In spite of my intentions, I’m defaulting again to somebody else’s videos rather than our own.  Our planned videos were too planned (I promise we’re not that boring in real life), and spontaneous ones are understandably difficult to plan.  If we come up with a good one, I’ll be happy to share.

In the meantime, I have a feeling you’ll enjoy the YouTube sensation known as Julian Smith.  If you haven’t already met him, you’re in for a treat.  We haven’t actually met him either but he makes us laugh regularly.  This guy’s videos have literally millions of views, but believe it or not we have a 2nd degree connection to Julian.  He went to high school with my husband’s youngest brother, who is getting married in a couple of weeks.  Hey, I wonder if Julian will be at the wedding?

I haven’t watched all of his videos, but the worst I’ve seen so far is some mild potty humor and a little implied violence.  When I say implied violence, this one comes to mind:

Natalie and Becca brought down the house when they did their own version of this skit for our church’s talent show a few months ago:

His sense of humor is so obvious yet off-the-wall.

Some phrases from Julian’s videos have become a part of our household culture already. That’s an honor usually reserved for Disney, etc.

I thought this one was great, but Perry was slightly less amused. Maybe it struck a little to close to home? Just sayin’.

Have you seen other videos by Julian Smith? Which is your favorite?

Recent news in the Shoe: this sweet little gal joined the menagerie.

She is Lydia’s new albino leopard gecko.  She was a little prone to bite when she arrived but tamed very quickly.  Now when you pet her, she closes her eyes and arches her back just like a cat.

Did you know Megamind lived with us?

Parker’s hair was getting much too long so we gave him the traditional southern summer buzz a couple of weeks ago, and now his big head looks even bigger.  A guest in our home was overheard to say, “Look, his face is so small!”  We shook our heads.  If we hadn’t been eavesdropping, we would have replied by pointing out that his big ole noggin’ just made his face look small.  I don’t remember the size of his head at birth, but I’m sure it was impressive.

More of the ways that google searchers found Life in a Shoe:

• my phone is smarter than me – I hope you have a smartphone.  If you do, we all understand and have often felt the same way.  If you don’t…well…maybe you could switch to an old rotary phone?
• how to fit two kids in one tiny bedroom – Wait a second.  Just how small is this bedroom?  I have seen 5 or 6 kids hide in a closet during a game of hide and seek, and it wasn’t even walk-in.
• how to fold a prefold diaper - pssst!  If it’s prefolded, you don’t have to fold it.
• super mega ultra lightning babe – Yup, that’s me.  Did you have a question?
  
• bean burrito pregnancy – I never knew bean burritos got pregnant.  I wonder how long the gestation period is?
• kid soups stew chowder – I’m pretty sure I’ve never blogged about cannibalism.
• sitting in the pulpit rules – I can think of 2 rules: 1) Always sit in the front row so your kids will behave because the pastor is looking straight at them.  2) Never sit in the front row, because your pastor will be so distracted by your misbehaving children he will be forced to correct them by name during the sermon.
• too much mustard – You want too much mustard?  I’ll show you too much mustard.  But let me warn you: it’s saucy.

Why so serious?

Last time I shared search terms that brought visitors to Life in a Shoe, we all had a good laugh.  This one was a lot of fun too. A good joke is never as good the third time, but I’ll give it a shot anyway.  Maybe we’ll find some new jokes.

Here are a few of the search terms that I found in my stats this week:

promo code fro – I do post coupons and deals as I come across them but I don’t have any codes to save on your new ‘do, and besides: ‘fros are out.  My father-in-law got a big permed ‘fro in the 70′s, and still hasn’t lived it down.

big family small hourse – Did she mean small horse? Just make sure you take turns riding the little guy.  Don’t try to pile the whole family on at once and you should do fine.  Maybe she meant hoarse. I do get a little hoarse from yelling over the commotion sometimes, but that’s mostly because Megan likes to play swing music so loud while she does dishes.

she said i was a silly moo – Well, are you a silly moo?  What do you want me to do about it?

smoked hemlock - you too, huh?

ergo babydrager review - A baby dragger sounds a little uncomfortable for the baby and hard on the mom.  Wouldn’t you rather consider Ergo’s baby carrier?

where to live in phoenix where scorpions are not around – I’m pretty sure you answered your own question: Q: Where to live in Phoenix?  A: Where scorpions are not around.  Problem solved.

??????? 3 ????? – ummm…

where to charge the ac on a 1992 ford van – I’d say anywhere it’s hot.  We do ours in Texas, but you can do it in Arizona, California, Florida…

wasp nest in car - I’ve had a wasp in the car, but never a whole nest.  Somebody is obviously having a bad day.

shoe with live tarantula – If you didn’t find one, I have 2 live tarantulas in my little Shoe on the web.

what’s that bug that comes out when you pop a blister – Great.  I don’t know, but it probably lives in Texas like every other horrible nightmarish bug in creation.

why are there so many scorpions in my house? – Do you live in Texas by any chance?

lfe in a soe – Life in a State Owned Enterprise?  Would that be like life in the public school system?

maharashtrian monthly grocery list – I’ve sometimes wondered if I come across as a know-it-all, but honestly?  Google thinks I have the answer to this?

how much do you have to pay at cbd for f – I don’t know, but on Wheel of Fortune, you only have to pay for vowels.  They pay you for consonants.

how do u speak in binary – Speaking binary to children could be frustrating.  ”Hurry, we need to leave in 1010 minutes!”  ”You’re the 1000th person to ask me that question today, and I am not exaggerating!”  Also, we would have to change the name of our blog: Live in a Shoe: the methods and madness of one family of 1100.

Our blog has never brought in an impressive amount of search engine traffic (can anybody tell me why?) but the search terms that do bring visitors are always good for a few chuckles.

Here are a few that caught my eye when I reviewed my stats just now while working on another project:

How to fit a family of 7 in 2000 square feet – Really?  Maybe that was a typo: How to find a family of 7 in 2000 square feet, because I’m telling ya: we would be lost in that much space!

How to fit 6 people in a 3 bedroom house – I read this aloud and my kids stared blankly at me.  ”Um…2 in each room? Someone really needed Google to tell them that?”

monthly grocery list for 300 – And I thought shopping once a month was a big job back when there were only 9 of us…

llama, llama red pajama activities – I’d really like to know what Google was thinking.  I’m reasonably sure I have never owned or blogged about red pajamas or llamas or any combination thereof or activities therein.

entertaining guests in small homes space - Well, acrobatics are out, but tap dancing or a mime act works well in a small space.

whyred ina shoe – whuuu?

quizno coupons – Me?  I rank for Quiznos coupons???   Thanks, Google!  click here! click here! (I get paid if you do.  How much?  Here’s a clue: if 8 or 10 of you print coupons, I’m off to Quiznos!)

labeling shelves in panrty – For starters I recommend avoiding typos, because that would drive me nuts on a label every time I lookd at it.  Also, I have to assume that I spelled pantry that way at least once since Google saw fit to send the searcher my way.

how to take out a toilet tank – would you believe that post sends me more search engine traffic than any other single post on my whole blog?  I’m in the top 10 on Google for how to remove your toilet tank, or nearly any other way of asking the question.

swelling during pregnancy indicates boy – Really?  Because my belly *always* swells.  I thought swelling during pregnancy indicated pregnancy.

swollten ankles pregnant boy or girl? – So far, every person I’ve met who experienced swollen ankles during pregnancy was a girl.

And all that was just in the last 2 days.  Who thinks I should do this more often?  What brings visitors to your blog?