A Joke and A Fresh Marketing Idea...

My mom forwarded a joke to me that her friend Becky sent to her with a note on it that it sounded like something that would be on my blog.

Yes. Yes it does.

And, it's too funny not to share.

GOTTA LOVE THEM LITTLE BOYS

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.

The man at the counter asked the older boy, 'Son, how old are you?'

'Eight,' the boy replied.

The man continued, 'Do you know what these are used for?'

The boy replied, 'Not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four.'

The boy continued, 'We saw on TV that if you use these, you would be able to swim and ride a bike. And right now, he can't do either one.'

LOL.

Now, this got me to thinking about another use that my friends and I figured out for tampons.



Yes. That's a cooler with a tampon plugged into it.

Well. The plug was missing and we didn't want the water and ice to drain and our beer to get warm.

I bet that the marketing people never thought about this marketing angle.

And, if you're wondering...yes...it worked. Nothing leaked. It must have been a super plus absorbent one.

And, now, please wipe off the screen where you spit your coffee onto it. Your IT Department thanks you.

A Fabulous Botanical Garden

While we were in Pawleys Island, SC, Joan kept telling me that I should go to Brookgreen Gardens, which is right near her house. Try as we did, we weren't able to get there until right before we left.

And, wow. I'm glad that we did.

This is one place where I'm glad that I have a SLR camera instead of just a point and shoot. You just can't get the type of pictures with a p-n-s that you can with the Rebel. Here's some of my favorite pics.

Note that these are all of my images and not BGG's.

A pink Hibiscus.
For Shackup...

Butterflies aren't that easy to capture. Trust me. I have twenty other crappy shots to prove it. ;)

Sawgrass in the background.

Jiminy. My voice of conscieous that told me to put down my camera. As you can see, I didn't listen to him. :)

This owl was enclosed but I was able to get a shot through the netting and blur it so you can't see the front netting. SLR cameras rock.




Live Oak Alley. If you look closely at the center towards the left, you'll see a person gardening. That should give you a scale of the trees.

This is one of my favorite shots.

Yes, ick. A spider. But it was cool. I had to put my focus on manual because the camera auto focus couldn't see the spider or it's web.


The SC Palmettos. What's a trip to the gardens without seeing some palmettos?

Yes. Obviously I need therapy but I just couldn't stop taking pictures. Not with all of this beautiful scenery around.

So I hope that you too enjoyed my trip to Brookgreen Gardens. :)

Grandma vs. Grandpa

Ken and I went out to dinner the other night and Joan and Darrel watched the boys.

Before we left, I talked with Shane and Owen to let them know that they would be with Joan and Darrel.

Before I knew we were going out to dinner, I had bought some sparklers and poppers and had told them that they could do them that evening. Shane was very concerned about not being able to do them.

SHANE: Grandma and Grandpa have different parenting styles, you know.

He continues:

"Yeah...Grandpa is all freestyling and pretty much lets us do whatever we want. Grandma is all like "don't do this and don't do that. You'll get hurt." She's kind of over protective, don't you think? Oh well. I won't say anything to her. I'll just go with it. I don't want to hurt her feelings"

But, I really want to do the sparklers.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

DON'T SAY ANYTHING TO HIM. I just thought it was funny.

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July, America! Again.

Yeah, yeah. I'm a little late with the pictures.

But, I haven't had access to upload any pics.

On the Fourth, we went to Litchfield for some fireworks. Nothing better than a bunch of drunk guys shooting fireworks along the beach. Definitely not the controlled scene that we're use to in DC. When the wind shifted and sent the fireworks about 10feet over our head, I knew that wasn't good.

The clincher was when two of the fireworks shot off to the side and caught the dune on fire about five feet from us. We were done and packed it in. If the sand ants didn't get ya, those fireworks sure almost did.

Here's a few pics. :)

Of course, there were fireworks too but it was too hard getting the actual fireworks but I kind of dig these.

The Red Dot Store

It's South Carolina.

It's patriotic.

If you're from SC, you know what it is.

Our friends Emily and Scott thought it was funny that the liquor stores were called red dot stores and didn't believe me. I explained to them that the red dots were placed on the liquor stores way back when so that the people who couldn't read could find the stores.

Or, at least that's what I've always been told.

So, here's the proof.
We don't need any fancy advertising either.

The verbage "liquor store" or "package store" is for foreigners (aka as Yankees or anyone not from SC.) We South Carolinians already know to look for the red dot. :o)

Would You Be Sad?

Last night, Shane decided that he wanted to have a profound conversation about bullying and things that were going on at school and how he should handle them.

Somehow the conversation took a left turn.

And kept going.

Shane was worrying about someone stealing his most valuable possession - his ducky and his doggie blanket. So, Ken explained that while Ducky and Doggie Blanket are important possessions to Shane, if someone broke into the house, they would not steal Ducky and Doggie Blanket because they are only valuable to him. That they would be looking to steal valuables like our silver and china.

SHANE: Mom...would you be sad if someone stole your china?

ME: No, Shane. I wouldn't care if they took the china.

SHANE: What about if they stole Ducky.

ME: They are not going to steal Ducky.

OWEN: Mom...would you be sad if they stole your vagina?

ME: Ummmm ... that's not possible.

KEN: Yes...

China...vagina. It rhymes. I guess that's how Owen got from a to z.

So, I guess Owen was listening to our conversation about body parts after all, eh?

He's So Crabby

Shane has found a new fun hobby at Pawleys Island.

Crabbing.



I think his tounge really helps with his concentration, don't you agree? :)

Opposite Directions

No matter what it is, no matter how big or small, if you ask Owen and Shane what they want, it will ALWAYS be the opposite of what the other one wants to do. ALWAYS. Bank on it.

I'm thoroughly convinced that it's a diabolical plan on their part to drive me absolutely insane. They can't agree on anything - where to go for dinner, what to have for lunch, what they want for snack. You name it. They want the opposite of each other.

Usually it's manageable but if you don't keep on eye on them, they will split in two directions and you'll lose one of them before you can blink. Again, because they never want to do the same thing.

I took them to Funland (which is only fun for the kids by the way.) If you want to lose your kids, it's the best place to take them. And, for the record, I did not lose them. Nor did I want to. On that particular day anyway. ;)

So, I snapped this picture of them in the playground. When I got it back, I started thinking that it was really a metaphor for life with them. Always choosing the opposite way from the other one.



It also got me to thinking that there are two paths for them. One will take one way and the other will take another and however they get there is how they get there. Neither is wrong. It's just a different way to get to where they're going and they'll (hopefully) choose the path that is right for them.

Of course, every once in a while they could throw me a bone and choose the same thing. Even something as small as what cartoon they want to watch. That would be just dandy and one less fight to referee.

There's No Better Way...

To a kid, there's no better way to eat spaghetti than to suck it into their mouths.

Especially if it's really buttery.

Then the grease gets all over the place and makes a big mess.

But, it's just so cute the way Mary Mayken does it, so I don't care.



And, truthfully, I like to do it too. I just don't let the kids see me. LOL.

Kim & her sister

This is the guest blogger here- Kim's mom!!! I thought it would be interesting to look back and see some of the comparison's between the girls when they were little and their children today. Kim is always posting about the boys and their fighting and insisting that it's because they are boys. In the above picture, Kim is the little angel in blue- pinching the hell out of her sisters cheeks!! Now we all know where the fighting started!!! I'm sure Susan did something to provoke the attack (which she will adamantly deny!)

I know the picture is not nearly as good as what Kim takes but I just had to post it. It is too funny not to post.

Little Rocker Dude

I'm not sure whether to giggle at these pictures or whether to be afraid of the future. It all looks a little too real. Especially since Owen's favorite music tends to be the heavy metal like Motley Crue, Ozzy or Linkin Park. The heavier the better.

BFF's For-EVAR

Owen has a BFF.

Everytime she comes over, they insist that they sleep in the same room.

Nevermind that they aren't going to go to sleep until I turn into mommy monster.

And, nevermind that there is only one twin bed in his room.

They can campout on his floor.

And, hopefully, they will eventually go to sleep.

And, they always do.

After I turn into mommy monster.



And, then after they finally go to sleep, I sneak in there and take pictures, hoping that I don't wake them again.

But, if I do, it's worth it.

Because they are too cute and it must be documented.

No Better Way To Waste Time....

Than to take goofy pictures.

We went to the children's theater and saw the School House Rocks show. There was about 30 minutes before the show started and the kids started getting antsy.

So, I pulled out my camera and we started taking pictures.

Owen and I doing the "Da#&^er smile." This is Shane and Ken's smile and Owen and I love to goof on them about it.



The "Owen."



Owen being indifferent. Unfortunately, I have seen this look before. A lot.



A devil, a raindeer and a horse.





Owen was more than happy to participate in the goofiness.

Shane was not amused by us. I think that we embarrassed him. I'm sure that it's not the last time I'll embarrass him.



And, he's had enough. LOL.



So, mom, now you know what to do the next time dad starts grumbling when you're out. Take out your camera and start snapping his picture. I'm sure that he'd love that! His picture would look a lot like Shane's last one. But, he'll probably be giving you the "you're #1 sign." You can bank on that!

And, be sure to send them to me. That would make an awesome post!

Happy Fourth of July, America!

Happy Independence Day.

Nothing represents America more than the summer beach trip with the family.

Here's my last few shots from Virginia Beach.

View from our room.

Biking seemed to be the activity of choice.

Shane and Owen are the two kids in the background.

What is a beach trip without photographing the local flowers? I think that I'm addicted to macro pictures of flowers. Yep. I'm pretty sure that I am.

Can't get much more beachy than umbrellas and chairs.

It took forever to get the sand out of Owen's hair!

The boardwalk is the happening place at the beach.

Elvis was in the building! Definitely as American as you can get.



There was an Elvis convention that weekend. Too bad we discovered it on the last night. This was one of the marketing people at the trade fair at the convention.

One last picture.



I don't want to gloss over the real reason that we're here today. It's because of our Revolutionary War ancestors who fought for our independence. So, a big thank you to them as well as to all men and women of the armed services who fight for our independence and freedom every day!

Happy Fourth of July.