The Ragamuffin Hypocrisy

It recently, and rather humiliatingly, came to my attention that my little Cadie Lu has taken it upon herself to critique other people.  Adults.  More particularly, the two other moms that do preschool carpool with me.

Apparently my dear Cadie Lu, upon entering their cars in the morning, has been offering up her thoughts on varied subjects such as:  Their timeliness in picking her up, the cleanliness of their car, perhaps even music choices. 

One of the moms told me that Cadie Lu actually said, "Um, your car is disgusting.  You should clean it out."  I G-A-S-P-E-D and begged her to tell me that it was untrue.  But she insisted that the word disgusting had been used.  And, that mom proceeded to go home and clean out her car.  Seriously!

Then, when she picked Cadie Lu and crew up later that day, Cadie gave her a thumbs up for her efforts and told her "This is better!  Your car looks amazing!"

None of this poor victim-mom's family noticed that the car had been clean, nor mentioned that it had been dirty in the first place.  But, Cadie Lu, intrepid hypocrite that she is, noticed and informed.

How delightful.

Here is the best part of this entire tale.  Cadie Lu Hadley is the very epitome of ragamuffin.  My family and I are constantly laughing about her disheveled look. 

Cadie Lu was born with a cowlick that won't succumb to gel, hairspray or shellac.  Her upper lip isn't lined with normal skin, rather with skin that sucks all color out of the food she is eating, giving her a permanent "mustache" despite my scrubbing.   Her pants are never all the way pulled up.  She spends her life showing crack like a plumber. 

Her shoes are always on the wrong feet.  Her coat sleeves are permanently stained in rainbow colors that have no distinguishable origin.  Her bed is in constant disarray.  She has horrible morning breath.

And this little ragamuffin is going around telling other people to get their acts together.

Life definitely isn't fair, but with Cadie Lu by your side, it will never be mediocre!!

An Adventurous Life

Recently the Hubs made the mistake of casually mentioning that one of the things that he found attractive about me when we met and were dating was that I lived a fairly adventurous life. 

It got me to pondering, then feeling nostalgic, and now moping. 

I WAS adventurous.  I had a very adventurous youth.  My brother and I spent countless hours riding anything we could find in the mountains behind our home from horses to ATV's.  I went boating, camping, skiing, to friend's cabins, jeeping, repelling, exploring Indian ruins and just about anything else you can think of... all while still in junior high and high school. 

College life held still more new adventures (which I cannot put in print).  And when Steve and I met the fun only increased now that I had a partner in crime to share it all with.  It was a fun and full life.

Things have come to a screeching halt. 

You know how some people cry at Hallmark card commercials?  I cry when I see a jeep video or the snow fall totals at the ski resorts.  I'm all sorts of sentimental about nature.

But then, while washing the dishes tonight I accidentally dropped a spoon in some soapy water and before I even knew what was coming at me I got some soap in my eye.  It burned like the fires of Hades.

So see, maybe my life isn't so dull after all.........  right?.....anybody?.....

A Battle of Wills

I am currently in the fierce grip of a battle of wills.

This battle is with a furry little beast who cannot be controlled no matter how much I yell, slam doors, beg, plead, buy treats or threaten the pound.

If you guessed the hubs you would be wrong.  

It's the dog.

Ooohhhh.... how I detest that wee mongrel.  He used to be sneaky in his bad behavior, slinking around tipping over garbage cans or chewing up plastic dolls.  Now he is blatant in his disrespect.  His nose is buried in the garbage can next to my foot as I type this.

Clearly the dog is not fearful of me.  Despite the fact that I outweigh him by like 300 pounds, he is not impressed.  He believes he is the alpha dog.

The thing that really slays me about this situation is the fact that he knows just when my heart is warming to him.  And then he pounces.

Jasper - real name in case you want to steal him - has found a cozy place to spend his winter days.  He lays in the sunlight streaming through the living room window.  I haven't had the heart to break him of this habit.

Then,this past week, I left him in the living room while we had a picnic dinner in the family room for my Mom's birthday.  When we went back to the living room the dog had eaten two of my mom's gifts.

For real.

The stupid thing is that he ate the boxes, but not the gifts in them.  He was taunting me - showing me what could have been had he so desired.  Not cool.

What am I to do with this animal?  If I kick him out then I feel like a failure. If I make him spend his days in his kennel then I feel like PETA will be knocking my door down.

All I can really do is hope that next time he decides to eat something like that, he'll choke on it.

An Uphill Battle

Whenever people ask - and really, they shouldn't - about the possibility of future Hadley's gracing the earth, I can't help but think about the uphill battle my kids will have.  See, sadly for them, thanks to me, they are predisposed to be klutzes.  Huge klutzes. 

Around lunch time today I got a phone call from a teary Ms. Els up at the elem school saying she'd taken a tumble at recess and was now bleeding from various places on her face.  The school secretary got on the line and told me that I should probably at least come take a look at the damage before I decided whether or not to have her tough it out for the remaining hour of the day (early out Friday).

So, I loaded up the two sibs and we headed up to the school.  There I discovered that Ms. Els had sustained a bloody nose, split lip and cut gums.  She didn't look too fabulous.  My soft and tender mother's heart couldn't leave her there to suffer through the last hour of school.  (Translation:  My mom would have made me suck it up and stay and I've always wished she'd shown a speck of mercy during my childhood.  Sorry Mom.  It's the truth.  Ask my sibs.) 

On the way home Els asked me if this sort of thing had ever happened to me.  Oh, ho, ho.... has it ever!!  I know of at least two times in my childhood that I knocked myself completely unconscious on playground equipment. 

One of those times was in the 5th grade.  I was trying to double skip on the monkey bars - skipping two bars at a time.  I had gone one successful round, so I called my friends over to show them my new mad skills.  However, something went wrong that time and my hand slipped off the bar.  I fell, knocked the side of my head on the post holding up the monkey bars, and woke up after recess was over.  TRUE STORY! 

My faithful friends (the only people left on the playground) were sitting next to me in the sand apparently waiting for me to wake up.  Nice.  Would have been even kinder of them to find ground duty and report the fact that I was laying comatose in the sand... but... we were 10.  They did what they could. 

After regaining consciousness, they helped me hobble into the office where the school nurse lady gave me an ice pack to put in my injured face and then called my mom. 

"LUCKY" me, it was the day of the 5th grade maturation class and my mom was heading down already to attend that special occasion with her oldest girl.  Tender.

Did she check me out?  Nope.  She made me sit through that maturation class with an ice pack on my face and my head already whirling about from lack of oxygen.  Then she threw maturation at me and left when the class was over.  (Thankfully there was a follow up maturation class in 6th grade!)

So I'm a weaker woman that my mom was.  But, I can guarantee, that as a grandma my mom would have not only checked her out of school, but given her a piggy back ride to the car and swung by McDonald's on the way home for a healing shake.  Then she would have massaged her feet while spoon feeding her the ice cream and whispering words of comfort. 

Anyhow, back to the point.  I'm pretty sure Ms. Els is just following in the illustrious footsteps of her forebearers (that being me, and several people on my mom's side of the family).  At least I'll be able to be sympathetic.

Although, I will admit that I burst out laughing when she told me how she'd done it.  It would appear that she was running for one of those bars you can swing on.   Even she is a little unsure of how her hands missed the bar entirely and she instead caught it with her face.... ha ha...

You just can't fight these genes baby.

Valentine's

The ABC's of Valentine's Day at the Hadley Home...

Victoria's Secret (lotion!! - this is a family site!!)

Alka Selzer

Lindt Truffles

Epicac

Nair
Turtles
Immodium
Nestle
Epsom Salts
Snuggles

May you survive the excesses of Valentine's day with those you love.

What's Burning?

Okay, here's the thing...

Last week I decided to actually attempt to follow the directions on the box and cook a frozen pizza on the oven rack rather than on a cookie sheet.

End result = great crispy crust, totally burnt pizza toppings in bottom of oven.

Now, over a week later, my house still reeks when I fire up the oven.

A simple fix would be to clean the oven.  Alas, I am lazy. 

Today as I was baking some cookies for a cute girl I know who is having a birthday, I again regretted cooking that dang pizza on the rack as my entire house filled with the throat burning stench.  (As a side note, I now smell burnt.  I sniffed my shirt to check.)

I was standing there thinking that I can't figure out why I only remember about the stinky pizza rejects when I'm cooking and my oven is hot and I can't do a dang thing about it. 

And then, as I was thinking about my dinner plans I had a light-bulb moment that has led me to this momentous decision....

I am NEVER going to clean the oven.

Because when Hubs comes home and the house stinks he's going to say something about how bad it smells.  But, no more.  Tonight I'm going to tell him that I just didn't have the heart to cook dinner because I didn't want to smell up the house.

Suddenly I am not lazy, but ingenious!  (Not to mention selfless in my regard for Hubs' nasal passages!)

This is the beginning of something beautiful....

Jazzy Up Pard'ner...

I really, truly hope that my latest and greatest idea would not be morally repugnant to those suffering through life with limited mobility. But I just needs me a Jazzy wheelchair!!

This epiphany hit me last night as I was wrapped cozily in my Snuggie after a few episodes of Glee and needing to retire for the evening. I casually mentioned to Hubs that perhaps for Valentine's day he could get me a Jazzy. I could just watch TV in my Jazzy and then zip off to bed when the time comes.

Hubs then replied that while we're at it he may as well install chair lifts so that I could Jazzy over to the stairs and then ride the chair lift up. However, then we'd really need a second Jazzy to carry my tired bones from that point to my bedroom.

I'm fully on board.

But, why stop with using my Jazzy around the house? There's a whole world out there to explore. I wouldn't want to waste my tax dollars by never trying out the new bike lanes my city recently painted about town!!

I do believe I'd start by having my dad beef up the engine and give that puppy a lift. Then, I'd buy a big orange flag and a loud horn (with lot's of sound options) because safety is my first concern.

A drink holder and space heater would be a definite must! How's a girl supposed to enjoy her explorations with thirst or cold pressing down on her?

Next, I'd be forced to spend some of Hubs' hard earned money on a Bedazzler and Bedazzle that puppy to the nine's.

Last, but definitely not least, I'd have a side-car installed for J-Bear to ride in until he can ride a bike. After that point, the side-car would become my chihuahua transportation device. Because every respectable Jazzy operator knows that you must have a pocket pet.

I really feel like the possibilities are endless and just thinking about the wide open world beckoning has brought a smile to my face.

Watch out world.... here I come! Nothing can stop me now!!