What Does A First Place Diver Look Like?

A lot like my boy Cody! Wait! It is Cody! Click it.


(I think if he could string his Xbox up somehow and control with his foot, he'd have that in this picture, too.)
And of course, it's that time of year, here is a little dive clip for ya. Completely optional.

And of course, Louie. He has nothing to do with Cody winning first today at the Liberty meet, but it's Louie getting all excited when he heard. He was happy, even if Scat the cat was nudging in on his territory.

The Cake That Makes The World Go Round

Almost a week later, sorry friends. I've over-committed myself with a few digi contests as well as taking care of what seems to be a never ending trail of mouth surgeries! Alex is healing nicely, these are pictures from this past week, what a difference a week makes! Cody had his wisdom tooth removed Tuesday--that was a ton of fun.

Alex and John last Sunday --you can hardly see a thing!

Louie!

John had to grill his own birthday meal, lol.Here's the cake recipe:

preheat oven to 350 and prepare 3 round cake pans.

Mix:

• 2 c sugar
• 1 stick butter (I use margarine)
• 1/2 c oil
• 5 egg yolks (keep those whites! don't do what I did the first time and throw them out)

Mix and add to first mixture:

• 2 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 c buttermilk (I never have this, I do the old TBS of lemon juice to the cup of milk, it works)
• 2 tsp vanilla

Mix and add to all the above:

• 5 egg whites, stiff (be sure your beaters are clean, don't do what I sometimes do and not clean them, you'll only have to restart)
• 2 c coconut
• 1 c nuts (I always use pecans)

Bake in 3 9" cake rounds for about 25 minutes--you'll know.

When I frost this cake, I always add between the layers extra nuts and extra coconut, then I top it with the same.

Frosting:

• 1- 8-oz cream cheese (lowfat works well)
• 1/2 c butter (again, margarine for me)
• 3 1/2 c powdered sugar
• vanilla--that's what it said--I use about a tsp or 2, it's whatever

If you bake this cake and put it in the fridge, it's one of those even better the next day kind of cakes. Or as my girlfriend Pam said 'I wanted to just sleep in it!'. It's that good.

I might be reemed for this but I really wanted to share this...I won't make you watch the first movie, it's pretty lengthy (but stinkin hilarious)...but the second one is funny too. It's Cody after surgery. He'd been telling me over and over how much fun it was...then he was trying to explain e=mc2 to me. And I, being a good mom, tried to trip him up, but even in a stupor he can out-think me. And all good moms of course record the conversation. For later. Because it's funny!

Camera Critters Go Cherry Pie

I cannot have Misty Dawn's eyes getting all teared up (with allergies). No way! So Mist, because I love you so much, not only am I participating in Camera Critters, the best darn meme there ever was, but girlfriend, Louie says hello and he wuvvvs you!

* If ya like the page, go over to the digi and get it, it's free!

Louie, Stink Spike Wheezer And The Napping Place

A few weeks late, I know, sigh. But they're still adorable little buddies, Louie and Wheezer slash Spike, slash Stink. We have GOT to settle on a name for this little guy. He has a little stripe down his nose, I think skunk, which brings me to stink. But nobody else likes it, go figure!

Here he is sleeping on Louie's bed. When Louie woke up to do his half hour on the hour quarter turn, he stop, sniffed him, sighed (no kidding, he really did) and turned back the way he came and went to sleep. He's such a sweet baby boy. And Stink likes my bed too, evidence shown below. Happy Camera Critters! Now, I'm tared I'm off to bed.

Wordless Wednesday From The Doghouse!

For More Wordless Wednesday, Click HERE! Happy WW!

Louie's Turn

Yesterday was my day to drive the 'work carpool'; it takes nearly 2.5 hours from start to finish, mostly drive time. I left the house wearing a jacket, it was amazing weather for late January

So it was a shock to my system as I arrived home to 19 degrees and snow blowing furiously, the wind so strong that it was a challenge staying on the road. That's the Missouri I've grown over my lifetime to love. Windows open one day, furnace and fire burning the next.

By popular demand, I have some Louie photos to share. Will this make Misty happy? I think yes. Even though Jack Jack the cat is every bit the love dovey wovey baby Louie is. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE the Lou. I'll tell the story of Louie very soon, it's actually a funny little adoption story.

Louie! He's a good boy. Even if he is now deaf, digs under the muddy deck every single time he goes out, forcing me to dip his giant bear-sized paws in water before letting him in, needs out four times an hour, gets snot all over the dining room window he camps out at, and makes a louder-than-life barfing sound and nothing comes out.
He's getting old. Not too old to to chase the cats. Two nights ago we woke up and flung our bedroom door open, having heard some very noisy intruders (we were brave). No intruders, but we did find Louie. Lying at the foot of the stairs in Jack's nylon cube house thing, one short stubby leg and giant horse head through one hole, body in the middle and three legs through the other hole. See diagram below:

He'd creeped upstairs, likely to eat the cats' food (he does that) and torment poor Jack, who sleeps with Alex most nights. So when he found himself stuck, he was heading downstairs to get us and slipped and slid down the stairs. The nylon made his run quite smooth and very fast. He slid all the way down, taking out a basket of Lego's on the way, landing at the bottom of the stairs next to our bedroom door with a thud. And not a yelp from him; he didn't even look afraid. He knew the drill, we've pulled his giant head from many things over the four years we've been blessed with Louie's big giant slobbery stinky lovable self.

Alright enough Louie stories, here is where I found the older boys yesterday afternoon, both drooling oblivious to the whipping wind and snow outside (I am aware on days like this that God has blessed me greatly with shelter and warmth and I worry for the people and animals alike who are out there without):

*I'm not going to have any JenGi, Aunt Bea, Cat & Gidget photos next week. I'm afraid I had to cancel (I'm calling you today Cat, but sorry if you get this through my post). John and I feel with the ever-changing drama going on with our daughter, it's not a good time for me to leave town.

Wordless Wednesday--Awww No, Not Again!

Halloween behind them, Boo and Jack-O-Lantern (Jack Jack) steal away for some much needed rest....awww

Awww, Louie, you'r bigger than they are, take back your bed!

For More Wordless Wednesday Posts, Go HERE! And head over to Five Minutes For Mom too!

Wordless Wednesday: Sorry Louie!

When I've Got Money....Pigs Fly

Dear Janice, my Twist & Skewer girlfriend in blog-life--tagged me for a meme the other day. The question is this: What would you do if you had a million dollars?

Then you copy and paste the info below, linking your site up with your answer. And as you can see by my answer on the bottom, I'm not going to give it a lot of thought. Because it's me, and winning a million dollars just won't be happening to me! It just doesn't! Although, I will admit I had a long winning streak of blog-contests, no doubt about it! So....I'll just sit back and watch those silly little pigs fly when I do win that cool mil.
Proposition: If you Have $1,000,000.00…………………………Requirements: continue above sentencesTag Mode: 5 bloggersLink: Add your anchor and post link below.What They Do With Their $1 Million1. SYH will spend for Family2. Miche will give to the needy3. Montessorimum will keepsake4. Lovely Mummy will spend & save5. MummyInVain will fully utilise6. Babyfiona will buy house and open business7. MonkeyWong will go for a long vacation8. Emila Yusof will realise her dream9. Mariuca will open a Perfume Gallery10.Janice Ng will upgrade house and go for long vacation11.Hin will blog to donate for charity12.Bobo will invest in property and let her parents go on a holiday.13. Adrian will spend it all!14. Brad will spend all of his money on foolish gadgets15.Danielle will buy a cottage in the woods and never look back16. Brown Baron will hold a $17,500 blog contest.17. Bobby will be on a World vacation forever.18. Arsenal Marketing will Tithe 10%, use 10K for advertising, Invest the rest19. Barrett will do ALOT of Traveling20. Mommibee will Give, Pay Loan and Education Fund21. Sean will go for family22. Seiche would Fix you but good23. HollyGL will invest, invest, invest in herself and others24. Nick will waste away his small fortune25. SpeedCat will Buy 2 golf holes!26. Florencetoh will settle her education & ensure her family’s future is looked after.27. Minibites will build a house, etc28. Ingrid would do the sensible thing financially… 29. Bengbeng will relocate to Penang30. Jean Chia will open a ‘pet’s clothing cum cafe’ store 33. JaniceNW give it to charity.34. Stacey will sit and watch the pigs fly overhead! 35. Kelly will stretch that mil into a billion dollars!

And now...........................for all of ya'll who have heard me not once, but twice tell you I'm all over the CD you won in my blog contest--yeah. Not done. Yet. But....I have printed off the labels and will burn the CDs tonight. Which can only mean one thing--they will mail off tomorrow evening! I truly am sorry, I didn't mean to not do it--this homeschool is taking a wee bit longer than I figured in. However, I truly enjoy doing this with Alex and I'm sure when we get our pace rolling we'll have more free time. For now, here's a picture of where he did his History reading (Pocahantas):

Isn't that cool? And if you look carefully to his right, on the loveseat, you can see just a little piece of his favorite classmate nowadays. It's Louie. You'd think a 50 pound dog on 3" leg who must be somewhere around 13 or 14 years old couldn't get up on the loveseat. But he can. He climbs up slowwwwwly. Like a sloth. He thinks that way we won't notice.

If I had a million dollars, I'd pay off my house, my car, the next four years of Jake's college, put $20,00 away for each of my neices for college and go to England this next June to celebrate my 40th birthday. After all that was said and done, if I had a couple of hundred thousand left, which I likely would, I'd quit teaching and write and do art all day long. I'd probably volunteer, too, at the local YWCA for young pregnant moms, and women in abusive marriages and at the local literacy places helping people to learn to read and write. Hey, I can live on a couple hundred thousand for a long time! I'm a teacher, after all. 32 grand does me okay each year with all the payments I have to make, so without the monthly debt, wow...I'd be in heaven. (Here ya go, my friend, Kelly, I did it for ya on my post--that's how much I love you!)

Wordless Wednesday (Shhh)

Aww, Jack, give back Louie's bed! It's the only place left that the three kitties haven't commandeered, until now that is. Jack-Jack, you've got no idea how lucky you are Louie doesn't know he could sooo take you, boy!

Edit: Ooops---seems TopMamma had a little glitch yesterday and I'm not off the grid yet. I got the email, couldn't get to the site, so I'm guessing it was a mistake, idk. So...if you read that whole Free Fallin post (deleting right away) then forget you ever saw it until you see it again (you will). Sorry!

Wordless Wednesday----LOUIE!