Picture this...And this...And while you're at it, this.

Since I've been an inattentive Shanslander lately I thought I'd go through my piccys and give you a huge smattering of them.  I'll try to keep my discussions to a minimum and give you a broad range of events that I might have blogged about had I not been so busy being "oot and aboot" as our Canadian neighbors would say. 

Let's start off with a couple of trips out with my friends.  In celebrations of various sorts(and trust me I'm not even sharing all of them).  I found myself twice recently at the same place called HUGO'S, which I hadn't actually been to for years.  

First was Becky Bleus Birthday Bash(a nice alliteration for the English scholar that she is).  

(Becky)

(Trish, Jenna, Becky)

We saw a movie afterwards so this was our attempt to get a picture of ourselves in the theater.  I had to concentrate really hard to include the others in the shot because I kept just taking pictures of my own giant melon.

(Jenna, Trish, Becky, Shan)

Let's keep this rolling to the next visit to Hugo's which was last week in celebration of our dear friend Shelley who is moving to New York in 4.6 days.  BOO!  Why do people leave?  BOO!! BOO!! 

(Sweet-n-Shelley)

Trish, extreme social butterfly, literally can manage to make it to ANY event you are able to schedule.  She is a Clockstopper (and an extrovert with a capital E) and always manages to be enjoying herself in the midst of it all!  Just when I get cocky and start thinking I can do this, something switches off in my brain and I dart for cover bolting the door behind me.  

Oh yes, I wasn't going to start rambling was I?  Here's the second group with Trish and Shan as common denominators. 

(Joy, Hannah, Shelley, Tab)

(Trish, Deanna)

(Hannah, Joy, Tabs, Shelley)

(Trish, Me)

And then Jamey decides to take his turn as a socialite.  Sunday night he went out with 7-ish dudes and then brought them all home for a movie afterwords.  I had to speed unload and reload the dishes all the while tap dancing with rags on each foot to quick clean the floors for the "surprise" drop-ins.  I really should do more daily maintenance.

(Todd, Jamey, Vance)

This is how I distract people who are trying to look at a neglected part of my house.  "Have you seen my lillies? Aren't they pretty?"  casually scooting them out the front  and away from a dusty piece of furniture. 

(Asiatic, Calla)

Of course, we could just move out to the prairie and no one would ever drop by to see us.  This is a house on ten acres we looked at last week.  BAH-HA!  I think it's funny too.  Get a load of the mow job we'd be taking on.  Oh, and I might not be able to stay there at night either which would be tricky.  But the view was delicious indeed!  Too bad the house was a little small.  It was almost perf.....OK! I know you are still laughing at City Mouse.  I can hear you!!  

So there's yet another haphazard wrap up. Can you tell I'm a procrastinating poster?  I guess I like to do my blog newspaper style and give a little synopsis of my world at large.  Tomorrow I've got about 14 things to do so it's possible I'll be rambling again soon at a blog near you.  You want to keep up, but not THAT close? Alright, I understand. ;)  Signing off.

Some Summer Stuff

Summertime summertime sum sum summertime's almost here for me and my household.  And that means there will be two early risers around here just rarin' to take hold of some free timin' interactive fun.  I really love it when school is out and the schedule is ours again to do with what we will.  

But what will we do?  For some reason this year I don't seem to know.  There are SO MANY different options posted around for sport camps and workshops on anything from photography to pirating, swim lessons, teams or pool passes.  What about piano or guitar lessons and what's this brochure about church camp?  

 Jolly Roger the choices!

My boys are 5 and 10 now and they are both eligible for enrollment in this plethora of $50+ a pop classes, which together would equal more fun than I or my pocketbook could possibly shake a stick at.  

All of these options have caused me to struggle with my theory of busyness which goes something like "AVOID BUSYNESS AT ALL COSTS".  And it has worked up to this point in that we have not been terribly overachieving thus far in life.  But then the downside of that is that (you guessed it) we have not been terribly overachieving thus far...in life.  Wah wah.

I finally decided I'm OK with that still, and  recently chose to shake my stick at a one week day camp in Oklahoma City, because my kids were feeling for a "nature" experience this year(and it was the one camp I actually enjoyed in my youth-don't get me started).  This also sounded great to me because that meant I was able to enroll myself in a self taught "Advanced Bargain Browsing" class that will consist of me wandering around my hometown visiting all my favorite "big city" stores with my Mumsipoo.  Woot!  

The problem I've always had with being too busy is rooted in the fact that I think children need plenty of free time.  They need time to explore their world in curiosity.  Time to imagine, to read, to be alone, time to rest.  I don't want to always be rushing them feverishly from one scheduled event to the next.

 Nope, there's plenty of time in adulthood for that.  I actually egged my own house today in such a desperation to get in the door with some groceries.  I have no idea why I was even in a hurry.  It's entirely possible though that I might have had some repressed rebellion against my own busy week and felt the need to egg the lady responsible for it.  This certainly backs up my theory.

And then there's the fact that my youngest starling has begun acting up at preschool in a most unflattering way (gasp, the scandal of it all).  I feel fairly sure he was only head butting his teachers out of love though, and he saw a billy goat at the petting zoo once?.. (nervous laugh developing)...Then they must have mistaken a yawn for a right hook on that other occasion.  I'm almost certain. What? Hello.

Nah, I'm not one of those mother's who's precious Junior's behavior is all to be blamed on his teachers and caregivers.  I know his challenges were given to him by his first parents rotten choices.  And OUR challenge now is to try to keep the little guy seeking the right choices and controlling the wrong impulses to make his unique and  magnetic personality work in his favor.  He just needs time...and lots of attention.

 

I mention these recent behavioral issues because they are also changing our plans this summer.  We've decided maybe our Dandy should have another year under his belt before he starts kindergarten.  And since we were advised to keep him in school all summer to keep his momentum up for Kindy, we now think he should probably just take a break and do some of that resting and playing business his mother is so fond of.   All work and no play makes Dandy want to take a swing at somebody!  We appreciate our school system, but we want his thirteen years there to be good years if at all possible.  What better way is there to go about it than to have a long easy summer together to contemplate it all.  Ah, yes.  That'll do it.

T.G.I.F.P.: Slogan petitions for additional letter for "photo" ending.

Because not all Fridays bring humor and smiles, I thought a few unfortunate facial disturbances would help.  I love how the baby in the top pic is even preparing for the bat's impact.  YEOW! Oh, the beauty of a captured expression. Bahha.  Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone!  Wear protective headgear if you have to. 

A Mid-year Evaluation of My Personal Smartering Journey.

I'm a little disheartened today as I write this for it seems I've had a slight setback in my progress.  What progress you asked? 

Well, it all started at the beginning of the year when I bravely resolved that this would be my YEAR OF INTELLIGENCE!!!(igence, gence, gence) And it seemed like things were going along well enough.  There were no glaring problems anyway. 

•  I have done a complete and thorough Bible Study(Good good, that means I am moving toward my goals of Biblical knowledge.  But not pridefully mind you-no never that.)
•  I have decided NOT to point out everything I don't know in passing conversation,  but instead just nod sometimes like I'm thinking and filled with opinions on the topic.  This may not be intelligence per say, but it's being more intelligent looking which will help any actual gained intelligence be more credible later.  Sounds smart doesn't it?  I know.  Oops, I'm over in the pride camp now-drat.
  
• I have been working toward figuring out my own personal abilities (i.e. encouragement, marketing, clowning for the young-I knew that workshop would come in handy one day, empathy-so sorry you have to endure this post, volunteering to help with stuff, losing weight by muscle atrophy due to not eating and/or moving as often).  AND THEN utilizing those abilities in my daily life, rather than always striving to have someone else's skill set (i.e. organizational talents, getting up at dawn, thinking nice thoughts in the morning, loving to garden, understanding politics, being a "hottie" with ripped abs- etcetera) you get the point.
• Watching WAY less television and listening to entertaining if not ALWAYS educational podcasts on my Nano instead.
• My favorite new smartification this year has been having a blog!!!  Of course, that comes with all the pitfalls of wasting huge chunks of my book reading time. But reading your exciting blogs and writing my own silly one has in fact made me just a tiny wee bit more intelligent! Yeah!  That's progress baby! 
  

But then today as I was trying to "shop smarter" by avoiding Wal-Mart and all its pitfalls of money sucking temptations, I think I did something wrong.  I've been enjoying running by BRAUM'S(an ice cream and fast food restaurant chain) for their hormone free milk and eggs for a while now.  Then they expanded their store to include one produce/meat aisle and one more tiny freezer then a couple shelves of bread, cereal and chippies.  This all sounds perfectly harmless and even convenient for a drive by situation.  But apparently people don't go there for their entire grocery load.  I got a cart and filled it with several meals worth of items, all the while patting myself on the back for the uncharacteristic speed in which I was gathering groceries.  

Then, I turned the tiny corner to the checkout station and started laying out my food.  The store manager came over and excitedly said "Have you heard of our special?!"  I said "No."  And she proceeded to tell me that with a $20 dollar purchase or more, and I was surely going to hit that mark, haha, I would receive a FREE ice cream accessory product.  A what?  She explained that meant popsicles or nutty bars or something.  Not a tub of ice cream, but an accessory that would look nice with(?) it.  

"Ok." I smiled and went to grab an accessory.  Then she finished ringing me up and her eyes lit up like she had just pulled the lever on her cash register and hit the jackpot.  I strolled over, nutty bars in hand, and went for my debit card, when she had another epiphany right there in front of all of us.  I had just bought the most groceries in a fast food restaurant that she had apparently seen someone purchase in her few months as manager.  She said "WAIT A MINUTE!  You are allowed a free ice cream accessory product for EVERY twenty dollars you spend here!  I suddenly realized I  needed to go pick out three more accessories for an entirely blinged out fleet of paper grocery sacks full.  

Now that she too had counted up how many  treats I had earned with my 7 minute shopping spree, the nice lady was beside herself with thoughts of sales awards and promotion.  She rushed over to the freezer section and started telling me all the combinations I could get and what they were worth.  I accepted one of the combinations after she stressed how entirely $free$ they were, but at this point I was actually getting a little shocked and embarrassed.  

I felt like spotlights were on me and confetti had just fallen from the ceiling tiles from the extravagantly UN-clever way I had just bought all my groceries at a FAST FOOD JOINT! 

 Oh, the shame I felt as Joyce-I knew Ms. Manager by name now- summoned an ice cream scooping young man over to help me with my sacks and sacks of her grateful merchandise.  As she handed me my receipt, she gave me a full eye contact locked gaze and said "We surely appreciate YOU".  What could I say back but how much I felt the same(But thinking "What on earth have I done.  And where did all of these balloons come from."). 

This scene didn't have an intelligent feel to it at all.  In fact, I was shaken to the core as to how "last year" this type of behavior surely must be for me.  

Once I thought it out though, I did have quite a few meal options and other than the ice cream bars and the impulse Cheetos purchase (that no doubt took me over the edge into the fourth free accessory item), they were all fairly healthy. 

 And if I were at Wal-Mart, wouldn't it have taken me that earlier 7 minutes to park and enter the building then another hour of zoned out strolling through each department getting a lot more of basically the same stuff in lesser quality?  Maybe. Yes. But why wouldn't I run into other budget conscious people whilst shopping at Braums if this were true?  Yep, that's what I thought.  Not too real intelligent now is I?  Ah well, it IS a process?  Now.  Who'd like a nice cold accessory?  I have plenty!

A never too late Mothers Day Spotlight

Would ya?  Could ya? Take a stroll with me?

Down to my Mimsy's Fine Art Gallery

Of course, it's really called Jan Hutchinson.com,

but for this gal it's hard calling her anyone but Mom.

She's succeeded in oils and has painted for years,

she's captured the landscapes of both far and near.

At my Dad's office all of her wildest beasts hang.

Not stuffed on wall mounts, but neatly painted and framed.

These days she's loosed her stylings just a hair,

with pastels she now captures breezy scenes with fresh air.

A more pleasant combo Broker, Artist, Mother, Friend,

you'll truly not find 'less it's SHE once again! 

My week in a pistacio shell

I don't really know how to organize my thoughts today- or ever perhaps.   Probably because I have half my brain candied and on a stick like cheap fair food, from the danged ole diabetes and the other half is beautifully preserved in Nutrasweet and on display in the What's left of Shan museum nestled in a thicket of dense trees somewhere in an undisclosed location. 

Don't worry, that didn't make a lick of sense to me either so let's just move on.   

Boy howdy did this week ever fly by in a hurry!  Oh yes it did.  I can't really remember everything that happened because, let's face it, that would almost be a week of recall and I believe I might have mentioned the condition my recaller is in.  

I just know it started with a whole bunch of kids and didn't seem to lighten up much after that.  And then there was that throat slashing movie Friday night!  Have you guys seen Sweeney Todd?  EEYIE!  I was really looking forward to watching Jonny Depp, Sasha Baron Cohen and one of my faves Alan Rickman full on singing their hearts out.  But when the blood started gushing with every downbeat, I was feeling ready for that music to end!  It REALLY was less than cheery, which is fine I guess, but I suppose I like my musicals a bit.... brighter.  I don't think I'm a fan of Mr. Sondheim.  And as long as I'm sounding so grouchy, I may even be tired of Helena Bohnam Carter always playing dead white and craaazy.  Can we see the lady with some normal skin tones and teeth for once?  

 Saturday morning I DID go with little Trisha to the Farmer's Market in Fayetteville which was a delight  even perhaps a deliciary of greenery if I dare say so!  The veggies weren't hugely plentiful yet but they did have plants galore and many entertaining sights to be seen and heard.

One of the things I loved about this market was all the little doggies walking around with vests on saying ADOPT ME.  I thought I'd include their pictures for my Mo-inlaw who is shopping for a nice medium sized pooch.  I think Lucy on the top is a great option for you Jane.  She's a good size and is fully house-trained.  She's a beaut coming in fixed and shot filled at the user friendly price of $60.  And she may be wearing that much in her apron!  Why am I always selling things on here?!  

After a morning of dog petting and baby cooing(Yes,they were popping out all over as well but strangely none were wearing ADOPT ME vests-harumph!), I came home and scraped paint off our shed to the tune of PERFECT spring weather outside. LOVE IT!

Today we went to church and then to a picnic with our Churchesians out at Lake Wedington where we lived it up like the Outdoorbergs we always knew we could be canoeing around and soaking up the sun all afternoon.  And instead of a picture, because I didn't want to hike over to the van and get my camera, I'll give you this easy yummy salad recipe I found online and have now taken to two separate food events because it's a warm weather refresher:

Butter lettuce Boomshakalaka(I don't know the real name)

Butter lettuce(duh)

1/4 cup olive oil 

juice from 1 lemon

Mix the olive oil and juice and a dash of salt and pepper and toss onto lettuce. 

Then top with the following:

2 diced avocados

1 container of feta cheese(6oz.?)

2 oranges peeled and chopped

1 small pkg pistacio nuts(probably 3/4 Cup)

It's fresh.  It's delicious. It's a casserole pan of healthy eats. Enjoy.

THEN....We rushed home and got Jamey's music gear all loaded up and went an hour away to a town where he was asked to play for an outdoor youth group gathering at our friends church at 6:00pm. 

 OY and OH MY that could have been exhausting...But it really wasn't.   Though I'm slightly coated in an entire days sweaty grunge,  I'm strangely awake and alert at midnight.  Wait a minute!  Midnight?!  I gotta get in the shower.  Here's a few more pics from our day.  This is Dave M. on the left who came to play with JameyClay.com on the right.  

And here are my tired boys lounging and listening after a long fun day of play.

 Thanks  Jenna and Jason for a great evening dear ones!  And g'night to the rest of you.  I'm kissing the palm of my filthy hand and waving myself away from the glowing screen now.   

The Answering machine song

I'm busy with kids and cousins right now, so in the meantime here's a little bit of real audio from my college days at O.U. (Circa-1991).
A few years back Jamey found a tiny old answering machine tape- I think I had saved for its sheer cuteness alone-and he wandered through it Homeland Security Style finding this little batch of messages. I had perhaps been staying with my parents in the city(40 min away from my apartment) when this guy was trying to reach me. I swore he was always just a friend, but I did realize much later that he had a "thing" for me all along. I guess it was that When Harry Met Sally kind of thing about how guys can't just be friends. I don't know.
ANYWAY, this was on J's blog so I thought I'd share it wicha. He put music to the audio because it's joyously uncomfortable for men to hear. And of course, it's great fun for me as well. TEE HEE! Sorry John. We all had our embarrassing times from those dating or not-so-much dating days. Have a listen!

"The Machine (Blow Things Up)" download