Polly Ticker's Postulations

I'm sorry I haven't updated the website much or done anything in a while. It's just been so crazy around here with school and work and activities that I hardly have the time to do anything. I'm sure everyone can sympathize. I added a new feature on the blogs where someone can create a member account so they can post comments. If you have a blog, you can also add new members to your "team" in the Admin area of your blog. A couple of people have requested blogs, but they never answer back when I ask them for specifics. So I guess they don't really want one!

How was everyone's Halloween? We had probably 200 kids come trick-or-treating. It is always crazy on our street and I'm not sure I understand, because the other streets give out more candy! Samantha and Melissa were strawberries (Sam's idea) and Alex was a ninja.


Melissa was too funny. She would say "twick a twee" and then thank everyone. Sometimes she'd wave and yell bye. And when I asked her if she was ready to go she kept saying "No, I need more candy".

In other exciting news, we had a honey bee hive in our walls. We called a beekeeper and they've come to our house three times in the last two days. Hopefully tonight will be the last. They just keep sucking out more and more bees. They've already cleaned out all the honey and wax. Our bees are just buggers and have good hiding places where they can't reach. The beekeeper said we had between 40 and 60,000 bees. Sweet. We also got a little jar of our own honey but I'm afraid of it. Our bees get to live in the lap of luxury on the beekeeper's farm. Making honey and more bees and pollenating his garden. Here are some pics. This is a picture of the hole that they made in the inside of the house. All those dark things are bees.



And here is a close up of the hive so you can see some of the actual honeycomb.


I'll give a more detailed update on each of the kids soon. But right now I've got to get back to work!

I just logged on to my blog for the first time in a long time and saw all of this nasty spam in the comments section! So sorry, but I changed all the settings so that you have to log in to post comments from now on. That should stop the naughty spam.

So I was pulling some weeds today and came across this vine thing. I'm not sure if it's a good plant or a bad one. I thought at first it was some kind of berry, but now I'm not so sure. Does anyone have any idea what this is??

This has been a busy week! Melissa was sick all week and it was a little scary for awhile. Now she's on the mend and Alex has caught the bug. I hope Samantha doesn't get it because she rarely gets sick, but when she does it's always intense. So here's what happened this week.

First of all, this is my beautiful daughter Samantha who I am extemely

proud of. She was selected as one of two students to represent her class in a Horizons showcase at a local high school. Horizons is the name of the gifted and talented program she finally got into this year for English. Their class project was writing books with sight words for 1st graders in another state. This is a picture of her in the wind while walking into the high school yesterday.

Alex also had his field day this week and it was a lot of fun. He came home completely exhausted and fell asleep at about 5 p.m. and didn't wake up until the next morning. Here's a photo of him in one of the races. This one is called "The Big Squeeze".

Melissa is rotten. Some of you may not believe it, but it's true. It's all my fault but I don't know what I did wrong. A few weeks ago she found a sharpie somewhere and look what she did to my bed. And look at her proudly displaying her work. She has no shame at all, and no conscience!

Just so you know. Here me and Grandma are trying to keep in touch and keep this site interesting, and we end up talking to ourselves. Whatever, losers. Here's my trivia list because I want a better one than Mama Sez.

1 - What was the first word Jackmonkey could spell?
2 - What did the Gusher Tech clan decorate at Christmas in the "barn" house?
3 - What April Fool's prank did Mickle, Clem & Polly play on Squinton when he moved out to his tent in the backyard?
4 - What naughty activity did Clem & Polly catch Mickle, Squinton & friends playing when they climbed up into the rafters?
5 - What was Mickle's knife-throwing boyfriend's name?
6 - What color was Squinton's first truck?
7 - Who puked cherries at the top of the stairs?
8 - Whose first words were "Thank you!" (with a bow)?
9 - Finish this sentence, "She's not my twin sister, she's my _____ ______"
10 - Who can walk and fart with each step?
11 - What color of shirt should Dang It stay away from?
12 - BONUS BONUS Complete the next line of this song...
They say if you kiss the right nerd
The one that's unpopular
Then blossoms of blue will give you the flu
and.....

Last night at the dinner table my family teased me about my love of spuds. I related a story from work where I was the deciding vote on whether a certain caterer's potatoes were instant or not, because my co-workers were aware of my affinity for the apple-of-the-earth. So I decided that I would devote a blog entry to my starchy friends, who've given me comfort in their time of devourment. I might've just made up a word!

We often discuss what three foods we would have if we could only have three foods for the rest of our lives. It's fun doing weird games like this (we do it with TV shows and movies too). My three foods are always potatoes, beer, and an interchangeable third one. Sometimes it's rice. Sometimes it's chicken. I could probably cut out the beer and make vodka with my potatoes so I'd have room for two different food items. But I could never be without the potatoes.

Since the family has done extensive genealogical research I know that I do not have Irish blood in me. Maybe I just have an Irish soul (I imagine a little leprechaun dancing a jig in my stomach singing, 'Give me potatoes! Tra-la-la!'). Anthony and I joke about buying a summer house in Dublin when we're super rich. I can spend all my time at the pub eating chips and he can take a ferry across to Manchester so he can watch the English Premier League live.

My favorite potatoes are mashed with butter and sour cream. I don't have to have gravy, but it's nice and I prefer turkey gravy. I could eat mashed potatoes for every meal. When I die they'll do an autopsy and find that my insides are all potatoes.

Okay, now I'm getting gross. So what three foods would you pick if you could only have three foods for the rest of your life??

Well, Christmas is finally over. We had a nice, quiet Christmas with no extended family and no major drama. Hurrah! The house is still a mess from Christmas morning but eventually we'll get it all picked up. Before the holiday Alex had a belt test in Tae Kwon Do (for his blue belt) and he passed! Here's a picture that shows him putting the new belt to good use:



Next up is his brown belt, then red, then black, then watch out everyone! That's like giving Ryan car keys. Actually Alex reminds me a lot of Ryan; all of my kids do. Which reinforces Mother's belief that Ryan's outrageousness is all my fault.

So what are your plans for New Year's eve? We're probably going to go to bed early. Boring. Samantha is visiting her dad right now and she's the only one who really likes to stay up so I figure, why bother? Of course this little hellion might make us stay up. She's got a mean streak...

Just so you know, I did my makeup in Photoshop. So don't tell me I look like a floozy. I do look really old though. And pissed off. I can't find any good pictures of me where I look like I think I look.

I had every intention of using this as an outlet for that writing that I know is hiding in me somewhere. Alas, life has gotten in the way. Same old, same old... and the reason I don't write on a plain old piece of paper, either. Having three children is so much more work than two. Or maybe I'm just older and slower and the littlest one is wearing me out. Enough of me complaining.

This holiday season is looking mighty bright. We've all been sick but I think we're all slowly getting over it. The kids are involved in activities that they are excelling at, and I couldn't be prouder. Samantha recently was cast as Imogene Herdman in her theatre company's production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". She's been in rehearsals for the last month or so, and next week is the actual performances. I can't wait! Grandma is actually flying down to see it. It will be a nice treat for all the kids, since we don't get to see her very often. I'll post some pictures (if I can get some) after it's all over. In the meantime, here is her headshot that we used for her audition. That was a big pain in the butt. We waited around for hours and hours until it was her turn, and then we had to wait another hour or so for her to finish call backs. Ugh! But it was worth it, and a learning experience. I think next audition I will leave the baby at home and bring something to read!!

Check out the new Gusher Tech personal blogs!

Here you can write whatever you want, update us on your family, upload pictures, you name it! Email me (pollyticker@gushertech.com) and I'll get your blog set up and send you all the information you need to get started.