5:20 decide to order pizza
5:21-5:31 try to get the pizza hut online ordering to work. No go.

5:31 Order pizza, on the phone. "Pizza representative" does not know if they have any specials, or much of anything, pizza-related. I forge on.

5:36 Am assured pizza will be delivered in one hour.

6:ish VKG arrives and carts off small gentlemen

6:ish MOG arrives, concerned about hunger pangs. We are comforted by the thought of pizza arriving, post-haste.

6:45 I call Pizza Hut. "There's no drivers here, so he must be on his way." Hmmm

7:ish Pizza guy arrives with cold pizza, and no beverages or sauce... which accounts for 4 bucks... he assures me he will bring it right back.
MOG and I decide to withold from eating the pizza until we have bevs and sauce...

7:20 I call and ask whereabouts of driver. No one knows. No one has ever heard of a driver.

7:35 I call and ask for a manager. I am asked, "Was the driver kinda short and old? Was he young and kinda, you know, big? Mustache? Did he drive a big car? Little black car? Who drive a little black car? Was it a Grand Am?....." by this point I am demanding a refund and trying to not die laughing as it would not help my cause.
Manager? Yeah, we have one. Oh, well. She's busy. She told me to ask you what you want. blah blah infinity

7:45 or so I am finally speaking to the manager, who will send my drinks and such over as soon as a driver gets in. Refund? You want a refund? How bout a credit for the next time you order from us? Oh, okay. I'll just credit your card, then.

8:15 Eat reheated pizza and drink tap water. At least it was free.

Our house is getting empty. We sold a fridge, and Rags to Riches just picked up half a box truck full of furniture and clothes and toys.
This is starting to sink in.

I just want to get rid of so much... start over, in a sense. But you know, starting over takes cash. So I have to kinda PC my way through, startup, crash, defrag. And so on.

This is going to be an interesting season. Not easy, necessarily. Is there an easy season? Maybe grace-filled... but nothing seems easy.

Now, I shall make a gourmet lunch of mac and cheese and hot dogs, which we will sit on the floor and eat, as I donated the table.

Yesterday we went all around the world. That is, to the library and LaPalma and the paint store and etc etc etc. Oh, and to R2's horseriding.
Then, when we got home. I put the boys inside the house, and walked back out to get Brynn. Slam! And that quickly... they locked me out.

So here I am.... 190 degrees outside with no cell phone or keys and two happy little boys inside. At least Bean was with me. I knocked to no avail... looking in the window, no boys in sight. I figured they were either upstairs chewing on electrical wires or downstairs in the kitchen playing drums with steak knives (it's not unlikely, I'm just saying).

So I knock some more and finally go next door to my neighbor Fabio's house. Yes, that is his name, and no, he is not. So I call the MOG and go sit on my porch. And then I try ringing the doorbell a LOT and knocking very loudly. And eventually I see a little fuzzy blonde head coming down the stairs. So I am yelling through the door, open and so on (you know) and he is giggling and shaking the doorknob but he has no clue what I'm talking about.

So Bean and I go back to our lawn chair. Soon, Fuzzy is joined by his brother, Bad Mischievious, who bangs on the window and yells cheerful things to me. He also shakes the doorknob, and knocks on the door a little. Very helpful. And then he climbs up on the windowsill with a firm grip on the wood blinds I don't want to have to pay for. But really, I'm just happy he is where I can see him.

Soon, Daddy comes home and opens the door, which is very exciting to everyone for a variety of reasons. Then he goes back to work and the boys are very mad at me for closing the door so they can't go with him.
Whew.

Today, I'm packing. Toby is being quite helpful by taking things out of boxes and putting them in other boxes.

Mama PC said...

how long can an animal go without being fed by the owner?

Of course, this answer depends on the animal and the culture/climate in which it is raised. To use the vernacular of the locals, "It ain't gone starve, There's crickets and little critters for 'em."



josharoo said...

What animal is the most populous in the whole world?

That would be the famed "party animal". In all the world population and even amidst unreached people groups, the mammalis fiesta can be found. In some remote corners of the earth, you can locate one imbibing fermented coan'ituzi juice and dancing wildly with no pants. Here locally, the party animal subsists on fermented barley.



Viking Granny :0) said...

Dear Ms. Smarty Pants

What would a person do who really needs animal advice and the only one offering it has experteezze in the field of siameeze fighting fish?

My dear reader, one does not have to BE a woodchuck to know how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood. Google.



Viking Granny :0) said...

Dear Ms sp......

Knock Knock is lonely........

his little face is so sad each morning when he is being left alone..

I pet him everyday......walk with him occasionally and play ball every single dad gum day.....and offer him grandkids at least once a week.......

What can I do to make a happier Knock Knock?

Considering that Knock Knock has already been emasculated, there is probably little in the world that could cheer him up. Perhaps you should get him a cat.

In other news, Toby is working for the man now...











In other, other news, I am moving on Sunday. Which will make THREE Sundays in a row we have not been at church. Frist, for the momentous birth of Ruby. Second, because the MOG had to finish mixing the new CD before his studio is packed away for 3 months and I am too lazy unmotivated to go to church alone, and now for the move.

a bevy of Type A's has descended upon my house, to get my proverbial rear in gear. I'll have to blog later.

---

Not getting to it... Smartypants will appear tomorrow!

Human nature watching around here... the pecking order around small boys is very interesting. Graceson is definitely the Alpha male (assuming that means the boss) and Toby is the rookie. Izzy is kinda, well... the Beta male? The sidekick who defers to the Alpha, kinda thing. And R2 is exempt from the order for the most part. If anyone steals his toys, they do it gently. And when he steals their toys, they either let it go or take it back gently. Nobody screams or hits Richy. That's pretty cool.
Toby doesn't know the way things work. He might have a little bite of G's sandwich, or wear I's backpack, or take anyone's toy, and then he is shocked and outraged by the outcry. He has it good with the ever passive R2 as his sidekick.
It's funny. And loud.
Just now I was changing someone's diaper. and all the others crowded around curiously. "Does it stink, Jekkisa?" "Is it yuck?" "Pee-yew!" and so on. Very helpful.

Ms. Smartypants is back! Monday's edition will be All about Animals! So ask your animal question today through Sunday.

Le Blog is slow this week. Do I need to get pregnant?

Only a brave or stupid woman would be blogging with this many little boys in her house... especially since they are all downstairs and I am up. BUT I can hear all their individual little voices and shrieking and the toy laptop and so forth... so here I go.
Lunch of mac and cheese with hot dogs yesterday. Everybody was chowing down except Graceson... he is looking disgruntled. So I say, "Hey- eat your food!" After a few more prompts, he says in an annoyed tone. "I need some ketchup!"
Of course, ketchup.

It was a good day... a few fights broke out. Some definite commandment breaking what with the stealing and coveting and not honoring the Sabbath by taking a nice long nap.
(As I write this, I have been joined by Toby, and R2, and then Graceson informing me that Izzy needs a spanking. Now Izzy has joined us as well. So there you go.)

Our garage is now separated into what the MOG calls "the sheep and the goats", that is, what is to be kept and what is to be donated. We have taken advantage of "large item Thursday" by our trash guys and emptied A LOT into the landfills and such, securing for ourselves our place in the carbon footprint hall of fame. So progress is being made. Slowly.

And I, I am existing. I am relatively happy and at peace. I just feel like I'm speeding past goalposts that might be important but they're already gone. I need to breathe. I need to find the secret place somewhere in here.

If there is ever a forehead shortage in the USA, you know where to look.

---

Today, tomorrow and Friday I have Steph's boys in addition to my trio. So far so good. I mean, yeah, there's been some screaming and hitting. But I'm sure I'll settle down soon.
Joking. Put down the phone.

Kids continually amaze me with their ability to play. R2 has always been more of a sidekick, in that pressed against your side breathing on your neck continual presence kinda sidekick. So Toby always surprises us by being allured by toys. Off he goes. The problem is that any toy being enjoyed becomes an object of desire for all the other boys. So they fight over it and R2 stands kind of nervously back and then later when they are all fighting over the new toy, he sneaks over and gets the old one.
Good things come to those that wait, they say.

Lunch should be fun. I think I'll start now.

The lovely Ruby Joy, 8 pounds 5 ounces.

I forgot to do Smartypants, maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder.

This weekend one niece got married... and another was born. Some kinda reincarnation or something there. Today, I will joyfully be spending a check someone gave us "for the kids".... plotting my path now -jeans for Brynn, shoes for R2... etc. VERY exciting.

So- we made it through storytime, La Palma, and the Talking Tree without Steph having a baby. It just trips me out. All I had to do was, you know, stand up or something and there I was in labor. Normal pregnancies are weird.

My task today is to get all the trash and items-for-donation out of our house. My brain has already fried to a crisp. I don't know where to start. I'm just... stuck. I think I will bag up all the toys (except for a couple) during naptime. And maybe ... see what I mean? STUCK.

My tendency here would be to cook some big meal and read a book and do laundry as a means of avoiding the traffic jam in my head. What I need is a police escort in my brain, who knows where we're going.
Or maybe pack all the useless stuff. Office stuff, books. WInter clothes. Or something.

Pzzzzzt.....crackle

We're off to the library with the Rob Clarks... and La Palma... and maybe the talking tree.

I suggested to Steph that maybe the dates were wrong and she has another couple of weeks.
It was not well received.

So, about Kansas City--- this is exciting! I know it's weird to have us leaving- but man! It's a prophetic journey. I am excited and nervous about seeing what God is going to do there. I had a dream years ago that leads me to believe this trip will be an awakening for me.
So that's kinda nervousy. I mean. you know how it is when you're almost awake but you're so warm and comfy in your bed and you kind of dread waking up in a few minutes?? It's like that.
Also nervousy- not having the team with us. That will be new and difficult for the MOG. It will be an interesting experiment in marriage.... The plan is 1 year. I'm too much of a homebody to plan being away from the Yablonksis for longer than that.

In other news, yesterday was the first day of the second year of horseriding. The party of the first part, R2, immensely enjoyed himself. The other parties did not take naps. Sheesh.

No new baby Clark yet. Stephanie and I and our broods will be going to La Palma tomorrow. That oughta do it.

6 years since 9/11. In some ways, it seems like it's been a lifetime, doesn't it? And then, like it was last month. I would like to write something deep and heartfelt, but with Toby "helping" me type, it's not going to happen.

R2 is so excited about starting his horseriding again today. Unfortunately, it doesn't start till 1. So I will have to say approximately two million times, not yet, not yet. Soon! After lunch. Not yet.

The chaos here. Raspberries on my leg and a sticky anemone like ball in my face- guess I'll go make some cereal and say not yet.

dear ms sp
how many boxes can/will/should you/others pack in a day?

Excellent question, "Beth". One should be packing 100-150 boxes a day currently. But if one is engaged continually in the act of pulling out one's hair and saying OH FOR HEAVENS SAKE PUT THAT DOWN BEFORE DON'T YOU KNOW CARS ARE DANGEROUS I SAID STOP and so forth, the likelihood of packing any boxes is, well. Unlikely.

Toby has decide to become 2 a couple of months early. I am against the term "terrible twos". Let me say, for the record, Toby is high-spirited and adventurous. May God have mercy on my soul.

No nap today. Thus the bitterness.

In other news, we're moving to Missouri.
But first, we're moving to a little apartment. Near Simplify. Our plan is to go to Missouri in January and rent a house.

Basketball started Saturday. Yeah, it was cute. It's more like individual basketball practices than a game, per se. Or persay, if you prefer. But R2 was awake at 7:30 a.m. holding his jersey. Got game?

Horseriding starts tomorrow.

the trouble with my announcements is that somebody, usually one person who will remain unnamed, has already announced our announcements to a select massive amount of people.


Nonetheless, for those of you who do not hang around Ima Beanspiller, here it is:
We are moving to Kansas City for the calendar year 2008. We'll be helping with the Calls and gearing up for the big Call DC II in August or September 08. We plan on returning to the metropolis of Conroe between September-January.

Now, pick up your jaws and ask away. We definitely feel the Lord directing us, we have the blessing of our leaders and we are excited and nervous. As of now, all the other Radiants are staying in Conroe except for a few who are moving to California- probably.

This is a huge, massive thing for us and if it wasn't God, it would be nuts. Well, it's still nuts, actually. But God, too.
So there you go. We've been working on this since July, but Letze Catoutthebag just told his job yesterday, so I finally have permission to tell all 4 of you who have not heard.

Feel free to submit OTHER questions to Ms. Smartypants. If you amuse her, she will answer them on Monday.

In other news, R2's basketball season starts tomorrow. We're taking the Special Blessing's program to SCHOOL.

Quick pre-storytime blogging here... today, the cousins are going to the library with us... as well as Stephanie and her large pregnant-ness. Watch me have to deliver this baby on I-45.

More later.

---

Back from the library... I need a vacation. Toby is formidable in his own strength. But combined with Graceson and Izzy, what are mere mortals before them?
It was wild. And fun. Now, the part of the show where Toby takes a nap. May it be 3 hours.

I'm thinking about organizing a hen-party of sorts to come and get rid of all my stuff and start packing. Maybe a couple of type A's and a couple of whatever I am for moral support.

Late blogging today... we went to Lowes and Walmart this morning.... good trips, no stress. EXCEPT.....
I have to touch up the walls around here. We have a HUGE deposit I hope we can get back- but I have to patch in all the nail holes and paint. Of course, the paint the builders used is not carried in chain stores. But I can drive down to 2920 and pick some up. With my 3 KIDS,
Maybe this weekend. Besides, I have my hands full trying to get spray-paint off our brick entryway- which I inadvertently tagged in an imprudent spray paint touchup job. So there you go.
Not interesting. Not even to me.

Now, this is interesting.

Nepal Airlines performs goat sacrifice
4 Sep 2007, 2153 hrs IST,REUTERS

KATHMANDU: Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said on Tuesday.

Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem. The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft on Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," said Raju KC, a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been. Local media last week blamed the company's woes on an electrical fault. The carrier runs international flights to five cities in Asia. It is common in Nepal to sacrifice animals like goats and buffaloes to appease different Hindu deities.

This is awesome... As always, I have no control of the links it shows after this video... I didn't see any yucky ones, but there's a lot of psychos out there

Tired again. I think Brynn is teething. OR, she's just had it up to here with sleep. No more sleep. Ever. And then this morning, Toby awoke the dawn, and his brother. So there you go.

Today was our first day of homeschool/preschool. R2's attention span is pretty nonexistent. But I think I can stretch it if I keep pushing him a little. I bought a cool craft-making kit with popsicle sticks and googly eyes and such... that will have to be used whilst Animal is sleeping. Holy moly. Today, we were just peacefully coloring a picture. And Toby colors for a minute, and then he tastes the crayons a little, and then he finds the markers and takes off all the caps and throws them on the floor. And tastes the markers. "Yick!" he says. Yeah. And then he draws a line on the paper and tastes the marker again. "YIck!" Yeah. And then he starts sweeping his arms madly side to side, and obliterating his paper and all the capless markers and sloggy crayons. So then he pauses for a moment to survey the wreckage with a teal-tinted smirk. And then, he's up on the table after R2's paper and crayons. I apprehended him, but poor R2 had lost concentration, if you can imagine. Then we worked on a puzzle. Sort of. Maybe school needs to happen during naptime.

Anonymous said...
Dear Ms Smartypants,
Why is it that "some" people believe that it is boring to be a housewife or stay-at-home mother? I believe it is anything but boring!


Viking Granny :0) said...
Dear Ms. Smartypants,
When you have an entire house to clean....and every room is upside down....where do you start?
Is it better to clean one room at a time or do all the windows...all the walls.....all the floors..all the boxes gone through.....
or start with the attic and work my way down?
Help.
Where do I begin.?

BethC said...
dear ms smarty pantelones!
how many adults does it take to keep a toddler sitting quiet in a library? please be specific....

Anonymous said...
Dear Ms Smartypants,
Why is Napoleon Dynamite so endearing?

You may have noticed, there are no answers. I am too tired to be witty. This is not good, as this is the first day of the rest of my life and I am supposed to be greatly productive and start packing today.
Not packing heat... don't be alarmed. Just packing belongings and such into boxes.
In the words of the bard, "Frailty, thy name is woman!"

So, in the absence of creative thought from me, maybe you guys would like to give these questions a shot.