COOL! Spam in German!

Good old spam. I sometimes wish I didn't have a spam box so that I would actually get to read gems like this one:

Nur im alten aristokratischen Europa knnen Sie so ein elitistisches Casino zum Spielen finden.

I shortened it considerably to save your brains from turning to mush, but the translation courtesy of www.babelfish.altavista.com/tr follows. This spam email did, in fact, include a link that I of course did not click on. But it was still pretty pointless to send this to me. This whole spam thing just makes no sense.

Translation:
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On another note, Oak is both rolling over from front to back, back to front, and giggling when you sneeze at him. He's growing too fast. In other kid news, Finn needs a haircut and Winnie has lost another tooth. Full story at 11.

We're gearing up for school, We'll be starting late this year because of a visit from my dad in which half of my house will be torn apart and then (hopefully) rebuilt. How long this can take I cannot say but his guess is about 3 weeks from start to finish. By his calculations there will only be a few days in which we cannot be sleeping and hanging out here. I, however, think my dad is off his rocker. 4 kids ages 6 and under in a house in which the entire middle section is a construction zone, complete with dust, falling debris and tools? I don't think so. The stairs are being demolished and rebuilt making access to our bedrooms precarius at best and impossible at the worst. In addition to this the bathroom will be moving from one side of the house to another. Let's recap. No bathroom. No stairs (which means no bedrooms). No access from front of house to back of house without going outside. Um, no family staying in the house. What are we going to do? Good question. My vote is hotel which my dad says is a ridiculous waste of money. I thought about looking into an apartment or rental house where somebody may need someone to bridge the gap between past renter and future renter but how do you find that? So, I do nothing and hope that our living arrangements work themselves out somehow when they need to.

On yet another note, Three Rivers Community Farm in Elsah Illinois is DA BOMB. We are so getting a crop share next season. I begged for Amy to grandfather us in for the rest of this season but she wasn't going for it. Bummer, 'cause I want to go back on Friday, lol. The kids had a blast and discovered something they found utterly hilarious. The PIGS were MUDDY. You don't say? Muddy pigs? Whodathunkit? Dh tried to go into his typically long-winded explanations of how it was mostly poop and not really "mud" but I stopped him just in time to save their innocence.

This week is party week. Wednesday is our friend Isabelle's party for her 12th birthday. We love Isabelle. She is so patient with Zella and the older kids when we're there. It's because of her that I am able to fully enjoy my time over there visiting with my dear friend Dannielle and whomever else might wander by. Happy Birthday to a wonderful girl! Also on this day will be the unveiling of Ackie-Jack's quilt to Jack and his mama. I am thrilled with the way it turned out and honored to be part of it's creation. Dannielle has outdone herself with the vision and the ability to see it and turn it from mental image to actual functional object. I got to stitch some of the quilting and because of it and seeing the gratitude on Sandi's face and the emotion she expresses over the quilt it has made me acknowledge the bite from the quilting bug. I can't wait to start a project of my own.

On Saturday we have a birthday party extraordinaire in the park with pony rides and all things dream-party-ish. Little Gabrielle is turning 4 and cannot wait. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she responded in a way I was not at all expecting. You see, she is the princess of all princesses. She has dress up and dolls and makeup and glitter and sparkle. I was expecting "Barbie" or "Princess". I was not expecting "I want a snake". I said "oh, like a toy snake?" "No, a real snake." "Hmm, but what if I can't get you a snake? Then what do you want?" "A frog". Ok, well, she's getting an Only Hearts Club doll, so there, lol.

On Sunday we are going to a party at Miss Dawn and Jason's house for Maxine. My dear Xiney is going into Kindergarten and is having her birthday party at her house complete with kiddie pool and tons of fun. She's getting an Only Hearts Club doll too because I saw it at Target and thought "my goodness, it's Maxine" when I saw it. That's supposed to be a "no gifts" party but too bad, Xiney needs this little doll. I said so.

In this weeks edition of "What Movie Does Gwen Recommend" I have to give Miss Potter as many thumbs up as I have thumbs (that would be 2, but it should be so much more). This is simply an excellent movie. Even dh, who thought he'd be bored to absolute tears, enjoyed it. He figured out the twist before I did but it still had impact. Rent it today. It's not as chick-flicky as it appears and beware, there were tears in my eyes through some of it.