not much to blab about...

Elast Girl is on the phone with my Mother. She is talking and talking my poor moms ear right off, I'm sure of it. I am so sure, because Elasta Girl talks my ear right off- everyday- as soon as she gets home from school. How pleasant for me, and my Mom.

Elasta girl is turning 9 on Sunday! MY Little (10 pound) baby is going to be nine. I KNOW! It baffles my brain too. I will visit this idea later.

PS my mom just told Elasta girl that I was a "Stoop nagel" My mother is off my Christmas list.

THE END

New shoes.....and a little hand washing

Elasta Girl bought new shoes. They were at the Wal-mart and were on clearance for 5 dollars. She didn't need new shoes, and even thought they were red I wasn't going to buy them, ( I'm feeling very thrifty these days) so she bought them herself. I'm so glad she did. They are fabulous. Especially with her cute toes.

This is how little Ru washes her hands after going to the bathroom, or before dinner, or after school, or just when I notice how grubby she is.

She teeters on the 3inches of counter we have and washes while the blood stops circulating to her legs.

Sometimes she pulls a face for her mother while she tries to capture her wack-a-doodle-ness. Which makes her mother think she is even more of a nut.

Do you wonder why her mother doesn't just get her a stool to use so her legs wouldn't have permanent nerve damage? If we're counting, she has 3 stools to pick from. Did you also wonder why her Hair Stylist mother doesn't style her hair better? Me too.

"And maybe I'll just have a drink while I am here" she says. "Since I am soooo comfy"

Abusive? I'm innocent...

I am a abusive wife. But only when I am asleep. Yes, apparently I whacked Mr Smith not once, but twice in the night. I remember one of the whackings because I patted his head after words. I'm not so bad. Then, this morning we were laying in bed basking in the "no children up yet" glory and I head butted him in the nose. He has a very "grand" nose so it's not that hard to head butt.

Isn't he cute? Why would I ever hurt him?

Before you call the authorities or judge me, let me explain. We have a very LARGE bed, in fact it barely fits in our room. I like to have my pillow fairly close to the edge of the bed so I can stick my short little legs out of the covers in the night. (my feet get hot) Mr Smith likes to put his pillow right against mine. (pretty much the middle of the bed) He claims it is so he can be close to me and cuddle. I don't buy it, I think he just wants to take up ALL of the room - And then when I move (in my sleep) and whack him, he can complain about it - A LOT.

Would this face do anything to harm anyone, EVER?? I'm innocent, I tell you.

As for this face...I don't know what to tell you. It's got something sneaky about it.

This abuse goes way back. When I was pregnant with Ru I actually had a dream that I whacked him so hard in my sleep, because he was so close, that I killed him. Pregnancy brings on a lot of craziness, and my dreams are very real. I woke up so upset and worried and actually SICK about it that I made him promise to sleep farther away from me. He has not kept his promise so I'm pretty sure it is his own fault. (isn't that the kind of thing abusers say?)

As for the head butting, I was just moving my hair out of my face. The End.

POP.......We got one.....

What do you do with 30 pounds of fresh green beans? At our house we turn them in to dilly beans. Dilly beans are pickled green beans and are delightful.

They come from my Mother's mother, and her sisters. Some of my fondest memories of my Grandma Rass are when her and my mom and their sisters would sit outside in the summer under the covered porch, snipping beans (snipping beans means to snip the ends of the bean off). I loved to listen to their stories and a bit of gossip from their little town, I always felt so grown up helping snip beans with the ladies. Now I am a grown up lady myself, I don't have a covered porch or a mess of Aunts and sisters to visit with, but I do have beans. -lets not mention it is the dead of winter-

My wonderful mom called on Monday to tell my that beans were 88 cents a pound at Sunflower Market. (no Megs I haven't gone to Sunflower Market yet) I went to go on Tuesday after Ru was out of school, but she got a sudden illness (for real) and we didn't make it to the beans. I asked my parents to get me some, just 20 pounds or so. But, they had 30 pounds in a neat little bin so they got me that instead. Oh MY WORD. What in the heck was I thinking?

I was thinking, that Mr Smith wanted to snip beans all afternoon. And he did. What a trooper.

He snipped while I peeled garlic and simmered vinegar and dill and stuffed beans into 27 wide mouth quart jars. It was a joy, I tell ya. The pink bowl is full of all the bean ends and we only emptied it 3 or 4 times. Really, what was I thinking?

Here is the simmering dill-vinegar with some jars of freshly snipped beans awaiting their turn in the steam canner. I don't have a picture of the steam canner.

And here are our beans. Don't you just love them? Well you should.

The happiest canning sound for me is when you have spent all day canning something, and you hear the "POP" of the jar sealing. Canning with my own Mom growing up, we would hear the "POP" and look at each other all excited like and say "Ohp, we got one." I called her tonight after Mr. Smith and I were all done canning ( until tomorrow), and when she answered all I said was "we got one".

They sure are pretty. Thanks Mom and Dad and mostly Mr. Smith. I love you guys.

A little chat with Santa...And hats off to Elasta Girl

The Aunt Wendy sometimes likes to give large presents to the Grandma Smith for Christmas. This last year she gave her a beautiful Santa elf which was delivered while we were visiting one day.

Grandma Smith unwrapped it and set it on the dining room chair for display. Well, as you can imagine little Ru was mesmerized with the thing the whole darn night. The Grandma peeked in the dining room once and this is what she saw:

Yup. Little Ru had pulled a chair up to "Santa" and was telling him all sorts of things. (really) Mostly about what she wanted him to bring her for Christmas and somethings about how good she had been all year.

I grabbed my camera as quite as could be and snapped a few pictures.

HATS OFF TO ELASTA GIRL...

Elasta Girl loves straight hair. Her hair is the opposite of straight.

So some days I am a very nice Mom and straighten her hair before school. It really doesn't take that long, but morning are pretty hectic without the involvement of round brushes, hair dryers and flat irons. Not to mention all the lotions and potions I have to put in her thick beautiful curly hair to make it look lovely and manageably straight.

Besides how much she loves her hair to be straight, when I do straighten it Elasta Girl is giddy with joy because she gets to wear a hat. She LOVES hats. (Probably because they are an accessory and she is such a fashion diva) She can't wear them when her hair is curly because she gets the ultimate of hat heads, and we all know, hat head is not pretty.

On this particular day she chose the hat her aunt Renee made for her during last year's Christmas visit. It's her favorite one, and you can't see but it also has a cute tassel on the top.

This is Renee. She is the cutest girl around and pretty nice too.

Not that it matters much, but I'm pretty sure her hair is blond now.

We get to see her and the rest of the "live far away" family this Christmas. Only 11 more months to go. Whu hoo. We can't wait.

it's BACK...

Remember this? Back in November I waxed my 3 years olds uni brow.

THE BEFORE:

THE AFTER:

AND NOW:

As you can see, the uni brow is growing back nicely. So would you all please stop telling me I am a rotten mother and calling me vain? Thank you.

I'm not gonna do it again, that is until she ASKS me to do it...AGAIN.

And on a side note, I can see that her bangs ARE growing out. I was beginning to wonder about them.

New toes...1...2...3...and a zap

NEW TOES...1...2...3...

I got my toes painted the other day. I took my own design to her. Yes, I sketched it out and everything. I am a bit wacky, I know. They are only toes and it is winter so it's not like anyone is going to see them. (except for all of you) Aren't they "LOVELY"? Please disregard the toe stubble. I bet you looked at my toe stubble didn't you? How rude.

I've found that since I have been going to Meg to get my toes painted I have much less free time.

Hi Mama, will you paint hearts on my toes? I tell you, her face is never clean.

Oh, me too me too. Pretty Please?

AND A ZAP...

This morning I was leaving Wal-mart, and stopped to get a drink from the drinking fountain, and the water stream ZAPPED my bottom lip. I didn't know streams of water could do that. That is my shocking story of the day. THE END