Doh!

In honor of the Simpsons movie opening up this weekend Shennanigan made avitar of me as a Simpson. So I of course made one of my man. Don't we make a cute 2 dimentional couple?

Click here to make your avitars

And I've got to tell you, this guy spends more time on the sand than David Hasselhoff

My awesome brother and his friends are building a website dedicated to the 'real' golfer.

I would never say my brother is a bad golfer - but lets just say he has broken a club or two in his day. So what's a guy (or gal) to do when all the marketing is for the 4 handicappers out there???

You go to bogease.com

Bogease.com is dedicated to bringing golf-related resources to REAL GOLFERS. Regardless of what you shoot, Bogease.com wants you to get the most out of the game, and with Handicap-based course reviews, Golf Leagues, Contests, Live Events, Clinics and great Giveaways, Bogease members are narrowing the gap between the Golferati and the rest of us.

Click over to bogease and register today! Right now they are building a mailing list to go to show advertisers and vendors all the people out there who are interested in being a part of a golf community for real golfers.

For more information you can email the boys directly at info@bogease.com

Welcome To The Hellmouth...

...at least that is what Karen Ransom and my new friend Emily might have thought. I dragged them Saturday night to the Buffy Sing-along. It was a midnight showing of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode - Once More With Feeling.



There was props, singing, trivia and some very, very drunk fools (No - for once Not Me!). I think very deep down Karen and Emily had fun. Karen not so much when I would turn and belt out a portion of the song in her ear at close range. (BUNNIES, BUNNIES, IT MUST BE BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and Emily not so much when the whiff of the drunkard next to her would hit her square in the nostrils.

But they got into the joy that is BTVS. We blew bubbles during Dawn's Lawrence Welk dance routine, popped the firework during the love song btwn Tara and Willow and of course got into sporting the vampire teeth. When spike came on the screen we would all scream out HOTNESS -so that didn't differ much from my Tuesday nights watching Buffy. During the trivia section, one of the questions was "Who dreams about Spike in Restless?" I got a bit of a laugh from the crowd when I blurted out Me. (It was Giles for those keeping score at home).

Come to think of it, I have not know Emily for very long so it was a bit of a risk dragging her to see Buffy. At least she claims I dragged her - from what I recall it went. Me: I am such a dork, I am going to DC today to purchase tickets for BTVS Musical Sing-along extravaganza. Emily: OMG - I Totally Want To Go - I LOVE Buffy. Ok - so the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I met Emily at SAFE - she is a fellow instructor. Emily is awesome - and not just because she is one of my few friends who actually read our blog (Yes Ransom, I am looking at you). She has been an instructor at SAFE for a couple years now, she is actually a VIPS (volunteer in Police Service) - I am still in the process - my interview is next Monday - I am kinda nervous. I get a bit giggly in interviews so I am going to have to do some breathing techniques to calm down. I am guessing a shot of Jim Beam would not be such a good idea - so breathing it will be). In the form to become a VIPS it asks you to list all the blogs or myspace sites you maintain. Apparently that is becoming something asked about in applications of late. I read that you have to list these for college applications and if you have anything derogatory or racist in it or you write about how you are a serial killer you can be denied. It actually makes some sense 'cause you can really find about the person applying. But I cannot help but worry about the fact that the Dir. of the VIPS program is going to check out Benny's myspace site and think - yeah, she is a bit off. Not that I am not, but people should come to that conclusion in time. After they like me and decide to take the good with the bad...

... Like Emily and Karen have. Although they might be a bit off too. And I have the proof. Here we are sporting the Vampire teeth. I know this is not the best picture of Ransom but the girl has some sort of issue with keeping her eyes open when a camera goes off. This is the best I could get. Believe me - there is one A LOT worse.




What is that on our fingers? Why it is a monster finger puppet of course. In the musical episode they even have the monster that comes across the screen in the final credits sing his line - Err Argg. So the monster puppet was for us to play along. See for yourself in the video - look hard - it was kinda dark)


(unable to play - Greg added to the left side)

The Washington Post ran this article on The BTVS Sing along - it will be back in November if anyone else wants to go. I might be able to have my arm twisted to go again.

Big thanks for K and Em for going with. Emily - you have been officially blogged! Consider yourself one of the cool kids!

Feels so right, it must be true...Ooooh

Twinsies...

Get Your Brunch On

Brunch with Da Bells is always fun - especially when Jadyn is in a funny mood. Check out Jadyn showin' her movez. Flava Jade in the hizouse.


After brunch Jadyn and I both got a Webkin - I got a bunny in honor of The Buffy Sing Along we went to on Saturday night. I named her Buffy da Bunny. Jadyn got a frog she named Croakers. I had to call Jadyn to figure out how the dang thing works. I then ended up playing games for 2 hours to earn cash to decorate Buffy da Bunny's room. I kinda feel like the corner drug dealer getting Jadyn hooked on this crap. Butt damn if its not fun. Addicting and fun. Add this to my evening of blogging, replay and sudoku and its an evening of additions in the Fissell household. It's a good thing I don't drink. Yeah, right.

Melissa - you may not want to get the girls hooked on these Webkins - but if you do - let me know cause I will send some their way - then our stuffed animals can chat and hang out in the clubhouse.

Speaking of sending things in the mail. I got the nicest surprise in my front door this evening. Dr. Dick sent me an awesome Eagles hat - in honor of our up and coming winning season. Thanks Dick! I will have to take a pic of me rockin' the cap.

The Story You Are About To Hear Is True

There is no need to adjust the screen - what you are seeing is real! Karen Ransom is truly eating something other than cheese or pasta! In fact - Karen was eating with us at our favorite Indian restaurant - Samrat.

There is a picture of the food actually entering her mouth - but this one she looks cuter.

We were celebrating Karen's promotion to Branch Chief at the Bureau of Labor Statics! As my father would say - Shit Hot! Our little girl is all growns up! Not physically of course. hee hee.

Just to prove she hasn't totally grown up. Here she is pounding a 40! Rollin with the homies!

Congratulations my friend! Love ya Lots!


that is actually a regular size bottle of beer she is holding!

Water Leak is toast...

finally found the source of the water leak to the front yard spigot in the ceiling of the laundry room. One of the elbows cracked, presumably due to water in the pipes. Although I religiously turn off the outside water lines every year. No idea how it could've happend. Can't wait to get it fixed now. It's also nice to see how crappy NV Homes built the house. There was a big gap behind the drywall that you can fit your entire arm into going towards the front of the house. Along with the insulation, that didn't have a frickin vapor barrier, being crammed into the area, and not enough of it, it is just being held in place by the pipe and the the power line that's there too. So since our basement isn't underground, the cold air just pours in thru that gap and hits that length of pipe you see in the one pic. I'm suprised the power line didn't have any cuts or exposed wire like the light fixture in the same room! Nice and safe. Thanks NV, you blow.

I used to wash my first car every weekend at one point, and I don't think I've handwashed my current car in two years, if not longer...I promise to do that once the repair is done...wax too...Thanks Wade and baby Jesus...and Taco Bell.

Greg & the giant newphews

Could these guys be any bigger? The first pic for comparison was only a few years ago, and now they both tower above me!...and Chris barely eats anything

I Got a Friend in Dave!

I wanted to sign up on myspace so I could chat with my nephews - little did I know how annoying that site was and so difficult to maneuver. Chris and Mike helped me set it up and after that it kinda just sat there. Part of the problem is I don't check it often so every time I log on, I have to look up my password.

Since myspace is mostly for teens, pervs and sluts, I didn't want a myspace account with my personal information - so I set up an account for Benny Boy. It's actually a cute site - http://www.myspace.com/119387313 - It's got a Hello Kitty theme and everything.

So what has me excited enough to look up my password? As Victoria Beckham would say - this is major. Dave Gahan has a new album coming out in October, and as all musicians must do nowadays, Dave has a my space site.

Finally - A reason to have a my space account. Dave Gahan is my friend in the world wide web.

As the DB's say on myspace. Thanks for the add.

There's a snake in my boot

Karen made a gruesome discovery out in the parking lot in front of the house the other morning as we were leaving for work. At least it wasn't squashed yet. It was funny as she went to touch it to move it into the grass, I made a hissing noise, and she freaked...good times...luckily she didn't beat me because there were neighbors around. Plus I think can outrun her anyway. It was pretty big...I should've taken a shot with it next to something. It was gone by the time we got home, Karen had moved it into the grass, probably taken by some of the hooligans that live in the neighborhood. I assume this was the same type of snake that Kiki chased over the fence of Mom's backyard when I was swimming with the girls on my last visit. At least what I saw of it, a four foot long black thing that scaled a 6 ft tall fence in about two seconds...

 
 
 
 


This looks like the snake, the Northern Black Racer

I'm like whoa!

I spent Saturday with Morgan. We went and bought her a wireless router to with her new laptop. We then went to Annapolis mall and had lunch at CPK...I had the chipotle chicken pizza and she had boring Margherita. she actually had to pick off the garnish, which was just tiny pieces of basil, and was probably in the sauce anyway, such a picky eater...mine was awesome though. Then we walked thru the mall to get to the movie theatre to see 'Transformers'. That was very awesome. I ended up sitting next to the redneck Vanilla Ice of Annapolis who commented and whooped about everything on screen even though he was there by himself. Weir--do. Luckily, it was so loud for most of the movie, that it somewhat drowned him out even though he was one seat away from me. After that, we walked back thru the mall and hit DQ for a waffle crisp blizzard, which was good, but the ice cream wasn't fully frozen. So we headed home, and I setup the router, got Morgo's laptop connected, and tried to tune it up a bit. So, the best part is the pix of Morgan's room. No words can describe. I knew it must be shared though. It was like finding a crop circle. After getting a few shots, we went to the drum studio, even though the sign said 'Morgan and friends' not allowed. Unfortunately the drum tech left the kit in a state of disarray to prevent others from jammin. I was ready to lay down some beats too. Maybe next time.

Night of the Living Jazz Zombies

OK - every now and then you all have a reason to feel sorry for Greg - this time its cause I force him to watch SYTYCD each week with me. Ultimately he can blame Melis since she is the one who got me hooked on this show. It's so much better than AI cause these people are actually talented, good looking and this season - they are all amazing. I even liked Cedric. I think Danny is a tool but super talented.

My favorite from the beginning has been Neil. He totally lucked out with a Jazz routine from Wade Robson. Wade's routines are always the best ones - even though he is a bit one dimensional and it seems he can only can do Michael Jackson or zombie routines to music from Robot Chicken. Here is the Night of the Living Jazz Zombies in case you actually have a life and missed the show on Tuesday.

Are You Telling Me This Sucker Is Nuclear?!

Greg and I had a fantastic weekend visiting with our friends Scott & Elizabeth; they were our neighbors on Andrew Matthew and have since moved on to greener pastures. Greener pastures closer to the water that is. They were the hostessess with the mostessess as we visited them at their 'weekend' home at Lake Anna. It took a little prodding to get Greg OK about leaving the house and the comfort of his reclining chair and Replay. But even Greg will admit to enjoying himself.

There place is gorgeous and open with a huge screened in deck perfect for relaxing - but they are also minutes from the warm waters of Lake Anna. Say what you will about nuclear power plants - all water should be this nice. This is not to say that the beast within the waters didn't need to be fed. We donated a few things to keep peace. My shades were the first to go. Then Greg got all fancy on the Waverunner and knocked himself over! He was trying to create a bigger wake for Scott to drive through with Elizabeth and I barley hanging on in tow on the Splash Blaster. He went down big time and came up without his new Boston hat that was a gift. Bummer cause it looked good on him. But at least he didn't lose the prescription shades. The lake Tried to take my bathing suit bottoms as well, butt (pun intended) it was denied! Lizbeth and I were hanging on for our lives and our legs were flying through the air - when we came down into the water - so did the bathing suit bottoms! Yet still I refused to let go so I had one leg up in the air to keep what was left of my knickers on. I was laughing so hard I could barely get the word 'underpants' out of my mouth and that was the only word I could say. Elizabeth was laughing so hard she was unable to signal to Scott. Luckily Greg could see the white of my hiney and gave the signal for Scott to stop.

At first I was bummed that we were unable to bring the camera out into the water, butt after nearly exposing myself to the town of Bumpass - I was kinda glad the camera wasn't there. We did take some shots on land for you to enjoy. We were treated to a yummy meal of Red Snapper and green beans and I brought up some individual mousse in chocolate shells from Whole Foods for dessert. Sunday we lounged around, talking, playing some Foosball in the game room and fighting for PS3 time to play Tetris. I am not sure what I am more sore from - the Splash Blaster or from how intent I was on getting the high score on Tetris.

We had a Great weekend with Great friends and cannot thank them enough for inviting us.



We had a visitor Sat night of the prettiest, fluffiest skunk you have ever seen. Hopefully Greg can do some magic to the pictures of him cause the they turned out to be too dark to leave in the slideshow. We need to get a camera like Mike's to take those hard to capture shots.

Say Hello To My Lil Friend

It's not my fault I can be so lazy - you try getting up when all Chewie wants to do is lay on you. He is so warm and cuddly and when you roll over, he just readjusts. I have a hard time falling asleep when he isn't snuggled with me.

We Will Rock You

Too bad rocks are not worth lots of money or I would be rich beotch.

It took about 6 hours of work to prep 20 square feet of land just to lay down sod. What should have been a simple task of tilling the ground for the sod became a major project when you couple the crappy dirt we have with my O.C.D. Actually, I do not think what we have in our ground really could qualify as dirt - more like rocks with pebbles, mixed with bricks and cement. I had to use the ax just to break through the ground - the ax is all busted now I might add. Greg got out the camera to take some pictures of all the rocks I dug up - just look at the size of these suckers.

The trash can was full of rocks buy the time I was done - but we have grass now. I also have 4 massive blisters and a busted back - but look how pretty.
No, not this one - this is the before.

This is the after.

Yes, I know that edge is not straight - the neighbors put the edge in and I even guilted them into fixing the line - it was worse. Yes, it does bug me, but I didn't finish until after 9pm and I just couldn't do any more. I did hit in line a bit with a mallet - but that was all I could muster. I am just going to have to live with it.

Now everyone just has to pray for a lot of rain and the kindness of neighbors to water it until I set a date for Wade to come look at our leak downstairs.

No. 2 (hee hee)

Today Tatum is two years old. Her party yesterday was off the hook. Jenel put so much work into setting up the party. It was circus themed and Jenel made elephant, clown and lion gifts for everyone as well as a homemade magnet frame. I have so many cute pictures it will be hard to pick only one to fill the frame - good thing I took two frames. :p

Here's a few pics from yesterday - I took lots of pictures with mom's camera and Aunt Irene's so I will have more to add once they are uploaded - Hint, hint - go to picasa and upload ASAP!

There were about 40 people at Shell's place helping celebrate and people came from miles away just to be there for the Tot. Aunt Ann & UJ and G&G all came from Philly. Sharon and Aunt Irene from Delaware (oh. look, Delaware). Derek, Chris & Travis came up from Georgia. Even Jeff and Amy were up from Texas. Lots of family, friends, food and lots of fun. Oh yes, and presents. Tay Tay made out well and she got some cute clothes, some fun toys that I am looking forward to playing with, and the cutest pink cowboy boots from Jenel's grandparents. I cannot wait till she grows into them.

Lots of lot to Tatum from Aunt K and Uncle Donkey.

The People's Princess

I will never forget coming home from a movie with Greg and turning on the TV in our living room on Andrew Matthew to hear about the death of Princess Diana. I called mom so upset and woke her up. She was so sweet saying its ok honey - she was only in a car accident, I am sure she will be fine. But alas, that wasn't true.

I have always been a bit of an anglophile and I loved Diana. It was such a sad way for her life to end.

Today is an all day concert in her memory in honor of her birthday - I wasn't surprised to see Duran Duran (her favorite band) and Sir. Elton John performing but Fergie?! I don't see how singing about her T&A will honor Diana - I will just have to fast forward that crap.

It's so hard to believe Diana was my age when she died. Makes it even more amazing when you think about how much she accomplished in only 36 years.

Fun with Scanners

While pulling pictures of Joc and Aaron this morning I came across this gem and it made me laugh so hard I just Had to share.

Karen Ransom is a very talented cake maker and she is also very funny - check out this cake she made for Greg's birthday about 7 years ago. It's the precursor to PunchItChewie.blogspot.com

I love how some things never change. Don't forget to click to read Greg's poem about Helmet.

Speaking of birthday's today is Tatum's 2nd birthday party - she actually turns 2 tomorrow. Stay tuned for lots and lots of pictures of what I am sure will be a fabulous day with the Tot!

11 Years Strong

Our good friends Jocelyn & Aaron celebrated 11 years of wedded bliss. In the a guise of a gesture for them to celebrate alone (wink, wink, say no more), G & I took Jadyn for the evening. Any excuse to spend time with Jady-Jade.

We went to Noodles and Co. for dinner where Jadyn ate - noodles - plane noodles with only butter - no seasoning, no sauces and no cheese?! Crazy - I guess she was saving room for DQ! That and with all the cartwheels she does - I think she keeps the intake low so she doesn't throw while constantly spinning.

We then had a relaxing evening watching an Amanda Bynes movie - Lovewrecked - it's no She's the Man - but it was cute. Greg got up to make breakfast and they let me sleep in until 10:30. Nice.

Hopefully Joc and Aaron had fun reminiscing about their many, many years together. For those of you who don't know how far back we all go. I met Jocelyn and Aaron in Hellfield. Don't believe me - see for yoself - somewhere in the 80's - at Kings Dominion.

I had to do some cutting and pasting since even though we have know each other forever - they were not always dating each other.
Here's the happy couple about 6 years ago.

One of my many pics of Joc where she is making me laugh. This one is from a party at Shannanigans right after Karen Ransom almost set the house up in flames. K was so excited opening up a present she flung the tissue paper everywhere and one piece landed on the candle. The paper shot up into flames and since it was so light weight it flew all over the room - in flames. And she is the smart one! Dayum.

Happy Anniversary Jocelyn & Aaron and here's to Many, Many More!
LOVE YOU BOTH!