condoms beat aids

this ad almost proves it to me...











but i need to see an arm wrestling match to be sure.

boomshine- stop with your teasing

whatever you do, don't play this game.




















just don't.

my babies (email from my sis)

stephers wrote this email to me recently, which sent me into high high spirits as I excitedly anticipate the arrival of my niece and nephew!!! i have to share it with you:

All time on here is Michigan time!!
1. They usually both usually get up around 8 am and go to bed around 9 (give or take a half hour), Cole naps around 1ish. Some days Cole will sleep in pretty late, don't worry about it. Cole gets maybe 2 oz. of water in his bottle at night and nap time (break it if you can) and Alicia likes story time before bed.

2. We try to get them a bath every other night, they both love baths. They are very messy in the tub though, water goes everywhere and I mean everywhere. Alicia will take showers, Cole despises them. They are both starting to need conditioner, Cole is getting knots in the back of his head now.

3. Usually have lunch around noon and dinner about 5:30 or 6.

4. They both like yogurt, bagels with cream cheese, most pasta's, all meats, all potatoes, all kinds of cheerios and rice krispies (they prefer no sugar). They will both drink milk and juice, they both like bacon, sausage, pizza, french toast, pancakes, chocolate donuts are a treat for them. They love corn on the cob, and all green veggies (even brussel sprouts). Cole isn't too good with sandwiches, Alicia will eat almost 2 of them. Alicia will not eat eggs, although she does like them cooked over easy so she can "dip" her bacon in the yolk (but still won't eat the egg, lol). They both like Tilapia, I am amazed at that. They both pretty much like everything, these are just some starters.

5. Alicia is usually a pig and will eat a lot, but she does like to say she is full and ask for snacks 20 minutes later. Cole goes in spurts with eating, sometimes he does really good for 3 days and then won't eat much for a week. Just remember they say that their tummies are only as big as their fists, someone gets mad if they don't eat.

6. 11/2 tsp for Alicia and 1 tsp for Cole with Motrin or Tylenol. Don't forget if you take their temp under the arm to add 1 full degree.

7. They both love art, told Alicia that Aunt Susan does too so get ready for projects!!

8. Alicia started grinding her teeth, I have to get her to the dentist, I will take care of it.

9. [a little too personal to share this one]

10. Alicia loves all cartoons and Cole loves any Sponge bob, Little Bear and all Nick Jr.

11. Neither of them has any allergies to anything that we know of yet, just in case you wondered :)

I think this is all the good info for the kids. You will get an insurance card with a letter from John so you can get them medical attention while with you. Good luck and any questions just call me!!

Love you,

Stephanie

simply unbearable

the tenth dimension? ouch

if you have a few minutes and an unrelenting desire to stretch your brain in a new direction, check out this site- imagining the tenth dimension.




















after watching this, i find myself thinking about time a little differently. pretty interesting stuff.

borrowing children

aaron and i have asked my sister and her husband, john, if we could borrow their children for a few months this spring/summer and they have (who knows why) agreed. =)

cole will be joining us on april 22nd and alicia will follow a couple of weeks later. they'll stay with us until june 16th.

we can't wait to have two little tornadoes running through the house.

of course, if you've been to our house, you know it's not big. aaron and i are going to set ourselves up a little bed area in the basement and relinquish our bedroom to them...

i know that our lives will change a lot to accommodate their visit, but i'm really looking forward to testing ourselves out as parents. i think it will be very fun for us, and i'm hoping they enjoy the stay as well. i'm already thinking of all the fun kid things to do around the twin cities. if you have any suggestions, feel free to share.

also, if you'd ever be willing to babysit... er, borrow them for yourself... let us know that too. =)

nora, nora, how you serenade me...

nora, do you practice all day...



...to be this good?

so interpretative, performed with such feeling!! your improv is the ultimate!

(my favorite is the look on her face- yeah, you wish you could play like this)

are you a coffee fool?

the accusation on this site is simple-

you've probably been drinking stale coffee and you're missing out.

the solution is also just as simple-

you need to drink the stuff that has been roasted in the last few days to taste truly great, sweet, amazing coffee.

although i'm not a full fledged coffee drinker (caramel decaf mocha's don't count as coffee), i can understand the attraction to good coffee, so i thought i should share this site with all you good coffee drinking folks.

castle smasher- time waster

it's been awhile since i posted a link to a time waster game, so i figure i can throw one out there without too much guilt...


here's castle smasher.

you catapult the castle until it's gone, and you try to fill up with more balls if you can.

of course, it's strangely addicting.

have fun!!

i love these kitties

this kitty is very interested.



i love interested kitties. they are very fun to watch.

another interested kitty...



so so much fun!

young burt reynolds

this ad is barely stomach-able, but so worth sharing with you all...

check it out in all it's glory here.

guess who...

someone i know and love sent me this update recently, amusing me to no end... I won't reveal her identity, since she was kind enough to let me post these embarrassing details, but if someone guesses, i'll give them a dollar.

and I quote:

Did I tell you about all the fun I've been having lately? I was taking a new prescription med for about 3 weeks when my body decided to let me know it was allergic. Wuhoo!! I started getting hives on Wednesday night and I was like, "Hmm, better take some benedryl." and went to bed.

Thursday morning....I had itched myself bald (okay, not quite) and I had hives so thick on my neck I could hardly turn my head...not to mention hives everywhere.

So I called the Doctor's office and saw the PA at 10:30. She sent the nurse in with a shot and went to consult the Doc. The nurse gave me the shot and left the room. Suddenly, I'm sitting on the nice, high table feeling like I'm going to pass out. I moved to the doc's stool and was sitting there with my head between my knees when the PA came back in. She was like, "How are we feeling." I said, "Would you like to tell me about the side effects from the shot you gave me?"

Seems passing out is a possible side effect.

I ended up laying on the table with a cool wash cloth and not passing out but geez. I could hear them in the hallway talking about the poor woman with the hives that they almost made unconscious.

Then I was on Prednisone and Loratadine for a week. The pred made me want to eat everything....everything... even when I was full. I swear I gained 10 pounds.

Then they taper you off that and the minute I went to the lowest dose, it started making me naseated all day....decided I'd had enough of that yesterday.

I go back Friday to make sure I'm not dead.

Plus, I have Polaroid skin right now, whenever I get warm the hives would pop out at first (which I swear the pred made me about 3 degrees warmer...my palms are sweating right now). But now it's just if I scratch my face or whatever, it turns bright red. I've been threatening to write messages on my forehead.

Yeah, I've been a happy, happy girl. Hopefully, that's behind me now though....no more better living through chemistry even if the doctor says so!

to the person i know and love: feel better soon!!

pb+j rediscovered

when i was a kid growing up, my older brother scott would make my sister and me lunch, and he would always make our pb+j sandwiches without much pb and probably too much j. i hated those sandwiches. they stuck to my mouth and really had no redeeming qualities. ick.

well, anyway, i blame my longstanding dislike of pb+j sandwiches on scott- and i think he knows that he deserves that.

i have ever since avoided pb+j's; they just don't appeal to me.

well that's all different now.

recently, i had lunch with my friend tracy at her home, and i told her that i'd love to eat whatever she wanted to make. =)

she made soup and pb+j sandwiches.

she did ask if that would be okay, but since i had just stated that i would love to eat whatever she made, i thought it better to push myself than to be picky to my super sweet generous friend. besides, it's always good to push oneself to re-evaluate food preferences (and actually, all types of preferences).

well, she made me a gloriously yummy pb+j and i have been craving them ever since.

i've made myself two since then (one of which was devoured just moments ago), and i couldn't possibly imagine living my life without eating at least one a week until forever and a day.

i've missed a lot of lovely pb+j moments because of you, scott richard. i can't forgive you for this, so don't ask. =)

aaron is an uncle, again

andrew charles was born on sunday and is already home with his mom, dad, and big brother carson.



















congratulations bridget and james!!

Need a 'break'?

I just can't get my break...

Beatbox Fame Game
Uploaded by loranger

... to turn out like his (hers?).

turns and then more turns

i love love love the photography on this site- Bill Sullivan

this guy takes pictures of people coming through the subway turnstile, and i think it's so fun.


























































i probably wouldn't think it was so funny if it was me with a stupid look on my face.

are you man enough?

i guess mitchum deodorant presumes to tell people if they are man enough, via 'nina'...








































first, i've never even heard of mitchum deodorant and this seems like a lame attempt to get on the map.

second, it's a sad state of affairs that this will probably actually get them on the map.

sigh.

flu shot, i should have never doubted you

i've always doubted that the flu shot really does any good. i remember one year that i got a flu shot and then i got strep like three times and i swore off the flu shot as an immune system weakener...

silly me.

thankfully, rmg offered free shots this year and i stopped in to get one, snickering to myself as i did: 'silly flu shot'

so saturday night i felt a little tightness in my chest and left lindsey and michael's party early to get some rest. on sunday, the tightness was still there, but not so bad. on monday, i left work to go home and get a few hours rest since i was a little tired and afraid i was getting sick. I got two hours of sleep, worked late, and since then, i've felt increasingly better, never looking back. i feel great now. at the worst of it, there was a little tightness in my chest and i felt somewhat tired. that's it.

okay, so compare that to aaron's poor story...

sunday he started with a little cough. little. monday morning, he had a roaring fever and couldn't move. it was all he could do to force down food and liquids last night in between passing out exhausted on the couch. same story all day today. though he says he's feeling better, he really has only been able to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. if i hadn't been here to force him to take ibuprofen to reduce his fever or to eat, i imagine he would have done none of those things. i'm sure it's influenza, without a doubt. i really should go check on him again.

flu shot, i thank you.

buddy, hang in there.

geni- neat family tree site

this site makes it easy to create a family tree- geni


you sign up, and enter in the family members you know. then, if you want, you can enter their email addresses and they can login and add in additional family members that they know about, but whom you might not know so well.

this way, the family shares in the fun of creating the family tree, and it's probably more accurate because of that. it's all secure and everything. i think it's a great idea!

ass slices- served up in australia

so my brother took this picture on the sly in australia. it's a little fuzzy cause he took it kinda fast, cause he didn't want someone to see him take a picture of the ass. slices...




















of course, it's short for assorted slices, but it's too funny not to snicker at anyway.




















i'm thinking $2.00 is pretty cheap for ass. slices...

also, does anyone need an 'abuse of older people' resource kit?




















i want to live in australia...