Room With A View

With a view like this…

…there should be no complaining of boredom or bad days or a host of other things I heard last year.

This is the view from the darling twins college dorm room.

I think they are settled in and ready for a very good year.

We drove up last weekend to deliver a few odds and ends they forgot and took them to dinner.

It is really beautiful up in the small town where they go to school.

For the first time in their 19 years, they are not sharing a room.

Well, sort of not sharing a room.

They are suite mates in this brand new dormitory.

Which means they still share a bathroom but they have separate bedrooms.

A bathroom that is much bigger than all four darling Humpfreeze children share at home.

They have two showers between the four suite mates but only one toliet – go figure?!

Wizzy is rooming with Meadows and Roger Leroy lucked out and is by herself.

It took my covert photography skills to snap a picture of their trash can.

Meadows did her best to stand guard over it but she should know better.

It was refreshing to see some habits never change.

They also explained the story behind the one poster they are allowed on the wall.

Something about their social director status but I wasn’t clear on the monkey pictures.

But then we were walking to the car for dinner, Roger Leroy had to stop for a minute.

And the monkey pictures all made perfect sense.

Hey Jenna,

Roger Leroy is keeping everything very neat until you arrive next semester.

You are going to love the new rooms! I was even impressed with the “hotel” door locks. Hope your mom and dad copy and print this to include in your next letter from home so you can see your new room.

Side note: Jenna arrives for second semester but she’s at her Army National Guard AIT at Ft. Leonard Wood.

Don’t worry Wizzy and Meadows, I know you both pass room inspection with flying colors and you keep your room clean too.

It was a lovely Sunday evening visiting with the darling twins and we’re thankful they have such lovely new digs!

Really though, did anyone else have a view out their college dorm room window like this?

I’ll go first.

No.

My room overlooked a parking lot and the TKE and Sig Ep house.

Summer Activities ~ Part 3

All the darling twins talked about even before they got back home was the beach.

“We’re going to the beach.”

Over and over again. In between car repairs and work schedules and having about six weeks of summer they were going to the beach.

When the beach trip got changed multiple times and looked like it just wasn’t going to happen, leave it to St. PhilBillPaul to have a brilliant idea.

“Why don’t we all go to the beach?”

Never mind that it’s not in the budget. Never mind that all three big kids are scheduled to work. Never mind that mom and dad have work too.

Let’s Go To The Beach

PhilBillPaul’s second brilliant idea was that MOM could work her magic and use the power of the internet and find a last minute beach bargain. In less than 48 hours.

“Yea!!” the children shouted. “Let’s leave on Sunday at 4:00 a.m.”

PhilBillPaul’s third brilliant idea was that MOM could make a breakfast casserole and cheesy potatoes so WE would have food right when we got there and WE wouldn’t have to cook.

What would I do without all the brilliant ideas surrounding me?

Leaving out most of the gorey details of everyone packing themselves and going to bed while mom cooked and sweated in the 150 degree kitchen and made lists and packed DIRTY clothes because…

The Washing Machine Broke

Oh yes it did.

On Saturday while the big kids were all working, PhilBillPaul turned himself black trying to fix the washer which would not drain or rinse the clothes.

Suspiciously this happened after Roger Leroy had C-R-A-M-M-E-D a load of clothes in that was seriously bigger than the washer.

Perhaps we did not teach her how to properly do her laundry. Oh wait, YES WE DID.

The Army and college have taught her that sorting is a waste of time.

I remained calm – surprising I know – and announced that we could do OUR laundry when we got to the beach.

The darling twins could take their wet ginormous load to a laundromat. And Rachel could buy the part she broke. And they were never allowed to touch our washer again.

Side note: I’m pretty sure that Roger Leroy would want me to extend her personal and heartfelt thanks to her sister Wizzy for doing this while she was at work.

This I said because we had paid for the last minute bargain I found and there were no refunds.

Off to the beach we went at a more reasonable time of 6:00 a.m.

The view from our bargain 6th floor condo wasn’t too bad.

And other than one giant scene about Scary Baby and brushing her hair, we all survived.

I’ll be so bold as to say that everyone had FUN.

I asked them if we could recreate the blog header photo.

But this is about as close as I could get.

Everyone was on their own for dinner.

It was very nice that they actually wanted to have one night be a family dinner so we all gathered at Pompano Joe’s.

And I made sure to snap this very important picture after she had told me numerous times to quit taking pictures of her.

I told her the whole goal of the trip was to get her darling toes in the sugar white sand.

She was very specific that it had to be the sugar white sand of Destin.

And then declared, on our last day, that she really doesn’t like sand.

Later this week, I must tell you what happened on the way there and the way back because no Humpfreeze trip is complete without some ridiculous moments that are not funny except to everyone else who didn’t have to be there. Or drive to the Piggly Wiggly.

Stay tuned.

Loving the Unlovable

I was pretty unlovable yesterday.

Cranky, residual drug lethargy and I’m sure PhilBillPaul could add a few more choice words in describing my behavior.

Did I mention I’m a wuss in the pain category?

Grumpiness may have been triggered by hunger, a sticky toaster lever, someone eating my natural peanut butter without asking (two giant jars in pantry for those who have informed me “we are NOT trying to eating healthy MOM…”) and the shooting pains of my weenie 10 stitches.

The flip out came when I saw Scary Baby with my Deluxe Yahtzee game. I have an unnatural and unhealthy obsession with keeping my games from childhood to adulthood in pristine condition.

I’m not blaming Junebug but I will say there were a few memorable days where we hunted for that ONE missing puzzle piece or a game token or a box lid that mysteriously disappeared.

My children do not share my addiction for keeping games in order and put away in their boxes they way they came. Go figure.

Side note: The Grunter shares my addiction. Something about being September Virgos. Not that we are into astrology.

I seriously adore the fact that they all love to play board games. Especially in today’s video and computer world.

But I’m well aware of the mixed message of me snapping when they touch my games without asking and furthermore do not put them away properly.

So yes, I snapped.

And it only got worse when PhilBillPaul opened up one of the game cabinets and there were loose cards and the Taboo game buzzer was NOT in the box.

Breathe, Sherra, breathe.

After a shrieking fit (I wish I could think of a nicer way to say it but let’s call a spade a spade), I made some toast and retreated to my room.

The x*nax had clearly worn off.

Which left PhilBillPaul sorting cards and taping broken box lids with packing tape.

And Scary Baby was upstairs crying because we sent her friend home because we also discovered her room was a wreck and the rule since birth has been “Work Before Play” which meant her room should have been cleaned up before she had a guest.

About an hour later, a brave soul pecked on my bedroom door. Scary Baby said,

“Hi Momma. Lizzie and I made you this.”

Raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, milk, sugar and ice.

Love in a glass.

With a bendy straw.

Crappy Mother – 0
Darling Children – 1

How’s your summer going?

The Lounge

The darling twins came home to a new room.

They are still not thrilled with the changes.

The most disturbing part for Wizzy has been the moving of their beds.

She has said at least three times…

“I know we’re in college and will only be home for 3 months but why did you have to take the other bed out the room?”

“But Mom, why did you have to take a BED out?”

“Seriously Mom, why is one of our beds in the basement?”

Another traumatic event I can be blamed for pretty much through eternity.

I take full responsibility and it’s probably wrong but I still feel pretty good about the new arrangement.

Call me mean. Oh wait, they already do.

Hey, maybe this is why she has been sleeping at other people’s houses?

TV is moved up from the basement. They’ve never had a TV in their room. That’s another good reason why this is now called the lounge.

Video game system – again never allowed on any TV in our house – now hooked up since they bought it while they were at college.

The benefits of being the last born and old rules flying out the window because you have three older siblings.

Futon is ordered. They are guests in our home and we have invited them to use the lounge until they head back to college in August. I think it’s pretty generous.

The cleaning and fumigating and throwing away and sweeping and mopping and sorting and disinfecting and organizing, etc., took us many weekends. I’ll save pictures of that for another day.

We really like the lounge. Scary Baby likes the lounge. The Grunter likes the lounge.

And I don’t really see what the big deal is about with one twin bed.

It made me think of my “You’re Gonna Miss This” post from last year as their senior year was ending.

Photo from April 2009

They’ve been sleeping together in a twin bed more than they have slept in separate beds for their whole lives. It’s some kind of twin thing.

Shoot, at our house THREE can fit in a twin bed. They should all be glad they are skinny.

How cute is that on the first night they were home that their favorite brother climbed into bed with them after he got off work to snuggle and talk?

The fleeting moments when they all get along make my heart sing.

Really they do.

Because sometimes it feels like yesterday that those three little people climbed in that same bed and talked and giggled and didn’t have a care in the world.

I’m interested so leave a comment and tell me…

Do you take advantage of the extra space when your college kids head off to school? Did you or are you currently preserving your college kids’ bedrooms? Just curious if I’m in the minority on the room conversion and where I fall on the mean mom scale.

I do want to go on record here and note that I did wait a full year!

Countdown to Friday

No DIY Facebook wall recapping for last week.

Because it was semi-normal. Whatever “normal” is.

Other than the air conditioner breaking on Wednesday. And the temperature in Atlanta is averaging about 120 degrees daily. Okay, really high 90’s but it feels like 120.

Thanks to all who sent personal emails with care and concern. Seriously, we are all fine, fine, fine!

The darling twins should be flying home on Friday. Which happens to be their 19th birthday. We’re getting excited and bracing ourselves at the same time. More on our preparations later this week.

Here’s something neat they got at the beginning of their 5 month journey.

Even though Toyota was handling their P.R. nightmare and vehicle safety issues this spring, I did want to give a shout out to say that while somewhere deep in their marketing department, someone came up with a very nice idea.

I’m sure the girls have worn the hats. Not.

But I know they both appreciated the 1 GB memory stick, headphones and the deck of cards. I forgot to ask how the spearmint chapstick was.

Roger Leroy signed up to receive hers before she left and after it came to the house, we boxed it all up and sent it to her. Then I emailed to get Wizzy a gift pack too. About 4 emails later, she received hers in Arizona.

They even included an hour of internet service. Did you know that they have to pay for their internet service?

Yes, I know they are marketing to Soldiers and want their business/money. Still, this was a nice touch.

Can’t wait for next Monday when the darling twins will be here to watch The Bachelorette with me.

American Soldiers

I started to look for a generic, patriotic picture of soldiers so I could write a quick blog post and remind you all to take a few minutes before the end of your day to remember what this day is all about.

Besides the grilling and picnics and 3 day weekend, Memorial Day is a day that we should all reflect on the sacrifices of those who have come before us and those who serve today…

Fighting to protect our freedom.

Then I remembered I didn’t need to look for a picture because in addition to my uncles, my cousins, my nephew and friends, we have two soldiers right here…

Well, not exactly right here.

They are still in Arizona at AIT.

But we are thankful as I know they are too that their Daddy and Granny got to fly in and spend time with them because they got a 4 day pass off base.

They’ve seen the glorious Grand Canyon.

Side note: I’m not sure how much PhilBillPaul and Granny actually saw because they appear to have their eyes closed.

And thanks to a special family in Mesa, they spent a beautiful day boating on Sagauro Lake.

You don’t have to save your gratitude and prayers for Memorial Day. On any given day, I hope you’ll send up a prayer for our military and their families…

and my darling twin daughters.

Here’s a great video worth taking 4 minutes from your day to watch and remember…

DWTS ~ Can’t Wait ‘Til Tuesday Night

I still love, love, love to see Erin and Maks dance because I think they are such a sizzling couple together.

I don’t think that of any of the other couples.

But there’s no mistaking that Nicole and Evan are The Top Two.

Holy cow, did they deliver or what?

I know my mom wants to know if Nicole can wear a costume bottom any lower? Is that painted on?

Seriously, I don’t need to see her pubic pelvic bones.

For the record, I also don’t want to see Chad without pants next week. I hope that doesn’t happen. I’m still recovering from having to see Jake in underwear.

Icky.

Speaking of Jake (and sorry that I have to) but did I really hear them say that Jake would be dancing with Vienna in the finale?

WHAT THE HECK? She wasn’t even in the show. Go away.

I also don’t want Brooke to say “your package” to anyone else. Especially the guys.

I know she was referring to their story package but it kept coming out wrong.

“Can you comment on your package?” “We loved watching your package.”

I’m paraphrasing the above comments because I didn’t take the time to rewind.

And speaking of Brooke – way, way too much boobage for family hour.

Icky.

But enough about Brooke.

I’m with Tom – this was my favorite show of all the seasons so far!!

Weigh in. Who is leaving tonight?

P.S. This is the first time EVER I have blogged twice in one day. Of course I say that only if the scheduling feature works right on my blog otherwise this p.s. will make no sense at all.

The Masters Story They Forgot to Highlight

I spent the better part of this weekend doing three things:

• 1) Watching The Masters–that’s a golf tournament held in Augusta, Georgia for all you non-golfers–that I have watched for many, many years long before golf became somewhat socially cool or there was anyone named Tiger on the tour.
• 2) Trying to control myself and not actually publish a blog post over the weekend
• 3) Yelling at the TV every time the announcers fell all over themselves about Tiger and his “time off.”

Side note: I actually had to text my golf friend Toni and call my mom to say that I’ve never cheered so loudly for someone to lose. Yes, I’m admitting it here and yes, the sermon at church was about forgiveness.

So please forgive me.

I swear I was really trying to exhibit better self-control and not blog about this again. Mostly because he doesn’t deserve ANY. MORE. PRESS.

And we all know the giant readership here on my blog could affect his career.

Then I remembered it’s my personal blog and I can blog about whatever I want. As I like to say to blog clients when I’m getting them started–remember to chant this to yourself whenever you need to…

My Blog. My Rules.

Before I go off on my Tiger rant, I want to acknowledge the REAL story at The Masters this year.

The real story of a golfer who took time off is the story of Phil Mickelson. He’s a golfer who spent some time away from the game to be by his wife’s side when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Seems to have his priorities in place. I can’t imagine their struggles thus far and his mother was diagnosed a short time after his wife was.

Go Phil Go! Such a fabulous victory on every level. It was our honor to watch you win!

I wish I could say that they highlighted his amazing game and his personal story at every opportunity during the tournament.

Instead, we had to hear about Tiger’s amazing game after his 5 month hiatus. Or whatever we’re calling it these days. We had to witness every moment of his fake smile as he engaged with the fans for the first time in years. I’m pretty sure he had an invisible earpiece in with his P.R. team telling him things like…

“Show some teeth as you walk to the green. Smile for the gallery.”

“Say hi to some people that you normally would never talk to.”

“Offer to sign their hat or pat a little kid on the head.”

Frankly, I didn’t buy any of it. He was gritting his teeth. It was all a big act. The calm *new* Tiger who has embraced Buddhism and is working on controlling his temper was nowhere to be found when he hit a bad shot on Saturday and yelled “SUCK” and uttered a profanity loudly.

He entered The Masters with his well-oiled P.R. team making sure he was in a gilded cage and protected environment where he calls the shots – golf and otherwise. The only thing authentic about him is still his colossal arrogance.

Now here’s my favorite part of the weekend coverage!

Billy Payne called him out on it.

And then I read a bunch of criticism of Billy Payne and why he shouldn’t have said anything. Especially at the beginning of The Masters.

WHAT?

How do we get to the place where we’re all okay with acting like we don’t have all the sordid details about his total lack of discretion over and over again.

Who said we had to handle him with kid gloves? Why are we avoiding the elephant in the room and walking around on eggshells after his disgusting behavior?

Virtual High Five to Billy Payne

Instead of criticizing Billy Payne, why don’t we celebrate that he was brave enough to call him out in a very professional manner and he was dead on with his comments.

Furthermore, I read at least five articles that made it sound like this was the only thing Payne said.

A few minutes research shows how wrong that is. His opening remarks contained 1874 words and only 284 of those words were directed at Tiger.

Oh, but they were 284 lovely, respectful, truthful words.

Sentences in bold are my personal favorites.

“Finally, we are not unaware of the significance of this week to a very special player, Tiger Woods. A man who in a brief 13 years clearly and emphatically proclaimed and proved his game to be worthy of the likes of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. As he ascended in our rankings of the world’s great golfers, he became an example to our kids that success is directly attributable to hard work and effort.

But as he now says himself, he forgot in the process to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility. It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grand kids. Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children.

Is there a way forward? I hope yes. I think yes. But certainly his future will never again be measured only by his performance against par; but measured by the sincerity of his efforts to change. I hope he now realizes that every kid he passes on the course wants his swing, but would settle for his smile. I hope he can come to understand that life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who bring joy to the lives of other people. We at Augusta hope and pray that our great champion will begin his new life here tomorrow in a positive, hopeful and constructive manner, but this time, with a significant difference from the past. This year, it will not be just for him, but for all of us, who believe in second chances. ”

You can read the full transcript here.

Good Guys Can Finish First

And once again, let me say CONGRATULATIONS to Phil Mickelson.

It’s always nice to see the better man win!

Now, I’m going to practice restraint and not write a ranting blog post about Jesse James.

If you are an email subscriber, come visit the blog after 1:00 p.m. EST for a quick laugh.

Scary Baby Lemon Cake Bakery

The bakery can bear her name even if she only showed up for the fun part.

She used the Pampered Chef squirty icing thingy with expertise.

Yes, we are professional bakers with professional tools.

Perhaps I made the rest of the cake.

Labor intensive is an understatement. A cake with 4 different steps is not typically anything I tackle. I leave that to my friend Leigh Anne.

But the lemon cake recipes with gorgeous pictures that appeared on blogs here and here one day apart spoke to me.

So now my biggest Easter cooking decision was which lemon cake to make.

I went with the Lemon Truffle Cake.

The cake recipes are very, very similar with exception of quantity of baking powder, lemon zest and milk vs. buttermilk.

I did get wild and I used the Lemon Curd recipe from the Lemon Crumb Cake because Leigh Anne said it was amazing and she knows her lemon curd! (And I didn’t want to throw away 3 egg yolks.)

For non-bakers I want to break it down for you:

Step 1 >>> Homemade white cake – best cake I’ve ever made.

Step 2 >>> Homemade lemon curd – like I’ve ever made this in MY LIFE?!

Step 3 >>> Homemade filling – yum.

Step 4 >>> Homemade whipped cream – double yum.

Now I know that you could streamline all of this with a boxed white cake mix, a jar of lemon curd and a can of whipped cream (you’ll still have to mix up the filling of white chocolate, cream cheese and lemon curd) but since this was seriously the only thing I was cooking for Easter, I went for broke.

Oh, wait I did make cheeseburgers and baked beans.

Side note: We did go out to eat after church. It was a little weird for us to be a family of three with the darling twins in Arizona and The Grunter working.

Scary Baby did make the cake lovely with her finishing touches. She actually wanted to add lemon slices to the top but I had to nix that idea. (Remember this is the fondant child.) The lemon slices would have put us at 5 steps and I had already exceeded my time investment/dessert ratio.

She is also a 4th child who prefers the store bought, super tacky, premade Easter baskets to the homemade theme baskets created by her loving mother many years before she was born.

I have adapted to that change and sent PhilBillPaul to Walgreen’s on Friday to pick out her basket. Sad but true.

She is very discreetly covering the giant price tag sticker that he left on when he retrieved the said basket from his truck. The sticker was not easily removable from the cellophane.

Hello Walgreen’s? We can’t really pass it off as our own now, can we?

Have a great weekend and if you get bored or have company, bake a lemon cake–it’s a whole lot of cake for 3 people to eat. The Grunter doesn’t like lemon. Whatever.

P.S. I did give two slices to a friend and The Grunter’s girlfriend had a piece too. Rave reviews from both! Just didn’t want you to think that the 3 of us ate the whole cake.

DWTS Recap

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

We have to watch her for another a week?

Kate Gosselin must go. I think I hear eight kids crying for their mom to stop flying to California and stay home for more than one night.

The Tony “quitting” scene seemed vaguely familiar. It looked like clips I’d seen of her on her canceled show. I think she has a pattern of witchy behavior with men that doesn’t seem to be working.

Side note: Don’t flame me for that – I think her ex-husband is in a tie with her for most obnoxious people who shouldn’t be on TV and should get ZERO press coverage.

The stress and tension on her face was painful to watch both during the dance and during the elimination night. Watching the actual dance was even more painful.

She said and I’m paraphrasing here…

“Sure I forgot some steps but at least I didn’t fall down.”

Whatever.

My personal favs of week two:

Evan Lysacek & Nicole Scherzinger

I have to add Niecy Nash to my favorite list this week. Her spunk and humor is infectious.

In the easy to look at category is Aiden Turner. Don’t even know if he can dance.

Maks continues to be my favorite pro to watch. And I promise it’s not because he keeps unbuttoning his shirt to his navel. There are many other reasons. I’ll try to remember them next week when I watch.

Next week, let’s please say goodbye to Kate. I’m willing to endure watching that other ICKY blonde for another week if Kate will go home.

Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to call and vote for who we want to NOT dance the next week? My mom and I have discussed this for several seasons and we think we would call in for sure if we could vote someone off–at least until the final three. Yeah, we are like that.

Who is your favorite? Do you actually call in and vote? Would you call in and vote if you could vote someone off the show?

Disclaimer: These are just my personal opinions and I’m sure I’d be friends in real life with each and every “star”, “was a star” and/or “never was a star”. Or not.

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