made a perfect dinner after the ride. My little boy was the perfect houseguest. And most importantly I rode/exercised from the time it was light in the morning, until it the sun was going down! How impressive.
Check this off the list, and Tristen and I decided that we are going to make a sister’s list of adventures (we were going to originally call them goals, but then decided that neither of us are very good goal girls) to accomplish. Century ride is over, and I know somewhere on our list is going to be a Harley Ride. All we need are some do-rags, and we will SO fit in! Anyway, I will post that list once it is made! What a blast!
I think the fact that Scout hasn’t learned to crawl until now is a blessing in disguise. With all of the moving and trips we have been taking lately, it is nice to know he is going to stay where I put him. But the blessing has gone away, because at 9 and a half months….he crawls! It is the cute little army crawl, and technically Trilby got him going on it. It is very exciting, but sad to see him growing SO fast!
We are headed off to Palm Springs for the annual bike race. They have a variety of different lengths, with the century ride (actually 107 miles) being the longest. I am the type of girl who likes to check things off of my list, and I have chosen this weekend to check off my century ride. I figure that the second time I was ever on a bike was to ride 50 miles -from Rosarito to Ensanada-, so after taking two rides down to Oceanside in the last month….I am ready for the big daddy! Some people might think I am crazy, but the second they do, I quickly divert the attention over to the really crazy one…the one and only……the girl who has only ridden a bike once in her life…..the girl who has even less coordination than I do….the girl who has her inhaler the second the word exercise exits her lips…..the girl who is also a “check it off your list” type……the girl who has been known to quote “I hate to exercise”……TRISTEN URE! Don’t worry that we have an entire playlist ready to go, and she is taping it to her bike so we can both be riding to the same music! Can anyone even imagine the classic scene we will be. Originally Micah was going to “take it easy” and ride with me. Interestingly enough, when Tristen joined the race, I have overheard him talking with his Dad and planning out their “race strategy”. It’s all about making memories….right! Stay tuned to read Tristen’s blog in about 4 days….it might be the funniest yet!
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