I hate it when . . .

Ok, rant alert!

I get that I have boobs. I do. However, they neither make me a bubblehead or rob me of intelligence or hinder me from standing up for myself or my client.

So, take note: If ever and I mean EVER you are counsel on the opposite side of a case from me do not do the following things or I will call you out and it will be reflected on the record!

1. Do not tut-tut at me, I am not a dog.
2. Do not touch my hand in anyway other than shaking it.
3. Do not put your hand up in my face to silence me when I am speaking - I do not respond well to that particular slight and will not stop speaking.
4. Do not tell me to "relax" when you have just been overly condescending and I have called you out on it.
5. Do not tell me how to do my job. I have an IVY LEAGUE education! I work in a top national lawfirm, and I am sitting at the same table, next to you in the same room doing the same thing! I KNOW HOW TO DO MY FRAKKIN JOB!
6. Do not cut me off when I am speaking because you prefer to hear yourself speak. I can assure you that I am not going to stop speaking simply because you think you can talk over me. And if you win that particular war, I will simply repeat my question - again, and again, and again, until you get the message. I can be here all day, can you?
7. Do not - and this one bares repeating - Do not "challenge" me to an insult fest, because I can assure you, I can hang.

And last, but certainly not least, don't put your arm around me. We are not colleagues, we are not friends, we do not even dance in the same freakin circles, you represent your client-badly and I will represent mine. Do not make me go redneck on your sorry ass.

This concludes todays gratuitous rant.

Gone Fishing!

What do we do in the Oddy household when the humidity breaks for a moment, and friends call with a "we want to do something" request?

We go fishing!

Yep, we went fishing yesterday and as you can see, we all enjoyed ourselves. "Unka Matt," Daddy, Our very dear friends and their son and the Boy and I went fishing and caught our fill. Three hours of non-stop reeling for panfish, baby bass, and crappie. We had a great time! Go to Extended to See!

Happy Birthday AWTM!

I would like to wish a very happy birthday to a wonderful friend - Army Wife Toddler Mom!

Go over and wish her a happy birthday.

In honor of her birthday I have a recipe that always brings a smile to the faces of the masses - especially the masses of children!

It has been affectionately dubbed "Cavity Pie"

Ingredients

1 tube refrigerator cookie dough, (I use Toll House chocolate chip)
1 pizza pan
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
various candy bars cut up

Instructions
Spray pizza pan with Pam lightly. Press out cookie dough onto pan - don't worry about holes, they will fill in as it bakes.

Bake according to directions on the package. I overbake till whole cookie is browned.

Immediately drop spoonfools of peanut butter and chocolate chips. Allow to sit until glazed and melted. Spread peanut butter and chips as the "sauce". Sprinkle cookie with cut up candy bars and add some M&M's for color.

Place into fridge or freezer to arrest the heat/melt process. When ready to serve cut into pizza wedges and enjoy!

MMM. I need chocolate now!

Happy Birthday AWTM!! I hope it is wonderful, you deserve it!

OgFest A Recap

Well, I have just returned from OgFest, and before I go in for a nap, I am going to try a short and brief recap, cause I am tired.

I arrived in Chicago to find a charming and handsome man awaiting my arrival. He carried my bags, and ferried me to the hotel where he dropped me off curbside. Thank you so much my friend for being so sweet to me and for the fabulous hugs!

We joined some friends I'd met before and some new friends I'd yet to meet.

Shy - Contagion, Beautiful and intelligent Ktreva, He of many beers - T1G and Tammi- Queen of Mattresses were already at the bar getting their drink on. With them were two men new to me: Og and Jon. Charming men both. It was my pleasure to meet them at last.

We were joined later by Bloodspite-The Quiet and then later still by Blogdaddy Harvey and his long suffering but beautiful wife TNT., Redneck, Leslie and Shoe found us late in the evening back at the hotel too.

The party commenced in Tammi's room - this woman who makes her living on mattresses, sure do know how to entertain *wink*. The party lasted till the wee hours of the morn . . . I do believe I finally reached sleep at 4:45 a.m. What happened is a blur, and well, best not repeated!

Saturday found me up after obscenely little sleep and shopping with the ladies who I adore! Tammi joined us for breakfast but then left us so she could lunch on or rather with the menfolk. Ktreva, TNT, Leslie and I hit the outlets . . . hard! After purchasing tantalizing outfits push-up bras and accessories, we headed back to the hotel to primp for T1G's birthday extravaganza. Where we were all joined by the lovely Teresa who I'd wished I'd met sooner! You are a wonderful lady and I hope to meet up with you again. I also finally had the pleasure of meeting Graumagaus who is quite a sweety!

Og was emcee and provided a wholesome and pious background for the telling of T1G's story. My sides, my eyes, and my ears are still burning from the evening.

T1G was visited by his very own Hooter's Girl, was kissed atop his head and presented with a fine Guiness, all whilst losing his appetite for what seemed the third time of the evening. . .

He was presented with gifts and loving stories about how he had touched us. . . the bad touch of course. He was presented with tasty morsels to nibble on and a few women to bite. Alas, it may be that the next time we see him, he will be dressed in pink and leading a Gay Pride Parade in a City near you, the Hooters Girl made quite an impact - I'm just saying . . .

Happy 40th my dear friend, I won't tell anyone about that one time at band camp . . .

Oh, and lest anyone think blogmeets are all fun and games . . . the boys did taunt a drunk outsider who decided to invade the inner sanctum! The Nerve!! Their device of choice was a hungry calf and Redneck as bait . . . . um . . . nevermind . . .

Sleep was elusive for a second night in a row, though I did manage to find my bed at about 4, only to be awoken by an obscene text message at 4:30 from Zonker.

I found the morning had dawned too quickly and I was off to stake out my spot in front of the letter A at the Southwest terminal. I didn't see Redneck on the way out of the hotel this time, so I trust he made it out ontime. Redneck is a great sport and a good friend, even if he won't let me live down overstating the obvious when last we met.

Redneck had the pleasure of having about 1/2 dozen women in his bed last night - that is some stamina! Of course he had about 1/2 dozen men in his room too, so . . .

Nothing like being overly vague in a recap, but you wouldn't believe it even if I told you.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend with folks I am proud to know. Tammi you planned a great get together! Thank you.

I find that it is always far too long between meeting with these fine people! So, here is to meeting again soon, to good friends, good beer and cheap and tawdry meetups in hotel rooms across the country! May we do it all again very soon!!

The 4th

Tomorrow the festivities will kick off.

We will have the monster grill going cooking beef, turkey, lamb and ribs as well as assorted and sundry other items.

We will have desserts and yummys everywhere.

We will have fireworks in the evening to rival any professional display in the area.

We will have games for the kiddos. This year, I got water guns, water balloons, and water balloon sling shots for water wars. I got sacks for sack races and I got two games of twister for a monster twist-off. As prizes, I buy all kinds of stuff, and every kid goes home with something!

The piece d'resistance, is the glow necklaces that I buy for the kids. They love them. They always ask for them too and I was told this year that they must be purchased!

The 4th is a gathering of friends and family for us. It is a big party. Our Old Order Amish friends (the ones who always work on my mom's house) Alvin, Nancy, John, and little grandkids will come too. Their youngest son always sneaks away to a corner so he can get snockered and not be seen, but everyone knows he does it. He is 21 this year but he still hasn't married. Last year, his dad nearly had to carry him to my dad's car and he was told that his mother would probably kill him. It didn't happen and they will be back this year as they are every year. At Christmas, he got in trouble for watching Spongebob Squarepants on the tv in the kitchen while everyone else was in the living room! They don't ride the horse and buggy to our house cause the fireworks scare the horses.

We were even going to hire a band this year, but thought better of it and spent the band money on more fireworks instead.

So, have a safe and fun 4th. I'm working on 4 hours of sleep today and less tonight and tomorrow. I should be a zombie in Chi-town this weekend. Ack!

A Blur - Or Weekend Diary

Yet again, this weekend was a blur.

On Friday evening, I had plans to attend a concert with the Girls. Those plans fell through so rather than party with the girls, we took the Boy miniature golfing! He nearly hit a hole in one on the very first hole! Now, if we could just get him to hold the club like a club and not like a hockey stick! I finished the evening off talking to two wonderful friends!

On Saturday it was up bright and early to grocery shop, run errands, catch some sun etc. I finished a book that I'd been reading, I set up a tent for the Boy and by evening's end we were chillaxing in front of a fire and roasting marshmallows. I had a s'more or two but the Boy prefers just marshmallows.

The Husband and the Boy camped in the tent all weekend long, and intend to continue all week. The Boy is thrilled by the adventure. I am just pleased to have a King sized bed all to myself for several days in a row!!

Yesterday we finished securing munitions for the big USA Birthday party. Which brings the grand total to somewhere around $2500.00 in things that go boom - really go boom - for we limit our haul to 500 gram repeaters, large mortars, and tubes and other arials - we don't even count in that total the wimpy fountains and small firecrackers the kids like to see go off. This is split between five families of course, but will rival any local display I am sure. Let's just pray that we are not fined this year! In years past, the Po-Po has overlooked our display. In fact, one year, the state police was directing traffic while our display was going on, and last year the local cop was watching from my mom's patio. So, assuming they don't have orders to fine us this year, we should be ok. We finished the evening with some small scale fireworks to the Boy's sheer delight.

So, in all, it was a whirlwind weekend per usual. Interspersed with minor drama, a black and blue chin on the Boy and a skinned elbow, and a couple wonderful phone calls from wonderful friends. I'd call it a winning weekend. Back to the grind today!

Hope you had a fine weekend gentle blogfriends!