:: Bye Bye Passy

Yesterday, we said goodbye to an old friend..the Passy...or, errr, the "piece" as Scout called it. Our plan was to call the "Passy Fairy" in on Mar 5...Scout's 3rd birthday. I saw an episode of The Super Nanny once where they had a FIVE year old who still had a passy. So they hung the passy in the tree and told the kid that the "Passy Fairy" would be coming to get it, and would leave a present in it's place. Sounded like a pretty good plan...and it was. The kid was totally cool with it. So, I filed that idea away for future use...and yesterday, I pulled it out.

I pulled it out yesterday instead of waiting until March 5 because I picked Scout's passy up and the way I was holding it, light from the window hit it just right, and I saw something weird. "What the heck?" It was MOLD inside the passy...YAaAaAaAK!!!! So I announced right then to Scout that the passy was super dirty and that I was pretty sure that the Passy Fairy would be coming today to take the passy and bring her a gift. Scout's reply..."Ohhhh. It's dirty?? It a make me sick???" "Yes", I said. So far, so good.

So, Matt, Scout and I tied a ribbon to the passy and walked outside to hang it in the tree. Matt made up a mantra for Scout to repeat. "Oh, Passy Fairy, please come and get my passy and please bring me a gift instead. Thank you!"

So, we left...and, long story short...the Passy Fairy came while it was raining and dark outside so she left the gift on the porch instead of hanging in the tree. Scout was cool with that too. And she was really cool with "Baby Belle" princess that she found in the place of her passy...along with this letter...

:: Hope and Peace in Loss

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO

Go rent this. It's a piece of art. Thanks David! :-)

:: Cigarette Sucker

Scout and I went to Barnes & Noble tonight. I always enjoy going there with her. That's one of the many things I miss about Williamsburg. Scout and I would go on a walk nearly every day, and most days we would end up in the William & Mary bookstore...which, lucky for us, was also Barnes & Noble. It was great. We'd pass the time, sometimes meet new friends, and enjoy a cup o' joe. Well, Scout would have a milk. And then, sometimes on nights when Matt wasn't working at Chick-fil-A, we'd end up at the Barnes & Noble at NewTown (kinda like the Shops at Greenridge)...one of our favorite places to go. It was just so relaxing and fun to peruse around, coffee in hand, and/or Matt's hand in hand :) and look at books...my favorite spots were/are cooking, gardening, art/design, and parenting. Scout's earliest walking moments were at the B&N, cruising around the shelves and trying to pull all the books out. HAHA

Oh, I was about to forget what I was even writing about. Anyway, tonight as I was getting Scout out of the car, getting ready to go in the store, she looked and saw a man over on the sidewalk, about 20 yards away, who happened to be lighting up his cigarette. She said, "Look Mommy! Him's got a sucker!!" I immediately corrected her and said very quietly, "Uhhh, no...thaaaat would be a cigarette." I said it, almost as if I was saying it to myself...since 1)Scout is currently in "I don't listen to anything you say mode" and 2)I figured it was probably the first time she had even heard the word "cigarette" and I wasn't expecting it to really stick. Why I thought this? I have no idea. As we walked towards the door, she pointed and repeatedly said, relatively loudly, "Him's got a seegawet! Look! Him's got seegawet!" I didn't even want to look up at Mr Seegawet. Finally, I did, and he had the biggest grin on his face and waved at Scout. I smiled and said, "Hi!" and couldn't get into the doors of the B&N quick enough. When we got in there, I could not stop laughing. Child, child.

Crazy kid. I wuv you.

:: last week

Amy and Russ set out for St Lucia last week. The Carter fam volunteered to keep Lexy and Sadie for them, so we crashed at their house all last week. It was a lot of fun...a nice change of pace for all. The dogs were great...except for Lexy who decided since her parents were away then she would play! She dug a nice little trench along the side of the deck. I knew she was doing it, and tried to stop her, but she had her mind made up...and later I find out that she does it regularly when Amy and Russ are away and someone else is "doggysitting". What a smart dog. HAHA My plan was to fill it back in before the lil' Burkett family returned, but I couldn't find a rake. Ugh. So Russ got to fill it in when he returned from beachy bliss. Sorry Russ. :(

That wasn't the only surprise that greeted the 2 beach bums upon the return to their abode. I thought I was being "smart" by leaving the 2 garage door openers in the house...I made a MacGyveresqe leap over the garage door sensor to get the door closed. I thought this was much more secure than hiding the opener in the yard or mailbox. Someone could be spying, you know. So I figured ol' Ames and Russ-T could just mosey on through their front door into their lovely home. That would have worked like a charm had I remembered to unlock the storm door. Daaaaaang, Carla. Soooo, at about 3am, my phone rang. (Timeout...I have to preface the rest of the story with this. Saturday nights for the Carters are usually fun, relaxed and we end up staying up way too late and having to get up way too early to be at church for band rehearsal at 7am the next morning. Matt usually rolls in from work around 11:30...we chill out then and maybe watch a little Austin City Limits and/or Sat Night Live. We watch stupidness on youtube or play a game or do whatever until I get so tired I can't keep my eyes open. Then Matt usually stays up even later researching the latest keyboard that's out or drooling over the Fender Rhodes that just went on ebay for $60.) So this Saturday night was no different. I went to bed around 1am and told Matt that he had better come too, or he was sure to fall asleep inside the bass drum at church the next morning. I set my alarm on my phone like I always do before turning over and drifting off to dreamland. I felt like I had just closed my eyes when the dang alarm started hollerin'. I picked it up, wondered why Russ' face was on the phone when the alarm was ringing, hit the snooze, and tossed the phone down in a slumbering stupor. The next thing I know Matt is handing me his phone and saying "Here talk to Amy and tell her why you locked them out of their house." Well, that woke me up. Holy moly. HAHA

Russ ended up "breaking into" the front door with a crowbar. No damage, either! YAY! So that was quite an eventful Saturday night for us...and Amy and Russ! Sorry guys! My feelings won't be hurt if you never want us to dog-sit again. And I promise never to throw the phone down again when you call Russ...well, that is if I realize that it's not a mishap with my alarm clock. BWHAHAHA!

Scout eating breakfast with Lexy and Sadie one morning.

:: my new old smelly shirt

i went to the army/navy store downtown the other day. what a sweet place. i hadn't been in there in so long. i think i'd like to have a gift certificate there. (i doubt they have those)

anyway, the place is just very neat. (that's not a very descriptive adjective, but it's all i have right now.) from the minute i stepped through the door, the smell overtook me. albeit, not a bad smell...but just an old, used smell. not old and used in a bad sense though. not the goodwill store smell. that's an old but dirty smell. the goodwill store smell says, "hey, come on in. you might can use this stuff, but you'll need to disinfect it first. and even then, you might resolve to tossing it into the recycle bin." the army/navy store smell doesn't say that. vintage is quite an overused and misused word...but that's the only word that describes the smell.

so into the vintage smelling store i walked. up and down the aisles. i wondered what great war hero might have worn this pair of pants...or what AWOL sucker might have adorned this pair of boots. then i saw it. the shirt i had been searching for for nearly 3 years. an olive drab BDU women's shirt. BDU stands for "battle dress uniform". don't worry...i had no idea what it stood for either. but in finding out, it's quite an oxymoron, huh?

here's the picture that inspired my desire to own the olive greenness...

of course, i don't look nearly this sexy wearing mine. because, you see down there where brandi is showing some skin? well, if i did that, some flabby might spill out. so, i'll keep my shirt shut...thanks. and, i don't have a cool shawl/blanky to wear with my shirt either. but hey, who needs a shawl/blanky? it's too hot and it might cause me to trip and spill out some flabby. 

:: HoHo and Marshmallows

I've decided (probably a decision made a little too late) to start jotting down the funny stuff that Scout says. It happens quite often with a 2 year old. My mom did it when we were kids, and I think Holly has done it with the girls. I'm sure it provides for a lot of laughs later on...it's just great stuff that you never want to forget.

So to start things off with the record o' funny things, Scout spent the night with Mom and Dad last night. Mom gave Scout some marshmallows to snack on. Scout returned to the kitchen and said, "Mimi, look. I HoHo!" Mom looked down to see Scout standing there with a marshmallow stuck to her chin.

She thinks that anyone is "HoHo" that has anything white on their face. Last week, Dad was in the middle of shaving his face when Scout entered the bathroom and stood there and stared at his face all lathered with shaving cream. "Pawpaw! You HoHo!"