Some call it dumpster diving.....I call it sheer brilliance.

As the title says, "Some Call it Dumpster Diving."


Here's the story:

Our city does a community spring clean-up every year.
Each zone of the city has a certain week where we throw our old crap out on the curb, and then a few days later big city trucks & bulldozers come clean it up.

You can usually count on the creeps from Creepsville Central crawling out of their hiding places to dig through the junk and load up their trucks before the city haulers come by.



Go ahead & count on the Atwoods to join the kooks.



Shame? I have none.

Self-pride? Never heard of it.

Embarrassment? On the contrary, I'm quite proud.

In fact, I actually had a full on conversation with a man whose pile I was perusing.
Very friendly chap.

I'm sure you're thinking, "Wow, the A-Team has scored a new low."

Not true.
We're just smarter than the average consumer.


Why pay $49.99 for a slide when a perfectly good used one for 0 dollars works just as well?
Why pay $44.99 for a darling picnic table when I can snag one for zip?
Why pay $43 for a new Little Tikes bike when girlfriend will grow out of it in a year?

Answer me those questions & I will quell my rummaging in the future.


Here's what we scored
for absolutely FREE!




I love that my friends think of us when city clean-up comes to town.
Thanks for all the leads, KJ!

A little Magic Show for you

I warn you...

you won't believe your eyes.

First I shall show you this:

OOOOOO!

And next this:

AHHHHHH!

And for the final act --- THIS:

AMAAAAAAAZE-ING!

Thank you Mr. Clean.

If I weren't happily married I'd Google you then track you down.

Celebrating the birth of my Tat

What does Tyler want for his Birthday?
Same thing he asks for EVERY year.

"For you, my wife,
to not spend any money on me."

I know, I know - we're a super exciting bunch around here.

So he got some love in the form of food, fun, & friends....
all receipt-less (relatively speaking).

Exhibit A:

Breakfast in bed




Exhibit B:

A visit to Avy's gym class






Exhibit C:

His choice for din-din --- tri-tip & sauteed veggies



Exhibit D:

Ice-cream cake --- but since BR costs an arm & a leg, wifey did a quick imitation.
It tasted just as good, don't worry.
And to go with the dee-lish dessert,
we had our lovely friends J & H stop on by for a round of
Ticket to Ride.





If you're wondering why I love Tatty so much,
feel free take a gander at any of the following posts.

You be the Judge


Tyler's non-brownie point quote of the day



The Tale of Tat's Toe


The Fox I Married Almost 4 Years Ago


I've realized that I get the best responses from you all on the posts about Tyler.
Go figure.
I assume you all love the Birthday Boy as much as I do.

Happy Birthday, Big Guy!
Thanks for giving me such good material for my blog.

Oh, & thanks for making me the happiest girl in the world.

Bye Bye BOB...sob, sob, sob

Alright, who's the wise guy that thinks he can sneak up to the front of my house,
squeeze between my car and the garage,
and run off with my jogger stroller?


Huh? Fess up you thief you!

Thanks to you and your sticky fingers I had to rough the terrain of the hills today with my Graco.

Bye, Bye, Bob.




You've served our family well for the past 18 months.

Sure I bought you for a steal at a garage sale.
And sure, maybe my plan was to use & abuse you then post you on craigslist for more than I paid for you.

But regardless, through it all, you've been a tremendous exercise buddy.

You'll be missed.

And to the thug
that thinks he can just take whatever looks appealing to his little beady, integrity-less eyes, I'm concocting a trap to reel you back in and capture you.


So be wise, oh naughty one, be wise.

A Girl & Her Hat.

As sauntering through Target, Avycakes started squealing with glee and screaming:

"HAT! HAT! HAT!"

So what's a mother to do on a rainy day, but get her the hat?

However, I'm not a complete pushover.

She did keep screaming, "Mommy, HAT!" all through Target, insisting I wear the hat.

Come on, I have a bit more self-pride than to prance around

Tar-jay with a toddler's $1 wide-brimmed hat resting gently on my head.

So she got the hat, but I wouldn't wear it.

She has been in complete love with this awesome hat since we paid for it at the register.

She wore it in the car.

She wore it all through our Baskin Robbins visit.

She wears it when she plays.

And she wears it when she wakes up.

By golly, this might just be the best buck I've ever spent.

No, I take that back.

The Nabisco Snak Sak of Golden Vanilla Oreos is probably the best buck I've ever spent.

Proper Gym Etiquette

This post is for the gal on the eliptical next to mine:


Sweetie, I'm sure you're a doll & a very nice person...
you just need a bit of training on proper gym etiquette.

I'll take on this responsibility.

1-
If you're sick- ie: coughing & sneezing & sniffling-
then please refrain from public incubating grounds --- like a gym.

For all I know, the girl 2 feet away from me making all these disgusting sounds may have
SARS ,or even Bird Flu.


Something I do know is that whatever you've got, I am not interested in sharing your
communicable disease.

2-
If you must work-out despite your ailment,
I applaud your strength & determination.
However, rather than infesting me & others around, maybe you could stop the spread...

3-
...by wearing this:




or this:




or for an even better sweat session, maybe even this?



Just some food for thought.
And that concludes our Gym Etiquette Session.

Cross-Cultural Communication

So let me preface...
One of the perks about having a beaming red-head child is the attention I get. We refer to Avykins as our Celebrity Baby. Since she's been born, she has ALWAYS drawn a crowd thanks to the stunning locks of beauty on top o' thee head.
I mean obviously, look at her:

So today we were hiking and on the way back down the hill I get stopped by an elderly English fella. He says to me, in a very thick English accent, very...v..e..r..y...slowly and in a very low tone:


"Where... did you make... such a beautiful... little doll?
Holy Smokes!"

My immediate response, because I live the life of an open book and am willing to share truth in all things was to start telling the inquisitive Old Pip about the fateful day in December of 2006, but then I quickly realized I may be encountering a moment of intercultural miscommunication.

So instead I just smiled and said, "Oh. Yes, thanks. She is beautiful."

And went on my merry way.

I guess that BA in Communication Studies finally did come in handy.
Thanks be to Dr. Wenshu Lee for saving me from a possibly awkward, never to recover from moment.

The Tale of Tat's Toe

If you know the story of Tat's toe fungi, feel free to skip this post. If not, here's some good entertainment for you, courtesy of Tyler A.

So he's had some nasty toe fungus going on for as long as I can remember. I finally talked him into going to the Doc & having the MD check it out and cure the nastiness.



Tat goes to the Dr. He discusses his toenail fungus.

This is what physician reports:
"To cure this you will need this special medicine. It costs about $750. And no, insurance doesn't cover it."

So of course Tat comes home with his toenail in tact & no medicine to cure it.

Later that evening:
It's time for bed and I walk into the bathroom to bid Tyler adieu. What do I find as I enter the room?
Here's the scene:
Tat has his left foot up on the counter. He's looking a little woozy and pale.
He is digging into his toe with the COMPLETELY-UNSANITARY-OLD-RUSTY toenail clipper dagger, with blood running all over the counter. Oh yes, and his toenail is half-off. It is now completely removed.

You can imagine my disgust. When I ask if he's lost his mind, his response was something to the effect of, "I'm not paying $750 for medicine when I can solve the problem for free."

Awesome, hun. Awesome.

My friend Kaari emailed me this pic of a cake she found on-line and titled it "Tat's next cake."
Anyone want a slice? I call the big yellow toe.



Anyone who sees no difference between the male & female species can come spend 1 day at the Atwood ranch.......I guarantee your opinion shall change.

What the world, needs now.......Part 2

.....is LOVE, sweet Love. And Avy has been feeling it.

Today was one big Heart Day fest for Little Red.

Exhibit A:
She hosted a little V-Day party for her playgroup today.
There was cookie decorating, lots of sugar eating, & of course the creation of beautiful Valentine's.








Exhibit B:
Avy's friends threw a Little Cupid Valentine Party. So Cute!
She made Valentine's for all her little people.
Carefully packed them in a transporting vessel.
Decorated a drop box for all her collectibles.
Traded goods with her friends.
Ate goods from her friends.
And found time to pose for a quick pic with Mom.

Way to share the Love, Avykins. Way to share the Love.