Monday, January 31, 2011

Spring Teaser


What is going on with the weather? We had 70 degree temperatures here. At the end of January. That sky is not a cold winter sky. It is a warm Spring sky.  I'm beginning to wonder exactly what wardrobe I should have in my closet...
Bulky sweaters, jeans and socks
OR
Shorts, T-shirts and flip flops?

I'm so confused.

Here's a cute puppy to look at.



Feel better? I do.
Because the temperatures were so unseasonably warm, we felt obligated to be outside.
We broke out all the great stuff of soon-to-be springtime...


My guy washed his car.  And yes, it did rain the next day (heh heh heh...)
 Look in the background...WE ARE GETTING NEW NEIGHBORS! It's only been, like, forever since we've had neighbors on that side.  They are super nice and we're so excited! I'll introduce them later.  Don't want to scare them off with the crazy lady and the camera bit.


Soccer AND biking in the same day?  Just look at the expression on my oldest's face (the one at the top). It's one of sheer joy and love for her parents, I tell you.  She was really enjoying her time outside. (NOT!)
She's a reader, that one, and her parents would like her to be a little more active in the literal sense of the word instead of just reading about other people being active. 

Moving on...

We  even broke out the golf cart after a looooong winter's nap.  Hmmm...would newbie puppy like the cart?


That's a yawn, folks.  She was less than impressed.  She actually slept on our little journey.


We've got a 3 seater cart.
6 people can ride our cart, maybe more if they're small light people.
Not 6 people like me.
I ate too many of these....


And because of my added girth, our cart almost died on the way to my parents' house.

I wasn't the only reason for the golf cart losing juice...but I'm sure I wasn't helping matters at all!

Time to make use of the good weather and get my girth down a notch or two.

See ya'll tomorrow.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Pebble Friends

The last year has been a hard one in my circle of friends and acquaintances.  With them, whether deeply involved or just knowing from the sidelines of this crazy little town I live in, I've experienced the death of a child,  cancer treatment for husbands, death of pets, cancer diagnosis for a child, death of a husband and the possible, if not probable, deployment of a husband to a war zone.

Lots of dark stuff for a town the size of mine.

Lots of heavy stuff for the relatively small circle of friends I have.


But you know how a pebble in a pond causes ripples that go out? That is how my circle of friends is.  I have very few close pebble friends.  Farther out are the preschool family friends.  Then come the elementary family friends, middle school family friends, neighbors, friends of friends you meet at parties, etc etc.

Those concentric circles bring people into our lives at different times, offering glimpses of the burdens others carry and providing you the opportunity to look at your own life and appreciate the things that are in it- even if those things drive you crazy. (Can you say never-ending-laundry-pile?)

My pebble friends and I talk just about every day and each conversation always starts the same:
 How are you doing? I'm fine.  What'shername is about to drive me up a wall because they aren't doing what I asked them to do...blah blah blah


But lately those talks have inevitably turned to more serious talks.  Talks about life and death.  How life is going by  and that we can't believe we are where we are right now.

That is the point of this post.  I've had lots of thoughts about what I thought my life would look like and what it actually looks like.

Here's what I've found.

I figured I'd be a super duper mom.  Heck, I babysat all through high school, was a nanny in college and taught elementary school.  Wouldn't you think that those would be the trifecta for "Good Mommy"?  Well, let me be the first to bust that bubble.  I have so much more patience with other people's kids.  My own children, however sweet they may sometimes be, can push every button I have.   The stuff that has touched my life these past few months has made me want to be better and work on having more patience.  Let's hope the Good Lord can help me with this.

I always thought I'd work outside my home.  When I was teaching, I had friends who were SAHMs and I asked them what they did all day.  (First, how rude does that sound? But I was genuinely curious.)
Turns out I work twice as hard at home as I did when I worked as a teacher.  Who knows why.  Maybe it is because I don't have a set schedule.  Maybe I'm lazier (that is a distinct possibility) or maybe it is because I want my house to look like something out of  a magazine. Who knows. What I do know is that I need to get the silly stuff done so I can have more fun with my family.  So if the dust is on my furniture, I need to learn to let that go.  Won't be easy for me, Type A Queen, but I'm actively trying to relax a bit.

I never thought I'd be this old.  And it doesn't matter what age you are.  You know what I'm talking about.  It's that age that you and your friends talked about when you were 18 or 21 or whatever.  You'd be in high school or college, chatting with friends about what you'd be doing when you would be THAT age.  I can't remember what THAT age was for me, but I'm sure it is close to where I am now.  (I'm 39. Thanks for asking.)  I guess I can't believe I'm the age I am because I don't feel older.  I know I look older.  I know I'm not the late night person I once was.
Wait, who am I kidding. I was never a late night person!  But you get the idea.  My friends and I don't feel the age we are.  We are just us and that's good.

So on this Friday before the glorious weekend, let's get the boring stuff out of the way.  Let's not act our age.  Let's appreciate our health.  Let's hug our families a little tighter and say a prayer for those who are struggling with family issues of their own.  Let's NOT dust the house and instead run around outside.
Let's have an  adult beverage and toast our fortunate lives.  Because it is awesome to be whatever age we are wherever we are.

And to my sweet pebble friends---I'm so glad you're both a phone call away.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Post-Op Chicken and Dumplings

I'm doing my first remote blog entry!  And I must stay I feel oh-so-tech-savvy to be sitting here typing this somewhere other than my house.   For that reason, there aren't many pictures.  I think the others around me wouldn't appreciate me taking pictures of them at o'dark thirty in the morning. Plus I think they'd be  calling security on the crazy picture lady.

I'm at the hospital waiting for my husband who is having an out-patient procedure today.  Nothing serious. Nothing scary - at least, not scary to me....although it is a bit odd to be on this side of the patient/caregiver scenario.

I've had 3 kids and  a few out-patient procedures of my own so I'm used to being the one in the bed.  Being the one sitting out here, not knowing exactly what is going on is odd and bothers my Type A sensibilities.

I've noticed a few things out here in Waiting Room World.

People here give the "hey, how are you doing today" nod and look, but don't say anything.

Everyone tries to look busy. (Wait, just like me? Typing away on my computer trying to look like what I'm typing is really important? Nah. I'm just some sort of southern belle trying to use my time wisely. Plus typing uses less battery power on my computer than watching an NCIS dvd.)


People can be really noisy doing nothing.

Evidently, many family reunions/class reunions/neighbor reunions take place in Waiting Room World, though I'm experiencing

The nurse at the check-in desk has no problem shouting out each patients name as they check in.  I believe she feels it is her duty to let all of  Waiting Room World know what ailments each new citizen has.

Did you know they have beepers for Out Patient procedures?  I have a beeper that is good all over the hospital.  It should beep when my guy is done with his thing.  My question is where, besides the bathroom, am I going to go while my guy is being worked on?

My guy will have pretty much one day of not feeling his best.  The doctor said that by tomorrow he should be back to almost 100%.  This is great news!   My job today is to find ways for my guy to be as comfortable as he can be.  If I could reference my own experience with pharmaceuticals, I hope he gets some good ones!

Since he will have had anesthesia, the doctors and nurses said he shouldn't go out and eat a 5 course meal right away.  What they don't know is that I already knew that and have planned ahead! Finally, something my Type A-ness is good for!


We are going to have chicken and dumplings for dinner and I'd love to share the recipe with you.  Mind you, it is NOT the gourmet version.  There are no veggies in this soup/stew/dumpling concoction.  What it does have is the basic good stuff that makes everyone feel better on a wet, cold, January night.

Here we go.

You'll need chicken, some celery and onion, salt and pepper, milk, Bisquik and a little bit of corn starch.
Really. That is it. (You're loving me already for this super simple recipe, right?)


Put the chicken, celery, onion,  and some salt and pepper in a large pot.  Cover with water.


 Please ignore the absence of celery.  I had none, but I had carrots and they are in there. Promise.

Turn the heat up to med-high and poach the chicken.  This should take about 20-30 minutes.  Maybe not that long, but I let it cook for a bit so the broth gets good and chicken-y.

Take out the chicken, celery and onion.  Shred the chicken.  Use your fingers, forks, whatever you like. You can throw away the celery and onion.  Do NOT throw out the broth.

In a small bowl or cup, mix together 2-3 tablespoons of corn starch and water.

Meanwhile,  get the broth up to a boil.

Add the milk/cornstarch.  You may want to press it through a strainer to get the lumps out.  This will help thicken the broth.  Stir constantly and wait for the broth to thicken a bit.  If it doesn't get thicker, just add more cornstarch/milk 1-2 tablespoons at at time.  I add a little bit of salt and pepper (to taste) at this point.



Once the broth is thick, put the chicken back in the broth.

Make the dumplings following the directions on the Bisquick box. (I know! How easy!)


Drop the dumplings in the hot broth and cover for 10 minutes.



Voila!  Basic Chicken and Dumplings!


These are at the halfway point of cooking.  I had to leave to take the Oldest to volleyball camp and, well, you know, I wanted to get a picture.  Forgive the uncooked dumplings.  Thank you!

I don't have any veggies in mine, but I've seen recipes that have carrots and such in it.  That looks fantastic--If you want to try that, either find those recipes OR add the sliced carrots to the broth after you've taken the chicken out to shred.  That should give them enough time to cook a bit.

What do you cook on days you just want to feel better?

Monday, January 24, 2011

Boot Camp Aftermath

I used to be a gym rat.  5AM workouts, hours of cardio and weight training.

Then little man came along and I've not been the same since.

That was *gasp* 4 years ago and I'm finally gotten my gym mojo back.

To jump start my new found fitness routine, I went to an Operation Boot Camp class with a friend. It was a free session, no commitment and I knew at least one person. Plus it was early in the morning, which I really liked. 


I show up at o'dark thirty and participate in a fun class of running, push-ups, squats, variations of push-ups, sit ups and any number of things that require only your body weight for resistance. It was hard, but fun and if there is an OBC in your area, I'd highly recommend it. 


I did another boot camp class this past Friday with my OBFF (Other Best Friend Forever...thanks K!) and it was more of a rotation class.  Fun without being boring and again, a really good workout.


The problem is that I'm 4 years older and have had pretty severe back issues.  My doctor told me to nix the running and stick to biking or the elliptical.  


Phooey.  I can run. I can do all that stuff. 


Welcome to the "second day sore".  


My back aches so much I'm hunched over.  Think Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I know, attractive, right? Plus it makes me feel old, old, OLD and I'm NOT OLD!!!


Enter modern pharmaceuticals. God Bless drugs.  Well, God bless the legal drugs that are prescribed by doctors for the treatment of whatever ails you. That was a good disclaimer, right?


I take said pharmaceutical and feel oh so much better. 


The messy house didn't bother me. 


The bickering kids didn't bother me.


The not-potty-trained-yet puppy didn't bother me- even after 2 mistakes in the house after we'd taken her out for the express purpose of NOT having mistakes in the house. 


I decide to hit the grocery store for some lunch supplies for the week.  


Sunday evening at the grocery store didn't even bother me...with all the people there on "dates", those strolling the cereal isle at a snail's pace or the people who have 5,421 coupons and are stopped in the middle of the isle organizing their coupons.  


Nope. I was good. 


I was so good that I think I saw two famous people in our grocery store. 







Ben Stiller at the movie rental box thingy by the door and Sig Hansen (from Deadliest Catch) bagging groceries.

I should have brought my camera....or maybe it was the pharmaceuticals.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Thank You. Thank You Very Much.

The lost art of the Thank You note.  It may bring up memories of you and your mother sitting at the table/desk/counter with her pestering you to "hurry up and write your Great Aunt So-And-So and remember to tell her how much you enjoy using the such-and-such" when in fact you can't remember exactly what that such-and-such was  in the first place and you'd have been better off with some underwear.
Phew.

Here in the South, we pride ourselves as a beacon of civility.  THE Good Manners capital of the United States, if you will.  Even if you're not in the South, when someone asks where the polite people live, I'm sure your thoughts drift toward our neck of the woods.

Which brings me to my point. Thank You notes have fallen by the wayside everywhere...even here in the deep South.  My heavens.  This IS a tragedy and I'm doing my best to resurrect the lost art of Thank You note writing with my children.  (Mom- if you're reading this, H is working on hers. You should get it before July 4th.)


My oldest is in Cotillion. Have I told you that? It's like Finishing School for 6th grade boys and girls in our area.  The girls wear dresses and gloves. The boys wear coats and ties.  Once a month they meet for their classes and they're called "Dances".  They are learning how to be young ladies and gentlemen.  Last week's lesson was on Thank You notes.  My oldest is working on hers right now and I love it.

A handwritten Thank You note is special.


I'm not talking about the fill-in-the-blank kind you get at party stores.  I'm talking about the special cards that may or may not have lines where your child can get used to showing gratitude for someone who went out of their way to do or give something to them.  It's special.

I figured in this crazy electronic age full of evites, texts and email that I could offer up some suggestions for your younger family members when it comes to writing a note of thanks.


First, start out with Dear (fill in the name).  Use Mr. or Mrs. where appropriate and start it on the top of the lower portion of a top fold- card or the right hand side of a side-fold card.

Thank the giver specificially for the gift.

Next add a sentence or two about how the gift will be used or enjoyed.

Thank the giver once more for remembering the special occasion.

Closing and signature.

I know we all want best handwriting with this. I mean, who wants to read chicken scratch?
Hey you, 6th grade kid of mine, are you using your neatest handwriting? I'm taking your picture to publish. Wouldn't want to embarass you or anything with messy handwriting!



Moms- it is a pain, it is time consuming, it can cause wailing and gnashing of teeth.  BUT the person who receives the note will feel appreciated and your child will be learning a valuable lesson about gratitude.

Hope this didn't come across as "preachy"!  It was on my mind this cold Saturday afternoon and I thought I'd share.

Also, I'm NOT Emily Post by a long shot.  The suggestions I gave are from my years teaching writing to elementary age kiddos.

I hope you find them useful!



Thank you.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Raise Your Hand

I've had a Mom Moment. 

In an effort to feed my children wholesome food, I've got my dinner menu for the week.

Tonight is Pecan Crusted Chicken from the Tasty Kitchen Blog.

Those got prepped and ready to go.


Be amazed and impressed with my high-tech refrigeration system.  Lucky for me it is pretty chilly here and I can make use of my back porch since my fridge is stuffed to the brim with jars and such that are, by now, science experiments.

After shuttling one child to their activity, coming home, dropping one off and picking another up, I finally get home for an extended period of time and get it in my head to bake something sweet.

Actually, I wanted some chocolate.  Perfect excuse to make a cake.

I decided to branch out from The Pioneer Woman's tried and true Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever .  I'd found a recipe for homemade Ding Dongs.  I love Ding Dongs.  Growing up we didn't get them that often. When we did it was all I could do not to eat the whole box in one sitting.

Now that I'm an adult and buy my own groceries, I could have just bought a box and eaten them myself. But that would have been too easy.

I decide I could whip out that Ding Dong cake in the 1 1/2 hours I had between activities.  No problem.


Houston, we have a problem.

This cake took up 3 bowls. THREE.  It required me to melt chocolate in coffee.

I don't drink coffee, so I had to MAKE coffee.

Mix the eggs and oil till they double in volume... alternate wet and dry ingredients...that was no biggie, but the batter was so runny that this is what happened...


I chose not to show you the floor.  My sous chef, Piper the 8 week old puppy, thoroughly enjoyed the drips and splatters from the mixer.  What a mess.  Everything was a mess.


Here is a horrible picture of the finished product, minus the tasting pieces we all had.

The overall consensus is that the Pioneer Woman knew what she was talking about when she said her cake was the best ever.  It is.

So raise your hand if you've tried something in a pinch and it turns out to be exactly NOT what you wanted. Raise them high.

Let's make a pact...Here's to sticking with the tried and true.  Let's save the experiments for the weekend.

Amen.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Culture On Holiday

Cabin fever is not my friend.  It is not the friend of my children either. We become cranky, agitated, mean-spirited and just plain ugly.

So you can imagine my sheer and utter delight when I stumbled upon the web flyer for the Lippizzaner Stallions show that was in my area this past weekend! Joy Joy Joy!

I saw the Lippizzaner Stallions when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade.  My grandparents were with us.  I remember we sat pretty close to the front of the arena.

I remember beautiful white horses that danced instead of walking and that jumped like ballerinas.

I remember my grandmother saying it was the prettiest thing she'd ever seen.




In addition to being beautiful, the Lippizzaner Stallions have an amazing survival story from World War II that includes General George S. Patton, the Russians, some American servicemen who had to guard the horses and on and on and on.  You can read about them here at their site. 


They were bread for battle and every one of their moves was for  a purpose--be it to knock an opposing rider off his horse or to knock an opposing rider's horse out from under him.


I'm impressing you with my action shots. I can tell.

Tradition holds that having a black/dark horse in the stable with the white Lippizzaners was good luck, so each stable tried to have one.  This group travels with a dark horse, so to speak, who is NOT a Lippizzaner, but is some other kind of beautiful horse.  His nickname is Elvis and he danced- yes, danced- to swing music. It was fantastic!


This latest cultural outing was a success.  I'm already planning another.

Monster Jam 2011 is coming to my town in February.  We are SO there.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Misguided

My two closest friends commented to me (at separate times) that they liked the new banner on the blog.

Of course, I was flattered, since I spent the majority of my New Year's Eve working on it while watching the ball drop on TV.

I suppose it shouldn't have taken me THAT long to do my banner...it isn't that complicated a task.  I think I'm just a slow learner/worker.  Hmmm....so if you're good at stuff like online design, don't be a hater for me being in the preschool class of blog header design. Thank you very much.


Anyway, both of these friends told me the header made me look like a world traveler.  HA! Me? A world traveler? How cool does that sound?

Full disclosure, I have been to lots of places with my parents growing up and with my husband, but the funny thing is that three of the 5 pictures were taken last summer on our family vacation. The other two were from a whirlwind trip to Paris (3 days total...NOT enough time to see lots, but enough to walk blisters on our feet) and an ill-fated anniversary trip to the Keys.  That one lasted exactly one night- not even 24 hours because a hurricane was bearing down on Florida and we had to high-tail it out of there!

How do you pick pictures for backgrounds or collages?  If you have a blog, how do you pick the pictures for your header, if you have one?  My deciding factor was color.  I had a bunch of pictures I was playing with--pictures of the house, my kiddos, Southern stuff--but they looked blah.  I wanted things that were different in color.  The result you see is what I put together while watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest and Whoever Else Is Popular At The Moment.

Now you have insight into my thought process.

Scary, huh?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Big Plans

My daughter's birthday is in March. If your children are anything like mine, they start planning their birthday parties the minute the last one is done.


This was last year's party and it was GREAT...meaning it took place AWAY from  my house (no mess to clean up), it hadn't been done with her friends or us before, both boys and girls had a good time and the "goody bag" was a shirt from the facility. How super awesome is that? I just showed up with a cake and voila! Party!

And BONUS- we asked guests to bring a bag of dog food instead of a gift.  That way Daughter didn't get a bunch of stuff she really didn't want or need.  Later that week we dropped the food off at a shelter in our city. The HUGE payoff was that we all had fun, there was  no "present pressure" for parents and when we dropped the food off, they let us go back and say hi to all the sweet animals up for adoption.
SCORE ONE FOR MOM!

But since I've started blog-stalking, I've come across so many people who are amazingly creative when it comes to party planning.

It has me really thinking about the idea Daughter has come up with-- Mad Scientist party.

Fun, huh? I think so. Plus, we won't be committing a birthday faux pas of "repeat theme".
(Don't laugh at that---those with kids will agree that repeating a party theme can seem a little lame and can cause Mom to feel as though she's somehow less of a creative mom...or maybe that's just me.)

Even though I've got a few months till the party date, I've found some cute blogs with great ideas.

I'm  ready to order some lab coats and get my creative-former-elementary-school-teacher-juices flowing for some snazzy homemade invitations like these...

from partyplanningmom.blogspot.com


And for sure we'll have cake or cupcakes. But I really want to have a super cute food table like 

photo from celebrationsathomeblog.com

I just love the owls.  They won't be making an appearance at Daughter's party, but you get the idea--themed backdrop, themed snacks, theme theme theme! I think that is the secret...make it all go together and if it doesn't, re-brand it so that it does fit.  

That last part may be  hard for me since I'm a "live inside the lines" kind of girl.  Lucky for me I am married to an "outside the lines" kind of guy and I've surrounded myself with other "outside the lines" people.  

It does take a village, y'all. 

What kind of at-home parties have you thrown? Are there other blogs you've found that have cute party ideas? I'm always looking for great ideas, so share with me so I can be a copy-cat! (In the nicest possible way.....)


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Ice Ice Baby

I'm hoping I song bombed you with my title. It brings me back to sorority days, lip sync parties and really really bad early '90's music.  In a word, AWESOME!

But the title actually catches you up on our goings-on for the last few days.  Sorry to have been so slack in posting but we've had some excitement here in our corner of the South.

First, we pack up and head north to Tennessee to pick up our long-awaited newest family member.
THIS  is what we saw heading to our destination...


dum dum dum duuummmmm...Storm's a comin'. The leading edge of a storm system that is forecast to dump freezing rain/sleet/snow on the Southeast.  Our city was expecting a winter storm....and to prepare the city was prepping all 7 of their sand/salt trucks, the weathermen were on high alert (and so excited about it), and the kids were turning eyes toward the sky in hopes of a suprise snow day.  We kicked it into high gear and headed up the road to get this....


Meet Piper. Our newest family member. (please excuse my dusty floor. How did THAT happen??) I know, I know. Shut up! She's so cute! Plus she's sweet. And cute. And tiny.  Right now she's a pocket puppy. But not for long. She is an English Cream Golden Retriever. She'll be getting big soon enough.

We high tail it out of Tennessee, trying to beat the weather and make it home. Phew! I have time to hit the grocery store to stock up on every Southerners winter storm necessities- bread, milk and eggs. Everyone sleeps well and we get up to this...



For us, this is a severe winter storm.  To all my northern friends, this is just a dusting.  But this is ice.  So it looks pretty, but it is slick.
Our kids, not wanting to waste a day off, go outside and decide to do this...


Surprisingly, this took most of the day. It is ice, after all, and scooping ice into buckets and making the mounds is harder than it looks. They are calling it a starter igloo. I'm saying it is more of an homage to Stonehenge.

The frozen tundra outside gave us the most excellent excuse to enjoy these...


And do a little of this...


So what have you done with yourselves lately?  Hopefully we'll be thawed out by tomorrow. But if we're not, we'll play with our newest little friend.


Happy 1.11.11, y'all.

Friday, January 7, 2011

I've Got Boxes, How About You?

My husband owns his own company. This means that he works most of the time---iPhone, Laptop, email, texting, you get the idea.
So when he asked me if I could help him with something for his work, I said yes...plus the fact that he said he'd pay me by the hour AND I could have a friend come help me and he would pay my friend too! Score!
The task wasn't hard.  Box, label and ship 2000 small items.  Yes. I just typed 2000.  It didn't sound like such a huge thing when we were discussing this before Thanksgiving.  He and I both figured it would be something fun that my friends and I could do as an assembly line with the sweet bonus of getting paid to hang out and chat. Super Fun!!

Not.

He ordered the boxes before Thanksgiving in hopes we could do this in early December.  When the boxes arrived on December 24, I should have known it was a bad sign.
My friends were all busy with their families, so we enlisted the help of our 3 kids.  2 days later I was still taping boxes and my kids were still stuffing boxes and my husband was still trying to print out labels from the US Postal Service website.
Here is a photo of my dining room at the exact moment I was about to pull my hair out and tell my husband  (whom I love very much) that if he ever in his life had a thought of using me, my friends, or our children as a distribution center he should put that right out of his sweet little head before I beat him senseless.

Excuse the quality as I took this with my iPhone. Those boxes are stacked all around my table. 

In a moment of clarity, he decided to pay the UPS people to box, label and ship the remaining 1500 items.  In that same moment, he also called the Post Office to cancel the order for the remaining 1500 boxes.  So I'm done with the boxes, right?
No.
Look what showed up on my front stoop yesterday morning....


Yes! The 1500 box order that we had cancelled a week before! Anyone need a box?  I've got plenty.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Revelations

Today is the first day that everyone in my house has been healthy in a month.  They were all sick at staggering points throughout the Christmas and New Year's holiday.
To say that I was a happy mommy today when the husband and the kiddos were safely off to work and school is the understatement of the day....maybe the week.
Let's just go on the record and say that I really enjoyed my "Hallelujah Hot Chocolate" this morning.

Let's make that a non-fat, no whip, extra hot hot chocolate. I'm trying to get in shape. 

So the revelations.  I had a few today while out doing my stuff and I thought I'd share them with you. 
1.  Be sure the person you are responding to is actually talking to YOU and doesn't have one of those crazy "beam-me-up-Scotty"  Bluetooth phone thingys in their ear.  If you don't confirm the presence of the Bluetooth thingy, you end up looking like a complete dork.  Trust me on this. 

2.  Going through a drive-through at the lunch rush and paying for your lunch in quarters may cause the people behind you to give you the evil eye. 

3.  If you are a mom and you have a pre-teen or teenager, more often than not, whatever it is that is wrong in life is your fault.  This is true whether you have any idea what is going on or not. 

4.  Choosing a name for a puppy is harder than it seems.  Please leave a comment if you have a suggestion. We're getting a girl puppy and we're trying to think of something original.  

5.  If you go to the store without taking a shower, no makeup, wearing the same workout clothes you've worn for the last 2 days, you WILL see everyone you know.  This includes children you taught in the 3rd grade who are now juniors in college and are wondering how you came to be in such a sad state when you used to be the cool teacher. 

Amen.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Double Digits

I have 10 followers. 
I don't really know what that means in the Internet world, but to me it means that 10 people have seen my little corner of the web and have decided that they'd click the "Follow" button. 
Thank you for that. 
Thank you for the extra effort it took to follow me. 
I have no idea where I'm headed. 
I have no sense of direction.  Just ask my husband.  He is thankful every day that I have GPS in my car. 
I'm thankful I have GPS in my car. 


So thank you, those who are named and not named, for following me somewhere. 
It's always more fun to go in a group.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

1/1/11

Cool date. What have you done today to start things off on a happy note?
 I  decided to make more of an effort with the "seasonal color" areas in my yard.  The name is self-explanatory and the spaces are not large, but they are pitiful for the majority of the year.
Off to the nursery I went and I came home with these...

Color? Check.
In the ground?
Check- sort of. 
If I was hearty enough to plant stuff in the rain they'd  be IN the ground and not ON the ground.
Will they live past the weekend?
Your guess is as good as mine.  Prayers are appreciated.