Kevin, at the toy store

He winds his way through the toy store, looking for something on which to spend his money. He stops, his eyes widen and he says, "Oooh... is this Polly Pocket?" He picks up the box, viewing the Polly Pocket mermaid playset on sale for $9.99. He puts the box down and says, "Nah, I have enough Polly Pockets at home already."

I'm so glad we laugh about most things

This morning we got up late for church on the day we were scheduled to subsitute for the kids' classes. Bummer.

We were asked for one of us to report to the 2nd & 3rd grade class. Bummer.

After a few minutes, the teacher determined that there were enough teachers for the few kids and she let me go into the service. Woohoo!

This afternoon, Andy set up the van to change the oil. Woohoo!

Andy found some really light oil on the grille slats and a hole in the AC compressor in front of the radiator. Bummer.

I decided to take Kevin out for the afternoon to do some birthday and Christmas shopping for Andy so that Andy could have some time alone. Woohoo!

Andy pointed out the screw stuck in the front tire of the truck. Bummer.

I decided to put on the spare and let Andy plug the busted tire when he was done changing the van's oil. Woohoo!

The spare tire only had 20 lbs of pressure in it. Bummer.

We remembered that our neighbor has an air compressor. Woohoo!

Andy removed the screw and plugged the tire while it was still on and filled both tires with the compressor. Woohoo!

I unplugged the compressor from the outlet in the truck and the cover wouldn't close. I fiddled with the door (which also covers the other outlet) for 5 minutes trying to convince myself that I could fix it but had Andy confirm that it wasn't possible. Bummer.

Andy discovered that we didn't have enough oil for the van. Bummer.

I went to the auto parts store first and got some oil for the van. Woohoo!

I asked for those rubber replacement covers for the outlets in the truck. They don't have them and suggested I try Radio Shack. Bummer.

I tried Radio Shack and they suggested I try Home Depot. What?? The outlets are still exposed on the dash. Bummer.

I returned home and started making dinner by putting water in a pot. Water shot out of the wrong end of the faucet. Bummer.

I put Andy to work on the faucet and went out to put the rest of the oil in the van. I cleaned up and Andy turned on the van to take it off the ramps. The fan on "high" made a crazy noise. We turned it up and down trying to diagnose the problem and had no clue what was going on. Bummer.

After a minute, the noise stopped. Woohoo!

I realized that Andy will be driving the van tomorrow since I'll take the truck to work. Woohoo!

We realized that we can't take the van in for service of either the possible AC problem or the new tires it desperately needs because we can't all fit in the truck to get back home. Bummer.

From my outbox

Dear Paul & Sally,

Congratulations! You were the first inadvertent call that I made from
my cell phone because I didn't have the keyguard on. Oops! :-) It
happened this morning so if you have a message or caller-id that
confused you, it might have been my purse calling.

Dianne

Roundup

Phones
We got our phones on Thursday and when Andy was playing around with his on Friday, he unknowingly downloaded a ringtone - "The Ride of the Valkyries." Fortunately, I found out what he did before he downloaded a bunch more because he didn't realize he had to pay for it. Now he has to keep it as his ringtone because he doesn't want to waste the $2.50. I think it fits.

Tour de France
In a controversial but well-calculated move by both parties, the U.S.'s Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team signed superstar Ivan Basso for the next two years. He was the leader of Team CSC last year and he won the Giro d'Italia (a stage race like the Tour de France but in Italy) and then was sidelined days before the Tour de France because of allegations that he was involved in Operacion Puerto, the Spanish doping scandal. He was one of the favorites to win the Tour last year but never had the chance to try. Again this year, he will attempt the rare Giro d'Italia/Tour de France double-win. He's got the goods and I will be cheering him on as I was hoping to do last year.

Cars
Kevin and I watched "Cars" last night at a friend's house. It wasn't as good as I'd expected and hoped. I thought it was pretty slow and most of it I wouldn't expect a young child to understand. It was rated "G" and either I'm a prude, or that wasn't valid. My guess is that I'm a prude but, whatever. I already ordered the DVD for Kevin for Christmas but I wonder whether I would have had I waited until I'd watched it.

One of the best pictures ever

We went camping in October with Amy and her kids. The kids got along very well over the weekend and had a lot of fun. One day they were running and racing and then decided to tackle each other. They wrestled for awhile and surprisingly, nobody got hurt. We even have proof of how much fun they had. The timing of this shot is perfect.

  

Tonight's after-dinner dinner table conversation

Kevin: Knock-knock.
Andy: Who's there?
Kevin: Boo.
Andy: Boo who?
Kevin: Aww, why are you crying? Hahahahaha. Knock-knock.
Andy: Who's there?
Kevin: Boo.
Andy: Boo who?
Kevin: Aww, why are you crying? Hahahahaha. Knock-knock.
Andy: Who's there?
Kevin: Boo.
Andy: Boo who?
Kevin: Aww, why are you crying? Hahahahaha.
Andy: [ahem] So there was a priest, a rabbi and a duck on an airplane...
Kevin: And a beast and a rabbit and a turkey.
Dianne: And the pilot said, "What is this, some kind of joke?"
Andy: No, that's not it and there was no turkey. But there was a skunk.
Kevin: Ewwww! He said skunk! There was a, uh, beast, a rabbit, an elephant, a turkey...
Dianne: Continue your joke, Andy.
Andy: I was trying to but now I can't keep track of all of the animals involved.
Kevin: There was definitely a turkey!
Andy: So, there was a priest, a rabbi, a duck and a skunk on a plane. And the duck said to the skunk, "P-U, somebody stinks."
Kevin: Ewwwww!
Andy: And the skunk said, "Yeah, but it's not me - check out the priest over there."
Kevin: [gibberish]
Dianne: Go ahead, Andy, finish your joke.
Andy: That was it.
Dianne: Ugh.
Kevin: Knock-knock!

One small step for most people, one giant leap for us

So what made us finally get cell phones? It wasn't just that we couldn't tell my parents on our way to Cape May that we'd be there late because of traffic, it wasn't just because I made a Dr. appointment over the phone with a doctor who changed practices and offices and I didn't find out until I showed up to my appointment at an empty office, it wasn't just because I needed to contact a volleyball teammate at the emergency room after a dislocated shoulder injury or that I've searched all over Laurel and part of Elkridge in the past couple of weeks for a working pay phone....

No, it was because I found out that my parents, my brother and my sister all have "pay as you go" plans with Virgin Mobile where they pay about $7 per month to use their cell phones. And they are all able to use them just a little, which is what I'd want to do with a cell phone (THIS, I will need to point out to Amy, "[Cell] Phone Queen.")

We placed our order on Friday evening and I have no idea when the phones will arrive, but I am excited to get them.

Don't tell Amy

I just ordered mobile phones for Andy and me. I'm going to surprise Amy by calling her from mine after it gets here. She has no idea we have even been thinking about getting them. Shhhh...