Chadman’s Neighborhood

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Cakes Gone Horribly Wrong

Lilia
4 hours ago
6 comments

My new favorite blog showcases Cake Wrecks, "professionally" made cakes that are either horribly distasteful, or just plain wrecks.

Here's just a sample. What expectant mother doesn't want to slice into a replica of her soon to be born baby?

Creepy Baby Cake

They Came to America from Sweden

Penny
2 days ago
1 comment

My Great Grandmothers

All four of my great grandparents on my mother's side came to this country from Sweden in the 1800's. Today I spent the day with a cousin researching our family in the geneological department of the library. It was so interesting I would love to go back and spend more time. We found old census records telling when they came to this country and when they became citizens. The census records even told values of homes at the time and occupations of the family members. We tried to find record of them on a ship, but didn't find that yet. It is interesting to me to try to imagine their life coming to America as young adults, marrying soon after and starting a family. We have tons of family photos so it is easy to imagine what things must have been like. There are many dramas and family stories I want to put in writing along with lots of questions. A very fun, interesting day.

Weekend Excitement

Penny
5 days ago
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As has become our tradition, the two oldest grandkids spent Friday night with me. They were well-behaved and even helped me wash my windows and do some other chores. I rewarded their efforts with $1.00 each to spend at the small lake grocery where we usually take a drive. They decided to pass on the candy this time and put their money together and get this "neat" set of handcuffs. What can happen, they're just toys, right! They played with them in the car and snapped them open and closed easily. My grandson even commented, "We're really using good teamwork, right grandma?" I was so proud to hear some of our school "lifeskill" vocabulary. Little did I suspect that shortly after arriving back home that good "teamwork" would result in little sister allowing big brother to handcuff her ankles together "to see what it would be like."

The scene quickly evolved into Grandma asking the forever unanswerable, "Why would you do that?" and trying without success to push the button to release the handcuffs. Little sister is by now yelling, "It's too tight, get them off," and crying. Big brother is using all his strength to push the button as well and is reminding us both to take deep breaths. "That's what you should do when you start to panic, right grandma." The cuffs are so tight you can see red marks developing and there is no way the cuffs will release. My grandson did come up with the idea of cutting them off, so I sent him next door to see if our neighbor could help. They returned with wire cutters and successfully removed the cuffs. The red marks remained the rest of the evening and little sister totally enjoyed big brother's guilty offer of, "I'll do whatever you want the rest of the night, Kelsie."

I'm looking forward to next week spending a few days with my youngest grandchild. I'm sure we will have a lot of fun doing things around her house. I'll be bringing my own wire cutters this time, just in case.

That Other Secret Blog

reijiro
5 days ago
2 comments

Because they had blocked livejournal, at the beginning of this month, I decided to open another blog. I decided to stick to a theme, write under a cryptic pseudonym that doesn't give away who I am except that it contains my age, and just write and write without restrictions.

It has a hit counter in it. Every day, I check how many hits I get.

It's pretty successful.

I swore to myself no pictures, no movie clips, just plain english.

I have fans even!

I'm flattered. Really I am. They really like what I write! I should have been a writer... ;)

Dog trauma

Ann
5 days ago
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So Inari goes to the vet for her shots, and to have a lump on her side checked out and the vet says that it's likely a malignant tumor and it should be taken out asap. I say go ahead, and here are the results. An over 4 inch incision on her side, with a huge shaved patch! The good news is they think they got it all.

While she can't reach it to lick at it, it became immediately clear that her hind leg was exactly the right length to scratch at it. The vet recommended putting a t-shirt on her to cover the incision.

Our first 2 attempts with cut up human t-shirts were pretty hysterical and pathetic. So we broke down and went to a doggie boutique and bought a dog shirt. It does fit much better - although she hates it. Maybe she's not a Red's fan and that's what she's upset about!

Poor Inari.....

Ann
Jul 15, 2008
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Inari

She fell down the stairs this week - very disturbing. She had a seizure a few weeks ago so we put her back on medication which unfortunately makes her somewhat groggy and out of it. She and the other pooches were going down our stairs, and I think one of them bumped her and her back legs slid out from under her and down she went, until she hit the floor at the bottom of the steps. She's still favoring her right hip and leg, but otherwise seems fine. She goes to the vet this week for shots anyway, so I'll have them check her out. Just another reminder that she's not so young anymore.

Winter Memory

Penny
Jul 14, 2008
1 comment

IMG_0745

Even though it is 80 degrees outside today, when I was looking through pictures this one caught my eye. This winter we had 1 snowstorm where the snow was over a foot deep, evidenced by the imprint of my back door. It made me remember the "great blizzard of '78". My daughter was 3 and my husband was determined to prove his manhood by reciting his favorite winter saying, "this is nothing, I grew up in Minnesota." This sometimes extended into, "we walked to school no matter what, uphill both ways, yada, yada, yada." Well, the forecast was for 20 some inches of blowing snow. Please do not go out, etc.etc. He had some event to go to and was determined that no little snowstorm would stop him. He and a friend drove off in our small Datsun pickup truck (white, of course), leaving me home with a three year old wondering if we would ever see him again. Well, about 2 or 3 in the morning, while I was doing my usual productive searching the windows for signs of life, I saw two images move by the window. A couple minutes later they were inside, laughing, shaking and talking all at once. The truck had gotten stuck a mile away(not to be seen for quite a while, remember it was white) and they had trudged through the snow to get home. The other guy left soon to finish his three or four mile trek home and my husband listened politely while I ranted and raved about the danger, risk, what if , what if, etc. His theory always was that if he was hurt or dead or something, someone would notify me, so if I heard nothing I should know he was fine. Somehow, I never found this particularly comforting. Looking back I know that one of his best qualities was his willingness to take risks and enjoy every moment. I often wish I'd had the same attitude and simply enjoyed more simple moments.