True Story Tuesday - Tradition

Welcome to the last True Story Tuesday of 2010!  Yes it's true - this baby carnival has decided to take a little ski vacation while everyone gets busy with the holidays.  Hope you'll join in this week with your own True Story Tuesday!





What qualifies?  Anything amazing, hilarious, outrageous, miraculous, and (mostly) true that has happened to you!  You've probably already got a post written about the tale that is now legend.  Or one that is begging to be written about your Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, right?  Just grab the button up above, paste it into your post, link up below and we'll be around for some comment love!



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This week brought to you by the redneck who must fill his freezer with wild game that his wife won't touch Mr. Daddy.

TRADITION

Yep everyone has them.

Whether you are OCD about them or just plain anal-retentive, to mildly habitual - to some degree I believe that we all share in this time honored practice...

We have one that we practice religiously in our hunting group - from the seasoned veteran to the newcomer rookie.

You see, in bow hunting, it is all about yardage. The closer to knowing the exact yardage that the target is from you the more exact your arrow placement will be.

Rach In:  This is where my man gets the cocky look that bow hunters sport when rifle hunters try to brag about their trophy...

The best way to instill this mantra is a penalty shot....

With your hat as the target...

This is for a clean miss only...

If you miss, when we all get back to camp you have to hang your hat on the practice target and everyone in the hunting group gets a whack at you hat at the exact yardage that you guessed your shot to be...

Now a plus or minus 5 yard guess is the difference of a vital hit, or a clean miss. Most of us carry range finders, but there are times when you just don't have the time to range every shot. So there is a certain amount of calculated intel that goes into a few shots.

As much as I would love to pump you full of sunshine and try to make you believe that I am the 21st century version of Davey Crockett, or the reincarnation of the infamous Fred Bear, or Howard Hill, that sadly is not the case at all...

Rach In:  Who????


I was taking my bow for a walk just the other day, when a group of elk just happened to be passing by. As they seemed to be in a mite bit of a hurry, there wasn't time to drag out the old range finder...

But being as this wasn't my first rodeo, and I happen to have a wee bit of experience in the woods, I quickly deduced that the yardage was quite close, somewhere between 18 and 20 yards to be exact.

This would be referred to as a chip shot in golf, or a layup in basketball....

Not quite a gimme, or a slam dunk....

But in my mind I was lighting the grill. And lightly seasoning the steaks...

Welllllllll... do you know that guy named Murphy....Yeah, the one that wrote that stupid law... I met him AAAAaaaaaggaaiiinnnnn!!!!!

Ya see there was this combination of a little equipment failure and fading eyesight... To make a long story short, and not bore you with a bunch of very valid excuses, I MISSED!!!!

Rach In: Let's just be honest here... he came home and said he needed a new bow. Cuz, you know... the BOW missed the shot...

In the circles that I run in my hat is somewhat of a legend....Not that it is pristine or anything like that, but more for the fact that it leaks about a day or so before it rains...

Rach In:  Nice honey, niiice.

Like I said, not my first rodeo...LOL

There was a rookie in camp though this year... He missed today at 30 yards....

I DIDN'T miss his hat......

Rach In:  Mr. Daddy would like all of you non-rednecks to note that HIS arrow is dead center in the hat - from approximately 3,479 yards away, through thick brush, while hanging from a tree branch and chewing gum.

P.S.

(And yes DEAR!!!! The new bow shoots like a champ... :o) )

As Time Goes By - by Mr. Daddy

Do you worry about things???

Do you put a lot of pressure on yourself to do what you think others expect of you???

Is there stress caused by undue demands of your time?? (by yourself and others)

Do you think that you are rowing the boat alone???


I THINK NOT!!!!!



We all engage life at 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour.

Every morning we are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure Remember; you must use it, as it is given only once. Once wasted you cannot get it back. (Source Unknown)

Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find "tomorrow" on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, “If I had my life to live over again”. Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day!


Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. Og Mandino



As Carl Sandburg so aptly puts it,

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you."


Which fits hand in glove with a quote from Lillian Dickson, "Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once".


So spend wisely friends....


"It is not hard to live through a day, if you can live through a moment. What creates despair is the imagination, which pretends there is a future, and insists on predicting millions of moments, thousands of days, and so drains you that you cannot live the moment at hand." Andre Dubus

And let your world turn....

But live in the moment at hand....

May God’s peace and blessings be with you all.......

And in the words of Mohandas Gandhi, “Though we may know Him by a thousand names, He is one and the same to us all.”

Wordful Wednesday - Stormin'

Like every other blogger in the Northwest who is getting hammered by this potent combination of windstorm, earthquake, and blizzard, I figured it would be fun to see how we make the best of it.

Cuz snow is still special around here… until it freezes!

 

Hmm… what should I do first?

Enlist Cousin C to build a snowman?

with a mohawk?

 

Yell at the neighbor’s dog for eating the snowman’s left arm?

 

Work on plowing the yard for Daddy?

 

Call Kona over for a hello?

 

Check out the neighbor kitty who is not too sure about the white stuff?

Hop on my Strider bike  to show off in the snow?

 

Uh-oh, it’s really coming down.

 

Tease Mommy because she doesn’t have any snowboots?

 

Go chill with Cousin Bubba for a bit?

You know.  The one who can’t stop thinking about tasting snow?

Who am I kidding?  The one who can’t stop EATING the snow…

 

Don’t tell Bubba, but Mommy was so sad seeing his hands freezing, that she went inside and got him some special “mittens”.  That didn’t stop her from laughing every time he stuck one in his mouth.

   

 

Brain freeze!  Brain freeze!

   

 

Lay the bike down and scoop up some snow…

 

Momma?  What are snowballs for?

 

 

Is it kinda like baseball?

 

Hmm, I bet it is.

Momma?  Why are you running?

Steeeeeee-riiiiiiikkkkke!

 

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True Story Tuesday - Sick Day

It’s time for True Story Tuesday!

 

The perfect place to recap your crazy Monday, or your hilarious weekend.  Got any outrageous and (mostly) true tales that have happened to you?  Just grab the code underneath the button on the sidebar, paste it into your post – then come on back to link it up at the bottom and we’ll be around for some comment love!

 

This week brought to you by Itty Bit – also starring Mr. Daddy and a cameo appearance by my arm.  Remember when I said the kid was sick last month?  For your viewing pleasure:

WHAT NYQUIL DOES TO MY KID

 

 

 

I love that Mr. Daddy loses it at the 19 second mark, that the 30 second mark shows the ultimate Nyquil effect, that Itty Bit nails him at the 1:13 mark, and that it ends with some fightin’ words ;)

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Got any craziness to share?  Any family legends that are sure to be retold around the Thanksgiving table this year?  Link them up below and we’ll be around for some fun!

Monday Mugs - Paper Fun

It’s my first time linking up with the Oswald Cuties for Monday Mugs!

It’s a great way to have some fun with photos that may not be contest-worthy, but tell a story anyway!

  

We celebrated May-May’s birthday this summer with a family party.  Don’t you love it when kids get the hang of wrapping paper?

 

 

 

(Can’t you just hear her giggling here?)

 

 

(Gratuitous picture of her sweetness… my sister was due with her four days after Itty Bit’s due date!)

 

 

 

 

Well, she unwrapped her gift, loved it, then turned her attention back to the wrapping paper.

 

 

Waitaminute.  I don’t see any wrapping paper.

 

 

So what’s she smiling about?

 

 

Ahhhhhhhh!

 

 

Wrapping paper fight!!!

   

  

I miss her to pieces and can’t wait to get hugged by a curly-headed wrapping paper monster this week!

 

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And don’t forget – remember any outrageous and true stories that you’ve posted about?  Come back tomorrow and link up for True Story Tuesday!  We could all use some comment love, right?  Well, maybe not some ANONYMOUS comment love, right ' target=_blank>Jules?  hee hee

How to drive your husband batty: Project #592

If I were more with it, I would have put together a simple post with lots of lovely links. But it's not my fault.

I went over to look at Shutterfly's new Christmas card designs... and the place

sucked

me

in.

 

For approximately 314 hours over a period of four days.

(Yeah, math never was my strong suit).

So last year, I used Shutterfly’s photo cards to make a set for my sister’s sweet family.

I love how you can customize everything and it’s easy to upload pictures to share or use for gifts.

 

Confession:

Is it bad that I messed with last year’s family pictures from Cari Berry because I was *ahem* a few pounds lighter?  Well, short hair makes my face look chubby.  I’m sticking with that.

 

(God bless you Cari, for not making fun of me when I asked permission to use them.  I am still convinced you are a nominee for sainthood considering that you had to do some law-breaking to get those photos ;)

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So how did I annoy my husband?  This chick spent late nights glued to her computer trying to find the best possible combination of pictures/words/colors/fonts/layouts/editing and salutations.  OY.

But that apparently wasn’t the most annoying part for Mr. Just Send A Picture of The Deer I Shot.

The fact that I had created 72 saved drafts of potential cards and (horror of horrors) asked him to pick his favorite… well, that was apparently asking too much.  He knocked it down to two, and then *I* couldn’t decide.

So I’m blaming Shutterfly for this Christmas card impasse.  You just have too many uber cute selections.

~

And here’s a special message from Shutterfly:

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, go here!  http://bit.ly/sfly2010

(They have frequent sales, but what could be better than FREE?!?)

See y’all over there… after I take a nap.

Oh wait!  It’s SNOWING!  Hmm… I wonder how those “White Christmas” cards would look…?

Busted

Everybody knows my lovely cohort right?

 

(The one who picks a windswept picture of herself and refuses to SKINNY me in Photoshop)

 

Well, that chica found herself a bit baffled this week when she posted an innocuous installment of Luggage Watch 2010… which somehow prompted a random bit of anonymous hate mail.

The comment was riddled with grammatical errors and her loyal followers quickly jumped to King Julien’s defense after each of the three anonymous comments.

It was quite amusing to watch the comments section action and Julie was enjoying the show.  After we struck up a conversation about a possible Foursons Without Pity blog in jest, she lamented that one oddly angry and spelling-challenged anonymous poster was not enough of a foundation.

 

So a best bloggy friend does what a best bloggy friend has to.

 

Oh Heck Yeah!

A certain deaf chick with a miracle baby who blurts out inappropriate things in public, and who lives in an earthquake zone and routinely hurts herself doing things like cleaning the stove and opening a gate may or may not have posted a DELUGE of “Anonymous” comments on poor King Julien’s blog.

(I don’t know anyone like that, do you?)

 

See… the goal was to make Julie laugh.  And I figured the comments were so patently ridiculous that most people would figure it as a joke.

 

Oh Heck NO!

 

Y’all went wol-ver-iiiiine on me!

 

I through in enough really bad grammer errors to try to throw you all off, but your so determined to uphold Julie’s honor that I was ripped too shreds.

I mean, I totally laughed through all the comments that told me what a loser I was.  But my eyes widened and may have snorted some coffee onto my screen when I came to this one:

An Inbred?

I shrieked and guffawed and generally scared the snot out of my poor kid who had no idea what was transpiring on my magic screen.

Then I put on my best woebegone/petulant face and solemnly approached my husband.

 

Honey?  Somebody called me an inbred.

An inbred?

Yeah, an INBRED (insert wide eyes).

Babe, inbred aint an insult to rednecks.

 

Oh Heck Yeah he did.

 

~

Lest anyone assume anything about the first three anonymous comments, please let me assure you that I had absolutely nothing to do with them and have no idea who did and think that they were rude and nasty and only laughable because they were ridiculously uncalled for and poorly written.

Confession:  The anonymous comments that were also poorly written and signed “Your Anonymous Hate Mail”, were written by yours truly.  The things I do for a friend.

And never fear… I’m not the sort to engage in this type of behavior routinely… (y’all are probably safe).  Jules  has been a more-than-bloggy friend for many moons and I love her for being such a good sport and seeing my intent to make her laugh.

 

And what was classic?  Is that some of our mutual bloggy friends (yes you) EMAILED ME.  About this crazy anonymous person on poor Julie’s blog… and should we do something about this???  I laughed my BUTT off.

 

And I love, love, LOVE that she posted and totally outed me after I got a little worried about some of y’all sending a blanket party out after Anonymous!

Go read it, it’s classic King Julien!

 

Now, if you’ll excuse me… I must return to my inbred family ;)