our own super bulldog weekend

chase was off last friday, so we got the little people out of school early and headed to starkville.  it was a beautiful day.  winter actually decided to go away that afternoon (unlike most of what we have had lately), so we took full advantage of it.

we started at the tennis courts.  we lost the doubles point in a tiebreaker, but we came back and beat lsu.  the fans were rowdy.

but tennis matches can be long for little people.  wes took to pulling out his teeth.

and once reed fell off the top row and landed on his head, i gave them the ok to just run around between the courts and the softball field.  a minute later.....we look up to find that wes has found a hole in the fence and all three are on one of the practice fields.  (note to self: build a practice field in your yard.  great fun.)

we did walk a few fields over and watch the big boys practice for a little bit.

and then we headed to the baseball game to watch us demolish a really good vandy team.

and it only cost us about $50 for hot dogs and nachos.  chase was ecstatic.  :)  but the bellies were full, the fans were happy, and everybody fell asleep within 10 minutes of getting on the road.  perfect day.  go dawgs!

abe

right before spring break, william had his learning fair.  this consisted of him making a gigantic book about a historical person.  he also had to dress up like this person and recite a little ditty about himself when people asked.  he got abraham lincoln.  "since i am the tallest in my class, i had to be abraham lincoln." i don't think abe is as cool as babe ruth or neil armstrong, but he did like the beard!!!

we started out the morning as a fresh abe lincoln.

by the time the parents were to show up at 2pm, abe had been through the ringer.  his hat was on the floor, his beard wasn't quite as sticky, his jacket was undone, and his tie was hanging on by a thread!

oh well....i guess it's hard work to be the president!!

turnabout is fair play

we've all been there.  i happen to think that i have been there way more than anyone else, and i think my husband would agree.  he's always telling me that i have a "redneck" accent.  (he grew up in mississippi, too, so he doesn't really sound like a yankee himself.)  but i've gotten enough stares and enough "where are you from?" questions when we travel to realize that i might sound just a tad bit southern.  and what is the most frustrating thing for a southern person????  well, i'll tell you.  it's those durn automated machines when you call customer service that make you speak your info instead of punching "1 for accounting, 2 for the stock room, etc."  not only do you not get to talk to a person or punch a button....now we have to talk to a machine that has no hope of recognizing what we say.

case in point....

my credit card disappeared in december.  remember that?  yes.  that was a fantastic time of life.  anyway, i had to call a company to put the new credit card on file because they do the automatic renewal thing every year.  i was greeted warmly by the robotic voice of a machine...

machine: "please speak your account number after the beep."
me: "57683921"
machine:  "i'm sorry.  i did not understand that.  please speak your account number after the beep."
me:  "there is no point.  you won't understand anyway."
machine:  "well.  it looks like there is some difficulty understanding you."
me:  "ya think?"
machine:  "please try again.  speak your account number after the beep."
me:  "oh for the love"
machine:  "that is not a valid account number.  please speak your account number after the beep."
me:  "human.  i need a human."
machine:  "let's try one more time.  please speak your account number after the beep."
me:  "i like chocolate."
machine:  "please hold on while i connect you to the nearest customer service representative.  please be aware that this call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes."
me:  "yes.  please monitor it.  and please let everybody hear it so they can see how asinine this whole rigamarole is!!!!!!"

after a few minutes of elevator music, i am greeted warmly by a real, live human.  hallelujah.  that barely speaks english.  why do these people hate me??  we barely made it to the point of me telling her what i wanted before we were both about to come through the phone and strangle each other.  neither of us speaks the native language of the other.  here's a sample....

rep: "noin."
me:  "what?"
rep: "noin."
me:  "i don't know what that is."
rep:  "eees a noombah."
me:  "a what?"
rep:  "oh deeah."
me:  "can you just spell it?"
rep: "N I N E"
me:  "oh.  nine.  ok, i got it."
rep:  "gawt eeet?"
me:  "what?"
rep:  "i duh naught oondastaund."
me:  "hang on.  let me go beat my head against the wall."

seriously.  this went on forever.  and all i wanted to do was put a new credit card on file.  usually i get so frustrated when the machine can't understand me.  but i just thought today was hilarious because finally she knew how i felt!!!

rep:  "daht's eet.  ees der anyding else i can hulp you weeth?"
me:  "oh gosh.  i hope not."
rep:  "i'm soohry?"
me:  "i'm kidding."
rep:  "cood you reepeet daht?"
me:  "no.  let's just end this."
rep:  "eeend?"
me:  "please??"
rep:  "i'm soohry?"
me:  "HAVE.  A.  GOOD.  DAY."

i feel strangely satisfied after that conversation....if you can even call it that.  it's about time those customer service people got a taste of their own medicine!  but hopefully i won't have to call again for another whole year!

i'm back...

so, i had foot surgery about 2 weeks ago.  (in case you were wondering, i am quite obviously an orthopedic surgeon's dream!) it wasn't nearly as painful as the hand was, but all the lying around has killed me.  and anesthesia didn't like me this time either.  all in all....i felt a lot like reed watching one of william's basketball games!

i can't declare myself well, but i'm seeing improvement every day.  it hasn't been all bad.  i had lots of good nurses with the grandparents and chase.  he had to learn how to work the washing machine, but now he's an expert.  you gain lots of practice quickly around here with all the laundry that piles up!  and all the little people were quick to offer a hand.  wes saw me laugh at a commercial of a little boy playing the drums.  so he made me a present....it's still sitting beside my bed!

he also took over some of daddy's chores since daddy was taking over mine!

in other random news, reed dressed up like a plumber one day for school.  excuse me....a "plunger man."

and when the plunger man brought home a bingo game from school....we had friday night bingo!  winners got hershey kisses.  either reed cheats somehow, or we need to take him to the casino.  that's one lucky little sucker!

i realize that was all very random, but it's hard to take pictures when you've spent the last two weeks lying around.  but mama's on the mend.  i know at least one person is very happy about that.  chase hasn't exactly loved all the folding of the clothes!  (maybe i should pretend to be in pain for a little longer!)