Birthdays, Jelly Beans, and why I hope Bette's Kitchen will be back in business soon.

Since life has kicked this blog to the bottom of the "to-do" list lately, it doesn't mean I haven't had all aspects of clutter clogging my brain. So, here's a few things that happened while I was AWOL, in a handy list so you don't get lost in the randomness.

1. It was Dr. Seuss's birthday March 2.
• See how my sister and her kids celebrated it here.  Her post prompted me to bake my own pistachio pudding-chocolate cake. My boss thought the green/chocolate swirl was magical. It made me miss my grandma a lot...she used to bake this cake for birthdays and we'd eat it with chicken buns, Pringles, chip dip, and cheese curls, all washed down with orange drink. I think of my grandma almost everyday when I go to lunch and drive past the spot where she used to park when she'd pick us up from school.
• Check out this Dr. Seuss-inspired poem about my favorite candy here.
• Awesome cakes decorated in Dr. Seuss was the Sunday Sweets theme at Cake Wrecks.
• Ryan has several Dr. Seuss books but can't sit still long enough for the extra-wordy ones, so we stick with Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?  I do a mean "dibble-dibble-dopp" rain sound effect and can actually sound like horse feet on "Klopp-Klopp-Klopp". 
2. It is Chuck Norris's birthday today.

• I'm a pretty big fan of Chuck Norris jokes, a list of which can be found here and here
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity...twice.
• Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the world down.
• Chuck Norris' calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd. No one fools Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.
3. It is my birthday next month and I am feeling all of my nearly 29 years. Many things make me feel old lately:
• Complaining of hip problems (could be from lifting my nearly 30 lb. son, I suppose.)
• Not being able to discuss movies essential to my adolescense with some of my co-workers because they're 6 years younger than me and have never seen them (probably because they don't rent movies from the local gas station like we did and "Office Space" and "Tommy Boy" never make it onto their Netflix queue.)
• The fact that as I sat at a show choir competition last Saturday, I realized that I started doing choreography FOURTEEN years ago! That means the freshmen in my choir were probably not even BORN when I started!
4. Jelly beans. (I told you it was randomness up there.) Since Adam likes them so much, I am planning to pick up a different kind each time I get groceries (every 2 weeks). So far, he loved the 2-flavor Starburst ones so much that I barely got any. The Jolly Rancher ones from this week are not my favorite. Especially blue...yuck!  Historically, Sweetarts brand and Giant Bumpy Nerd Jelly beans have been my favorites but we have a few more to try. Just what I need...candy morning, noon, and now night!
5. Ryan can say all his letters now (repeating them after we say each one). He did it so nicely when I came home the other night but now clams up whenever I have a camera out. My favorite is when you say "w" and he says "bubble".
6. I have been dining at "Bette's kitchen" almost every day for lunch lately a/k/a mooching off my mom, so when my parents were on vacation this week, I had to actually pack my lunch again. Unfortunately, things didn't go that great. 
1. On Monday, I ate at my sister's so I could let their dog out while they were at State basketball. I listened to the game while I ate my leftovers, but was sad that my alma mater lost in the first round of the state tournament. 
2. On Tuesday, I was out of leftovers so packed some Special K to have for lunch. The first bite made me gag when I realized the milk I had poured on it from my parents' fridge was totally sour. Duh---they'd been gone for a while already and I should have known/and/or tasted or smelled it before pouring it all over the only thing I brought for lunch. I ended up frying myself some eggs I found in the fridge. 
3. On Wednesday, I brought some beef fried rice we had leftover from supper and while I was taking the rubber band off their newspaper, it snapped, causing my hand to fly into the container of rice and you guessed it, dumped it all right onto the floor. Don't worry, mom, I cleaned it up, but was totally bummed to have ruined my dinner again.
4. The slice of cheeseburger pie went just fine today at lunch. Thanks for asking.
7. Okay, I know there were lots more topics I planned to blog about including my history of hair color, the summer I learned my lesson about buying generic grape jelly, and why I'll never be as good at Glow-sticking as Brittany Snow. But if clinical exhaustion doesn't overtake me sometime in the few months, I'll be more than mildly shocked. So, it's off to bed.