Bittersweet Sixteen

16 years ago today I got my first glimpse of the face that was going to change my life for the better forever…

I’m quite sure at that moment I had absolutely no preconceived notions about what that little tyke would be like at the ripe old age of sixteen, but even if I had…he has far exceeded them all.

So today was the day to celebrate Uber, and celebrate we did – – mostly by eating our way through the better part of two counties!!  Andy’s “formal” celebration was on Saturday, when we got together with 15 of our good friends and family for an outing to the local minor league baseball diamond.  Our home team lost in a big way, but we made up for it in loud enthusiastic support!

But today was all about the food!!

Homemade waffles in bed for starters…

A stop by our favorite coffee cafe, where Uber is so much of a regular that they had a candle-topped muffin already waiting for him!

Then it was time for Andy to cash in on his birthday present from one of our dearest friends – – lunch out at a local vegan eatery.  Right up Uber’s meat-free alley!! What we didn’t know was that our friend’s restaurant suggestion even provided free birthday favors in the unisex bathroom!!!  Those vegans know how to party!!!

After a little more rambling around in Uber’s favorite sections of counter-cultural society, it was time to eat AGAIN…this time at Timeworn-Techie’s house for burritos, and of course some ice cream and cake. 

I swear the poor kid just told me, “Don’t worry about fixing me anything for breakfast tomorrow mom.  I won’t be hungry.”

Thank goodness we couldn’t afford a car for the kid on his big day.  He’s going to need to walk till he’s 17 just to burn off today’s calories!!

Happy 16th Birthday Uber!!!

Teenager plus one

I swear it seems like just a couple months ago that I was bemoaning my youngest sons entrance into official teenage-dom. And yet, yesterday was H-T’s 14th birthday!!  How does that HAPPEN??!!

H-T is into keeping things really simple these days, so all he wanted to do to celebrate the 14th anniversary of his birth was have a family dinner at IHOP, followed by a silly string duel in the backyard. 

Uh. Yeah.  I think we can manage that.

I take back everything I’ve said about teenagers. 

Teenagers are a piece of cake.  (or in H-T’s case, a piece of store-bought giant chocolate chip cookie.  see?  easy!!)

Would you look who the cat dragged in???

That’s right. I’m back. Back from my longest bloggy break ever. 

So let’s catch up for a minute.  Our holidays were lovely. Quiet.  Peaceful.  And even SNOWY…woot!!

Christmas came and went with only a few hitches.  The biggest of which was that Uber’s desktop went “kaput” about a week before Christmas. Which meant that it was necessary to give Uber his Christmas gift – – a new netbook – – a week early.  Which was all fine and good until said netbook fell.  And broke. A few days before Christmas.  This accident, was, of course, not covered by warranty, so we had to order yet ANOTHER netbook. 

And yes, Uber will be working off his Christmas misfortune until Halloween or so.

We volunteered at the Rescue Mission where my hubby is the director on Christmas Eve, as usual.  No surprise to anyone, thanks to the current economy, it was the biggest turnout I think they’ve ever had.  But the meal was delicious and it was lovely to get to be Santa’s helpers for one night handing out presents to those who might go present-less otherwise.

One of my personal holiday highlights was getting to visit the Biltmore House (the largest private residence in the US) with one of my dear friends.  It was decked from hall to hall in lights and trees, and even more beautiful outside.  Scrumptious!!

Like I said, it was an overall wonderful holiday.  Even the dogs thought so!

Now it is onto my New Years resolution….stay tuned….

Peace…Love…Joy

I’m pretty sure this is the longest I’ve ever gone without posting on my blog…but that just means I’ll have THAT much more to say when I finally get around to catching up, right???? And hopefully all this “catching up” will take place right after the holidays…so stay tuned.

In the meantime, here is our family’s wish for you in the new year…

Make a Smilebox greeting

Share-It Saturday: Charity Gift Cards Make Great Holiday Gifts

On Saturdays, (when I think of it, of course), I thought it would be nice to share one of my favorite blog posts I read during the previous week.  This way, you’ll get to see some of my blogroll up close and personal, and I get to share info that really spoke to me! This is from a cool blog I read daily called “Connect with Your Teens Through Pop Culture and Technology”

I love this idea about a cool stocking stuffer for teens (and ANYONE, for that matter)

CHECK IT OUT: Charity Gift Cards Make Great Holiday Gifts

It’s a Major Award!

The movie A Christmas Story is a major part of our holiday traditions.  Ralphie, Flick, Schwartz, Farkus, and yes…even the Bumpuses’ dogs are more familiar to our boys than Dasher, Prancer, or Comet could ever hope to be.

We have watched the movie as we’ve decorated our tree every year since the boys were knee high to an elf.  (Ok, there was that one year when we had too much eggnog and decided that we’d give Polar Express a try instead, but we kindly refer to that as the “Christmas Debacle of 2005”)

Of course we know every line by heart now, and we use dialogue from the film in every possible holiday situation.  Every time a package arrives in December, we always shake and declare it to be “fru-gee-lay.”  We can’t even listen to Deck the Halls without chiming in with the correct pronunciation of the chorus: Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra-ra-rah.  And no dinner that includes mashed potatoes can be finished without someone doing the piggy noise.

It’s just OUR movie.  I can’t explain why.  We just GET IT.

So with our new Blu-Ray barely a month out of the box, we knew what our family Christmas present to each other was going to be.  The ULTIMATE COLLECTORS EDITION of…A Christmas Story!!  Not only did it include the beautiful, crystal clear Blu-Ray quality film, but an incredible bonus…

A STRING OF LEG LAMP LIGHTS FOR THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

You have no idea how much fun it was to add “the soft glow of electric sex” to our beautiful tree this year!! 

I dare you to figure out a more fun way to celebrate the big day…in fact, I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU…

(Note: If you have recently returned as a POW from Vietnam, then you have a valid excuse for not understanding anything about this post.  Otherwise, there is no credible reason I will accept for not having seen this movie multiple times.)

Early Edition: Friday’s Hardwired Homeschool Hints – Thanksgiving

Yep, I’m kicking in this week’s HHH post a couple days early so that you homeschoolers can get in on some terrific Thanksgiving-related educational treats online.

I’ve come across most of these in the past few days, and just knew I needed a special post for sharing them. 

 

• Creating a Thanksgiving Lapbook
• Behind the Scenes of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
• Free Thanksgiving Projects Ebook
• Where Does Thanksgiving Grow – Data Set
• Thanksgiving Traditions at National Geographic Kids
• The First Thanksgiving at Scholastic
• Interactive multimedia Thanksgiving exploration called “What Really Happened”
• Black Friday Lesson Plan
• Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House
• Full Text of Washington’s Original Thanksgiving Proclamation
• NY Times Thanksgiving Crossword

Please enjoy…and of course, have a

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Topsy-Techie Birthday Giveaway Winner

 

In a cool turn of events, and according to Random.org, the winner of the Topsy-Techie Birthday Giveaway is…

Rational Jenn, the other birthday girl this week! 

Unfortunately, Jenn won’t receive her prize in time for her own birthday, but she says she might do something jazzy for Thanksgiving or Christmas with her new set of tools!!

As for me, I’ve already had a lovely day – – including gravy biscuits in bed, thanks to my incredible hubby – – AND I’ve got a lovely night ahead of me.  R-T is taking me out to the Melting Pot for a night of fondue fun. 

(Yes, for me, birthdays are now all about the calories)

So a BIG thanks to everyone who entered, and for the creative birthday cake ideas.  I enjoyed every single one of them!!  Thanks so much for sharing my birthday fun this week, everyone!!

Topsy-Techie’s Birthday Giveaway!

Ok, normally I let my birthdays slide by like sands in the hourglass, but this coming Friday happens to be a celebration of my very last year in my 30’s, so I’m puttin’ on the ritz.

R-T is taking yours truly for a night of fondue fun at the Melting Pot, AND, of course, I already was the recipient of a kick-ass Blu-Ray player, so I’m feeling pretty doggone generous this week.

Therefore, I’m sponsoring a giveaway at Topsy-Techie to honor the occasion. I thought it would be a hoot – – me being the absolute antithesis of Martha Stewart and all – – to give homage to my lack of domestic skills by RE-GIFTING this beautiful Martha Stewart cake decorating kit that I received and will NEVER, EVER use.  (Don’t worry, the giver doesn’t read my blog and will never know!)

The kit has never been used (duh – – this is me we’re talking about!), boasts 52 pieces, and retails for 80 bucks at Macys.com.  (Ok, now I’m having mixed feelings. I mean I feel a little guilty re-gifting something someone was willing to shell out 80 smackeroos for. BUT they obviously don’t know me at ALL if they think I would ever take time away from my computer long enough to actually decorate a cake!!!!)

Anyway, all you have to do to get a chance to win this beautiful cake decorating kit, is comment on this post about what you would put on a cake that you were decorating for my birthday.  Now, maybe that makes this an unfair challenge for those of you who don’t know me as well, or haven’t been around Topsy-Techieland for long, so YES, I will choose a random winner…but you still have to try to be creative because it’s my birthday and I SAY SO!! 😉

So pull out all the private jokes on me you want this week.  I’ll pull on my thickest skin – – just for the occasion.  I can take whatever you can dish out. 

What would you put on my cake, dear readers/friends/family???

May the best cake decorator win!!!!!!

(Winner will be randomly chosen and announced on my birthday, this Friday, November 20th!)

Halloween was like…a Scream, man…

In typical Uber and H-T fashion, Halloween was yet another demonstration of the polar opposites that are my children.  Born only 22 months apart, these two young men might as well have been born 30 light years and 747 planets apart.

Here is the pictorial evidence of the differences in their personalities.  H-T, of course, is my rifle-bearing, horror-flick aficionado, and nothing would do him but to pay top-dollar for the official “Scream” movie bad-guy costume.

My vegetarian, pacifist, minimalist kiddo, on the other hand, has never been big on dressing up.  But knowing that his youth group was expecting him to take part of the Halloween festivities, Uber found something he could live with.  Everyone said they had never seen a costume that fit a person’s personality so well!

We had a ball going trick-or-treating with our youth group to a local senior center, taking a quick stop at a free local haunted house, then back to the church for a terrific supper prepared by a gracious mom and dad, then finally finishing off the night in the youth room with the “Sixth Sense”, which none of them had ever seen before, so it was like sitting there with this Cheshire Cat grin on my face the whole last half of the movie waiting for them to gasp at the “big twist.”  And boy did they ever!

It was one of the most fun Halloween nights I can remember in a while, and I’m already looking forward to a repeat next year! 

Hope your All Hallow’s Eve was great too!!  Look forward to reading everyone’s blogs and hearing about their frightfully fun night!!