My Thanks to An Unknown Soldier

Growing up, I always knew my Grandpa Boger was a WWII Purple Heart recipient, but I didn't really give it much thought or know the story behind it because he never talked about his time overseas.  He is now 88 years old and in the last couple of years, he's started telling some of his stories from the war.  My dad told me the story behind Kenny Boger's Purple Heart and to this day, it's the most awesome story I've ever heard.

After being shot twice in battle, Kenny Boger was unconscious & assumed dead.  He was thrown into a pile of bodies of other soldiers killed during the action.  Somehow, amid the chaos & confusion, another soldier happened to see Grandpa's chest moving up and down and pulled him to safety.  They got him to the hospital, where President Eisenhower happened to be visiting during Grandpa's recovery.  Eisenhower sat down at Grandpa's bedside and said, "How would you like to go home, Soldier?" He explained that there was a military flight leaving for the States, but it was pretty full so he'd probably have to sit on the floor of the plane.  Not really caring WHERE he had to sit, Grandpa told the president that yes, he'd love to go home.

He did go home to his beautiful Jane, where they raised three children on the west side of Indianapolis. 

So on this Fourth of July, I'd like to thank a soldier whose name I don't know, but without his courageous actions on another continent, a bunch of people in my family wouldn't be here today.

Thanks to you and all of the other unnamed men & women who have sacrificed life & limb for the rest of us.

Jessica Boger Cabiness

If Dr. Seuss was a mom...

Ode to a stain...

Red spot, blue spot,

That’s a new spot.

Is it mud or is it jam?

A melted crayon or candied yams?

I will clean it with a mop.

With OxyClean and bleach on top.

I will scrub it with a brush.

But Resolve’s not doing much.

Now it’s turned a shade of gray.

With no intent to go away.

A nice big rug to put it out of sight.

Carpeted dining rooms? Not too bright.

Some people rant & rave...I prefer to find the humor & move on.

It's a Tweet Eat Tweet World...

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who love Twitter, and those who don't realize MySpace died of dysentery a couple of years ago.  In addition to getting useful news, information and updates, along with stuff we don't really care about (ie, Lindsay Lohan's house arrest & Justin Bieber's new shoes), they also have a conveniently placed list of "trending topics".  Usually, the trending topics are whatever is a hot news event at the moment.  The rapture thing was a big one, the AI finale, Oprah's last show, etc.

One of today's trending topics is #lessinterestingbooks.  This is right up my alley.  Here are some of the better ones...

     - The Old Man & the Pond
     - A Tale of One City
     - Medical Office Assistant Zhivago
     - Cat on a Room Temperature Roof
     - A Tree Grows in Staten Island
     - The Girl With the Temporary Tattoo
     - The Mediocre Gatsby
     - The Count of Monty Python
     - Reasonable Expectations
     - The Wrath of Grapes

And my favorite....
     - The Hitchhiker's Guide to Des Moines

Anniversaries & furniture...

This week we celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary.  We actually got a babysitter and went out to have a nice quiet dinner with no highchairs, wet wipes, sippy cups or tantrums.  It didn't really matter that our steaks were a huge letdown.  I'm sorry, but when you charge $30 for a steak, it should definitely be above average & should make you want to thank the cow for producing such a masterpiece. We hadn't really planned anything for after dinner, so we went to a local restaurant/brewery, sat in the bar, talked and had a yummy dessert of tiramisu, caramel brownie and vanilla bean ice cream.  Not a bad night!

While we don't encourage our kids to jump on the couch, today they pulled off all of the pillows, made a big mountain and were playing on it.  It was cute, no one was getting hurt, and they were having fun, so I thought what the heck?  See the attached video...

It reminded me of the first couch we had when we got married.  We lived in a TINY 1 bedroom apartment in an old Victorian house in Oak Park, IL just outside of Chicago.  I think it was roughly 800 square feet.  That couch was the heaviest piece of furniture ever created.  But it did have one redeeming quality-  it was the EXACT same couch from the show Roseanne (see below), except we didn't have the colorful afghan thrown over the back.

I was definitely not sorry to see that thing go.

I'm back...

Much like my abs and the Real Housewives' kids, my blog has been sorely neglected.  Now that my first year of school & the Royal Wedding hoopla are over, I'm going to make a conscious effort to post more frequently.  Maybe once a week...maybe twice if it's a big news week;)

I actually tried to post this yesterday, then Blogger crashed & everyone's blog posts were deleted.  Luckily, I didn't say anything incredibly profound....if I did, I can't remember what it was.

Enjoy!