Sunday Sound Out

From Chicago, home of the biggest ball of mud (It's in my backyard. Really.), it's your host, the woman who bravely donned a bathing suit in public in order to take the kids to the pool, Dawn Meehan!

It was Savannah's birthday on Tuesday and it's Lexi's birthday tomorrow, so I had a joint party for them on Saturday. For the first time in nearly 16 years, I didn't make their cakes. I feel like such a slacker, but I've gotta tell ya, after I placed my order at the bakery, the knot in my stomach disappeared because I knew I'd just freed up a good 8 hours that wouldn't have to be spent baking and decorating. I asked them if it would be ok before I ordered the cake and they both said it was fine.

Here's their store-bought ("store-bought" has to be said with great derision) cake:


Yeah, yeah, I think he's dorky too, but the girls like him.

And here's the kind of thing that happens when 10 kids put their heads together. It's a redneck slip-n-slide the kids made out of tarps, plastic drop-cloths, paint cans, 2X4s, baseball bats, and a hose. Yeah, we're classy. Note how it ends on the cement sidewalk. What could go wrong?



The dads, standing around, beer in hand, don't see any problem with it.






It wasn't long before the kids convinced their Uncle Sam to take them up to the store to buy a real one.

And now, answers to your questions...

Dawn, where does that hate mail go, because once upon a little while I sent you some, just to be silly and never got an answer.
It probably went into the giant pile of mail that I never quite get around to answering, Rita. I'm sorry. My inbox is a scary thing.

Wow, what a week! Is Savannah off her crutches? Looking at the picture (cute dress!), you'd never know she recently had knee surgery.
She's technically still supposed to be using the crutches, but I let her ditch them at church that day.

And do you ever stash anything for yourself to do in the car while you're waiting (ten minutes early to pick someone up because the one day you leave on time, there's no traffic, etc.)? I still never remember to bring something to do.
I've always got my iPhone with me so I play solitaire or Scrabble or read mail, or I just recline my seat, close my eyes and hope I'm not snoring or drooling on myself when my kids and/or their friends' parents walk out to my car.

I'm sorry but Chicago is not going to win. I'm a die hard Flyers fan and I have been since I was 2 years old. Let's GO FLYERS!!
Uh yeah. What's the score? Who's up in the series? What was that? The Hawks, you say? Oh yeah!

You know, before reading about your great adventures downtown, I thought, "Man! Dawn is looking great!" No lie. I really thought that. I can't believe he didn't hit on you! You're looking fantastic!
It's smoke and mirrors. (And strategically cropped photos.) But you're my new best friend!

Dawn, when you call yourself fat it just makes those of us who really ARE fat feel fatter. You're not fat, sweetie, you have a few extra pounds that proclaim, "I created and gave birth to six beautiful children." You carry them well and you should be proud.
I've learned it's all relative. I had a friend who would complain when she was carrying around an extra 5 pounds. She was a size 3. I used to roll my eyes. But the thing is, those extra 5 pounds really bothered her. She wasn't comfortable when the scale went up. Her clothes didn't fit the same. Yeah, to a person who has more than 5 pounds to lose, it sounds ridiculous, but you can't make light of another person's weight struggles just because you may have more to lose than they do. It's all relative.

Honestly.. WHERE do spoons go?!?
With the single socks.

All of my sippy cups end up looking that way. The part that sucks? My kids are clearly going to use sippy cups until they go to college. Sigh.
:::raising hand::: Here too. Honestly, Brooklyn is perfectly capable of drinking out of a regular cup, but since she doesn't eat and subsists on chocolate milk and ketchup, I let her walk around with a sippy all day. What can I say? She's my sixth. I've given up.

Do you ever take the kids to the drive-in?
I take them to Sonic, America's Drive-In, just because I'm addicted to the strawberry limeade. But as far as a drive-in theater, I don't know of any around here. I guess I'm more of a RedBox girl. Which reminds me, if I don't return Extraordinary Measures soon, I'm going to own it. It was a good movie, btw. It has Brendan Fraser. Yum. Based on a true story. Harrison Ford as an eccentric scientist.

And speaking of Sonic... A few of you may have read on Facebook where I was complaining that my van smelled like onions, feet and funk. Yeah well I found the source. It wasn't Jackson's hockey equipment like I originally thought. I mean, his pads smell nasty, but that wasn't the source of the stink. It was a stink that had a life of its own. And it was from...

old strawberries stuck to the lid of a cup, AND


a moldy orange peel, AND


a couple jalapenos and a cheddar pepper, AND


a bag of onion rings. Yep, it's been in the 90s here. Onion rings. Week old onion rings. In a 90+ degree car.




decomposing onion rings in the heat of a closed-up car


I don't know how I didn't throw up while taking these pics. Do you see the lengths I go to for this blog? Getting sick again just thinking about that smell. GAG!