schickHouse

Everything's Amazing... Nobody's Happy

very funny but true excerpt from conan. check it out.

Election Prediction, CPK Style

seeing as the media draws conclusions as soon as 2% of the precincts report, i figure i can draw conclusions anyway i want, too. here's what i've got:

McCain OOAK (One Of A Kind) CPK (Cabbage Patch Kid) ended on ebay today: $6,000

Palin OOAK CPK: $19,000

Replublican "Votes" = $25,000

Obama OOAK CPK: $8,400

Biden OOAK CPK: $3,550.01

Democrat "Votes" = $11,950.01

therefore, by my very scientific calculations, it's in the bag!!! (thank you, sarah!)

Not Over Yet

we returned "home" yesterday after a long visit down "home." (yes, we are officially nomadic peoples now.)

...note of frustration: twice now i've been DOWN there when mccain/palin came UP here. this saturday i found out, will make it twice, also, that i've been UP here when they've been DOWN there. argh...

i thought that most of the trees would be bare (they're working on it), and that most of the leaves would be brown (not nearly). is autumn always this lovely? i feel like this is my first time. God made so many amazing kinds of brown. i love it.

   

      

         

Fixing the "Tree"

i think these things are hideous. are they actually fooling someone? i think they're worse than the original because they just draw attention to themselves. and you can't imagine how much taller this is than the trees beside it.

4th Time's a Charm

december - went to the eye doctor and ordered new glasses
january - picked up glasses, prescription not right, sent back to fix
february - picked up glasses, prescription not right, sent back to fix
march - sent steve to pick up glasses as i was too annoyed, brought them home, prescription not right, sent them back to fix
april - sent steve to pick them up again, brought them home, right at last
NOT going back there ever again.
~bec.

Small Miracles

sometimes i do the groceries, sometimes steve does. when it's up to me, i usually order online the night before and pick them up, all ready to go, in scranton. today i did just that, but the regular person that usually shops/packs them was not there, so somebody else did it (wrong). as i loaded my groceries into the van, i noticed burger patties. i knew i ordered ground beef, not burgers, so i thought, i might as well take them in and have them fix it. *sigh* not very exciting, but the ground beef was on sale, blah blah blah... that's when i heard them say that the regular person did not pack them. so i should've expected more difficulties with the order, but i was optimistic. until i started unpacking at home. i jotted down all the errors and came up with TEN wrong products! (some of them including 2 or 3 boxes of the same wrong product.) so, i knew they knew what had happened before, so i thought they'd make it right. after a nice phone call, the result is: keep the groceries, bring the receipt next time you're in, and they'll refund all the wrong items. ok, how cool. that means, about $27 in free groceries now, and about $27 back later! very nice.

kinda felt like a reward for showing self-restraint at the foto place i took elle mae to this morning. i don't know what they expect!? should i take out a second mortgage to pay for my children's adorable portraits?! sheesh. yes, very beautiful pictures. (i mean, it IS elle mae!) but when they present the "best deal" at $199, i hardly can appreciate their work. (the "get-you-in-the-door deal" advertised is a $10 package. i knew that it was a g-y-i-t-d deal, but how mean to those unsuspecting parents who don't realize until after they're looking at 12 incredibly adorable, unique, sweet pics of their precious babe!) and when they make me feel just a tad odd, like i'm the only one on this planet not going in debt for fotos, well, the grocery episode just gave me a bit of a boost, i guess. i spent $40 for the fotos, got a wonderful package of one pose ($10), and "splurged" on one sheet each of two other cute poses. i'd like to go back there, and use their $10 package deal, but i'm afraid they wouldn't do a good job cuz they'd know i'm not a big spender. or that they'd be short with me for the same reason. not sure, maybe i'll stick with my standby. or... maybe... the whole encounter rather inspired me to use my "photobility" to create my own mini studio. i could at least do it for my own children. it'd be great, really. we could make each foto shoot day something extra special, with treats, or a trip to the park, or a movie afterwards, or whatever. and i'm sure word could spread quickly and i could have a happenin' S-type on my hands in no time. hmmm... anywho, thanks for listening. ~bec.

UNfriendly

a sad commentary on our society. we were trying to pick a place to eat on sunday after church. we stopped at a friendly's. a family-oriented restaurant, right? they make special little sundaes for children, right? they didn't actually have a spot to seat six of us together. we would've had to wait 30 minutes. i was ... taking aback? aghast? annoyed. perhaps i could give them the benefit of the doubt since they had one of the smaller dining rooms i've seen in a friendly's. perhaps i could, but i won't. because i see how our society hates children, outwardly and subliminally, every time i go out. i am so very grateful to God for our four precious blessings. i wish more blessings on other people, so they can "get" what it's really all about. ~bec.

Love My Family

this past sunday we went out to lunch between church and concert rehearsal. we went to a steakhouse. the children were very well behaved, as usual. partway through the meal, steve asked if i had heard the audible groans when we entered the dining room. i was appalled, yet not surprised. actually, i had not heard them, and i told steve that God was probably protecting me from it. quickly he replied, that God was probably protecting THEM from me! ~bec.