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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
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Dear Reader,
A llama has moved into my neighborhood. Actually it's taken up residence in my yard. To be more precise, it's living on top of my carriage house. (My home was built in 1926 along with the carriage house.) Yep, a smiling llama beaming with joy (obviously happy with his new digs), is standing tall on the roof of my carriage house this very minute. His smile is infectious. Eventually, I may even invite him into my home. The (Dali) llama (my son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren named him) doesn't have much of an appetite and he'd be an easy houseguest to move from one room to another when I'm vacuuming, because he's on wheels.
My grown son is a talented practical jokester. He's not a planner, his funnies are spur-of-the-moment ideas. Like yesterday when he was driving by a school, instead of seeing a llama sitting at the curb, waiting for trash day, my son envisioned the llama sitting on top of my carriage house. How he managed to haul that llama up to the top of the carriage house, I'm not sure. The (Dali) llama made out of paper mache and wood, is life size and heavy--not to mention the wheels. No doubt about it, the joke was hilarious and I was laughing. But now, like when my son filled my yard with pink flamingos and I didn't want to give them back to the man when he came to retrieve them, I've fallen in love with the llama. I may even put a collar and leash on my (Dali) llama and walk (roll) him around the neighborhood. (Craziness runs in our family.)
The most memorable practical joke my son ever pulled off was on the day of my mother's funeral. Our family had been staying with my mother's husband, Ron. Six people together in a small house, getting ready for a funeral, I know Ron appreciated the company, but I know we drove him a little crazy, too. Especially my grown son's bad habit of leaving half-filled water bottles around the house. Personally it drives me nuts, because you don't know whose bottle it is, so you have to dump it out. But in the midst of a funeral, half-filled water bottles didn't seem all that important.
Surrounded by friends and family at the reception, Ron knew eventually we'd have to say good-bye, and I could see it in his eyes that he was a little nervous about going home and walking into an empty house. But thanks to my son, Ron didn't have to.
We said our good-byes at the reception and an hour later, as we were driving to the airport, our cell phone rang and it was Ron, laughing hysterically--at least for a few minutes. Unbeknownst to my husband and me, our son had left the reception earlier in the day, snuck into Ron's house, took all 47 water bottles out of the recycle bin, filled them half-full of water, and strategically placed them in every room of the house.
To see my llama and to enter today's drawing for a Crazy Message Practical Jokes Calculator, go to: http://tinyurl.com/llamajoke
Warmest regards,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE MARTYRED by Richard E. Kim. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/January12Classics
AUTHORBUZZ: THE HURRICANE LOVER (Fiction) by Joni Rodgers
During the record-smashing hurricane season of 2005, Shay Hoovestahl, a puff piece reporter, stumbles on the story of a con artist using chaos as cover for murder. She enlists the help of Dr. Corbin Thibodeaux, and a deadly game of cat and mouse unfolds amidst polarizing politics and high-strung Southern families.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader Click on the book to read more. Author Joni Rodgers would love to hear from you.
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