http://cincodeestos.wordpress.com/

www.cincodeestos.com

Up And Running

After calling go-daddy tech support at least 3 times, speaking to one guy who audibly rolls his eyes somehow at people who call themselves "not very techy"... to another guy who NICELY goes, "Oh!  You purchased your domain thru google.apps - that's not something I can access - let me transfer you now to google" - back again to bad music on hold.

And then *swoon* - very geeky voiced JEREMY gets on the line.  I explain in my newly found techiness, I "want my DNS" to "map" to wordpress, but also have the "forwarding" "mask" my wordpress URL with my domain - because this is how techy you get in 24 hours after reading and reading troubleshoots and racking brains silly.  Ahhh... and so. He "maps".  But then I had to call back, spoke to a very nice girl in Scottsdale - who assured me we all have to get our techiness start somewhere - and then I was connected back to JEREMY to have him "mask" the URL.  Ya follow?

And after proposing marriage, offering a make-out session in the back for fixing the mess I made in the first place - we agreed a. we were both already married b. miles and miles away and c. had Brent 10 feet away feeding the Bunny some veggies... I hung up, felt a load off and we can now sing our lovely Mr Rogers song.  Zip your sweater up too far and then back down just right.  Toss your sneaker from one hand to the next and SAVE THIS TO YOUR FAVORITES!

It's official like a referee with a whistle baby!  I'm my own lady.  I march to the beat of my own drum for $10 a year.  How ya like them apples!  You can subscribe to email alerts when I ever write a dad-blasted note.  You can look on there however much you want.  And it makes me feel all sophisticated and stuff.

www.cincodeestos.com

New Address

Talk about a holy headache.  This domain techy bizz is rather complicated and irritating - especially when I'm a fixater, yet not that techy, and neglect my children's needs.  Only their board game-needs, okay?  I'm not starving anybody.

SO.  I'm finding I genuinely like wordpress as a "hosting" agent for my blog address.  Lots of reasons.  But here's that address below.  Until I figure out the actual cincodeestos.com situation on-hold with tech-support with kids yelling in the background, I might as well send you there.  Save it.  Erase it.  Use it to wipe - I don't care.  But here it is.

http://cincodeestos.wordpress.com/

Really.  The same deal with wordpress instead of blogspot in that place.

However, if you'll notice at the top of the new site - all the lovely linkies you can click the "About Me"  - About Brent - or even about the dog, Andy, and such...  it has taken way too much of my time, so if I never write again, don't email me privately, Jeni.  But you can sign up for email alert when and if I ever do think of something I need to put to paper... err... keyboard.

PS: Verbatim's there too on the right.  So is the Cook's Club at the top.  All in one-stop-shopping ease (for me).  So, until next time.  Won't you please.  Won't you please.  Please won't you be my neighbor...  Goodbye, neighbor.

To Polish a Turd

Do you know what would be nice?  Winning the lottery.  That's what.  I'd even share some with you.  But I'm not going to hold my breath.  You go right ahead, though.  In fact, I'm not even going to buy a ticket.  So, how this is going to happen for me, I don't actually know.  But, I'd still love to win.  I can't imagine I wouldn't love a fun find even if I had all the money in the world to spend.  I'm talking about a bargain here, people.

I recently saw this picture and immediately wanted a gumball machine.

So, to ebay I went.  I found loads - and fell in love with a particular yellow antique machine listed for $130.  Yeah.  My eyes fell out of my head too.  I contacted the seller via email and asked a few questions about it.  I mean, it said feel free to contact the seller with any questions.  I wasn't actually thinking I was going to get away with spending that much on a gumball machine without being at least resented for approximately 4 years. 

I'm not some vintage vending enthusiast, after all, and neither are any of my friends.  I'm not going to have someone over who is going to gasp and fly across my kitchen to closely examine the authenticity of the original color, glass and key.  Because of course... those features are to be expected when acquiring such a specimen.  No need to have those be the biggest selling points, Dear Ebay Seller.  And I realize maybe asking Ebay Seller a few questions about it when I had no intention of really buying it might have been a little annoying, perhaps a waste of their time.  

It could be why after an email or two the tone went from "Thanks for asking; I'm taking offers." to "Maybe you should shop more often at The Dollar Store if you're going to be so insulting!" after having made the comment I was only interested in spending $30 tops [an unofficial, off-the-record thought, not an actual low-ball offer over ebay].  And maybe it was unnecessary to smart off with "$130.  Good luck with that."  and "Oh, for the gumballs!  Thanks for the tip!" in response to the Dollar Store suggestion.

And so... I went on with life.  I called a few local places.  No real luck.  Then, I called one last place.  The lady had two.  She agreed she would put my name on BOTH until I could make it out there after the baby's nap as it would be at least a 20 minute drive without traffic.  I got all geared up.  I headed over.  I walk in and low and behold!  A gumball machine in the shape of a mallard duck with a giant glass globe coming out of its hind end as if the thing farts gumballs.  Hmm... can we see the other one?  She lead us around, up a step, down a step, stroller barely fitting thru the place.  And then - I could hear a crescendo of angels in glorious harmony as we happen upon The. GUM. BALL. MACHINE.

It's yellow.

It's... old.

It works.

And.

Guess how much it was.

Go ahead.  Guess.

Thirty bucks.

And all I have to say to Ebay Seller?  La Dee Frickin' Daw!!

I've also decided the dealy bop in our room I got from my mom's might be better used in the living room for the dad-blasted toy situation I've got going on.  We'll see, but I did already go back to the same gumball machine place to find a fantastic dresser for under $100!  It needed a little dust-down, but otherwise I LOVE it and it's going to either be in addition or just instead of the other thingy.  See, design has to change with the needs of the client like that.  Pictures later.

It Rolls Around So Quickly

So that plan? The one where I scheduled fun things to do tucked in there around baby naps and grocery trips and, ya know, the random "quality" attention devoted to the other two children that were HERE FIRST? Yeah. That didn't quite go as scrupulously as I'd intended. In fact, the actual lay out of calendar events might have helped had I done one.

But, so here we are. Two and one-half weeks away from the beginning of the school year. Eighteen days to be exact until we have our informal "Meet & Greet" come-and-go. This day last year was here and gone in a flash - it really doesn't seem very long ago at all, certainly not a whole year.

But my gosh, could these people look any younger in that old post pic? I miss those two front teeth missing on the Jingleheimer - and the stick-legs on Murph in his little "skinny jeans" make me miss his little self. They have both gotten rather large. Not like we need to go to fat camp, just growing up. Gone are the days of skinned knees with a swift scoop-up of the injured to supply the TLC. There are injuries - but typically, communally inflicted between the male minors - making me less T L or C. But those instances I am needed for a "Dang! That smarts!" - the picking up is more of a lugging toward - and the cuddle time is more like a back-breaking stunt.

And well, summer is almost over. Lame as it may have been, it was nice to have the breather. 3rd and 1st and carpool and routine here we come. But first... haircuts.

Fraction Thingies

Turns out, our favorite "Cheryl Show" hostess is a bit of a semi-professional photographer with a knack for making people feel okay about calling shutter speed "fraction thingies" when asking for help. I am also aware that these aren't anything to submit to a famous gallery of photographic art, but I played a little today with a spastic, moving target, and here's what happened. Or at least what's recognizable:

In this one I hear "COOOOOKKIIIIEEEEE" super grunty my head. It's the lens cap that dangles from the camera not the antenna connected to the button that bombs North Korea. Thank you, Jesus. We'd have a real problem.

I just love the back of this kid's neck. It's so foldy in all the right places and scrumptious too.

And then I took this one a week or two ago with my phone - it's grainy, I know. But I think she's so pretty.

A Little Production

Do me a favor. Somebody. Fast. Get a thumbtack. A sharp object. Something. My ego is a tad inflated. Much. Inflated. Friday night was the premiere of the very first "Live Cooking Show"... which ... I wish we could somehow call "The Cheryl Show" for reasons beyond my control - it rolls right off the tongue, for one. But it's just really a cook's club now - or - well... is in the making. Could I have gathered my thoughts before composing this? Apparently not. I think maybe my head is still spinning from all the whilry girly Oooo and Ahhh and dotes and spankings. Well, there were no spankings. But still. Might as well have been - the kind you get from teammates after a home run. 'Cause that's what this was. A homer on a bed of greens.

The idea I might like doing this all got started a really long time ago when - at a friend's house - I watched her heat and eat what looked like a particle board chicken patty with spray-paint grill marks. And look, if you have to make things work with what you have, I am not about to snub that. She was a single mom at the time, had to maintain a heart-rate, ya know, and the mitochondria of her 6 year old son. It just made me want to help the situation with a few ideas. So... I [not at all controlling and take-overish] decided to show up with ingredients and tools in-hand to give her a what's what on a simple, delicious meal or two.

[and... time lapse]

Then, it seemed I became a tiny bit of a go-to on what to make for this or that. I'm not talking about masses here, people, just a few friends. One in particular was in charge of lunch with her family at a reunion - and apparently the mother-in-law is a bit of an intimidating cook, only because her everythings are flawless, I hear. So, Reunioner wanted an idea on how to wow her peeps. Snazzy mayo on some nice sandwiches and the crowd went wild. So, ya know - that sort of thing - an idea, not necessarily full on culinary school on the DL in someone's home kitchen.

[cut to facebook a monthish ago]

Someone claims to need serious tutoring on the cooking front on her "page". I guess she can cook all sorts of Paula Deeny blankets on weenies, but needed to know how not to drown vegetables in butter - inspired by her experience at Cool Greens. I offered to come over. Lots of people chimed in. One gal shot her tons of recipes on email. And then silence. No reply. But then I get a personal "Were you serious about coming over?" message from an entirely different gal. And there you have it. The ball rolleth.

So, in front of 8 gals, in the hostess' unbelievably fantastical kitchen, I demonstrated [ie prepared, showed, talked about, served] three items plus one cheesecake already done ahead of time - by me - don't be getting any ideas I showed up with some picked-up cheesecake, you guys. I'm all about the baked goods. It was a blast. It was a trip. We laughed and then laughed some more. I made a warm goat-cheese and red pepper sandwich, a panzanella green salad with chicken, and orzo with lemon and parsley. Everyone raved. Everyone overate. And now I hope nobody catches on I'm trying to make them all fat as hell.

Gap Dot Com

I ... really might be super smart. Not even kidding you right now. I am so excited. About being a possible genius. And about being finished. Completely finished. Done. Signed. Sealed. Delivered. I'm yours - full-on finished shopping for the boys' school clothes. I did it all online apart from the shoes we got yesterday buy-one-get-one half off plus a friendly swipe of a $30 coupon the check-out gal had. I told her I'd tackle and kiss all over her face for giving us the random coupon if it weren't weird. And believe you me, she looked like she might have been okay with that. I don't mean she looked gay. Just affectionate. Since you can tell both simply by looking at someone. Or at least I can. I have gaydar and affectionate. Dar.

The school clothes part's true. Probably the genius part. Maybe the affectionatedar part. But the gaydar part is a misnomer presumably. It's still a funny word [funny ha ha] and funny [funny weird] when people claim to have a legitimately flawless set of gaydar skills. I'm not talking about pointing out the chubby dude dressed in a rainbow flag-turned-strapless-dress at the gay pride parade. I'm talking about hanging up from a political campaigning robocall convinced the automated voice's owner is gay. Like you can just tell these things.

I don't even know how I got here. I usually can't tell you how I get most places. But I was going to say how wonderful this is having thought to save myself the migraine and days recovering from several shopping trips with these people. THESE PEOPLE! Dear Lord these people. They are iiiiiin to the way they dress - something I'm sure I've addressed here before.

But this morning, I hear them talking at length about something. Then, they stormed downstairs with a firm plan in place to change into pajamas to wait for the UPS truck delivery as the tracking info predicts today the day of the school stuff arrival. I dashed those dreams with a quick reminder - the UPS truck usually arrives around 5pm when it arrives. And I have things to do. Places to go. People to see. And pjs are just all wrong for that sort of thing. So, they got dressed for real.

30 minutes later, JHeimer started changing his clothes. Why? Why!? Please tell me WHY you change clothes at least once a day! Because these BRAND NEW JEANS aren't comfortable. Were they uncomfortable when you tried them on? Yes. Then why didn't I return them before you 1. liked them 2. agreed to wear them 3. pulled the tags 4. said nothing about their comfort being on the dreadful? Don't know. Well, tell me what's wrong with them - are they too tight, scratchy, too stiff, what. They are too "boot cut" and not "straight cut" enough in the leg. Um. You don't get to change your clothes today - I guess until we have to try on the new stuff if it comes.

I'm still excited I don't have to shop for backpacks. Or lunch boxes. Or socks. Or anything. Let's all pray these things fit flawlessly. And not too boot-cutty.

Alright! Fine!

I admit it! I found this dress for Bunny so marked down I ordered it in a size 4! It was the only one left. Sue me.