Life In a Northern Town

Just because I like it...

I thought Mike's fine was bad....

Mike got had to pay mega bucks for parking in a no parking zone at a Seattle hospital a while back. The truck got towed and he had to pay a ticket on top of that. I thought that was bad until I saw this....

Blog Guy, I’ve read that America’s big cities are running out of parking places. I know you travel the world. Are other cities trying anything new?
You bet. Berlin is looking at so-called “momentum parking.” You leave your car, and a huge crane hoists it up 500 feet, then lets it go. The impact buries it several feet down, thus taking up far less room than an ordinary space.
I don’t believe that. You’re just making up stuff to go with stupid pictures again.
I’m serious! It’s happening in ‘Potsdamer Platz,’ which is German for “My car went platz!!” You can look it up.

Ok. It's really "unidentified artwork" but it was funny.

Momsense

If you are a mom, you know you've done this. If you have a mom you've heard it!




What about dads, you ask? Well Anita has done one for them, too!



by Anita Renfroe

The Refrigerator

We have a refrigerator sitting in our basement that Mike’s parents bought before Mike was born. We used it to keep milk, pop, veggies, etc. in so the kitchen refrigerator wouldn’t be so crowded after trips to Costco. It gave up the ghost last winter. It’s amazing that it lasted over forty years. I feel kind of bad to be taking it off to the dump today. It seems like it should go to the Museum of They Don’t Build Them Like They Used To.

How to cope with stress

Fill out your tax form using Roman numerals.

Why?

Apparently the hot new sport is extreme ironing. You take an iron and ironing board on vacation with you and photograph yourself ironing. Why??? I do my best to never iron at home. Why would I want to do that on vacation?

Harry Potter Puppet Pals

You must check this out! (Joshua says to be sure to tell you he is the one who showed it to me.)



Then check out this version:

Snow: Day 3

Here we are at the end of March. The first day of spring has come and gone. The cherry trees are in bloom. Spring flowers are in bloom. Trees are budding. Snow if falling for the third day. So far we've only gotten trace amounts, but you never know -- it's starting to stick.

The Blarney Stone

The Blarney Stone is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney near Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The castle is a popular tourist site in Ireland, attracting visitors from all over the world to kiss the Stone and tour the castle and its charming gardens. (You can see the stone in the picture between the green on the vertical bars.)

When we lived in England, we took a trip with Mike’s parents to Ireland and were able to go see the Blarney Stone. It was not at all glamourous and was extremely difficult to get to. You have to lay down on your back and lean over the edge of the castle ruins to kiss it. Jerry actually kissed it, which was no easy feat.

The locals do have a secret surrounding the stone. Since all the tourists kiss it, they urinate on it. :^)

You Will Never Be Sorry

YOU WILL NEVER BE SORRY
...for thinking before acting
...for hearing before judging
...for forgiving your enemies
...for being candid and frank
...for helping a fallen brother
...for being honest in business
...for thinking before speaking
...for being loyal to your church
...for standing by your principles
...for closing your ears to gossip
...for bridling a slanderous tongue
...for harboring pure thoughts
...for sympathizing with the afflicted
...for being courteous and kind to all.

It's Just Wrong!

I paid over $35 to fill my gas tank today. It was only 9 gallons for goodness sake. I'm so glad I don't have the minivan anymore. I guess I should find comfort in the fact that the moose don't have to walk under any more pipelines in Alaska.

Josh's Tae Kwon Do Testing

Here is Josh (in the middle) showing his kicks before the black belts.

Orange Belt for Josh!

Joshua got his orange belt in Tae Kwon Do today. Since he changed belt colors, he got to break a board by kicking it.

Mom, Please Don't Make Me Eat Candy!!!!

ThiS post will explain a lot about Jeremy. Before you read on, keep in mind this is the kid who loves Hot Tamale candies and how has to be limited to three apples a day or I'd go broke.

Jeremy lost a tooth and can't eat apples because it made his mouth bleed. Since I had a boat load of apples on the kitchen table, I decided to make the candied apple rings my Grandma Crouse used to make. I got some red hots and made the delectable fruit. Jeremy flat out refused to try it. He said (and I quote), "Mom, please don't make me eat candy!!!!"

Joshua, on the other hand, tried it pretended to gag just to get under my skin. Woe is me!

Fly Me to the Moon

There is a total eclipse of the moon tonight. These are unusual occurrences, and because of our rainy weather, are even more exceptional in Fircrest. However tonight we have a great view of the eclipse right out our front door.

I have a secret ambition to travel into space. I would love to go to the moon. It doesn’t look like it will happen in my lifetime, though. I told Jeremy he might have to bury me there. He looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. Go figure. I asked him why he didn’t want to bury me on the moon. I was really rather touched, thinking he wanted to go visit my grave or something. Turns out he doesn’t want to go to the moon. Sigh. I told him he could just send me up with someone else.

Josh Has Heart

Today I took the boys to the University of Washington to a bioengineering workshop. It was pretty cool. They showed us what they use for hip, knee, and finger joint replacements, as well as heart valves and stints. They even showed us the catheter used to place stints. Then they got to dissect a sheep's heart. Jeremy didn't have fun with that. The teacher asked him if she needed to bring him the trashcan. He was pretty green. Josh loved it until she showed him how to stick her finger through the heart's chamber, and the valve to come up on the outside of the heart. He turned even greener! He soon overcame it, though and was putting his finger through!

Who Says You Can't Get Good Service Anymore?

I was cleaning my carpets one day and noticed I was trailing a stream of water. My clean water tank was cracked. I ignored my dirty carpets as long as I could. The stains didn't show up that badly, after all.

Then along came Caleb. When I called to let him in the other day, he didn't come. That means he found something good to eat around the corner. I'm sure the neighbors threw a steak over the fence. (I prefer to ignore the fact that he likes to catch birds to eat.) He came in the house, walked in the living room and threw up something very dark. Right in the middle of the floor. Goober.

I now had no choice but to find a new tank for the carpet cleaner. I looked on the Hoover site and could not find the correct model number for a replacement, so I emailed them to find out the information. I was blown over by their response:

We will be happy to ship a replacement tank to your address as a customer courtesy.

I am getting a $40 tank for free! I've had the machine for years, so I never expected this. Hurray for Hoover!

So Proud...

I’m just so proud of the boys. After months, no years, of bickering and fighting, they spent the evening getting together! They are collaborating on a book. They are writing, not just any old book, but A Book of Proverbs. What more could a mom want????

Here are some of the proverbs they have penned:

• You are but a drop of urine in the bladder of life.
• You are but a maggot in this crap we call life.
• You are but a drizzly, chunky piece of vomit in the bucket of life.
• You are but an odd smell in the manure farm of life
• You are but the black center of the bird crap of life.
• You are but a thread in the dirty underwear of life.

I blame it on the Beggs side of the family.

It happened

Josh is 3/4 of an inch taller than Mike.

The Cake

Joshua had his birthday party this weekend. He decided he wanted a homemade chocolate cake filled with mint chocolate chip ice cream. The day before the party I went to Costco. They had a yummy chocolate caked filled with fudge and covered with the dark chocolate icing and chocolate shavings. I called him up to tell him about it. No go. He still wanted a homemade cake. I walked around Coscto and saw the cheesecakes. I called Josh up again to tempt him with the delious, yet no-work-for-Mom cheesecake. No go. Sigh. I might as well give up. I went to the store and picked up a cake mix, ice cream and Cool Whip (for frosting).

When I got home I dug out my fancy-smancy dome cake pan and baked the cake. So far so good. It even came loose from the cake pan. I softened the ice cream and put it in the hollow of the cake, then put on the top, which would soon become the bottom. Back to the freezer to refreeze the ice cream. When it was time to serve it, I iced it with the Cool Whip. All were duly impressed, including myself. It really wasn’t all that hard to do. I might have to do it more often.