Bless Your Heart

Molly has finally gotten big enough for a harness. I didn’t want to buy one just to have her outgrow it in a couple of weeks. It took her a while to get used to a collar- she still isn’t crazy about them. But she didn’t mind the harness. And she looks really pretty too!

I’ve never been a big fan of Elmo. His high pitched, nasal voice gets on my nerves. But have you seen the new Tickle Me Elmo- TMX? This thing is a riot! Click here to see what he can do. Be sure to watch the whole video (only about 1:14), the best stuff starts at about 55 seconds. His new range of motion is amazing! I think this one will be going on the Ling Ling wish list!

My BIL asked Jake, my nephew (age 3), if he was going to Uncle Jon’s house. Jake said “No Daddy, it’s Shanny’s house!” What a smart boy!

The final week for this round anyway…. stay tuned for holiday BPOH! This week’s theme is back yards, patios, balconies, decks, any outdoor space! Plus, you can always show us something we might have missed. Now, get to snapping pics!

CSP isn’t the only captain round these parts today. Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day! Now matey, if you need some help talking like a pirate just click here or here. If ye be wanting yer own pirate name like mine, and who wouldn’t want a name as feminine and sexy as Cap’n Misty Buttscar, click here. If ye be low on pirate booty, click here. If you can’t decide how to accessorize your house pirate style, may I suggest a fabulous pirate welcome mat: I love pirates so much (shocker!) so I’m pleased to see all the pirate influence in this year’s Halloween decor offerings online and in stores. I am ashamed though, I still haven’t seen the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean. That is so slack. At this point I suppose I’ll just wait til it’s out on dvd. I’ll have to find some other way to celebrate TLAP day. Hmmmm, maybe I can get Cap’n SP to sport an eye patch!

So this morning I’m getting ready for my day and I apply Dr. Feelgood while humming the song Dr. Feelgood- I can’t help it, word association I guess. Fabulous product by the way, makes your face skin all smooth and helps combat shine. Plus it lasts forever which explains why I still have high dollar cosmetics on an adoption budget. While I’m handling the tin I somehow cut my finger. CSP notices me going for a bandaid and asks what happened. I explain.

CSP: Well, then it’s time to get rid of that tin.
Me: Why?
CSP: Cause it’s obviously a danger!

Well thank the good Lord that tin didn’t up and kill me! I asked him (jokingly) if I should go for a tetanus shot after the killer tin cut. Cap then remarks to Molly that “your mother is over reacting.” Now if that ain’t the pot! Wonder why we call him Captain Safety Pants? Wonder no more my friends, wonder no more.

Cap’n and I were out driving around earlier with Kea and Molly when we got the urge for some ice cream. I had a coupon for Brusters so we went through the drive through. While waiting for our ice cream the girl asked if the pugs wanted their own sundaes. Well of course! They made them the cutest little bone sundaes! For free! We waited til we got home to give them their treats and they loved them!

Some of you may remember when I made a jackass out of myself at our favorite Chinese take out joint last year. It only got worse a few weeks later when I accidentally popped the spigot thingy off their giant silver tea trough thing and sweet tea shot, I mean SHOT, across the restaurant like a hole in the tea dam. Luckily another Chinese take out place opened up closer to our house and I was able to start anew! And the lady there is nice! And she knows my voice when I call! (That means I either have the voice of an angel or a drunk banshee. I vote for the angel.) And she thinks I speak Chinese well! She even said one day if she closed her eyes she’d think I was Chinese! Ok, so that last one was where she was totally trying to get me to order more expensive things instead of me & CSP splitting entrees. Things have been going well. I don’t want to mess up a good thing.

So I apparently decided unconciously to take my jackass act across town the other night. The Cap’n and I stayed up at my sister’s house Monday night so CSP and my BIL could watch Monday Night Football together. They like to stay up til the crack of dawn smoking cheese (not a euphemism for smoking the wacky weed- they actually put cheese in a smoker and infuse smoke flavor into said dairy. Don’t ask me where they get their weird hobbies from, I’m just glad they found each other and I don’t have to pretend watching cheese get smoky is SO! MUCH! FUN! I mean, they actually have serious conversations about different wood chip/cheese combinations. Seriously.) Anyway, man can not live on smoked cheddar alone so Sara & I picked up Chinese take out for dinner. We were standing there deciding on what to order when Sara said “Why don’t you talk to her in Chinese?” while trying to contain her heh hehs. My Southern accent doesn’t mix all that well with Mandarin tones. The Chinese take out lady (from here on referred to as CL) said “You need to talk to me about something?”. So I was stuck. Here’s where things start to go downhill.

Me: I’m adopting from China and trying to learn to speak Mandarin.
CL: Oh! Ok you can talk Chinese to me.
Me: *Please forgive my guesses on the spelling. I can barely speak it, much less type it out.* Wo shuh mei guaryen.
CL: What?
Me: Wo shuh mei guaryen.
CL: Oh, you’re trying to tell me your name!
Me: Um, no, I was telling you “I am an American”.
CL: Oh! You sound great!
*Heh. Yeah right.*
We ordered and CL asked if I knew any more Chinese. I was obviously impressing the hell out of her. I rattled off the rest of the phrases I’ve learned. Such useful gems like “Are you Chinese? I speak English. You speak Chinese. I do not speak Chinese well.”

Sidebar: Cap’n and I are tall, white people going to China. So far the only things I can say in Mandarin. are painfully obvious to the native Chinese. Why, I wonder, doesn’t my “Quick & Easy Chinese” download on the ol’ iPod teach you things like “Where is the bathroom? I’m lost and can’t find my hotel. I have sleep apnea and this machine helps me breathe. I promise, nice Customs official, that it isn’t a weapon of mass destruction.”

After my stunning linguistic display, I noticed a snapshot of a baby on the wall by the register and asked if the baby belonged to CL. She said yes. Sara and I cooed and told her how adorable she is. And she was gorgeous with this cute little kerchief on her head.
Me: What’s her name?
CL: Anna Ling
Me: (siezing the opportunity to find out from a native Chinese person the true meaning of Ling since we refer to our daughter to be as Ling Ling) What does Ling mean?
CL: as she looks at me like I’m a world class moron- That’s my husband’s last name.

Sara laughed as I slinked away to wait on our order. CL turned and chatted with the cooks. I’m sure she was relaying my extreme sophistication and by no means suggesting they make my hunan chicken so freakin spicy that I couldn’t get through half of it as payback for completely butchering their language. It’s a good thing I like Mexican so I’ll have an alternative after getting blackballed at every Chinese take out place in the Carolinas. I did take 4 years of Spanish in school. Lucky for them!

For those of you who are just joining us, we are touring our readers through our homes, room by room. This week we are checking out bonus rooms- basically any room we didn’t cover.If you’d like to play along please leave a comment that you’ve posted your pics, along with a link to your site and your email address so I can sign you up for reminders and updates. All those who are already participating are leaving comments that their pictures are posted. Go check out their homes!

Check out the paraders below:
~ Elaine
~ Aimee
~ Lisa S.
~ Mrs. Gumby
~ Jacquie
~ Rachel
~ Julie
~ Michele
~ Judy
~ Jessica
~ Julie W.
~ Alfred’s Mom
~ Sandy
~ Kendra
~ Gabs
~ Jesser
~ Ani
~Melissa
~ Heather
~ Sara
~ Lisa
~ Leah
~ Alyson
~ Connie
~ Priscilla
~Krista
~Giao
~Tiffany
~Jamie
~Tracy

Now on to my house:
This is our bonus room. It’s the room above the garage so that’s why it has those funky angles. The computer is in here too. This room is kind of the man room so we have CSP’s sports stuff up on the walls.
These are the “windows” that look down over the family room below. They make the house feel really open, so it’s kind of fun to be able to yell communicate with each other all through the house.

The funky angles have kept me from painting this room. One day… Oh, and for all of you who’ve left such sweet compliments about my house- thank you! We’ve worked really hard on it. And for those of you who’ve commented on how clean it is, I’ll let you in on my secret- I cleaned the dickens out of it one day and snapped all of my BPOH pics at once! I loathe cleaning. It’s so boring to me, and while the idea of a Parade of Homes was fun, the thought of cleaning my house each week for photos was not!
Next week: back yards & patios!
Now, go check out everyone else’s bonus rooms!

This thing is pretty cool. Link courtesy of Jesser. I thought it was pretty right on the money with me. “>What’s it say about you?