Greetings from the King & Queen of Smilde

May 2003

This is just to ease the letdown of the Monday after Valentine's Day. I love the green in this one!!!

The Conjugation Ship

Leo needs attention as Maria conjugates Spanish verbs in preparation for her last final exam which was yesterday.

This is So Exciting!

A couple of years ago, this picture of me eating a donut at the Brian Diemer Americam 5K was in their brochure. This year, I saw it featured on a billboard! For the story behind it, click here.

Leo Says

Dogs have owners, Cats have staff.

Cathy and the Crow

At Emily's 13th birthday party, Cathy had a little run-in with a big black crow and it got stuck in her hair!


Entertainment provided by Cathy, October 10, 2008

Yet Another Post About Leaves

The other day, Sharon & I were walking outside on a leaf-strewn path and we saw the biggest leaves ever. Look at them!

Since I knew that wouldn't do much for you, I had Leo model with one for you.

Humor in the Ugly, Part 3

Old Mum still enjoys the fall color. For Mum's background, click here.

Black and White Thinking

Leo looking good in Black and White

Calvin: Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn't they have color film back then?
Dad: Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It's just the world was black and white then.
Calvin: Really?
Dad: Yep. The world didn't turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.
Calvin: That's really weird.
Dad: Well, truth is stranger than fiction.
Calvin: But then why are old paintings in color?! If their world was black and white, wouldn't artists have painted it that way?
Dad: Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.
Calvin: But... but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn't their paints have been shades of gray back then?
Dad: Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the '30s.
Calvin: So why didn't old black and white photos turn color too?
Dad: Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?
- Calvin & Hobbes

Humor in the Ugly, Part 2

We were having a lovely Sunday lunch out on our deck next to the mums yesterday when the subject of their prolonged existence came up.

John: I could probably get a few days off work if I tell them my Mum died.
Maria: She died because Poppy wasn't with her.

Maybe I should go throw them away now.

Humor in the Ugly

Remember the beautiful mums that John planted on Labor Day? They never recovered after a solid week of September rain (see above) The other night at supper, I was wondering why they were still out on the deck.

Me: Why are those flowers on the deck still there?

The ever-funny John to his daughters: Those flowers are making Mum mad.

He's still the funniest guy I know.

Some Things I Love About Our Church

So we had a Potluck yesterday, but it had a twist to it. We all had to bring a sack lunch, put it on the table and pick another sack lunch. The thought of it wasn't that appealing - we all know how I feel about packing lunches. But I packed 4 good lunches and participated in the event with our family. (Edward even showed up!)

The lunch I chose had a toaster in it! The lunch was imaginitively prepared by Gracie and included a placemat, napkins and everything to make a BLT! It was wonderful. Thanks Gracie!

Betty & Wilma, the church ladies

After lunch, I was walking around with my camera trying to take photos of some props for the church website. I talked to Cathy who is recovering nicely from her back surgery. It went like this:

Me: I didn't know you really had a leopard dress.

Cathy: This is my Wilma Flintstone dress.

Me: Oh yeah, I need some pictures of it, ok? (she forgot about this bloggy thing)

Since we couldn't find a big beaded necklace, Cathy, I mean Wilma, found some Blow Pops to stick in her dress. See? You probably thought that that was a necklace. Our friend Julie was looking so much like Betty Rubble that she decided also to pose, and her son Josiah was the perfect Bam Bam.

Wilma and Betty look on while Bam Bam thinks about bamming on the Jimbay.

Big Sandbox

Last weekend, nephew Brian was so intoxicated by the beauty of the sand and water that he fell over the sand dune cliff.



Maria, Bridget, and Uncle John were dispatched to help him up. I calmly stood by to take photos.



Not to worry - John rescued him and it made for some good photographs.

Look Here People

Sister Mary and niece Tiffany look stunning in red.

Matching Shirts

Years ago, we went on vacation and I had gotten matching turquoise shirts for the whole family so we could easily identify one another. The family gave me a hard time, but we had many fond memories from that trip.

Imagine my excitement last Sunday when there we were wearing our matching MCC shirts and there was a photographer there ready to take our photo! It was exciting except for the fact that Maria wasn't with us. We were thinking of her while it was taken though! Hi Maria!

Photo by K. Reed

Cape Hatteras Misadventure

One day last week when we were at the Outer Banks of North Carolina, John and Maria set out on a small adventure to Cape Hatteras to see the famed lighthouse. As you can see, Maria was quite pleased to see it and pose in front of it.

As John was fiddling with the camera (pulling a Judy), Maria grew tired and began to rest on the lighthouse. Suddenly, it tipped over.

Not to fear. Maria picked it up and put it back in place. No one even noticed.

Oh, and then, on the way back from the Cape, John got a $170 traffic ticket for passing in the right lane. This was the real misadventure.

American Idol Funnies by John

This quote was from John while he was discussing with the girls next week's show-down between the Davids:

"Why archuletting me make a prediction about who's cooking up a big win next week?

Guest Blogger Day: Bridget

I'm helping out my mom today!!! She said i could clean the bathrooms or do her blog...so i chose the blog. Duh. She picked out a couple of pictures of me and my friend Jessica. ( not very good ones though)

What is Truth?

I actually remembered when I woke up yesterday that it was April Fool's Day so I was on guard and it was working out good for me. John told Bridget she could go back to bed because school was cancelled and I quick blurted "April Fool's" because I don't like to see people be disappointed.

Bridget came home from school at 3:35pm and excitedly told me about all the jokes that were made in school that day in the name of April 1. I was amused. The truth is, on this day, watch out or you'll be fooled.

Oh, remember that picture of me eating a donut that was in the Brian Diemer 5K brochure? Today a friend wrote to tell me it is on their website this year. I thought this was pretty cool so I sent the link to John. He called me later in the afternoon to tell me he also saw the picture on a billboard on 68th street on the way to work. I was so excited at the thought of a bigger than life picture of me out there - I don't know why, I just thought it would be funny. He told me it was that billboard by the railroad tracks and I couldn't picture it, so he said it was that one that says April Billboards at the bottom, so I said what side of the road is it on, and he said you see it when you're driving TO school. I was all, why do they like that picture so much??? I still couldn't picture where the billboard was, so he told me it's the one that says www.aprilfools.com. I finally got it.

Cleaning and Shopping and Keeping On

John has been out of town this week, first to Washington DC, then to Arizona, so I have been motivated to do some deep cleaning. I spent about 10 hours on the kitchen cupboards and last night, I organized the 2 junk drawers. Doesn't that sound fun? It was!

I did have a couple of birthday lunches with friends which felt like gifts to me as much as to them, you know? Deep in the recesses of my cupboards, I discovered some jam jars of my friend Lori on her birthday. So I took a cleaning break for a birthday lunch!

It turns out, my friend Cathy loves three-cheese Olga's as much as I do and we only ever eat them with our mothers. What's that all about? So we met at Olga's, and ended up shopping for a hot babe dress (for me) and pants and a bathing suit(for her). Those are the completely hardest things to shop for if you ask me, so it was a good feeling to have succeeded, and it was a plus to have had so much fun doing it. Another bonus: when I got home, Bridget approved of the dress! This is huge.

Note: I never knew I could have a hot babe dress, but I have been told since I am a hot babe, all of my dresses are hot babe dresses. Now that makes sense to me. :)

Everyone Loves a Mime?

John by a fireplace at Calvin College, Feb. 2008

John is probably the funniest person I know even though he says that I am the funniest person I know. People who know him have told me we must have fun all the time. Our kids say I always repeat his jokes to make them funnier - what can I say? I recognize good humor.
Anyhoo, John has a post up about mimes on his blog which he updates once in a great while. Check it out here!

And the winner is...

This morning, the Bridget & I made sure all the names of the people in the 2nd Blogaversary earring give-away thingy were properly accounted for on a slip of paper.

We enlisted Edward as a not-so-enthusiastic, neutral party to hold the pink hat and Bridget pulled out the winner's name...

... it was Marianna! The model for the underwear party! And it just so happens we will be seeing her next week at her son Trey's wedding. Congratulations, Mar.

What Living Free in NH Looks Like

Is it Art, Social Commentary, or Photo Essay? I think he's trying to tell us that life in New Hamphire is more dream-worthy than that in California because for one, you have ice fishing. But what do I know? Or that song comes to mind, "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things, doesn't belong..." Or did you notice that there are three different species of fish? This photo is such a conversation piece! I could frame it and put it on my wall next to the sad little blue man.

Note: These fish were all caught from under the ice and eaten and not photoshopped onto the above picture. And yes, Uncle Alan is taking credit for the catch.

Spittin' Images

On the MyHeritage site you can submit a picture of a kid along with pictures of the parents to see who he/she looks more like. I did this during Thanksgiving vacation. First picture, Bridget tilts the scale toward her mother, me. I agree, she has pretty much always looked like me though I sometimes see a bit of John in her.



The next picture, Maria tilts the scale toward John. I'll go there as Maria is pretty much the splitting image of John's sister.


Now things get dicier. Edward, who has always been a male version of his mother, me, actually tilted the scale to John. It's ok, they're both male. Must be John's goatee that attracts the needle.


I tried new pictures of Edward & me and this must be more accurate.


I tried another one of BeeBop, and it went to John! What?


Now this next one is more like it. Maria looks equally like us both. I think that pictures capture different facets of the face at different moments in time and so can look like different facets of the parents face at any given time. That is my theory.

Body Double

This past holiday weekend, I've had a little time to explore the MyHeritage.com sight which can analyze a picture of your face and tell you who you look like. I blogged about this last year, but to review, I looked the most like Jacki O.



They now have a feature which allows you to see how you morph into someone else:



So now when people are staring at me trying to think of who it is I remind them of, I can say, well, I do have a 78% likeness to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I just need a brunette hair-do and oh, a string of pearls which I do have.

I tried a different picture of an older 45 year old version of me and now they say I look like the ever-perky Katie Couric. I think the mouth is really off on this one!



It's kind of fun. You should try it.

The Leaves have not Left Yet

Today in my neighborhood

I was reading something Jerry Seinfeld said about the first joke of his that got a laugh. It was about lefties - and I was interested since my mom, John and Bridget are all lefties. He was talking about how left handedness and left things are associated with the negative - like 2 left feet, or you go to a party and nobody is there, where did everybody go? They left.

So sorry Mom, John, Bridget, when the leaves fall, that means they left. Too bad.

The Origins of Leo, or Dumb Moments in My Life

http://xkcd.com

The other day when Edward & I were walking in front of Ford's Presidential Museum downtown, we saw a kitty on the banks of the Grand River. It was very cute, we started saying stupid things and it reminded us of this comic.

Last night, the girls were talking about how we ended up getting our kitty. As they recalled, Bridget was probably 4 years old and in pre-school. I took her to the pet store, and she said so wistfully, I wish I had a bunny. Who could resist?

I said, without thinking, How about a kitty? It seemed more exciting to me than a stinky bunny in a cage. So we ended up getting a free cat who was born in a barn. The girls wondered aloud how different our life would be without Leo, and they concluded that there would probably be less stupid moments.



Oh well, he has given us something to do together even if it is to be stupid.

Mud

Edward, Pioneer Classic, 2007

This morning, I left work for awhile to watch Edward's first official XC race of the year with my trusty camera in hand. I was so excited after he ran by and I turned fully clothed in workwear to run to the one mile marker. I slipped and fell in the mud in front of what felt like thousands of parents! My work clothes and camera were covered with mud, but of course I carried on like I was normal. "Oh really, it was nothing"

I think that's why this model falling on the runway makes me laugh every time I see it. I relate to each little stumble. Been there, done that! Got the t-shirt!

The Never Ending Benefits of Caffeine

When I hear of a new perk about caffeine, I'm quick to latch on so I have yet one more excuse to drink coffee. In the past, I have endured numerous caffeine withdrawals for various reasons such as pregnancy or acid reflux. But the other day, Carol came into the office and gave me the best excuse so far - women who drink caffeine hold on to their memories longer! I gave her a "high 5"! It must be true - I think of the old ladies I know who had good memories and one thing is for sure - they were remembering to drink their coffee.

So here is one more fountain-of-youth-type benefit: The other day, I was at the store with the girls and I mentioned how I needed some new foundation. We went over to the make-up area and found something called "Age-Rewind." I thought it sounded hopeful. The girls thought it sounded fun. One of its ingredients is caffeine! It sounded good to me so I'm trying it. We'll see.

Sophisticated Palates

This week, Maria is gone on vacation with a friend and Edward is at Cross Country Camp. Bridget, being the youngest, loves to have people around, so she had her friend Jessica sleep over last night. This afternoon, I was reading to them about how the new hot lunch program at school takes into account the more sophisticated taste palates of middle schoolers.