The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today. - Lewis Carroll

...another one of those random thoughts posts.....

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Ever see those 'Batesville Casket Company' trucks? Giant semi truck with the respectful yet eye catching logo and lettering.  Ever notice how on the highway nobody ever cuts them off, or even so much as passes those trucks. Today as I was headed out of town,  this guy in a truck practically ran a half dozen of us off the road trying to get to the head of the line of cars before the road narrowed, but when he got to the casket truck he just nipped right in behind. Coward!

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Watching those cold and flu commercials, do you ever get that head nodding reaction?  You know, 'yeah, your absolutely right, I should stock up', 'totally right, I don't want to wait until I have a cold and then go out feeling like crap to buy the drugs', 'When you're sick is not the time you want to be trying to figure out what to take for it'.

I've been sucked in, I'll admit it.  I run out and stock up on cold medicines so they're 'on hand'.  Yup, whole 'cold and flu season' goes by and I don't get sick at all.

NEXT cold and flu season the medicines have all expired and I'm out at the drug store feeling like crap trying to figure out what I need....

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Got a phone call the other day, caller ID showed a phone number whose area code identified it as just a random northern Illinois number. 'Hello'

'Hi mommy, I just needed to talk to you'. In one of those flash through your head millisecond thought processes I think.  Huh, the number didn't come up as Jessica's number, must be calling me from work, must be really important if she's calling me from work, hope the kids are ok....

'What is it baby'.........sudden dead silence on the phone, then an obviously young teenage boy voice asks 'Who is this'

Huh, it was somebody else's baby.....

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Talking to someone the other day about how inside I feel 20, but apparently have reached that age when my siblings and I need to start thinking about taking care of the parentals.  When I mentioned that to my sister she said only I had reached that age....

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In other news, I think that Aidric is getting close to being ready to consider thinking about removing the training wheels from his bike.  Sean has raised the wheels up so high that Aidric would have to be riding the bike on its side for the trainers to actually touch the ground, but the boy still refuses to have them removed.  He insists he still needs them.

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That is all.

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Looking for a small snacks...

...why is the good stuff always just out of reach...even for
a giraffe.

The primate family tree.

Calgon take me away!

A great view of Santa Barbara.

Aidric rocketing down the aunt hill.

Aidric and Stas' getting the hang of the hill.

Woo Hoo!!

Next I'll try it standing up!

Yipee!!

Watch out for that tree!

Aaaahhhh the tree!!!

Yea Ha!!

And now for the knock knock version of our program.

Comedy is exhausting.

That's all folks we're all out of jokes.

Now the singing and dancing portion...

Ahhh, time for the goody bags.

Cool a balloon....with a handle?....

A break to play with the matchbox cars.

These were Emerson's first matchbox cars ever!

'Pies'

On the road to Aidric's school, the university 'driveway' is lined by farmland.  It's about a one mile drive from the main road to the campus and the drive is bordered by strawberry fields. lemon groves and, new this season, raspberry canes.  The fields were planted in rows and then every three rows of canes is covered by a greenhouse armature and plastic and each entire field of these greenhouses is walled or fenced by a black tarp-like material on poles.  These 'fences' are really more like curtain walls that can be raised or lowered to allow or disrupt air flow.  Anyway, I don't really know much about the why of any of these procedures, but....

...one day I noticed these red spray painted markings in various places along the black 'fence'. These markings are numbers and the word 'pies'.

300 pies? Would that be raspberry pies? How many pies you can make per greenhouse? Well that's just stupid, what a bizarre way of measuring assets....

No you moron not pies, 'pies' - in spanish..... See in spanish 'pies' means feet.  300 feet. Still don't know to what the measurement refers but thank goodness it's not actually pies.....

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Five years ago today Sean had just arrived to work - a one hour commute - when I called him to tell him 'it was time'.  It was snowing in Toulouse, it hadn't snowed in Toulouse in recent memory.  

Sean turned around and drove back (an hour) and managed to not be hysterical as I tried to quietly labor in bumper to bumper snowy morning traffic.  Our well practiced 15 minute trip to the clinic took an hour and I was 'hoo-hooing, hee-heeing' most of the way.

8 hours from the first contraction, Aidric was born!

Happy Birthday baby boy!

When Aidric was little Daddy used to
carry him around just like this.

Yesterday he thought he'd try it again.....
not so much, 5 years and 50 lbs. later.