Callling all evil geniuses

Let's just say you happened to get together with some friends last night, had a spectacular time, and ended up staying out until the wee hour of two in the a.m.

And let's just say that at the unholy, dark, evil hour of four-thirty in the a.m., an alarm starts ringing somewhere in your room. It is not your regular alarm clock, and you scramble about trying to find it. After much blind rooting, knee bumping, and swear-word-uttering, you find the source of the awful ringing.

In a pillow. Stuffed under your bed.

You scratch your head, puzzled, wondering how or why it got there. But the comfort of your bed pulls you in as you drift back to sleep, even overriding your slight annoyance at the Husband for sleeping blissfully through it all.

Unfortunately, your regular alarm clock goes off at the usual unholy, dark, evil hour of six in the a.m. You painfully pull yourself to an upright position and wonder if you can bribe the hospital to hook you up with some diet coke intravenously. You stumble in a daze to the bathroom, splash some cold water on your face, and discover that all of your bathroom towels are missing.

And, just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger, you hear your cell phone ringing. You get that heart-stopping feeling of, "Holy frick, something's wrong!" grab your glasses, and put them on your wet face as you fly down the stairs. On the way there, you trip over some toys that you could swear were not there last night. You get to your cell phone, buried in the very bottom of your purse, just as the caller hangs up.

Scratching your head, you wonder what cruel joke the universe has decided to play on you until you walk into the kitchen and see your oldest son, falling on the floor in a fit of giggles. His face is red, he can barely sit up straight, and he utters the words, "APRIL FOOLS!"

Now.

While I love my firstborn more than my own life, at that moment, I seriously considered sending him back to meet his maker. I wondered briefly if they'd let me take a nap in jail.

But instead, I smiled, and told him that he won't know where, he won't know when, but someday I'd be coming for him.

So what I require here is your help, internets. I need your best tricks. I need your evil genius. I need something that he will never expect. Something that will make him think twice before placing that alarm clock beneath my bed next year or stealing my bath towels.

Please help me in my sweet, sweet revenge, won't you?

This troll must be stopped in his happy little tracks.

The one in which I pretend it's really all about me

A little something minutely related to yours truly popped up in this particular magazine this month:

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While your first guess will probably target this article as the one relating to me, you would be incorrect:

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(although I will admit to having several undiscovered stages to my new and old rear end which I am striving very hard to discover, explain, and eradicate).

But what is most exciting to me is a little article featuring this family on page 130:



Remember when I went to Philly last November and battled a hurricane to take pictures of 11 families?

Just so happened that this darling family was one of them:



And this adorable picture is now immortalized forever in the annals of Parents magazine.



But what makes my little heart giddy with joy is this three-word blip, hiding in the far right-hand corner, almost invisible to the naked eye:



Congratulations, Tara on making the magazine. I thank you from the bottom of my photographer's heart that my name made it in there, too.

What's that? You can't find a copy of it in your store?

That's probably because I single-handedly bought all the copies west of the Mississippi.

Really, it may be my one and only shot at fame, fortune, and status. I've got to make the most of it. You know, in case other magazines start beating down the door, begging for my work. My raw, undeveloped talent. My very essence, my aura...

All right. Stopping now. That was fun.

One for the grandparents

Since my baby decided it was okay to grow up without my permission, I figured it was only fitting to commemorate that with a little photo shoot of her very own. She's turning eight next month, and cannot wait to get baptized.

It's funny to actually have a session with one of my own kids now. I used to have to beg, plead, and pay cash to get them to smile for me. Now, they don't seem to mind it quite so much. Pray that this attitude will continue so that years from now I will have more than just pictures of other people to look back on.

I'll tell you something though, it's sessions like this one that are why I wanted to become a photographer in the first place.

LOVE them. Love the girl in them even more.

Join me for a tear or two, won't you?



Sweet fancy moses.

What will I do on that fateful day when she wears another white dress?

Somebody freeze time for me. Please. I need to start stockpiling the Kleenex.

On advice of counsel

After reading so many of your comments on my last post (yes, even that really nasty, unkind anonymous one), I decided that a lot of you missed the point.

You know, kind of like if you were to say:

"Yes, yes, Mrs. Lincoln. But what did you WEAR that night to the theater?"

The point of the post was this: I WALKED IN ON SOME LADY SITTING ON THE TOILET.

It was wholly unrelated to the innocent adjective that I used to describe myself in what I felt was a harmless, self-deprecating, humorous manner.

As I have done many times before.

But for future clarification, I offer you this disclaimer, drafted by the brilliant legal team of Mee, Miselph, & Aye:

I, Christie, being of sound mind and cellulited body, do hereby declare that any references on this blog, either in the past, present, or future, relating to body size or image, do not in any way, shape, or form refer to anyone other than the author of this blog.

Those references include, but are not limited to, the following: chubby, fat, dimpled, roly-poly, bloated, weight-challenged, super thighzed, ample, chunky, plump, portly, stout, or hefty.

These terms of endearment are meant only to imply that the blog author is capable of laughing at her damn fine self whilst simultaneously stuffing her belly full of donuts.

All previously stated references to weight in this blog are attributable solely to the author's imagination and possibly deluded self-image. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

[Surprisingly enough, this blog is all about me. I did not intend to offend anyone and would apologize profusely if I could, but my fingers are too sticky from the aforementioned donuts.]

That is all. Have a nice day.

One more story of shame to add to my life's work

I had a lovely little lunch date with the Husband today. He happens to be in town this week, and I most decidedly took advantage of that rare treat.

We finished eating, and I got up to go use the, um, facilities.

After inquiring with our waiter, I was pointed towards the back of the restaurant. I pushed open the door to what I thought was a multi-stall restroom.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear?

Some poor woman, pants down around her ankles, her big white cheeks planted on the single toilet in the room. She looked up at me and shrieked, "Oh sh#@! I thought I locked it!"

I ran as fast as I could to our table, told the Husband that we had to leave, LIKE. RIGHT. NOW. Good man that he is, he didn't question me. Just grabbed his coat and we vacated the premises faster than if we'd robbed the place.

As we booked it down the block and I told the Husband what had happened, he roared his head back in laughter.

Somehow, I didn't quite see the humor.

I mean, if I had known it was a single, of course I would have knocked. But we were in a restaurant, and I figured there would be more than one. There's always more than one. And since the door was not locked, and there was no knob, I pushed the door open and marched myself right in.

And so today, somewhere out there in St. Louis, a woman sits on her couch probably feeling very, very embarrassed. And maybe just a teensy bit angry with the chubby girl who walked in on her while she sat on the toilet.

And also today in St. Louis, a woman sits on her couch and vows NEVER to make an assumption in a restaurant again.

[Tell me I'm not the only one this has happened to. Lie to me, if you must. I need some commiserating.]

Sixteen



You still make me laugh, after all these years.

You know everything about me. And yet you love me anyway.

You gave me three perfectly fantastic children.

And you're as in love with them as I am.

You believe in accountability and don't accept excuses for anything in your life.

You live deliberately, not allowing yourself to waste a single moment.

You never question how I spend my days. Even when they're less productive than they could be.

You support the dreams I have, and help me to make them a reality.

You buy me that silly People magazine on your way through the airport. Because you know that I like it.

You let me sleep in, even though it irritates you.

You always tell me I'm beautiful. Even when I'm not.

You play my favorite song in the car. Just to see me smile.

You tolerate my cooking, in spite of how bad it is.

You let me have my way. Even when it's not my turn.

You hold my heart.

And you trusted me enough to give me yours in return. All those years and lifetimes ago.

Happy anniversary, baby. I love you.