So so so so so so mad

I know that most of my fancy suburban friends probably don't care, but I'm a very, very unhappy Dillon's customer right now.

Every store I ever use -- all the ones near the center of town -- are closing down, including the Dinky Dillons near my house, the one I use on the way to day care, and the one I use that's closest to downtown at 13th and Waco.

I love my neighborhood store because it's so close to my house and because it's so dinky, I can run in and out very quickly. It doesn't have a lot, but it has the basics. Now, I'll either have to shop in a yucky old Homeland store hastily "remodeled" into a Dillon's store, suck it up and go to Wal-Mart (no way), or gas it up and drive all the way over to Target.

The people I feel most sorry for, besides myself, are the liquor store owners in the vicinity who are now screwed as well as the poor people in the neighborhoods without cars, who counted on these stores being within walking distance of their houses.

I'm mad.

Grammy's day 2

Saturday at Grammy's was just as fun as Friday. she made spaghetti and meatballs, and my aunt and cousins came over for food and games.

Mmmm. Meatballs.

Katie and her boyfriend, Devin, were able to play games and pet the pug.


Here's Taylor and her boyfriend, Galen.

Nick kept calling Galen Gavin, a perfect combination of Galen and Devin. The cousins were forgiving.

Grammy's house

We're in Missouri right now on a much-anticipated trip to visit Grammy for the weekend. Everyone loaded into the van Friday morning for a ch-ch-chilly three-hour drive -- we being me, Nick, Lexi, Norton, a professional photographer who took the good pics on this post, and of course, Elmo.


This is Lexi in her typical DVD-induced van trance.


Norton, on the other hand, is not normally this calm.


We started off our visit playing with Grammy's bag-o-bears. Grammy used to be a kindergarten teacher, so she's got a lot of cool toys.


Later, the Worst Driver in Missour-a took Jaime and I on a liquor run. We made a stop by Carthage's famous "Neil's Center," home to Daylight Donuts, O' Reilly Auto Parts and Apria Healthcare. It was there that we learned the devastating news that Neil's Center is for sale. There goes the inheritance.


After all that activity, it was time for dinner. We chose one of my aunt's favorite restaurants, Crabby's. Lexi did not order crabby patties, oddly enough.


Clearly, this whipsmart toddler understands that cheesed-out smiles are her responsibility as a Neil.

Mommy's turn.

The 2-year-old brain

...doesn't make any sense sometimes.

Like this day, late last week. I made Lexi one of her favorite breakfasts, scrambled eggs. She was so happy to see them. Until...

She started digging frantically with her fork, searching for something. "WHERE ARE MY EGGIES? WHERE ARE MY EGGIES?" she demanded to know.

When I explained I had no idea what the $%^# she was talking about, she started to wail.

She eventually got over it and ate them all up. I still don't know what eggies are, but if I ever figure it out, apparently I am to bury them under her scrambled eggs.

Priorities in order

At about 10 this morning, this photo arrived via text message to my cell phone.

Teresa decided to put her MLK day off to good use. She headed straight to Pei Wei, the delicious Asian eatery that's opening in New Market Square today, with a plan to stand in line so she'd be the first customer. (She and I have both been introduced to the joys of Pei Wei while visiting our Dallas-based relatives, so she knew I could relate.)

Sounds like she was not only the first person in line but the only person in line. The manager took pity, let her in, and gave her a cola. This amuses me.

Still, if I had the day off, I'd probably be there with her. Instead, I'm probably going to wait about, oh, six months for the lines to die down.

Kyle D is 3

Our tour of birthday parties continued Saturday morning when we finally got to go to Kyle D's for his 3rd birthday bash. The festivities had been delayed a week due to a nasty Kyle cold, but it was worth the wait.


A group shot of the party-goers. I took several of these, and trust me, Gabby NEVER took her eyes off that cake.


Earlier, some of the more hardy of the guests ventured outside. As Kyle's frozen sandbox suggests, it was a tad uncomfortable.


But it was survivable with adequate bundling.


Blake is a very obedient cheeser. Lexi should take some lessons.


Speaking of lessons, future dog owner Hannah and current dog owner Ethan showed off their training skills with Abby.


It only took us about ten tries to get this shot.

She didn't mean it like that

Okay, so she was actually trying to show off her band-aid, which just HAPPENED to be on "that" finger.


I hope none of you take offense to this adorable little bird.


By the way, Lexi and I have agreed that this page in her book "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" sums up our shared philosophy on life.

My Olan Mills-ish contributions

I do have an actual Olan Mills portrait of my 3-year-old self, wearing ponytails and some crazy prairie print dress. But since I can't seem to find it right this minute, these are going to have to do. Notice that unlike Jaime and Lori B. , I actually chose some HUMILIATING photos for your viewing pleasure.

This one is mostly humiliating to Annie, who as a 1-year-old had marshmallow thighs and wasn't afraid to show them.


In our school, these were called "Duals," as if one shot wasn't good enough. I think my mom made this cute orange gingham number.


I remember having these taken. Yikes. The big question is will Annie's hair wings or mine take flight first? BTW, the familial pose was totally forced upon us.

Hey Big D! Lookin' good in the leather blazer!

Eiffel F-ing Tower

That's the secret name for my steak tower that Lori is too delicate to type. I didn't come up with it. The man who told me I needed to go try it did.

He was right. On both counts.

Olan Mills awesomeness

Today, Suzanne sent around the most hilarious e-mail featuring old Olan Mills photos with appropriately snarky captions. The caption on the one to the left, for example, was "This photo isn't discolored. The '70s really were that orange."

Funny, that's exactly how I remember them.

Anyway, if you want to see the entire thing, go here. Warning: These pics had Bonnie laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.

I know have a few of these old Olan Mills treasures in my past. I'm gonna unearth a few and post them here. I challenge you other bloggers to do the same. If you dare.

Farewell, Fraser

We couldn't put it off any longer. This afternoon, the tree had to go.

I always feel so guilty about my Christmas trees. We rip those poor babies from their roots, take them home, dress them up and invite them to spend the holidays with us. Then, as soon as it's all over, we strip 'em down and send 'em off to the recycling pile. Like we never meant anything to each other!!

There's our poor fella on the left. I almost shed a tear as we drove away.

Par-tay day

The Jungmans attended a couple of parties on Saturday.


The first one started at 9:30 a.m. and celebrated the third birthday of recently middled child Cooper.

I like this antique-looking portrait of party guest Gabby.


Gavin was kind enough to allow Kyle a few minutes of big brother dress rehearsal.


Later that night, this party commenced in my back room. Nick's game geek buddies taught our geeky buddies how to play Werewolf. It was a lot more fun than it looks here. So fun, I didn't bother to take time out to shoot any decent pics.

Unzipped

A very odd thing is happening to me lately.

For some reason that I cannot understand or explain, I just cannot remember to zip my fly.

At least once a week, I look down and realize that it's down. I'm occasionally caught by someone else, but so far, not by anyone too embarrassing.

(I also went to work the other day wearing a new shirt with the tag still attached and hanging out the back. But that's another blog for another day.)

A small part of me wonders if I'm going senile prematurely. But a bigger part realizes that I'm just juggling too many things. Zippin' up just isn't making the cut anymore.

Be gentle if you catch me.

New Year's Eve

Our annual New Year's Eve party just quieted down a few hours ago, but lucky me, I'm up and watching "Wonderpets." This is why mommies should probably not host all-night bashes.

Among the high-quality people in attendance was Jill Chittum, who made a guest appearance all the way from JoCo.


It was Jill's idea to take this group blogger pic. From left to right, Denise's Best Blog Ever, It's Lori's World, Outdoor Dog, Pens and Needles, The Chittum Files and Planet Tess.


Travis and Bonnie, before the champagne really got to flowing.


Here's my spread, which was tasty and much more attractive when not illuminated by my Elph's harsh flash.

The mix master spent the evening impressing the ladies in the kitchen. He was particularly proud of this tiramisu concoction.


The birthday girl, Lori, brought her man, his hat and a bottle of Dom.


Stan Rogers showed up and was on his best behavior. Dammit!


These two were home in their comfies by midnight.

The big moment -- roughly.

Though completely obliterated, Tim helped sweep at around 2 a.m.

Yawn.