Maybe a little too much Harry Potter?
January 18, 2008 | Funny, Kid Brag | Comments [5]
So, some time last week, Mom, Teyla and I were hanging out in the ‘office’. Teyla looked at the chandelier and thought there was a spider. When mom and I looked, there was no spider, however there could have been with so many cobwebs. So, we decided to clean the chandelier. Teyla immediately went and got the broom to try to sweep it. Well, I found the feather duster and told her we were going to use it instead since it would be easier and more effective. Teyla looked at the feather duster, looked at the broom looked at Nana, handed her the broom and said, “Go fly somewhere!”
pictures of Lexie
January 18, 2008 | Kid Brag | Comments [7]
Thought the family would like some pictures of the only great-grandchild for now…James Michael should be here within the next week or so..Love everyone-Crystal
Racquetball Glove to the FACE!
January 18, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments [11]
Well, I have waited two days for a proper response and got nothing! Are there no other Racquetball players in our family worthy enough to face me. Am I alone the ChUMpeon D’joure! Surely someone can offer up some smack to at least sound like they could beat me.
Where’s Tony? He’s got smack coming out his nostrils.
Err… I mean to say, he’s pretty sarcastic.
SORRY HOMELAND DEFENSE, PLEASE DON”T REPORT ME TO THE ATF OR NOTH’N!
Ryder and Dylan - Opposites Attract
January 18, 2008 | Kid Brag | Comments [5]
I took these pics yesterday morning before school. 1/17/08
There could never be two more opposite children living under one roof than Ryder and Dylan. This morning, for instance, Ryder was not allowed to wear his school shirt until AFTER he ate his breakfast and brushed his teeth because otherwise his class would know what he had for breakfast and what brand of toothpaste he used. Ryder wears everything he eats or drinks and uses his shirt as a napkin. It saves time.
Dylan, on the other hand, had me spend 10 minutes working with his hairstyle in the mirror to ensure every strand was in place before leaving for school. He also refuses to wear a tabogan because it messes up his hair. His clothes are immaculate from morning until night. Never a smear or drop anywhere. He has always deplored having food or drink spilled on his clothing or getting his hands dirty.
As opposite as these two are, however, their relationship is so much like their uncles Buddy and Bill. Dylan IDOLIZES Ryder and as long as Dylan is quiet, doesn’t move and keeps his mouth shut then Ryder allows his little brother to hang out with him. And heaven help him if Dylan smacks his food around his big brother!!
Good afternoon, everyone
January 18, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments [4]
I haven’t accomplished anything today. Hope you did better. I love all of you. We received a letter from David and Anne Norris Wednesday. All of the children are either in college, working in some capacity at Norris Attorneys, is already at BYU. or is just finishing up at Vestavia High School and looking at BYU. Elizabeth, the oldest, just presented them with first grandchild. Her husband is married to a young man who finished his mission, and is now a 2-year law student at William & Mary and is contemplating a JD-MBA.
Amber just stuck her head in the door to the office, and I took an hour break to visit with her. She and Korry are back together and living right here in Debary. Her hair is almost back to the beautiful red it’s supposed to be, and she and her husband are getting all of their business together, and ready to go back to school. Well, it’s now 1:45. I will eat lunch, and see how much more time I can idle away.
ABCNEWS.COM’s “Match-O-Matic”
January 17, 2008 | Politics | Comments [8]
Find your “ideal” Presidential candidate for the 2008 elections.
My “top three” were Mitt, Huckabee (!!!) and Giuliani.
Today’s Ann Coulter Post
January 17, 2008 | Politics | Comments [4]
Cynthia Simmons sent me this. We have decided Ann is (as Rush has coined them) “A Mitten”… a woman smitten by Mitt Romney.
Fairies, flora, and fauna
January 16, 2008 | Funny | Comments [4]
On Saturday morning, Benjamin and Lily ran off to the playroom right after breakfast. When they returned, Benjamin was wearing the fairy wings from the dress up box and announced, “I’m a bug!” Later, Lily and her friends painted his fingernails, then he wanted to play ponies with me, and he also had to be the mother pioneer in the Lincoln log set and said he was cooking waffles for everyone. I think he may need some daddy/male bonding time.
I played “house” with Lily and she got all dressed up and proclaimed she had a boyfriend Mark. When I asked her more questions, she sassily shook her hip at me and said, “He’s mine.” I don’t know where she picked that up from, but the vision into teenagehood was really scary.
I will say
January 16, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Being able to see Bailey, Casey and Chelsea all at Christmas, I did find one thing in common with each. They all own guitars and love music. Okay, I love music, but I always wanted to play the drums, never the guitar. One day when I have a bunch of land in the country and can buy a set of drums, I can play to my hearts content. buddy made a joke about Karen Carpenter playing the drums with Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Hendrix etc. Hey, girls can play the drums!!
Racquetball
January 16, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments [3]
Saturday when buddy came over , we played racquetball, played chess, and made cupcakes. I have taught many people racquetball over the years, ( my apartment has a racquetball court). So, I can usually tell when someone is pretty coordinated in learning the game. It is hard for me to teach the strategy in one lesson, but Adam Michael and Lainie Beth show promise. I played Buddy, but he didn’t really try, it just wasn’t his game. Bailey shows a little coordination, but its strange I play every sport including snow skiiing and it comes natural but none of my girls seem to athletically inclined. I tried to tell Buddy , racquetball is a good game for older people because it is strategy. Anyway, of course it was fun for me. I hope Adam Michael and Lainie Beth choose to come back and learn again. i have taught racquetball strategy for years and think I can make them good players.
Bill, Send me The following:
January 16, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Julia’s address isn’t in my book. Please post it in this website. I want to sent her a Happy Birthday card.
MOM
Happy Birthday Mom!
January 15, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments [2]
I called this morning and wanted to tell you happy birthday. Also, I told Dad Bailey will be at Disney World with her grandparents 2nd week of Feb. and I thought maybe you and Dad or Carmen and Jordan could call them and arrange to meet them for lunch somewhere. Call Grady, 205-967-6947
Ask to speak to him, I am sure he will say okay. I know it would mean a lot to Bailey to see you and Dad and Jordan.
mom
January 15, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I know you were worried about my job. I should be hired back 3rd week of February or 4th. Meanwhile I just went up to Kelly Services yesterday and updated my profile. they hire you out for temp jobs, that will keep some money coming in until then. she already has me scheduled for a job Friday. I go to the Sheriton to a “Model Search” casting call and I get the peoples information and take their pictures and schedule their interviews. It should be fun. I would be interested to see which (Probably young adults) think they are the new next “Top Model”. LOL . I told the lady at Kelly Services to give me jobs where I am dealing with the public and not stuck in an office in a cubicle. That is just not me. She will keep me busy because I have all good references from the other jobs I did for them several years ago.
Hi to all my Family!
January 14, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
I think I’ve finally been able to post here. WOOT!! It’s been so wonderful to read all of your posts and get updated on things. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!
Love you guys! Bethy
The Mom Song
January 11, 2008 | Funny | Comments [1]
I thought of Beth the whole time I watched this.
All five times I watched it, actually.
The singer is comedienne Anita Renfroe who lives in Atlanta.
LYRICS
Get up now
Get up now
Get up out of bed
Wash your face
Brush your teeth
Comb your sleepy head
Here’s your clothes
And your shoes
Hear the words I said
Get up now
Get up and make your bed
Are you hot?
Are you cold?
Are you wearing that?
Where’s your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and your gloves and your scarf and hat
Don’t forget you got to feed the cat
Eat your breakfast
The experts tell us it’s the most important meal of all
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at three today?
Don’t forget your piano lesson is this afternoon
So you must play
Don’t shovel
Chew slowly
But hurry
The bus is here
Be careful
Come back here
Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside
Don’t play rough
Would you just play fair?
Be polite
Make a friend
Don’t forget to share
Work it out
Wait your turn
Never take a dare
Get along
Don’t make me come down there
Clean your room
Fold your clothes
Put your stuff away
Make your bed
Do it now
Do we have all day?
Were you born in a barn?
Would you like some hay
Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone
Get Off the phone
Don’t sit so close
Turn it down
No texting at the table
No more computer time tonight
Your iPod’s my iPod if you don’t listen up
Where you going and with whom and what time do you think you’re coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me
Makes you welcome everywhere you roam
You’ll appreciate my wisdom
Someday when you’re older and you’re grown
Can’t wait ’til you have a couple little children of your own
You’ll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly
But right now
I thank you NOT to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew
Would appreciate
Take a bite
Maybe two
Of the stuff you hate
Use your fork
Do not you burp
Or I’ll set you straight
Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an A, Get the door
Don’t get smart with me
Get a Grip
Get in here I’ll count to 3
Get a job
Get a life
Get a PhD
Get a dose of…
I don’t care who started it
You’re grounded until your 36
Get your story straight
And tell the truth for once for heaven’s sake
And if all your friends jumped off a cliff
Would you jump too?
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said at least a thousand times before that
You’re too old to act this way
It must be your father’s DNA
Look at me when I am talking
Stand up straight when you walk
A place for everything
And everything must be in place
Stop crying or I’ll give you something real to cry about
Oh!
Brush your teeth
Wash your face
Get your PJs on
Get in bed
Get a hug
Say a prayer with Mom
Don’t forget
I love you
**KISS**
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom’s work never ends
You don’t need the reason why
Because
Because
Because
Because
I said so
I said so
I said so
I said so
I’m the Mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
The mom
Ta-da
Words by Anita Renfroe Copyright 2007 Bluebonnet Hills Music/BMI
Moron Grits
January 11, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments [1]
(Oops, I mean “more on…”)
It turns out that the grits that we enjoy today are typically NOT “hominy grits” at all, but simply dried milled corn “grist” (or grits, if you accept the alternate etymology of the word).
“Hominy” is actually nixtamalized corn, and “hominy grits” are grits made from dried hominy. However, the grits manufactured and sold by Quaker Oats, Jim Dandy, White Lily or the like are not “hominy” grits, but are made from regular yellow corn (i.e. not nixtamalized).
So - dare I say it? - Grandmother Polhemus may well have been WRONG to call it “hominy” at all - though hers may well have been made from nixtamalized corn. There’s no dang way I can remember back that far.
(N.B. Anyone remember when Glenn Beck used to have a radio show - he’s on CNN/HNN now, I believe - and he’d have his “More On Trivia” segment where he’d randomly call up convenience stores around the country and ask the clerk who answered a set of three ridiculously simple questions? [EXAMPLE: "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?"] That really used to get Lainie’s goat when she was living here a few years ago, because she managed a convenience store at the time!)
Attention Lainie
January 11, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments [1]
I’ve been trying to get a chance to call you. Why is that so difficult? Well, it’s easier just to do this after midnight, when the house is finally quiet, and i’m all alone. Lainie, I’m missing the gift that I had for Jani. It was in a pretty box. A pair of pajama bottoms, and a box of silver bracelets. Did I accidentally stick that in the stuff I gave to you? If not, I must have put it in the Christmas stuff that was packed away in the attic, and it will be uncovered next year, because it’s nowhere in this house. I can’t imagine what happened.
I’ve wondered and worried about what is going on with you. Did you get a job? What about your job at the Garden Center. How about everything else? I hope all is well.
Love, MOM
“Kiss My Grist”
January 9, 2008 | Check-in | Comments [3]
For some reason lately, I have found myself craving hot grits at least a couple of times a day. I dunno why, I guess I equate it with “comfort food.” I have eaten them occasionally over the last several years - Nancy, a born “yankee” who actually is a Southerner at heart (she prefers warm weather, and she loves movies and books about feisty southern dames, etc.) actually does a VERY good job of cooking them for me, almost as good as Mom used to make (I said “almost”, Mom, don’t have a conniption!)
I guess it doesn’t hurt that perhaps the largest purveyor of grits modern-day is Quaker Oats, a fine old Chicago company! We don’t have “Jim Dandy” here in Houston, and I really don’t see any other product here on the shelf at Kroger and Randall’s (the local version of Safeway). So Quaker Oats it is.
Some of you might remember the 70s sit-com “Alice,” featuring Alabama native Polly Holliday as “Flo”. “Kiss my grits” was her trademark retort.
And no, I didn’t actually misspell “grits.”
You see, we Polhemus kids were fortunate to have Mrs. Mary Ellen Lake Polhemus as our grandmother. G’mother Polhemus came from an old South Carolina family - her father was a physician - and she was incredibly “correct” in everything she said. She was a schoolteacher and used to having her word taken as law inside AND outside her home.
She would not permit anyone, esp. her grandchildren, to use the word “grits.” It was “hominy GRIST,” she told us, and only “hominy” was allowed to be used in short. Her tale is that the word “grits” was a corruption of “grist” that entered the language from, er, “African Americans in forced servitude” (she used a shorter term than that, which I’ll leave to your imagination).
It’s possible that’s true, and my dear departed grandmother’s sensibilities aside, lots of words have entered the language as a “corruption” of other words, like “banjo” (from the East African word mbanza) and “buckeroo” (from the Spanish vaquero) for example. So I don’t mind using “grits” for “grist of hominy”.
Anyway, my cravings have been tamed somewhat by keeping boxes of Quaker Oats Instant Grits in my desk. From time to time, as the cravings become too strong to ignore, I make my way to the coffee room where I mix them in the hot water on tap from the big coffee maker. Stir, let sit for a few, then enjoy all that ersatz Southern goodness!
“Like Mom used to make?” Hardly. Not even nearly as good as NANCY makes, but it’ll do when the cravings get to be too strong.
Hey, I don’t smoke, drink alcohol, gamble or go to strip clubs. My grits obsession is a small indulgence (and only 100 calories per serving, with no fat!)
Love to all, and I’ll keep on spoonin’ ‘em up!
Wait a while
January 6, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
It might be a few months before we ever get all of the things shipped off that we need to mail to some of you, but we will gradually get it done. Luis seems to think that some of the stuff that is plastic will break all too pieces. I don’t know?? We’ll play it by ear, and if something shows up at your door, open carefully, it may be in shambles. Don’t worry, it wasn’t expensive in the first place. Sigh, I hope all of you are getting back into the swing of things after the holiday rush. We are still not back together yet. I mean by that….the furniture is still out of place, etc., and I can’t find where I hid stuff to put out Christmas stuff, etc.
Bill-About the Clock
January 3, 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments [1]
Bill, Luis seemed reluctant to do it, but if I nag enough, we’ll look into it. It’s going to cost a fortune to do, and then to restore. Everytime we have a garage sale, people always want to buy it! We’re so innondated with doctor’s appointments, and today, I got stuck with three times a week, just for getting my left toe worked on. They can’t operate to correct it, because I have fibromyalgia AND diabetic damaged nerves, and both diseases forbid surgery. I go to my regular doctor once every three months,and the pain management doctor once a month, and am getting my teeth fitted with lower …er…you know….thingys. And I have a couple of appointments about my problems with heck, I can’t even remember, something to do with bladder trouble and other stuff. And Luis has appointments for this and that. So we plan to sit in doctor’s offices a lot in 2008. Uh-oh, enter Teyla! She wants me to write her a letter.