Of course The Girl ran outside ‘cos it doesn’t happen all that often.  Notice her hat?  One of the things I knit while I wasn’t blogging.  The yarn is that Louet Bonnie in the Cold Spring colorway.  I like the yarn but didn’t like the knots.

Later we had dinner.  Steve West cooked tilapia with mango salsa, mashed potatoes and greens.  It was delicious.

A few minutes ago, the po-po arrested three men at gunpoint on the sidewalk in front of the house.  One of them had to be retrieved from our side yard.  I betcha he wasn’t expecting our locked privacy fence to be in his way.  The cops carried his sorry ass down my front bank, right through my hibernating flowers.  I hollered to those fuckers about that one but it did no good.  I’ll have to survey the damage in the morning.  Why couldn’t they use the stairs?

Apparently the guys they arrested had been involved in stealing a car.  I don’t know where the car was but I heard one of the cops say they were doing 100 mph down my street.  The speed limit on my street is 35 mph.  Did I mention the snow has gone to rain and that’s it’s freezing?  Um, yeah.  The way things have been around here lately, I’m just glad bullets didn’t fly.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Can you tell she’s been wearing it – a LOT?  Yeah.

I’m off.  Hopefully I’ll be updating more often.  That’s my goal for 2009.

Gratuitous parting shot:

It’s over. But pajama day was awesome while it lasted.

We laid about in bed knitting & increasing our brain strength

Our dogs joined us

The Girl played some Guitar Hero

That fat beagle lays around a LOT!

In between activities we ate – pork roast with root vegetables for dinner – and drove Steve West crazy.

Absolutely fantastic!

And now I am off to lay on my ass and drink beer…so the usual just in a new location.

I’ve been in the yard as much as possible and seen all sorts of delicious things.  Remember how we had a vole run through the living room and something trying to get us in the attic?  We threw traps and poison from stem to stern and have heard nothing else.  Not a peep.  That is until I was cleaning out some leaves from the Spanish Lavender when the Ghost of Christmas Past rose up and almost gave me a heart attack.  Befuckinghold:

That is NASTY!  Of course, I left it out on the walk as a warning to anything else that may be thinking of invading my home.  We have rules:  you stay outside and I leave you alone – well, I still may shoot you with fox pee, but I don’t kill you.  You come inside and you’re mine.  While visual aid was laying there and I was knitting on a sock, some fucker from the neighborhood association came up on my porch, with his DOG, and interrupted a serious dilemma to tell me they were celebrating the park’s 125th anniversary and I should be there.  When he only got “okay” and the stink eye for his dog he huffed off with a “sorry” like he’s 10 years old, which is really an insult to my 10 year old who doesn’t act like that.  She also knows better than to take her dogs up onto some stranger’s porch.  Fuckhead.  And no, I didn’t go to the park thing as it involved all sorts of public prayers by the local churches.  I don’t like any persons religion up in my face, thankyouveryfuckingmuch.

Now, it was either that day or a day close to it that we celebrated Mutha Fucka Day!  I know I won’t ever get Mother of the Year so we just get down to the real deal around here.  I am an asshole and I am a bitch to live with.  I know this and they know this but they love me anyway.  And, truth be told, I am a pretty good mutha even if I am a bit lot unorthodox in my methods.  The Girl made breakfast for me and she and Mr. gave me some new Chuckie T.’s, in blue and in natural, since I’ve been wearing mine since forever and they are jacked up.  Then we ran out to Mom’s for dinner.  One of the best parts was that I received a card from Celia wishing my Happy Mother Fucker’s Day!  I was so surprised yet so thrilled that she remembered!  She really is a sweetheart.  I do hope her day was as good as mine.

On the topic of gardening I’ve got this weird plant growing.  I put it in last year and really like it, but can’t for the life of me remember what the hell it is.  If anyone has a clue please send it my way.  This is the base:

and it has this super duper long assed flower:

What is it?  I do have normal things, like this lily:

We’ve finally gotten the rest of the annuals in and the veg garden is going gangbusters.  I should have rutabega in a week or two, along with tomatoes and cukes.  Those two are going to take over if I don’t watch it.  I’ve also already had banana peppers come in and I am now waiting on the habaneros and bell peppers.  Oh, and I’ve got some strawberries and rhubarb and asparagus.  Seriously?  I am turning into FarmerfuckingTed.

What else?  Oh yeah, the wildlife tried to get us at work too.

That’s a black rat snake and that is my front door at work.  It’s all crinkled up because a mockingbird had just pecked it.  That’s balls considering that snake eats birds  Now I gotta get rid of it before my leadperson at work gets wind that there is a snake about.  He won’t come into work if he knows it’s there and I need him to be there.

This past weekend we all rode out bikes over to Lenny’s for Mondo Homo 2008.  What.a.total.blast!  Bands, booze and great people.  Shitty Candy was a total hit.  I love women that can throw it down.

and the marching band at the end got The Girl going:

And there you have it:  the update from the ATL.  Knitting content on the flip, dig?

See that?  See how tall?  I am 5′7″ and she is up to my shoulder.  Girlie is wearing a size 8.5 shoe and doesn’t understand why she can’t wear stilettos.  They do, after all, come in her size.  No question she is mine.

We started her birthday celebrations with bowling on Saturday with a couple of her friends.

I wore my completed Firebirds.

That was followed by pizza and huge laughs.  Yesterday we surprised her with brunch at the Sundial.  She’s talked about wanting to check it out ever since she discovered the restaurant rotates, giving you enormous views.  She was completely thrilled to be there.  Then it was back to the house for cake and ice cream.

Today Mr. and I went to have lunch with her at the school and took cupcakes for the entire 4th grade.  She was thrilled to see us as was everybody else.  Nobody can pass up a cupcake with butter cream frosting.  Tonight we are off to Scalini’s for yet more food.  Are y’all seeing the trend here?  The food thing?  Good god but my ass is going to be three times bigger by tomorrow morning.  Pizza, French toast and pasta.  Barley and vegetables for the rest of the week!

My Girl is 10 years old today.  I am so proud of her.  She’s not only smart and funny, she also has the most awesome sense of “fair”.  Everyday I am more blessed than the day before simply for knowing her.

Here’s a weird thing. I am from Michigan. A small town named Saginaw. Farms and factories. My mom moved us to Georgia in 1982 and we’ve been here ever since. All of our family is still up there, mostly. After the move we didn’t see them so much and aren’t close at all. Now mom has three half brothers, on of whom recently passed. Well, his daughter called mom and said she was coming down and would be staying with friends in my neighborhood. That in itself is weird enough. My neighborhood is big, but not that big and besides, Atlanta is a big place. Anyway, she tells the street name where she’ll be staying and I was like “that has to be The Girl’s teacher, from this year.” Back in the middle of the school year The Girl wore a Saginaw Valley State University sweatshirt and her teacher commented that she lived near there when she was younger. So, sure enough, my cousin is staying with the teacher just around the block and again there is another lesson in just how small the world can be. Strange, huh?

How do you like the pose? That girl is a definite ham!