Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Today is a very important day!

I would like you to meet a very special person! This is my Mom about the time I was born.

This is my Mom and Dad.

The picture is from my sister's wedding. Yes those are ruffles on his shirt, it was the Seventies, you had to be there to understand.

Here is my Mom with my sisters and brother.

And Here is my mom at her birthday party last Sunday, holding the newest member of our family.

Does Anyone Need a Babysitter?

Ten Memorable Vacation Moments

UPDATE: I knew I did this too quickly and I was leaving something out. I forgot two awesome vacations.

Bicycling through Door County, Wisconsin. This was with a tour group, so our luggage was transported to the next motel or Bed and Breakfast each day. We biked to lighthouses, crossed over to Washington Island, and ended up talking the captain of a minesweeper into giving us a tour of the ship in Sturgeon Bay.

Driving back from Los Angeles to St. Louis. We took a week and tried to see as much of the country as we could. We headed up first towards San Francisco and saw the Monterrey Aquarium and went on 17-mile drive in Pebble Beach. We saw the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest in Arizona. We spent a few days in Albuquerque and drove to Sante Fe and Taos.

1. Riding in the car with my Mom, Aunts, sisters and cousins singing every obnoxious song we knew(like Grannie, Swingin' on the Outhouse Door and In The Little Red Schoolhouse) and verse after verse of "Oh you can't get to heaven".

2. With the same people, maybe on the same trip (?), stopping on the road next to a farmer's field to take some corn for dinner that night. Who knew farmers keep their sweet corn closer to home?

3. Playing all day long in the streams on Johnson Shut-Ins by myself. Where was my parental supervision?

4. Learning to sail a boat on Kentucky Lake.

5. Searching store after store in Branson to find the perfect souvenir t-shirt and moccasins.

6. My senior trip to Disney World. My first time on a plane, my first vacation with no parents.

7. My first trip into the bush in Canada. It was right after we were married and pure HELL. Someday I will give you all the details. (The directions said memorable not pleasant.)

8. Visiting Disney World with my entire family. After studying the guide books, my sister was able to lead us through without hardly standing in any line.

9. Going to South Padre Island after Mr. Geek came home from Desert Storm. College Geek was just two and we spent all day laying on the beach and doing nothing.

10. St. Petersburg, Florida with my entire family. My Mom rented us condos as a Christmas present one year. Almost everyone was able to make it (that's alot of people including by brother and sisters, their kids, and their kid's kids).

Ten on Tuesday

Menu Plan Monday

This Week
Monday - Ginger Chicken Breast with Chinese Cole Slaw
Tuesday - Caribean Steak

Wednesday - South African Chicken

Thursday - Paprika Pork Chops (Chicken) with Corn Relist

Friday - Fried Chicken (postponed from last week)

Last week - What really happened.

Monday - Marinated Beef Kabob with Wasabi Sauce - We had this on the grill and even though we had to eat it quickly because we had a SwimMeet that night, OMG, it was yummy. Changes from recipe - I made the marinade with mayo instead of yogurt to make the meal GFCF. I put onion on the skewer with the meat instead of Cherry tomatoes. To make the Wasabi Dip, I mixed Wasabi powder with sour cream since I figured the boys wouldn't eat it anyway.

Tuesday - Galicky Garbanzos, Broccoli and Pasta -This was a recipe that did not excite me at all reading it but the finished product was worthwhile. It is basically a combination of chopped brocolli, garbanzo beans and pasta. I added some tomato sauce. The big surprise was how the Middle Geek shoveled it in. I quote, "Mom it has everything I like, brocolli, butts and noodles." Yes he calls Garbanzo Beans - butts, Go look at one and I think you will understand why.

Wednesday - We had hamburgers (I didn't feel like cooking)

Thursday - Tex-Mex Chicken Wrap I made this in the crock pot, it was good and made good leftovers.

Friday - I was home alone for dinner. I found a steak in the freezer and threw it on the grill. I ate just that, no veggies (don't tell anyone). I followed it up with homemade Chocolate Chip Coffee Ice Cream. (Mr. Geek made this Ice Cream and it deserves a post all on its own.)

Saturday - Just me and Middle Geek, he had Chili and I had a Chili Cheeseburger.

Sunday - I made Lasagna for my Mom's Birthday Party (the actual day is later this week). It must good cause I didn't have any leftovers (or maybe I didn't make enough).

Photo Story Friday

Photo Story Friday gives the opportunity to tell the story behind a photo. For my first photo Friday, I am reusing a popular photo from a Wordless Wednesday because anyone who knows me knows I can't stay wordless for long.



Toward the end of the school year things become very hectic and overscheduled (that is saying a alot in this house where we keep very busy). The are end of year concerts and big end of year school field trips and end of year award programs and end of year Drama Productions (you get the picture). This coincides of course with the end of my work schedule as I know it. Because I work for myself (and Mr. Geek) I have alot of flexibility of when and where I work. I have found that I prefer to work at the office during normal working hours (who knew?). But when everyone is home from school I work whenever and where ever I can. (Today I am at the kitchen counter.)



So two days before one of the Supersized Days, I get a reminder call, I have an appointment to get my hair cut. I made this appointment at the end of my last appointment eight weeks ago when the end of school was far off in the distance. (One more aside, I do not pamper myself much, but I live for these days.) So do I cancel my appointment and fulfill my duties as a mother --of course I do. What kind of question is that?

And then the biggest son came home from college. Let's see, what should I call him. Oldest Geek is really Mr. Geek and Biggest Geek is just redundant. I know, we will call him
College Geek. So I mention to the Littlest Geek, "What if College Geek came to your field day instead of me?" (So when he got upset, I could say, I was only asking, "What if?") At this point instead of getting upset, he jumped up and down, "Really! He can come to my field day?!!!"

Well at least I found out where I rate in the family AND I was able to get my hair cut that day.

So what about the picture? This is a picture of College Geek demonstrating one of the games. Again, better him than me. He was so happy, because all the kids thought he was cool and some of his old teachers remembered him. And no one missed me!



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

A New Meme

This time I didn't even have to ask and Jules tagged me. I found the first person who would talk to me and I asked, tell me three things about me. This is the first freckle faced boy I met and what he had to say (My comments in parenthesis).

1. You like singing. (That's true.)
2. You like the caterpillars we have. (Also true. We have some caterpillars that are going to turn into Swallowtail Butterflies. I am so excited.)
3. You like TV (sad but true)




So on to the second boy in the house:
1. You're nice (Yippee)
2. You like American Idol (True, true)
3. You like your garden. (Well even all of you know that)

Mr. Geek and the oldest son were not home so I have not asked them three things, I will have to add their thoughts later.

Update: From Mr. Geek
1. You like the color green. (Yes, I am always the green marker in any game, I don't care how old you are, it's mine mine mine.)
2. You like to cook new and unusual things and never cook the same thing twice even when following a recipe. (That's a good thing right?)
3. You love my children more than anything. (oh yeah)

What game am I playing? Well thanks for asking. This is a new tag. It is called a UU.

So the rules of the UU (you you as opposed to me me) are......
1. The UU (that's you by the way) must list the three things their husband (or wife) (or significant other!) (or child/children if the afore mentioned are in hiding or unavailable) (could be a pet too, in lieu of all of the above...... which is especially handy if you have an adoring one)....... ( and this from Holly....... no pet? got a plant?) (if you have none of the above, you should go get one....... or maybe more than one)

2. The rules of this UU are posted at the ENDING of the post.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags a randomly chosen number of people and posts their blog names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged. The comment must end with the word 'pthththth'......... um....... unless you're shy like me. Then just go and tag those you love......:)"So guess what?" she asked in a peppy cheerleader type of voice.My random number is............. the first 3 commenters (and I don't count).TAG! YOU'RE IT!hehehehehehehehehehehe............ oops I mean............... Pthththth..............

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday

My Montage 7/8/08

My adventure at Summer Camp

By Middle Geek

This is where I spent one week. There was a thunderstorm and I saw one lightning that went cloud to cloud to cloud and the sky was black, but LOL it didn't rain.

This is my tent. It smelled like throw-up.

We had a laughing contest. It didn't go off so good cause no body stated laughing.

So we started singing songs, alot of them. We sang Down With the Sickness and We're Not Gonna Take It. Then one girl told us to Be Quiet, so we sang louder.

This is my horse Bella. We rode for hours everyday.

We started to get a pony into a stall. It was hard, it's called the s*** Pony cause the pony hates other horses like Romeo. And next thing you know, Romeo runs down. They are in different paddocks and the pony trots down same as Romeo and the pony bites Romeo and Romeo bites back, and the pony gets stuck in the electric fence and breaks one of the strings. And another story, one day there was Rain, a clydesdale, and Monty and Little Brother and the pony was being bad to Rain, biting him and all that. And why should the pony be messing with Rain when Rain is way bigger than him. Next thing you know, Rain, Little Brother and Monty all kick the S*** Pony at the same time and the pony falls down. And doesn't die. AND THE PONY IS FOR SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YA YES <(^-^)>

Huggies, a dog at camp.

The most exciting thing that happened to this horse is that SHE HAD A BABY!!!!!

It's the BABY.

The baby has big legs.

Monday Menu Plan

Here is something I stumbled upon - Bloggers that plan their menu for a week every Monday. I usually do this with my saving dinner menu. So I thought I would start filling this out and see how well I actually follow it.



Monday - Marinated Beef Kabob with Wasbi Sauce

Tuesday - Galicky Garbanzos, Broccoli and Pasta

Wednesday - Tex-Mex Chicken Wrap

Thursday - Lemon Chicken Scaloppini

Friday - Pizza and Chicken Wings ( A Geek household tradition) Wait, I remembered my big sister is making me her Famous Fried Chicken for me for my birthday(no that is not my birthday). YUM!

Saturday - Jamaican BBQ (I think everyone but the Middle Geek and myself will be out of town this weekend, so we might just eat junk food. Shhhh, don't tell!)

Monday Meme

I talked Jules into tagging me because I am weird that way. It looked like fun.


1. What does your name mean?

Does this mean Blog Name? (Just in case - Robin means Bright Shining Fame- what a great name) Okay the Geek part is obvious to anyone who has ever met me, but the AbFab part requires a story. (Go refill your coffee, I will wait.) I have two girlfriends (I have more than two friends, it’s just that this story is about two of them) that I meet for dinner with several times a year. Because we are three women dining together we sometimes get snobby waiters that are incredibly rude and sometime we get charming waiters who know that a good tip is just a few compliments away. (Oh and you have to laugh at our jokes too.) One of our favorite waiters of all time bestowed upon us the title AbFab. This of course is short for Absolutely Fabulous and is the title of a British show where well just go to youtube and watch a clip.

2. Where was your profile picture taken?

On a trail ride, then I cropped it and tried to distort it as much as possible. I didn’t want a profile picture, but then another Robin started posting comments to the same blogs as I was and her typing looked suspiciously like mine (gasp I know!). Well I couldn’t let people think that I wasn’t me! Although Middle Geek takes lots of picture, I am not his favorite subject unless he can sneak up on me and get a candid shot and let’s just say I will not be posting any of those pics here. So I looked for a picture but I didn’t have many to choose from (this was an emergency!). It was between the one I chose and this one. (I don’t really like either)

3. What is your current relationship status?
Married to my college sweetheart (almost 25 years, yikes).

4. Honestly, does your crush like you back?
My crush, meaning Mr. Geek? He had better like me back! I mean of course he likes me back, we are still gooey eyed in love, right sugar?

5.What's your current mood?
I am happy.

6. What do you like the most?
I like reading anything, blogs, good books, open letters on the top of your desk.
I like to sing, in choir, with the praise band, in the car to the radio, in the shower.
I like talking with my family and friends and laughing so hard that tears squeak out of your eyes and you crumple into a heap on the floor.

7. What makes you happy?
see above

8. If you could go back and change something, would you?
I would go back in time to when I wore a size 7, look in the mirror and say “Babe, you have a rockin’ body!” I would also tell that junior highschool girl, “Sing out, you know you want to.!” And “Don’t worry the world will catch up to your sense of humor.” You have haven’t you?


9. If you MUST be an animal for one day, what would you be?
Easy, a cat. I would like to stalk the rabbits in the backyard, climb a tree, then curl up in a spot of sun and sleep all afternoon.

10. Something you do a lot?
Say, “Get off the computer and find something to do.” Sometimes I say it to the kids too.

11. What's the name of the song stuck in your head right now?
The HARRIGAN song (yes indeed there is a story with this). See I just came across this video the other day of my friend and Tiny Tim IN HER HOUSE! And if that is not bad enough, when I think of it I remember a song we sang at my sorority – K – A Double –P – A D – E – L - -T spells Kappa Delt, proud of all the KD blood that’s in me. And it goes on and on, and in my head I sing the ENTIRE thing. HELP.




12. Have you ever sung in front of a large audience?
I have been waiting for you to ask that question. Yes I once sang in front of a crowd of 1800, oh yes I did. The crowd was not there to see me, but there they were and I was there. Best day of my singing career (What singing career? Exactly.)

13. Name someone with the same birthday as you.
Cher and Jimmy Stewart

14. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
The look in their eyes, it must be warm and open and used to laughing.

15. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Tall nonfat Vanilla Latte extra hot (I will be waiting)

16. What is your favorite smell?
Right before a big thunderstorm

Saturday Fill In by Guest Blogger - Middle Geek

1. Birthdays are ______.
Birthdays are fun.

2. ____ is my favorite season because ______.
Winter is my favorite season because I can make ramps out of snow and go like 1 foot in the air.

3. I feel my best when _________.
I feel my best when I am riding Bella.

4. ______ is my favorite food!
Chicken Wings is my favorite food!

5. First impressions are _______.
First impressions are good, I guess.

6. The best piece of advice I ever received was ___________.
The best piece of advice I ever received was I never receive advice.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!

And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to go to sleep, tomorrow my plans include watching TV, and Sunday, I want to work at the nursery at my church!

Friday Fill-ins

1. Birthdays are ______.

Birthdays are a time for my family to spoil me (at least they are supposed to be).

2. ____ is my favorite season because ______.

Spring is my favorite season because I can plant my garden and the days become longer.

3. I feel my best when _________.

I feel my best when I am with friends and family, talking and laughing.

4. ______ is my favorite food!

Food is my favorite food! I enjoy all kinds of food. I love restaurants that use fresh seasonal food. I also love restaurants that make food in new and interesting ways. But I am not always a food snob and I love my share of fried and junk food too. My favorite Junk food would be Chili Cheese Fries.

5. First impressions are _______.

First impressions are sometime surprisingly accurate and sometimes not even close. That is why I can't trust them.

6. The best piece of advice I ever received was ___________.

The best piece of advice I ever received was to stop wearing those big floppy bows that business women wore in the eighties with their business suits. I know you know what I am talking about.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!

And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to picking up my sons from camp (I can't believe they made it a whole week), tomorrow my plans include mountains of laundry and a go to my nephew's graduation party (he is now a paramedic), and Sunday, I want to relax and enjoy my family, but what I will do is attend a memorial service for my brother-in-law's father (my niece's grandfather). I have known Walter since I was a little girl and while I am glad his life was full and his passing was peaceful, I am still sad.

Thirteen Things That Have Been Very Different This Week

The noise

No Video games – That background noise I don’t really miss

No Drums – I actually love to hear the drums played

No phone calls – after Monday when I told all their friends that the boys would not be home all week.

No Music – I have not had to listen to the CD player set to repeat endlessly their favorite song of the moment.

No Arguing and Fighting – How long do you think they will both be in the house before they have their first fight?

No complaining about Dinner – No “Why do I have to eat this?” or “Why can’t I just have a hot dog?”

The busyness

No running to Swim practice

No swim meets

No picking up or taking to friend’s houses

No running to the skating rink

The amount of work

Laundry – wow, I think I had less than half of the amount of clothes. I know, just wait until they come home with mountains of smelly laundry. (Although I suspect that the same clothes may have been wore for a week straight. Maybe I will just burn them.)

Cooking – Mr. Geek and I have gone out to dinner, thrown streaks on the grill, I have not really cooked at all this week.

Cleaning – I picked up the living room on Monday and IT IS STILL PICKED UP!

Shopping – The amount of food we have gone through (eating out helps) is markedly reduced.

SIGH! I really miss them!

Wordless Wednesday

[Everything at camp is fine - No news is good news. Right? I said "RIGHT?!?!" I miss them. ]

Here's some more picture from the Middle Geek's Art Show coming soon to a gallery near you.

10 Inventions That Have Made Life Easier

[Note: No new phone calls from summer camp yet this morning. I'll keep you all posted.]

This Tuesday Ten is pretty easy.

First the Electronic Inventions

1. Cell Phones - This week especially I am grateful to be able to hear from anyone almost anywhere at anytime.

2. Computers - Just the word processing alone makes me want to weep with joy (as anyone who had to type on a typewriter will agree with.)

3. Internet - Whenever I want to know ANYTHING (which happens alot BTW), I turn on my computer, go to google and poof! Just like magic, I now know the difference between a Thinker, Lifer and Mandarin. (See quiz below)

4. Doppler Radar - It is nice to be able to call up the weather during thunderstorms and see how big and dangerous the storm is going to be. It sure beats the old fashioned way of sitting on the front porch and looking at the sky.

5. Automobiles

Then there are all the household items:
6. Hot Water Heaters
7. Dishwashers
8. Washers and Dryers
9. Microwave Ovens

And most importantly-
10. Coffee Makers - Last winter when we lost electric for a day, I missed this most fiercely. Only after we were able to perk coffee on the camp stove, I was able to stop panicking

Ten On Tuesday