The natives are restless around here.  If you drive by my kitchen window you are liable to find me with my face & hands pressed against the glass begging to be released from my cage.  3+ weeks of togetherness has seen me pull hair out from the roots (and these were recently colored ones, too, dammit!) and an escalation of little bickerings, mutterings under my breath, and just perhaps, a tongue being stuck out a time or two.  I cannot express how glad I am that we’re returning to the routine.  PLEASE go back to work, sweetest, we’ll both be happier when you are out from under my feet and telling me to get off the computer.  And, you wonder why I’ve been away so much lately?

Despite feeling some days resembled us being squeezed into a foxhole, we had a great mini-vacation.  There were even moments I felt like watching the roaring hearth dvd and sipping some hot cocoa (even if they were few and far between!) with my men.  But, after mentioning HAGG’s comment about finding girlfriends on Ebay, I guess I’ve been AWOL long enough, as someone suggested I go buy a blog post on Ebay just to reenter polite blog society.  Sheesh!  I’m back.  I’m back.  I promise!

And, of course, it was my birthday, which means I got me some pressies. I love pressies.

In fact, a set of roaming cows (coos, kine) arrived at our house.  Apparently, they had tired of NYC weather and wanted to lay low in the 60s - not that I blame them.  Considering I’m very, the more the merrier, mi casa es su casa, and back door guests are best, I did my best to make them feel cozy.  We even went and got a slice of cake with butter-cream frosting (yummy! & perhaps the sole reason I have the biggest arse in blogdom) for Fred & Bessie’s sake.  And, as I’m feeling overly magnanimous, I’m actually sharing my honest-to-God, real age with the internets.  EEEK.

And, as you internets are a daily source of amusement, I received not one but two kooky presents from you guys.  I do believe my dearest Tranny Head (and FYI spell check told me it wasn’t Trannyhead but Tranny Head!) has finally conceded that I did, in fact, win the competition involving blogdom’s most ginormous butt.  Because she sent this:

Why yes.  That does say ‘B is for badonkadonk,’ and I lurve it something fierce.  I’ve been partaking of a morning cuppa out of it.  Thank you, TH.  You’re the hawtest box-headed almost lawyer with giant cantaloupes I’ve ever known.

Then, what to my wandering eyes should appear, but Stan the UPS man (No, I do not have an internet shopping addiction, Puppy) with another box.  Ooh.  Pressy.  From the Silly Billy Burgher I got this:

I have mentioned several times how I love horrible 80s sitcoms, and Burgh & I happen to share a love of the Bibbi Bapka song (how I named my FFB team this year!) and the Dance of Joy from Perfect Strangers.  Puppy has agreed to forgive her for sending the fingernail clippers following the Valentine’s 08 incident.…because he’s loving Balki, too.  Thanks, Silly Billy Burgh.  I love them.   But, that wasn’t all…

It only took about 86 minutes to convince Knute that Burgh & Alexis had not sent him a tennis racket.  Yup, the wumman who currently has Carl tied up (he likes the kink) in the back of her car, Audrey, sent me a fancy schmancy battery-operated fly swatter.  Wowsa!  I cannot compute.  And, just hearing those words out of my mouth sent Carlita (very chaste since Carl went slumming around) running for that virile man.

*Photo edited as this is a PG-13ish blog.  Hubba hubba.  It’s a man who actually gives good vibrations… - and if you see in the top left corner it says it is NOT A TOY.

And, Poor Flea.  She had no idea her cows would partake in the den of iniquity, too.  Naive Catholic schoolgirl that I am, I apparently run a seedy little bordello around here when nobody is looking.  Don’t tell my dad!

And, I wouldn’t be AFF without a seriously inappropriate segue, so here we go!  Congrats to Melissa @ Taking What is Left who won my little AFF’s Favorite Things of 08 Giveaway.  I hope you enjoy the books and the bubble baths you’ll take while reading them.

"A woman is like a teabag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Where the hell has she been? is something quite a number of you have been asking.  Let’s recap: croup (Knute), sinuses (Puppy & I), the flu that will not die - that would be me.  It began Christmas Day and has been lingering off and on since.  I know what you are thinking…and considering that I was 1. home in Houston 2. sleeping in the room next to my dad & you know how that makes me act 3. I flat out said with Puppy home for three plus weeks I was either gonna get knocked up or commit premeditated murder…you’re thinking there’s a bun in the oven.  I don’t think so guys.   Just this lingering flu that will not allow me to regain a foothold in reality coupled with a hubby who is constantly in the way.

I hope you all join me in flicking off 2008 and hoping 2009 is SO MUCH BETTER! cause it was one helluva year for so many of us.  For me that would be the house falling in on me, the identity theft that just won’t quit, and the panic attacks.

And, as I have a billion and one things to share (including my bday gifts from Burgh & Tranny) and say, but no time right now, I’m cheating.  It’s a contest valued at about $85.  Filled with a few things I learned to love and need in 2008.  Who knew I was like Oprah with none of the money?  I’ll keep this post up and the contest open until Sunday night at 10 CST.  Enter as often as you want.  Happy New Year.

Up for grabs:

My favorite new guilty pleasure: Sephora - how about a bottle of Philosophy’s Amazing Grace?

My favorite reads: How about the entire Twilight Series in hardback?  *Note these are my copies & have been read - but they are still in very good condition.

My favorite mommy find: Clean Well spritz.  It’s like the alcohol hand cleaners in that it kills the germs, but without the ability to find your child three sheets to the wind.  It’s very green - and green is the new black, right?

I’ll be back as soon as I can shake the plague and the Puppy.  I’ll leave you with two actual quotes from HAGG (Puppy’s often tipsy grandmother).  From yesterday:   “Did BIL meet his girlfriend on Ebay?”  The best of all time: She yelled “A $300 Hooker is a fabulous deal.”  It’s also a furniture company…..

"A woman is like a teabag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." - Eleanor Roosevelt

****I’ve gotten several comments that the site is not coming thru readers well.  Here’s the direct link if it helps: http//:anglophilefootballfanatic.com

Here they are - 31 questions you asked for my 31st birthday.  I didn’t get to answer everybody, but everyone that asked something is listed & linked somewhere.

1. Brit Different: What’s your favourite board game?

This is going to peg me as the total dork I am, but it’s Trivial Pursuit. I am a-mazing at trivia, and I was actually on the “team” in high-school.

2. Laski: In the movie of you’re life, who would play you? Goes well with: Roger: What is your favorite movie, since you were born & before you were born?

I have actually thought about this quite often. It would have to be someone short, who could pull off my extreme klutzy well. I’d have to say Anne Hathaway – cause if you saw her eyebrows in Princess Diaries, that’s me. Favorite movies: 1. The English Patient & 2. Gone With the Wind

3. Janet: What wouldn’t I blog about.

I kinda said this a few months back: politics and religion – although I think most of you know where I stand.

4. If Mom Says OK: When did you first realize you LOVED football? How did you become The Fanatic?

Up until I was 12, I actually hated football. I would attend my older brother’s games and play in the sand outside the stadium. I have no clue why, but my 8^th grade year something clicked and I just “got” it. From that point on, I was just a nut. Puppy always says he wouldn’t have been able to marry me if I didn’t love it like he did. And, I got his friends’ approval for knowing my pigskin.

5. Wright:  Are there things you miss about Houston?  Now that I’m living here, what are things I should go do or go see?

Oh, without a doubt – considering I look for jobs daily in order for us to move home. I miss the laid-back atmosphere where nearly everyone smiles and is friendly. I miss the familiarity of the things that scream “home” to me. And, of course, I miss my family, especially my mother, who is my best friend. If you haven’t been to all the museums, I’d suggest the Rothko Chapel. It’s awe-inspiring.

Vocations:

6. Milk Breath & Margaritas: What would your dream job be - like the thing you wish you could do even if you could never be qualified to do it?

Is it possible to have two? The first is an Intellectual Property Lawyer (I don’t have the engineering degree required nowadays) or one who does the legal work on copyright and trademarks. The second would be working in publishing – ideally in the textbook division, or in historical fiction. I was actually asked to interview with a big name publishing house just out of college, but they were located on the 19^th floor – and my motion sickness extends to tall buildings that sway, so I couldn’t even go to the interview.

7. Jill Jill Bo Bill: What do you see yourself doing in five years?

Realistically or Ideally? I hope I’ll have two kids, a dopey loving husband, and a house in West Houston. If the kids are all in school, I’ll be in law school.

8. MamaGeek: Tell me what inspires you.

I think more than anything else, that would be Knute. On days I am at my worst and wanting to go join a commune somewhere, all he has to do is smile and tell me he loves me and I melt into a puddle of goo.

The Silly Ones:

9. Audobon Ron: Is it rude for a deaf person to talk (sign) with their mouth full of food?

Have you not ever met anyone Italian? It’s not only polite to sign, it’s pretty much imperative to add emphasis. Besides, who likes looking at half-masticated food?

10. Melissa K: how many licks does it take to get to the middle of a tootsie pop?

I bow down to Mr. Owl: 3

11. Mom to 3 Cubs: Do you remember a birthday cake from when you were a kid?  What was special about it? AND Momisodes: What was your best gift?

Oddly, yes. I remember a Garfield one from when I was 4. It was the time when you could get a cake made without having to pay for the “licensed” versions and I just loved how orange the icing was.  The gift would be all the ones from when I was 11 and I opened all the presents under the tree that were “from Santa” & I told my mom he gave them to me for my birthday.  From that point on - even now - I have never had a Santa gift under the tree.

12. Magneto:  Toilet paper, scrunch or fold?

Onesies: scrunch Twosies: fold

Appearance:

13. Chaos Is Us: What is one thing that you do on a daily basis that would throw your whole day off if you couldn’t do it anymore?

Puppy says, “Blog.” I think probably have my morning cuppa. If mama doesn’t have that jolt, she’s liable to turn violent.

14. Poltzie: I’d like to know how you got so skinny?  Is it natural or is there hope for me?

Toots, with this junk in the trunk?  I ain’t skinny.  Sadly, I’m up three dress sizes and 30 pounds heavier than when I got married almost 10 years ago. Chase a toddler around a little; that certainly keeps you somewhat fit. Eat in moderation and don’t eat if you aren’t really hungry. Don’t keep foods around that tempt (see #23)

15. Can’t Hardly Wait: if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?  physical or any other way.

Physically: That’s easy. My PCOS causes me to have loads of unwanted hair. I’ve spent a fortune on electrolysis, but I am fighting a tough battle. If I could change anything, I would ditch the hair.

Character-wise: I am forever holding grudges. It’s a horrible flaw I would love to change about myself.  That and biting my toenails so I could actually get a pedicure - which answers Really Are You Serious‘ question about toes: painted, unpainted, indiferent.

Anglophilia:

16. RandomMommy: Why the obsession with all things Anglo?  Is there a background story?

The short of it: my dad loved Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and all the old Errol Flynn movies. I was quickly indoctrinated & then fell for Prince William. The more history I studied, the more I loved how England emerged, and by the time I got to college, I focused exclusively on anything I could take that was British or Medieval.

17. Joyce-Anne: If you could meet someone living or deceased who would it be?  Why?

I had to think on this the longest, but I think it’d be the real person who inspired the King Arthur legends, because his is a story that has remained popular for upwards of 1500 years. It is widely believed he was Welsh – not British.

18. Mumof4: Would you like to ever live in another country?  And if it’s my side of the pond, England, Scotland, Ireland or Wales?

I would love to live on your side of the pond, and I tell Puppy I want a summer house “over there” when we retire. I have to pick one place? Yikes. Scotland, near Edinburgh.

19. Glow Stars: What things from the UK that you can’t readily get hold of down your neck of the woods do you really really wish you could lay your hands on.

Cadbury’s! All the yummy chocolates. I’m proud that I am able to drink my PG Tips (answers Tiaras & Tantrums tea question) every morning, my HP Sauce (Houses of Parliament – it’s a condiment) on my steaks, and my Crunchies (candy bar) when I need a sugar fix.

20. Long Ayelander: Do you think you’ll ever make it over to the UK?

If it’s possible to be comatose from the point I arrive in the airport to the point I land at Heathrow (answers Taking What is Left’s airplane question), I’d be there tomorrow and playing at Harrod’s within half an hour of landing.

21. BusyMomof4: What is your favorite Starbucks drink?

I think you know I don’t like coffee. I do adore my Iced Chai Tea Lattes, though.

22. Playgroupie: If you could choose a name for yourself, what would it be?  What names did you pretend to be when you were a kid?

When I was a kid it was either Jessica or Amanda. As I got older, and even now, I think I am much more of an “Elizabeth” than a “Holly.”

23. JerseyGirl: What food can you not have in your house because if you do you eat it until it’s all gone?

Prior to pregnancy? I would’ve said nothing. From the second Knute attached? Cupcakes with buttercream frosting. They are the reason I gained 80 pounds and why I’ll never lose all of it.

24. Marmite & Tea: what was the thing that surprised you most when you became a Mum?

I was floored when I realized my time was no longer my own. My whole life revolved around naps and going to bed at 7pm. It was very eye-opening.

25. Seeking Sanity: What is the best compliment you ever received?

Like I said, my mother was an amazing mom (still is) and she’s my best friend. The first time she told me I was a wonderful mother is still the best compliment I’ve ever gotten.

The naughty ones that might get me in trouble:

26. Tranny: How was The First Time for you? BWAHAHAHA! partnered with Kaytabug’s What would my stripper name be.

Hmm. I remember thinking, “All that time waiting - for that!” And, that’s all you’re getting.  A name: Duchess Desiree

27. Mom24/7: Do you and puppy do anything special to make sure you ’stay connected’?  What’s your favorite ‘date’?

Yikes. I dunno. After nearly 14 years of being together, it’s more basic than it was originally. We love to watch old sitcoms together. Our favorite ‘date’ is the snuggling we do first thing in the morning after the alarm goes off. He just holds me for the length of a snooze, and it keeps the “us” grounded and in the forefront.

28. Allison: Do you have a “list”? (People you would have sex with besides your husband if ever given the opportunity.) Who’s on it?

I actually posted about this a few weeks after starting. It’s changed a bit, but obviously, Christian is still king – that man + that accent = knickers dropped and all vows off. From the original list, Edward Norton is still there & so is Brad Pitt (the one from A River Runs Through It)

29. Screed In Time: You are going to be stranded on an island for three years; what five books would you bring?

1. Pride & Prejudice – my favorite 2. Gone With the Wind – my other favorite 3. the bible – I would finally have time to read it all the way through 4. The Count of Monte Cristo – likewise..I keep saying I’ll read it and never get around to it. 5. Outlander

30. SuburbSanity: You have to go on a week’s trip with your FIL.  Where do you go?

This ties in with the above nicely, right? I’d add a book on how to exorcise in with the others. Oh, boy. I think we’d go to Vatican City. For every time I committed a mortal sin by not honoring my father (4th commandment), there’d be a priest right there to hear my confession.

So sweet!

31. Lou: How does it feel to be so very well loved by so many people you have never met?

I’m very honored you asked/said that. I don’t know that I’m so well-loved, but with me, what you see is what you get. I’m brutally honest, I have the ability to laugh at myself, and I try to be the kind of friend I would want to have in a friend: loyal, generous, and sympathetic.  And, you guys inspire and amaze me on a daily basis.  I love y’all, just as much as y’all love me.

"A woman is like a teabag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Howdy all.  I know we’re all getting rather busy now that the BIG day is one week from today (How did that happen?), but I thought I would do something a little different.  Remember a while back when everyone asked for questions?  Where you said, “Go ahead, ask anything?”  I was very frightened by that, but I’m taking one for the team.  In honor of my please-comment-for-my-birthday-because-I-really-really-wanna-hit-100 post tomorrow, I am willing to accept any & all questions.  Play nice, because although I’ll share virtually anything, I do embarrass easily.

In honor of my last day of the year in which I am ahemthirtyahem, I was smart enough to schedule my annual visit to the land of lady doctors with pricks, prods, and pokes - which required shaving from there to WAY UP THERE.  You know how I loathe to shave.  Aren’t you super jealous of me?  I just know you wanna pap, too.

Smooches, everybody.  And, please ask away.  I’d love to answer 31 questions in honor of that new candle I really didn’t necessarily want to add to the cake.

**********************

Also, if you are so inclined, please stop by Tranny’s and wish Mr. Trannyhead a welcome home from the big ol’ sandbox that is Iraq.  If you aren’t a regular Tranny reader, that babe that is all things hawtness has been parenting Sumo (aged one) solo for the last year, finishing up law school, and then upon school completion, living at her parents who live in The Twilight Zone.  Please head over and say, “Thank you for protecting our freedom, Mr Trannyhead!” And, then thank his wonderful wife for keeping the home front running while he was away.

I am normally very on top of Christmas.  I rarely, if ever, venture into malls Black Friday or later - partially due to crowds, but more due to the chaos and frenzy people get into while shopping.  I hardly feel festive, joyful, or merry when people are in attack mode and rude trying to buy toys.  In addition, due to my oddly freakish love of all things paper and personalized, Christmas cards are always thought out months in advance.  This year I’ll mark down as an epic failure.

Plan A: If you remember, I ordered Food For the Poor’s banana bark cards from Haitian women who are trying to make a little money in a very desperate economy.  I did this back in October, knowing I was ahead of even my own schedule.  And, all was right with the world.  Fast forward to two weeks ago while I was addressing the envelopes on the cards.  In the midst of the Vs (my maiden name is a V), I realized something: I was out of envelopes.  Whoops.  I had vastly underestimated my need for cards.  Never fear!  I got online and looked at the website to get more cards - but it said after December 1st they could not guarantee Christmas delivery.  Wonderful.

Plan B: I quickly pulled myself together after briefly rolling into a fetal position and rocking back & forth.  I could handle this.  Puppy, Knute & I were scheduled to get our pictures taken at PP for the family portrait.  If there is one advantage to digital, it is certainly that the processing time is minimal.  We arrived at 4 for our 4:20 appointment all smiles and cheer.  Forty-five minutes later, much less smiley, we were finally seen by a photographer.  It did not go well.  In fact, upon viewing, I was so disappointed in the shots - truly horrid ones, I refused to order any of them.  PP & I?  Are now severing all ties.

Plan C: What would I do now??  I could try to get a picture of the kidlet in his personalize Knute gear, but I’m incompetent when it comes to handling Mr Canon & I had no clue how I’d manage to get a money shot of all three of us.  Can I take a quick one of him?  Maybe, but I have little confidence in myself.  I punted.  I asked the always helpful Nap Warden to give me something pictorial that screamed Holly.  Like the design guru she’s become, she didn’t leave me hanging.  So, internets, if you want an Anglophile Chrissy card, that will likely arrive post HollyDay, please email me your addy.

My rather comical small pint has just discovered how much fun art can be.  For about two years I’ve invested in colors, paints, markers, and paper for the tyke to get in touch with his (non-existent) creative side.  Partially, this has lots to do with my nearly OCD need to buy stationery and office supplies, some of which would, of course, be personalized - we all know that’s how I roll.  But, up until about two weeks ago, Knute refused to budge.  Art was so blase and uninspiring compared to his trusty friend the little black box, holder of wonderful things like Phineas & Ferb.

Then, one day, a light bulb went off, and Holly screamed, “Eureka!” Knute actually said, “I’m done watching tv.  I want to color,” and the cherubim sang hosannas while I did the Dance of Joy.  And, color and paint, finger paint, and cut he did.  Then he ran out of paper.  I bought more…and more…and more (we’re going through a pad of paper every other day).  In addition to freaking out about eleventy billion times a due to the excessive amounts of paper shards Knute’s scissor in-abilities tend to get on my kitchen floor, he has decided I must join him & create things for him.  While I believed I had finally found a way to blog clean the house and Knute could entertain himself, it was much too good to last.

Yesterday Knute became a wildcatter, like the 4th generation Texan he is.  He demanded I create money for him.  If only Ft Knox worked like the shamrock green crayon does to clean white paper.  Many hundreds of dollars later, I asked Knute why he needed money.  Apparently, Knute needs him some oil.  I wasn’t even aware of his having any knowledge of oil, but that kid seriously wanted some in the worst way.  He was willing to fling down hundreds of mommy-made dollars to get his grubby little paws on some Texas tea.  When he didn’t get any that way, suddenly he was making credit cards to charge it.  Watch out.  My kid’s on a mission to create a monopoly.  Make way tycoons, there’s a new player in town with some deep pockets.

***

I’m sure many of you know this is the week I am forced by the laws of nature to add another candle to my cake - and you should know how I feel about it by now.  I have a simple request in the way of presents: please, please, please comment on Friday.  I have never hit 100 comments.  Won’t you take pity on me and help me get there - just once?  I’m totally okay with begging.  Pretty please with a cherry on top??

With multiple degrees between us, it only took the rocket scientist and I about three hours to figure out how to make the Flip work.  That’s pretty sad, isn’t it?  You asked for Knute LIVE!, so Knute LIVE! you will have.

He is the one first in line at the beginning.  You will hear him say, “Mommy, are you still here?” which refers to his belief that when we went to the school he thought I was dropping him off and would then vacate the premises.  Sadly, the zoom did not go in as far as I would’ve liked, so Knute’s got a bright halo on him.  He’s the one third from the left in the front row - next to the shy boy who doesn’t move a muscle.

Link in case the embedded video doesn’t show up

embedded by Embedded Video

There were many things I told myself I would do as a parent: never deny Knute books when he asked for them, stick to the schedule at all costs, never be afraid to give him a good wallop when he needed it, and lavish praise for jobs well done come to mind.  I think I’ve done most of those fairly well.  There were also things I told myself I would never do as a parent: I would never be that mom that carried her kid out of Target football style screaming and crying, I would never use bribes (which now I cannot type without laughing excessively), I would never be that mother who videotaped every little thing right down to his first poop.

If you remember, the boy wonder is now three and a half and in preschool.  Tonight was the school Christmas pageant, and of course, Knute was expected to perform.  For several days I’ve cajoled him into repeating his lines for me, without much success.  Whenever the chance has arisen, I’ve said, “Vamos a bailer el burrito sabanero,” only to be met with a blank stare.  On the rare times I did get Knute to speak it was oddly similar to the teacher in the Peanuts cartoons with the “Mwah Mwah Mwah Mwah Mwah,” and did not, in any way resemble Spanish.  This has been an ongoing thing with us - the kid pretends he is learning absolutely nothing at his full-immersion school, yet his teacher keeps telling me how much he knows, the little faker.

Tonight, I Holly the Anglophile, became that parent.  The one I promised I’d never morph into.  I sat in the front row Mr Canon, the Flip, and the video recorder in hand.  Puppy and I alternated between all the various media and technology in order to forever capture our little one for posterity.  I was never going to be that mother.  Not ever.  Who gets so thrilled at their child picking his nose and shaking his no butt (as compared to my baby got back one) around on a stage?  Guess what?  I do.  And, I am totally okay with that. Cause I think Puppy and I had almost as much fun as Knute did.

If I can ever figure out how to upload the Flip feed, there will be live Knute gyrating and wiggling in the dead center of the first row of kids.  Yes, I bought the Flip in February, have used it several times, yet have no clue how to import.  Sue me.

*********************

My bloggy friend Melissa is trying to put together a care package for her physical therapist.  Her husband returned from Iraq with serious injuries, and due to our country treating our heroes in a deplorable manner, they are not able to give their kids a decent Christmas.  Mel was saying they are even in need of stamps in order to give Christmas cards.  I’m sure some of you are picking “angels” or “magi tree” children, and YAY! that’s wonderful & awesome - keep it up, but if you want to do another good deed and have the means, please also consider this family.  Email me at anglophilefootballfanatic AT gmail DOT com if you want to help out.  Puppy & I’s cousin is about to ship off in January for his second tour, and if he were to come home less than whole, I would hope there would be people wanting to help he and his wife out, too.

I haven’t much talked about fantasy football this year, primarily because my team, The Bibbi Babkas was lousy!  If you remember, this is the league where I’m the only female.  The one I happened to win outright last year and, therefore,  why I became the one with a target on my back. Out of 10 teams I was 8th - truly awful but somehow good enough to get into the playoffs.

I barely even paid attention the last few weeks to the outcomes of my games, because what did it truly matter?  With a team struggling to make the .500 point, I didn’t particularly care.  Winning last year rather sealed my fate.  Nothing could make me do anything other than laugh at the most abysmal performance of that lousy Manning (Note to self: never pick a Manning!) helping my team reach a whopping 21 points (a good game is over 100) - and laugh I did.  In fact, I didn’t even know I’d backhandedly gotten a playoff nod until Puppy told me to put my lineup in this week.

I’m certain not everyone loves sports the way the Anglophiles do.  And, I know for a fact women generally do not like football, but I imagine everyone has heard the term Cinderella Story, referring to the team with the outside shot that somehow emerges and beats all odds.  We Americans tend to love underdog stories.

I entered today as the #8 seed (with a 6-7 record) playing the #1 seed (with an 11-2 record) knowing without a doubt I had little if any chance of winning.  Puppy’s friend Tbert already beat me in the regular season quite badly, so I didn’t spend much time thinking about my choices when I put in the players for this week.  After the early games ended, I was sitting on a fairly good score, but he was just behind me with 5 players (including his QB) left to play.  He arrived at our house to watch the mid-afternoon games and I kept telling him not to stress out, because he was certain to win.  Then, the unthinkable happened.  He didn’t.

Do you believe in miracles!  I’m so very proud of the team.  Granted, fantasy has as much to do with luck as it does with skills, but I’m stoked.  We’re off to the semi-finals, and I think the other boys owe me huge for taking out that #1 seed.  Go Bibbis.  I’m proud of my men.

Remember a few weeks ago when the wind suddenly got a little bit crisper, the temperatures left my beloved 80s opting instead to fluctuate between 33 and 67 daily, and the catalog frenzy began to signal Christmas time was near?  Back when a three point five foot wunderkind so near and dear to my heart (who incidentally has started talking back by saying, “Actually, Mommy…..” - send quick wit replies STAT) found toy catalog after toy catalog and in each and every one he decided he had to have a red robot he oddly named Betty?  (HERE)

Well, you know how the economy’s in a virtual free for all and everything we know and love is disappearing overnight?  I saw a Going Out of Business sign at Linens N Things and was like, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”  I told Knute we would just look around to see what kind of deals they had.  And, looking at deals always requires a shopping cart, right?  Right in front of the doors there she (it) was - and I saw her (it) before he did.  I took a quick glance at the price. Woo Hoo!  50%  off never looked so good.  I saw this:

This is “Betty,” and as she has been in every toy catalog and even at Macy’s - for $99.99.  My son, while having no clue what the Cabbage Patch Craze was, seems to have stumbled upon the “shiznit” toy of the year.  And, at LNT?  She (it) was $49.99.  Score one for the shopping queen!

I carefully meandered towards the pots and pans - because that is actually what I wanted for my upcoming birthday.  After nearly 10 years of use, my pots are nasty.  I had Knute help me pick a color - after I quickly overruled first lime green, then citrus orange - and we chose a 12 piece set of red pans.

Then, I stuffed a Betty under the big ol’ honker pan box and thought I was safe as kittens.

“Mommy!  Look.  It’s Betty.  She’s my robot.”

Carp on a stick.  The tyke has outwitted me again.

“I’m buying this for St. Nicholas and you won’t see her again until Christmas, okay?”

“Okay.”

Not Three hours later

“Mommy, where’s my robot, Betty?”

****************

The final numbers from all the love you guys shared is as follows: