The Big Lebowski - Gutterballs

Oh yeah! I wanted to see this today... hope you enjoy it too. Yeah, yeah oh yeah... what condition my condition was in.

Okay... you can all blame Tara for this post. She did one of those things on Facebook where you take a quiz and find out what movie character you are. I'm The Dude! Of course that's what three or four of us ending up being, including Tara and Laura b. and myself... but hey... dudes attract dudes it seems. How could I resist with all that dudage?

I tried getting a writing prompt from Squeaky. I said... what is the funniest thing you remember from childhood? He insisted that nothing funny ever happened. I find this disturbing. Surely he had a few laughs. I did! I thought my kids were hysterical. But then Squeaky is the most serious of the bunch. So I gave up on that.

I think Squeaky suppresses things. I asked him if he remembered getting his drawing titled "B Bunny B" in an art display at the town to the left's art museum.

He said NO. But I know he remembers it. They even had a gala opeing for it... well and other kids art work... with sparkling cider and party weenies, etc. He was very proud of it then. But Squeaky is a writer, not an artist. So maybe it wasn't as big a deal to him as it was to his parents. If I recall correctly, he was wearing his first cast on that night.

Squeaky is an emergency room child. All of them have done lovely things to their bodies over the years. But Squeaky does the best injuries. Let's see... there was the time he was playing in the pick up bed and fell out onto concrete and split his head open. I had a devil of a time convincing the insurance folk that it was not an auto accident just because he had been in the back of one. Sheesh... learn from this.... never mention a vehicle at a hospital or doctor's office or the insurance companies fight over which one has to pay... medical or auto.

Then there was the time that he was playing with the neighbor kid. Did you ever have one kid sit on the ground with his feet up... you sit on them and then they launch you? Well Squeaky broke his wrist the first time that way... the day before he began kindergarten... with his left hand and yes, he is left handed.

Then there was the time when I was on the committee that decided to remove the old wooden play structure at the school and replace it with nice, new plastic stuff like they have at restaurants now. Yep... conviced the powers that be that we needed something nice and safe and then with the help of the PTO, we raised the money to do it. The SECOND day our safe playground was open... Sqeaky falls off a platform not two feet off the ground and somehow managed to break his elbow in three places... on the fresh new bark dust. Miraculous really when you think about it.

A very irrated principal called me in to tell me my son claimed he was hurt and needed his mom. Too late, I was on my way to see him after seeing Squeaky's arm. I said, well yes, I would need to take him to a doctor. He felt that Squeaky should just shake it off and go on with the day. I said "Bob, he has two elbows on one arm... that's just wrong." That one required a specialist. Squeaky tells me on the way home that when he fell, he got up and was goofing around and said "I broke my arm" as a joke... then he panicked when he realized that he really couldn't move it... then he ran to find me. Good thing I worked at the school and was handy.

Its all pay back. Every child injury for what I put my folks through over the years. Oh well, at least none of them played football. I count myself lucky that there were no severed parts to reattach and though all have had stiches, not in the number that I amassed. Yet if nothing else, all the things I managed to do to myself did teach me to be able to ignor blood and parts at weird angles... to keep my calm. If you the parent acts scared, it scares the begeebus out of your kids. I think I may have mentioned before that I tend to laugh at them when they get hurt. Now Bear does it with Turkey. My great legacy to my daughter. Ha.

Okay... as for my day, my favorite frog made it a nice one with emails and a call later, though he was exhausted. I really enjoy this one. He's funny and smart and has done a lot of things that are interesting. Ended my social evening on a great note. As for the other frogs... have a date at noon for luch to meet one, another frog who lives close returned from family holiday stuff... and a new frog peeped in.

Life in the pond goes on.

Well I hope you had a good day. I love to laugh and laugh I did. I hope something gave you a great giggle or two today. Do any of you have plans yet for the New Years Eve thing? If so... whatcha doing?

Now here is another bit of Mr. L to amuse you... please... laugh, it's good for you.

The Big Lebowski The Dudes Song

A tribue to The Dude in my favourite movie of all time, The Big Lebowski set to the classic looking out my backdoor by Creedence Clearwater



And remember... The Dude abides! And so do I. Now I promised my favorite frog that I would do something for him... I best get on it.

Drive Me Wild

I always liked this one... like this voice of The Cars best.
Benjamin Orr.

The driving practice continues to go well. Squeaky even dared to head out onto "the loop" which is exactly what it sounds like... a 3 mile loop. He made one lap and then decided that was daring enough for the day.

I am very proud of his progress and how well he has taken to this... for cautious Squeaky, that is a wonderful thing.

I muttered "Oh shoot... don't let me forget that I have to make a batch of oatmeal cookies."

"You're making oatmeal cookies?"

"Yes" I said. "To take to the beach... with walnuts, no raisins."

"Do you know how to make oatmeal cookies?" he demanded.

"Of course I know how to make oatmeal cookies!"

"No no no... you can't say that like that... you have never once made me oatmeal cookies!"

"I have too made cookies!"

"You have made peanut butter cookies. You have made sugar cookies. You make those sinckerdoodle things... but NO OATMEAL COOKIES WITH RAISINS IN THEM."

"Squeaky... I hate raisins, especially in oatmeal cookies. That is why I never make oatmeal cookies with raisins in them for you. Besides your favorite cookies are Snickerdoodles."

"No. No. My favorite cookies are NOT Snickerdoodles... my favorite cookies are OATMEAL WITH RAISINS IN THEM."

There was silence for a moment or two. I was feeling kind of bad. Geeze I was sure that snickerdoodles were his favorites. I mean, positive.

(The car pulls to a full stop and Squeaky puts it in park so he can stare at me.)

"Okay... okay... so you're going to make this guy... this strange guy... oatmeal cookies and you've never made me oatmeal cookies the way I like them... and you want me to go stay at the Bear's house on Friday and not come home until you're gone Saturday right?"

"Well, yes, actually."

"NO. I want a batch of oatmeal cookies with raisins in them or I'm not going to the Bear's."

Guess who is making two batches of oatmeal cookies... one with walnuts and one with raisins?

TUESDAY'S CHILD IS A TOTAL GEEK... CALL ME TUESDAY

THE LONG AWAITED TRIBATTLETHON FILMS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED!

For those of you who are not familiar with the "Tribattlethon" films... Tribattlethon is an epic battle between Squeaky and his friend and fellow geek, Jay. Their weaponry is made of various things... recycled computer parts, cardboard boxes,etc. The swords are made of burly sticks... thick branches that Squeaky whittled into wooden swords. The battle maces are computer mice. Squeaky even made a gauntlet out of cans, cut and linked together. They have spent an amazing amount of time on this!

Squeaky wears the proud box helmet of the rising sun.

Jay is his nemesis.

Let the battles begin:

Tribattlethon 1
Tribattlethon 2
Tribattlethon Round 2 Part 1
Tribattlethon Round 2 Part 2
Tribattlethon Round 2 Part 3

I do hope you enjoy them and share them if you like. Squeaky is rather proud of them. Being the good mother that I am, I have overlooked the bruises that have resulted, encouraged and abetted this ridiculous nonsense... because Lucas and Spielberg began somewhere.

While you view... some marvelous battle music off of Queen II (A song I love!)

Queen - Ogre Battle (studio version)

My hope for you all today is that you will have only those battles that amuse and entertain you. May you win all battles in which you engage and be rewarded with smiles and laughter. Big cheesy mom grin!

GORGEOUS OREGON

*************************************************************************************

These photos are so awesome...

the sky will steal your breath! I think you can enlarge them by double clicking on them.

They were taken on a hiking trail above the John Day River in Oregon.

Night in the country, far from the lights... aaaahhh. Doesn't it look relaxing? You can imagine maybe a guitar and songs around the camp fire. Marshmallows toasting on a stick you walked around to find and cleaned by picking off the bark. You have to raft to get here or hike a couple of miles. I do not raft. Nope. Water and I have an agreement. I do not pollute it with my person and it leaves me on the shore.

Last night Squeaky turned seventeen. My last baby. I guess I'll have to start letting go and teach him how to drive the clown car. Max has some understanding of the clutch and can roughly drive. But don't tell him I told you so... he needs an automatic! Squeaky will not have that problem. He has coordination by the pounds. The only reason that Max does not have a license by now is that I'm afraid for my car! Not fear of his having an accident, he's pretty cautious but my clutch would not last long at all. Yikes. I don't want to have to put in another new clutch anytime soon. I am not a mechanic and I can't afford to pay for one.

Have you guessed yet that mom is a bit over-protective? Sigh. I know... they are boys, let them become men! I'm trying. It's hard. I had no trouble teaching the Bear... their sister. She learned how to drive when she was 14 and was excellent at it. I had serious asthma problems at the time that resulted in trips to the hospital that ended with me singing Wizard of Oz songs from the medication. I had no business driving home that way. I had no one else... so the Bear learned to drive. You do what you have to do.

Well, Squeaky only wanted a hard drive for a lap top he's building from scrap and scratch. What he does not know is that I'm buying a car from the Bear and hubby... for him. I think it's great that he was happy with just a hard drive. I'm pretty proud of him... a junior in high school who already has 3 college classes under his belt and will have almost a full term by the time he even arrives there... and keeps his grades up. I think he deserves the free ride.

I hope your skies are filled with a billion stars tonight and that you sleep as soundly as one does in the fresh air of the wild country.

Taking Squeaky Away

It's now Monday here. The Bear is coming today to help me take Squeaky away. He and his geek freak friend, L spend all holidays and vacation time bouncing back and forth between our homes. This year I get Spring Break to myself and he goes to L's house.

L's family moves a lot. Every time I take him there they have just moved or move while he is there. So it's always a map quest adventure. I've mentioned before that I can get lost anywhere on my way to a new location... but once I have been there, it is etched in stone in my head and I can find my way home and back again with ease.

You might think that because of this the Bear has taken pity on me and come to the rescue of poor old get lost mom. Nope. She worked her last day on Friday. She is going back to college to become a nurse and has some time off before her classes begin. (I am so proud of her!) She's bored. She has a nice new car to drive and I am glad to ride in it. It will also help sedate Squeaky who firmly believes that we will never be un-lost once I get lost. I will be glad too to see my precious baby Mikey, who has not yet figured out that there might be something better on earth than grandma.

I know that I talk about my boys all the time, because they are so often with me. I don't mention the Bear that often. She lives in the town to the left. We will hang out there tonight while her dad does his meeting thing. It's not always parking lots, though I love the reading time... especially now that the lizards have attacked and the Tosevites are just getting it together. She is a big part of my life too and sometimes when I use the term "boys" she is lumped in there too. Like the boys say... she is the toughest and the meanest among us. I know, girls are not supposed to be that way, but she is also the funniest and most energetic.

This is the girl who, after clothing shopping, sat in the back seat with her new panties on her head and waved to the cars that passed us by( in middle school). She was the homerun queen in softball. Also the girl that mom had to leave work to go to a local bad place where mom had to storm the house to physically drag her out. For a time in high school she was deeply depressed. We have gone rounds. There was a time when I was scared silly that I would lose her to alcohol abuse. My boys have been saints in comparison. She was not an easy child. My hair shines with silver from this girl! As difficult as she was, I love her a bazillion times more.

Here is the wonderful part. She got through it, even the humilation of biserker mom. I could not be happier with who she has become. Life is an evolution for each of us. As long as the evolution moves in a positive direction, we are doing well. Today will be a fun day that I am sure will involve Chinese food from Fortuna... the best place ever. We will laugh ourselves silly and baby will entertain us. A good segue to our coast trip tomorrow.

It is a good day for being thankful for family and friends. Hard work sometimes but pure joy!