Life at Lothlorien

I was very shocked yesterday to realize that there are people in this world who have not seen the movie "The Princess Bride." Of course, I started spouting off quotes from it, which got me some very strange looks. I'm not sure what my favorite quote is, but the one I use most often is: "Bye, bye boys. Have fun storming the castle!" Aside: "Think it'll work?" "It'll take a miracle." "Bye, bye!" So, what's your favorite quote? -- just post it in the comments section.

B has been harassing me for quite a while to back our SUV into the driveway like Daddy does. We have a shorter driveway here, so I figured I could do it. Also, the driveway is quite sloped, so I was worried about everything falling out when I open the hatch on the back. I successfully backed in for several days. Then, my DH had to move his car and I realized that I was using it for a visual guideline. Without it, I ended up crooked in the middle of the driveway every time. So yesterday I decided that I was going to accomplish this. I opened my door and watched the center line of the driveway closely as I backed in. And KAWHUMP. I ran over my own mailbox with the right front fender. When I checked my e-mail last night, my SUV had gotten a birthday message from the dealership. I'm glad the SUV can't e-mail back, because I don't want to know what it would say about how its birthday went.

B said today that he wants to work at Target when he grows up. We went to Super Target today to get some stuff. He and CC unloaded the stuff in the card onto the conveyer belt. At the other end, there is a second conveyer belt for the stuff once it's bagged. He asked the cashier if she would turn that one on, so he could get the bags and put them in the cart. She showed him that there was a switch on the end that controlled the conveyer belt and that he could operate it himself. You would have thought that she gave him a key to a treasure chest, he was so happy.

CC has really done well with this move to a new city. She has been excited to make new friends. She thinks it's neat that some of her teachers and friends have the same names as teachers and friends from our old town. While talking about this the other day, she became contemplative and asked "Will we get a new Grandma and Grandpa, too?" (Gma and Gpa live in our old town.) "No," I replied. "We'll have the same Grandma and Grandpa. But they'll get to come and have sleepovers at your house now." That was enough for her.

I almost forgot to post the stunning photographs of my new kitchen.

Well, we are here in the new house. The moving van arrived bright and early Saturday morning with all of our stuff. Benny, the supervisor, cocked an eyebrow at me and said, "All of the stuff in that truck is supposed to fit in that house?" "Yep, " I confidently replied. For the past week we have been maneuvering around the maze of boxes in our home. My DH continually says, "We've got a lot of stuff." Okay, he uses a much more derogatory term. I actually thought with a smaller, one-story house we would be able to find each other easier, but I have already lost him twice and CC lost me three times just today. The unpackers came on Tuesday. Now instead of piles of boxes, I just have piles of stuff everywhere. I am finding many things that we were keeping just because we had the room for it. It's slowly coming together. Boy, do I have a hard time stopping at night and going to bed, though. Once I get going, I just want to keep plugging away until the e...

There I was, innocently putting away my china and Christmas dishes in the dining room buffet, when I saw it -- an Aggie gnome. He has joined his new friends Bob, Not-Bob, and Baby Bob (the concrete geese) in the circle under the tree in the front yard. The movers arranged those, BTW. But what do you name an Aggie gnome?

CC and I really enjoyed the quilt shop hop. It was a great excuse to drive all around the area. I just had to stop myself before becoming obsessed with making sure I visited ALL of the shops on the list and missing out on other fun for the kids. CC was a great shopping buddy. She was patient and happy to look around. Actually, she is probably more dangerous as a shopping buddy than anything because she encourages my behavior. She had several consistent questions for the shop owners: (1) Do you have any toys? (2) Where is the potty? (3) Do you have any candy? (4) Do we get a door prize? Shop #1: CC drew a candy out of a basket for me and won a small grab bag. Talked me out of a bag of M&Ms and a matching child/doll skort pattern for her and her doll Ruby. Shop #2: CC found a tiara, a baby doll, and won the hearts of the shop owners. They wrapped her in a turkey feather boa (to go with the tiara), took her picture and printed it out for me. She was definitely a shop hop princess ther...

"CC, you know not to color on yourself." "I didn't." (Her stomach has been scribbled all over with a pen.) "Then who colored on your stomach?" "I don't know -- a ghost?" she said with a grin.

There are some issues with raising children who like to read. One almost hurt herself because she was walking through the bookstore while looking at her new book. The other had trouble staying concentrating in school because he stayed up reading in his bed with a flashlight. They don't tell you about these dangers on Reading Rainbow.

Turns out Dad has x-ray vision just like Mom. B suddenly announced last night that from now on we were going to read bedtime stories in CC's bed only (we had been taking turns). I didn't think and just agreed. Dad, however, became suspicious, especially as B kept repeating the rule and becoming more adament. Sure enough, under the bedcovers were Megatron, Optimus Prime, Hotshot and some AllSpark cubes. Three cheers for superhero Dad!

Yep, we've made our first trip to the ER in our new hometown. It was for me, not the kids. I'm fine, but it turns out I am now allergic to amoxicillin and penicillin. It all started with some itchy bumps yesterday. I kept wondering why I suddenly got bit by mosquitos when I haven't had a problem with them all week. I finally decided it was because we went to a wooded park yesterday for the first time and just left it alone. I put some anti-itch cream on the bumps and went on with my day. More bumps kept appearing and I kept trying to figure out where those pesky mosquitos were coming from. I went to bed and had horrible dreams about being bit by brown recluse spiders (some tiny, tiny spiders had jumped on me in the deck chair Sat a.m.). Then really started itching and dreamed that I had contracted smallpox. Nothing like a little imagination. B woke up this morning and got my DH to go watch TV. I got up to go the bathroom and my lips felt funny. I looked in the mirror and my...