toot your own horn

last night we were invited to a neighborhood gathering. just the cool ones were invited. no cheerleaders allowed. or gymnasts. it is always great to get together. and get our drunk on. we're so good at it. plus, we always have a laugh riot. note to husband: if you're ever asked to go home and get that second bottle of wine for me, refuse. anyway, at one point, the subject of trains came up. shocker. we were telling them about a train we bought for our kids that hooks onto the trunk of a christmas tree. and the tracks run around the outside of the tree. a friend of mine posted a video of theirs the other day on facebook. when i saw it i knew i had to have it for thing one. so, that lead me to ask about the freight trains. that run all. night. long. this one in particular. every so often when i'm up in the middle of the night i hear it. its not a chupacabra. its the disgruntled train engineer. he starts blowing his whistle [and by whistle i mean air horn times 1,302,698] in granger. and keeps hanging on until he gets to cassopolis. which is about ten miles. straight. i thought i was the only one that noticed. nope. maybe he's been working on the railroad. all the livelong day. and he's mad. because his name is dinah.

dog gone it

i haven't updated about the cn [if you've forgotten it originally stood for cheerleader neighbor. which actually should have been gn. for gymnastics neighbor. but i got the two confused. its a long story. its the way she walks. anywhere. arms straight. flitting them forward. in rhythmic motion. like during the olympics. when the group of gymnasts move anywhere in a group. in a line. its actually quite hysterical to watch her. although, she does act like a cheerleader too. many incidents later the c stands for something else anyway] in quite some time. partly because i could devote an entire blog just to her. and i have better things to do. like clean. the hair out of my shower drain. so, things haven't really changed. the dog is left outside without any kind of containment [still] and barks furiously at me. while i get my own mail. in my own yard. but now the eight year old comes outside. with short sleeves. in the freezing cold. to hold their dog in their yard. every. time. this is after a few months ago when the good neighbor and i were coming back from a walk. and stopped at the end of my driveway. to finish our conversation. we were minding our own business. when all of a sudden their dog came charging through their backyard. jumps off their deck. throws itself into the middle of my front yard. all the while furiously barking at us. we were just standing at the end of my driveway. talking. on my property. after a few seconds of furious barking she then proceeds to pee all over our fresh, new lawn. at no point did anyone from the cn house come out. totally. oblivious. and i'm the bitch. hello, karma? i'd like to schedule a pick up.

name game

http://www.pumpkinvine.org/newsletters/August%202011.pdf

please scroll to page eight. b. harry dyck on the 2011 pumpkinvine bike ride. really? harry was the better of the two?!

halloween notables

thing one insisted on being a ghost. last month. me, being cheap, didn't look for a ghost costume. because we already have 3,482 costumes downstairs. just waiting to be worn. so i held off. and accidentally found one saturday. for five bucks. and bought it. thing two was going to be a kitty. was. trick or treating started at six last night. fifteen minutes before we were to set out for the night both decided they didn't want to be a ghost. or a kitty. thing one now wanted to be thomas. and thing two now wanted to be a lion. again. thank god for the downstairs costume store.

thing one [after walking for a few houses]: [gasp] 'i've flattened my buffers!'

thing two [after thanking someone for the candy]: [sternly] 'will! did you say thank you?!'

thing one [at the same house]: [gasp] 'a lollipop?! awwww! just what i always wanted!'

thing two [after thanking another person for the candy to the person that handed her the candy]: 'but i don't like this kind.'

guess i'll save these costumes for next year. i won't have to take any pictures.

happy halloween

thing two: 'there sure are a lot of franklinsteins this season.'

here's your sign

we just got ours today. easy to install.

see and seek

i don't think she has quite grasped the concept of the hide part. i think she'll fit it real nice like down here ten miles south of common sense.