The neighbors are at it again...

Yesterday morning I hear a ruckus next door so I look out the window to see my neighbors' worthless grown son in the front yard drinking a beer (at 10:42 AM, really?) and watching his son who could not be more than twelve ON THE ROOF with the blower clearing leaves.  Hello, DSS?  Isn't that child endangerment?  The house has a walk out basement so while the front may not be terribly high, if he went over the sides or the back of Grandma's house he would most certainly be paralyzed or worse. Idiots.

The only reason we are hoping our neighbors don't succumb to lung cancer anytime soon (they spend all day smoking their carport) is because if they kick the bucket, you can guarantee this classy guy would move in.
He doesn't even live there, yet he brought a totaled piece o' crap truck over and left it in their front yard.  (Been there a month now, not that I'm keeping track or anything.) The vehicle does not have a roof - it was completely caved in, yet he managed to drive it over to dear old Mom and Dad's house.  But he put a tarp halfway over it so it's ok.  I am not at all bothered by staring out the kitchen window into a junkyard as I sip my morning coffee.  Why the heck did he bring it over to his parents' house anyway?  Do they not allow junk cars at the trailer park or extended stay motel where he surely resides?  Or maybe he's trying to hide evidence.  Whatever the reason, it's got to go. 

Who's Pretty?

She is!

All dressed up for neighbor and future suitor Gavin's Baptism.

 Thoroughly investigating the yard--those are acorns stashed in her little fist. She's like a chipmunk with those things.  I am constantly pulling them out of her hands before she shoves them in her mouth.

Nice backdrop of our cruddy old scratched up back door courtesy of one Moose and one Savannah Dog.

P.S.  Gavin did great at the baptism!  SB did pretty good too.  She only threw the program far enough for random strangers to have to pick it up twice.  And she took only one stroll with Dada in the back of the church and was very happy about all the clapping and music.  Maybe her heathen parents should take her to church more often.  :-)

Jiffy Pop

The other day Kurt and I were reminiscing about Jiffy Pop. You remember, the popcorn you cooked on the stove top by shaking it back and forth with the little metal handle.  As kids, we watched with excitement as the foil expanded larger and larger until you were sure it was going to explode all over the kitchen releasing its popcorny goodness with a BANG.  Now those were some fun times.  No microwaves floating through those kernels.

I was at the store yesterday and decided to look for a Jiffy Pop to indulge our nostalgia.  There it was, sitting on the bottom shelf, hidden below the dozens of microwaveable versions.  Yippie it still exists!

So we get to the register and the sweet young girl checking me out picks up the Jiffy Pop and says, "oh this is neat.  But doesn't the handle get hot in the microwave?"

I explained to her the whole concept of shaking it on the stove top and no you don't actually put it in the microwave, that Jiffy Pop pre-dates the microwave.  She looked at me like I had three heads.

Ugh.  I am old.

So.

So.  Here I am.  Slacker blogger.  How dare I show my face around here after not posting for 12 days!  Well, my excuse is...I've been busy.  Real busy.  Like working a bunch busy.  So I'm not complaining.  Busy is good.  Just not for blogging.   There appears to be an inverse relationship in blog frequency between my personal fun blog (this one) and my work blog (that one.) Therefore, if you ever wonder where the heck I've been, check blog number two.  If I'm not posting on that one, then check Facebook.  If I'm not on there then call the police.  ;-)
Ok so now that my pathetic excuses are out of the way...what's new in our little world?  Well, SB continues to entertain and delight us.  She is spunky, opinionated, and running around the house like a maniac.  We spend lots of time outdoors in our new grassy backyard.  That's right, grassy.  For those of you who have seen our backyard in the past, you may remember the jungle-like mass of ivy and weeds covering  our property.  Well Kurt tilled it all up,  planted grass seed a month ago and like magic, we now have a green lawn suitable for baby to play on if not for the dog "presents" they leave behind.  With leaves everywhere it's hard to locate all their, um, leave-behinds so naturally our first romp in the yard ended with SB picking up an old dog turd.  Lovely.  I was horrified.  Kurt would have been horrified too but he was so amused with my horror that he laughed instead as I carried SB, holding her defiled hand out of reach, into the house for a thorough scrubbing.  Gross.

We had an awesome day today.  my friend Ouida was photographing her friend's wedding up at Hanging Rock State Park north of Winston-Salem and she invited me to shoot with her for fun, for her friend, and to add to my portfolio.  Of course I jumped at the chance and we decided to make a day of it.  We got up relatively early and headed up to Old Salem for a few hours.  It is the coolest place you've never been to.  I lived in Winston for years and barely set foot in Old Salem.  It's just like Williamsburg but smaller and closer and with Moravian cookies.  Love it.  Our time was limited so we only walked around outside but it's on our list to return for a tour of the buildings and a little shopping.

 Here's SB with...wait, who's that?  Holy cow it's her Mommy in an actual photo.  Very Rare.  

Thanks Daddy for taking this one. 

Oh now that's better.  Mommy behind the camera where she belongs.  Aren't these two the cutest?

After Old Salem, we headed up to Hanging Rock, about a 40 minute drive through some, shall we say, more rural parts of the state.  Wow.  Walkertown, Walnut Cove, Danbury.  We are talking the sticks here.  Some of the scenery was very quaint and pretty.  Some of it, not so much.  Like, for instance, I wouldn't recommend going to the Stokes County Hospital for any reason.  It looks like a run down grammar school.  The pharmacy there is a trailer.  Maybe I'm judging a book by it's cover but I would venture to say they are not on the cutting edge of medical science.  It wasn't all bad though.  My favorite scene was a store that did not have a sign out front so I know not what it was, but there was smoke coming out of the chimney on the tin roof and there were at least 6 older men sitting out front in chairs in their overalls shooting the breeze.  They were still there on our return trip.

The park itself is stunningly beautiful.  The trees were red and gold and the light filtering through the trees about sets them on fire. 

See?

The coolest part is there's a lake at the top of this rock/mountain thing.  It's just lovely.  The family was so sweet and happy.  We got some beautiful pictures and had a great time.

Pretty as a postcard.

While Ouida and I were busy, Kurt and SB ran off with Greg and Avery to explore the woods.  They must've had fun because SB fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot.  She woke up 30 minutes later, fresh as a daisy.  So we stopped in China Grove (continuing our tour of tiny towns in NC) to stuff ourselves at Porky's BBQ.  A longtime favorite of Kurt's from his days working in Kannapolis, we introduced it to SB and she was smitten.  Not only is the food delish, but there are lots of people to watch and if that isn't enough there's a TV hanging on the wall every10 feet.  A feast for the senses.  She ate most of her mac and cheese, some pork BBQ and tried a hush puppy.  She was too interested in the little boy at the next table to really care what she was eating, but I think she left with a full belly.  She will sleep well tonight!

Special Picture for Grandma

Hi Grandma. Thanks for this cute outfit!

Tinkerbell

Here she is, the cutest Tinkerbell around.  We took these pictures before attempting our only Treat-or-Treat stop at Jessica and Steve's house.  Did not go so well.  Tinkerbell burst into tears when they opened the door.  She's been doing that more often lately, crying at strangers.  First, the chin drops and the lower lip protrudes.  Then, the waterworks start and it's game on from there.  Poor Tinkerbell.  Hopefully she'll get over this phase soon because she's making everyone feel terrible.  She did manage to perk up enough to play with her fun-size Twix bar on the way home.  :-)