Things Trinity Says and Does

I found my husband in the guest room the other day, "trying to get warm." In his haste to warm himself, he decided to lynch Elizabeth. He hung her from my necklaces.

Quote of the day:

"Betsy, I know your favorite actor is Lima Bean Nelson."

That would be my beloved Liam Neeson.

Devour Downtown

Indy hosts a downtown dining smorgasbord every summer and winter called Devour Downtown. Lots of pricy restaurants downtown offer 3 course meals for $30. In honor of a full Friday of work sans vomit and diarrhea, we decided to go to Adobo Grill. I love this place. Their deal included an 1800 margarita and fresh guacamole. Tequila and lots of mono saturated fats for my first real meal in days?

Of course! Why would I even hesitate?

T, T, take a picture commemorating my first post flu outing!

Bets, you're kind of hard to see out here in the dark.

Reader challenge: find Betsy

I'm there, I promise.

Trinity is unaware of the newfangled concept of a "flash" when taking a photo in the dark.

Hello tiny magic maker.

Our dinner was divine, and I did devour it.

I lost some weight, hence my puzzlement about appearing preggers here. I assure all readers (mostly my mother) that this is not the case.

Influenza is Evil

Oh, Emily Blunt, you were so right. After several days of the stomach flu, I have reached my goal weight. This is the only silver lining in a really crummy cloud.

I've dropped about 6 pounds in 2 days, according to the scale at the doctor's office.

Awesome! You know what's not awesome? Feeling like this. Other things that are awesome?

A husband who loves me and is willing to take care of my sickly needs.

He's not really an object, rather a person. Even in my sickened state I am objectifying him. He must feel so cheap-

Other awesome things when one can't keep anything in her system for longer than 30 minutes:

• Gatorade
• Saltines
• an iPad
• the newest issue of Indianapolis Monthly
• Tamiflu
• Promethazine (med that keeps you from throwing up-bulimics beware)
• Scrabble Slam (made for 2-4 players. I may be playing myself)
• my Kindle in a darling Great Gatsby cover courtesy of my sister and brother in law
• finishing "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand-such an incredible story of survival. No matter how yucky I feel, Louie Zamperini's ordeal makes my illness so trivial.

My nest of nastiness

My very inattentive daytime companion

2 Hour Delay!!!!

I just received a call from our superintendent that we have a 2 hour delay. Me loves the 2 hour delay. No make up day is necessary, but we get a little reprieve from our normal schedule. It is colder than Siberia here today. The wind chill is 16 below. We had snow yesterday, but I think the delay is more due to chill than snow accumulation. I think I may just have to bundle up and go here

to do this

and this.

I like yoga in the morning, but don't get to go often other than Saturdays and the summer.

This is how I feel when I'm at yoga.

This is how my sister feels doing yoga.

Then a little of this-

and then to school.

The Weekend

I started the long weekend with martinis and Bang Bang shrimp with two of my besties, Marinda and Karen. It had been a long week at school and we were due for a drink. I love, love, love this picture of K&M. Whitney couldn't go.

I headed to Crate and Barrel and finally used all of my gift cards from the wedding. I love these leaning bookshelves. T was a master carpenter putting them together. He still has to drill them to the wall, but I had fun putting some fun tchotchkes and photos up just to get an idea of how things will look. I still have lots of photos to print out, but things are coming along. I will have to enlist the help of Allison to put things in a way that looks decent. I am excited that our living room has a whole new look, and I'm finally able to display some of our beautiful wedding gifts.

Robeghan, my mother and I went to see this fabulous movie.

I can't say enough how great it was. Colin Firth was amazing and the movie portrayed him and the Queen Mum (Helena Bonham Carter) as very doting and loving parents to Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. We had a lively discussion in the car trying to figure out how Queen Elizabeth turned out to be such a cold fish to her own children.

I went to my pilates studio for the Barre Effect class. I have been to it countless times, but still find it to be incredibly challenging. It takes me back to my Nancy Sauer School of Dance lessons, when I first discovered that ballet dancing was not in my future. My one advantage over the other petite cuties in my class is the ease with which I can hoist my ankles up over the barre. This is where my height is an advantage. I'm sure the others watch me with awe and are reminded of Natalie Portman, no?

Trinity and I hit up an Indy establishment that has long been on our list to try. It's only open on weekdays from 11-4. Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr, we were able to check it out. I had a chicken dog. Something about that sounds wrong, but it was good!

The highlight of the weekend was celebrating Tyler's birthday. I love that man. He's one of my favorite people. Allison, Jamie, Meg and I enjoyed some beverages.

Here's the birthday stud himself with Rob. I love this evolution of events.

Photo #1-very calm looking fellows.

Photo #2-shots of God knows what

Photo #3 The sleeper hold

All men in their 30s participate in such foolishness, right?

What a great weekend with family and friends!

An Awkward Little Camper

Back in the summers of 1988, 1989, and 1990 I attended a little summer camp called Gnaw Bone. It was a two week long adventure in southern Indiana where I said goodbye to most modern amenities and roughed it. We watched no TV, we took showers outdoors and slept in open air cabins. I swam in a pond with snakes, went hiking, created macrame bracelets and participated in numerous other un-Betsy activities.

I was a slightly awkward girl, as I have mentioned before. So I ask, what says "rustic" better than denim shorts and Eastland shoes?

That is me. In all of my grade school glory.

Court doesn't look as bad, and neither does Robby.

I remember wondering why the boys didn't like me. I wonder no more, my friends.

That is the face of one cluelessly confident girl. Despite adversity regarding my looks, I remained fairly secure in myself and who I was. One had to have a good combo of perseverance and ignorance to go around sporting that look.

Now please turn your puter screen. I couldn't get this photo to rotate. I promise it will be worth the muscle effort.

Here is the Betsy, Courtney, Allison, Katie crew.

A&K were far older and cooler than the more openly affectionate duo of B&C.

Check out their demure stances and bangs. They were the epitome of sass and style.

*Thanks to Allison for bringing these out on Saturday night, making my night a little better.

Looky What I Bought!

My husband and I are no different from the millions of others who have enjoyed the now ubiquitous video of Antoine Dodson on Youtube. Trinity uses his iPad at least three times a week to play "The Bed Intruder Song" aloud. We laugh and cackle, and it never seems to get old. I was beyond thrilled when I discovered a link to Furbish Studio after my daily reading of

The Love List.

I immediately ordered these hilarious notecards. I can't wait to send them out to my snarky friends in true traditional correspondence style!

Kitty Crack

Trinity has long commented that Kashmir doesn't play. She sleeps. She rarely even gets a little pep in her step. We both suffer from an affliction known as lethargy. I have long since accepted this, but he has not. He thinks that she might just need to be taught how to play. On this random Monday evening, he decided to try and teach her. It all started with him going through random drawers looking for something, only to locate a packet of catnip. I have no idea where it came from, but it has remained in the drawer due to my distaste for kitties on crack. I have never given her catnip. It is truly a stimulant for cats and I don't jive with getting my cat high and strung out. My husband disagrees.

The cat crack was on the floor before I could react. Kashmir was acting all crazy before I could react. She was running, batting the packet, and rubbing her face all over it. Things got crazy. It was then that Trinity decided the kitty crack might just be the incentive needed to get her to play. My brilliant man devised a plan.

Step 1-use one's necktie to fashion a tether from the living room ceiling fan

Step 2-attach catnip packet with a small clip to the end of necktie, leaving it in kitty-enticing suspended motion

Step 3-retrieve kitty who absconded from the room

Step 4-introduce cat to new kitty noose. Grown man must demonstrate how to bat the pouch back and forth by thrusting motionless feline legs

Step 5-sit back, relax and watch cat ignore all of husband's hard work

Happy Birthday to Notorious R.O.B

This is a happy birthday post for my dear brother, Rob. He is 19 months younger than I, born January 7, 1981.

I have always found Robby to be hilarious. Most of my memories include him right by my side. Due to our closeness in age, he was my slightly smaller shadow. As we grew older, he became the large hulking man walking behind me.

This is my favorite picture of Rob, proudly displayed amidst my other favorites on my fridge. He is a first grader here, complete with a buzz cut and missing teeth. To this day I have a soft spot for all of the little boys I have taught who share this look-

Here is another favorite. This is my dad also as a first grader, circa 1954. A slight resemblance, no?

Robby is very photogenic. I present a photo tribute:

He's always #1,

festive,

flexible,

creative, and

jovial.

He has perfected the up the nose shot,

he looks amazing in jean shorts

and short shorts.

He's handy with a sword,

incredibly regal,

and never conforms to a group.

Happy birthday, Robby.

An Awesomesauce Blog

I do love me some blog action. Usually I read mindless fashion, makeup and home decor blogs. Today I discovered this blog while doing my obligatory cat video watching on Youtube. I do this often. I'm not ashamed. Hence I discovered Cooper and some of his fur baby pals. These cats do tricks. They also eat lots of things, including, but not limited to popsicles, watermelon, and bananas. I'm officially hooked.

Check it out:

http://sweetfurr.blogspot.com

New Year's Eve 2010

Prepare yourself for some crazy par-tay pictures. I jest. We headed to Tim and Jamie's house for a low key dinner with pals and toddlers.

Jamie, Jodi and I sat around, ate goodies, enjoyed cocktails and chatted while the menfolk did some other things.

Brad rocked in the new year on this dragon rocker.

Tyler had some chocolate pie. He seduced me with those eyes.

There was pool playing. The creepy orbs are back!

There was medallion shoe modeling.

Tim enjoyed some llama training. It was a very raucous evening.