Phoebe Ball

Even though David's birthday was last Tuesday, we celebrated with friends this past Friday evening. We honestly have the best friends in the world. Some are pretty special...you'll see what I mean in the pictures below. We introduced a new game...David's cousin, Brittany, taught it to him and he taught it to me. It is so. stinking. fun. I love it. It's kind of like that whisper telephone game you used to play when you were kid...or still play, but I won't judge. The game doesn't have a name, so I call it Phoebe Ball...that's a Friends reference, for those of you who didn't catch it. You can play with categories or just go with "whatever." I like to pick a category...like movies. And that's what we did...much to David's dismay...he likes the "whatever" category. So, you have a stack of paper adding up to the number of people playing...we had 11. Everybody writes down a movie...you have 40 seconds to write or draw each time...you write down a movie, and pass to your left. You receive a stack of cards with a movie title on top and flip that card to the back. You now draw that movie title. 40 seconds is up. Pass to your left. You now receive a drawing of some movie and you try to guess what it is...flip to a blank card, write the movie title and so on. You go all the way around and end up with your original title and you all go through to see what everybody did. Doesn't matter if you can draw or not and there are no winners or losers...thank goodness...cuz, well, you'll see. 

Below, I have included some of my favorite "rounds" from the evening. 

Bridget Jones' Diary: 

Brandi started us off with the movie...

Which Sara drew pretty well. Chubby girl, diary.

Shane got it. 

Which Ben drew very well...including a line from the movie. 

Which David took to mean it was an Asian movie. 

Which Zack illustrated. 

Which I recognized.

Which Malinda also illustrated very well.

Which Erin took to mean a Disney cartoon.

Which Eric had never seen or heard of, so...

Which Tris thought..."Survey Says..."

What does TMNT have to do with The Secret Garden...let's find out. 

David started off with TMNT: Secret of the Ooze. 

Zack got it. 

I immediately recognized that after years of watching it over and over at our cousins' house growing up.

Malinda did a good job of illustrating it, but got the Leonardo's mask color wrong. Poor Malinda.

It threw Erin off. Way off.

But Eric did what he could. 

Tris got it.

Very nice drawing from Brandi. 

Sara just saw the grapes and went with that.

Shane did what he could.

We still don't know where Ben got this from...

How do you get from MASH to My Little Pony...here, I'll show you. 

Shane started us off with MASH. Ignore the carrot...elongated, pointy strawberry. That's another story.

Ben, God love him....

But, David got it!

Zack portrayed the hospital camp using a simplistic pen and ink approach.

I got it, too! 

Malinda did her best. 

And Erin thought of the best thing she could...I...don't...know where...Camelot comes from, but...hey, Erin's creative and pregnant, so who knows what that does to a person.

Eric drew the ever-dashing German Shepherd Arabian steed that everyone recognizes, featured in the infamous Camelot movie that Erin so dearly loves. 

Tris thought what anyone would have thought...

Brandi took all the girls back to their childhoods in this beautiful sketch...those bangs are sweet.

And Sara finished it up.

What do Clint Eastwood and Kirsten Dunst have in common? 

Zack led us down that road...

How else am I supposed to draw that? 

Malinda didn't have much to work with, but chose to go with something we've all loved and watched.

Erin illustrated it perfectly!

Eric has this movie in his Netflix queue right now. 

Tris got it just totally right.

Like, Brandi got it, too.

Sara's was a more somber and down-trodden Alicia Silverstone. 

But Shane got it...barely (see the scribble). 

Why wouldn't Ben draw the black girl from Clueless? I mean, duh. 

David automatically thought...white girl, black girl...must be cheerleaders cuz of those skirts...

Before I post this next one...I must warn you...take the kids out of the room, turn on all of the lights, stifle any screaming so as not to disturb the neighbors...for what you are about to see will terrify you and haunt you forever. It will shake you to your core and crumble any steadfastness you think you might have...like pecan shortbread cookies, yum...your innermost being will be silenced by the shroud of trepidation and you will live in the shadows of fear for the remainder of your days. So, if you're fine with that, please continue. 

David started us off with.

Starring Antonio Banderas and based on the novel by Michael Crichton, which was based on the Old English story of Beowulf. 

Zack captured the movie very well. Except I don't remember Antonio wearing a Hanes crew cut tee, but whatever.

I thought it was something else...I recognized the person wearing the bear head, but I couldn't think of what it was...so, I went with...

Which Malinda drew very nicely and even let us know what sound a lion makes.

Erin guessed...

Brandi drew the cuddliest lion king ever...

Which Tris recognized as...

But then, something strange happened...the cute, cuddly lions Malinda and Brandi had drawn were suddenly morphed by Eric into an intergalactic MONSTER FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE, PULLED INTO OUR WORLD BY A TIME VORTEX AND MUTATED INTO A HARBINGER OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION...SENT TO HAUNT OUR SOULS FOR ALL TIME....

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Since Sara couldn't vocalize the horridness she was seeing, she just went with...

And Shane elaborated with...

And Ben finished it up...

YAY FOR PHOEBE BALL!!

Wednesday, halfway to the weekend!

It's random post time again. 

So, yesterday was Davey Pooh's birthday. He turned 27. He gets sexier and sexier with each year that passes. And 27 is one of my favorite numbers because 2 + 7 = 9 and 9 IS my favorite number (well, tied with 3...but 3 x 3 = 9, so six of one half dozen of the other) and yes, I'm a crazy person and I have OCD tendencies and that numbers thing is one of them. Anyways. Being the super cool wife that I am, I got him a bag filled with a bunch of silly stuff like a miniature pool table and basketball goal, a toboggan (he's been wanting one), this really cool umbrella (that I may steal later), some CD's he'd been wanting and some other stuff. Then, his big present was that he had to decide between a BBQ smoker or spend half of the money on Wii products and half at Barnes & Noble's. He hasn't decided yet. I told him he could spend the money on me and buy me some shoes, but for some odd reason, he said "no" to that idea. Last night, we had supper together (first time since January cuz of dumb tax season) and we played some video games...a.k.a. I dominated his Mii into the virtual reality of destroyance. That makes no sense. We played Smash Brothers, which I am horrible at. I only like one character, Pit. I'm awesome at Pit. I don't play against him because it's no fun for me when I always lose and it can't be any fun for him to always win. Well, it might be, I dunno, but I refuse to do it, so. Then we played some Wii baseball and boxing. Funny how the simplest games can make you laugh so hard. It's ridiculous. Since it was a work day, we're going to celebrate with friends at a game night on Friday. We're introducing a new game...they're gonna love it. We're having to rent an auger, a goat, two lampshades and 30 pounds of cheese, but it's going to be worth it. 

We still have some snow in our yard...well, what's left of Buddy, the snowman. The compactness of his bottom made him stick around for a little longer than his fallen comrades. And we love our neighbors and their kids, but apparently, if it snows, OUR yard is THEIR yard. I hear Seumas barking in the back yard and Blue growling in the bedroom and I look and see our neighbors' kids beating Buddy's bottom with a baseball bat. I TOTALLY did not plan for the alliteration...it just happened. And I'm thinking, "I don't go into their yard and kill their beloved snow friends." But whatevs. Fence. 

I went to a baby shower for my dear friend, Tris, this past Saturday. It was wonderful. The hostesses did such a great job. We played a game I'd never played before at a baby shower. You paired up in teams of two and there was this huge basket filled with baby socks...all colors and sizes. You had two minutes to match up and fold as many socks as you could. My teammate, Malinda, and I rocked it. We didn't win, but I was proud of us. I never realized how good at folding socks I was...and then I realized that was a skill that would get me nowhere in this life. Except All-Star Heavyweight Champion of Sock Folding at baby showers. Another game we played was a game that lasted the whole shower. When we walked in, we received a necklace and instructions, "Put this on and if you hear someone say the word "cute" during the shower, you can take their necklace. If you say "cute," someone can take your necklace. Whoever has the most necklaces at the end, wins." To which I replied, "Cute!" Like, never even hit me that I said it. I never realized how much girls say "cute." It was a tough game. We went with "precious," "sweet," and just regular "awww's." I obviously did not win. 

Everyone needs to go YouTube "Bizkit the sleepwalking dog." No, she's not having a seizure, she is sleepwalking...running. It will make you wet your pants, so have a spare pair ready. 

I was in a public restroom earlier this week and it was one of the one-stall ones. I was washing my hands and I hear this rattle rattle WHAM! I honestly think the person thought it was unlocked and that they'd walk right in and face planted into the door. I'm sure there's a face grease smudge on the outside. Anyways. I'm like, "Somebody's in here." I unlock the door and walk out and there's this lady there looking at me like it's MY fault that I'm in the bathroom and she said, "Oh, you scared me." I scared you? The locked door frightened you? Because when a bathroom door is locked, it's the most horrendous event in the universe? And stop staring at me, creep. It was weird. She hit the door too hard, I think. 

The weather man says 72 for this weekend. I'm not believing him until I see it for myself. They just read a prompter. They don't even know what they're saying half the time. Front? What's a front, Sue? Did they ask the stratosphere what clouds it would be producing this weekend? No. I hope it'll be 72. Then I can walk outside and not be angry. 

You guys and gals have a wonderful day!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...in March

Late last week, I was wearing short sleeves and flip flops...I wake up Sunday morning and see the North Pole in my yard, complete with reindeer and elves...or that might have been from the lack of contacts in my eyes, I dunno, but still...it was snowing! To some, this may not seem such a big deal, but to us here, it's a huge deal. So, of course, the whole city shuts down and we unpack our fluffiest jackets, don our galoshes, slip on our mittens and caps and head outside, only to morph into 7 year olds.  

Everything was covered in pretty whiteness. It's amazing how white and pristine newly-fallen snow is. It's the whitest white I've ever seen. You couldn't mimic it in a painting. I wanted to make snow cream, but rethought that when I remembered we have a dog, our neighbors have a dog and who knows what goes on in the grass. 

Here's the front of the house. The yard was almost completely covered in the front.

Honah Lee (my car) and Ezme (David's car) were tucked in nicely by a blanket of snow.

Looking down the street.

The back/side yard. 

Our neighbors sliding down our hill. 

My snow angel...isn't she beautiful.

Silly, silly Davey Pooh saying "Please come have a snowball fight with me."

He tried, but I was victorious. Don't ever challenge me to a snowball fight.

Seumas, the snow dog. 

Our snowman buddy.

Yay for the snow!