3 + 5 > 32

From the archives:

A 3-year-old, a 5-year-old, and a 32-year-old run in circles for an hour. Who recovers last?

Explanation: After some high-speed playing yesterday with my two nephews, I learned an interesting fact about age. They were both unconscious within 20 minutes of leaving my house, while I continued (albeit slowly) throughout my day. While both of them awoke from their naps refreshed and ready to play again, I trudged through the rest of my day, went to bed early, and woke up feeling like I still have a kid clinging to each ankle.

The moral of the story? Ibuprofen is good.

Sadly, that's the moral to a lot of my stories lately.

Special Blog Bonus: Speaking of performance enhancing drugs, let's talk about professional wrestling in the 80's. Here's some fun stuff for you:

First, two Mental Floss quizzes on Wrestling Action figures: Quiz 1 and Quiz 2. I got 9/14 correct and 12/15 correct, respectively.

Second, here's a video I don't remember existing. See if you can figure out who everyone is! (I was stumped on one gentleman, until I remembered that he later served as governor of Minnesota!)

Sunday Summary

On Monday, Emma and Gabe OF COURSE informed me that it was "Dress up as your favorite character day" at school 10 minutes before the bus left. And because I am an awesome mother, this is what I came up with:

We are reading the Poppy series by Avi and so they were Poppy (Emma, with little ear buns, whiskers and a pink nose) and Rye (Gabe, with a furry hat, notched ear, and similar whiskers and nose).

We also had Miles,2, our cousin, over for an hour on Monday. Jane informed me (with Miles sitting in the car) that "I don't really like Miles, Mom, but I won't say that." Me: "Um, Jane, you just did." Jane: "I know, but now I won't say it again, because you will say it is a mean sing to say." Upon arrival home, she proceeded to play with him the entire time.

Emma also decided that she was done with piano on Monday. Her friends came over to ask her for a bike ride...and a lifetime of piano-playing was tossed out the window. Except I wouldn't let her, even though I was informed VERY emphatically that: "It's my choice, MOM!!"


On Tuesday, Emma and Gabe completed the much coveted (let's be honest, mostly by MOM) Reading is the Ticket Program, in which they receive a free ticket to the local amusement park if they read a certain amount. The month previous was filled with a bunch of (mostly idle) threats of "You are NOT going to Silverwood if you don't do this. I'm serious. Really. We'll get a babysitter and leave you home, because we can't afford to take this whole gaggle of kids to an amusement park. And you'll pay for the babysitter. I'm not kidding.) They were scared into submission.


On Wednesday, at Cub Scouts (Tammy will appreciate this) we learned about Litter to Glitter by reading children's conservation books, discussing how we can help and then Saving the Earth by collecting trash at our local park.

Friday we got to attend this Mexican fiesta:

at the Nebekers, where we ate steak, potatoes, rolls, spinach salad and asparagus. The plans for a fiesta were obviously changed, without the Albrechts knowledge, who came fully decked out and then forced the rest of us to dress-up and take pictures so they wouldn't feel dumb.

(we had SUCH a fun time)

Saturday was filled with the usual chores, basketball games and Ryan/Jessica date. Most notable, however, was Seth's nightmare episode, in which this bear:

kept us all up for a good hour.

I heard Seth crying and came into his room to find the bear lying on his face. He, crying hysterically, told me: "The bear is eating me, mom." I dropped the bear to the side of the crib. Seth cried louder: "NO! Dat bear tan't wook at me mom." So I dropped the bear, down the stairs. Seth, relented a little, checking: "Did dat bear go back to his mom's house, now, mom?" I white-lied, "Yes, he's back at his mom's house." I kissed him, tucked him in and left.

He cried again, on and off, for another half hour. Each time I would go in, check what was wrong and he would say, "I'n dust fine, mom. I'n happy. I'n scared, mom." After an attempt to have him sleep by me, so he would calm down, during which he chatted with me for 10 minutes about the whole scary bear problem, I laid him down and instructed him to sing a Primary song if he was scared. Upon returning to my bed, I heard in the other room, at the top of his lungs, Seth singing "I'm a Child of God." He eventually went to sleep but upon coming downstairs in the morning, was re-traumatized that the bear was not ACTUALLY at "his mom's house". He took him downstairs, and returned upstairs, telling me" Dat scawy bear is watching Amewcan Idol, now, mom." We're hoping Simon scared the Scary out of that mean Care Bear and that we'll have a good night's sleep tonight.

Sweet Dreams (Care Bear-free), from the Romneys.

No Beer = March Madness?

From the archives:

Does anyone else find it oddly coincidental that March Madness begins on the day that the green beer runs out?

Explanation: I wrote this post in March of 2004, when the NCAA Tournament started on Thursday, March 18th.

Speaking of the NCAA Tournament, it's about time to remind the world that...

I AM THE DEFENDING CHAMPION OF MY OFFICE POOL!

That is all.

A BAP-errific Post

From the archives:

HAPPY BAPDAY!!! FELIZ NAVIBAP!!! MERRY BAPMAS!!! BON BAPLEANOS!!!

Explanation: Acronyms in companies are amusing. At work, once a year, we receive a bonus governed by a combination of our employee rating and the company's financial well-being. When I began work, this bonus was called "Variable Pay." All of my coworkers, however, still referred to it as a "BAP." I have absolutely no idea what BAP stands for. Over time, "Variable Pay" passed on and became "Performance Pay" and now is called something to do with profit-sharing. I don't even care - it will always be the BAP to me.

Anyway, since March 14th was BAP day, celebrate the BAP, but don't spend it all in one place! Happy BAPDAY!

Edited at 9:31 AM: My dad found the following when searching Google for BAP:

Another Fan Contribution

Here's another contribution from everyone's favorite Photoshop addict, Willie:


I am told that this is not actually a flaming woodchuck. It is a woodchuck with flames. If you're a woodchuck, this is a VERY important distinction.

Blogging News

1. I had to add those dumb letter verifications on the bottom of my comment page, because I was getting tons of spam. Sorry. Is there any other way to deal with it? Are you commenting less (horrors!) because I did that (Paige!)?

2. If I don't know you, and you leave a comment (yay!), I will always click on your name to see if I can find your blog. I love to know who reads, and where they came from. If I come to the page that says this:

Profile Not Available

The Blogger Profile you requested cannot be displayed. Many Blogger users have not yet elected to publicly share their Profile. If you're a Blogger user, we encourage you to enable access to your Profile.

then I cannot visit you (Alison from Connecticut) which makes me sad. Do people do this for safety reasons or just out of ignorance?

3. I now have TOTAL celestial justification for this lovely hobby:

Isn't that the best?! I went around all day in the best mood when I finished it and sent it off. It was wonderful in real life. I have NEVER journaled (no one leaves comments in those!) or scrapbooked (hate projects) and besides random notebooks here and there and a big pile of pictures in my basement, we had little tangible memories of our happy little life. (It was surprisingly affordable. I got 66 pages, hardcover, for about $45 after tax and shipping.)

Do you know how thrilling it is to have this book filled with quotes, and pictures, and recipes, and travel logs, and musings sitting on my living room shelf?! (You can...by checking out http://www.blurb.com/. Feel free to email me, or leave comments, with any questions of how it works. )

Let's Find Chiling Waterfall.

Wanna go Chili Fall?
Har? go there eat Chili ar?
Chiling fall lar! ohh. ok .. long time didn't go water fall. good good. i join.


All the way to Fraser hill.. middle of no where... we arrived...Chili....ng Waterfall...maybe a lot chili in there? hahah


Look at the map.. Jungle Trecking and River crossing...the the obstacles we need to faced. hahaha same river need to cross 6 times then only can reach the waterfall.


Ladies and gentlemen.. get ready to get Wet.. lets go through 1st Obstacles..easiest geh..


Hold tight! don't let the water wash you away.


Okay.. River crossing obstacles is over.. jungle crossing now.. fuh...


you think is just Walking?? erm.. maybe not??


the brave HERO is trying to estimate how deep the river are.. come back!! everything can be negotiatable!. hahaha.


we reach the water fall, but this point is not our final destination.. heard this waterfall got few place.. and this is one of it...


Oh My God!!! how come so so so many ppl 1? her not sunway lagoon lar. they got lost or not? yeah .. this is where we heading for.. never expect to be soo... crowded.. ohmigod.. how to swim? shy la.


is time go back now. one shoot before everything come to the end


Chiling Water Fall.. very near to Fraser Hill liao. next week after this trip.. i will heading for fraser hill ..