The Van

The godforsaken gray van. It had to be blogged about eventually. We have unfortunately come into the possession of the creepiest, most hideous toy in the wide world, but ironically, the stinking thing has us in a Catch-22 because it just so happens to be Silas' most favorite toy of all. The van first made its appearance in our home when Silas was teeny-tiny, and my sister Christa was dropping off a load of toys that my nephew had outgrown. The van is a little weird-looking but fairly innocent enough... or so we thought.

(Side note: Doesn't Silas look more like a little boy than a baby now? Sniff sniff!)

Anyway, the van has three people hanging out of the windows: a mother, a son, and a cheerleader daughter, whom you can see on the passenger side in the above photo. On top of the van are strapped such fun things as a hockey stick, a soccer ball, and a drum, which are all completely normal things to strap on top of one's minivan. The major problem with the van, and the crux of Silas' obsession with it, is this one tiny little black button that you push to unleash the worst song you've ever heard in your life. One movement of the finger and out blares a ridiculous guitar intro followed by the loud lyrics of a teenage female:

"Vacation all I ever wanted!/ Vacation had to get away!/ Vacation meant to be spent alone." (REPEAT ONCE AGAIN. YES. ONCE WASN'T ENOUGH.) 

The van lights up and the front end bounces up and down during the music. Well, as you can imagine, this is all very exciting to an 11-month-old boy, and he'll stop ANYTHING he's doing to come to that van when you play the song. Because we know that this toy has the power to bring Silas back from wherever he's headed, we of course choose to keep the van rather than send it with the garbage; it has us bound in that way. It comes in handy when I'm too lazy to follow him when he crawls out of the living area, it's a last resort in a cranky spell, and for those of you who remember when I blogged with that nasty stomach virus, the van suddenly became my best friend as I was alone with Silas while waiting for BJ to get home. I was lying on my back on the floor, moaning with nausea, and each time Silas decided that something in the kitchen seemed more interesting, "Vacation all I ever wanted! Vacation had to get away!" was employed. I sold my soul to the Devil himself that day.

One last thing that I'll say about the van. I honestly think that the people that produced this toy were perverts. If one looks inside the van, you can see the bottom half of each of the three people. Now, the boy and the mom are appropriately painted all the way down to their shoes. The cheerleader girl, on the other hand, is clearly missing her underwear:

I normally wouldn't think much of this, except for the fact that she DOES have shoes painted on, and both of the other characters do have their pants on. Does some obscure toymaker have a fetish about what is under a cheerleader's skirt? Hmm. 

I would dare other parents, aunts, and uncles to top this hideous toy, but even if you could think of something that's awful, all I would shoot back at you is that you've never seen this van. So let's just leave it at that.

Mom's Birthday Project

When you are checking out at the register in a retail store in the mall and the salesperson matter-of-factly demands your email address, do you ever tell them that you don't have one?  You probably don't. But I do. I hate giving that information away. Usually my response is met with either a look of surprise or an icy "I-know-you-have-one,-you-hussy" look from the clerk. Here's a typical ensuing conversation that BJ and I have on the way out of that store as well:

BJ: You know they don't believe you, right?

Me: Whatever. How do they know I have an email address?  For all they know I could be Amish.

BJ: Because you look so Amish.

Me: Touche. (The boy has a point, as my jeans, aviator sunglasses, and above-the-shoulder hair are not exactly channeling Lancaster County.)

Well, when my dad is asked for his email address when he is in a store, he can honestly can tell the clerk that he doesn't have an email address, because that's how paper-and-pencil my dad really is. He only gets on the internet when the situation is dire, which happens once every few months. My mom is a little more in the swing of things, but not much. I finally got my parents texting at least, but usually with accompanying grumbles about how a phone call would be much easier. All of this to say, my parents are most certainly NOT among my blog readers. I'm fairly certain that my dad has no clue what a blog is, and my mom, though she has been on here once or twice, I can say quite confidently will not see her birthday present that I'm posting a pic of below. So mom, stop reading if you actually are!

As part of her birthday gift, I knitted my mom this snuggly little wine cozy.

Ain't it purty?

Now, I'm giving one more of these away to a friend that we're visiting on vacation next month, but I also don't think she reads this blog. Right, Lynn? You don't read this blog do you? So there you are friends, two of my latest knitting projects for you to see.

Also for you to see, reason # 11 why Oklahoma is so great... the redbud trees. The redbud is Oklahoma's state tree, and this time of year you see them in all of their glory, all over the place. They are just as lovely as the lilacs in a beautiful Minnesota May, except that they don't smell as good.

Have a great evening, friends.

"We We We So Excited"

Upon the suggestion of a friend who thought the video was hilarious, BJ and I joined the craze of people who have viewed that stupid "Friday" music video on youtube. The video has a whopping 53 million hits, according to BJ, so I'm sure that most of you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you really need to look at it to solidify confidence about your own intelligence, which is undoubtedly higher than every last person who was involved with the making of this video. (Up for debate in my mind is why the rapper in the car is in this video, because he seems a cut above everyone else. Desperation for a career, I suppose.)  As we're checking out the video, we notice that Silas is incredibly interested and actually STOPS all activity (an uncommon occurrence!) to gaze at the laptop throughout the duration of the four-minute video. Just for laughs, we showed it again to him today and got the exact same reaction in his high-chair, with eating suspended so that he could stare with flapping jaw.

He just couldn't peel his eyes away. Sadly, I don't think it's because he thought it was a train wreck, but how can you blame a little guy? Exciting words popping up all over the screen, bright colors, smiling girl, extremely simplified lyrics...it's right up his alley. Please don't call DHS on us. We won't do it again!

Jenny's Top 10 Favorite Things About Living in Oklahoma

# 10-- The Mexican Food
Thank you, God, that most of the southern half of the United States can do some justice to the delicious cuisine of our neighbors to the south. BJ and I once (and only once!) made the unfortunate mistake of trying Mexican food in Minneapolis. When BJ and I are craving Mexican food, we now end up in places like Ted's, Alfredo's, Big Truck Taco, and Cocina Guatelinda. =)

# 9-- The Open Sky
Carrie Underwood wasn't kidding when she sang, "I miss the big blue sky, the Oklahoma kind." I missed it when I was gone too. I want to see nearly every bit of the sky, and in Oklahoma I can.

# 8-- Conversations with Friendly Rednecks
Oklahomans know what I mean. Here is an example of one of my favorites, a conversation some years ago with a fellow on our hospital unit:

          Me: So, what are you going to do when you get home today?

          Friendly Redneck Fellow: Well, I guess I better mow the blasted lawn
          before the weather comes in tonight.

          Me: Yeah, I hear there's a big storm coming.

          FRF: Yup, and I've got four acres to mow.

          Me: Geez! I hope you have a riding lawn mower!

          FRF: Well, I used to, but last year I done blowed it up!

# 7-- The Equal-Length Seasons...All Four of Them!
If you get too much further north or south from here, the seasons suddenly begin stretching in one direction or the other. Now don't get me wrong, because the summers in Minnesota are absolutely glorious! Glorious! We were outside all the time! But the winter lasts from October to early-April. Down in Dallas, just a couple of hours south of here, there really is no winter. But here, we get four wonderful seasons, and basically all in equal length, with perhaps a little taken from spring and added to summer as it starts getting pretty hot in the last half of May. If you can handle the heat in June, July, and August, then you're golden for the rest of the year!

# 6-- Running Into People I Love in Random Places
I remember once in Minneapolis BJ and I were driving down I-394 westbound and I got a call from our friends Kevin and Carrie, who shouted, "Look to your right!" And there they were, driving beside us on the highway! This was only one of two times in five years of living in strange places (Minneapolis and Tulsa) that we ever ran into friends by chance encounter. In OKC our network of friends and family is more plentiful, as would be anybody's in their own hometown, and we regularly see unexpected friends and family members at places like Thunder games, restaurants, and Target. Happiness.

# 5-- People Value College Football
In other parts of the country you'll find emphasis on basketball, hockey, golf, surfing, etc. I love nearly all sports, and all of these listed I would gladly sit and watch! But something about football, especially college football, stirs my blood and revitalizes my very soul. Especially that orange and black team in Stillwater.

# 4-- Vacations!
That's right! Now we get to spend our vacation time actually going on VACATIONS instead of using them to visit much-missed family members at home! Places like Florida, Seattle, Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Virginia, and North Carolina have suddenly opened before our very eyes as we spend our time away from work going to visit friends in their very cool places (including Minnesota, which is now one of our favorite vacation destinations!). The pic below is from a vacation to see some of our besties in MN.

# 3-- Tex and Sam
Tex has insisted that I allow him to have one of these numbers so that he can relay his ecstasy about living one mile from his best friend Sam. Sam is my parents' golden retriever and an extremely frequent companion of Tex's. When we lived in Minnesota and Tulsa, we and my parents always made our visits driving trips so that the dogs could come along and see each other. Here they are napping together in our living room.

# 2-- Our Mommies and Daddies Are Here
Besides each other and Silas, they're our favorite people in the world. Need I say more?

and #1-- "There's no place like home."
There just isn't. When we lived in other places I sometimes felt as though I was holding my breath, and when we visited home it was like letting all that air out and gasping in the good stuff. It's weird, I know, but maybe some of you who are strangers in a strange land have felt the same way. Now, every day, my lungs are filled with sweet, familiar air.

Sometimes Days Are Bad

Like the title of this post says, sometimes days are bad. There are some days in this life I've led where I can honestly say, "I done got schooled" and chalk up victory to greater forces at work. You may as well chalk March 23, 2011 up to these forces. Do I think that God is responsible for this? No, nor do I blame Him. Do I believe that He could have intervened? Yes. I don't know why He didn't.

But the fact remains that He didn't.

Yes, my life was a little rough today and I'm suffering a bit on a few fronts, none of which are to be named tonight. I'm tired, lonely, and wishing a friend was sitting here at my table with me because I could use a friend. Instead, I'm relying on my computer and my good pal Russell, which is really a box of Russell Stover's dark chocolate caramels.

Astute observers will note that two pieces are already missing (you may assume that they have been eaten). Still two more have vanished since the taking of this picture. You can also safely bet that another will have made its way from the box by the time I hit "Publish Post." I swear I was onto something with my previous post in which I theorized that the 'pig-out' stage should be added to the grief cycle. My mama didn't raise no fool.

Sadly, some people I know and love have had far worse days today than I have. To my beautiful friend that 90% of my grief today is for, I love you (you know who you are). Never fear...we WILL kick ass. More like, YOU'LL kick ass and I'll watch from the front row while cheering you on and eating buttery popcorn. In the meantime, I'll share a quote that I intend for both myself and my beloved friend. The quote comes from actress Betsy Drake who starred as the adorable Anabel Sims in "Every Girl Should Be Married," a strange and funny little Cary Grant film that I used to watch as a younger girl.

"There's something about being a girl--- you take every single little defeat and turn it around and around until you make it one great big victory."

A Post for BJ

As BJ was packing his suitcase last night for the coming work week, he was bemoaning the fact that he was going to miss Silas.  BJ is a regular reader of this blog, and he has mentioned before how much he enjoys reading stories about our week when he is away for work travel. So, BJ, because you are gone and we miss you, this post is really for you. If other people are interested in these pictures and tales, then God bless them.

We'll start with this picture of BJ and Silas catching some college hoops this weekend. The very picture of contentment, right here.








But on with the adventures of today!

Since you had to miss out on it Dada, today consisted of all kinds of exciting and wondrous activities, including demonstrating our superman powers by helping mom close the dishwasher. I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't been there to help me. Look at those muscles bulging with exertion!

After finishing our chores, we played hard for a while, but paused to take a rest while looking out the window and pondering philosophy, aesthetics, quantum mechanics, and blocks.

We went to Nana's house for dinner tonight, and there were lots of delicious foods for Silas to eat, including scrambled egg yolks, tilapia, peas, and kiwi. Yum! And all the while we were eating, Papa was making funny faces at Silas so that he would squeal and kick.

After dinner we played outside on the deck and went for a walk in "Nana's park," which she and Papa have been working so hard to clean out.

Sam even came with us!

Later he got some snuggle time with Nana,

and afterward it was time to get back home. Bath time in the jetted tub!

But not before pulling one last trick on mommy for the day by pushing his bath towel into the water while I was focusing my attention on other bath-readying aspects.

Boys will be boys Dada. We miss you and love you.

Still Knitting?

I'm wondering what to do about blogging about my knitting. Readers to this blog might think that I picked up this new knitting hobby, knitted with a furious passion for one month, and then suddenly dropped it... but this isn't true! I've actually been knitting regularly, but the problem is that I've been knitting gifts for other people, such as birthday presents and thank-you gifts. Today I'm beginning what is to be a slew of baby gifts, as we happen to know many people who are expecting little ones this summer. When all of those are done, I'm definitely knitting something for myself, and I have it all picked out.

A summer apron! This will be the perfect marriage of my loves for both knitting and cooking!

I definitely hate not posting about my knitting ventures, but alternatively I hate to post about what I'm knitting and spoil the surprise of a reader or two, as often the recipients of these gifts read this blog. Any feedback as to what I should do about this? I'm honestly not even sure if anyone else cares about my finished products but me! Let me know if you have an opinion!