A Little Useless Trivia...

So, in case any of you were thinking to yourself, "I wish I knew Erin's favorite restaurant so that I could get her a gift certificate" or "Man, I'd like to send Erin on her dream vacation. I wonder where she'd like to go" here are some answers to the questions that plague you. I always like getting these little emails from friends. It's fun to read about them and learn trivia about them. Here are my answers to the last email that I got...if you are interested...

Read this and you can consider yourself an "Erin Expert." Email me with your answers. I'd like to be a "_____ Expert!"


1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:20
2. Diamonds or pearls? Pearls
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Chronicles of Narnia
4. What is you favorite TV show? Alias
5. What did you have for breakfast? an apple with walnuts and craisins
6. What is your middle name? Allen
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Mashed potatoes, selected stuff from Rosa's
8. What foods do you dislike? Corn tortillas, chicken fried steak. yuck.
9. What is your favorite potato chip? Lays
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Red Mountain Church
11. What kind of car do you drive? Mazda MPV
12. What is your favorite sandwich? Bologna with mayonaise and lemon pepper
13. What characteristics do you despise? manipulation, lying
14. Favorite item of clothing? Hoodies and flip-flops and jammie pants
15. If you could go any where in the world on vacation, where would you go? Prince Edward Island
16. What color is your bathroom? An ugly white-ish color. Haven't painted in there...yet.
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Camp Buckner gear (is that a brand?)
18. Where would you want to retire? Near my kids, I think.
19. Favorite time of day? Evening
20. Where were you born? Crane, Texas
21. Favorite sport to watch? College basketball
22. Who do you least expect to send this back? I'm going to blog this, we'll see.
23. Person you expect to send it back first? Hmmm...
24. What type of detergent do you use? Melaleuca (weird name, I know).
25. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke
26. Are you a morning person or night owl? NIGHT OWL
27. What size shoes do you wear? 9
28. Do you have pets? Two hamsters...and many beloved cats who have...ahem...moved on.
29. Any new and exciting new you'd like to share with everyone?
Baby G is on his way! Oh, and our friend Dustin is coming to visit this weekend!
30. What did you want to be when you were little? According to a paper I wrote in 5th grade I wanted to be a P.E. teacher. I now know that I am far too impatient with other peoples kids to be any kind of teacher.
31. Favorite Candy Bar? At the moment...ummm...maybe a Kit-Kat?
32. What is your best childhood memory? Riding bikes, skating and building forts. Oh, and playing at the sandhills.
33. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Secretary for various organizations, and a full time Mom.
34. What color underwear are you wearing? Black, as if you wanted to know.
35. Nicknames: Squirt. But only my brothers and parents can call me that. My Dad calls be "Turkey Bird". My Momma Gayle calls me Erin Molly. Will Norvell affectionately called me Erin Alien (my maiden name is Allen).
36. Piercing? ears
37. Eye color? hazel, just like Chad. And Anna Kate.
38. Ever been to Africa? Nope.
39. Ever been toilet papered? Yep.
40. Ever love someone so much it made you cry? Oh yeah.
41. Been in a car accident? Yep.
42. Croutons or bacon bits? Neither. Sunflower kernels for me, please.
43. Favorite day of the week? Sunday.
44. Favorite restaurant? Rosa's. MmmMmmMmm!
45. Favorite Flower? Daffodils
46. Favorite ice cream? BlueBell Banana Pudding or just plain vanilla
47. Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
48. Favorite fast food restaurant? Hmmm. Still Rosa's.
49. What color is your bedroom carpet? Tan
50. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None. Turns out I'm a genius.
51. Before this one, form whom did you get your last e-mail? My sweet Jamie Moore.
52. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Oooh. That's tough. Maybe Pottery Barn.
53. What do you do most often when you are bored? I'm programmed to eat when I'm bored.
54. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? I don't know.
55. Last person you went to dinner with? Chad, Jamie, Max and Anna Kate. Yay for Jason's Deli!

The Great Flood of '06 - The day I almost Died (only slightly exaggerated)

Last Sunday, March 19, was quite a day. I began the day already in quite the self pity mode (see previous post) from being alone all week. But I knew my family was coming home. So I woke up ready to go to church. I slept in, so I missed the prayer meeting, but decided I would leave in plenty of time to be early. I walked into my closet, bafefooted of course, and my feet went 'squish squish'. My closet had flooded from the constant rain the night before. I decided there was nothing I could do about it until it stopped raining, so after I moved everything out of the closet I got ready for church. I grabbed my Bible, a pen, notebook, numerous snacks, a cold beverage, and out the door I went. After I locked the front door I walked to the car and placed my items on my car, reached into my pocket, and stood amazed as I realized I had forgotten my keys. I have no cell phone, Michael and Julie were out of town, Mindy and Jamie were already at church, and my wife was somewhere between Crane and Arlington. I was in a lurk.

45 minutes later, after weighing all of my options (I did not want to wait outside in the rain for 4 hours until my wife got home), I decided to break in by destroying my door lock. By this time it was too late for church and the rain had picked up quite a bit. I checked outside the back door and the flood was quite high. I needed to dig a trench. So I dug quite a good trench (if I might say so) that moved the water to the side of the house and out to the front yard. The rest of the house was now safe. Meanwhile, my cable went out so I had no phone. (We have VoIP, which is great, unless your power or your cable goes out.) Erin got word to me through Mindy's phone that Jamie was at Michael and Julie's house trying to soak up the great flood that was coming in at their house. Since my house was okay, I loaded up my shovel and headed to their house to dig a trench for them. Their house got it way worse than mine.

At the end of the day the rain finally subsided (8 inches later) and we all decided to eat out. So Jamie, Mindy, Michael, Julie, Erin, Max, Anna Kate, and yours truly all went out to eat at TGI Friday's. It's funny how joy can persist even in the midst of rain. I sure am thankful for my family and friends.

So here I am, still alive. Oh, and the hamsters are fine too.

Poor Old Me...sigh...

Erin and the kids are gone. They're in Crane helping Erin's parents have a garage sale, and they've been gone since Monday...today is saturday...and I miss them...sigh....

They come home tomorrow, though. Hooray for my family.

Molly and Annie

Wow, it's been a while since I posted! After being teased that our next post would include pictures of Baby G's first birthday, I decided that it was time to take a turn at blogging, once again. It's been awhile.

The first matter of business is to correct the improper title to Chad's last post: "Reginald and Fraldupha". The hamsters' names are, in fact, Molly and Annie. Anna Kate did the naming and will not hear of their names being otherwise. She has several dolls named Molly...several imaginary friends named Molly...and we assure her that, since we have a hamster named Molly, we cannot name Baby G Molly. Molly stops here. She loves our new pets. Max is thrilled to death to have them. They reside in our living room...for now. As soon as I buy little locks for the cage door they will move to Max's room. Why locks? What six-year old boy could resist opening the door to pet them just for a second? What hamster can resist the opportunity to run out of the open cage door to the darkest corner in the house, never to be seen again. If this happened we'd have to move. Locks are cheaper than moving. Why Max's room? Hamsters are nocturnal. They eat, pee, poop, run on their little hamster wheels, and do other hamster things at night time. They can make all the noise they want to and Max will never know the difference. Pretty handy, right?



In other news, Max brought home a random, used, bandaid today. Lord only knows who its previous owner was. I tried my best not to completely gross out. He brought it home as a gift for Anna Kate. What a sweet thought...but whadd'ya do, Moms? What do you do? Go with my instinct and throw it away and disinfect him in a tub of bleach? It would break his heart because it was a gift. He doesn't know that's NASTY! So I took a picture. We'll show AK after nap time. We all win, right?

Reginald and Fraldupha

Erin and I have made a decision. The children are getting older now, and they need to start taking on some responsibilities in their little lives. After all, Anna Kate is 3 and Max is nearly 7. So this usually means a pet.

Neither Erin nor I want to get a dog because of the expense and hassle that comes with a dog. I know, I know, dogs love you unconditionally, they learn tricks, they protect your house...blah, blah, blah... but all of you dog lovers please just spare me the talk about why we should have a dog.

I personally don't want a cat. They're fun, but they sure do get your house hairy. And some cats are just plain weird! They lick themselves in front of your houseguests in the most inappropriate places at the most inappropriate times. I know, I know, cats are great by a fire...blah, blah, blah... but all of you cat lovers please just spare me the talk about why we should have a cat.

I had two fish in college named Aquilla and Priscilla. They were florescent yellow and orange. Best pets I ever had. They lived longer than any other fish I've ever had too... about a month. However, I don't want to start giving my kids a new fish every month after a huge cry fest and royal flush off. So all of you fish lovers please just spare me the talk...

Penguins are too expensive, monkeys wear diapers, birds are too erratic, squirrels are hard to catch, turtles are no fun, and lizards make my wife get on top of the furniture. So we decided on a compromise.















We got two hamsters!

But I forgot...hamster poop.