CRASH!

Today, we went out to lunch at Wendy’s with the Kroekers. We were all sitting around enjoying our Frosties when–CRASH!  A big, white truck (larger than a U-Haul) hit the corner of the restaurant and ripped off part of the roof overhang!  The man knew he did it. He stopped his truck with a look of “Aw, man!” (or something a bit more profane).  Then he drove to the side of the store where we thought he would park and get out. All of a sudden, he hit the gas and fled to the next parking lot.

“Someone should get his license plate number,” I said.
“123 XXXX (whatever),” Hunter piped up.

The Wendy’s manager came running from the back, his earphone dangling.  “That guy went to the next parking lot,” we told him.  With the look of a panicked deer, Manager Man ran from the store.  He returned, dejected and white-truckless.

“We got his license number,” we said and handed him the yellow napkin with the convicting numbers and letters. 

About 15 minutes later, the police came. Hunter got to give evidence to the license number, and dance4aneternity described the driver.  It was our own personal episode of COPS.  But, playing Password after was more fun and less damaging, unless you count the dents to bkroeker’s competitive spirit.

Tomorrow is the big to-do at our house.   Care to take a guess as to the number of people we will have this year? Last year we had 121. What do you think this year will bring?

Gold Stars!

My mom, LibbyK, and I went shopping before Christmas. It’s a tradition we have to go from morning to late at night the craziest shopping day of the year–great fun!  Around 9:00, we were ready for supper. (Eating out all day does have its downside.)  We headed to the not-very-busy Olive Garden and ordered our drinks, salad, and appetizer which came quickly and were delicious.  Then we waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, our meals arrived. Mine was Chicken Parmesan instead of the Chicken Alfredo I ordered. As CP is another one of my favorites, I ate it anyhow. Mom’s and Libby’s were so dried out that the noodles crunched. And there was a decided dearth of seafood in the Seafood Alfredo. Yuck.

We told the waitress of the crunching noodles (she already knew about my wrong meal).  After a few moments, like a man from a phone booth, Scott the Manager arrived! (He was wearing a bright blue shirt and red tie, but the cape was absent.) He did just what a  manager should have done: offered us new meals, free dessert, and the moon.  Since it was after 10:00 by this point, we didn’t really want anything else.  He offered us our desserts to go, so we took them. Then, he totally erased our entire bill–drinks, appetizers, and all the meals!  Give that man five gold stars! Hooray!

Speaking of five gold stars, I wonder if many of you know about the gold star feature on Xanga.  At the end of the entry, right above the comment boxes, there is a place to give gold stars to an entry. Click on the star to the right, and the entry gets five gold stars.

What does this mean?  I’m not sure, exactly, but I do know that if an entry gets enough comments and gold stars, it heads to the Xanga Featured Weblog section.  So, if you don’t mind, you can give me stars and a comment, especially if the entry is interesting to a wider audience.

Happy Boxing Day!

This is the day when everyone throws away their empty boxes from all the Christmas packages–or something like that.  (Grin)

We had a lovely Christmas. My mom and I went shopping today and had a fine time. (Buy one, get one 50% off at the bookstore and calendar store and  60% off Columbia coats) For some reason, eating out breakfast and lunch were paramount.  It was as if we hadn’t eaten candy and goodies and yummy food in excess for the previous 36 hours.  Thankfully, none of my Christmas gifts had waistbands.

We are looking forward to our New Year’s Eve party and all the guest we shall have.  Last year we had about 120 people at the house.  We shall see what this year brings!

Are you coming to our house for New Year’s? What are your plans?

A Good Laugh

A friend sent me this video link. Laugh away, fellow homeschoolers and homeschooled!

http://www.doublesharpevideo.com/HomeSchool2/Homeschool2.html

I wrote my Christmas letter today while LibbyK was having her second orchestra concert, this one at an “assisted living” home.  I’d be glad to send it electronically to whomever would like to read it. (At 41 cents a stamp, I’m looking to save where I can!)  Or, message me and I’ll give you the “Secret Xanga Link” where you can read it online!  The online version will be better, as I can put in pictures. The printed version is just text. I hoped to get a picture of all the kiddos tonight to put with the Christmas letters, but Gockle and LittleMiss were out sledding, and their cheeks are still tomato-red.  Christmasy, yes. Attractive? Not so much.

We are on our way to GhostFroggy and TheOtherMary’s choir concert. It will be my third Christmas concert of the day–homeschool orchestra and piano came first. 

Have you been dashing off to Christmas festivities?

Knock, Knock. Who’s There? Pomegranate.

The other day I was at Wal-Mart and saw a pomegranate.  Now, being from central PA, a pomegranate is about as exotic as it comes.  It evokes images of Persephone and Hades and that girl in my art history class in college who ate a pomegranate during a lecture (which was the first time I ever saw such a fruit and was proud of myself for figuring out what it was). So, I bought that pomegranate.

It sat on the counter for about two weeks. Today, I cut it open. 

Now, if you are a pomegranate neophyte like myself, you may not know that you only eat the seeds. And, when you try to separate the seeds from the fruit, and amazing amount of purple juice will shoot everywhere. Truly everywhere.

The seeds taste like sour grapes, not at all bad. And, you get a surprising number of them from one pom.  (Look at me! Using pomegranate slang!)

Now, time to spread some holiday cheer. I hope you get a smile or two! 

Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Oklahoma

Oklahoma who?

Oklahom-a ye faithful…

What do angry rodents send to each other at Christmas?
Cross mouse cards

How do you make a slow reindeer fast?
Don’t feed it

What’s the difference between a cookie and a reindeer?
You can’t dunk a reindeer in your tea


(This one might be my favorite)
What’s the difference between a reindeer and a grape?
They’re both purple, except for the reindeer

(This one’s for all my British friends)
What’s an ig?
An eskimo’s home without a loo

Christmas: The time when everyone gets Santamental.

(And an appropriate one for  yours truly)

Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Mary
Mary who?
Mary Christmas!

P.S.–I joined a blogring, but I’m not sure I qualify. It’s “Grownups with Content Worth Being Featured.”  Am I worth being featured? (Or, is it the “grownup” part that has me wondering?)

Have a Holly, Jolly Sugar Cookie

  

So, have your days been holly jolly?

The Teacher Returneth

My sincerest apologies to all my dear Xanga friends for ignoring your blog entries.  Instead of having fellowship in cyberspace, I was visiting in real life with a Xanga buddy, AimeeAnne.  She arrived Friday night and left this morning. In between, we had a lovely time doing all the things I like doing–shopping for books, eating out, watching movies, talking, playing Book Lover’s Trivial Pursuit…  I believe she enjoyed all of them just as much. (Except maybe not the Trivial Pursuit.) It was a great treat to find a friend who thinks that going from library to used bookstore to regular bookstore to home to play pinochle and watch a video makes an excellent day. It was a thoroughly satisfying visit, and I was sad to see her go. She gave me the most beautiful box brimming with a gorgeous array of notecards as a parting gift, which softened the blow of leave-taking.

In other around the house news, LittleMiss and LibbyK made a nifty gingerbread house.

One memory I love is of the first year we made a gingerbread house. (Yes, a kit from Wal-Mart, just like this one.)  It sat around long after Christmas, as things of that sort do, until it was time to get rid of it. 

“Hey, can we beat it with hammers?” asked one of my gentle-hearted children. (I think it was Wit.)
“Sure!” said their equally-tender mother.

So, the kids all grabbed beating utensils and had at it in the garage.  What fun.

We are also watching Molly Dog while her parents are on vacation. Gockle is having a wonderful time. His allergies are running rampant, but he considers the sneezing sacrifice worth every moment of Molly time. She seems to appreciate it as well. Can’t you tell from the look on her little, furry face?

What’s a good caption for this picture?

Boots and Music