Bra-tty Dog.... November 2014 Funny Friday.

I hope you all (that celebrated) had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Happy Friday! We are another week closer to Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/2015! Is it just me, or has 2014 been the fastest year ever?! 

Today’s post is November’s Funny Friday, a regular feature published on the last Friday of every month. Funny Friday is a collaborative project. Each month one of the participants submits a picture, then we all write 5 captions or thoughts inspired by that month’s picture. Links to the other bloggers’ posts are below, click on them and see what they’ve come up with. I hope we bring a smile to your face as you start your weekend.

Here’s today’s picture. It was submitted by The Momisodes (http://themomisodes.com).

<<Thank you for such an adorably funny picture!>>

1. Okay. I posed for your picture, now where is my bacon?! You said there would be bacon. There had better be bacon!

2. I should have bought the pink one, eh?! I knew the pink one was better, I just couldn't resist this one. It reminds me of chasing the neighbors cat.

3. Get adopted, they said. It will be fun, they said.

4. You have got to stop leaving me alone with the kid. She is taking this dress up thing too far. Too far.

5. Does this make my ears look big?!

I hope I was able to bring some laughter into your Friday. I hope you all have a fantastic day and an even better weekend!

Click on the links below and let some other fabulous bloggers make you smile:

Cluttered Genius (http://www.clutteredgenius.com)

Stacy Sews and Schools (http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com)

Follow me home. (http://followmehome.shellybean.com)

Baking In A Tornado (http://www.BakingInATornado.com)

Someone Else’s Genius (http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com)

Confessions of a part-time working mom (http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/)

The Momisodes (http://themomisodes.com)

Sanity Waiting to Happen (http://www.angelaweight.com)

California State of Mind... Use Your Words November 2014

Today’s post is the November 2014 Use Your Words Writing Challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers submitted 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a blog post. All words/phrases must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

My words are: 

native ~ winding ~ creek ~ bridge ~ spirit ~ clarity

They were submitted by: http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/  (Confessions of a part-time working mom)  <Thank you, T, for such fabulous words!>

I am not a native of California. Sometimes, despite my New England and Southern roots, I feel like I was made to live here. I really do love it here. I am grateful I found my way here. For most of my life, I was a loyal East Coaster, and my heart was in New York City and Boston. I often said you would never catch me living in California. Now, I am here, and I love it. 

I love the weather and the people and the landscape. It is actually gorgeous here. It is not all traffic and beaches and palm trees, like I had imagined for most of my life. There are hills and mountains and grassy fields and rivers and farms. It really offers the best of all worlds. You may even be able to stumble on a creek or two, when we are not in drought conditions. 

Droughts are probably my biggest complaint. Yet, at the same time, my joints are a bit thankful for the lack of rainy days. I am quite fond of warm, sunny weather, and that is bountiful here. Along with plenty of things to do and see. It is really this amazing melting pot. 

You can enjoy the beach and the mountains and a grassy field and a big city, all in one day. Where I live, much to my delight, it does not snow. If ever I wanted to torture myself with snow exposure, I could do so in no time at all. Lake Tahoe and Yosemite are both short drives from where I live. What's better, is the fact that the trips to these places are beautiful. The drive to Tahoe is especially beautiful. You travel up into the mountains, on a winding road, and the views are spectacular. 

San Francisco is close to me as well. There is so much to do there. You can dine on foods from around the world, visit Alcatraz, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, explore small shops, and just lose yourself in the beauty that is the community of San Francisco. It is definitely a fun place. I have only been there three times, and I look forward to many future trips. 

I am a bit of a free spirit, so I am a bit shocked that I was able to stay in one place for so long. I tend to like to travel and move. I am a definite Nomad. I like to explore and have a change of scenery. I tend to get Cabin Fever quite easily. I guess, for the right person, even a gypsy nomadic free spirit can settle down. No complaints here. 

One of my favorite things to do, when I am feeling a touch of Cabin Fever, is travel down the back country roads, windows down, radio blasting, wind in my hair. It brings clarity back to my mind and peace in my soul. It is especially awesome on warm Summer nights. It is something I could not do back in New York or Connecticut. It is one of the many things about California I am grateful for. 

I am not sure why these words turned me into a spokeswoman for California, but this is what they inspired within me. When I first read them, I thought about my heritage and my childhood. I thought briefly about Thanksgiving. Once I sat down to write for you, California came to mind.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Now, do yourself a huge favor, and visit all the other blogs featuring a Use Your Words post. See what words they received, and how they were inspired by them. 

Anyone celebrating Thanksgiving soon, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. In honor of that, I would love to hear something you are thankful for. I am thankful so many people and things. I am currently very thankful for modern medicine. I am thankful also, that it improves every single day. 

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                                    Baking In A Tornado

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/                              Spatulas on Parade

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/                     Stacy Sews and Schools

http://followmehome.shellybean.com                                   Follow me home  

http://batteredhope.blogspot.com                                          Battered Hope

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                              Someone Else’s Genius

http://eileensperpetuallybusy.wordpress.com                 Eileen’s Perpetually Busy 

http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/                    Confessions of a part-time working mom

http://www.eviljoyspeaks.wordpress.com                               Evil Joy Speaks

http://www.crumpetsandbollocks.com                            Crumpets and Bollocks 

http://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com/                                     Sparkly Poetic Weirdo  

Memory Lane ... Secret Subject Swap November 2014

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week, 12 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. 

My “Secret Subject” is:

Tell a funny story from your childhood.

It was submitted by the fabulous: http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/  (Thank you for the fabulous subject!!! <3) 

My childhood is not really something I talk about. I lived an eventfully mundane childhood. So much happened, and yet nothing happened. I moved a lot. I moved more before the age of eighteen, than most people move in eighty years.  I have attended over ten schools. I have seen most of the United States and some of Canada. 

I do not know that any memories stick out to me as particularly funny. I have a few that come to mind, but they are beyond embarrassing. My dad had a tendency to do some funny but mean things to me. I contemplated telling them, and decided I would tell a few of them. My pride is not very happy with me at the moment.

I wore overalls often. I loved them and my dad loved me in them. One time, he was tired of the straps coming unclasped, so he took pliers and tightened them closed. I needed to use the bathroom, and he had a grand time teasing me and took his sweet time loosening them. In the end, I pooped my pants. I think I was about nine years old. I am thirty-one, and he still teases me about it.

As a child, I could sleep very deeply, in odd positions, anywhere. It was my job to do the laundry. When I was about seven years old, I had been doing laundry all day. My method was to wash the laundry, hang it to dry, bring it in, and once it was all done, I would fold it and put it away. This one time I was nearly done, and was exhausted. I was a tiny thing back them (shocking, I know), and had decided to crawl on top of all the clean laundry (I had been piling it up on the couch) and take a nap. Apparently, I was sleeping very deeply. I woke up, and discovered my dad, our neighbors, and few cops talking loudly. It turns out my dad could not find me, I was not coming to the call of him yelling my name, and he thought I was gone. At least I was well rested and energized.

My dad had misplaced his house key, and he was helping my cousin Chris crawl through our kitchen window, so he could unlock the door. It was dark and my dad is an evil man. Chris bumped his head on the window, and my dad screamed at me "Julie run! Some big man just hit Chris in the head! Run fast! Let's get out of here!" My poor cousin was running around screaming, thinking some burglar was in the house going to  kill him. At the time, I thought (knew) my dad was evil. Now, many years later, I giggle a bit as I type this, and remember my cousin's face.

There you go! A tiny bit of humor from my childhood. I'd love to hear some of your funny childhood stories! Please, share away! 

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts.  Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

http://www.BakingInATornado.com                            Baking In A Tornado

http://themomisodes.com                                              The Momisodes

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/                      Spatulas on Parade

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/              Stacy Sews and Schools

http://dinoheromommy.com/                              Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

http://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com                                Climaxed

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com                     Someone Else’s Genius 

http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com/            The Bergham’s Life Chronicles

http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/             Confessions of a part-time working mom

http://www.silenceofthemom.blogspot.com               Silence of the Mom

http://www.crumpetsandbollocks.com                     Crumpets and Bollocks

http://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com/                              Sparkly Poetic Weirdo 

Truth is.

I love being Weewee's Mama. She amazes me. She's so smart and funny and sweet. Being a mom is such a blessing. I could not imagine my life without her. She completes me.

That being said, when it is time to change her diaper, I tend to consider going on strike. Maybe just putting her up for temporary adoption. I'd take her back... as soon as she's fully potty trained.

She's sixteen months old now. She's been showing signs of being ready to potty train since she was thirteen months old. I have no clue how to potty train her. No clue at all.

With this whole motherhood thing, I sincerely hope unconditional love counts for a lot. A lot. Maybe most of it.

The truth is... diapers stink. Literally and figuratively.