Join me in a big WOOHOO!!

Hasta La Vista, Weird Larry
Originally uploaded by Somebody's Mom.

What a nice surprise to notice the locksmith's truck next door earlier today. A quick peek revealed this little gem.

The other neighbors have invited us for cocktails tonight to celebrate. We will bring the pizza and walk without fear past the creepy little hut Weird Larry once called home.

The house that Party built.

Seems we have a lot of parties. Of course, when I met my hubby his nickname was Party Boy. And people did start calling me Mrs. Boy when we got married. We have mellowed substantially since then. Hubby even had his nickname officially revoked when he refused to participate in a few events, prefering instead to hang out at home.

But the parties we host have increased with time. It comes with the territory. Literally. Living downtown makes our home a natural gathering spot. Halloween? Let's go to the Somebody's house! Mardi Gras? The Somebody's must be doing something! Christmas Eve. Hey, I bet the Somebody's are staying in town since their parents are gonna be around. Let's go over there for drinks and funny Christmas music, I bet everyone will be there! There have been some times when I didn't even know I was having a party until the phone started ringing with people asking what to bring and when to arrive. And it's always a grand time full of frivolity and laughter. I'm glad we have such good friends to keep our butts in gear.

So, if you know me well enough to know where I live, come over before the Christmas Parade. I have just learned that everybody is meeting at our house before the parade since we live so close to the parade route. Those in the bike group will bring their bikes and finish decorating them in our yard. Those not in the parade will drink hot chocolate (and, umm, perhaps peppermint schnapps) and wander down to watch the excitement.

The parade takes a really long time, what with the laggy Scouts and errant wiener dogs and such. The bike group is usually one of the highlights. Scads of silly people riding silly bikes in silly costumes honking silly horns and acting, well, silly. The theme for the parade is Jingle Bell Rock. My husband's bike will be towing a trailer. On the trailer will be our son playing his drum set. I'm not sure what I'll do. Sometimes I decorate my bike and ride, sometimes I take on the role of photographer. Regardless, I inevitably find myself thinking, "Wow, it always seems so much more fun when I'm looking back on it, but damn, this thing is taking forever and I really have to pee." And then we get home and I pee and eat cookies and laugh about how lame that funny little parade is and suddenly all is well and we can't wait to see the pictures.

He's thankful for math.

Last night during a commercial break from Mythbusters (one of the best shows ever), I turned to the goob and said, "Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. Should we start thinking about what we're thankful for?" And he said, "Yeah, and then tomorrow we can write it on a big piece of paper." I told him he should start. He immediately said, "Okay, I'm thankful for math! And school! Oh, and our family, and..." We came up with 13 things.

I am so thankful that he is loving every minute of school. Some of you may remember I was kind of freaking out before the year started. "Does he really need to be there six hours a day? That's like having a job! Does it really take six hours to learn what he's going to learn?" etc., etc. And now I am so happy for him. He cannot get enough of that school action. Loving teachers, good friends, fun challenging things to do. It is amazing. My son is amazing. Life, in general, is amazing.

Ninety-two

It was ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. The low was forty. A fifty-two degree change in that 24 hour period. We were warmer than places in the world that are having summer now.

I went swimming. I was in the pool on November 18th at 9:15am and it was warm and beautiful.

As John Carlisle says:
Global warming... enjoy it while you can!

He's probably right.

"How about we make it a total sugar-fest day? Like, I could just eat candy all day and all night!" says the goob holding his bag of Halloween candy. "Well, no that won't really work," I reply, "because you would drive me completely insane and then you'd have to get a new mommy." "No I wouldn't," he says, "I'd just go up to Grandma's. She wouldn't mind." Ahhh, Grandma.

Humm along with me.

This is hilarious.

How do these things happen?

The goob and I were walking home from soccer practice. "Hey, look" said I, as we approached our house, "There's Dad!" My hubby was riding his bike up the street, coming home from work.

Then I noticed he'd gone past our driveway. He was riding one-handed. The other hand was held behind him. His middle finger was extended. A guy in his thirties, wearing office-wear (slacks, fancy shoes, dress-shirt and tie) was running after him. Oh, my. Hmmmmm.

I wanted the guy to stop so after hubby whizzed past I called out to the approaching man. I used my best confused concerned citizen voice. "Hey, Dude, what's going on? Did something happen? Did that guy do something to you?" I wanted him to think I could help him.

Dude, gasping: That guy hit my car and took off!

Me (in my most innocent and shocked voice): Really? Holy Moly! That's a trip! What happened?

Dude:I don't know, the guy's crazy!

Me: Seriously? Why would he do that? Did you almost hit him with your car or something? Did you run a stop sign? Did you turn left in front of him and almost kill him or something?

note: I know the only thing that gets my hubby pissed is almost dying because some idiot doesn't know how to drive. The dude stopped running but his arms were still flailing.

Dude: Are you kidding me?

Me: Wow! Are you sure you didn't do something stupid and almost kill him?

Dude: What are you..? No, The guy's on crack or something!

Me: You really didn't do anything? You weren't driving like an idiot or something?

Dude: Hey, are you his wife? You're his wife, aren't you?

Me: I do know that man. And I have my cell phone right here. Do you want me to call the police? I could do that for you. I could call the cops right now!

At this point, the dude turned around and ran away, back down the street, tie flapping over his shoulder.

The goob and I went home. Hubby came in the back door huffing and puffing. I got the full story. I was right. The Smarty Dude was talking on his cell phone in his BMW. He ran the red light, and turned right in front of hubby, who was going straight in the bike lane. Hubby almost got hit, so he yelled to get Smarty's attention. Smarty didn't like this, so he turned quickly into the next driveway to turn around and go after hubby. In true Smarty fashion, the guy not only cut off two other cars to do so, he also went up and over a curb. He still held the phone for most of that.

Hubby kept pedaling. Smarty took chase. At one point, Smarty thought he could outsmart hubby by going up a parallel street and sneaking down a side street. Hubby saw him and rode straight toward him, passing him with a wave. Smarty flipped a U and chased him again. So hubby turned around and passed him in the other direction again, knowing the guy couldn't turn his car as quickly as hubby can turn his bike.

Smarty finally tired of trying to make U-turns, jumped out of his car, and took chase on foot in his fancy shoes. And that's where we came into the story.

I'm glad the guy didn't run hubby down with his car. Freakin' selfish idiot bastard.