Obamicon.Me

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Peaks

My friend Tim opened up a new place...Peak's Frozen Custard. If you visit Seattle, you must go there. It's at 1026 N.E. 65th street. It just opened last weekend and our family stopped by to celebrate D.Q.'s birthday.


Tim even let her dance on one of his tables.


This is what happens when my daughter eats frozen custard. Actually, this is the first time she has had frozen custard. Peaks is the only place in town where you can find it. Tim is from Wisconsin and frozen custard is easier to find there (or so I hear...I've never been to Wisconsin).

We had chocolate and vanilla.


All four of us loved vanilla the most! The caramel sauce was really, really yummy...you'll have to try it. They also serve espresso, pastries and some fine looking lunch items.

Go to Peaks and tell Tim that Jodi sent you.

Let's Dance

Let's dance put on your red shoes and dance the blues

Let's dance to the song
They're playin' on the radio


Let's sway
While color lights up your face
Let's sway
Sway through the crowd to an empty space


If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should fall
Into my arms
And tremble like a flower

Let's dance for fear
Your grace should fall
Let's dance for fear tonight is all


Let's sway you could look into my eyes
Let's sway under the moonlight,
This serious moonlight

If you say run, I'll run with you
If you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should fall
Into my arms
And tremble like a flower


Let's dance put on your red shoes
And dance the blues

Let's dance to the song
They're playin' on the radio

Let's sway you could look into my eyes
Let's sway under the moonlight,
This serious moonlight

My Adventures in Babysitting

I was reading Kelley's post about the time she babysat for neighbors and was paid in parsley and it got me thinking about my own adventures in babysitting. Here they are in no particular order.

1. My sister and I used to take turns babysitting for some neighbors. The dad was very good looking...like hot. He used to drive us the three blocks home, get out of his car and walk us to the door. It always felt a little like coming home from a date or something...and he was so cute...it was downright embarrassing! He was the only one I ever babysat for who walked me to the door. It was so not necessary.

2. The neighbor who lived directly across the street from us had three kids. I babysat for them for years and sometimes on really short notice. I was right across the street and very accessible. I used to haul in the cash. One day I was riding around on my brand-new ten-speed bike and she asked me how I liked the bike "she" bought me. Little did she know how very accurate that was.

3. The mom across the street used to bake Christmas cookies way ahead of time and put them in the freezer. I think I snuck about half of them and ate them while I was babysitting. She never said anything though! She used to make these chocolate ones with powdered sugar on them...they were yummy.

4. There was a new family a few blocks away. I only babysat for them once. About two hours after there son went to bed, he got up again and stood in the living room. He was very quiet and bit disoriented, so I think he was walking in his sleep. The next morning the mom called me about the pee on the freshly shampooed white carpeting in the living room. Ummm...I had no idea. I guess the boy was sleepwalking and trying to find the bathroom. They never asked me back.

5. New Year's Eve was always a primo night for babysitting. Sometimes I would get a few different offers and I would choose the best. One year I babysat for one family and they came home drunk way before midnight and paid me twice what they should have. I came back home with a grin on my face and the family across the street saw that I was home and had me come over and babysit their kids while they went out. Triple score!

Got babysitting stories?

Gas Prices

Somebody in my town has a sense of humor...

A Saturday Afternoon

Kellen had his first "non-parental" visitor yesterday...our friend he calls Gloria Hallelujah. When we arrived he was sitting in a small conference room watching Country Music Television. I brought my camera with me and let him go for it. Here is Ms. Hallelujah hamming it up for Kellen.



Gloria and Mom


Mom brought some Halloween candy


I talked to DQ on the phone


Gloria went to the cafeteria and brought me back some onion rings



Gloria brought me markers and drew me a picture



Mom is the Walrus



I'll be home soon

...and now for some comic relief

Senior "Portraits"

We've had a family portrait plan for a few years and it was about to expire. I decided it was probably a good idea to attempt some senior portraits for Kellen. I knew it was a long-shot to expect a good outcome for the following reasons:

1. He doesn't enjoy having his picture taken in the first place (unless someone he really likes can be in the picture with him).

2. He is not terribly photogenic. When he smiles, his eyes tend to close. One must be very patient and almost catch him off guard. Don't ever expect a great picture if he is "posing".

3. It helps if he has a relationship with the photographer, and the one at the portrait studio would be a total stranger.

Here are the best of the worst or the worst of the worst...whatever:






I'll think we'll take our free 8x10 and run. I'll take his senior photo myself...or have Sweet Husband take him to the beach again:

Retail Therapy at It's Finest

A couple of Sunday's ago, Sweet Husband and DQ left for their 15th annual summer backpacking trip together. They hiked near Mt. Rainier.




It's a little father/daughter thang they've been doing since DQ was six years old. It is also tradition that they take a gnarly photo together in the parking area at the end of their trip.



No sooner had they left, then I hopped on the web for a little retail therapy. I fully admit that I was using this as a coping mechanism as I knew it was to be a rough three days (plus I had some birthday money burning a hole in my underwear drawer). I went to this site and discovered that you can customize your own pair of boots.

Oh my gosh, was that fun. This was better than simple retail therapy...it was choices! options! creation!

I ordered a pair a little over a week ago...and believe it or not, my custom designed boots arrived today.



Those are my initials JR on the hangtag.



Look at these laces! My monogram is also on the tongue.



They were worth every penny and almost worth three days home alone with the K-Monster...almost.

No Words

I forget what you call it when someone thinks you are taking a picture...but you're actually taking a video. I remember seeing the word on Urban Dictionary, but now I can't find it. Anyone?

Friday's Flowers

As I downloaded these pictures from my camera, I noticed that some of the photo numbers corresponded to some pretty good years.

Wasn't 1965 beautiful? We could also call this one Mary Poppins or My Fair Lady as both films were winning Academy Awards in 1965.



1972 wasn't the "prettiest" of years...and let's not name this one Watergate. How about Pablo Picasso? He died in 1972.



This is gorgeous 1982. We could rename this one Prince William as he was born in 1982, June 21st to be exact. This could also be called the Camry which is not only the car I drive...but Toyota introduced the Camry in 1982.

Okay, that was fun...well maybe just "fun for one" as we like to say in my family.

Startled

I'll start off by saying, I startle very easily.

Trader Joe's has these delicious chocolate croissants in their frozen foods section. You take these little lincoln logs out of the freezer before you go to bed at night and in the morning they have risen big and fluffy. Then you just pop them in the oven and bake them. They are heavenly!

On Mother's Day Eve, I decided it would be great to have some warm, yummy croissants in the morning. With our kitchen remodel in progress...all we have is a microwave and toaster oven in our laundry room. I figured the toaster oven would work fine to bake them in. Then I looked around for a good place to put the sheet of rising croissants. Normally, of course, I'd put them in the kitchen. The only thing is, I have no kitchen. I didn't want to put them somewhere where I'd forget them, so I put the baking sheet in front of my computer. I knew that I would see them there first thing in the morning when I went to check my email.

Sunday morning arrives and I walk into the family room to sit down at the computer. Out of the corner of my eye I saw these big, white fluffy things that don't belong on my computer desk and I jumped.

The first time I've ever been startled by a croissant...

Cheeses and Knives

I saw this button on Facebook a month ago and it still makes me laugh. Last week Kellen spent the night with his grandparents. It was a nice break for him from the chaos of the house remodel and when I came to pick him up after work he really didn't want to come home with me. I hung out for about an hour trying to figure out what would motivate him. I looked in my parent's refrigerator (which is generally fairly empty since they eat out a lot) and saw that they had some cheese slices. I asked Kellen if he was interested in some cheese and his whole demeanor changed. His face lit up. He stood up ready to come home with me.

Later when I recounted the story to Sweet Husband, he said, "Ohh...what a friend we have in cheeses."

Yesterday Sweet Husband and I were sharing a hug. Kellen looked over from the couch and said in a sweet voice, "husband....and knife." I think he meant "wife." At least I hope he did.

Faded

Dear Wal-Mart,

I'm a woman over 40. What makes you think I want to wear a brand called "Faded Glory"? The juniors get a brand called, "No Boundaries"...but the mature women get "Faded Glory".

LOL...sigh.

Signed,
Not that far over the hill

What We'd Like to See

Now that the Reimers have joined the 21st century and have high-speed internet...YouTube is much more fun. Oh...the...things...that are on YouTube...but that's for another day. How about what we'd like to see?

D.Q. and I were at a rock concert this weekend held at our church. We were talking about how we'd love to have the concert on video so we could enjoy it later. All of a sudden...an idea was born.

We could create ThouTube!

A YouTube...with Hip Hope music.

Okay...now don't everybody run out and steal our idea.

What would you like to see?

Today's Snippet of Weirdness

Today I was meeting Sweet Husband in the parking lot of the hospital where he works so that we could do a Kellen "hand-off". It was a busy time of day and I didn't see a place to park, so I was just kind of hanging out in the aisle waiting for SH to arrive. A man and his two dogs walks up to my car and says, "Are you looking for a place to park?" When I nodded in the affirmative, he said, "Okay, my dogs need to pee and then I'll be leaving and you can have my parking space." He walks over to the ivy and let's his dogs to their thing while I sit in my car waiting for someone else's dogs to pee. How weird is that?

One

I ran into a friend the other day when I was visiting Children's Hospital. Our boys with disabilities are nearly the same age and we live not too far from each other. She is originally from Mexico and I've been contracting with her at work to help me support Spanish-speaking parents of kids with special needs. She has a warm, compassionate heart and people seem to be drawn to her.

We've been working at getting our sons together more often. When I saw her in one of the halls of the hospital we talked about Kellen and I coming to her house to visit on Saturday. I offered to bring a movie over, then she mentioned that we could play the card game, "One." It took me a second, then I realized that she meant, "Uno."

We got a good laugh out of that one!

Hillary Rang

Just now the phone rang. I took a look at the caller ID and it said, "Hillary Clinton" and had a Virginia area code. I didn't answer...and she didn't leave a message.

It must not have been very important.

Maybe I should have just answered and yelled, "Serenity Now!" or "I need a vacation!"or maybe even, "Lord Love a Duck!" or "This is FOLLY!"

I think I'll answer next time. Better yet, if Hillary calls again, I'll have Kellen answer. I'd like to hear what she thinks of being called a Bad Queen.

Need a Laugh?

Head on over to The Quirk Factor where Mommy Dearest has posted, "Your School District Might Be a Pain in the Neck if..."

The line that made me laugh the most was: Your school district might be a pain in the neck if the school nurse sends your child home because the teacher has a headache.

Just for the record, I do not consider my child's school district to be a pain in the neck (or anywhere else)...but I swear that this has happened to us!

Just Like in Monopoly

I love a mocha Frappuccino. I drink one several mornings a week. I always order a Tall, but once in awhile the person taking my order presses the wrong button and I end up getting a Grande for the price of a Tall. When this happens, I consider it a lucky morning!

Today I was up early as I had a longer drive ahead of me than normal. Sweet Husband offered to run to Starbucks and get me a coffee. A little while later he walked jubilantly into the house calling, "Ohhh honey, Starbucks made a Frappuccino error in your favor!"