Bootie Waiver

I (Kristin) have a friend from college, Meredith Robertson. We both survived a very long, grueling semester of Chaucer together. However, I can safely say that we can both successfully recite the Prologue to "The Canterbury Tales" in Middle English! Here we are a little over four years since our glorious graduation. We talk almost daily throughout the week.

A couple of months ago Meredith introduced me to her brother's blog. Apparently Lee is about as sarcastic as they come. For this, and this alone, I have grown to love blog-stalking him. Many of his stories are about their family (I would pay to witness a holiday with these people...hilarity at its finest).

Recently, Lee posted about the white carpet in their parents' house. Apparently Meredith's mother had white carpet when they were children. Since they didn't listen to her and take their shoes off, it was essentially Stanley Steamer-ed to death during their youth. She had everything replaced with, you guessed it, MORE WHITE CARPET. However, in an effort to prevent her rebellious children from ruining her now new, white carpet, she bought surgical booties that must be worn in the house.

I decided to ask Meredith how this would play out. Here's our conversation:

me: So you have to wear surgical booties anytime you are in your parents' house?
Meredith: only if you want to keep your shoes on upstairs

so i usually take my shoes off
it's just easier

me: What if you don't have a chance to take your shoes off b/c you are running inside to "vom" and the downstairs bathroom is occupied. What then? Do the bootie police chase you through the house?

Meredith: hahaha we havent had that problem yet

i guess the booties would be waived at that point?

im not sure

i will have to bring that up

me: you should make them sign a bootie waiver. that way you aren't held responsible for your actions in a time of emergency.

Meredith: a bootie waiver

Meredith: mom says yes, if you can make it into the house to vom, you can make it to the booties and put them on

Sidenote here: According to Lee, "vom" is Meredith's way of making the word vomit cute. Not sure it works, but whatever.

I LOVE Meredith's family!

April showers bring...more May showers!

Hey, at least we're not in a drought this year! May sped by without us even realizing it. This will be an exceptionally long post, so consider yourself forewarned!

Memorial Day weekend was spent in Florence with Phillip's family. Most of the time Phillip's birthday (May 23rd) falls over Memorial Day weekend anyway, so it was a great chance to spend an extended weekend down there. Phillip was one lucky man this year. For his birthday he was allowed to attend a Tinkerbell birthday party! Granted the party was for Emma, Sarah's daughter, who just so happens to share the same birthday as Phillip. :-)

This is Emma...apparently her toy was much more useful to her as a noose. I thought the picture was funny. Sarah, being the domestic goddess that I will forever fall short of becoming, made a personal cake for Phillip. Sadly, this meant he didn't get a piece of cake with a fairy on it (we all knew this was his secret desire). However, if one is going to miss out on Tinkerbell the next best thing is of course Clemson. We truly love Sarah on many levels for this: 1) the cake I attempted to make P was sub-par (to say the very least), 2) she is a really good baker with a knack for drawing Clemson paws, and 3) making this cake bordered on sacrilege for her as she is a die hard Gamecock fan. Way to be selfless Sarah!

The treat bags were awesome. Our sunglasses really made us look HOT! Then we had to give the bags over to party guests under the age of ten because allegedly Taylor, our niece, stole their bags. Just call us Switzerland (Taylor has yet to be convicted of this crime)!

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying time with Phillip's family and friends. We never seem to have enough time! Oh, and we got strawberries and veggies from McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina. I love our summer trips to SC! Below are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Lee loves it when I take his pic! Only four more months and these kids will be married!

Phillip is making a really dumb face hugging his mom. My favorite part is Sarah in the back trying to win the Olympic gold medal for photo-bombing!

Let this be a lesson to all: never, I repeat, NEVER try to high kick Phillip. This is what results from such an audacious move. As the Trinidadians say, "tisk tisk!"

Good times had by all!

Weed Eater

Mason, in all of his splendor, has picked up a new habit as of late. At first we thought it odd, but then figure that it would mean less yard work for us. We have a lot of trees in our backyard. Slowly but surely, we have been trying to rid ourselves of some of the smaller ones. When we did the big clean this past year, it left plenty of room for new saplings to grow. Here's our newest solution to the problem:

Believers in the Bell

God bless my grandparents. They have made a nice living starting from nothing. Both of my dad's parents came from farming families. Married with children at a very young age, they worked hard and saved a lot. Frugal doesn't even begin to describe them. Despite this, I have to respect the fact that they are good stewards of the blessings God has bestowed upon them.

Retirement is one such blessing. On any given day in the city of Monroe, NC, the exact location of my grandparents can be determined merely by what meal it is.

For breakfast, the senior citizens all gather at Bojangles for their coffee and whatever scrumptious morsel their Bingo coupons were redeemable for that morning. (Yes, they get together once a week to play Bingo and win coupons for Bojangles breakfast. My grandmother is rather proud of her station as she has moved up the ranks to now being the Bingo Caller. She says some of the really old women try to cheat, but she lets them slide...she's 72.)

Lunch is another story. Taco Bell seems to be the poison of choice for this meal. Although Taco Bell doesn't have Bingo, they do seem to favor their regulars. My dad and I met up for a quick bite tonight at said Taco Bell. I asked if Grandmother and Granddaddy still came a lot. He laughed and pointed to the wall at the rear of the restaurant. I got a little closer and noticed this...

There is a caption under the photo that says, "We can count on these two EVERY day of the week. Thank you!" I just started laughing. The only thing that came to my mind is what my Granddaddy calls it: LIVING OFF THE LAND. Having grown up farming, it's all he knew. He said with the senior discounts, coupons, and favoritism they can usually eat for about two bucks a day. He said it's not as hard as farming, but it's still living off the land. :-) (No clue how he does this since he's diabetic and manages it only through maintaining his diet, but he does. He's 75 and could out-run me.)

Love them!

Teaching a new dog BAD tricks...

This evening Phillip and I were doing some yard work. While I was picking up some of the tools we had used, Phillip went in and got Mason. I wasn't paying attention and then all of the sudden I hear Phillip say, "Load up!" Typically this just entails getting into the cab of the truck. Not this time. I look up and see the following...




I do believe this could lead to major problems in the future.