julie evans, party of one

julie being julie. 'nuff said.

they share my dna

good grief.

happy national doughnut day, y'all!

photo no. 382

kate's favorite thing in life is taking pictures of herself.  you have no idea how many hundreds of digital shots i have deleted that look exactly like the one below.

my students at school are the same way.  (what amazes me is just how talented these kids are at holding the camera at arm's length and actually snapping a photo with their face in the frame.)

my ornery daughter has been chastised repeatedly for taking so many photos of herself, but lo and behold, she keeps inventing new facial expressions that need to be pixelated.  oh, and here's the kicker with kate ~ if i told her tomorrow that we were going to have portraits taken, she'd throw the biggest fit.  "mom! (whiny voice). do i have to?!  (more whining)."  i can't win. 

but on the flip side, she is pretty darn cute.

more one-hit wonders

according to feedjit, people from various places around the world have arrived at my blog by typing the following into search engines:

• bathroom swinger (Mexico)
• snow and fun swinger (Sweden)
• swingers daddy blogspot video (Poland)
• my parents took me to a swingers party (United Kingdom)
• 100 ways you know you’re a swinger (Connecticut)

okay.  so swinging is pretty popular, i'm guessing.  one of my darling co-workers, who shall remain nameless, didn't know what a "swinger" was...or what couples who "swing" actually do.  we explained it to her at lunch.

oh.

of course, "swinger of birches" comes from robert frost's beautiful poem birches.  which i love.  little did robert or i realize that utilizing the term "swinger" in writing would elict illicit searches.  (elicit illicit...impressive, eh? hee, hee, hee.)

here are a few more hits that i thought were rather interesting:

• team name panties (Arizona)
• how to judge corn (South Dakota)
• football player bathroom (Thailand)

not sure what the individual from arizona is searching for or how my blog could be of any assistance with that one. 

jules, i thought you and the folks down at the extension office would appreciate the hit from south dakota.

and phyllis, that my parents took me to a swingers party has a children's services referral written all over it, wouldn't you say?  :)

muy delicioso

a big thank-you to my sister jill for emailing me this clip. taye diggs, john krasinski, and patrick dempsey...oh my. next time, jimmy needs to have chairs available for hugh jackman and george clooney.

enjoy.

there's one in every family

you know what i mean...the wild one.  the spontaneous one.  the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-throw-caution-to-the-wind-and-go-nuts one.  this is my aunt kim, my dad's youngest sister.  she is crazy ~ in a good way. how in the world she and my father came from the same parents is a complete mystery.  my dad is uptight in a very structured, OCD, and worrisome way.  kim is none of those things.  absolutely none of them. julie, jill, and i inherited our infectious giggling from her.  the same giggling that sends my father into a tizzy.  kim also took julie and me to our first college party at OU.  of course, we were eleven at the time.  and kim had to explain that the funny smell we noticed was something called "pot".  and that excessive drinking was probably the reason why there was vomit in the elevator.

so yesterday, kim and my cousin jenna came down from columbus to visit, and we went sledding because you know, it's just what we do here in southern ohio now because it snows every stinkin' day, and what the heck, there's another winter storm warning out now that's calling for 50 feet of snow and i'll be remembering y'all in july while i'm still teaching and you are enjoying your vacations at the beach...arghhh!!!!

but i digress...

i took some funny videos of kim yesterday as she was...just being kim.  for some reason, she could only sled down the hill with her legs sticking straight out in front of her.  it was the darndest thing.  you can click here to see more.



and here she is with my beautiful boy, ian.

you all should also know that kim has been a neo-natal icu nurse for 25 years at columbus children's hospital, loving babies and their families as they face disability and uncertainty and often-times, death. so perhaps, kim's personality is actually rather balanced out. perhaps it is her choice to grab life by the horns and enjoy every moment that allows her to be the voice of compassion and calm in dire circumstances. perhaps...she's not that crazy after all.

fiddle - farting around

this post title refers to one of my dad's favorite expressions when we were growing up. he would tell us to quit fiddle-farting around when we were goofing off, stalling to get out of work, or simply not doing what he wanted us to do. using it now as an adult, and thinking about it...it really is a WEIRD thing to say, eh?

but alas, i am indeed fiddle-farting. i should be working on an IEP, but instead, i am posting stuff on my blog. so, here we go...

okay, these pics are just WRONG in so many ways, but they are also HILARIOUS. (and in case you can't tell, those are ian's little chicken legs poking out from underneath juj and taylor.)

here is a photo of my little miss thang (kate). and yes, the title "little miss thang" is wildly appropriate for her.

kate took these dizzying photos of ian shooting nerf basketball in our living room.

and lastly, i took this picture this morning by cranking open my bathroom window and leaning outside...

music picks from the past few weeks

lots of great performances at the grammy's last night. my favorite was this one by the dave matthews band. simple. not a flashy production number. no ridiculously costumed dancers. just dave. and musicians. and back-up singers. it made me happy. (i love the lyrics too.)



jules texted me when this performance by mary j. blige was taking place at the "hope for haiti" telethon. she was blown away and insisted i listen to it. i'm just now getting around to it. and yep. mary's got THE pipes.



i love, love, love jennifer hudson. her performance at the haiti telethon was exquisite.



okay, and now for some fun...here is will ferrell singing lead on lynard skynard's "freebird". with conan o'brien on the ax, ben harper, beck, and billy gibbons from zz top. this closed out conan's last episode.


Conan's 'Freebird' Farewell - These bloopers are hilarious

ian in 85 years

ian had eggs and turkey bacon tonight for dinner. i think i've mentioned this before...but the kid LOVES turkey bacon.  as in, there is NO other alternative for breakfast (or the occasional brinner).  so anyways, him begging for eggs and turkey bacon this evening reminded me of this terrifically funny video clip from "grumpier old men."  this is ian, 85 years from now...still eating his bacon, but hopefully NOT drinking his dinner.

(this video always makes me laugh out loud.  i hope it makes you giggle, too.)

one - hit wonder

i love looking at the feedjit link to see how people arrive at my blog. alot of europeans find me while looking for "swingers".  (uh. no. that's a totally different website.)

at any rate, a texan found me on saturday after googling "birching panties".

hmmm. birching panties.  birching panties.

i can't even venture a guess...

stuck

my poor nephew, ben! the little fella had the toughest time walking back up the hill today after sledding down. i think everyone had to take turns dragging him back to the top...

Ben gets stuck... from Jodi Gillen on Vimeo.

twice in one week

i took kate, ian, ben, and chloe sledding again today at my aunt vickie and uncle jake's house.  vickie and jake are such troopers for letting us invade their home for the afternoon!  the kids had a blast, of course. 

(and yes, jake, they will alway remember coming to your house as children and spending this wonderful time with you and vickie.  thank you for loving us the way that you both do.)

the science of snow days

my most recent mathematical theorem:

"the number of inches of snow is directly proportional to my desire to eat for no reason which is then multiplied to the nth degree by the fact that I am dieting and should absolutely not be eating for recreational purposes."

mathematically, it looks like this:

s = d^n

in latin, it looks like this:

"numerus of inches of snow est directus congruens ut meus votum essum pro haud causa quod est tunc multiplicatus ut nth inhonestus per quod EGO sum dieting quod should absolutely non exsisto eating pro recreational voluntas."

or simply put:

"i just want to make homemade brownie batter and eat it right out of the bowl.”

first snow day of the decade

one day back at school.  then a snow day.  arggghhhhh! 

the girls and i at work were rejoicing yesterday at being back in our classrooms.  no kidding!  we were all happy to resume a routine.  and, we all admitted, we understood the lyrics of a certain christmas carol which states, " and mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again."  our own children were driving us crazy!  sounds weird, eh?  but man, when i saw my junior high boogers yesterday, I hugged them and told them how much i missed them.  of course, they'll drive me a little bonkers eventually, but that's okay.  i just love my job so stinkin' much.

so anyways...snow day.  jill and i attempted to take the kids sledding this afternoon at vickie and jake's.  there wasn't a ton of snow, but it was still slick.  the wind chill was horrible, however!  i don't think we lasted thirty minutes.  of course the kids didn't mind the cold temperatures at all.

below is a video of my nephew ben (who looks like a masked auburn bandit) tangled up in the ropes of his sled while his giggly mother attempts to free him.  if you would like to see more snow-day/sledding videos, click here.

stay warm, y'all.


Ben and Jill from Jodi Gillen on Vimeo.

starting the new year with a smile

okay, i'm sure that many of you have seen these before, but while browsing the web yesterday, i came across these very well-intentioned gospel album covers...and proceeded to chuckle out loud. the album designers/promoters certainly had a penchant for utilizing individuals with disabilities. which i'm sure, was meant to be inspiring. but gee whiz. blind women? folks missing hands? little people? hmmm...

oh, and i have no idea if "joyce" is a gospel singer. her album cover just "spoke" to me, so i included it anyways. you go, joyce.

(p.s., no matter how many times i've played with the html, i can't get this crazy slide show to center on the page.  perhaps god is punishing me for my sarcasm!!!)

kate's profession

i've already got it figured out...kate could be a writer (she LOVES to write!), a teacher (she's very philoprogenitive ~ do you know what that means?), or a photographer. she's got a great eye with the camera. no kidding. below is a picture she took today (at petland) of a turtle. i think it's terrific! (perhaps she taking after our wonderfully sweet neighbor erica!)

From gray's blog entry

snakes and snails and puppy dog tails . . .

that's what grayson is made of. 

grayson is my adopted nephew and adorably ornery son of my beautiful friend peggy.  today, the kids and i went to grayson's birthday party at petland.  hilarity ensued.  and yes, kate and ian left wanting a puppy...a $1500 yorkie, to be exact.  (uh, that ain't happenin'.)

oh, and i want to officially wish peg good luck in getting that green icing off grayson's face.  (some icing fell on the floor at petland and actually left a stain!)

santa baby

me on the left, juj on the right.  at my school's fundraiser this evening.  (our santa totally rocked!)

columbus day: the 2009 version

last year on columbus day, juj and i took the kids to scioto trails.  this year, i took kate, ian, ben, chloe, and taylor there by myself.  the trees are about a week or so away from turning, but some have already changed colors. what a brisk and beautiful day, spent with five little goofballs...