Aunt Bethany, does your cat eat jello?

(totally) random friday-

Jack Banana yesterday:
the homework assignment involved picking out two items on the sheet.
(example- the apple is 24cents, the sandwich is 56cents, etc.) that were between 80 and 90 cents... then he was suppose to estimate the cost, and then add and write the actual cost.
so Jack starts and picks out two things and says, now what do I do?
I explain he is suppose to estimate what he thinks they will cost....
he says "oh. well I estimate they will cost 87 cents"
"no Jack, that's what they will cost, you were suppose to estimate before adding"
"why would I do that when in my head I know they will cost 87cents? that doesn't make any sense mom"....

love that kid. he makes homework so much fun.
he then explained he'd just "make something up" for the estimation.
thanks Jack, way to amuse your teacher, and make light of the "advanced math" sheets she's been nice enough to give you.... Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?
Clark: No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.

the tiny tree forest has been totally displaced this year by the annoying tv-hidey-hole which completely renders the mantel useless...
they've made the corner of the suppose-to-be-a-dining-room-currently-posing-as-a-catch-all-slash-computer-room home for now....
it's kind of like they're in time out. only I'm not sure what they've done wrong.
bad bad little trees....my favorite the preschool Jack-tree....I think more crafts should involve pinecones and sequins.... oooh, and cotton balls. Gab, I'm formulating next years holiday craft as I type this....Clark: Burn some dust here. Eat my rubber.
Rusty: Dad, I think you mean burn rubber and eat my dust.
Clark: Whatever, Russ. Whatever.

and because some of you asked exactly what happened to the truck....
here is the slightly condensed version. and yes, God was definitely with us the whole time. I felt him...
oh, and I apologize in advance for how boring this story will be..
we left Wednesday at 6am. once we got into the mountains in TN, we realized the truck was "hesitating" going up hill. we made the decision to stop and get it looked at before attempting the mountains from knoxville to asheville....
the mechanics there replaced fuel coils, and spark plugs (I think, Colin might correct this later)...
however, like doctors, apparently they were just treating the symptoms and not actually fixing the underlying problem.
In any case we got to Cary at 2am. on the way there we noticed a "noise" a few times that hadn't been there before.
we left monday late, maybe 3pmish.....noticed the noise a few more times.
knew we just need to get the truck home.
stayed overnight in a hotel.....the next morning, the truck turned on a made the noise.
(the noise that makes you go "Oh crap. that's bad")
we obviously were still in the mountains. the truck was now having trouble going down hill....
and was making the odd noise intermittently....
so, snowy, cold....and mountains. in a truck that clearly wasn't running right.
Not the best combination.
finally the noise became constant, at the same time we saw a sign for a rest area 1/2 mile ahead.
we pulled in,
and the truck died.
we had it towed to the nearest ford dealer, and they said at the very least it needed a new motor. unfortunately the truck wasn't really worth the 4thousand dollars the new motor would cost....
so, we debated buying a new truck, or renting a car and just coming home.
after a lot of debating, and pacing on the part of my husband, we rented a car and we made it home tuesday afternoon.

I loved that truck. which is crazy because it wasn't special by any means, or new....and I'm not one to really feel significant sentimental attachment to objects.

in a fire after my family was safe my only concern would be my photos....
and Banana's old baby. I think I loved it because it was the first vehicle that "fit" us. everyone had room....
and it always started, and made trips so much more comfortable.... (ironic now, eh)
I really don't know. like I said, it defied logic my love for that truck. so it made me sad to leave it.... I know, I'm a nut.....whatever. get over it....

so that's the long, boring, blown way out of proportion story of the truck's last trip, otherwise known as our trip to NC. and now we will not speakth of it anymore...please.

the big downside to having one car is that I'm home in a house with nooooo food.
other than a whole lot of german candy.
and coffee.
so I've had almost a pot of coffee and something called "erdbeer joghurt", which I'm hoping loosely translates to something along the lines of "tastes like really yummy chocolate covered strawberry goodness but contains no calories or fat"....
we also have something called "pickerd glasur" in "haselnuss, vollmilch, and zitrone",
I'm too scared to eat that, because I'm not sure what it is....
sounds like something out of harry potter to me.
essie?!?!?
btw, I'm sending you this in your next box. (which should be leaving AR tomorrow) love it when I use my blog as informal email... you'll have that when the blog writer is jacked up on caffeine and sugar.