You Know You Play Too Much XBox Live....

...when your baby wants to wear your headset around the house and the only way to avoid a 6:00am meltdown is to let him wear it in the car. And that, my friends, is when you know you play too much XBox.

(Actually, its really cute. He thinks he's a rock star with a headset microphone and dances around with that thing on his head. I'll try to get some video of him and post it.)

On a side note: look who discovered KETCHUP!!! Mmmmm.

A Little Boy and His Dog.

Colt loves Griz, that's for sure. "Dizzy" and "Dog" were two of his first words! Kissy kissy!!

When The Mother's Away...

Or, getting a massage in the next room. Seriously. I injured my shoulder four years ago when I fell from my horse three weeks before our wedding and suffered whiplash and a concussion. They wanted to put me in a neck brace and knowing full-well if I let Todd see me in one of those things he'd never let me get on a horse again, I just gave the doctor the, "Oh. I'll be fine..." Well, fast forward to my twice-monthly massage where Sonja arrives, sets her table up and I enjoy one hour of pure bliss while she tries to undo a shoulder injury that will probably haunt me the rest of my life.

Anyway, I digress. So, while the mom's away, the baby shall play! Here is what Todd caught him doing the second he turned away. Again, picture me blissfully aware in the next room...

See, the thing about babies is well, they're just so quick. And resourceful. Thank god for washable markers.

Who's the cutest little thing you've ever seen?? Seriously. This kid is a crack up.

40mph and a Full Stop.

Not that I speed everywhere. Or, hardly anywhere. Let's be serious  - I have a toddler in tow. But, on my way to work this morning I followed one of the most irritating drivers in the county. Now, let's preface by saying I wasn't in a hurry either. I was a good 20 minutes early for my commute. I had my coffee. Second cup and was on my way to drop Colt off at my parent's house. Early. Not in a hurry. Driving the speed limit. Enjoying my morning.

Then, I fall in behind this SUV half way to work. Crossing our first major byway I notice his first full stop and three second pause before crossing the road. It's a busy road, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but there were no cars coming.

The next intersection only has three stop signs and one road has the right of way. As we approach the carless intersection (and I could tell because it was pitch black and level ground and no headlights to be seen for miles...) again, a full on stop (complete with turn indicator - which I appreciated) followed by the three second pause and then he made his turn and gently accelerated again. Topping out at 40mph (although the posted speed limit was 45mph) I followed on. At first it was cute: a driver who followed the rules and didn't speed. Different. But, I grew a little tired of nearly rear-ending this guy twice.

The final straw came on the last 4-way stop before I turned off the main road. It's a four way all stop with a blinking red light at an area where traffic can be seen approaching for a good two miles in every direction. I was turning right, as we he too (again, blinker on much further ahead of time than legally required). I'm not lying when I say everyone. Everyone. rolls through that intersection. Visibility is high, traffic flow is low and seriously everyone rolls through it. I'm not endorsing this as the right thing to do, I'm just saying think about how much gas you save by not stopping and resuming speed. Skewed logic? Perhaps.

So, I know this guy is going to blow this stop sign. And, did he? NO!! Blinker, complete stop, three second pause and slow acceleration to 40mph (again, 45mph posted speed limit). ARG! After nearly rear-ending him a third time, I couldn't contain my frustration and thought some very bad thoughts about him (the baby was in the car and I don't want his second language being pirate-speak like his mother).

The last intersection where I turn to go to work or to my parent's house approached and I was glad to be getting out from behind this guy. I knew he wouldn't be turning towards my parent's house. And he didn't: he turned right and went to MY WORK. I work with this guy! This irritating by-the-book, rule-following, slow driver! I work with him! Awesome.

Because I Wasn't Really A Good Driver To Start With.....

So, yesterday I go to return a saddle I borrowed from a perfect stranger. In a perfectly strange house with a perfectly strange driveway. (Might I add: a perfectly long, rocky, new driveway with edges that dropped steeply into soggy, muddy pits of despair...). I was, as instructed, to leave the saddle on the back porch because said perfect stranger would not be home. Sounds easy enough?

Oh, but you underestimate my ability to turn perfectly normal driving conditions into something from Legally Blond. Seriously.

So, I pull up the long, narrow, winding driveway with no turn-around and steep edges (can I make this sound any more like it's NOT my fault?) and put the saddle on the back porch as directed. I then decide that this particular area has a smaller ledge and because the frozen ground looks a little more stable, would be an excellent spot to pull off the driveway and turn around. And we all see where this is going, right? I'm sure I don't even need to say it, but I will anyway because ALL great stories start with..."And there I was: baby in the car seat..."

In order to see what I was doing I chose to back off the driveway into the, again, very stable-looking area to turn around. Three inches of clearance beneath my car coupled with low-profile tires and rear-wheel drive left me sunk to the rims and peeling out in a complete stranger's yard. Right on. There's nothing cooler than coming home and finding some half-wit with her car buried in your yard and a toddler screaming in the back seat, right? So, my initial panic set in and I called Todd at home (who was being amazing and cooking dinner while I had "just left for a minute" to drop this frickin' saddle off.) I couldn't bare admitting to him that I had, YET AGAIN, gotten myself into a sticky situation requiring chains, snatch blocks, a tractor and many, many more people, so I hung up before he answered. (Also, I would have called my dad, but only as a last resort, since the last time he pulled me out it did take chains, snatch blocks, a tractor and many, many more people.) Anyway, determined to get out of this by myself, I rocked back and forth in the car until I got enough traction and speed to launch me back on to the driveway. Not a HUGE whole, but certainly not unnoticeable...

In my infinite wisdom I attempt to pull off the other side of the driveway, putting my front tires in the pit of despair, leaving my back tires (since it is rear-wheel drive) on the gravel to heave me out. Well, that didn't work and I just started burning out on their driveway. I managed to get all four tires back up on the driveway and backed the entire way down the driveway and got away from there as fast as I could. I haven't gotten any calls regarding my insurance covering damages I did to their property, so I think it'll be OK. We'll see.

And to think, I didn't even like the saddle!