Horse Manure!

The other day my twenty-one year old (FBNOML) was enjoying some quality time with my nearly five year-old; they had out my childhood set of plastic horses. I couldn't resist joining them for a couple of minutes, even though my younger one kept asking me if she could have her sister to herself.

I agreed to leave, but not until I showed them the very specific ways I would arrange them when I played with them.

"See," I said. "The Mommy horse goes like this, and the foal is nursing. This one is from a different set, but I always pretended he was the Daddy and I'd kinda curl his head around the Mommy's, because they love each other."

"And this white one rearing up, this one is the playful big brother. I'd always set him here. This other one is the uncle who visits sometimes, his saddle is broken but that's okay. The galloping Appaloosa, he'd be the neighbor."

When I was done, I gazed at my display, remembering how much I loved playing with them as a child. I was never one to play with dolls, but these horses were my babies. At one point I had a beautiful white stable with green trim...the stall doors opened, and the roof came off for a bird's eye view. When it broke during a move I was devastated.

My little girl snapped me out of my reminiscing when she grabbed one of them and announced, "I don't want him to be the uncle. He's a sister."

She continued, "When Emma is here and we are playing with the horses and we want to make the boy horses be girl horses, we just pretend that their penises are poop."

Really, what do you say to that? Moreover, how can you say anything when you are failing miserably at not laughing hysterically?

So I managed a, "Oh, that's very inventive of you two!"

All the while I was thinking, The horses are anatomically correct?

I was also thinking, Man, I wish I would have heard that conversation as the two little girls muddled through the conundrum of just how to explain that little plastic bump on the underside of the boy horses.

Another part was questioning, If you're going to pretend, why don't you just pretend the horse "penis" isn't there?

And yet another part was marveling, How awesome that you two use the word "penis" without hesitation!

But mostly I was wondering, Aren't you afraid the pretend poop is going to fall off?

Lawrence Welk Skit on SNL

I don't know about you, but right about now I could really freaking use a good laugh. Here at Casa Watch me! No, watch me! our DVR is getting worn out watching the following...enjoy!



Okay, just watched the vid from here...sorry for the commercial at the end; I was unawares.

Speaking of which, have you noticed that I ditched the couple of ads I had? I'm in the midst of some serious fall cleaning and they just didn't make the cut. No Watch Me Christine is paring down, baby!

Rainbows & blogging templates

I think I need to shake things up around here. Get back in the groove of writing on a semi-regular basis.

I don't know what my deal is. I've got some sort of blogging writer's block. I have about five or six gazillion posts in my queue...none of them completed. I start writing, stop, stare at the screen, say, "Eh," and walk away.

What's up with me?

I haven't told you much about my most awesome new house. Or the fundraising auction that I am organizing for my daughter's preschool. Or that I've lost weight since quitting Zoloft (yea me!). Or that our finances are really starting to look up (despite the fact that my husband's in the banking/mortgage industry. But he's one of the good guys!). Or. Or. Or.

Maybe it's just that I started using this bloggy here as a vent for all the negative stuff going on that I forgot how to write about wonderful things...like rainbows and soft, fluffy kittens and life going well.

It probably also has something to do with the fact that I still don't have my own laptop. Or camera.

Oh! Good! Something to complain about!

Except that I am probably getting a camera this weekend. Not for sure, but probably.

AND, it's looking pretty good that I'll be getting a new computer by the end of the year.

Great! NOW what am I going to complain about? It's not fair! I don't have anything to complain about, dammit!

Oh! Excellent! That's what I can write about...how much my life sucks because everything is going so flipping well.

Wait.

I dunno. Maybe I should play with the template. That's always fun.

For Colleen...

Many years ago, I discovered a wonderful online community that would go on to become a huge part of my life in ways I couldn't have fathomed at the time.

I was no newbie to forums. I became an addict to online communities way back when in 1997 when I was on bed rest while pregnant with my son...but in this one, for whatever reason, I became part of a group of women who clicked in a special way, we resonated. Eventually we splintered from that open community and started a private forum, because we realized that we wanted to share private information with each other in a safe place. And we've become friends.

Lifelong friends.

Literally.

We've been with each other as babies were born, as families moved across countries, and between countries. We've laughed together, cried together, bitched together, commiserated together, celebrated together.

To be sure, our road hasn't always been smooth. We've had passionate arguments, virtual doors slammed, hurt feelings...just like any other friendship.

But ultimately, this is an incredibly unique group of women, and we love each other.

Now, one of us is dying.

Colleen is dying.

I type that, but I don't believe it. Not in my heart.

I still somehow believe I will get around to tracing my daughter's hands on a piece of paper, like Colleen asked me to, and she will knit my daughter a pair of fingerless gloves to match the pair she sent me two Christmases ago. I had all the time in the world to get to that, or so I thought.

It's been very sudden, rather unexpected. She has two very young children.

She also has a lot of people out there who love her. Our group isn't her only online community...and there has been a convergence of her online contacts. We are powerless to save our friend, but we can help her children.

To that end, there is a fundraiser being planned that will contribute to a college fund for her son and daughter; a wonderful variety of handmade items will be auctioned off from October 28-November 4.



From the website of those organizing:

Colleen has touched many of our lives with her intelligence, wit, humor,
generosity, talent, and amazing outlook on life. The ladies here at Tiny Lady
Cooperative have had the fortune of being business partners with her, and many
others have enjoyed her fibers and yarns. Friends from real life, as well as
online, have rallied together to show Colleen how much we love, support and
admire her.Please join us October 28th-November 4th as we host an event to raise
funds for Colleen and her family. All funds raised will be placed into a college
fund for her children.Thank you in advance for your generosity in supporting
this event.

One last thing...if you have children, hug them extra hard right now. Hug anyone you love extra hard the next time you have a chance.

Hell, hug anyone the next time you have a chance.