Tater Tales

Just Another Random Thursday

What do you do when you have writer's block?  Why not write about nothing in particular at all.  I have no idea where this one is going, which doesn't make it that different from most of my posts. 

(1)  The P key on my keypad is sticking for some reason, and I have to really hit the thing hard to make it type.  Until now, I had no idea how often I use the letter P.  Pretty pitiful, wouldn't you say? 

(2)  I went shoe shopping the other day and found a pair or two of cute sandals on sale for half of the already discounted price at DSW.  You can't beat it with a stick.  I also ran across these.  

I realize that wedges are all the rage these days, and some are pretty cute.  Just for giggles, I tried these on.  They were great until I tried to walk in them.  It became crystal clear that it would take me all of 3.2 seconds to break one, if not both, ankles in them.  Check out the pair behind them to the right.  Does anyone remember Yo-Yo sandals from the 70s?  I barely do, and these remind me of them.  I tried those on, too.  What do you know?  It was like trying to walk with yo-yos attached to my soles.  Obviously I am not one to keep up with the latest shoe fashions.  I care too much about my physical health.  I am a walking accident waiting to happen.  I own it and embrace it. 

(3)  I received a catalog with the most comfortable looking clothes I've seen in a long time.  I think this St. Tropez Knit Tunic is adorable.  I bet you I could live in this shirt and these pants.  And I'd love to think I could pull off this top and skirt, but my hips tell me otherwise. 

(4)  My mother came to town yesterday and we spent the day together by ourselves.  It was wonderful.  We did a little shopping, ate lunch, laughed a lot, and had a great time.  I love it when we have a day like that. 

(5)  After my mother left, I met my friend, Amy, for a little while at McAlister's for some laughs and a huge glass of tea.  We both drank ours in about 5 minutes, trying to replenish our bodies from sweating half to death just from walking from our cars to the restaurant. 

(6)  Tater Tot's birthday is Monday.  We're having a little family gathering at my mother's house Saturday to celebrate.  This year is all about Spiderman, and Tater Tot might just explode if Saturday doesn't get here soon enough.  Adding to the excitement is the fact that my brother, Jim, is coming home from Knoxville for the birthday festivities.  I hope he realizes what he's in for with a four-year-old on a Spiderman cake sugar high. 

 (7)  Have you seen this YouTube video of the brave baby gorilla?  If you haven't, it is sure to make you laugh.  Just be sure to watch it all the way through. 

Have a great Thursday.  I'm off to some kind of workshop this afternoon that has something to do with computers.  I am sure I will be the star student.  Bwa-hahahahaha!

If I Were a Ghost

My husband tells me that our house has a ghost.  Personally, I don't believe in them, and I have never run across our ghost.  But I blame a lot of things on her.  Like cheesecake that disappears during the night.  Or a great big mess somewhere.  And maybe the dent in the driver's side door on my car.

If there were ghosts, however, and I were one of them and had my choice of places to haunt, I think I'd give serious consideration to the following places. 

1. The largest Coca-Cola plant in the United States.  I'm assuming this is where the diet coke is.  I doubt a ghost could actually drink the diet coke, but if I can decide to be ghost, I'll be one who drinks diet coke. 

2.  I might also take up residence in the Philadelphia Cream Cheese cheese-making place.  Because all that cheese would make my ghostly heart happy. 

3.  If I were a scary ghost who could rattle chains and slam doors and such, I would haunt one of my French professors from college.  (Diane, you know of whom I speak.)  The man was quite possibly the rudest and meanest man I've ever come across.  If he could embarrass you, he would.  I would haunt him relentlessly simply for all the meanness. 

4.  I would probably haunt some other haunted places where other ghosts hang out, because I think I would be a social ghost who needs company every once in a while.  I don't know.  Maybe we could play "ghost in the graveyard" or something. 

That's about it.  I know I should choose one more place for a nice odd number, but there's just so much haunting a ghost can do. Boo! 

 P.S.  Do you believe in ghosts?  Anyone ever had a ghostly encounter?

Because Their Stuff Is So Much Better

It's about 11:00 p.m. in Memphis, and the weathermen are predicting ice and sleet sometime after midnight.  Of course, that means we have a chance of sunshine and 60 degrees at 7 a.m.  I'm not saying that our local forecasters don't know their stuff, but several years ago they hyped everyone up about the BIG STORM that was coming, along with FREEZING TEMPERATURES FOR DAYS!  The school systems (yes, we have two of them) went ahead and announced cancellations the night before anything happened.  Guess what?  It rained.  I was teaching at the time, and we had a "rain day."  That's right.  A rain day.  Later on it was decided that the students didn't have to make up the day at the end of the year.  The teachers, however, DID.  I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure some of those weathermen went home to find that their yards had been rolled (or toilet papered or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods). 

Anyway, I'm hoping that we don't get ice.  A little snow would be great and much appreciated.  But ice?  Here's a new take on one of my favorite films starring one of my famous friends: "You don't want ice?" "I don't want frozen precipitation!" "YOU DON'T WANT ICE?" MEMPHIANS CAN'T HANDLE THE ICE!" It's true.  Memphians don't have a clue what to do when roads ice over, so everyone immediately jumps in their cars, guns their accelerators and then they hit the brakes.  We are a silly people.  However, I will tell you that the Taters avoid going out in ice.  We much prefer to eat ourselves into a junk-food stupor and crash into each other. 

 Mercy.  I found a tangent and really followed it that time.  Woops. 

Today I'm passing the buck and recommending some blogs because, well, the part of my brain that comes up with things to blog about is kind of clogged.  I've got blog clog.  Or blog fog.  You know...nuthin'. So if it strikes your fancy, here are a few places you might want to visit.  I'm hopeful that the blog clog fog will clear soon, so please don't let me go....you can't let me go.....I have so much to offer you.....  (If you watched The Bachelor Monday night, that will make a little sense.  If you didn't, I'm sure you can figure out what went on.) 

 For one of the best recaps in Bachelor history, hands down, click over to Lincee's blog at I Hate Green Beans.  She managed to cover it all, gang, and it is SO worth the read.  I will caution you not to eat anything while reading it, though, because the combination of laughing hysterically while trying to eat a handful of Chex Mix increases your chances of choking just a smidge.  And that would be terrible.  You wouldn't even get to finish reading her recap. 

 Meghan (over at Spicy Magnolia) and her husband, Matt, welcomed their first son on January 16th.  Because she is Super Woman, she is taking care of that sweet baby and blogging about it.  Baby Brennan is just about as cute as they come, so head on over and take a peek. 

Finally, if you haven't checked out the Praise Baby blog, check it out.  At some point I'll have a post going up, but I have no idea when it will be.  I'm supposed to put  the button on my sidebar telling you that I'm a Praise Baby Blogger, but HELLO! THIS IS WORDPRESS AND I DON'T KNOW IF I'M ALLOWED TO DO THAT.  I've looked all over the admin page and can't find a single thing that says, "Do this if you want to put a button in your sidebar, Tater Mama, you big dumb blogger."  

If any of you use WP and know how to do it, feel free to let me know. That's about it from here.  I have to go do a PLEASE LET THE TEMPERATURE STAY ABOVE FREEZING dance now.  Because the ice?  It is not so nice.

' Kay....So I ' ve Got Nothing

It's after midnight and I've already put a huge dent in the Edy's Cookies-n-Cream carton, plus I've eaten a whole stinkin' ton little of Ro-Tel. My late-night life is exciting, no? 

Here's the thing.  I've got nothing worth writing about swirling around in my head.  Nada.  Can't think of a darn thing, folks. In all truthfulness, I could write about a lot of things, but most of them put me in an icky mood.  And why be all icky if you don't have to be?  Like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll just think about them tomorrow.  Or not.  You know....whatever. 

If I were going to post something, it would probably be something excruciatingly boring, like: Today we took down our Christmas decorations.  I did somewhere around 38 loads of laundry.  I made poppy seed chicken for supper.  I cleaned both bathrooms, vacuumed, bathed a 2-year-old, and put him to bed.  Then I got up and ate everything I could find.  The end. 

 See? Nothing. Or as we say in the country, nuthin'. I hope to be back by Sunday with sum'pin'.

And We ' re Off To a Dull Start!

Happy New Year, y'all!  I hope you had a great New Year's Eve and you're doing exciting things today. 

As for the Taters? We are probably the dullest little family on earth when it comes to ringing in the new year.  But dull works for us, so why rock the boat? Last night, the hubs grilled steaks.  Mine was charred like  a hockey puck well done, just the way I like it.  No pink for me, thank-you-very-much.  Tater Daddy's was still mooing, I think.  The only person who likes a steak cooked rarer than my husband is his sister, and I'm not sure why anyone bothers to put hers on the grill.  

In between playing with Tater Tot and doing laundry here and there, we just piddled around last night.  The hubs watched some TV, and I indulged in my newest addiction, which is playing PathWords on Facebook.  Thanks, BooMama, for mentioning that one.  My interest was piqued, and now  I'm completely hooked on it, which is strange because I'm so terribly bad at it.  At one point I actually tried to submit "E-I-E-I-O" for points and became irate when it was denied. It's a sickness, I tell you.  But I love it and will keep playing until I'm forced to go into some sort of rehab for PathWords addicts.  That would probably be kind of fun, because most of my friends are hooked on it, too, so it would be like a reunion of sorts.  I HAVE to keep playing.  So if the same post if up on the blog for a day or six, you'll know it's because I'm getting my fix. 

When the new year actually rolled around, I was already in bed, but I heard the neighbors shooting off their bottle rockets and firecrackers.  So did Tater Tot, and it scared the wits out of him.  That bought him a one-way ticket into Mama's bed, and I eventually fell asleep with a toddler glued to my side. 

It's around 1:00 right now, and the hubs just emerged from the shower, all nice and clean.  Tater Tot and I are still in our pajamas, and I think we'll start a New Year's Day tradition of staying in our pajamas until it's time to put on fresh ones and go to bed.  Except that would be like the Every Other Day tradition we already have going on here at our house, so I may need to tweak it a little. 

Tater Daddy is giddy at all of the bowl games he gets to watch today, and Tater Tot is busy with those trains and trucks that Santa left for him.  I've just realized that Napoleon Dynamite is on E!, so I'm pretty darn excited myself.  It's one of those movies that I can't help but watch if I come across it.   

I'm off to make a huge pot of Ro-Tel and situate myself on the sofa with a 2-liter of diet coke and my laptop.  You know, because of the PathWords addiction.  If I'm lucky I'll be able to find Steel Magnolias and The Birdcage somewhere on TV, too.   And then my New Year's Day celebration will be complete. 

 I told you we were dull.

Hey, Blog, I Remember You

Oh, hey.  This Wordpress page looks familiar.  I'll see if I can remember how it works, but since it's been a while, I can't make a lot of promises. 

Ever since we unloaded about three miles of magnolia garland from the back of my husband's truck, I've been trying to hang the stuff.  That was Friday night.  It's now early afternoon on the 8th.  As it turns out, I'm not so great at the "hanging of the greens."  

The magnolia?  It is heavy. For one thing, the branches have broken in a couple of places.  This may or may not be due to some mishandling on my part.  Who can say for sure?  So I've had to do some taking-apart and rewiring, and it just hasn't gone as smoothly as planned.  I really appreciate the fact that Tater Daddy made the garland and all, but I'm not ashamed to admit that it was a lot easier two years ago when I walked out the front door and there it was.  Strung together, hung up, and beautiful.  In other words, I think I like it better when someone else does it. 

Right now, one side of the front door is bedecked with garland.  The other side and the top will have to wait until Tater Tot conks out for his nap.   

In addition to fighting with the garland, I've been attacked by the biggest pile of laundry I think I've ever seen.  It is one of the great mysteries of my life.  We are a little family of three, yet our laundry baskets would suggest that we are the Brady Bunch or the Partridge Family.  The towels alone will take four loads.  (Somewhere my brother is laughing and saying, "Well, of course, Sistuh.  You are the Amelda Marcos of towels.") Is it just me, or does anyone else cringe at the sound of the dryer buzzer? Argh.  

Speak of the devil. 

 So sorry for the more-boring-than-normal post today.  It's all I've got. Sad, isn't it?

It ' s a Love/Hate Relationship

The lot our house sits on is nearly two-thirds of an acre, and the front part is nice and shady.  We liked that part when we bought the house a little over eight years ago.  In August.  When it was 147 degrees in the shade and all of the leaves were on the trees. Lo and behold, a few months later, the sky began to fall. Oh, wait.  It was just leaves from the sycamore tree. 

OHHHH, that sycamore tree! We love it in the summer because it shades half our house.  And it is pretty, with its big old green leaves spread out like giant fans. But we hate it in the fall because of THIS:

 

 

Poor Tater Daddy.  Two days after he gets the leaves blown off the driveway, mulched up and bagged, the scene is the same.   It's kind of like anything else, though.  If you ever get caught up on laundry, everyone in the house gets ready for bed, and there's a whole new batch of dirty clothes.  As soon as you get the house completely vacuumed, someone will inevitably walk through mud and sand, then wander around in every room until he's found you to tell you that the house sure looks nice.  And we all know that as soon as you wash your car, it's going to become a target for every bird within 25 miles. 

Eventually those leaves will stop falling, and because we live in the south, about 12 days later it will be spring.  Then we'll love our sycamore tree again. 

Right now, though...not so much.

In Which I Just Can't Stay Awake

The sweet-precious-honey-angel-gawr-gawr-gawr  is down the hall sleeping soundly.   For the moment.  Cross your fingers, cross your fingers, cross your fingers! I'd like to think he'll make it the whole night without waking up, but just between you and me, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.  He's two, and he's going through some little phase where he thinks he can't get back to sleep unless I'm in the room.  Last night, he woke up three times crying the most pitiful little, "Mama....?" you've ever heard. Each time I went to check on him, all he wanted was for me to sit in the chair beside his crib.  Within a few minutes he was fast asleep and I was staggering back to my warm bed.  That's a big improvement from a couple of months ago when he would beg and plead to be taken to "Mama's bed," so I'm not complaining at all.  I'll take it! But when you link several such nights in a row, the Mama tends to get a little googly-eyed, and not a lot of what comes out of her mouth makes sense, so trying to write a blog post would really just be, um, toothpicks-under-your-fingernails torture for us all. So if it's all the same with you, I'm going to post another picture of the sweet little Tater Tot and cross my fingers that you think he's worth looking at.  Heaven knows I never get tired of doing it, but I might be a little biased.  Just a smidge.

With any luck, I'll be asleep before midnight and can catch a few winks before I'm needed elsewhere. 

Happy Wednesday, friends!

 

Pretending

Who says you need a fancy costume to dress up as, say, an elephant?

 

It looks like it's going to be a zoo around here, folks!