Quotable Quotes

Been a while since I've had one of these...

"Mom! I think I grew today!"

And another...

(from a conversation about his Santa list)
"It's not like you have to pay for them."

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I'm pretty sure I've gained about 5 pounds. That, in addition to the 10 I had already gained back means it's back to the diet on Monday. Thursday we headed up to Cookeville to celebrate (I mean EAT) with my family. We took Coco with us so she could run around in the country. Bandit was in his pen and barked like crazy at Coco. I wasn't sure if he wanted to play or attack so he got to stay in his pen for the day. Coco had a blast running around and she passed out in the car on the way home. She remained passed out the rest of the evening. I didn't get any pictures, but we did take some pictures at our house on Saturday. I think I might have cooked my best turkey ever. And, I found a new recipe for cornbread stuffing that I think was awesome. Not sure if anyone else liked it. I also made a green bean salad, ginger maple glazed carrots and pumpkin bread pudding. Dibby made spinach and artichoke dip, cheese dip (just for Brantley), squash casserole and cranberry salad. Melissa brought spinach dip, her famous potato casserole, and chocolate cake for the kiddos. I think I gained another pound just talking about all the food.

I love LA

I was in LA for a whole day! Yippee. Actually, had I known that the music awards were going on. I might have planned differently so I could go star hunting. Yeah right. Anyway, here is a picture from the rooftop pool of the hotel where I stayed. I'm pretty sure the pool was used in the new movie that Brantley has been watching on Nick. The other picture is from the 29th floor of the building where my meeting was.

How do you (or would you for those without kids) punish?

I'm taking a poll. What is your, I don't want to say favorite so let's just say most effective, punishment? I rarely ever spank Brantley, because to be honest he just laughs at me when I do. I am not against spanking, but it's just not effective for me. Taking things away has always been the most effective thing for me. The problem is that you have to be careful with what you take away and you have to make sure that you follow up. Generally, it's TV privileges. But, taking away TV also means that I have to be the entertainer a lot more than usual. This is probably where a sibling would come in handy. Anyway, last night was a bad night at our house. Brantley wasn't listening and was misbehaving. So, I made a bad decision on what to take away. I put him to bed and he wanted me to lay down with him. I told him that he didn't get the things he wanted when he misbehaved the way he did. In hindsight, it was a bad choice on my part but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Thus ensued the 'tantrum' of a life time. Since I already said I wouldn't lay down with him I couldn't go back on it. All he wanted was for me to lay down for a minute, but if I gave in that would compromise my authority (have to follow through with what you say). He got up multiple times after that, each time with a struggle back to bed. Tonight was a much better night, but he gets to watch no TV until Friday and the TV is gone from his room. I'm not sure when that will go back. And, in the absence of TV I taught Brantley to multiple 2 and 3 digit numbers. They are just now working on the tables in class, but it seemed like a good time to teach him. He was receptive and even thought it was cool, especially when I showed him some long division and the relationship between the two.

It's official!

Well, there are 3 things that are official tonight. Since the rain out makeup game that was scheduled for last Saturday was rained out, it was rescheduled for tonight. It was freezing out there but fall baseball is officially over tonight (first official thing!). The Bees won tonight, 13 to 4. So, official thing number 2 is the Bees went undefeated! And, official thing number 3 is Brantley is a switch hitter! He finally decided to try to bat left again tonight. He hasn't tried to hit left since the last practice before games started when he couldn't hit anything, right or left. Tonight, he struck out his first at bat, then had the bad luck of a foul ball caught by the catcher with his second at bat. His fourth at bat went to deep left field. It even bounced up and hit a metal sign on the fence with a nice little bang. For some reason, his last at bat he decided to try hitting left. I'm not sure what got into him, but I'm so glad he tried. He had a great base hit! Another dad commented that his swing is better left than it is right. It's a nice level swing which we always try to tell him to do. To end the season, the team went to have pizza together. I wish we could have this team back together for the Spring, but that won't happen. Not sure what lies ahead for Spring, but I have a feeling Brantley will finally have to get used to losing in the Spring.

Happy Halloween!