A huge thank you to Mod Pizza! Today, for Teacher Appreciation Day, they gave a free pizza or salad to any educator who showed their badge. There is a Mod Pizza less than a quarter mile from the college I work at. I went with three colleagues at around 1:15 this afternoon. Even though I am sure the staff had been extremely busy since the moment they opened (nothing runs through a college faster than the news of free food), the staff was cheerful and helpful. The young lady who started my pizza even had some suggestions as to what was good. She also called one of my colleagues, who has been there more than the once I have before, by name. I had BBQ sauce, chicken, bacon, broccoli, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese with extra BBQ sauce drizzled over the top. It was delightful! Thank you! Thank you! Mod Pizza is the best!~~TSG
Archive for the 'Fun' Category
and then there was yum
…this morning’s events at the Gaudy house:
I woke at 6:30 to discover that one of us had tipped over my contact lens cleaning system during the night, leaving my contacts still in a soup of hydrogen peroxide. I had no idea how long they had been this way, but the process takes at least 2 hours. I set up the bottle, hoping it would finish before I had to leave. Meanwhile, I washed my hair. I can’t see anything and also can’t find my emergency glasses. I wake up CPI so he can begin getting ready. He puts my pants on the couch so I can find them easily. The dog decides that they will make a lovely bed in the front hall. I put on a skirt I wore earlier in the week instead. This means that I need to clean off the shoes I wore Monday when the parking lot was full of mud. CPI says he will clean off the mud (now caked dirt) while I fix my hair.
I put sticky stuff in my hair and begin blow-drying and styling it. This consists of blowing for a bit and then leaning as close to the mirror as possible to look at the results. This entire time, we are both trying to figure out where the bottle of plain saline solution that is usually in my purse is so I can rinse the contacts and wear them. It is inexplicably missing. Finally, we decide to buy some on the way to work. CPI begins to throw up (a combination of his seasonal allergies and whatever was in the mud, we think). New plan; CPI will drive me to the store, buy the saline solution and bring it out. I will rinse my contacts, put them in and take him back to the house. Partway to the store, I remember that the contact case in my purse may have solution in it. It does. I rinse the contacts, put them in and take CPI back to the house.
At work, I decide that I deserve a coke. I get this from the fancy machine in the cafeteria where you can mix your own. Returning to my office, I hang up my sweater (a new one) to discover that I have been wandering the campus with a tag attached to an extra button dangling from the back of my sleeve.
The worst/best part of the whole thing? I like my hair better today than I have in some time.
off we went…
Today, CPI and I went with Papaw, Aunt J, ES and LS to the zoo. No, we do not want to comment on why it took five adults to take 2-year-old LS to the zoo. We all had a grand old time. We saw lions, bears, giraffes and even baby elephants. The biggest hit was the sea lions. We watched them for some time while Papaw took a phone call from a friend. They put on quite a show! The two young ones chased one another up and down the slide. Then, dad came out and took a ringside seat on a platform. Finally, mom came out and swam about watching the fun. The water looked really cool and inviting. LS suggested jumping in. ES (typical ‘mom spoils it all’) said that he couldn’t. When Papaw’s phone call was over, we had to practically peel LS off the fence between us and the sea lions. We only saw about 1/2 of the zoo before LS got sleepy. We’ll have to go back another day and take in the rest.~~TSG
time to party
Tonight, my parents, siblings and a few friends are joining my family at Babbin’s, a local seafood restaurant. There will be fun, fellowship and alligator appetizers for the adventurous among us. No, it does not “taste just like chicken”. Afterwards, we will be going to my parent’s house for cake. The only ones missing will be RTA and MFA, who live too far away to come (insert frowny face here). I told FMP that this all sounded a bit expensive and he asked me if I intended to turn 50 again. Since I don’t, I had to concede his point. On with the festivities!!
truth in advertising
If I keep acting like I did today, I am going to be forced to dye my hair blond as a warning to others.
For instance, I asked a co-worker, “How are you doing this morning?”. She replied, “Good, don’t you remember our discussion about the radio station?”. Well, no, I apparently didn’t recall any of the earlier events of the day.
I certainly hope FMP doesn’t react to the new color of my hair like he did to the new length.
The Free House Project 1
I am always fussing at FMP about the amount of material that is wasted in construction. Last Saturday, I found that it is also wasted in destruction. I stopped by a former storage facility that is being bulldozed. Everything is being swept into huge piles and then discarded. Some of the units were still standing and I found usable things in them. This gave me an idea.
I have bet FMP that I can find enough material in five years to build us a house. If I win, he buys land and we make plans. If I lose, the whole shebang goes to Habitat for Humanity. Either way, someone is getting a new house.
I am starting with the following:
Five porch pillars-The bottom 3-4 inches are rotten, so one of our clients had to replace them. They are still tall enough to support a porch of average height.
Three opaque glass 5’x3′ windows-Found at the demolition site and of the kind placed above garden tubs.
Linoleum tiles-Found at the demolition site and enough to floor a laundry room (dimensions to follow).
Found includes, obviously, anything on the side of the road, in the trash, etc. It also includes what I deem usable off-cuts from FMP’s cabinetry adventures, anything I am given free (but not if someone bought it for the express purpose of helping me win) and anything I win in a contest. Also, if I find anything that is saleable, but not useful for a house, I may sell it and put aside the money for anything I don’t find. Appliances and HVAC are not included in the challenge.
Oddly, even my brother-in-law, who sometimes thinks I have lost my mind, believes this can be done. FMP would like to point out that he has not yet agreed officially to the bet. I would like to point out that he has had a week to say, “No!”. I realize that some people may feel this old-fashioned, but if FMP says I can’t, then this entire project will come to a screeching halt. Someone has to be in final charge and FMP is it.
TSG
Here for the Party!
When I graduated high school, my mother began the tradition of taking the graduate out for dinner with four of his/her friends to the restaurant s/he chooses. CPI chose P.F. Chang’s. We had so much fun that it was almost illegal. One of CPI’s friends has mistaken the day and had to be lured away from another graduation party. We ate huge amounts of delicious food and topped it off with dessert. In all, we spent two hours. My mother and I paid and got the leftovers together and waited for there to be a break in the fun. After twenty minutes, we stood, gathered our things and edged towards the door. Realizing that we were alone, we turned back to discover the “children” absorbed in conversation and laughter. Finally, I said, “CPI, we are leaving”. Everyone looked at us in shock.
Here is a picture of, from the left: L, M, H, CPI (in the suit) and G. Don’t they look pretty/handsome and happy?! I think so.
TSG
Yesterday, CPI graduated from high school. This marks the end of an era for us. We now no longer have any children who are not full adults. This is a little sad, for I greatly enjoyed the years in which I stayed at home and cared for played with the children. We had many great adventures and a few (now) laughable disasters:
1. One year, IRP received for Christmas a kit of beads to arrange into artistic patterns and then iron together. She left one of her projects on the table. The two-year-old CPI decided that one of the beads would look most artistic up his nose. Accordingly, he placed it there and then PANICKED! It is 4:45 on a Friday and I am trying to remove a bead from the nose of a panicked toddler. I say to him, “Blow your nose, baby!”. He inhales sharply. “No, no, stop!” I look up CPI’s nose to determine the position of the bead (I know, I should have started here). It is visible and I think I can get it. I cannot. RTA (10) and IRP (6) look up CPI’S nose and begin to argue; RTA, “It’s blue”. IRP, “There are no blue ones in the kit. It is black”. You must imagine this argument as a backdrop to all that now ensues. I begin looking around for something smaller than my finger. I find a bread tie. I make this into a hook and proceed to carefully thread it up CPI’s nose in an attempt to get the bead. I cannot. It is now 4:55. I call the doctor and plead with him to stay open until I get there. Everyone piles into the car. CPI is now screaming AND crying. The argument still rages. It continues while we drive to the doctor’s office, check in and go to an examining room. There is NO way I am leaving RTA and IRP alone in the waiting room. It takes two nurses and me to hold CPI down while the doctor removes the bead with a long pair of slanted tweezers. IRP triumphantly remarks, “I told you it was black!”. We all go out for sodas. Except for CPI. He gets the “Brave Child Award” of a small shake. He consumes very little of it and then falls asleep, exhausted from his adventure.
2. TSG decides that it is a good day to go to the zoo. FMP remarks that it is supposed to rain at about 10:00. TSG assures him that, if we get there at 8:00, we will be long gone by the time the rain comes. Guess who is right? Yes, FMP. We are at the back of the zoo in the children’s area when it begins to pour. This area is about half a mile from the front of the zoo. We decide to wait it out. It is still pouring thirty minutes later when we decide to make a run for it. We are soaked before we go ten feet. There is now no point in trying to wait for anything. We stop near the entrance to the zoo and go into the Bird House to warm up. TSG almost ends her skating careen across the floor by falling, but is saved by the 16-year-old RTA. It is warmer in the bird house and the birds are very entertaining. Now, back to our flight. We have another half mile to reach the car since everyone else had the same idea we did (except they brought umbrellas). We reach the car literally streaming with water and begin a desperate search for something to dry off with. I cannot drive as water is pouring down my face from my long hair. RTA braves the weather once more to search the trunk. Nothing. About six months before, I had had abdominal surgery. Under one of the seats, far back, we find the girdle I wore to support my stomach as it healed. I had not put it back on after my last doctor’s visit and had forgotten to take it in. This is the only dry thing in the car. So, I dry my face and the younger children do, too. RTA resists. Finally, he says in disgust, “At least this isn’t our side of town and none of my friends will see me!”. We now refer to this as “Swimming at the Zoo”.
Hopefully, our new chapter will include more fun and adventure. Much love to all my lovely children!
TSG
Success!
When the lovely children were young, I would buy classic children’s books at garage sales cheaply so that I did not need to worry about their getting torn up. At first, I read them aloud. As the lovely children grew older, they read some of them again for themselves.
Recently, CPI’s 12th grade English class read “Gulliver’s Travels” and we were obliged to buy a new copy. Marsh, our aged Labrador, had chewed up the first one we had in his puppyhood. CPI left the book in the back seat of our car until I was sure that he had forgotten it. Finally, I brought it up. “Oh,” he said, “I apparently remembered enough from your reading it to me as a child that I made an ‘A’ without reading it again.” Score! I win! Hurrah! Etc……..!!!!!
Too much fun?
CPI had so much fun that he slept until 5:00 yesterday. I think he might have gone on sleeping, but we made him get up to eat and so that he would sleep that night. He is currently “awake”, but lolling all over the couch. It is ridiculous how tall he has become. He takes up virtually the entire length of the couch and his feet are still hovering over the floor.
Apparently, I misunderstood. There was no putt-putt golf. Instead, there was bowling, arcade games, laser tag, pool and a ROPES course. CPI thinks we might all like to go there sometime. Given my grace and elegance, I will not be going in for laser tag or ROPES. For evidence of the above statement, see here: http://thissideofgaudy.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/keeping-out-the-dogs-or-how-to-injure-yourself-in-a-ridiculous-manner/.
TSG
In the Ensuing Panic 
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