Simply Stacy

Happy Halloween

 

Happy Halloween everyone.  I can't wait until I get off in couple of hours.  I will catch some ZZZs.  Then we are off and running on the fun full Halloween weekend! 

You know that I can't just post something that short and not tell you a story. There's always a good story around our house.

This one begins with the preparations for the upcoming weekend.  I was getting things together for the Trunk of Treat and decided to donate some of the boys' candy from their candy drawers to make room for all of the new candy that will be arriving from said event.  (Not to mention trick or treating the next night)  Being the smart mom that I am, I waited until after they went to bed to go through it.

In our pantry there are two sets of drawers on the floor in the center of the pantry.  They are the garden variety Sterlite drawer sets, the bottom with two large drawers: the top one houses the odds and ends cups and bowls that the boys use for snacks and bottom one is the Little Debbie drawer. 

I know, who has a whole large drawer dedicated to Little Debbie snacks?  We do because if you know my hubby you would know that he is six foot tall and 145 pounds.  They are a staple of his diet and I can't help but wonder what he would weigh if he didn't eat them everyday.  Some have suggested that I should bake cakes etc. instead of these prepackaged, preservative filled desserts.  I do and everyone eats one serving of it and then I end up eating the rest.  That is not a good thing.  And if you ask him, Pat would tell you that he really prefers Little Debbie's.  One of hisfavorite phrases is that he likes a little polysorbate 80 in his snacks.

The top Sterlite container has three little drawers that hold the boys' candy.   I realized shortly after the boys' were born that candy comes with having children. I don't even have to buy it because they get it everywhere.  Birthday parties, school parties, happies when they are sick, as reward when they are good.  Not to mention the holidays, and I am not just talking about Halloween.  There is an appropriate candy for almost every holiday and my boys know how to find it.  We are constantly saying put it in the candy drawer.

I clean out the candy drawers every now and then.  But I always leave some in them.  This time in the midst of cleaning I decided to completely empty them because one...they had five goodie bags that I knew of floating around the house.  And two..the mountain of candy they would be getting this weekend.  So, I threw out the old stuff and the rest went into the stash to give out at the Trunk or Treat.  (Along with the three bags of candy that I bought...I am not that cheap) 

I thought about getting the goodie bags so that the drawers wouldn't be totally empty the next afternoon when they checked them out, but I was running late getting ready for work.  I decided that I could do that the next afternoon before they got home from school. 

I never thought about it again and they didn't say anything because it was Red Ribbon Week at school and guess what...to keep kids off of drugs, they give them suckers!  Surprise, surprise.

After they went to bed that night, Pat and I have about 5 or maybe 10 minutes of adult conversation without being interrupted by, "Hey Mom" or "DAAAAAD".   So what do we talk about?  The kids.  Oh the irony.  He tells me about Charlie getting up early this morning and him drawing C's all over his Trick or Treat bag.  I think he thought I would be mad.   I told him that I didn't care because they probably wouldn't make it through the weekend under the load of candy that they would be getting. 

Pat immediately started fumbling with the change in his pocket and I could read his mind...he was making sure he had plenty of nickels because every year he buys the boys' Kit Kats for a nickel apiece.  Me, I tell them that the next time they want supper I will charge them for it and they usually let me pick out a piece or two. 

Pat then says that Charlie found the candy drawers empty this morning.  I am thinking...this morning?  Are they eating candy for breakfast? 

Pat wasn't even dressed yet when Charlie came walking into our bedroom with two of the three empty drawers in his little hands. 

C: Where's the candy?

P: Oh, Mama cleaned out those drawers last night.

C: But where's the candy?

P: She put it in a bowl over there.

C: (Looking at the bowl)

P: Go ahead and get what you want.

I am surprised that the two drawers weren't still laying on the floor by the bowl when I got home that morning. 

I asked if they eat candy often for breakfast, he said no usually its a Little Debbie snack.  I was almost upset until he said, not much difference in those and pop tarts.  Right you are Daddy-o.  And I am not going to sweat the small stuff, at least he makes them brush their teeth after they get their morning sugar fix.  (They also eat breakfast at school!)  

He has been a trooper taking over the morning routine.  I am beginning to see though why the boys haven't complained. 

I hope to have some good pictures from this weekend for you on Monday.  Be safe and have fun this weekend!

Britt

Conversation with Britt after school one day this week:

Mom: How was school?

B: You're never gonna guess what happened.

M: What? (alerted by the volunteering of information)

B: This one boy said something about this other boy and he got mad.  But he thought I said it and he started chasing me.

M: What did you do?

B: RUN.  (with the inference that may as well said DUH!)

M: Where were you?

B: On the playground.  We ran two laps.

M: Wow, that's a half of a mile.  Were you running fast?

B: Faster than him.

M: How did it end?

B: Finally the boy that said it caught up with us.  I wish he could run faster.  

Man, I love this kid! 

Carving Jack-O-Lanterns and the Belt

Yesterday started off like any other day.  I got up a few minutes before the boys were due home from school and started thinking of what the day and the week held for me. 

To self: Today is...what is today?  Ah, Tuesday.  Does Britt have scouts tonight?  {check the cellphone calendar} Nope.  Okay, so tonight is free.  Tomorrow night, church.  Thursday night, technically free but one of these free nights needs to be used to get decorations ready for the Trunk or Treat at church on Friday night.  So tonight or Thursday night we need to go on the search for the Great Pumpkins and carve them. Thursday night is the night before Halloween and who wants to carve a pumpkin for just one day?  It would be like putting the Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve.  Wonder when the Charlie Brown special comes on.  {Check listings}  Tonight.  Well, we watch that or carve, but not both because I am not carving their pumpkins while they watch TV.  {Set DVR to record it}  Tonight is the night for the annual pumpkin carving!  {The boys burst through the door} 

This is how I spend my five minutes of free time before the boys get in from school.  Sad isn't it?

I tell the boys that we need to get their homework done because we have something fun to do today.  They are excited and do homework without whining or even asking for a snack.  Amazing what they will do when they think something is in it for them.  They finish their homework in record time and I tell them the game plan. 

Britt is great with it until I tell him that we are going to Walmart.  I know, I know.  Walmart is not a very festive place to gather the treasured orange gourd but I needed some other things from there.  Remember that we do not have a Target or any other option for some things.  Sad but true.  Britt hates Walmart.  Well, to be more accurate, Britt hates shopping unless it is for one thing that is for him.

Charlie is all about going to Walmart because he knows that he has birthday money to spend and is sure that we will be stopping by the toy section!  He was a little disappointed when I told him that he was not going to get another toy until he managed to find a place for pile of toys that he got at his party in his room.

They are still stacked in the living room. A little tradition that was born because frankly we have a very small house and birthdays and Christmas toys require some purging in the boys' closets and bins. This takes time so the toys seem to stay in the living room for a few days until we make space for them.  The boys look at it as a special treat to have their toys out and ready whenever they get ready to play with them.  But, I digress.

Off to Walmart.  While we are there, I decided to look for some school jeans for Charlie.  We realized when we got their winter clothes out that he only has two pair of jeans.  A couple of pair of jeans should do until I can find the time to look again or order them on-line.  Plus, he is with me today which is a bonus for finding the right size.  

We are in the boys' clothes and he is very cooperative while I am finding his size.  While I am searching for the right size in the style I want I hear this huge gasp.  Charlie said, "Mama, look."  I didn't think much about it because Charlie is the closest I will ever come to having a girl. (A bit dramatic)  

I absent-mindedly said, "What is it?"  To which he replies, "It's beautiful!"  Told ya.  A bit may have been an understatement. 

I look up to see this:  on the shelf of course.

(sorry about the picture quality, still learning this camera)

In case you don't have boys or you have boys that are not into this...this is a Transformers belt that is a blend of the two emblems of the Transformers, Autobots on the left and Decepticons on the right.  See what you learn when you're the mom of boys!  Basically, this will be the envy of all the little K5 boys at NPE tomorrow because Charlie HAD to have it. 

   

So, after adding a couple of pairs of new jeans and the coolest belt EV-AH to our stash, we headed off to the pumpkins.  The boys were surprisingly not very picky about their pumpkins this year.  I recall one year that we had to look and look for just the right one.  I have a feeling it was because Britt was tired of Walmart before we even made it to the clothes, and Charlie had the belt which far out shadowed a silly ole pumpkin any day.

That was fine with me.  They picked one out and I inspected it for bad spots and carveability.  Both passed with their first picks.  I put Charlie's in the buggy but Britt was determined that he wanted to carry his to the check out.  Who am I to deny this boy his wishes.  Besides if he dropped it in the store we could still get another one without having to brave the Walmart checkouts twice.

He carried it to the front of the store but had to set it down before we got to the checkout belt.  He has a lot to learn about Walmart.  The first rule of Walmart: There is no such thing as a quick trip to Walmart.

Even if you walk in, walk straight to your item, and walk straight to the checkout.  The checkout is designed to stall you so that you will buy beef jerky, gossip magazines, candy, Cokes and perhaps something that was As Seen on TV. 

We finally make it through and we only succumb to beef jerky and three drinks.  A relatively sucessful checkout if you ask me.

Home to do some carving! 

I get everything ready while the boys are drawing a sketch of what the want their Jack-O-Lantern faces to look like.  They were pretty true to the boys' personalities.  Charlie wanted round eyes, dimples and freckles just like him.  Britt's went with the classic look of triangles. 

Pat helped us cut them, because me with a knife trying to cut anything that is not on a hard flat surface is not really safe.  Add an excited boy right beside me and it is a recipe for a trip to the ER.

 

Then came the grossest part.  Emptying the guts as Britt called it.  He loved it and was not grossed out at all. 

 

 

 

Charlie on the other hand, was not going to stick his hand in there.  Until Pat figured out that he really thought it was guts inside.  Then he was better but still not really liking it, as you can tell from his face.

 

 

 

Britt wanted to do all of his own carving so I outlined his design for him and let him go.  With one of those non-sharp carving thingys not a knife.  My controling OCD nature cannot watch them do something like this and not want to pull it from their hands and do it myself.  Knowing this about myself, I asked Pat to supervise his first self carved pumpkin. 

 

Charlie wanted me to carve his.  He did, however, stand over me and comment on every move I made.  He has a bit of the OCD controlling nature himself.  He just hasn't developed the confidence to want to take it from me yet.  He liked his pumpkin in the end though.

 

Here is what you will find on our front porch should you come calling. 

 

 

 

Wanna see other's pumpkins?  Check out this site:

Transform and Roll Out

Charlie turned six on Saturday and nothing would do but to have a Transformers party.  He loves everything Transformers and as much as I hate doing the character themed birthday parties, I couldn't come up with anything that tempted him away from Optimus Prime et al. 

So, a Transformers party we had, with the exception of the party jumper, they didn't have a Transformer jumper so he said he wanted the birthday cake.  When it got there, he was so impressed that I got them to put six candles on the top.  Is it wrong to just let him keep thinking that?  I didn't think so.

A really beautiful day mixed with a party where EVERYONE who was invited showed up made for a great party.  (Minus some of the adults eating cake on plain white paper plates with plastic spoons.)  No one seemed to mind.

Here are some pictures from the day.  Enjoy!

 

What lady killer this one is going to be.  Who could say no to those blue eyes?

 

The voice changing mask seemed like a good idea at the store.  Now that we have worn it for a couple of days, it may have to accidentally have its batteries go dead.  He loves it though and is wearing it with his Halloween costume.  What else did you think he would be but Optimus Prime.

 

Yep, that's six candles.  Anything for you my boy!

 

Note, I am wearing my glasses like a good girl. 

 

Charlie with his great grandparents.  What a lucky boy!  And yes, I asked him to remove the hat before he came into my yard and he had the nerve to laugh at me. 

 

Remember me asking for prayers for Heidi.  This is Heidi.  She is doing remarkable well.  Still has a long road ahead, but all in all a happy, sweet little miracle.

 

You ever want to have some boys come sit in your lap?  Just sit on the ground and try to have an adult conversation.  They come to you in droves.  These are our friends, Tristan and Jenny Buffington.  Tristan is quite the Transformers buff himself.

Charlie, I love you more than I could ever tell you in words.  Happy Birthday my baby boy!  I hope you had a great day.

Tagged

by Jeanette @ Keep Me In Stitches 

Eight Things:

Eight shows I like to watch

1- Grey’s Anatomy

2- Survivor

3- Brothers and Sisters

4- How It's Made

5- Dr. G Medical Examiner

6- Catching up on reruns of Lost

7- Dirty Jobs...Gotta love some Mike!!

8- Does SEC football count?

Eight Favorite Restaurants

1- Outback

2- Ole River Steakhouse

3- Mr. Whiskers

4- Broma's Deli

5- Take out from China Palace

6- Raisin Caines

7- Backyard Burger

8- The Original Oyster House - only once a year :(

Eight Things that Happened to me Yesterday

1- I slept for a solid seven hours.

2- I helped the boys with homework.

3- I ate supper with some friends and the boys at church.

4- I gave my testimony, impromptu, for the youth group. 

5- I finished my book on tape, Good Grief by Lolly Winston.  

6- I read the boys a book on spiders!  Yuck.

7- I made phone calls to set up the Trick of Treat Hayride for the neighborhood that we are hosting.

8- I texted Charlie's teacher to clarify the Birthday cupcakes etc. for Friday in his classroom.

Eight things I’m looking forward to

1- Charlie's Birthday Party

2- Halloween Trunk or Treat at the Church

3- The Trick or Treat Hayride starting at our house

4- Thanksgiving

5- The Girlfriends Unlimited shopping trip (our women's group at church)

6- The Christmas Season, even though it is hectic

7- The weekend!

8- Getting the boys' room painted


Eight Things I Love About Fall

1- College Football (LSU)

2- Change of wardrobe

3- The cooler days, even though, no lie, I got eaten up by mosquitoes just yesterday!  Still kinda warm down here!

4- College Football

5-Pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns

6- Hayrides

7-Very little rain

8- Did I say College Football? 

Eight things on my wish list

1- A date with Pat

2- An all girls weekend with no plans

3- iPod Touch

4- A vacation

5- That the boys room would be completely decorated

6- To lose about 10 pounds.  I am working on that one, *@#~ you steroids.

7- A housekeeper

8- A time machine, not to time travel but actually make more time for fun stuff.

Eight things I’m grateful for

1- My God

2- My husband

3- My children

4- My extended family

5- Our jobs

6- Great friends

7- My church

8- Our freedom and grateful to everyone who has helped and is now helping to ensure that freedom.

I tag Andy, Barbara, Becki, and Jerilynn.

Night Shifter's Wisdom

It's inevitable.  When anyone learns for the first time that I am working nights, the first thing they say is, "Oh, I don't know how you do it." 

It really is not that bad. Here are the reasons:

1.  I am a natural night owl.  My prime time is actually late afternoon to early morning.  So night shift is just right for me. 

2. I don't have any supervisors looking over my shoulder telling me to do this or do that, most of which is their job to start with. 

3. I have a very light workload for the most part; every now and again I will have an insanely busy night.  Ask most of my friends and they will tell you that I have WAY too much time on my hands.  From the late night emails to the conversations of guess what I thought about the other night. 

4. I get to spend a lot more time with the kids than I would if I were working days.  I am home when they get off the bus and I leave for work right after they go to bed. 

5. This one is specific to my particular job, but I don't work weekends.  That is a rarity in the hospital setting.

6. They pay me extra for sitting around posting on my blog.  (I get a night shift deferential.)

7. Traffic is much better working an off shift.  There is hardly any traffic at night. In the morning, all those poor guys stuck in traffic are in the northbound lanes while we speed past them in the almost clear southbound lanes. 

So there you have it, the pros of working nights. 

While I am on the subject I thought I would share some things that I have learned while working nights:

1. Sleep is over-rated. Necessary, but over-rated. Now there are times when sleep is my best friend.  I would love to stay in bed rather than get up right when my alarm goes off, but I don't get to do that since the boys are just getting in from school.  But getting to sleep is a whole other issue.  I can think of so many things that I could be doing.  The house is quiet, the stores are open, everyone else is out and about getting things done.  Why should I sleep?  Well, because the body cannot survive on a mere three hours a day for long.  Don't ask me how I know this.

2. Coffee is good at all times of day and night.  And there is no such thing as too much coffee.  Maxine agrees with me:

   

3.  Dealing with two dates in one eight hour shift can be difficult.  Especially when some days we have to thaw plasma which then has an expiration date of 24 from thawing, hence adding a third date in the mix.  Plus, the second date that is used in a day is the same date that will be used for a couple of hours the next shift, making days seem like they last for weeks.  Some days I can only tell you the date plus or minus one. 

4.  It is a small brain teaser to add common details to stories like yesterday we did... or today I have to... To do so, you must first think about whether you are talking to a night shifter or a day shifter.  Because at 6 am, last night means the shift that you are just finishing to a day shifter or it means the previous night's work to a night shifter.  Are you confused yet?  Me too.  It is better to just steer clear of such references.  I have found "the other night" works well if time doesn't have any bearing on the story.

5.  People do not call you because they are scared you are sleeping.  I have more people tell me that.  I think I finally have my friends understanding that it is pretty much like I work days.  I am up when the boys get out of school.  Call in the late afternoon or evening.  Too bad the telemarketers never were that considerate. 

6. Sonic and Whataburger serve their entire menu all day.  That's right burgers and fries at 6am.  Sometimes you just want a real meal after a long shift.  It's technically night to me right?

7. It is not illegal to pull over and nap in your car on the exit ramp of the interstate in Mississippi.  Got that straight from a MHP who claimed he was just checking on me when his radio startled me back to conscienceness.  He said it may not be the safest place to sleep but it was not illegal.  I told him it was safer than trying to drive when you were falling asleep at the wheel.  He agreed and said have a nice day.

So there you have it.  Some night shift wisdom.  Use it well. 

For the Love of Charlie

Somewhere between childhood and pre-teen, oh I think I just showed my age, ahem, tween years we lose our love for self.  I am not sure where it goes but I have a theory that it has something to do with the train wreck of emotions, pimples, and hormonal surges that accompany puberty.

Before we blossom as young adults, we actually liked to look in the mirror.  My kids can sit on the sink gazing into their own baby blues longer than they can sit still watching Spongebob Squarepants. 

Charlie is more likely to be found primping in the mirror than Britt.  He will get out of the bath and stand in the mirror admiring himself while he combs his hair for at least fifteen minutes (usually more) until one of us tells him to get a move on. 

Before I tell you the latest story on Charlie, I have to say that he also loves others as much as he loves himself.  Charlie is one of the most loving, giving children I know and I don't just say that because he is mine.  Trust me, I have one that is not a giver!  I know the signs.

So here's the story: 

Monday morning I had an appointment so I was late getting to bed and thus late getting up.  Pat said that he would come home in time to meet the boys from the bus so I could sleep in.  They don't call him Sweet Pat for nothing. Anyway, I didn't have to do homework, etc. because Sweet Pat had already fought that battle and was victorious. 

I walked out of my bedroom to find Pat searching through the desk with Charlie standing beside him holding a stack of notebook papers.  So I ask him what he is searching for, and he says a stapler.  I sheepishly retrieve the stapler from my scrapbooking supplies.  He gives me the I knew I left it where it belongs look, and duck my head and slowly back away toward the coffee pot.

Meanwhile, they are stapling away on the stack of papers Charlie was holding.  When they are finished, he comes over to me and says look what I made.  He hands me the newly stapled "book" he had written that very afternoon.  I tell him to crawl onto my lap and read it to me. 

He holds it up so proudly and reads the title to me:  Happy Birthday to You Charlie  By: Charlie. (Because as every aspiring writer knows, the by-line is the most important part of any good piece.)  I almost started laughing outloud but I managed to stifle it just in time.  Instead, with a HUGE smile I say, "What a great title."

He opens it up and tells me every detail of eight or ten drawings.  They were all birthday cakes with a different transformer on top looking more like a bride and groom sitting on a three tiered wedding cake.  I think this boy may be disappointed in his little ole birthday cake Saturday.  At the very end he drew the word DONE five times.  A almost six year old's translation of The End. 

It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  I know that you wish you could see it but to tell you the truth, I just didn't feel like dragging out the scanner.  Oh, to be completely honest, I don't know where it is. 

It has gotten me thinking about how I feel about myself.  I wish that I could love my self enough to spend at least an hour doing something special just for me.  Not because it is the "in" thing to do but because I actually deserve it.  Because I am good enough, I am smart enough, and dog gone-it people like me.  And I don't think I half bad either!

P.S. It is a first.  I just spell checked this post and it didn't find any errors!  Maybe studying Britt's spelling words with him is paying off for both of us.

Good things come by mail...

Sometimes life can just get to you.  I have been having one of those weeks where nothing is really wrong but nothing is really right either.  I guess I have been a little down.  No reason, just down.  It seems to be a common theme lately.  Lots of people have said the same thing on their blogs lately.  Must be something in the air.  Maybe the ragweed.

When I got up this afternoon, there was a package on the couch for me from my sister.  There's no special occasion and she usually addresses the boys' packages to them.  Wonder what's up?  I can't wait to see what's in it.

Now, I must go on an aside here.  There is something so exciting about getting a package in the mail.  Even if you know what it is, like your new nikeID shoes, it is still just exciting because you haven't actually seen it in person.  To hold it in your hands is much more exciting than browsing pictures on the internet.  I have been a sucker for a package in the mail since my grandmother used to send me care packages all the way from Brookhaven, Mississippi.  (About 30 miles from where we lived)  She would wrap up a match box and inside would be such treasures as a band aid, a stick or two of juicy fruit gum, and usually a dollar.  It came addressed to me, not c/o my parents, just me.  It was something to get excited about. I have never lost that enthusiasm for packages in the mail.

So back to my current package.  I am trying to open it all the while thinking, I bet it is something Halloween.  We both have an affinity for Halloween. When I finally get it open this is what I see:

 

Notebooks and journals.  Perfect!  In case you don't know me very well...I LOVE notebooks.  Cute ones like the one with the buttons all over it, or like the blue leather journal.  Clean crisp new notebooks and journals...there is nothing better.  And as an added bonus she included a very sweet note along with them.  It has done wonders for my mood! 

Just in case you couldn't figure this out it, I have the COOLEST sister anyone could ever have!  Thanks Becki, it made my day, if not my week. 

Sassy Scrappers

I still am not sure about that name.  Oh well.

Here is a picture of the page kit so far.  I have not added my picture or pitures but you can see the pocket that we will be making and get an idea of what it will be like.  So, get to collecting items of rest!   See you Friday.

Nieman!

I grew up in a house that spoke it's own language.  I remember my mom talking to the dogs like they were human, and some of the things that she said over and over I find myself saying to my pets, if not my boys.  We also had several phrases that were used regularly.  Whether it was a quote from a movie or more likely a television show, or something silly that one of us said that just stuck, these phrases stay with you for life.

Our household speaks its own language as well.  Pat and I have always been a fan of one liners from movies and TV.  One of our all time most quoted shows is Seinfeld.  Why?  Because it had a lot of great lines such as "Get out!" (complete with the shove) and "Newman!"  Short and sweet little phrases that somehow connect us as a couple.  The most quoted movie in our house I would have to say is Forest Gump.  Great lines like "That boy shor is a runnin' fool" have even been more applicable now that we have kids.  "Stupid is as stupid does" has so many different uses and can be adapted to many different sayings.  For example, "Crazy is as crazy does" mostly used in reference to my family, no offense y'all.  I don't think that my sister will be offended since that is what she named her blog.

Now that the boys are old enough to ask what they mean, we have started adding to our reportior.  Charlie gets this and has been known to quote Spongebob on a regular basis.  It wasn't until this summer that he realized that tartar sauce was actually a real thing.  He thought it was just something you said when you were mad.  Which is much better than "What the..."  with nothing behind it mind you but it still just isn't something you want you five year old saying.  And by the way he picked that one up at school.  Nice, huh?

So lately, Pat has been trying something new.  Since Charlie is the one who really gets this concept and he is also my child who has nothing but smiley faces in school this year, Pat decided that he could mess with him a little.  He has started telling Charlie that instead of "Tartar Sauce" or "Newman"  he should say "Nieman" as in Beckie Nieman, his teacher.  Then Pat tells him that if he gets really mad he should look at her and say her whole name without even saying Mrs. 

Charlie is skeptical as he should be.  He questions Pat about it and much to his dad's dismay, he doesn't fall for it.  He said that he would get in trouble.  Smart boy. 

Pat doesn't give up that easy.  He has started saying it himself in hopes that it will subconsciously stick with Charlie who will one day let fly in class.  And by the way, if it ever does happen I don't think he will be in much trouble because Mrs. Nieman is so cool that she would totally get it.  So, I am caught in between a smart boy who doesn't want to get in trouble and a man who walks around the house saying another woman's name in a vain attempt to get his near perfect student in trouble. 

I only have one thing to say to that, "Stupid is as stupid does."