"Dallas or Bust!"

That's what we painted on the Gas Hog's windows.

Dallas is our End of the Year Field Trip destination to see the one and only -

Olliver, the brain dead pug, has a weekend of play dates planned. The grass has been watered sufficiently for the past 21 days in a row. And Sledge is itching to hit the road.

So off we go into the wild blue yonder!

May God have mercy on our many travel companions' souls.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: You have ONE LAST HURRAH before we return to Plainsville and BUY A LAWNMOWER...or I am taking my bloggy friends' advice and either picking out a new girl for you OR hiring a shiny, new, powerful, well-built Bad Boy to mow the grass. You know how I {heart} Bad Boys...

Crumb Snatchers have threatened to Revolt

because I, apparently, haven't "taken the pig flu thing serious enough" and we are still...

I was very tempted to say we'd be out of school for that reason when...

but then again thought better of it. Pigs fly is a little to close to pig flew or flu...

They heard on the news that Dallas schools are closed all week. They wanted to know, "Why? Why?? Why...couldn't they have a cool mom?" Instead of one that makes the...

I explained that this...and this...

was not going to enter our school grounds to infect them in any way. So put on your big boy underwear and big girl panties and DEAL WITH THE OLD MEAN SCHOOL MARM.

That's when Girl Child threatened to do this......or REVOLT.

First, I asked her to spell it.
She did.

Then I asked her if she could tell me the correct meaning.
She did.

Then I offered to give her a free ride to either the Health Department or DHS. Her pick.
She didn't...like my attitude. She told me.

This is what I looked like when I cracked myself up...

Even though we now have confirmed cases of Swine Flu here in Okie-Homa. I cannot convince myself it's serious. Is it the name? Is it the thought? Is it all hype?

Are all the swine feeling this way about now...

What are your deep thoughts on the matter? Do you have the epidemic pig flu of 09 in your neck of the woods? Did you have your flu shot? Do you prefer tangy & sweet BBQ sauce or spicy and bold?

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Hey big guy. I have bupkus tonight. That's a rarity. I always have some thing to say to you. So soak up the silence my friend. Soak it on up.

Wow!!

The Crumbs and I counted down the days...

it was SO WORTH IT!!

When Daddy-O asked what they'd learned.

He was bombarded for the next 20 minutes with fact after fact.

If you are looking for some spectacular photography, entertaining educational material and being mesmerized by our gorgeous planet - then go see it soon.

And Happy Earth Day.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: I know, I know, you're holding your breath in anticipation for some words on the whole Chavez, Castro, water boarding, basically stellar first few months...but, I'm just not up to it yet Love. Maybe you can persuade me. Bribe me. Encourage me greatly. hint, hint.

Kids in the 'hood are Brilliant

We all know there is no fun quite like Snow Fun...
Well here in the 'hood, we do it up right.
First, the conditions have to be perfect.
They were.
Thick layer of ice.
Followed by a nice cushy layer of damp snow.
Perfect slicker'n snot conditions for slidin' and sleddin'.

First, you outfit 'em up with high tech Slippin'-n-Slidin' gear.

The kind found at Target and Wal*Mart.

Then turn 'em loose in the streets.

Yes, that is his shoe pokin' through.

It was a fabulous idea...in my head.

You encourage them to be creative in their work.

If that isn't a Hood Snowgirl, then I need to close shop.

She's got her colors.

Her spiked bling.

Her flinty gaze,

a big caboose,

...and huge ta-tas.

Now with my Girl unknowingly enhancing them for me.

Thank you for that Sugar.

Your father is gonna be so proud of this post.

Gratuitous picture of my Baby.

He does not know he isn't a husky.

He thinks God created the white fluffy stuff just for him.

I was hoping to show you how absolutely gorgeous the ice was sparkling and shimmering in the sunlight. But alas, this picture does not give you the oooo ~ ahhhh feeling I was searching for.
Sorry.

No doubt this one of my baby, Olliver will though.

Okay, I'll stop! I can tell by his look and yours...

I snapped this right before we headed to The Hill.

Now, the saddest part of this post is I did not have my camera with me at The Hill. For if I did, you'd have to agree the kids in the 'hood, when left to their own devices, are brilliant and creative thinkers. Real problem solvers.

Not all the kiddos out sleddin' today had the great joy and privilege of owning a real sled, toboggan, disk or other snow vehicle.

So they got creative, solved the dilemma and provided for themselves.

Here's a short list of what I saw in action or deserted on The Hill today:

• The typical garbage can lids.
• Giant plastic sheeting.
• Standard Okie blue tarp. (Their Daddy'll miss that coverin' one of his cars in the yard...)
• Skateboards with no wheels.
• Ice chest lid.
• An ice chest.
• Laundry baskets galore.
• A gi-normous wok.
• Cardboard. (if you're moving, The Hill is your box source.)
• A cookie sheet.
• A plastic flexible cutting board.
• Metal flashing.
• A realtor sign. (I should have taken old JBF signs and hocked 'em for a buck a pop. Coulda made Sashi and I a coupla bucks!)
• A full size trash can.

And my two favorites...

1. A full size pickup truck bed liner. (It carried a whole block's worth of kiddos.)
2. And a Kiddie Pool. (It carried the whole fam damily. Including the dog.)

All in all it was a fabulous day.

We saw some spectacular crashes on the homemade jobbies.

The kids realized the whiny-hiney episode of owning only one serviceable sled at the moment was small and petty when they looked around and realized at least they had one. I was very proud of the way they eagerly shared theirs and experimented with the offered alternatives.

Oh, and their vocabulary was expanded today. Not in a good kinda expansion either. But hey! At least the poor neglected homeschoolers were socializing with their peers.

They came home sopping wet, freezing cold, red-faced and smiling from ear to ear.

I sure hope that wasn't our last Snow Day of the winter cause I'm hoping Taco Bandito (Sashi's lover) can hook the Shooter fam up with a truck bed liner for the next big snow.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: You missed it today Bubba! I know you wanted me to put their go-cart helmets on 'em...but Love, I already scar them by educating them at home. I just couldn't add Over Protective to the mix today...

Fact of the Day: Why is it significant that the first Roosevelt dime was issued on this day in 1946? Because in 1937 the then POTUS, who himself was afflicted with polio, asked his fellow Americans to each send him a dime for polio research, they did. He received 150,000 letters a day for months. He called the event The March of Dimes. On April 15, 1955, exactly ten years after Roosevelt's death, Dr. Jonas Salk announced his discovery of the first polio vaccine. Hence, when it came time to honor the late President, Congress chose the dime.

"Hello Principal Shooter? Yeah (fake cough), I need a sub today..."

I figure that's what I may need to do after Big Shooter's misplaced words of yesterday's post.

Silly man. He has no idea what is about to be set before him!

(This would be BS after, oh say 10 minutes, of teaching the Crumbs...)

My mom does.

And she won't do it again.

Be my substitute.

When Big Shooter came home from the little surgery in which they cut him in half and removed a cancer ridden organ and I was still fulfilling his fantasy of servant, I mean nurse, my very brave momma agreed to teach the Crumbs for me a couple days so they wouldn't get too far behind.

Picture of Brave Momma teaching the Crumbs

How'd that turn out?

Wellll, let me ask you what you were like when you walked into class and saw an easy target - a.k.a. a substitute teacher?

It went about this good:

I'm just pulling your leg. Well, about the easy target substitute part....

And now speaking of school, I have decided since a majority of my days are taken up with school I would like to share a little fact each day. Starting with today.

Where were you when...?

...this happened 23 years ago today?

I was a junior in Chemistry class. And I can hear President Reagan's words in my head to this day, "...when they slipped the surly bonds of this Earth and touched the face of God."

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Sorry to dampen your mood in the end Big Guy. I have another fact you might find enjoyable. Cause I think it's a guy thing? Yesterday (when I wanted to start a Fact a Day), Thomas Crapper, the guy who invented...well, you know, would have been 99 years old.

Errector muscles, goose bumps & public school...

When Big Shooter asked the kids what they'd learned in school the other day...
We, all three, enthusiastically explained we learned what causes goose bumps!
(Do you already know?)
There's a little, teeny-weeny, microscopic muscle at the base of each and every hair on your body. When a stimulus is applied (like temperature or fear) it contracts and pulls the hair erect into an upright position!
The muscle is called arrector pili.
Now at this point I could go down the road you think I am dying to go down...and the truth of it is, I am dying to bring up the fact that there are millions of teeny-weeny, microscopic muscles that sole job, when stimulated of course, is to cause millions of teeny-weeny erections...

But, I'm not. I am going to share the rest of the conversation with Big Shooter instead.

When we were all done enthusiastically explaining the reason for goose bumps, he looked at me questioningly and asked with amusement, "Are you serious? You didn't know that?"

"Uhhh, no. I didn't." (Did y'all? Am I alone in my ignorance?)

He looked at me and very seriously said, "I'm a little concerned...maybe they should go to public school."

So I am dying to know if you all knew about this most humorously named muscle that only needs a little stimulation to cause an erection?? Cause if you all do, he's right, they need to go elsewhere besides the kitchen table to be educated.

If you didn't know about the erector muscles (I love saying it), aren't you just the littlest bit curious to know how Big Shooter knows all about them?

Yeah, me too.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: I don't know what to say here Big Guy. I don't want the words teen-weeny or microscopic or erector muscle in your love note...so I am just going to be moseyin' on now...

Felonist or Teacher?

Weather in Idaho is much like it is in Oklahoma - Fickle.
When it comes to plans, here's another word you'd better be familiar with - Flexible.
It was cold, windy, and not fish hatchery/fossil bed field trip conducive yesterday.
So we were flexible.
It was not difficult.
Because that just meant more time granted to us to with the Great Grannies.
One just needed some much needed lovin' on. And the other gave Girl Child an in depth sewing lesson. Move over Martha, I think there may be a new girl comin' to town.
We moved yesterday's plans to Thursday. In the meantime, I thought we'd share our spontaneous learning experience (unplanned homeschool activity a.k.a. trespassing violation that got counted as a school field trip) on our way across Wyoming last week.

We loved spotting these on the horizon. In state after state.

They were mesmerizing. Beautiful.

And GI-NOR-MOUS.

But, we were never close enough for good pix.

Until Evanston, Wyoming...

What do you do when you find an unmanned road leading right up to the base of these babies?

Why you take the time to park in just the right angle and place your most precious cargo on TOP of the truck...

so they can enjoy the experience too.

Then you sneak as close as you dare to the base so you can get an up close shot of the door. (It's barely visible on the right side.)

Then you run back to the truck. Proceed down the highway. All the while pretending you really didn't see the white warning sign on the fence...

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Since you've returned to Plainsville and left me and Crumbs to our own devises, I haven't had even one teensy weensy little thought or idea of criminal activity...I miss you.

Puh-leeze tell me ya remember!

The human brain is a remarkable living computer!
I love, love, LOVE to watch my kiddos' brains work.
Now Big Shooter would lovingly disagree about the fact the Boy Child's brain works on all cylinders - all the time. I do not chastise him when ever he says such things because I have the distinct feeling he is speaking from experience...not judgement.
Back to my little story.
I do not remember now what brought this little ditty to mind, but in the middle of a lesson I started singing, "Allllmond Joy has nuts...Peter Paul Mounds don't. Beeeeecause...sometimes you feel like a nut. And sometimes ya don't!" I glanced up to big eyed silent stares. And if you know anything about the Crumbs - they are not quiet.
After several seconds, I shrugged and asked, "Whuh? What's the problem?"
To which I was promptly answered with more shocked staring.
"Haven't you ever heard that song," I asked wondering when the last time I heard it was.
They both just slowly shook their little blond bobs at me.
"C'mon! You have to have heard it! I grew up hearing it!" Could I get any more lame in my attempts to convince myself I am not old?!! Good Grief!
All at once they both broke into giggles and asked where I'd heard it.
"Are you serious?! I grew up with that song playing on the TV. Every momma my age knows that song."
So they called Sashi.
After much warming up and encouraging she sang it to the absolute delight of the Crumb Snatchers.
Then they called Soul Sis.
She belted it out on their first request, no questions asked.
Then they experimented and called Daddy to see if the Dads my age might know it too.
He did. Again, no questions asked. They practically fell on the floor in a heap of giggly jello.

Side Note: It made me wonder just now typing those last few sentences.
Why is Sashi the only one of these three people who love my kiddos, concerned about what is going on in my house and wondering why my kids are calling out of the blue to ask to hear the nut song? Hmmm.

What a fun trip down Memory Lane for the Crumbs to travel with me...and Daddy and others. They asked to hear every song I could remember when I was a child around their ages.
I sang the "My bologna has a first name...it's M-a-y-e-r. My bologna has a second name...it's..."song. I hummed the Peanuts theme. I sang, "Conjunction ... function.. that's your... nuh-amme. Conjunction ... function ...what's your... guh-amme?" song too. I tried to make the Six Million Dollar Man sound effects...to no avail. I hummed the Dallas theme too.
I couldn't remember very many of them though.
I was hoping you could so we could sing, hum, pretend, whatever for them?
They loved this little game!!!
Leave me a comment and then have a FABULOUS weekend y'all!!

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Heeeey Big Shooter, whaaaat cha got cookin'? Hooooow's about coooookin' somethin' uuuup for meeeee???

Evidence of a Homeschooled Child

Originally written last week.

Big Shooter and I are often heard making flippant remarks such as, "Man, I've called DHS and complained about us as parents a dozen times...when are they gonna come give us a break?"
But, in the back of my mind I am ever mindful of this very real possibility since a nosy neighbor (like myself), who doesn't know we homeschool may wonder why my Crumb Snatchers are outside playing while the rest of the neighborhood kids are in school and actually make that call. So I keep meticulous records of lessons, assignments, projects and test scores just in case...
Today though, I had to smile and wonder what a DHS worker would think of the conversation I overheard during recess:

Girl Child: "AAaarrrr... (loud, obnoxious, very unlady-like screaming) Get back! Get out, you meddling European!

Boy Child: "What?! I (said with chest puffed-out and fake aristocratic voice) am not a meddling European. I am only trying to colonize these...these...parts. (I love how the Okie slipped back in.) I have been sent by His Royal Majesty on a mission to conquer this country. (pompous voice again)

Girl Child: "Well, THAT will not happen! For I am on a mission too and it is to write the Monroe Doctor!...or what ever it's called!"

Boy Child: "So?"

Girl Child: "So, you can't come in my country anymore."

Boy Child: After a long pause, "What was the Monroe Doctrine again? Was it a bloody battle, or a cool weapon, or...?"

Girl Child: Lowering her stick sword, "I think it was a piece of paper."

Boy Child: Thrusting his stick sword at anything and everything, "What??? And that kept the Europeans out? Really??? Wow. They must have been scardy cats!"

Girl Child: "I dunno. I think they were tired of fighting. Remember the War of 1812...and the one before it.

Boy Child: "The Revolutionary War. Ding-Ding-Ding! (uses sword to hit pumpkin like a gong) "But yeah, you're right they were probably really tired of fighting by then! Shrugs his shoulders, "...wanna play Westward Expansion on the tramp then?"

And with that they ran to the backyard.
Sigh.
Concerns about DHS? Not so much. Sooner or later we'd prove we were fit to have them back and our mini-vacation would be over. I am more concerned with whether or not they will ever really fit in...??? They do have Big Shooter's gene pool ya know.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: Have I said "Thank you for working your tail off so I can stay home and teach our spawn," lately? Cause if not. "Thank you from me and the Crumb Snatchers."

Ant Update

Y'all remember when we finally got the ants to inhabit this?



Welllll...that didn't work out so good the first time.


When we got the ant shipment, all but two were dead. But Uncle Milton's sent us a new shipment very quickly. In fact, their words were along the lines of "we do not want to be responsible for a 9 yo boy's disappointment". Hmmm. That was not what I was expecting when I called. I was relieved and impressed.


Until...the second set of ants didn't do any digging in the gel. We gave them lots of time. Lots of encouraging (as much as you can encourage ants). No go.


When I called Uncle Milton's to ask if this was normal or if we were doing something wrong, I learned two things.


1. Apparently the gel colonies have a shelf life. Hmm. That might have been good to know.


2. Uncle Milton takes good care of their customers. Really good care. At their own expense.


Third time was the charm. We received a "Natural Ant Replacement Kit". Which basically meant we weren't going to mess around with the gel colony any longer. We were going to do it naturally with sand.


I was a little more than skeptical. This being the third round and all.


No need to worry.


This is after 10 days.


They're busy little beavers, er bees. I mean ants. Whatever.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: I love watching you and your Minnie Me watch the ants.

Untitled

I wasn't sure whether to call this post:

* Got Called Chubby by Amish Granny While Pickin' Up Our Hawg Today.
* Son Ducked Down in Backseat From Embarrassment Caused by Mom Today
* According to the Cookies: Obama Will Be Our Next POTUS
* Did I REALLY Miss the Last Faux Debate Tonight?
* Yes, I Did. And Strangely, I Don't Care...

Here's our day...

~ Taught my youngins' the subjects that need teachin' at home, well...at home. So we could take a road trip while they finished the rest.

~ Took them to our fave bakery to buy them a Political Cookie. The Best Bakery In The Free World keeps a runnin' tally of how many Republican and Democrat candidate cookies they sell. It is very competitive and very precise...and delicious, ahem.

~ Drove to a very small town to pick up a hog our fam is splittin' halfsies with Sashi's fam. Homeschool was in full swing at this joint...Oh. My. Word. So many questions. So many disgusting questions. I now know why curiosity killed the cat. I almost paid the kill fee two more times...

~ Had to stop at the Local Seed and Feed to ask a group of men standing around the back of a truck jawin' for a direction clarification. After thanking the gentlemen and beginning to drive away, Boy Child pops up from a prone position in the back of the Excursion and says, "Okay, you can make my acquaintance again." It took me a sec. Then it dawned on me. "Were you lying down hiding back there while I asked for directions?" His answer, "Uh, YEAH! Hel-lo Mommy (I loved the Mommy part) you just pulled up to a bunch of MEN you didn't know, inter-rupted them, and let them know you were lost...or whatever you were..." Speechless. I was just speechless. Girl Child wasn't. She piped up, "Are you serious Boy Child ?!? Why? Just tell me. I want to know why you were embarrassed???" I just looked at her, shrugged and added, "If you figure that one out Sister...you'll be considered a genius."

~ Had the bright idea since I was in Amish Country to stop in and find a date our homeschool group could go out and dine with them in December. Granny Fanny (her real name btw) at one point was referring to the two of us and said, "You understand honey. You're chubby too." I started to snort. Snort loud. I only stopped because of the horrified look on my Crumb Snatchers faces. Is it bad to snort in front of the Amish? Do they know something at they're tender age about the Amish I do not? I have not been called Chubby since...I can't even remember people. I am not chubby. I am fat. It just cracked me up. Girl Child told me later she was proud of me for not correcting "the nice fat granny because she would have found out she was fat too...not chubby." My sweet Girl. Always looking out for the fat people of the world.

~ On our way home I stopped at a vegetable stand. If I just stopped typing there it wouldn't be interesting. But this vegetable stand was at lease 4-5 miles from the nearest small town off a very busy country highway. Nothing around. Nothing. Just a little pop-up tent thingy and a table loaded with veggies. There were no cars or trucks. Not even for the lady running it. We pulled up (after I glanced over, saw it, jammed the brakes, and Boy Child got slammed by 250 pounds of frozen HAWG sliding forward) and when I opened the door to get out I forgot I was in the very tall, Giant Gas Hog and fell out into the dirt. Bam! All I heard was ruckus, loud, hold-your-belly laughing from the Crumbs. I shoulda paid the Kill Fee a few hours before... The little lady turned out to be some sort of Asian decent and started shouting towards me. I still don't know if she was saying, "Oh my! Are you okay?" or "You idiot. That's what you get for driving a gas hog you Chubby housewife!" Since I couldn't understand anything she was saying I couldn't communicate the cost of anything either. So finally I pulled out the cash I had left in my wallet. (It was a measly $7.75 since I bought a drink at the butcher's place to get my children's mouths occupied with something other than questions. And then the fleecing I endured at Granny Fanny's buying her Chicken Base, her granddaughter's beaded jewelry for Girl Child and a Granny Fanny Cookbook.) Anyway, I handed the little lady the cash and after much pointing she handed me a giant bag of fresh from her garden green beans, a big bag of tomatoes and a bag of cukes! Fresh from the red dirt of an Oklahoma garden. For $7.75. It was by far, the best part of my day. Sans the embarrassing fall into the said Red Dirt.

~ The final straw, the last feather in my hat, the thing that pushed me over the brink (and helped me forget about the debates) was I witnessed a horrifying scene. (If I could plug my ears, say "blah, blah, blah", cover my eyes and still type, I would.) The girl Terrorist is no longer biting my beloved BDP...she is trying to...well, mount him...constantly. Yorkie on Pug action is not what I had in mind for the evening's entertainment. Keeping her occupied for the evening so he could rest was my final act of the evening.

I am going to bed now. I need some kind of yoga technique to clear my brain. I am not sure which part of my day could cause the most traumatic dream...there seems to be a whole plethora to chose from.

Now that you've endured thus far. I am offering a small prize (Arbonne Ginger Citrus Body Butter) for the best title of this post. Thank you and Good Night.

Love Note to my Big Shooter: I so hope you like pork...for so many different reasons...

My most exciting bloggy moment yet...

While I was away a most exciting thing happened to the Straight Shootin' site!

My Canadian friend Tracy from Blog Nosh Magazine published a silly post of mine about the virtues of homeschoolin'. If you like bloggin', or better yet readin' blogs, it's a way cool place to find great posts on...oh, just about every subject you can imagine. When she contacted me way back when the temps were solidly above the century mark I was so excited I could hardly wait...

Then school began in earnest and JBF began in earnest and Blog Nosh was forgotten.

Until I returned to a mailbox full of new friends and a couple comments who said they found me from Blog Nosh...Thank you Tracy. I love new friends. Especially the bloggin' kind.

If you click on the Blog Nosh button and then click on Education you can read my silly little post. Please keep in mind it was in my early, early days of bloggin' AND it was right around the holidays, which meant even less sleep than I get now. Sleep Deprivation + bloggin' = Magazine worthy post? Hmmm... Please don't hold it against them. It really is a great site!

Love Note to my Big Shooter: The last pic in the Twin post got my sentimental juices flowing. I keep remembering all the times and places we went on picnics. Our second date, which turned out to be the first of everything to come, began with a picnic...sigh...Oh, how I love thee...let me count the ways...gag, gag, gag...

I am here, but not home?

Does that make any sense? I am back here in Plainsville sleeping in my own bed at night. But not here at my house giving it some extraordinarily needed attention...or my blog.
My living room, kitchen, front and back porch, and laundry room have piles to navigate and yesterday marked a week that the Crumbs haven't eaten a home cooked meal. JBF always takes over my life for two solid weeks come sale time.
We are now on the downhill slide. Checks will be issued and mailed today. Then it is general clean-up of the aftermath and the Official Start for planning the next sale...
In the meantime, I wanted to share the other new names being christened in our household.
The Crumbs bestowed Mr. Cootie on their loving father. So he in turn crowned Boy Child ~ Scab and Girl Child ~ Pooter.
Apparently, we are a sight to behold. A dirty, scabby, gaseous family that give people cooties.
Niiiice.
It's a good thing I home school and deprive them of social interaction with others...

Love Note to My Big Shooter: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU... I could not have accomplished this sale without your loving, kind, supportive and thoughtful soul there. You are what makes our lives matter. I love you.

Day 6, Sheila's a winner and another flag Give-Away!

It seems we Americans have the media confused again. I keep hearing how we are watching the Games in record numbers. How they are finding themselves glued to their screens. How they find themselves talking to strangers about athletes from other countries...They want to know why this is happening?

It always cracks me up when they start this. It's like a Natural Phenomenon they just can't wrap their brains around. "You mean this Peace, Love and Harmony thing I'm feelin' is caused just by watching the Olympics?"

Yep. That's my opinion. Just by watching the Olympics we ~ Let Go.

Let go of political views. Let go of animosity. Let go of the rose colored glasses. Let go of pre-conceived opinions.

For when we do Let Go our emotions, we can...

• Cheer wildly, until our ears ring and our American blood is pumping.
• Feel satisfaction of a medal hard fought for.
• Cry with the athletes as we witnessed their long held dreams slip away.
• See the athletes as fellow humans. Not just Chinese, Russian, Italians...The French (typed with tongue in cheek).
• We can picture a bigger world. One we can celebrate with.
• All that, and it's a great excuse to buy all the red, white and blue I can find on clearance throughout the year...

My point is, every two years it is always amazing to me how surprised we are to find ourselves feeling light, happy, excited, anxious in a good way, smiling at strangers, exchanging pleasantries with others just cause we feel good.

For these couple of weeks we see things in a different light. We seem to let things go that would normally bother us. We smile more. We wave to our neighbors. We proudly put the flag out. We may even let Bad Drivers off the hook with a wave.

Is it an unexplainable Natural Phenomenon? No. It's called the Olympic Spirit. It began to spread the moment the flame was touched to the Torch. In that magical moment Peace, Love and Harmony began to reign. Enjoy it. Revel in it. Heck, we roll around in it. We don't want to miss a second of it! It only seems to last for two weeks, every two years.

Pass it on. Share it. Don't let it be wasted. Please.

Who won GOLD today?

Yes! Finally!!

After 6 relay gold medals...

and being in his teammates' shadows...

Ryan Lochte is a Gold Medal 100m Olympic Champion!

And then back to reality... he won another. Could he look more average American Joe?
What a tremendous example he is.

He has impeccable sportsmanship.

He is humble to a fault.

He is a gentleman.
He is inspiring.

And he's just one of the boys.

Look at these beauties! An Aussie, a German and our own Golden Girl ~ Coughlin.
You know that whole Olympic Spirit thing? These girls are friends. International friends.

Mean while in the National Something Something Gymnasium...
We have another Golden Girl.
She oozed grace under pressure. She had near perfect routines. And despite the biased judging, she achieved her Olympic Dream.

Congratulations Nastia!

WHUH?! Huh?

Holy Cow! How did I leave this little gem out of the pool line-up? Little Rebecca Soni. Came out of nowhere and defeated a Shooter household fave ~ Lethal Liesil!

Just so you know - I Don't have a category for the next group of pix.

~ Just wanted to Share the Love. ~

Coach also known as Daddy

He is an American Silver Medalist.

She is a Czech Gold Medalist.

They are husband and wife.

I know, I know! Again, with the whole Olympic Spirit thing.

...whispered through tears to her husband, "Thank you for believing..."

Even the Big Shooter needed the Kleenex passed.
Individual Success after all these years...
Dad was a lovable teary-eyed mess and mom...(sniff), well just look at the pic, mom was just mom. She reached out and held her little boy's face in her hands and kissed his forehead again...and again. (more sniffing...need Kleenex..again)

Sweet little Shawn Johnson. Fabulous performances. Won our hearts. Just wanted to go to Beijing with her coach who was raised there to "show his country what a success he'd made of himself." Then later, "I hope he can be proud..." Ummm, I think he can Miss Fabulous Example to Millions of Little Girls!

What else happened today?

I didn't pick this pic because I can't get me enough of Hammer Throwin' or because it's just a great shot, but because TAKE A LOOK AT THE CROWD behind him people! There were NO medal events. None. Just trials and times. Holy Molely! I think the Chinese are track fans...this outta be good. It starts tonight.

Remember a coupla days ago I mentioned the Nutzoid Level of Enthusiasm of Ping Pong?
Hee, hee, hee. Don't cha just LOVE it?!

I do. I get it.

Shooter family members look like this several times a day. And we're just doing homeschool. (Yay! We just discovered skate x skate = sticky floor rhymes with 8 x8 = 64! And did you know a lobster usually mates within 30 minutes of molting. Yep. They do. Big Shooter looked like the guy in the picture above when he found out that little tidbit.)

I think ya better get used to seeing his face.

Makes my knees hurt, my lungs burn, my fat jiggle just lookin' at them.

But, get ready, cause their coming all next week!!

I'm not sure what my feelings are on this subject yet. Scalpers. They are apparently making a TON of cash. Which I'm all for the dollar. The problem is, they are foreigners making a TON of cash (and you know my whole mantra - Show by Example) in China. So what? Well, every time the Chinese try to join in the makin' TONS of cash...they get arrested. The foreigners don't. Just the Chinese. Hmmm.

Today's
for the Crumb Snatchers.

The Lesson: Self Control.

Meet the really, really ticked Swedish Wrestler Guy.

He thinks he's been jipped by a bad call. He apparently thinks yelling at the officials will win him points and influence people as well.

He also thinks by stalking away from the Medal Ceremony and tossing his bronze will win him sympathy points and influence people.
He is wrong.

It will win him sympathy, just not the kind he wants.
It will influence spectators around the world. Sadly.

He must be so very sure of himself.
I mean, he threw this humiliating Hissy Fit in front of the world.
He must be pretty darn certain he was going to defeat the guy who WON the gold.

When he is old, will he wish the 2008 Olympic Bronze Medal was filling an empty frame on his wall...instead of on a wrestling mat in Beijing China?

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Love Note to my Big Shooter: Thank you for always being mindful of the example you set. And thank you for the tactful way you let me know when I am not.

Another Flag Give-Away: Tell us how you are spreading the Olympic Spirit or Passing the Torch in a comment and we'll name a winner tomorrow. The Crumbs are really diggin' this whole Draw a Name Outta the Hat gig.