noisette or tonsorial

I love watching the National Spelling Bee! 

I love hearing the words, seeing Dr Bailey- he is the guy who pronounces all the words and answers most of their questions, learning about the contestants, seeing their families and even learning a new word or two.

This year the television broadcast began on ESPN at 9am on Thursday.  At that time we saw 41 of the original 293 contestants begin round 4.  The first speller we saw was the girl from Arkansas.  She lasted 2 rounds.  At 7 pm the final rounds were on with only 11 spellers left.  When a speller misses a word a dreaded bell is rung.   The speller is lead off stage by a former speller in the early rounds, in the latter rounds their parents are on stage and they are ushered right to them.

I was pulling for Kennyi Aouad this year.  He was in the Bee last year.  He got tickled when he got the word 'sardoodledom'.  If you google that word there is a youtube video of him and it will make you laugh.

Every year Jamaica sends one speller.  They are taught to be very polite.  When their questions are answered they always say "Thank you, Dr Bailey" with their beautiful accent.

What questions, you may ask?  The spellers can ask the following ones: word origin, definition, any alternate pronunciations and for use in a sentence. 

The spellers have 2 minutes to ask questions and then another 30 seconds before their time is up.

The sentences this year were hilarious.  My favorite was for the word noisette.  It means a small piece of meat.  The young lady had a hard time listening to her date because of the noisette between his front teeth.  

The winner was Kavya Shivashankar from Kansas.  She spelled Laodicean to win.  I liked her and am glad she won.  She has a cute little sister that was pulling for her.

I think next year I shall have a Spelling Bee party.  Would you like to join me?  You don't have to be a good speller to join the party.  I am a terrible one.

 

Carl

I love Carl.  I think he is the most handsome, wonderful, smartest man ever created.  I love him more today, after almost 30 years, than I did when we were first married.

He travels lots.

We converse often in emails and tweets.

I call him my hunk because that is what he is.

One day from work he was going grocery shopping for me and he needed a list.  I sent it to him email.  It was too long for a text.  I addressed it   Hey Hunk!  included my list and hit sent.

Carl saw the email and hit print.  His ad min got the printed email for him.  Carl said that she got a kick out of him being my hunk.

Now you know too!

Nature Day at our House

Yesterday afternoon Marisa screamed for Kaitlin to quickly run to the living room.  We all ran.  In our front yard, in the rain, was a baby skunk.  Flower ( skunk's name from Bambi) was just smelling his or her way around the front yard.  Uncle John said that he had not seen a skunk out in the wild.  HA, We had!

Kaitlin loves baby skunks.  This love dates back to August 2000.  On the day before we loaded up the van to take Andrew to AUBURN, the phone rang.  At that time I never answered the phone because a child always beat me to it.  I heard no foot steps racing to the phone so I answered it.  It was Carl.  He called to tell me that all our children were in the garage with a skunk.  They called Carl and wanted him to tell me.  He suggested I call Animal Control.  I did and they were no help.  Andrew came inside and got a piece of bread.  He broke it into little pieces and dropped them in a path out of the garage and down the drive way.  Said Baby Skunk followed and then ran out of the yard.  Kaitlin asked to keep the skunk.  She kept saying " It is so cute"  I made a parenting mistake at that moment.  I made a promise that I hadn't really thought about. I told Kaitlin that I would get her a baby skunk stuffed animal.  I think in her mind she thought she'd she would have it that night.  

Let me just tell you that baby skunk stuffed animals are not a dime a dozen.

Anytime from the moment of said skunk promise that Kaitlin didn't get what she thought she needed or wanted she would pull out the ole " yea well, you promised me a baby skunk stuffed animal too"

Carl looked at every stop as he traveled. He found baby armadillos, squirrels, bison, but no baby skunk stuffed animal.

Kaitlin even began telling time in BP- before the promise and AP - after the promise.

Kaitlin says it was 2005 but I think it was 2003 when she was finally joined with her baby skunk stuffed animal.  One of Andrew's friend's, Joy, found said skunk in Jackson Hole WY.  Did you get that? Andrew had his friends looking on their vacations for said baby skunk.  We all had our friends looking.

Last night as Kaitlin looked at me with her beautiful eyes and in her sweetest voice said "Mama, that baby skunk is soooooo cute"  I looked back at her and reminded her that she had a wonderful baby skunk stuffed animal in her room.  Whew!

Not what I expected

I thought of this post on Tuesday 

 I went to get a perm and a hair cut on Tuesday.  I have a new lady doing my hair after my beloved Kristi left the profession.  My haircuts and perms are fabulous but we don't a lot in common so there is lots of silence.  Often she will set an alarm to time certain parts of the perming process and leave the room.  I can't read without my glasses and I can't put them on with all the curlers in my hair.  I decided I would pray.  I had to close my eyes because there are mirrors EVERYWHERE and I don't like looking at me.  I soon jerked myself awake when my chin hit my chest.  Ok, so I needed to do something else. Before I could find anything else to do the alarm finally went off! 

I was not looking forward to my next perm but she had another lady so there was conversation.  It just was not what I expected.  The lady came in for a hair cut while I was waiting for the perm chemicals to work their magic on my hair.  She was, I'm guessing in her 80's.  Her outfit was all the same color- turquoise.  She had a jacket, top and shirt.  Her hair was a bit mussed up when she came in but I thought nothing of it until said hair dresser asked if she had driven her convertible!!!!!!!!  I was stunned!!!!  Then she started talking about American Idol.  She talked about how any times she had voted for Kris and how she hope all Danny's voters would vote for Kris.  She talked about getting her eyeliner on and wondered how Adam did his?!?  I was speechless.  She told us that from the hair place she was going to a farmers market and hoped her husband would let her continue driving with the top down.

Wow,  I hope I am 'with it' when I am in my 80's.

Carl, can I have a  convertible ?  

Getting ready for winter

Here is a blog I enjoy . This entry really challenged me today.

Lots of Fun

I am very honored that Andrew reads my blog (Hi Andrew).

On my blog sidebar is a blog of my friend, Lisa. Lisa has two children that I have mentioned here before-James and Caroline. Andrew has been reading about them and wanted to meet them. Sweet Lisa brought her children over after their naps so we could have a visit. Lisa's husband, Graham was not able to join us. When I saw Graham and James on Sunday, Graham told me that James was very impressed with the scar on Andrew's knee. He told his daddy all about it.

Caroline enjoyed playing with Andrew too.

Caroline's cute little toes

Andrew also wanted to meet Will and Rhea and Elene. Elene and her husband, Wes, graduated from AUBURN. Marisa babysits for them often. Wes wasn't able to be with us. Here are Will and Marisa.

Here are Marisa, Elene, Rhea and Will

Andrew met Olivia when she was hours old. They have had a special bond ever since. Olivia was the flowergirl in Andrew and Taylor's wedding. Olivia and her family-Michael, Monica and Parker- came over to visit with Andrew and Taylor.

Olivia, Monica and Kaitlin finishing up their supper. We had what I call The Monroe Meal. Carl's mama fixed it for her children when they were growing up. We love it. Here it is- pork roast or loin, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, hot dogs and applesauce. You eat it in layers. I love to get all the tastes in each bite. What is great about the meal is everyone doesn't have to get anything they don't like. Marisa and Taylor don't like pork so we cooked some chicken and they added in the rest as they wanted.

Parker sure enjoyed playing with the toys that my children played with.

Marisa has been painting

It has been so much fun to watch Marisa flourish. She loves art but it has taken her awhile to be able to paint. Here is an abstract that she painted and I asked if I could hang it in the wreck room. I see it as I scrapbook.

Here is a landscape she painted just for me. It is in the kitchen. KimT commented on me having two artists in the house. She said that she thought it was neat that they both felt secure enough to not feel threatened by the other. That is not lost on both girls. They encourage each other and are thrilled in each other's success. What a blessing.

fun pictures

Here are a few pictures of James and Jeanie from his visit to our house in March. Notice he has on his UNC jersey. James, his mother and his sister came to watch the UNC basketball game with us. As soon as Jeanie brought out her playdough and asked James to play, she had a friend.

fun pictures

Here are some more pictures from Andrew and Taylor's visit

Kaitlin posted them on her blog.

Jumping

Andrew and Taylor are here!!!!  This is one of Andrew's favorite places to eat.

We love taking  jumping pictures here too.  Andrew is in the picture below- trust me

Taylor told me that Andrew would like mlb.com for his birthday.  We were able to get it for him.  Here we are in the den with Andrew showing it to me.

Great visit.  I want to grab every minute of it.

She withstood snakes, jokes and lots of eating out.

I can't believe that it has been 8 weeks since Jeanie moved into our house.  Her Occupational Therapy rotation was over on Friday.  We had a great time with Jeanie, her boyfriend on his visits here, her brother, Chris, and her parents.

Jeanie fit in with all the teasing here.  She sat on the sofa with Kaitlin and Marisa many a night laughing at Youtube videos, she joined with them singing the songs they love, she sent an occasional poem and she even put up with Carl when he put a snake in her bed.*

Jeanie got herself up everyday and never missed a day of work.  She ate what we did and took care of herself when I said that we were on our own, but most important to me she always let me know where she was.  It was a joy to have her.

One of the unexpected things that we got from Jeanie was given to Kaitlin.  We have always had an open home- folks have stayed with us from a few days to a few months.  The last girl we had live with us for a summer did not leave on good terms with us and especially Kaitlin.  Kaitlin was wounded greatly.  I did not know that Kaitlin was afraid that the same thing would happen with Jeanie.  What a blessing that it did not!

We are all ready for our next guest!

*Snake in the bed story-  We live out in the country.  One afternoon there was a large snake near our road.  It was hissing at all the cars that went by.  Yuck!  Kaitlin and I saw it as we headed out for the afternoon.  We told everyone at supper that night at the Restaurant.  All the girls were generally creeped out by the snake.  Carl met us for supper that night.  We were all in different cars so we got home at different times.  Carl got home first.  Jeanie was the first one to find a rubber snake in her bed and she didn't even scream that loud.  The three girls then went to each of their beds to see if Carl had put a snake in all their beds- they weren't disappointed- he did.  

 

You need to meet Juliet, Sidney, Dawsey etc

I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  It was outstanding.  The setting is post WWII in London and the island of Guernsey.  It is written as a series of letters.  It took me a few letters to figure out who was who and then I couldn't put it down.  

I plan to read more about Guernsey and the WWII.

Enjoy!

We don't see the whole story yet.

Here it is  Please read what Andrea Seu has to say today.  It was an encouragement to me because I'm in the middle of several things and it was a wonderful reminder.  

Poems that were in my pocket yesterday

Thanks to all who sent poems and texts and emails for Poem in my Pocket Day.  Here are the ones I got back text:

Short. The most expressive poem today- money

The day is almost over. so I better hurry to get my poem in, I had a great day, I hope the swine flu stays away. I will sleep well tonight!  Purple Flowers by Kaitlin

Roses are red, violets blue, every one loves you and I do too  - ElizabethT

We are watching obama it makes me wanna scream- o mama! My shoes are pink and I hope they don't stink but it makes you think about how you can't make them shrink.  JeanieR

Ellen is the queen at making sweet, sweet tea, she keeps us all happy at CPC! She is such a special & Great friend, she'll pray for U, cry with U or encourage U to the bitter end.  CherylO  - Thanks Cheryl

We love the doctors at St Jude. The nurses there are never rude. We had some great news today. Still praying her cancer stays away.  MaxineD

Roses are red, violets are blue/ I hate finals. I've already had two/ only one to go then I'll be done /I'll be a lawyer, won't that be fun? / until then Lots of caffeine to get me through!!! KatyB

' Let us go there u and I where the evening is spread against he sky. Like a patient etherized upon  a table' J alfred prufrock by t.s. eliot  - Zach R

Roses are red

 violets are blue 

I don't know any poems so this one will have to do :)  lol

  ThomasM

Today to skool i drove the ford, it was so fun i was never bored. I hope the rain doesn't come to stay, it needs to go far far away. I can't wait till my brain isn't so busy and doesn't feel like its on a frenzy, Bee by MTD ( that rhymed as well!)

His glory is near me so softn'ing my heart that my vision is changing His love to impart  SusanP

Praise the Lord. spring is here! Lovely flowers soon appear.  The sun is high, no clouds in the sky I could really use a beer.   - KatieB  - she also said JK! thought I'd throw in a little surprise

My old boss and I used to do lots of haiku and this one's for you!  ElenaG

Sitting in arab, scared of the flu. Should I fly back to houma, don't know what to do  JennB

Poems are not my forte, but I had to reply right away, To remind you you're loved by your Father above and I hope you have a great day!  LisaC

5  foot 2 eyes of blue, my friend ellen is yur friend too!  Z

Rain Rain, go away... We have a practice game to play.  Lots to go over, running out of time. If we don't get better, I'll need a drink with lime. Shortstops a plenty with no one in right, will pitching hold up? We'll  find out tonight  Coaching Baseball- by ChrisR

Roses are red

 Poop is brown

Today is thursday and I am trying not to frown  by KimR  

and by email I received

We had a bird in our house last night
It gave us all a good fright
We worked together as a team
to get that thing out the door
It was harder than it may seem
to complete that unfortunate chore!

And it pooped in the house twice.
NOT nice!

Have a great day,
Love, Monica

 

Dear Ellen, there’s no tellin’ how happy you’ll be

When you read the poem in my pocket

No doubt you will shout with glee when you see

There’s a surprise of a locket in that pocket just for you, you see.  ReneeR

Thanks for all of those!  I sure had a fun Poem in my Pocket Day