YES, I Said A Dirty Word!!

"OH ^#@&^%>"

Why is there a broken bottle of Black Strap Molasses on my brick floor you ask?  Well....it all began with finding a couple of random little black bastar.....ooooh..so sorry, that is my not so nice pet name for some very not so nice pests we often times find in our home during the summer months. Excuse my manners, I forgot where I was for a moment.  Where was I...oh yes, I was reaching into the pantry for a mid afternoon snack for Noah and I, when I saw these little pests running about on the top shelf!!!!!   I proceeded to pull my little rolling butcher block cart to the pantry to begin  unloading the top shelf for cleaning and decrapification, then to spray for pests, when in my agitated state I let a new bottle of this tarry goo slip from my grip, right onto the unforgiving brick floor of my kitchen!!!!!!  YES....I do believe I mumbled a naughty word or two under my breath!!!

As if cleaning out my entire pantry of ants was not going to be ENOUGH fun for me, I had to go and break an entire bottle of thick, black, sticky, and may I add, SMELLY gunk onto my floor to add a little more excitement.  Noah came running in to see what broke, and I ordered him back to the sofa, put a movie on for him to keep his attention while I cleaned this disgusting mess off my floor and then tackled the nasty ant infestation as well.  Pantry is clean.  Floor is clean.  Ants are gone.  Much food has been thrown away. And now, on the up side, I can actually look into my cupboards and find something I am looking for!  
Moving on now to something happier.  A picnic!  Noah wanted to play with his Zoo Pal paper plates.  So I spread a blanket out on the floor of the play room, and we put plates out for all of his friends, and we had a good old fashioned picnic.

He made me a delicious baloney and waffle sandwich.  With side order of gold fish crackers.

He grilled me up a burger with some chips, cherry pie, and chocolate milk too.  And later, some alphabet soup.  It was the tastiest picnic I have ever been to.

See that yellow Ronald McDonald bag there, with the remains of a puffy painted Gennifer on it?  McDonald's at one time gave good toys in their Happy Meals.  This was one of the give aways...many years ago, lunch saks that rolled down to a velcro tab closure.  Yes, I saved it.   Yes, it is probably 20 years old!  All of those Fisher Price foods we picnic'd with, 25 or more years old.  I am not a saver. In fact, quite the contrary.  I have thrown away so many things I wish I had saved.  But there are some things that had such sentimental attachments to me, that I found a way to save them.  When my two little girls were done playing with their kitchen set and all of these foods, I could not bear to part with them.  They spent countless hours playing house, and picnic, and "PRICE CLUB" with their dollies and cousins and each other.  I have such wonderful memories of them having such fun with these toys.  I carefully cleaned and packaged the entire lot, wrapping the kitchen in layer after layer of plastic, and stored it in our rafters.  Then moved it to our current home, 17 years ago. (much to Greg's dismay, and accompanied with a lot of grumbling)  And when Hannah was 1 and Noah was 6 mo. old, I dug it out, sanitized all of it, and relived this  happy place in my memory again. And I get to do so, over and over, as I sit and play picnic with my grands.  I have discovered that they do NOT make these wonderful, chunky, beautifully made play foods anymore. WHY?  Why do they not make the toys like they used to.  I could kick myself for not saving all of their Fisher Price sets.  We had them all.  The playhouse, the school, the zoo, etc.  Today they are junky sets, made of flimsy plastic, and triple the cost.  Oh well.  I am content to play with the antiquated toys I have saved. They make me smile.  And my Lil' Dumplins' love them!
See these Pound Puppies?  These were Noah's Mommies.  Erika carried these around with her everywhere!  I crocheted this little blanket for her to put inside the carrier.  Now, 25 some odd years later, her little boy Noah plays with these.  

I know that to some, maybe most, this would not be anything special.  But to me, it is.
Have a great day everyone.  Those photos I promised from my Unky Johnny's wedding...well I forgot to grab my camera on the way out the door.  You will have to go to my daughter Gennifer's blog to see them.  Life in the Hass House...she is on my blog roll.