Why I Love the X-Games

Even if you are reading this post from inside a Turkish prison, you are still in a more favorable position than I am at this moment. As I type this, above my head on our wall, in a painful 52 inches of glory is yet another episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This episode is titled "The Song of Guitardo" in which Lord Zed will use the pink ranger's guitar to destroy them (by way of a giant cockroach with wings and lobster claws). And if you think that's bad, you really should have been here this morning when the green ranger lost his powers fighting "Robo-goat." CURSE YOU, NETFLIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Now turning to something else that is painful to watch, I would like to talk about X-games. It may not be well-known, but I actually love the X-Games. It's going on right now, in fact, and I got to watch a good chunk of street skating while on the elliptical today. Honestly, X-Games is one of my favorite competitions and I will give you 5 reasons why:

1. Dressed to thrill. With the exception of motocross, these guys compete in jeans, t-shirts and maybe a helmet. There is no crazy equipment, no special shoes really, and limited pads. For the most part they look like they just got out of school and walked to the stadium.

2. Go big or go home. There seems to be a prevailing attitude at X-Games that unless you go big and risk it all, you are a giant wuss. These guys don't believe in playing it safe, and consequently these contests usually become ultimate games of 'can-you-top-this." I think most of these guys would rather go down in flames and miss the podium completely because they tried a monster trick that no one ever saw before, rather than take the safe road. As long as they try they always get respect.

3. Save the drama for your momma. With the Olympics you usually get all these long, amazing stories about athletes and how their entire lives have come down to a single moment, or how an entire nation is counting on them for victory, but with X-games these guys are kids! Most of them are still teenagers so they don't have these long drawn out stories of triumph and tragedy. Usually just stories of who they took to prom or why they hate homeroom.

4. Oh, don't mind us. When you think of figure skating or gymnastics routines, they are so rigid, intense and always have to meet about a thousand different criteria. X-games routines I'm sure are choreographed, but they make it seem like they aren't. Instead you feel like you're watching a bunch of kids just goofing off at a skate park. It never feels like anything they do is planned.

5. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. As a result of the go big or go home attitude, you do get to see some spectacular wipe outs. And because of the dress code for most competitions, said wipe outs can be quite painful. Much like all the footage of skateboarding on AFV, it can have a very high cringe factor. But that's exactly what makes it so fun to watch :)


So if you have ESPN, tonight you can watch Shaun White (Vancouver Snowboarding Gold Medalist) try and win the Skatboarding Vert title. See, isn't that cool? He's a snowboarder that can also skateboard! I mean, that's insane, right??! How does he go from one to the other? The world may never know.

Ponce de Leon

I could not think of a single thing to title this post, so I typed the first thing that came to my mind: the guy who discovered Florida. Yeah, that makes sense...

I got a text earlier today from a friend asking me how I was celebrating National Chocolate Day. I was pretty sure that this holiday was a few weeks ago, so upon double-checking, my reliable sources indicate that today is actually National Milk Chocolate Day, which is a laugh, because what is there to celebrate about MILK chocolate?? Nothing! It is officially the red headed step-child of confections. I know, you hate that I am so ambivalent sometimes. Now, National Dark Chocolate day would be a completely different story. I mean, for that day I would be eating it, baking with it, swimming in it, finger painting with it, using it for sunscreen, styling my hair with it- the possibilities are endless, really.

So I guess the answer to the question of what am I doing to celebrate National Milk Chocolate Day is painting Cindy's room and letting Luke watch the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie. Yep, that pretty much has been my whole day. Cindy does not know that I am repainting her room. I just figured the best time to clean out her old clothes, toys and bedding was while she was 2,000 miles away and unable to offer any opinions :) Luke already told me what I was in for, though. After he saw the very boring neutral light brown get painted on he said, "Well, I don't think Cindy is going to like this." Well, of course she won't! But she will like the fact that she gets new bedding, clean carpet, more space and little more decoration going on in her room. I will post pictures as soon as I get the last little accessories in place.

Finally, there is one shout out I need to make. And I shall do so with a poem:

Dear Dad,

Hope your day was fantastic, awesome and happy.
Thanks for taking care of Mom and being my pappy.
You're the greatest and bestest dad in the world;
you killed lots of bugs when I would've hurled.
You also are funny, kind and witty
and we only kinda once lived near the inner city.
You are generous with others and take care of your pets,
and you even wrote a book of mission vignettes.
You know lots of stuff; you're a jack of all trades
you kill at general trivia and rock at charades.
I guess what I'm saying is I'm glad you were born,
for without your DNA I might like candy corn. (Ew!)
So Happy Birthday, dear dad, this poem is for you
I hope that you liked it because now it is over.


Oh, I kill me :)

Leavin' on a jet plane

Today Cindy left with Grandma Sweeney to head out to Utah for the annual Henrie Family Reunion in Panguitch. (This is where our family went on our roadtrip out west two summers ago.) This is really the first time that Cindy has ever left us and gone away; we have left her many times, no problem. But she already called me from the airport sounding a little homesick and telling me she missed us. It was pretty cute :) But I know she is in good hands and will have a wonderful trip with her grandma. In the meantime, Luke is living it up as an only child! We already spent a good hour putting all the loose change in the house through the coin sorter (which he LOVES to do), then he got to choose anything he wanted off Netflix to watch- no sibling agreement required! Which worked way to my disadvantage because they just put Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers on instant watch and Luke is obessessed with that show now. It all started with those dang clearance shoes I bought him that had the Power Rangers on them.... Still, it is not as bad as Sky Dancers, which is, 100% and totally the absolute hands-down WORST all-time cartoon show in the history of mankind. I wanted to post a clip on here and reward someone handsomely if they could make it through the entire thing, however, all the clips on YouTube seem newer and clearer and even some of the comments indicate they are some sort of cleaned up remakes. And I'm not letting anyone off that easy :) Finally, we are about to head out for some Cici's Pizza. Luke loves pizza. It's one of the few foods that he will eat more than one helping of. But should he remain true to his normal MO and he ends up eating only one piece because two hours have passed since we started the meal, well, it's Tuesday, so he eats free anyway. Let the good times roll!

Happy Cousins Day!

Today is Cousins Day, so to all my cousins I say: While I may never actually ever talk to you, I do stalk your blogs and Facebook pages so I know everything that is going on in your lives anyways :)

And doing what I do best...

Another Fabulous Parenting Tip

When your child refuses to do something (i.e. pick up their toys, say their prayers, eat their dinner, etc.) make yourself talk in the most monotone robot voice you can make and say this: "I am a tickling robot. I only tickle children that (insert desired behavior here)." I can get Luke to do pretty much anything by using my robot voice. Okay, you can go back to what you were doing....

Two Luke Quickies

The other day when I went with my mom to her chemo treatment, I gave the kids the assignment to make a kitten playhouse while I was gone. I had been saving a few boxes to put together with duct tape and cut holes in them to give the kittens a place to rough house and have fun together. When I got home, the kids had indeed made a playhouse. Jacob helped them put it together and it had two stories and ramp! Plus, the best part is that, of course, Cindy and Luke had decorated the outside with markers. Cindy showed me all the stuff she drew and wrote; mostly things like "For Kittens Only" and lots of pictures of cats. Luke's drawings however, were a little harder to decipher. When I asked what one of them was he said, "It's a picture of Dad doing pull-ups and pouring down sweat." Between summer and P90X there is pretty much nothing going on here but sweating, just so you know.

And this was just overheard from Luke in the hallway: "Barnacles, barnacles, BARNACLES! If I had my bug tweezers I could pick up this roach in the hallway!" It's Florida. There's always a roach in the hallway :)

I wasn't going to celebrate this holiday

I did so good today. I cleaned and purged all of the kids' books and DVDs, I cleaned out Rosa's cage and the patio, I fit in my Ab RipperX workout, I did a shoulders and arms workout, I took the kids swimming, I had hummus and carrots for lunch- I was on a ROLL for fitness and productivity! And then Cindy had a makeup soccer game at 6pm and my Dad came to watch and brought along his ridiculous generosity and took us all out for some pizza and milkshakes at Sam's Club after the game. I shouldn't even be telling you this, but there are about 6 foods on the planet that I physically cannot resist, and two of them are at Sam's Club. The first being the giant pizza (the bacon, sausage, pepperoni one) and the second being the Nathan's hot dogs. (I might reveal the other ones in future blog posts). Anyway, today is actually National Junk Food Day. This morning I had decided to simply let it pass me by and be a good little girl, but now as I sit here with a tummy full of pizza and ice cream and a nice memory of dinner with my dad and family, I'm glad I chose to be reckless :) Thanks again Dad! You're the best!

Official Game Report: Cindy's team had no subs for the game, which meant lots of playing time for the four that showed up. She had about 6 shots on goal and finally hit the back of the net in the second half. It was actually a very pretty goal; midair with some punch to it. She even got a Super Star patch for her efforts. (I think it was her magical braids) Go Ravens!

Happy National Lollipop Day!

I bought four lollipops about two weeks ago just for this occasion so it was time to finally bust them out! It was Cotton Candy for Cindy, Cinnamon Roll for Luke, Blueberries and Cream for Jacob and Cherry Cheesecake for me. Cheers!







These were supposedly gourmet lollipops, but honestly, I was not really impressed. Mine gave no hint of cheesecake, but tasted only like cherry. Luke, Cindy and Jacob all seemed to enjoy theirs- although Luke's tasted to me a little like cinnamon wax.

Yesterday was either National Daiquari Day or Raspberry Cake Day. I wasn't feeling either of those, so I celebrated Have a Hilariously Good time with a Friend at a Water Park Day. Thanks, Davina! It was hoot :)

Cindy was finally tall enough and brave enough to tackle the yellow slide. And then she spent almost 3 hours doing only that :)


Luke was not tall enough for the yellow slide, but he had fun anyway. Manly Spiderman bathing suits tend to do that.





Oh, Ryan! You are so smiley, why must you spite me so?

Happy Global Hug Your Kids Day!

We hug our children everyday, but here is rare photo evidence of Jacob giving Luke a good squeeze :) This picture was taken tonight while we went ice skating for FHE. Luke was by far the littlest kid on the ice but with a little help from mom, he made it around the rink many, many times. He liked skating way more than I thought he would! Cindy on the other hand, was a little more dramatic and ended up shedding more than a few tears because she couldn't let go of the wall and wanted to be a professional figure skater by the time we left two hours later. Oy!








Skating was followed by dinner at Subway, which was followed by cookies, playing with kittens and Star Trek: TNG on Netflix. Is this heaven? Nope, it's Family Night.

It's a good thing I ate ice cream yesterday...

Because after watching the end of that Women's World Cup just now, I would be tempted to go and eat a half gallon of triple chocolate delight just to ease my pain. What a world, what a world!

I actually celebrated 3 holidays yesterday. The first being Cow Appreciation Day. And what better way to celebrate that than lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse. Cows, I appreciate you so much. Especially when I bite into my medium-well bacon cheddar burger, whose patty is bigger than my face. Maybe it's because I only eat ground turkey at home, but that burger truly was incredible. No really, cows, you complete me.


Next I celebrated National Cry Throughout a Movie For No Apparent Reason Day. Okay, this one might exist just in my head, but that doesn't mean it isn't real, right? ;) Jacob and I went and saw Harry Potter after our Longhorn lunch. I guess I was caught off-guard by how much I really came to care for all the characters in this series, but I found myself crying at all different parts of that movie. Watching it end was a little bit painful! I am not a big fan of change, mostly because it means the end of something. And how can I live in a world where a new Harry Potter movie doesn't come out every Christmas? It's gonna take some time to adjust.


Finally, after the movie we hit the DQ for some Blizzards. I knew that today was National Ice Cream Day, but I wanted to do all of my diet damage in one day, rather than split it over two. I haven't had that much ice cream in a while, but it was pretty good. Can't go wrong with something called Chocolate Explosion, though, can you? And since cows also give us milk, well, it was simply another way to show my appreciation for all the overachieving they do.

So there was my Saturday; partying, festivities, Harry Potter, crying, explosions of chocolate, appreciating cows- it is never a dull moment around this place. And the party train ain't stopping yet, because guess who gets to clip Rosa's nails tonight! Bring. It. On.

Happy Gummi Worm Day!

I just went downt to CVS and used a coupon for a free bag of gummi worms. And then I gave them to my kids. And then I took this picture:




And I laughed for a very long time :)

A Luke Quickie

Today is actually Pandemonium Day but mostly all I did in the past 12 hours was take my mom to round 4 of chemo and do a little shopping. And nothing says pandemonium quite like chemo, eh? Truthfully I celebrated this holiday last night with the Activity Days girls when I had 12 of them in the church kitchen all shaking giant sweaty bags of ice to make homemade ice cream in a ziploc bag. THAT was pandemonium, my friends. So I celebrated, but just a few hours early :)

And now time for a Luke Quickie...

Tonight at dinner, Cindy was being pretty silly. Every time she would eat a chip, she would talk to it and then laugh. Luke thought this was a good idea, so he started doing it too, and then everything else she did. I made mention to Cindy that this was the perfect example of why she needed to always do what's right; because Luke will do anything she does. After the mimmicking continued, I finally asked Luke, "If Cindy jumped off the top of a tall building, would you do it too?" He seemed confused, but after a while he sighed and said, "Well, it would be scary, but I would do it." Remind me to have a talk with Cindy about not jumping off the top of buildings.

Happy Embrace Your Geekness Day!

When I think about what makes a geek, it usually involves images of polyhedral dice, hideous fan fiction stories, computer strewn basement lairs, building robot girlfriends, reading entire instruction manuals, being president of a chess club, going to the movies dressed in character or riveting discussions about the difference between speed and velocity. NONE of which apply to me, thank you very much, therefore, I am so not even close to being a geek. Right? So pretty much I have nothing to really embrace on this day. Right? Right? Okay, okay! You beat it out of me! I actually am a gigantic geek. In fact I was convicted of it in court a few months ago. If you want to read the transcript from when I took the stand, I happen to have a copy of it below. I took the time to translate it back from Klingon, which is my preferred language....


Prosecutor: Mrs. Sweeney, the court would now like to take a quick inventory. We have a few questions concerning some of your behaviors and possessions that will help the jury evaluate your geek tendencies. Please remember you are under oath."
Me: As long as we hurry; there is a documentary on JarJar Binks that starts at 3 on SyFy.

Prosecutor: Do you or do you not own all three seasons of Star Trek: The Original Series on DVD?
Me: Yes. It is much easier to catch all the technical inaccuracies watching the episodes at half speed then to spot them during a regular Trek marathon on cable.

Prosecutor: And how many Star Trek captains uniforms do you own?
Me: I personally own zero. However, there are two hanging in my closet.

Prosecutor: Do you own any other Star Trek paraphernalia?
Me: That depends; do my 8 Collectible Star Trek glasses from Burger King count?
Prosecutor: Yes.
Me: What about my Star Trek Pin Set Christmas ornament?
Prosecutor: Yes.
Me: And my David Hasselhoff marble collection?
Prosecutor: No, but the jury is instructed to not ignore that statement.


Prosecutor: Do you or do you not own a Harry Potter T-shirt which identifies you as the "Gryffindor Quidditch Team Captain?"
Me: In my defense, it cost me less than two galleons, which is a STEAL! Am I right? I mean, usually it would cost at least 10 oz. of goblin gold for something of that quality.

Prosecutor: And will you be wearing this to the final Harry Potter movie this weekend?
Me: It clashes a bit with Jacob's dress robes, so it's still up in the air.
Prosecutor: I see.


Prosecutor: Does your current desktop PC have dual monitors?
Me: Well, I can't watch Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Who at the same time with just one, can I?

Prosecutor: And who assembled your current desktop PC?
Me: My husband.

Prosecutor: And may I ask what he does for a living?
Me: He teaches Algebra to nitwits.

Prosecutor: Can he quote the quadratic formula off the top of his head?
Me: Only when I need him to. Which is usually just when I am computing how far two trains are from each other if one leaves Boston at 1pm going 89 mph and the other leaves Phoenix at 1:30 going 85 mph. So, I would postulate, about every other day maybe?

Prosecutor: Do you own the game Risk?
Me: Classic version or Lord of the Rings Limited Edition? Because we have both and I don't know which one you are referring to.

Prosecutor: How many light sabers are currently in your home?
Me: Well, my son is named Luke, so what do you expect?

Prosecutor: Wait, so you named your son after Luke Skywalker from Star Wars?
Me: Ummmm, actually it was after the apostle Luke. Yeah. The apostle. Definitely him.

Prosecutor: Have you ever named any of your pets after SyFy characters?
Me: Possibly.

Prosecutor: Please tell the court about said animals and their names.
Me: We may or may not have had a cat named 7 of 9, a kitten named Chewbacca, and some more kittens named Luke, Han and Darth Vader.
Prosecutor: Intriguing.

Prosecutor: Finally, we would like to enter into evidence, Exhibit A, which is the following photo:



Prosecutor: Mrs. Sweeney, is this not a picture of you lighting numbered candles on a chicken pot pie on March 14, 2010, or "Pi Day" as it is referred to?

Me: Hmmm, hard to tell. The hair is all wrong, the arms are way too flabby to be mine ;) and the box of matches is covering up the last number, which looks to me like the letter A. And that alphanumeric combination only makes sense if you were programming something in Pascal or Delphi! Which, don't make me laugh, is so 14 years ago!! Haahahhhhaaaaahaaaaaaaaaa!


Prosecutor: Your Honor, that's all we have for now. The Prosecution rests. Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs. Sweeney.
Me: Live long and prosper.



Too bad I couldn't counter all that evidence with this very blog post. Because writing and blogging fictional courtroom dramas about how much of a geek I am is the epitome of cool, don't you think?

Eye See You

Apparently there are people out there among us just walkin' around with two different color eyes. Interesting, huh? And today is their day! So Happy Heterochromia Iridium Day! Having two different colored eyes comes from each eye having different levels of melanin (pigment) in them. And technically your eye color can change over time if suddenly your eyes start to produce more or less melanin, so watch out! This also explains why my kittens have pretty blue eyes now, but sadly they will turn into boring brown eyes when they get bigger. I sure hope Luke doesn't all of a sudden start making a bunch of melanin. I would be crushed if his eyes ever changed :( So the question I have for you is do any of you out there have two different color eyes or do you know anyone that does? I would have to say no to both of those questions. At least on a personal level, but click here for a slide show of a few celebrities that have this trait. Who knew?!

Missing from the slide show is David Bowie, who technically has two different colored eyes, but only because one is permanently dilated from an injury. Wow, if there was one person on the planet that didn't need any extra trait like that to make them any creepier than they already were, it's gotta be him. Labyrinth, I tell you. It's all because of dumb Labyrinth! Well, that and his crazy cheekbones. And his singing. And his teeth. And his weird hair. And most of the clothes he ever wore. And his accent. And Little Drummer Boy. But other than that, I can handle him.

Are you lonely? Well, this will cheer you up!

Because you can't win Mom of the Year by NOT letting your kids have Slurpees for breakfast...


Like many of you, we had to hit the 7-11 for a free Slurpee this morning. Luke got banana, Cindy got blue raspberry, and I got wild cherry to give to them so they could fight over it.


And to keep the freebie train rolling, we just got back from FHE at the bowling alley where Luke and Cindy bowled for free. Well, Luke bowled for free. Cindy complained and whined and pouted about how bad she was for free. So I guess that is still a deal. Maybe?




Finally, is there anything in the whole entire world cuter than kittens ???! No, there isn't!







I just can't stand how cute these things are! (And how they can sleep in absolutely any position on top of each other in one gigantic fur ball) They will be four weeks old tomorrow and they are right on the cusp of actually being playful and fun. They started walking all over the place and they follow you around with their remote control tails up in the air. Oh, they are just the best! And would you also believe that today is National Cheer up the Lonely Day!? Which is perfect because kittens are so great at that!

Here now is a clip from the show Scrubs, which pretty much encapsulates my lifelong dream of how to cheer someone up appropriately: (minus the weird side effects at the end)

(make sure your volume is up)



I really think that my brother Chris needs to prescribe kittens to someone on his first day at his new hospital job in Tennessee. He can just tell them that is how we do things in Florida; Plan A: Sunshine. Plan B: Kittens. I love living here!

There are no adequate words

Just in case you live under a rock or have recently checked in on Facebook and seen everyone's status referencing an amazing soccer game that you didn't see, well, it was INCREDIBLE. A lame synopsis from me about what took place in the US v. Brazil Women's World Cup game today will do it absolutely no justice in this world. There is a guy who made an amazing YouTube video about the last minute goal by Landon Donovan of the US Men's Team last summer in the Men's World Cup, but what he puts together about that game today will blow his previous video out of the water. I will post it when it comes out. Even if you hate soccer, you WILL get chillbumps :)

Also, if anyone was wondering about the answer to my question about which one song came up in my song library for the search word 'chocolate'- (thanks for all the great song suggestions, by the way, Nathan and Karin :) well, the answer is "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate. Also known as "I believe in Miracles." Google it. You know it :)

And just as a sidenote, today is Pina Colada Day. So to make this something I actually wanted to eat right now, I tweeked a recipe to be more of a Pina Colada parfait with greek yogurt, pineapple juice, toasted coconut and some bananas. Not the most incredible pina colada flavor, but it was healthy and not completely illegal on my diet. Wacky holiday: consider yourself celebrated!

Happy Sugar Cookie Day!

I am thinking there are WAY too many food holidays in this country.... Yesterday was nice and safe- it was Video Game Day- which is always celebrated on Friday nights in glorious fashion here in Sweeneyville. Across three time zones, the Sweeney brothers get together and fire up the Xbox, put on the headsets, and as a choreographed team blow people to smithereens with grenades and mass amounts of military weapons. Ahh, male bonding at its finest :) I didn't really think that warranted a blog post. Anyway, getting back to the sugar cookies... I will not be eating them today. I DJ'd a wedding reception earlier and had TWO cupcakes, so I better lay off the sweets for the evening. However, no fear, I won't leave you hanging! Here for you now I present the weird and wacky world of cookie cutters:

These actually double as cookie cutters or egg makers, which is good because I can't just eat gun shaped cookies, I must have gun shaped eggs. Life would be utterly incomplete without firearms at breakfast.

You were never this close to actually being Pac-man...


We all know what to get my brother Brian for Christmas now.



I love these guys! Eating these would be a 'kick' wouldn't it? Ah, I kill me.



I want to eat this dragon cookie just because look at the size of the cookie you would get to eat! It's like eating two Ninjabread Men.

Actually, here are some obvious pantywaist gingerbread men that just got Jimmered by the Ninjas.


Nerdy




Nerdier



Nerdiest





Unexplainable. Oh wait, it's German.



And finally, one of my more creepier Internet finds so far this year. Because cute little stork or carriage shaped cookies are way too silly for a baby shower. We demand accuracy, people! We need fetus cookies and we need them NOW.


P.S. Sissy heart cookies at Valentine's Day will now be replaced with these:





To be honest, I suck at making roll out shaped cookies. I mean, I do enjoy myself a tasty sugar cookie, but they are a lot of work and I can't ever seem to get the dough cold enough to not stick to the counter. Plus, they do not inherently come with chocolate in them, so they can't possibly be my favorite. What is my favorite cookie? Well, sometimes I am pretty sure it's these:

Alien Oreos! I really would buy way more of these if they glowed. Just a tip, Nabisco.

You can't handle the truth!

It's National Tell the Truth Day, so I guess it's time to come clean and finally tell you the truth about something...

Cucuface is not actually a cat. She is a powerful, carnivorous feline android sent from the Omega Centauri galaxy to be my domesticated pet and protect me and my family from the evil Grox, which are cleverly disguised as harmless squirrels. I know, right?! I have kept this information from you for way too long, but I feel the time is especially appropriate given that this morning Cucuface caught a squirrel and proceeded to lay it out on my driveway and eat the front half of it WHOLE. That was at about 9am and she has been chowing down on that thing all day. Do you hear what I am telling you!?!?!? She ate the entire head, skull, brains, neck, bones, ARMS, FUR- everything. If you want pictorial evidence, I do have it, but honestly I was gagging while taking the picture and didn't want to offend any of my readers. (Davina Fallaw, whose children came over to play today, took a lovely photo on her phone and tagged me on Facebook with it, so maybe you can take a peek there if just have to see it.) Thanks for protecting us, Cucu. You've performed admirably.


AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

Today is also Chocolate Day! How was that for a segue? And if you want the truth about that, I am a certified Chocoholic. I didn't really think I was but when I go over the evidence, I really, really, really do LOVE chocolate! (Dark Chocolate being the real deal, milk chocolate is for posers.) Cake, pie, cereal, brownies, doughnuts, s'mores (sorry Nathan) Frosties, sundaes, milkshakes, tootsie pops, smoothies, valentine's candy, peeps- whatever it is- I always prefer chocolate. Take me to an ice cream shop and I will never pick a fruit flavored treat. Ever. I will always choose the chocolate. As for the celebration of said holiday, we are going with the old standby of fondue:




And just for kicks, can anyone guess or tell me what ONE song (title and artist required)comes up in my 8,000 song library when I type in the search word 'chocolate'? I will put your picture on this blog if you can figure it out :)

Happy National Fried Chicken Day!

Who doesn't love fried chicken? And who doesn't love it for half price? Only communists. The Sweeneys are definitely not commies, so we journied to our local KFC with some sweet coupons and celebrated this day like the blue-blooded Yankees we are. ¡Viva la chicken!



And if chicken isn't your thing, well there is always National Kissing Day, which they celebrate today in the UK (good lookin' out, Linnley!). Personally, it's like National Kissing Day with me and Jacob all the time, so we don't really need a special day for that. Oh yeah!



P.S. If you are wondering what happened to yesterday's holiday, it was actually Workaholics Day; a holiday I have absolutely NOTHING in common with. In fact, I directly thumbed my finger in this holiday's face by not doing much of anything at all yesterday.

Well, except for putting all five kittens on both of my children :)

Happy Independence Day!

Well, of course it is the 4th of July today and I hope everyone out there gets to spend lots of time with family, friends, a grill and some explosives. It's the American way! Jacob and the kids and I made it to the pancake breakfast at church this morning, which has become our unofficial anniversary. 12 years ago today I laid on eyes on my future husband :) Even better was coming home with a gallon of leftover milk and enough extra pancakes and sausage to make mini McGriddles until Thanksgiving. Now that is is what I call freedom! (from having to make breakfast for a long time...) The rest of the day will be spent trying to make myself exercise, swimming and eating, and the possibility of doing some fireworks with my parents to make sure Cindy's life isn't completely ruined by having a lame 4th. All she can talk about is how last year was the BEST FOURTH OF JULY EVER. I think she has said that about 12 times already today and it's not even 11am. Not that I disagree, I mean, we did go to Chris and Molly's AND Brian and Kelly were here, so it's gonna be next to impossible to make this year better than that. But we are going to at least try to make it acceptable...


I did paint her toenails and fingernails to match mine:





And we did just find the kittens that Cucuface moved:






(After searching our entire yard 6 times, almost crawling under our shed, saying prayers and then patiently spying on Cucuface, we found them in the old rabbit cage about 3 feet from their old box. Right under our noses. Good grief!)




***Side note: It has been determined that Leia is actually a boy, so she has been renamed Han.



And finally, I did find one little clip for us all to enjoy from comedian Jim Gaffigan that really sums up July 4th:



HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY EVERYONE!

Happy World UFO Day!

This is a day that seeks to get the government to fess up that there are actually UFOs and we have made contact with them. Really? There is so much more I wish I could get our government to do (and not do) other than this, but what the heck, it's worth a shot. In pondering what to do to celebrate this holiday, I literally woke up wondering if there was such a thing as an "alien workout video." Don't ask me, it just came to my mind. I Googled it first thing this morning and would you believe there ISN'T? (Don't say yes. You've seen YouTube, right?) I just thought that someone, somewhere would have made an exercise video starring aliens. It just makes sense to me. There is alien EVERYTHING out there, and surely if aliens have visited America they must be obese by now, so where is the fitness love for them? But alas, it really does not exist. Well, not yet, I am sure someone out there will read this and take my million dollar idea, in which case Sweeneyville retains a 60% royalty. However, while I wait for that giant pile of money to roll in, I thought that on this hallowed day I should pay tribute to my favorite alien movie of all time, Men In Black.



One of my favorite movie lines ever :)

Happy Canada Day!

It is now officially July and I have decided I need some excitement in my life. Therefore, in the month of July, I will be celebrating more wacky holidays as I did last November. Not promising to complete the full 31 days, but something close to it will do us all a little good :)

Although I have never been to Canada, I am actually part Canadian, so this is right up my alley. I now give you:

The Best and Worst Things that Come from Canada

BEST:

My Grandpa Bingham
Bacon
Justin Bieber
Maple syrup
Boxing Day
Alex Trebek


WORST:

Government-run health care
Mounties
Justin Bieber
Thanksgiving in October
Spelling regular words with an extra 'u' (i.e. What's your favourite flavour? Coucounut, of course!)
Celine Dion
Geese

Well, that is all fine and dandy, but you must be wondering how am I actually celebrating Canada Day. I will tell you; I made a list on my blog! Didn't you just read it? Sheesh! And as an added bonus I will relate to you that while reading Old Testament scripture stories the other night, Cindy kept reading the word 'Canaan' as Canada, which made the story of the Israelites a thousand times more exciting. Bless you, Cindy!