Our second stop on Saturday's Arts Alive free admission day was to the Pier Aquarium. I hope you enjoy the pictures - alas there were no jelly fish.

I don't know why I envisioned these two discussing their wardrobe choices. "Nice polka dots!"

And I thought this little guy just looked like he loved to gossip.

Yella Fishy and a fine example of brain coral.

Nemo squared.

Larry, Curly and Moe.

And you know how you have those pictures of yourself that your children hold over your head? Oh wait, that is me holding pictures of them over their heads....so in honour of that I thought I would share the following with a warning....

I don't advise the shark hat as it really does add 10 pounds and a few chins to ya!

~ames

on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 6 comments

Labels: Children, Vacation

This view is from the backside of the museum where there is a garden and labyrinth path.

The Golden Rectangle and the fibonacci sequence were laid on in the courtyard.

A self portrait?

Did i mention it was hot and humid? Luckily they were passing out Dali inspired fans and for some reason the boys didn't want one. I have no idea why.

The incredible helix staircase inside the museum.



A bank of posters available in the gift shop.

The coolest chain maille curtain that separates the gift shop from the admissions area. There is no picture taking allowed in the galleries.

A view from the gallery floor.

And another shot of the staircase.

The boys were totally impressed with Dali. Not. Nappy says that he just "isn't into art." Yeah. This simply can not be a child I birthed.

Velázquez Painting the Infanta Margarita with the Lights and Shadows of His Own Glory.
1958. Oil on canvas.

Since I couldn't take any pictures - which was a major bummer - I thought I would still include my favorite Dali painting for you above. One thing about the Dali museum that I have always loved is that their docents are so knowledgeable. Maybe they had a bunch of new volunteers for the Arts Alive festivities because as we stood in front of the Infanta the docent told another visitor that he had no idea about the painting or what it meant. I about died. Let me stand infront of the thing all day long and I will enlighten folks! Which I tried to do with Nappy. He wasn't that interested but I did at least get him to comprehend and see the bullfighter in the Hallucinogenic Toreador....

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for pictures of our trip to the Pier Aquarium.

~ames

on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 2 comments

Labels: Children, Photos

on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 3 comments

Labels: Children

I posted a few pictures on Facebook so these might be a repeat for some of you....

Frodo, Chewie and Nappy

I took this picture the morning the twins and Frodo headed off to catch the bus for their first day of kindergarten.

Nappy, Mr. D and Chewie - after graduation.

Chewie, Boo, Nappy and Joni

Chewie, Me and Nappy

So I had to stand on a block to be just as tall a them despite the four inch heels! I think if Chewie wasn't pointing out that I was standing on the block no one would have ever noticed.

Chewie, Tobey and Nappy - my boys!

We had such a wonderful day. After the graduation ceremony we lunched at O'Keefe's at the request of the boys. We went home then to celebrate my 23rd birthday complete with chocolate cake and yes....I ate some! Tobey presented me with a lovely card and a recycled gift of my Bocelli tickets. I had to remind him that despite me saying the concert could be my birthday, Mother's day, anniversary and Christmas presents for the next five years......I really didn't mean it!

So all in all we had a delightful time. All five kids are now high school graduates and like their siblings the boys are going on to college in the fall with (and thank God) their scholarships intact.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

~ame

on Friday, June 10, 2011 8 comments

Labels: Children, Photos

I have written several half-hearted posts. No pun intended.

The boys all celebrated birthdays this past weekend with the twins turning 18. Yay.


And it seems as time goes by with my recovery - I just feel worse instead of better. And I continue to be scared to death to even fall asleep still. I am also scared to drive by myself - what if I have another heart attack while driving this time? Every little pain in my chest and I feel like Redd Foxx....

I can't continue on freaking out as much as I am freaking out....right? I thought for sure we would be heading back to the ER tonight - maybe I just need to move in there...

But it has been two weeks tonight and 15 days since I had a cigarette...so that is saying something. What? I don't know but I am sure it is a good thing if I could just stop freaking out.

Oh yeah. Kenmore still sucks. They won't replace the danged fridge. Yet. It will be my mission to get that done. Doesn't help that they send an old dude out to check to thing out - it would be like yelling at my grandfather....so I cut him some slack but did let him know that Kenmore Sucks.

Oh yeah part two. And then I am sure I made Barbie feel like crud today because I am so not into her boyfriend's decision making skills and processes that could possibly effect her health and welfare as she rides around with his suspended driver's licensed-self in his non-insured vehicle. She says she can't control him and I say she can control whether or not she gets in a car with him as the driver. But then last week she was so happy to be driving his car and she knows it isn't insured and with her 17+ accidents....this is just a ticking time bomb and yes - please let me stress out over STUPID decisions they are making because I just so need another heart attack.

And Oh yeah the final part. I was hoping I was going to come through all of this the kinder-gentler Mrs. Oh that I have been striving to become. See above on how well that is workin' out.

~ame

on Monday, February 07, 2011 6 comments

Labels: Children, Life

Tonight was Chewie's Winter Choral Concert. And lately I haven't been taking pictures or video taping the boys' performances as I don't get to enjoy them when I am so busy making sure my ISO is at the right setting.

Anyways - we got settled in and the performances started. And I bawled through the whole dang thing. I was really trying to hold it together but I couldn't.

I sat there and thought this is my last Christmas concert until I have grandbabies in school.

I silently did the math in my head: I haven't missed a Christmas concert since Frodo was Papa Bell in his preschool Christmas play 17 years ago.

17 years of watching our children grow up in these little performances.

Which made me miss my Mom.

Which then reminded me that Mom never got to see the boys in high school. She never got to see them perform like she got to see Frodo perform.

Which made me miss her even more.

And that made me cry harder.

Now I hard perused the Choral Programme and I saw who was singing what. I saw that Keegan was singing Christmas Shoes. I know the poem. I know the song. It never really had effected me before.

Until tonight when that boy sang the part of "if Momma meets Jesus tonight".

Then I really lost it.

I was SO proud of myself this holiday season. I got a little choked up putting up Mom's Christmas tree but it was nothing major. I figured this was really going to be the first Christmas since Mom died that I wasn't going to be a blubbering idiot. I was wrong.

I even held it together at the Hallmark store when I overheard someone asking for Christmas birthday cards.

So after the performance Tobey was asking if I was alright and was it because of my Mom etc. And I lost it all over again. I didn't want the boys to see me like this and I sure didn't want to embarrass them. And that is just what I did despite myself.

I went up to hug Nappy and tell him how proud of him I was and I just couldn't contain the tears. Then I spied Keegan and dragged both Chewie and Nappy over to where Keegan was standing. Now poor Keegan doesn't really know me from Adam....

So I tell him that this has been the first Christmas since my Mom died that I haven't been a blubbering idiot. I told him how my Mom was born on Christmas day too. And how his song just meant so much to me for some reason. And he is just apologizing up a storm and I am telling him it isn't his fault and that I was so grateful for the reminder....and then I am apologizing to the boys for looking like a loon.

Chewie kept telling me it was okay and I scored a few hugs and behind my back Nappy was telling Keegan I was crazy. Go figure. It was quite the evening.

Please keep your loved ones close during this holiday season. We have some family friends who recently lost one of their adult children and my brother Matt and sis-in-law Lil Martha are dealing with some rough things as Martha's mother is not doing well. And Tobey's parents aren't doing well... so some prayers wouldn't hurt ifin' you got the time to grab God's ear.

~ame

on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 3 comments

Labels: Children, Keeping It Real, Life

Chewie went to homecoming. Not stag but with a girl. But it wasn't a date they say. I'll post some pictures later in the week. I have been working on these collages and much to my chagrin I had to do them all in Photoshop and despite what June and Joann think - my PS skills don't rock but my go-to photo program is not working so what is a gal to do?

Oh and by the by or Bye the Bye....I won blog of the week over at June's for my massacre of poor Hulk who was so humiliated he immediately went out shopping. Ok. I feel a tad guilty. Ok. Not really - after seeing those Hawaiian shirts the Hulkster was sporting I figured it was my duty. Anyways - back to the collages:

Nappy - the casual shots. Ignore that it says Jacob on the bottom - his name is Nappy....


Chewie - the casual shots. Same thing with his name...ignore the Benjamin thing. Did I mention that Ben er Chewie got a haircut for homecoming. He hasn't had one since these pictures were taken back in August. He was sportin' a nice Luke N Laura curly afro look and now he is all shorn. High and tight. 3510. And to my Mom: it wasn't my fault. I didn't even take him. This was his doing. Not mine.

I'll be posting a tour de Halloween this week. Come back won'tcha?

~ame

P.S.

Can we actually P.S in a blog? Anywho. P.S. When looking for that link about Mom and haircuts I did a blog search and man alive do I blog a lot about 'mom'....yesterday I missed her so much - she would have loved to have seen Chewie all spiffy for homecoming.

on Monday, October 25, 2010 0 comments

Labels: Blogs, Children, Photos

Tobey, Frodo and Butter at the big ball.

Newlyweds...oh, la, la....

By the looks of it....not so newlyweds...oh, la, la


This is what you get from Tobey when you want to take his picture.....yeah. Stand back ladies he is all mine!



A carb free snack at the patesserie in France. I love the word patesserie. I feel all Juliet Binoche in Chocolat when I say it. Patesserie.

In Italy and takin' a break.

The Tron Monorail

One of the few times I stood - hunched over but standing nonetheless.

Love those hats!!

So we had a grand time. Frodo made lunch reservations at Le Cellier in Canada. To. Die. For. Steaks. Frodo had the filet with truffle sauce and he shared with me a bite....I have never had truffle anything before and it was the best thing I have ever eatten. Ever. Look at me - you know I can eat - so that is saying alot. Just be sure if you go to make reservations way in advance or you will not get in.

I'll post more photos tomorrow just of the scenery. Until then...

~ame

on Wednesday, October 06, 2010 1 comments

Labels: Children, Photos, Vacation

There are certain blogs that are must reads for me - Cheri over at I am Momma Hear Me Roar is one of those blogs. Cheri has a great tutorial on freezer paper stencils so I thought I would try my hand at it.

After downloading a graphic I thought Chewie would like - Max and I traced it out on the freezer paper and then cut out the appropriate areas. If I am honest here - this is my second design. I made a shirt for the church and it turned out great, but my intention was to making at least 10 shirts. Um. Yeah. No Way. The lettering was a booger to cut out and my advice is simple: get an x-acto knife if you don't have a Cricut or Silhouette (hint, hint Tobey). I couldn't find our x-acto and cut out the church stencil with a razor blade. I looked like Sweeney Todd was cranking out some meat pies from my fingers afterwards.

I then painted 5 coats onto the stencil and waited for it to dry. Chewie wore his shirt to school today and said he received a ton of comments about it. I am just proud that he loved it enough to actually wear it to school. So stop over at Cheri's and get inspired - she rocks!

~ame

on Thursday, September 16, 2010 5 comments

Labels: Children, Crafty

This my friends is what happens when you let your boys have control over the deep fryer and the making of the onion rings....

I know it is popular to post recipes and such - I have my share here. But this is more of a post on the behind the scenes of cooking. Step one: place towel on floor to unsuccessfully catch the batter blops as you take handfuls of battered onion rings over to the fryer. Ignore the blops ALL over the cabinet drawers and ignore Mrs. Oh having a heart attack over said blops.


Chewie er Super Chewie was very proud of his batter hand. Live long and prosper batter-hand.

How can two boys make such a mess? Which reminds me: Mom always got so tickled watching Julia Child back in the day because she was just sweep off her counters and it looked like she was just wiping everything on to the floor. I am sure Julia had a trash can....but then by the looks of my kitchen....maybe she didn't.

Words. Escape. Me.

But the onion rings and burgers were top notch!



~ame

on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 0 comments

Labels: Children, Keeping It Real, Recipes

Barbie came in our room last night looking for a battery.

Barbie: Do we have any block batteries?
Tobey: ?
Barbie: I need a block battery and not a circle battery.
Tobey looks over to Mrs. Oh...
Barbie: It is for the remote control for my ceiling fan...
Tobey: You mean you need a 9 volt battery?

on Friday, September 03, 2010 2 comments

Labels: Children, Life

I can't tell you the many, many e-mails I have received wondering what has happened and why has Mrs. Oh been so haphazard in her posts of late. Well. Okay. So no one e-mailed me. But still, I know you are wondering. Right? Right!

This is why. Years and years of work...ok...weeks and weeks have gone into creating this dress for Butter to wear to DragonCon next month. Please ignore the overflowing laundry baskets in the background. Oh, and the crooked door.

So somehow I got roped into making Butter a dress. When much later and many pin pricks later, I asked why on earth I was making a dress when they could have bought one, Frodo replied that he thought it would be cheaper. For whom, I asked? We even did it all Project Runway and I made a starter dress out of some cheap fabric we bought. So it fits her really well and we totally gutted the pattern.

But I am really happy with the way it has turned out despite the miles of hand sewing I have had to do on the thing. The wonderful thing about the dress is that we I made it to be very versatile. The skirt is reversible so that Butter can either have a plain front or a ruffled front as shown. The flouncy part under the sleeve is also removable depending on her mood. And despite what Butter may think, say and act: she is a flouncy girly, girl underneath it all.

I have a few more touches to complete and the dress will be all done. Once I can get Butter back in the dress I will post more pictures and I am sure I will have some from DragonCon to post as well. Just the thought of my dress standing next to Scott Bakula or Sean Astin gives me the shivers. I only wish I was going too!

So what have you made lately?

~ame

on Monday, August 16, 2010 3 comments

Labels: Children, Crafty