I ain't afraid of no craigslist....

Whose afraid of craigslist and people who may come to buy something and actually kill me instead. Jackie that's who. Well, I just sold our entertainment center on craigslist without Rick here, to a perfect stranger and I survived. For the past 2 days I've been stressing knowing this elusive " Josh" person was coming on Saturday with a trailer to come and "look" at our entertainment center. Last night I slept about 4 hours, b/c I couldn't find a soul who would be around here during the day to sit here while this strange Alabamian, looked in my house. And he was possibly bringing a friend, so they could both murderize me. I had my bedroom window open last night so I could hear anyone outside, had all the lights on and left the tv on, just in case he decided to show up early to kill me. Well, at 1pm, the craigslister showed up and whadda know, he was a crystal sportin, Pink Floyd flipflop toting, ponytail wearing, Dead Head. Praise the Lord. He was shorter than me and a happy go lucky fellow just back in the states from Australia and needing new furniture. Hurray, he wasn't here to kill me and steal my minivan like Jenn LaVato. I guess I'll be sleeping well tonight. As my brother-in-law puts it nicely, " Jackie you should just stick to ebay and selling stuff thru the mail." This is my first blog that doesn't have a picture, what could I possibly take a picture of, the empty space where my entertainment center was? Or maybe the puffy bags under my eyes in my sleep deprived face. Either one woulda been a little crazy.

Master Bathroom poll

This is the semi-finished Master Bathroom for the time being and after I temporarily hung up the sailboat painting, I wasn't sure I liked it there or at all. Also the bench I bought just looks lonely there by itself. Tell me what you think about the whole shibang. Like it or ditch the painting and the bench?

And what color should I get for a bath rug, chocolate or white?

Cheapest Halloween Costumes Humanly Possible

COMING SOON TO A PIGGLY WIGGLY NEAR YOU

THE NEW REDNECK BATMAN COSTUME(PEN NOT INCLUDED)

AND

YMCA TRY-OUT REJECTION COSTUME(UNDERWEAR INCLUCDED)

Goodbye Forever Sucky Thumb

Emma has been a thumb sucker ever since she was 6 weeks old and pushed the binky out, substituting her thumb in its place. At the time, I found this adorable and we loved to watch that tiny skinny thumb find its place in her mouth. When she became a toddler and increasingly relied on her thumb for assurance and comfort, we were a little concerned, but felt that she would break the habit eventually. Her dentist assured us that peer pressure in Kindergarten would force her into giving it up, but this did not happen. We have used gentle reminders, firm consequences, threats with a thumb guard from a magazine and even once putting hot sauce on it. When we would ask her why she needed to keep sucking it, she would say " It's just so sucky Mom." None of this worked. One mother in the commissary actually stopped me once when we were shopping and saw Emma sucking it and said she had tried everything with her son, even poop on his thumb!! I didn't want to ask who's poo, I just ended the conversation and ran away. It took the dentist last year telling her that she would have rabbit teeth if she didn't stop, that finally sunk in. The first day of school Emma came to me and asked for a thumb guard. I was shocked!! I quickly chose a much simpler and cheaper method, bandaids on the thumb. She hated the texture and wouldn't suck it with the bandaid. Well, we are now into week two and the callus on the knuckle is beginning to fade. When, we put the bandaid on for the first time that night, I said " Let's say bye to your sucky thumb" and she actually started to cry. So, I guess my baby girl is leaving one more aspect of her childhood in the wayside and growing up.

Mama needs a new pair of shoes

Back to the sweatshops you two, crank out those wooden Home Depot Lockers. Faster Faster, Dot Tran has got you beat by at least 30 wooden lockers. How do you expect me to fund my giant ebay extravaganza, unless you raise your quota? Oh alright , just enjoy yourselves, while you pound away using those miniature hammers at Home Depot to make a tiny school locker to put all your goodies in. We'll be back next week to make the GMC truck( out of wood, weird?). And then we'll be back with bells on in September for the pirate ship craft. Yippee Even storm troopers need a hiding spot.

Coolest New Invention

This invention may not be new to some, but to me I was thrilled when I saw the lady slip these on my kids cones. She put one on mine also. Maybe she could tell I needed one. Believe it or not they work. Reece had Superman ice cream and managed to keep it all on his face, not his shirt. But apparently as Rick said it's not idiot proof. Jackie sometimes has problems, I guess I take after my mom and wear more than I eat.

Going to school to get some knowledge

First day of school, first day of school, ohhhhhhhhh let's name the zones the zones the zones, let's name the zones of the open sea.

Today was Emma Roo's first day of second grade and she was soo excited. That girl had her hair brushed and shiny hours before school had even begun and was ready to leave the house 45 minutes before it opened. Of course, we woke up to thunderstorms and it poured as I walked her in, wet, but anxious. She has a desk in the front near the chalkboard(for once) and sits with 5 boys and 1 girl at her table. Since there are only 10 girls in a class of 32 it's bound to be boy overload at any table. This week she has half days and then starts full on Friday. Her first assignment was to make a monkey out of 3 pieces of brown construction that was sent home today along with 2 googly eyes. I had to google, How to Draw a Monkey, or should've looked in the book Idiot's Guide to Monkey Drawing. Mom's are not meant to draw monkey's, that's a dad job. I'm the one cleaning up after the monkey's in my house. Aside from physically throwing feces in the house, they come pretty close to all the other characteristics, well maybe not the smell. Looking forward to another fun year at school. Hurray Emma! The first picture was Emma and her friend Haley Hyde.

Blowing out Summer

Stopping for ice cream afterwards

Splash Pad in Navarre

Hitting the beach near Ft. Pickens for a beach walk at dusk

Meeting a dastardly pirate at Peg Leg Pete's

Emma starts school in 2 days and we had to close it down with a bang. Emma will be in 2nd grade this year at St. Paul's and is looking forward to school and me being her Girl Scout Brownie leader again. Dad was home here for the last three days with no reserve duty, so we brought down summer royally. Starting with Krispy Kreme for breakfast before the back-to-school day at her school where we met her teacher Mrs. Struck.

Thanks A lot Emma!

Look at that sweet face, innocence beaming like a cherub. Now, let's back up to last night at bed. I had disciplined Reece earlier in the evening and I was teasing with him about going to Target to get him a new fanny, since Mommy had spanked his fanny. We all laughed about buying a little boy fanny for $5. Then he asked randomly, " How big is my fanny mom?" And I teasingly said as big as a watermelon. And Emma quick jumps in with, Mom that's not true at all b/c Reece's fanny is small compared to yours. " Yours is as big as an umbrella when it's open."
THANKS A LOT EMMA!! I think this year at Christmas someone will be getting far less toys than the other children. ha ha

Bedtime Tales by Jackie Parrish

Kids heres a little tale about a grizzled pug who won't eat a tempura sweet potato. And it goes something like this:

One humid night right before bed a tired mom was clearing dinner plates hours after they should have been cleared. When out of the quiet hum of the dishwasher she hears the wuffle of a strange animal. Is it a wolverine, a wildebeast, a snuffleumagus? No, it was a pug just trying to breathe. He came in with those sad pug eyes and seemed to say " are you really going to just chuck all that good food in the trash?" Oh, alright first born child of mine that I never gave birth to, you can have a tempura sweet potato. This is where the story gets good kids, gather round, the pug took the sweet potato in his little varmit teeth and ran out of the room quick as a fat lady in a movie theatre with a giant tub of popcorn. That makes no sense, but he ran away fast. That pug carried that sweet potato for the better part of 10 minutes and could never quite figure out where to take it to eat it. He has been guarding the sweet potato in our dining room now for the entire time it's taken me to tell my tale and has lunged at Gatsby twice for coming too close to his prize. He always has had a bit of a Napoleon complex. Now this ends my story, but to this day I hear on foggy nights when the crickets are quiet you can hear that pug and his labored breathing still carrying that sweet potato.

POOFED OUT TO THE MAX

This is the hair we wake up to every morning and it seems to only get poofier. She definitely needs conditioner in the bath and brushing every day, hence the reason her latest new word is " OW". She runs away from me when she sees the hairbrush and holds her hair saying OWWWWW. Sorry Adeline you were blessed or cursed with curly hair and humidity is not your friend. Her nickname is Toodlepoof and for very good reason. But even though Emma thinks Adeline's hair looks alive, I love it and can't wait for that first morning appearance at the cribside to see how big the hair will be this day.

Our trip up North and back again

So our trip to Virginia and Maryland was a blast. A quick 6 days to squeeze in time with every relative, including friends and a trip to the National Zoo. It was hot, it was humid, but we had a blast. We took Southwest airlines up from Jacksonville and got a rental car from Baltimore. Stopped to see the Baldwins in Quantico and then split the remainder of the time with family. Cathy forces Jackie to sit on bear statue

Emma and Bethany and the dramatic prairie dog

Cousin Pig Pile

Visiting both grandmas

The girls go shopping!!

Rick and Adeline sleep, why Rick wears her bow on his head

is anyone's guess

Adeline loves to see Daddy's planes