Sprite's Keeper

Spin Cycle: Interrupting Tradition

How I love this time of year, the calls, cards, and Facebook messages that send out that annual message of "L'Shana Tova!"

Happy New Year!

Being of Jewish descent, and being that my birthday so adequately falls in and around Rosh Hashana and the beginning of the High Holy Days every year, I revel in this holiday, graciously accepting promises of peace, a sweet new year, apples and honey always within reach, and I send them out myself, to anyone who will take it, for who doesn't want hope and happiness delivered with a smile? Even virtually?

Since befriending my one Jewish friend Trevor here in a county where one synagogue stands alone and quite far from my home, we've held a Rosh Hashana dinner every year, relaxed in every way, non-Kosher even, always fun and filled with good foods and spirits, both jovial and of the wine variety.

This year, through schedules not meshing, and my absent-minded delays in actually starting to plan, it's not going to happen and I'm bummed.

When John told me it wouldn't be possible, I said, "Oh, well, we'll just set up another date for a dinner or something" and left it at that. But it ate at me. It turns out these nights of loosely based tradition are what I look forward to every year for the High Holy Days, especially considering how both Trevor's and our families live far away. He's become OUR family.

I'm hoping it's a solitary hiccup, that next year, we can get our schedules in sync and pick this tradition back up where it left off.

L'Shana Tova, Trevor. We'll miss you this year.

But next year? I'm blocking out your schedule NOW.

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You know it's tradition to visit the Spinners, don't you?

Peg over at Square Peg in a Round Hole

Gretchen over at Second Blooming

SuziCate over at The Water Witch's Daughter

Stacy over at Stacy Uncorked

Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose

Vandy over at The Testosterone Three and Me

KendraSue over at Life in the Slow Lane

Alaina over at View From Down Here

Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

Camille over at Archives of Our Lives -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

Aimee over at Aimee Writes -Updated Monday! Fresh(er!) Spin!

Well? Did you? Don't mess with tradition!

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Next week's Spin Cycle Assignment: Dream Date

I know, I know, I know what you're thinking.. Finally! A brand new, never used before, Spin Cycle topic! How brilliant!

Here's the goal of this topic:

Who is the one person you want to meet? Why? And if you were to meet this person, where would the ideal location be?

OR...

You could use this topic as what it actually is, a suggestion or guideline. Have you already had this dream date? Details, por favor!

Spin it up and send it over with a dreamy sigh.

See you next week on the Spin Cycle!

Getting some take out from the Sushi Bar

3 posts in a row? Did I get my blogging mojo back? Do you even read this site anymore?

Moving on.

Jan posted a recipe yesterday for savory almond flour muffins on her site, and being the ardent follower I am, I HAD to make them that very evening and review them.

You see, in our new lifestyle, there's not a lot of bread going on. (I'm sure I'll go more into this on a later post.) Anytime I see something that looks even like a distant cousin of a baked good and promises to be "safe", I want it.

For instance, our local health food store makes organic carrot cake, which John had gotten me for my birthday. (The kid was insistent on me having cake for my birthday.) The first ingredient in it was garbanzo bean flour. Can I just say it was absolutely delicious?

It was absolutely delicious.

Moving on.

Jan posts tons of recipes on her site, most of them these days related to healthier eating, and by that I mean coconut oil, tallow, all kinds of meats, etc. That's right, folks. Her cooking brings us back to basics. (Butter, y'all. Maybe Ms. Paula Deen isn't really trying to kill us?) (Although Jan doesn't use butter herself since she banned cow's dairy from her diet.) (Sorry, Jan, but I'm a bitch without the cream in my coffee, I did wean myself off the sweeteners so there's that.)

Wow, I'm really working myself into multiple tangents here. (So THIS is why I can't post more than twice a week anymore..)

On with the review!

 

Excuse the photos. John wasn't home and I couldn't find the memory card for his "nice" camera, so I used my trusty point-n-shoot. If you want nice pictures that actually make you want to eat the screen, go visit Jan.

Now, I didn't take any pictures of the mixing process, which was so easy, I had to constantly double check myself to make sure nothing had been skipped.

20 minutes later, we had muffins.

They complimented our meal of brown rice pasta (gluten free) and grass fed ground beef with organic marinara sauce. Oh, and spinach. ("Something green on your plate!") (Oh, God. My transformation of becoming my mother is almost complete.)

(I'm writing this post three hours after eating and I'm still full.)

 

Like my teeth marks? No braces. Look how even those dental grooves are.

Oh, yeah. It should be noted that Jan's recipe calls for unblanched almond flour and I only had the blanched kind, which probably affected the color. I had considered taking out the Ninja and trying to make myself some unblanched almond flour, but time was of the essence and I wasn't in the mood to waste perfectly good almonds should I do it wrong. (And Sprite hates the sound of the Ninja doing its thing. You know, for a "ninja", stealth is one of its weaknesses.)

They were better than cornbread. Seriously! Okay, don't just take my word for it. What did you think, John?

 

(I had to put the rest into the freezer before he could grab another. So, Jan, look for another word from me about how these thaw or reheat.) Yes, he loved them.

Hm, he's an easy sell. We need to go after someone harder, a tougher nut to crack, someone who must not be told that what she's about to consume actually has no processed flour in it.

 

"What do you think, Sprite?"

 

"Mmmph."

"Don't talk with your mouth full, kid."

Bottom line, the almond flour muffin was all she would eat for dinner. I even layered some cheddar on top of her pasta, she wouldn't touch it, but did ask for another muffin.

So there you go, three thumbs up, and something to look forward to for the weekend. (This recipe gave me eight good sized muffins although Jan's recipe calls for nine.)

Most of you who are still reading this site, all three of you, probably already frequent Jan's Sushi Bar, and if you don't, what are you waiting for? Get over there now before she releases her cookbook and becomes too busy and famous to post anything anymore!

(And maybe this review will net me an autograph for my copy..)

(Yes, that was blatant begging.)

Oh, by the way, Jan had no idea I'm doing this. She probably saw the title of this post and thought, "Oh, shit, what did that girl DO?"

I did muffins. That's what I did.

An afternoon quickie..

"This is Jennifer."

"Hey!"

"Oh, hi. What's up?"

"Were you on your other phone?"

"Yes, but it was dragging so I used you as an excuse. Thanks for getting me off."

"...."

"The phone!"

"Ha-"

"Shut up."

"-ha ha!"

"Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!"

"Too late. You're welcome."

Spin Cycle: A tradition unto itself..

Huh?

Anyway, our Tradition Spins are coming in!

Starting with

Peg over at Square Peg in a Round Hole

Gretchen over at Second Blooming

SuziCate over at The Water Witch's Daughter -Updated Wednesday!

Stacy over at Stacy Uncorked -Updated Thursday!

Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose -Updated Thursday!

Vandy over at The Testosterone Three and Me -Updated Thursday!

KendraSue over at Life in the Slow Lane -Updated Thursday!

Alaina over at View From Down Here -Updated Thursday!

Send those traditions in by Friday!

It's a Kindergarten world.

It didn't even hit me until I was showering.

"Hey, John, I think I understand now what happened between Sprite and Kayla."

"Really?" (Yes, he was in the bathroom while I was showering. We're married, It's okay. With a kid, the ONLY time we get to talk is when we're showering or sleeping. And I'm not about to trade my sleep, so there you go. The secret to a long marriage is steam and self-confidence.)

"Yeah, with the entire worm-mud cake incident."

"And what about-"

Wait, let me fill you in on the back story.

Two weeks ago, I picked Sprite up from school and nothing was out of the ordinary. I exchanged pleasantries with the teachers, retrieved her homework, and hugged my daughter hello. On the way home, I asked the usual questions, she answered as usual. No worries.

Around 9:30 that night, I received a text message from Kayla's mom. The gist of the message was "sorry to let you know so late, but I wanted to make sure Sprite's okay. I had a long talk with Kayla and she's going to write Sprite an apology letter."

What? I thought back to the evening and any red flags. Nothing popped up. So I texted back, "She never said anything about it. I'm sure it's okay."

A few more messages of calm back and forth and I ventured into Sprite's room. The kid was still awake. (In our house, a sleepy but still hanging on child at 9:45 PM is not out of the ordinary.)

Sitting on her bed, I asked, "Hey, what happened with Kayla today?"

Her mouth crumpled immediately. "She said she was going to make me a worm-mud cake."

"A worm-mud cake?"

"And she told me I couldn't go to her birthday party." She sat up, looking dejected.

I reached out and took her in my arms, confused about the emotion involved. I mean, four year olds pull this kind of shit on each other all the time. Yes, Kayla is someone Sprite has been hanging out with since they were infants, Sprite even calls her a best friend, but nasty one minute, nice the next, right?

"And then Kayla and Sammy chased me saying I would have to eat worm-mud cake."

I soothed her hair. "Honey, I got a message from Kayla's mommy. Kayla is extremely sorry about what she said and I'm sure things will be fine tomorrow."

And they were. Sprite came home with a lovely hand drawn note of apology from Kayla and a story of a wonderful day at school.

Problem solved, right?

Well, apparently, kiddie problems are like tv shows, they only reference "Last time on.." when they're ready to pick the story back up which could be two or three episodes later while another back burner plot heats.

"Kayla's not my friend anymore."

I looked up into the rearview mirror, seeing her arms locked around her waist in anger. "What happened?"

"She said I can't go to her birthday party."

"Kayla's birthday isn't until October, Sprite. It's still a while away. Things may change."

"She said I'm not invited and I can't play with her anymore."

Now, being as Sprite has been around Kayla for years, this means I have too. This did not sound like the Kayla I knew. So I took the median route out since I had no idea where to go with it. "So maybe you shouldn't hang out with Kayla anymore."

"She's not nice to me."

"No, it doesn't sound like she's being nice at all."

Now I was more perturbed because the problem didn't have a solution yet. The apology note and promise of love had fallen flat in the world of VPK.

I sought out her teachers the next day. Not because I wanted to rat out Kayla. I just wanted to be sure that if Sprite was having problems, she was not just taking it sitting down.

"Oh, no. She did say something about it to us and by the end of the day, they were playing again, well, you know kids."

"Sure! I just don't want any ongoing issues." Actually, I wanted to know if she was standing her ground. I understand that life will hand you some blows once in a while, but in a smallish summer wind like this, she shouldn't be falling down so easily.

Knowing she was aware of her life lines, I felt better about it and brushed it off again.

A week passed, one day she and Kayla were thick as thieves, the next they weren't. Definitely not normal, but now it was just pissing me off that my kid was getting her feelings stomped on by someone else, someone else she trusted and loved.

Finally, on Friday of this last week, she got into the car, ready for dance class.

"Did everything go okay with Kayla today?"

"She wasn't in school. Her mom is getting married tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah! Did you wish Ms. Nicole well?"

"What?"

"Oh, never mind. It's just somethine we say when- you know, it's not important."

"Mommy, I want to go to the wedding."

"Honey, we can't go. We weren't invited."

"But I want to go to a wedding."

"Well, your daddy and I will renew our vows in a few years, and you can be in THAT wedding. You can be my maid of honor, wear a pretty dress and everything." No, really. John and I have been talking about renewing our vows and of course, my daughter will be the maid of honor. If she throws me a nice bridal shower..

"Okay."

We put Kayla, weddings, and school out of our minds and continued with our Friday routine.

I didn't get it until I was lathering up. Kayla had been taunting Sprite about her mother's wedding and the fact that Sprite wasn't invited. The worm-mud cake was wedding cake. The taunts were cruel, which was why Kayla's mom thought a formal apology was necessary. (Otherwise, I thought she was putting too much effort into little childish games.)

I guess I just hadn't been aware of just how direct the taunts were.

"And what about the worm-mud cake incident?"

"It just makes sense now. It was all about Nicole's wedding."

"Jen, I knew that in the beginning."

"You did?"

"I spoke with Nicole at school. Sprite didn't tell the teachers what happened. She told Nicole."

"She ratted Kayla out to her own mom?"

"Yes."

Huh. Sprite had figured out that telling a teacher wouldn't merit punishment for her tormentor since they tend to water down the juice until it seems a punch started out as a well intentioned hug, so she went straight to the top level of management.

And I felt better. (Oh, come on. You would too if you knew the bully got their just desserts.)

I still love Kayla. And I'm sure now that all the wedding stuff is over, she'll return to her sweet old self who's waiting for Sprite to come to school in the morning.

I just hope that she'll hold her own when the stronger social winds come bearing down.

****Updated to add: I didn't think it important to the issue earlier but many are considering Kayla's reaction to her mom getting married and changing the family dynamic. Actually, Kayla's mom married Kayla's dad. They just made things official. (Seriously, such a sweet family.) But, in the holistic approach, planning any big event which involves the whole family can throw everything into upheaval, even when the event is something positive. I got Sprite dressed for school this morning, reminding her to be nice to Kayla and chances would be good that everything would be back on an even keel.

I can only be relieved that the worst words that can hurt right now are "ugly" and "you're not my friend". It's more of an affront to Sprite since the person saying them is someone who's been an alli for so long in her life. I'm not looking forward to the later years when the words take on a more personal meaning..

Spin Cycle: Liar, liar, your morals are on fire.

As I write this, I am also helping my kid finish her homework by painstakingly spelling out each word for her to "write" her book report. She should be doing this on her own, but who am I (and most other VPK parents out there) kidding? It would take all night if I were to leave it to her to actually write out a sentence. We've just mastered reading three to four letter words, sentences are about 2 mountains away and our hiking boots are still resting from the last literary climb,

Granted, her teachers know she will have received help on her assignment since they're well aware of her progress thus far, so technically, this isn't a lie.

But the lies have been growing in our house.

"Sprite, did you wet the bed?"

"No."

"Are you sure? Your sheets feel a little damp."

"No, Mommy. I didn't wet the bed."

"Your sheets smell like you did."

"It's because Daddy gave me too much water yesterday."

"I don't think this is Daddy's fault, Sprite."

Not even five minutes later:

"Good morning, Kiki. Did you have good dreams?" (John's nickname for Sprite has always been Kiki. Don't know why, don't use it myself.)

"Daddy, Mommy said you gave me too much water yesterday and made me pee the bed."

"No I didn't!"

Ah, rule number one for liars: make sure whomever you're throwing under the bus has at least left earshot before you push them. Sprite had neglected to notice that I was less than fifteen feet away, standing in the kitchen.

And I was ready to defend my honor. (And hand down the punishment.)

Thanks to this and other daily fibs intended to either get her way or get her out of trouble, she spent the majority of the week without the accompaniment of Nick JR while I make dinner. Of course, without the television keeping her attention, my progress in the kitchen has been hampered by keeping her away from a stove or a dog. (Sorry, dog. It's easier to explain your torment to a vet than a nasty burn to an ER doc.)

I know lying is a natural phase in childhood. Kids are trying on their imaginations and seeing if the plan which worked so well in their head would swing for the fences in reality. It doesn't since no child, even the evil geniuses, seems to remember that the parent has been through this themselves once or twice. (Or in my case, fifteen.) (Thousand.) (Give or take..)

Going off of last week's Rules Spin, everyone can garner that our household is awash with manners, be it good or bad. But hand in hand with these manners, come lessons of morality and ethics and how she should treat others, which is why we're stepping kind of hard on the entire fib experience, one because it doesn't show respect for others when she's trying to pull one over on us, and two because...Really, Sprite? Blaming everything on your father or me will only get you so far. Until one of us can get the other to corroborate your story. Yes, we're fibchecking on a daily basis until you get it in your head that the words leaving your mouth do not all of a sudden become the truth.

Maybe I'd be more lenient if the lies were more creative. You know, points for trying and whatnot. Oh, who am I kidding? I would probably celebrate it.

I may even write a post about it..

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If you're moral and you know it, clap your hands!

And visit these Spinners!

Peg over at Square Peg in a Round Hole

 Kathy over at My space.. my blog... my life...

Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar

Gretchen over at Second Blooming

Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose

Vandy over at The Testosterone Three and Me

CaJoh over at Ca-Joh

Camille over at Archives of Our Lives -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

Mama Badger over at Out of the Boondocks and Into the Burbs... -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

Alaina over at View From Down Here -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

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Next week's Spin Assignment: Family Traditions

This was recommended by Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose and with perfect timing too, for next Wednesday brings Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the High Holy Days, one of the most joyous of all Jewish holidays, basically a good excuse to get the family together for a couple of weeks and celebrate your tukases off.

But if you consider your New Year to be in September or January 1st, chances are your family has traditions.

Do you all blow the candles out on a birthday cake together to put more will into the wish?

Do you turn off all the electricity in the house and gather everyone around a solitary candle one night out of the week to increase family time and unity?

Do you set aside every Sunday for dinner at the in-laws' and every Sunday night for frozen pizza since the cooking is really not that great?

Do you have a special kiss for your kids? Do they have a special kiss for you?

Spin it up and send it over! It's all about tradition!

Spin Cycle: The Moral Scorecard

For MURALS, go here.

For MORALS, you've reached the right place!

And here are the Moral Spinners for this week:

Peg over at Square Peg in a Round Hole

 Kathy over at My space.. my blog... my life...

Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar -Updated Tuesday!

Gretchen over at Second Blooming -Updated Wednesday!

Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose -Updated Thursday!

Vandy over at The Testosterone Three and Me -Updated Thursday!

CaJoh over at Ca-Joh -Updated Thursday!

Spin Cycle: The rules in this house go round and round..

Or so it feels.

Any family worth its foundations has rules for childrearing. And even if that family maintains they have no rules, therein lies rule #1 and only. (Wanna talk semantics? I have time.)

We have laid rules down since our little Sprite was no more than a Sprit. (Um, don't look that up. The word won't be out until next year's edition of Webster's.) They were mostly rules for each other, i.e., "don't drop the baby", "don't give her too many cookies no matter how cute her gurgles are", and the most important "don't forget the baby", which to this day remains the only rule we have actually followed... Come to think of it, I don't believe we've ever dropped her either, although there were some times when our less than stellar decisions regarding safety straps or tying a dog's leash to the stroller while she was in it led to some freaked out baby moments and guilty parental crying, yet she still escaped unscathed and no worse for the wear considering she'd never remember it, so I'll call it a win.

Well, the times are changing.

Over the past year, the rules have become less about us and more about her. Or more about her growing need to be an active part of the household decisions.

Rules like:

"Don't sit on the dogs." (Aw, Sprite, remember your first rule? You should since we repeat it often.)

"Do not take a snack until you ask first." (You think those cheese sticks were grown on trees?)

"The word 'no' is not an opening for a rebuttal."  (And forget about the visual aids. They don't help.)

"She who destroys it must rebuild it." (AKA Clean your room.)

"Turn on your own lights/turn off your own lights." (God gave you fingers and arms to make those fingers work. Just because your brain doesn't feel like it doesn't mean I need to neglect whatever's on the stove to do it for you.)

"Bedtime at 8." (Yeah, I know we blow this rule ourselves on the weekends, but shouldn't that give us an honorary mention as "the fun parents" at least once when you're pissed about going to bed while the sun is still up?)

"Wipe your own ass." (You're about to turn five. I think that's a great year for my participation in your hygiene to become more of a supervisory role. After five years, I'm due for a promotion anyway.)

"Toys must stay in your room." (While the living room ottoman is a great place for your My Little Ponies to attend their summit meeting, the meeting should end by the end of the day and the Ponies should return back to their homes, otherwise you're opening yourself up to overtime lawsuits should these equines have attorneys. And no, we're not covered for Hasbro claims.)

"Do not color on the couch." (And while we're at it, the poker chips are not hiding under the ottomans. You simply didn't want to clean them up. Until you can recognize a spade to call it one, I'm not buying that hand.)

"Use your utensils." (I don't care how "funny" the broccoli feels. You're old enough to pretend you weren't raised in the wild.)

"Act your age." (You have to admit, for 4 going on 5, there's still a lot of leeway here, but grasping at air and whimpering in incoherent sounds when you want something is obviously a toddler behavior.)

"Use your words." (Since you're my daughter, I should include the addendum "carefully".)

"Say 'please' and 'thank you'." (And for every time you insert an "w" where the l is, a Wonder Pet will be harmed.) (I'm looking at you, Ming Ming.)

"Wash your hands after using the bathroom or touching the dogs." (There are some adults that could benefit from this rule, but you're the only one I'm in charge of, so yeah..)

And my favorite rule of all:

"Always remember we love you." (Especially when your butt is headed to Time Out.)

 (Sprite wrote her own rules over three years ago. You can find them here.)

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You should know the rules by now, right? Visit these Spinners and refresh your memory!

Peg over at Square Peg in a Round Hole

Pseudo over at Pseudo's Spot

Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar

Alaina over at View From Down Here

SuziCate over at The Water Witch's Daughter

Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose

Vandy over at The Testosterone Three and Me

CaJoh over at Ca-Joh

Ginny Marie over at Lemon Drop Pie -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

Mama Badger over at Out of the Boondocks and Into the Burbs... Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

KendraSue over at Life in the Slow Lane -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

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Next Week's Spin Assignment: Morals

Note: this Spin topic can get religious, and you're perfectly able to take it there if you feel inclined, I'm just asking everyone to play nicely.

What are morals? Ethics? Why do we act the way we do?

Do you try to find the owner of a missing wallet or claim finders keepers and go along your merry way? Do you believe the rules that apply to others don't apply to you? Or do you pull yourself over after running a red light even if no cop actually stopped you? (What?)

Spin it up and send it over!

See you next week on the Spin Cycle!

Spin Cycle: Rule #1: There ARE no rules..

And we have our first Spin of the week!

Peg over at Square Peg in a Round Hole

Pseudo over at Pseudo's Spot -Updated Tuesday!

Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar -Updated Tuesday!

Alaina over at View From Down Here -Updated Wednesday!

SuziCate over at The Water Witch's Daughter -Updated Wednesday!

Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose -Updated Wednesday!

Vandy over at The Testosterone Three and Me -Updated Thursday!

CaJoh over at Ca-Joh -Updated Thursday!

Are you a rule maker or a rule breaker?

Spin Cycle: This Photo Essay may need a breathalyzer.

Gah, I'm such a lightweight. I had to LOOK up the word breathalyzer since I knew there should be a Y in there somewhere, but couldn't be absolutely certain..

I've been diagnosed with bronchitis today, but I'm such an old hat at this condition by now that I only go to the doctor's office just to let them take my vitals, tell them what they're going to decide, and hold out my hand for my Z Pack so I can take my antibiotics like a good little girl. For someone who doesn't even like to take an aspirin when she's in pain, I don't joke when it comes to respiratory infections. Gimme my drugs, man.

Anyway, (and this may be partly responsible for the last paragraph) (yes, I've just read it, it is definitely responsible for the last paragraph which I will leave in just to teach myself a lesson) I took some NyQuil to help me get over the first night's hump before the Pack can attack my lungs, AND THEN remembered that I hadn't written my Spin for the week.

Oops.

I have maybe ten minutes left before I decide this blog would be better written in Russian so let me pick out some photos and sign off before I accidentally log onto Woot and try to buy a refurbished toilet plunger.

 

Being of less than sound mind and body, I stuck my mouse into the photo folder and pulled out the fourth picture of the eighth folder. No special reasoning behind it. It just looked good.

And that picture is what i found. These are Sprite's Crocs. John bought her six pair when we were in Fort Lauderdale for Thanksgiving and the Croc company rented space in an empty store front for three days, selling endless combinations for five bucks a pair. (Looking back on it now, I don't think it was the Croc company at all, none of the boxes were labeled with the brand name and the employee writing out the receipts, yes, the receipts were handwritten, didn't even spell Crocs correctly. Unless Crocs has a K in it. It doesn't. I Googled that too.) Now, I'm not a fan of Crocs myself, too many stories about kids getting trapped on escalators while wearing them, and, well, they're just ugly.

But THESE Crocs? Were actually okay. Black and somewhat reminiscent of Alice In Wonderland, and devoid of those widgets (Giblets? Gidgets?), they were able to withstand the pressure brought about by a four year old and look somewhat decent when she wore a dress. Oh, and they were rubber.

Somehow, one of the shoes got stuck in a leg of Sprite's pants and took a ride in the washer AND dryer. (Something I should have noticed when I heard the tale tell thumping going on during the spin cycle, but I figured since the child and both dogs were accounted for, whatever it was wasn't worth investigating when I was trying to catch up on my Glee episodes.)

So I guess it turns out rubber shoes aren't pre-shrunk. (They should put that on the label.)

Another thing they should put on labels? Don't blog while medicated. (My screen looks pink now.)

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Take a tour through these snapshots!

Pseudo over at Pseudo's Spot - PLEASE read this!

Pseudo over at Pseudo's Spot

Peg over at Square Peg in a Round Hole

Aimee over at Aimee Writes

Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar

SuziCate over at The Water Witch's Daughter

Michele over at It's A Dog's Life

Gretchen over at Second Blooming

Gretchen over at Second Blooming

Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar

Vandy over at The Testosterone Three and Me

Mama Badger over at Out of the Boondocks and Into the Burbs...

Kate over at Recommended Daily Dose

Shelby over at My Year With The Mouse -New to the Spin Cycle!

Mrs. Bear over at Outnumbered Two To One -Updated Friday! Fresh Spin!

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Next Week's Spin Cycle: Rules

We all (well, most of us) live in a rule abiding society where you can't speed, you can't smoke in certain areas, you can't even park past 5 PM, and you must wash your hands after using the loo. (I am definitely not fighting the last one. In fact, if I could, I would promote it incessantly.)

What rules do you absolutely live by? What rules can't you stand and try to break them every chance you get? Or let's say you were able to make your own rules, what would those rules be?

The rules of this Spin Cycle are... yeah, you know the answer to that.

See you next week on the Spin Cycle!