LOST in Suburban Bliss

Friday Foto

From my blogging nook to yours...

 

Happy Holidays. 

Happy Friday.  

Those Funny Remarks Kids Are Serious About #8

Chuckles and I working on a rhyming worksheet that included both words and pictures...

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Me: OK, Chuckles, you have to find the words that rhyme with hen on this page. 

Chuckles: Ten?

Me: Great, what else?

Chuckles: Pen?

Me: Awesome, anything else?

Chuckles: Nope, that's it.

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At this point I noticed she was missing the "men" word/picture combo. The picture was a drawing of about 6 dorky looking guys. Sorry, 6 dorky looking men. 

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Me: Are you sure? Look closely. What about this one?

Chuckles: People? That doesn't rhyme with hen. 

Me: Chuckles, sound out that word. Does it start with a p?

Chuckles: No, it starts with an m. 

Me: OK, so what does that word say?

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Here she hesitates, then replies with... 

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MEOPLE??? That doesn't rhyme with hen, either, Mom!

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((sigh))

Fa La La La...DRIP

All I want for Christmas is my water leak fixed, my water leak fixed, my water leak fixed. It's dripping and it's leaking and it's wrecking my ceiling!

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Oh yes! Tis the season here in LISB! The season for things to begin to go haywire. It seems that every time I turn around to get a glass of egg nog, something else goes wrong and interrupts my holiday libations. Our biggest current mess is our water leak. I mentioned this right after Thanksgiving, and yes, folks, we are still dealing with it. We had a plumber from a local overpriced company come out and convince us that the water leaking into our kitchen ceiling was definitely from our master bathroom toilet. (Gross, right?) At the time I thought it was strange, seeing as the leak was on the complete opposite side of our toilet, and I vaguely remember mentioning that at the time, to which Hubs may have blurted out something like listen to the plumber. So we did. 385 bucks later we had a fixed toilet and...

a leaky ceiling. Turns out it wasn't the toilet after all. (I could say I told you so, but that would cause a lot of arguing so I didn't did anyhow. I just couldn't resist.)

Next try...we called the plumber who did our new basement bathroom. He came over, looked at the ceiling (I say ceiling and not leak, because although we can see water, we can't tell where it is coming from) and decided it was definitely NOT the toilet (ahem), but perhaps it was our master bathroom sink. He fixed two things that weren't right with the sink and charged us a whopping...

65 bucks. I know, right? Love this guy. Unfortunately, he wasn't totally convinced that the leak was from the sink (something about way too much water to be from our sink), so he told us to watch it and call us if we still had water, in which case we'd have to cut an even larger hole in our soffit than we currently have, possibly having to take down a cabinet and cutting into the actual wall. 

Lovely. 

So, while other kids are beginning to watch for Santa, Hubs and I watched our ceiling. And sadly, we watched it continue to get wet. 

Sob. 

One would think we here in LISB should call the second plumber since a) we know his work and b) he's a little more reasonably priced. 

So, we did. 

It turns out that the second plumber would looooove to help us out, however, his wife is being induced to deliver their second child. Today. 

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

He'll be out of commission for a while. And since his wife is my hair stylist, I don't want to tick her off by stealing her hubs at such a time of need. Because the next time I see her, she'll have scissors in her hand. 

Which left Hubs and me in bed last night, awake and staring in silence at the ceiling (this ceiling being a dry one, at least) trying hard to envision sugar plums but rather, wondering what the hell to do about a leaky kitchen ceiling. A ceiling leaking from an unknown location. A ceiling leaking around the holidays. 

Where's the Tylenol? 

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All I want for Christmas is my water leak FIXED!!!!

A Little Tinsel Goes A Long Way

I love Christmas decorations. But I have a confession...I like our decorations to look good. Not just good. 

Perfect. 

Straight. 

Even. 

All bulbs lit. 

Matching. 

I can't even tell you how my blood pressure boils when a string of lights goes out. 

I love when decorations are PERFECT. It makes me feel good. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that our decorations are perfect, as a matter of fact, they are far from it. However, I strive to make the house look better than it did the year before. Good. Maybe someday, perfect. 

But you know what I also harbor a secret love for? I love that sloppy Christmas tree in the gas station. You know the one I'm talking about. The one standing in the corner by the magazines, with just one strand of lights (none of them placed inside the tree to provide that oh-so-important interior tree illumination), a couple of simple gold ball ornaments, and that big bushy gold garland, the kind that we used to put on our living room tree when I was a kid. Or, if we're lucky, some of those tinsel icicles, the ones my cat used to eat. (That stuff had to pass eventually, and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty.) Maybe instead of ornaments it has gas gift cards hanging from the branches. Yeah, gas gift cards.

I love that tree. 

I also love when I walk through the door of the drugstore with its multi-colored lights lining their windows. 

Or when I hear the big red jingle bells jingling as I open the door to a local merchant as I run in to get a last minute gift. 

Or when I change lanes on the road and notice the wreath on the grill of an ugly 18-wheeler. 

Or when I walk by the tiny fake crooked trees stuck into the flower pots outside of the school as I go to volunteer in Chuckles' classroom.

Or when I am standing at the pediatrician's counter and glance at the ugly mini tree with no lights that an admin assistant stuck haphazardly next to the hanitizer. 

Or, my favorite...when we stop in our local pub for a quick drink and our table is right next to lighted garland wrapping around the exposed steel beams with the chipped paint. Man, do I love Christmas lights in a bar. 

I don't know why these little spots of cheer make me so happy. But they do. Sometimes they almost seem cheerier than the "perfect" decorations.

Maybe it's a reminder of my childhood. (Except the bar decorations. I never did hang out in bars as a kid.)

Maybe it's a reminder that no matter what we celebrate at this time of year, we all strive for the same peace. 

Maybe, as I am going about my day, these decorations are just a little reminder of home. 

Maybe it's because these decorations are trying so hard. 

Or, maybe it's a reminder that things don't have to be perfect to make a perfect holiday. 

Regardless, these little spots of holiday make me smile. Be sure to look out for them...they might make you smile, too. 

Friday Foto

Like mother, like daughter...

 

Happy Friday.