Bye-bye Blogger. I have moved to a new site (with a new feed too).

Dog park pond

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Originally uploaded by cathymccaughan.

Molly had fun at the dog park. When Amy started taking her clothes off to join Molly in the muddy dog pond we had to come back home. "But I wanna swim with Molly!"

Mom and Dad are feeling stressed. Time to take a break and visit the dog park.

We only have long-gone family pets buried in our yard.

The target audience for commercials must be 3-year-olds. "I want that. And that."

A Knoxville boy, far from home but still sounding like East Tennessee.

This is the last weekend of Girl Scout cookies for a full year. We have cookie recipe books at our booths (in the mall Friday 4-8 and Saturday 10-2) but I will e-mail them to anyone who wants one. Out-of-town cookie orders are being shipped tomorrow.

This weekend I was the recipient of one of those 'insults disguised as casual chatter' monologues. The kind that starts out "I don't know how you can possibly give 5 children enough attention and love" and goes downhill from there. Strangely, I only get those lectures from people with one or two children. I say lecture/monologue because I just nod and smile while the person goes on and on about how exhasting their child is and how they can't understand people who have more than two children. Nothing I say would change that person's mind anyway. Let's review how neglected our children are right now. Tommy has group therapy, psychiatrist appointments and horseback riding lessons. He and Doug play D&D with a friend and the friend's father every other week. Tommy gets to go along on the Boy Scout camping trips. Poor, pitiful Sarah is secretary of the student council and a member of the art club, the school's news crew, Girl Scouts and has a part in the seventh grade play. She participates in SibShops and has a weekly sleepover either here or at a friend's house. She somehow manages to see a movie in the theater almost every week. Noah is a Boy Scout and active in Karate (3 times a week) while also participating in TAG and the school chess club. Amy has preschool twice a week and gets to participate in so many of the Girl Scout activities that she considers herself a Girl Scout. Evan has no organized activities but still nurses full-time and you will have to just trust me when I say that is a time-consuming activity. Sooooo, I just don't think my children are neglected.

Doug & Evan

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Originally uploaded by cathymccaughan.

They were both laughing out loud.

Texas Roadhouse

IMG_6850 Originally uploaded by cathymccaughan.

There sure are a lot of people eating steak tonight. We are having freezer pizza.

Reason number 287 why boys are easier than girls Clothing. "WHY do you care what I wear?" Reason number 64 why girls are easier than boys - Girls don't check the equipment during diaper changes.

Blogger is snafu today.

Blogger is wonky today.

Why do I get spam for "the best love drugs"? Does it look like we have any problems with our ability to procreate?

Noah had a sleepover Friday night and his friend gasped when he saw our Christmas Winter Girl Scout cookie lights on the front of the house. The next day, Doug took down part of the lights. I think Noah should have visitors more frequently.

Fun with paper - wishing stars letters without envelopes gum wrapper chain For Doug & Dean

Five steps with no help!

I took advantage of a cookie booth inside the mall and did some window shopping. Two thoughts. First, I can tell by the store's background music if they want me as a customer. Second, the new spring fashions look like the wardrobe for "Caddyshack".

Spring blooms

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Originally uploaded by cathymccaughan.

The weather in Knoxville has been too wonderful for words this week. Everywhere you look you see people just standing outside absorbing the warm sunshine and memorizing the spring color.

Spring

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Originally uploaded by cathymccaughan.

I took this out the car window as I drove by it. I still want to work up the nerve to get out and get some close-up pictures. It is unbelievably beautiful outside today. Mid 70s and sunny with a breeze.

Since this blog helps me keep track of who did what and when they did it, I was going to comment that Amy whacked Evan in the head with the Romper Stompers today. Then I realized that they probably are called something else now and that reference would make no sense. So, let's just say that Amy whacked Evan in the head with a big plastic toy today.

A few blocks from our house is a tree that I really want to photograph. I don't know who lives there, but the dog chained outside makes them look more than a little unfriendly. Do I risk their wrath by jumping out of the car to take a few quick shots or should I just find another tree?

Taking pictures of an all black dog is nearly impossible. 

To my brother the detective - Finding an Uncle we never knew about is really cool. Obviously I'm a fan of big families. However, if the DNA is inconclusive, I vote we accept him as an Uncle (especially with the HUGE amount of circumstantial evidence) rather than disturb our grandfather's grave. Could you please find a generous, wealthy relative now?

Is this the fun part?

Let's check my list for today: Errands for Amy - 2 Errands for Sarah - 4 5 Errands for Noah - 1 Assorted planning, paperwork and prep for Girl Scouts Plan family menu/grocery list Dishes Update calendar & Laundry

The dog baby ate my homework preschool tuition check.

.nuf rof tsuJ

To get out of my cookie sale driving me crazy and husband driving himself crazy funk, I bought myself a new CD for the first time in, um, well, three years actually. Today I am going to listen to the soundtrack to A Lot Like Love (if Amy lets me).

After a lifetime of using the same deoderant, I seem to have developed an allergy to mine. I feel pretty, oh so pretty. . .

Lemon Drop Chicken 1 box Girl Scout Lemon Cooler cookies 2 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, rinsed Salt and pepper, to season Salt and pepper the chicken. Crumb the cookies. Coat the chicken with crumbs and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

When Doug says he pulled an all-nighter, it really went something like this and is followed by 24 hours of sleeping because he's "sick". I can't convince him that this is unhealthy AND unproductive.

Happy Birthday to my niece Abby! 

Crunchy Caramel Apples 12 Do-Si-Do cookies (crushed) 12 small apples 1 pkg. (16 oz.) caramels 12 wooden sticks Insert sticks into top of apples. Melt caramels in double boiler. Dip apples in caramel using a spoon to evenly spread caramel over whole apple. Allow excess caramel to drip off. Immediately dip bottoms of apples into crumbs. Place caramel-covered apple cookie side down on wax paper and let stand about 30 min or until firm.

"I'm just an ordinary average guy My friends are all boring And so am I We're just ordinary average guys" except when I'm not and my life is completely surreal

Ran over squirrel. This makes me feel very sad. Sarah told a joke.

I can't get the column and section breaks out of my word document. Grrrr.

Having one car that barely runs really bites.

We have actually had women at our cookie booth who remember their mothers making cookies to sell. The original Girl Scout cookie recipe seems like a good place to start this year's cookie recipe collection. *1 cup butter, or substitute *1 cup sugar *2 tablespoons milk *2 eggs *1 teaspoon vanilla *2 cups flour *2 teaspoons baking powder What to do: Cream butter and sugar together. Add well-beaten eggs, then milk, flavoring, flour and baking powder. Roll thin and bake in quick oven. (A quick oven would be about 375 degrees for 10 minutes.) Sprinkle sugar on top.

Last night we all went to the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby. As the half a dozen fathers finished getting the track ready, Evan decided he was thirsty. I am not shy about breastfeeding, but since Evan has decided it's fun to spend his mealtime trying to remove my shirt and popping off the breast to laugh at the spraying milk, I felt uncomfortable frightening the poor Dads in the room. Since the custodians were buzzing all over the school, cleaning the day's filth, I decided to pull out a sugar tit bottle of juice/water. Evan was quickly satisfied and I forgot the whole matter. An hour later I was in the packed cafeteria, helping Amy with her pizza. At that point I realized that Evan had been satisfied, but I had been neglected. Evan was strapped in the stroller so that Sarah could spoon him his cereal and I scurried back to the gym. Two steps out of the cafeteria, one of the Dads decided to be friendly and chat. I mashed my arms against my chest and tried to stay two steps ahead of him. The faster I walked, the faster he walked. I was embarrassed and rude all at the same time. Once I reached the gym I sat down with our pile of backpacks and turned toward the wall. I tried to look busy doing paperwork with one hand while I alternated between fluffing and rubbing my soaked shirt with my other hand. Apparently I didn't look strange enough, because Doug decided this was a good time to introduce me to another Dad. After introducing me, Doug decided to stand there and chat with his friend until he announced that Evan needed a change. I annoyed Doug by just nodding in agreement that Evan needed a new diaper. Frustrated at my lack of action, Doug grunted that he would change Evan if I would hand him the equipment. I handed it to him and pulled the stroller in front of me as a shield. Eventually my shirt dried, but I am sure that one of the dozens of videocameras running all night has evidence. Someday they will pull those tapes out and their jaws will drop. "Why does that woman look like she's entering a wet t-shirt contest?"

It's Girl Scout cookie time in East Tennessee. When you see the girls in front of the store, please be nice. You don't have to buy the cookies, just don't be rude and hateful. You would not believe the awful things that people will say to Girl Scouts trying to sell cookies. You're on a diet and have no need for the cookies? Most troops are also collecting boxes of cookies for community organizations. Our troop is collecting cookies for STAR. Our troop is older girls and this usually elicits some negative comments from people who think scouting is only for cute little Brownies. Teens who are active in organized activities are healthier, happier and safer. Scouts is a place where it doesn't matter if you are a goth, jock or prep. It is a safe place for girls to be friends and have fun. The cost of the cookies is the main complaint the girls hear. No, they are not a bargain. They are a fundraiser. That money pays for council staff, the camp's maintenance and scout activities. Last year our troop used their cookie profits to spend a day in Chattanooga. It was fun, educational and something that some of the girls would never have done if it weren't for Girl Scouts and the cookie sale. This year we want to earn enough to go white water rafting. The next time a Girl Scout asks you if you want to buy some cookies, ask her what her troop is going to do with their profits.

"Lockdown is so stupid. We put a table in front of the door and the door opens out so the table does nothing. Then we sit under our desks silently with the lights turned off and everyone text messages on their phones." I remember crawling under the desk for earthquake drills and sitting along the walls of the hallways for tornado drills. We never had to think about strangers or classmates using guns in the school. In high school, lots of the students had guns in their trucks and nobody thought twice about it. Sometimes it all feels like busy work to make us believe that we can help, like sending husbands to tear sheets and boil water.

Girl Scout cookies arrive tomorrow. They are delivering them to troops in the mall parking lot. I think we have figured out how we are getting 117 cases (12 boxes per case) of Girl Scout cookies from the mall to our house. Now I need to decide where to put them so that preschoolers and dogs (and husbands) won't snack on them.

I lived in the land of Peachtree Roads for a few years and this video just cracks me up.

Favorite Doug quote from yesterday - "Looks like Mommy is dancing." Favorite Doug quote today - "If everyone can survive until Friday, this weekend I'll try to find out what's making us sick."