'Girl Next Door' is THIRTYYYY!!

Happy Birthday to my Partner in Crime :) And thank you for being my friend! Now that you're older, perhaps you'll be wiser.. and you'll stop talking to me!!!

Men, I tell you.

Don't get me wrong, I love my husband.. he's pretty cool. However, sometimes he does things which just make me wonder why I keep him around :) Of course, I'm perfect.. so he never ever has these concerns. So, I've been working since I got up today. We work from home, so it's easy sometimes to crawl out of bed.. crawl into the office and get involved in things that need to be done. Then, you tell yourself, "I'll eat when I'm done".. then 2:00 is near. FASTER FASTER!! So I'm sitting here at my desk working away on something my husband needs for a project.. and he walks in with a huge salad. Huh?? Isn't it just as easy to make TWO as it is to make ONE?? Fucker?
So I ask him, "Where is mine?" as he sits down at his desk to eat.
"Huh? Were you hungry?"
"No, assclown, I'm trying to wein myself off all foods of any kind."
"Oh, do you want mine?"
"Fuck no, that's not the point. You should have thought of me while you were thinking of YOURSELF!"
"I'll make you one now."
"Too LATE!! You're already an asshole!"
Of course, I'm not seriously mad.. just trying to make a point. I would never make food for myself only. Why can't he live by the same standards??

So, being the wonderful child he is.. Monkey tried to save the day :) Dang it, how can I stay mad when he's so freakin' cute? He scampered off to the kitchen, and re-appeared with this plate. He made me a PB&J and gave me some cheese slices, a few peanut butter crackers, cookies and even made me a tea! OK, he made it wrong, but I'm going to drink it anyway. I just love that little Monkey Boy :) I don't know who he learned all that SWEET and CONSIDERATE behavior from.. cuz it wasn't Dad!! BWAAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Puzzle du Jour

So I thought I would stick with the easier ones :)

Criminals-n-Such

I have no idea how I found this site, we were looking for car information. But, it was sort of interesting to browse. It's a website of people arrested in Idaho. I just don't ever want to visit Idaho now.. I think everyone there is a criminal! But my son was chuckling..
"What was she arrested for?"
"Bad hair."
"Noo! Really? You can get arrested for bad hair?"
"Yes"
...silence...
"Nooooo! You're lying!"

Seriously though, some of these women would serve life sentences!! And do you have to pluck your brows into a tiny line to live there? I've never seen so many tweezed brows. Woah.

If you have NOTHING else to do.. click here.

Toys for your brain

My husband is smart, and I hate him. I buy him these annoying little books which are like brain candy for him... brain constipation for me. I thought I'd post some of the puzzles on my blog for y'all.. and I'd start with an easy one :) I even got this one! I should have a cookie now!!

Hooligans in the Landscaping!!

Hasen got to hang out in the plants today while I watched Monkey and my husband throw a baseball around. The weather was great here today!

You just wanna squeeze em' :)

Monkey Boy was telling me about a scene from some movie. Some guy was dragged through a bunch of 'cactapus'.
"What?"
"Cactapus, CACTAPUS!!"
"What is a cactapus? Like an octapus?"
"No! A cactapus!".. huff puff.. frustration begins
"You know, Mom, those things with the stickers!"
"Hmmm."
"Cowboys!"
"ohh.. hmmm"
"He got dragged through the cactapusses and it hurt really bad!!"
"Ohhhhh! I see.. the plant!"
"YESS!!"
Of course I didn't correct him. I'm a bad Mom, and that's just too cute :)

Flippin' Blogger

I can't get this POS to upload more than 1 photo it seems anymore. I know, it's free, shut up. So here are the other 3 pics of the Monkey, the Dog and the Bun.

Oh, and we went to see 'Nacho Libre' lastnight. I'm sorry, I like Jack Black. I think he's insane. It wasn't as hilarious as we had expected, but it was funny and we laughed a lot. I know it doesn't open until today, but there was a 10:00 showing lastnight.. so we went. If anyone else goes, let me know what you think. I know, you're all to intelligent and high-brow for that stuff :) I did win a bet though. My husband was determined the woman in the movie was Penelope Cruz. They could be twins! But I knew it wasn't her. Although, only because I looked it up.

Hasenfeffer Update

Well, Hasen doesn't seem to have any issues with living with us. They warned us about diarrhea.. eew.. and other things. The bunny might try to run off whenever you're near, until they're used to you. Pfft. He's great. OK, he's not totally into the whole potty training thing yet. We bought the little corner box and litter stuff, and when we first put him in the cage he used it. I was amazed. But, since then, not so much :) But, it's alright, it's easy to clean his cage. Puppy poo on the carpet? No thanks.

And I think he might just be part garbage-disposal. It's cool in our office, and I think the cooler he is the more he eats. He's only supposed to get up to 4 lbs, but I'm thinking 20 lbs EASY!! Mr NV reminded me of the episode in 'Malcolm in the Middle' where they have the super fat bunny that is squeezed into the cage and eats anything? That's probably going to be Hasen :) But when he's outside, he's not interested in eating at all. Neither am I when I'm hot. Maybe I need to turn the heat on inside in the summer? Could be a new diet plan :)

Our yellow lab, Tara, isn't too keen on him getting bunny treats.. and she doesn't. So there is now much huffing and grunting going on. We gave her a few today, basically they're crackers without the salt. She'll eat anything too. So she's not quite as cranky, but Hasen got right in there to try to fend her off!

At any rate, he's doing great. He's very curious, and Monkey had him out today exploring the office. I still have to replace my phone cord, since he bit through it. And he went after my cell charger today. Waskly Wabbit :) Oh, and SBS, we're only getting one.. so there won't be any chances for bunny-cannibalism :)

And then there was 'Hasenfeffer'

Meet the new addition to the family, 'Hasenfeffer'. Yes, we bought a bunny today. I found one that seemed friendly enough.. although he's now turning into a bit of a chewer :) But he is so adorable, it's alright. My husband picked 'Hasenfeffer' as his name.. since he wasn't with us to pick him out. Our neighbors thought 'Stew' would be better.. they're so bad :) Hasen is a Dwarf Lionhead Rabbit. I'm sure I'll be writing more about him .. I'm going to bed now :)

More Legos

The Monkey is now building a battle ship.. with a Ferrari engine OF COURSE! His Uncle bought him the Ferrari car kit for his Birthday.. but didn't realize it's for ages like 40 and over! Monkey put up a good struggle for a few months.. kept the pieces separate. But then finally gave in and has salvaged the parts!! Good for him :)

Arthur and the Minimoys

So today we were pretty lucky, we got to go and see - FOR FREE - the movie which is set to be released this Christmas 'Arthur and the Minimoys'. It was actually very very good, we went with our GOOD neighbors and their kids also... they also enjoyed it. Usually when we get these invites to free movies, they're for adults only. So we were excited to see that kids 7 and over were welcome... and that it was a cartoon. I wasn't aware, though, that it was not all animation. And I am not familiar with Luc Besson's novel.. so it was all new to us. The little boy Arthur (played by Freddie Highmore from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory') is very sweet. He lives with his Grandmother, and reads AND reads many journals left by his Grandfather of his travels and inventions. He discovers that there is a treasure hidden somewhere on their farm (rubies) which would save the farm from being taken due to unpaid debt. Oh, and he has an adorable pet dog FYI :) To make a long story short.. check out the website :)

After the movie ended, we had to fill out a questionnaire about what we liked/didn't like. I will admit, going into the movie I wasn't excited at all that Snoop Dog was one of the voices of the movie.. but I was going to try to be open minded. There is just something about a former pimp and regular pot smoker being in a kids movie. He's fine, he's funny.. I don't mind him in movies for adults. But I think it's in bad taste for him to be in a children's movie. First we discover that the other lead, a Princess named Selenia, is voiced by Madonna. And I was put off a bit by the obvious crush the little boy had... he was 10 in the movie. And the Princess was 1000.. but in Minimoy years.. which made her also 10ish. But do you remember the movie 'Cat Woman' with Halle Berry? And when she would walk away from the camera and WORK IT?? That specific swing she had... this Princess had. VERY curvy.. and it was just sorta too overboard and unnecessary. And do 10 year old boys stare at little girls' bottoms??? Cuz he was.. and it was just a bit sordid. And the Snoop Dog character was just as annoying as I had anticipated. He ran a Jamaican looking bar and was hitting on the Princess. "I can go all night long.. 24/7" and something about having 7 wives. And she's 10? And they were all drinking something.. which made Arthur drunk. I know, I should read the book and I'll totally get it I'm sure. But, to a person that hasn't read it.. it was almost a bit too much like adult Anime'... almost. And in reading the character credits, they did the 'body capture' for the Princess from Toinette Laquière. Why? I just don't understand why she had to be 'sexy'???

I will admit, I really did like the movie a lot. After filling out the questionnaire, they kept my husband. Because he only rated it as 'Good'.. although he liked the movie. Just not Snoop.. or his character. His character, FYI, was wearing a loin cloth and nothing else and had what looked like really bad sun-spots or skin cancer all over his back. And his fingers.. if you were to cut off your finger at the first joint from the top? It looked just like that. Very gross. Anyway, back to the hub, he said that everyone in the focus group was disturbed by the 'sexual overtones' and even the kids weren't into the kiss. But they all really loved the movie.. even though it wasn't completely in focus yet and the music wasn't totally finished.

So, anyway... GO SEE IT! It was a fantastic movie, the animation was awesome and it is such a very creative story. The little boy, Freddie Highmore, was fantastic. And David Bowie as the Evil Maltazard was perfect.. I love his voice. We will definitely go and see it when it is in theaters again. But, since we were asked to be .. we were in critical mode.. and the Princess really was too much like a Bratz Doll. And the whole romance between the Madonna voice and the little Freddie voice made my skin crawly. I don't know why a girl couldn't have played the role?

No.

Went to the pet store today with some buddies. No bunny. The little bunny I liked so much a while back had been purchased. So, we'll wait until another super friendly bunny comes along :) The others were very skittish and just wanted to hide.

But, we did see reptiles. Eck. Girl Next Door and her daughter came along, she's in love with the dragons. Eew :) I thought I'd take some photos for y'all :)

Rude.

One of my neighbors called yesterday, asking if her 10 year old son could hang out here today. Some long story about how her other 2 kids were at their Grandmother's and it would save her a trip. Fine, Monkey likes him anyway because he's the 'older' boy :) But all he wanted to do all day is sleep, play XBox and watch TV. He kept yelling at Alex when he would want to go outside to play, "It's hot! I don't want to!" and so on about wanting to watch movies he hasn't seen before. I'm starting to think having cable is bad, as it keeps Monkey's friends from wanting to play outside with him. They want to watch TV or play XBox. I see new rules quickly forming in the Monkey household.

At any rate, she dropped him off at 8:30 and just picked him up at 4:18. Before I could even get to the door to say by, she was 1/2 way across the front lawn leaving. No 'Bye' or 'Thank You' or 'Hi! How are you doing today?'. I opened the door to say bye, and she replied, "Oh, we have to hurry to the bank..." and she got into her car.

That's just rude. Seriously. I work from home, I don't allow kids to hang out here all day because we receive/make calls and it's just very distracting. I made an exception (other than for G and A because they are perfect kids:)) and she didn't even say thanks. I guess that maybe I'm just sensitive. But I would never do that. I would make time to stop and say thanks! And even 2 seconds of chit-chat. Shit. I'm not that much of a bitch to hang out with!

Any thoughts on bunnies??

So I'm pondering the new pet.. to replace Rocky the disappearing dog. I'm not sure that I'm up to house breaking another pound puppy yet. My original thought in getting Rocky, would be for Monkey Boy to have someone to play ball with. Didn't calculate fence-jumping dog into the whole happy visual. Monkey is pretty active anyway, he's always outside running around in the yard with the other monkeys in the hood. So now my mind keeps wandering back to a bunny I held at a local pet store. I was picking up a new collar for Rocky and this beautiful black/white bunny kept climbing up the side of his cage and sticking his nose out at me. He was so doggone cute. So I held him while I walked around the store . Some rabbits don't like being held, they're squirmy ... but he was so cuddly. ..sigh... I'm just weak, I blame my Mother. Growing up on what was almost a farm house, we had peacocks, dogs, bunnies, ducks and a variety of other random animals. It's in my blood :)

So I still have Tara, but she's going on 11 or something and prefers to sit by me all day.. which is great. But she's not playful.. at all. And I'm thinking that a bunny would be great, because I can still plan a trip out of town. We're taking Tara anyway, and it will be super doggone easy to find a sitter for a cute little bunny :) A new wild insane dog? Not so much. And do I want to take said wild insane dog to the mountains? Eh.. no. I had visions of Rocky just taking off into the great outdoors. Don't even think for a second I wouldn't have hopped into the vanwagon and left his furry butt!!

Are there any stories out there as to why I shouldn't do the bunny? The only bad memory I have of ours is that he was eaten by a fox one night. But, we would keep ours inside. He would be great for Monkey in the evenings when he's finally settling.. to cuddle with and hang out with. He can help maintain his cage, and they can even be potty-trained. I can't help but think it would be a good alternative to a dog? I need some professional opinions :) Other than my husband, because he's all about the 'NOOOOOO'. I stopped listening to him when I was 18 :)

His future??!

Of course I can't post without adding a photo of the Monkey Boy. What kind of Mother would I be?!?! He got to take a tour of the fire station, his friend's Pa is a fireman. Oh boy, was he excited. Even got to go up into the extension ladder. He is certain he's either going to be a Fireman or Policeman when he grows up.

Carnivale - HBO

Does anyone watch the HBO series 'Carnivale'? It's not on right now, who knows when it's coming back.. but it is. It ended last year and they are making new episodes. It's one of those shows that the Mr and I watch and swear we won't watch again.. because nothing is ever resolved.. but we watch it anyway. One of the few shows we actually try to remember to watch. I was just curious if anyone else caught it.. or had any opinions on it. Why did that girl turn evil? Why didn't that really bad guy just die already? The daughter of the stripper.. she's a ghost now?? Was that purgatory?? What does it all mean?? CRAP! I'm never watching it again!! Until it comes back :)

My celeb neighbors

OK, there are sisters that live up the street from us. They're cute little monkeys. But, since moving in my husband and I are always disturbed by how much the older monkey (on the right) looks like the actress Jeanne Tripplehorn. Perhaps not so much in this still photo, but definitely when she's talking and her expressions. It's eerie. But now her sister is starting to remind us of either a young Lindsey Lohan (from the movie where she plays a twin trying to get her parents back together??) or that little girl that was in the movie 'Chronicles of Narnia'. Seriously. They could be clones :) Don't you agree?? Do I need better photos?!?

He loves me :) Idiot.

I love it when MR NV sits at my desk, he doodles all the time. And he doodles little things of me.. which makes me think maybe he loves me. Probably not.. but you never know.

Did y'all know that the 'Evolution of Dance' guy was on one of those annoying morning shows today? Of course they jerked the camera all over the place, so you sort of lose the full effect. He's a motivational speaker, did you know? He created the dance as a closure to his speech.. to reflect change and how it's a good thing.

Did y'all know today is 6-6-6??? Holy cow. I guess it's not going to happen again anytime soon. Perhaps I should stay home today :)

The Monkey Boy is doing excellent at baseball. Would you believe that every time he is up to bat.. he whacks the ball 1st swing? Well, he has the last 3 games. He's such a Rock Star :) I better get him an agent soon.

My brother is coming over today to install a bunch of those X-10 cameras.. FUN FUN!! Front yard... back yard... bathrooms?? BWAHhhahhaha!! It will be great to keep track of the kids.

And Softball Slut, you be nice :) I haven't had anything exciting to write about?!?! You're so wicked :)

Anyone watching the MTV Movie Awards on Thursday? Will I miss any good gossip if I don't??