Happy New Year from one of my Cherubs....

I was going to save this for Valentine's Day, but it is just too good not to share.

My brother in law somehow superimposed K's face on this cherub.

Oh, how I have laughed over this photo.

And guess what!  The cherub even gave permission!

There was a deal made.

I may be doing his chores hence forth.

Totally worth it....wouldn't you agree?

Happy 2011 from The Frat Pack + Me.

I appreciate each and every reader.

I appreciate each and every comment.

I love ya!

Mom Cave

I recently read an article about "Mom Caves."  A place for Mom's to go to get a little peace + quiet.  I thought it sounded like a stellar idea since somehow our office had turned into a "teen boy cave."

The day I walked into the office and found the desk drawer stuffed with rice crispy treat wrappers and dirty socks I decided something needed to change.

Oh, and remember the boxers in the twigs?

So I now present...

My Mom Cave.

Sesame is invited.  My husband is occasionally invited.

You are invited.

My teen cherubs...not so much.

It's where I will be blogging from hence forth.

I hope your Christmas was Merry.

Ours was.

I am working on a photo collage for my next scintillating post.

I know you are quivering in anticipation.

Oh, and I would love to hear or see where YOU blog from.

Or read your e-mails or blogs or whatnot.

Catching up

We've been:

visiting the Mister's new office

Eating a lot of convenience food....it happens.

However, the above vittles are from Trader Joe's...so not too bad, right?

I'll keep telling myself that.

Dealing with a bit of snow

Spending quality time together...even if teen boys complain

Drinking lots of cocoa

Attending Mass and watching the Advent candles get lit

Eating at restaurants listed in that magazine

Which, side note...we have officially called it quits trying to work through the list.  Nothing has been that great.

Baking homemade bread--for the first time!

Watching my boy play Basketball

And since he makes a rare appearance on the blog, here's another shot.

And now I have decided to do what so many in blogland are doing...

Take a break until after Christmas.

I hope your holiday is filled with God's many blessings.

Love,

The The Frat Pack + Me

No.

This just isn't right.

Ya'll know I love me some cute wine labels.

And I have yet to outgrow Hello Kitty.

But marketing wine to tween girls?

Am I being a prude?

Seriously, it came with a Kitty charm.

I am aware the photos are horrible but the cashier was giving me a weird look.

Not sure if it was because I am clearly not in the intended age range for this marketing

or

maybe

it was because I was taking a photo of a product I had no intention of purchasing.

Hello Kitty....I think you may have gone a bit too far this time.

Or I am menopausal.

What say you?

Give it to me straight.

Photo Highjack

Is this mean of me?

I highjacked this photo of my son from his Facebook account.

That's just not right, is it?

But it's not like it's secret....I mean he put it on Facebook.

Right?

He'll probably be un-friending me if he finds out about this.

So, shhhh!

mmmkay?

 I am not too worried....I have his account password.  

{insert evil laugh here}

Did you know this?

I am not terribly tech savvy.  Anything I have done moderately fancy on this blog is usually because one of my teen boys showed me.

Yesterday I took a class at the apple store and the "genius" showed me this:

See that little pink circle at the top?  It says RSS.  If you click on that (the little box that says RSS, not the pink circle....that's my artistic ability attempting to direct your eyes to the right spot) you can subscribe in mail to your favorite blogs and they show up in your mailbox.  Then you will know if your favorite bloggers have updated without having to go to the actual blog.  Almost all the blogs I read I could subscribe to in mail.  I clicked on "RSS", not "Atom"....I don't even know what "atom" is.

Did you already know this?  It is much quicker than clicking on every blog in my bookmark bar!
Do you have any tips to share?  Please assume I know nothing.  Because I know nothing.

Ten Things on a Tuesday

1.  My home is decorated but there are about 9 ornaments hanging on the tree.  I asked the Frat Pack to handle decorating the tree and apparently 9 is a festive number.

2.  I am thinking I need a Twitter account instead of a blog because today I have had nothing to say.

3.  I seriously considered titling this post "2 Things on a Tuesday."

4.  Lately I have had the urge to change my hair color to auburn.  My family will remember I have had that urge before only to immediately regret it and frantically wash my hair with Tide to remove the color.  Yes, really.

5.  My home is currently sporting a very even layer of thick dust.  It ain't pretty.

6.  So far I have taken 11 photos this December and 9 of them are of oysters.

7.  I have no photo for this post unless you want to see more oysters.

8.  I bought sweaters for my boys to wear to Christmas Eve Mass and the older one looked me in the eye and without a pause or a trace of remorse said simply, "No."  The younger one immediately starting quoting Cliff Huxtible.

9.  I do not know how to spell Huxtible but we do own several seasons on DVD and it is a favorite.  Why don't they make sweet shows like that anymore?

10.  Awesome!  I am at 10!  I hope you have a blessed Tuesday.

More Honesty

Sometimes in roaming around blogland I feel melancholy.  I see photos of cute little cherubs, sweet little crafts and sheer adorableness.  I was unable to blog when my boys were tiny because, hello, was the internet even invented?

I think it was, but still a blog was not even heard of.  I kicked it old school with  film in a point and shoot and a good old fashioned diary.  Now I am not saying my boys aren't adorable.  But it is hard to compete with the squishiness of babies and toddlers.  I am sort of feeling the same way about Christmas cards this year.  I actually had my cards done before Thanksgiving.  I just dug into my iphoto library and picked a moderately okay photo.

I kept procrastinating about mailing them out.  Then I realized I was doing it again... wishing away where they are right now and mourning the time of their babyhood and toddlerhood.   Honestly, I am afraid I am never going to learn the lesson to live IN. THE. MOMENT.

But seriously, I am going to cut myself some slack because just get ready to lay your eyes on the cutest Christmas photo evah!  Circa 1999....

I know right?

You see my dilemma?

So if your babies are still REALLY babies try not to wish away this phase.

You will miss it.

A note about this photo....it took me about 13 rolls of film.  My youngest would not cooperate.

Finally I sighed and said, "Just be grumpy!"

I made the caption read:

Hope your Christmas is Merry....

whether you've been naughty or nice!

And because my boys are still really precious...

*Note:  the last time I talked them into posing together was Halloween, hence the photo I think I have already blogged.

Honesty

We recently went to a very cool bowling alley in Uptown.  (That's what they call it here)

It was very cool.  We somehow managed a private lane!

They had really cool and personal touches, as evidenced above.

I had my camera, all ready to catch the wonderful family moments.

I loved watching the Mister put some muscle into it.

On paper or in photos it looks like a great day, right?

It wasn't cheap, but we're making memories, right?

But here's the truth.

It didn't work.  Let's just say people were crabby.

Mean words were exchanged.

Tempers flared.

Food went untouched.

Vows were made to never bowl again.

That happens in real life.  Sometimes in blog land everybody's life looks so perfect.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Honestly, when we got home my first impulse was to delete the photos and never blog about this day.

But this is real life.

Sometimes a little balance is needed.

I need to remember that days like this happen to EVERYBODY....even to those bloggers I read whose lives look perfect.

This is life.  It can be messy.  I need to learn to take the good with the bad.

That is reality.

That is honesty.

Amen.

Delicious or Fear Factor?

So this is what we did last Friday night.  Are you grossed out or did your mouth water?

The husband and I love oysters.

We weren't sure about the boys.

The more adventurous cherub said, No thanks.  Can you drive me to a football game?"

Off he went.

The baby cherub is quite picky selective.

He was willing to try.

Pay off for 13 years of insisting on at least trying a mouse nibble of whatever is served.

What's this?

He likes?

Someone who gags over cheese like oysters?

What say you?  Does this look scrumptious or are you about to click away from this blog?

I cannot resist an oyster on a saltine topped with cocktail sauce.

Heavy on the horseradish, please.

This photo is for my Dad.

Looks like you are rubbing off on someone.

Check out what is dangling from the Mister's pocket:

It was a great meal and a great night.

Thanks for making it happen, hubby!

Now what about you?

Do you give a thumbs up or thumbs down to oysters?

Decorating Frat Pack style

Come, step into my home and check out our Christmas tree....

Not that impressive....just an ordinary tree.

But look at this special touch one of the cherubs left in the corner in the decorative urn with the white sticks:

Have you ever seen such a unique touch?

Here, take a closer look:

Nothing says holiday decor like a pair of boxers, right?

When I screamed asked why in the world there was a pair of boxers in our office I was given a very logical explanation....

"Well, I had them folded on the office chair."

Of course.  Silly me.

Teen boys defy explanation.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Off we go with this week's hunt....The first item on the list is ::everyday::
I wake up every. single. day. and look forward to that first sip of my coffee.

::In my home::

My 13 year old put this together.  It is a tradition.  A tradition that he be the one to put it together and I snap photos.  However this year he waited until I was on an errand to put it together.  I balked.  I said, "But son!  I didn't get any photos of you putting it together!"

His reply, "Exactly."

::sweet treat::

I love me some Gingerbread latte.  But I really love the message on the cup wrapper!

::It's beginning to look a lot like::

Christmas!

::Time::

My current favorite gadget!  My Garmin Forerunner watch.  This was my workout yesterday.

Join in here:

I love Lucy

 I love the store, Lucy.  I discovered it when I lived in Dallas.   Too bad for me there are no Lucy stores in my current town.  It is always a destination point whenever I visit Lisa in California.  While there on my last visit I bought a really cute workout top that I got a compliment on at the gym.  That prompted me to head straight home and log onto the ol' internet and do some more damage.  Is that wrong?

I did at least wait until Black Friday.  That's the only way this girl does any Black Friday shopping.

Let's just ignore the fact that I was shopping for myself, mmmmkay?  Anyhoo, when the package arrived I loved the little Holiday Survival Guide they included.

Now just stop and picture me taking photos of the little booklet.  The husband and the sons were in the same room and they didn't even blink.  No one even asked one question.  That is how accustomed they are to me taking photos of weird things.  I think they are relieved the camera isn't pointed at them.

So here was the first cute message...

I agree!  Exercise really helps me keep my sanity during the holidays!

Yes!  I completely concur!

Ummm, okay.  I think I would be fine with five  3 miles, though.

Kinda pushing it there, Lucy.

Yes!  I love cozy.

Sparkly....not so much.

I did have a sparkly phase though.

If my sister is reading she may recall my shiny hot pink "Dallas" purse a few years back.  I no longer reside there and I am back to my drab but cozy dressing style.

Yes!  I couldn't agree more!  Seconds DO happen.  Thirds are a must this time of year, no?  Now do you see why I love Lucy?

P.S.  Lucy did not pay me to say this.  They have no idea I even exist, other than the occasional order.  But disclaimer....Just like with those Costco crackers  I would gladly accept any freebies they wanted to toss my way.