Good clean fun!

I just finished making Christmas sercys for Savannah class tomorrow and they are cu-ute! I don't have a finished project photo, but I will share the directions here. Basically, you shred Ivory soap and mold it into snowballs, adding a surprise in the middle. If you're like me and you haven't had experience with Ivory soap since you were 5, the soap is surprisingly soft and grated nicely in my mom's 1970's food processor.
I was not as crafty with the teacher gifts, but I did get 65% off what I got them at Kohl's so there ya go.

Bitches and hos

Hey ya'll! It's been a while so I have several random things saved up for you...
- I've gotten on my school soapbox before. Seriously, if people were better parents, crap like this wouldn't happen. A 7th grade kid had to drop out of a program at school in order to care for his infant child. That's right. I said infant child. Why? Because the baby's mother, also a 7th grader, had to go stay at the Dept. Of Juvenile Justice.
-I am loving those new Gap commercials! The dancing is awesome and the chanting is so damn catchy! "How cute are these boots?! How cute are these boots?!"
-There has been some family drama going on for the past several months. Some things have happened recently and I've had my fill. So I called up the family member and told him I'd like to sit down and talk with him about everything and see if we couldn't clear the air. He said, "that's fine, but I don't know what good it would do." We were not able to meet tonight, and maybe we won't get to, but by his words right there, I have peace knowing that I at least tried.
-I am loving Christmas in the new house! I'll have to post some pics soon. It's extra special knowing how fortunate I am to be spending Christmas with my family in our dream house!
-I have one more day of school! Then I am off until Jan. 4!!! Can I get a Whoo-hoo!!!?!?!
-Mama has a little Christmas village set up in her kitchen. It also has a few little figures and decorations with it. One day, standing in front of it, Savannah says, "Why is there a little singing bitch and a big singing bitch?" Or at least that's what WE heard. OMG! We laughed so hard. Finally realized she was saying singing "bench"- her phrase for the little group of carolers.
- just in case you haven't heard this one yet...What's the difference between Santa and Tiger? Santa stops after 3 ho's.

zhu-zhu wha?

Just sitting here sipping a cup of hot chocolate (with Kahlua!) and thought I would visit!
What have you been up to lately? I'm off work this whole week (Whoo-hoo!) and Steve's mom flies in tomorrow for a few days. It will be nice to see her and for her to see the house! She hasn't been here since it was finished and we moved in.
I'm not quite up for Christmas decorating yet, although many folks seem to be doing that early this year! I am probably a third of the way through my shopping. I was hoping to get Savannah some of the zhu zhu pets this year. You know, the cute little animated pet hamsters? She liked them so much when she played with them at her cousin's house last month. That was before I knew they were the "IT" item this year. You remember....Wii, Tickle Me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Dolls...The toy that is impossible to find before Christmas or if you do, it's at 8x the price, but somehow, they're everywhere by Jan. 2! So Santa's alternative is a dollhouse. Now if we can just get it on sale or with free shipping, we're good to go!
I saw a cute idea in a magazine I thought we might try: Create your own holiday "to-do" advent calendar. Choose a seasonal activity to do each day. Savannah is only 4, so this will be our first year with the idea of an advent calendar. We'll probably suck at it and end up scraping the whole thing by Dec. 9th, but we'll give it a shot! Got any cute Christmas projects or activities planned?

You'll eat it and you'll like it!!

Call me sensitive, my hubby is a big 'ole A-hole some days! We both worked today, all though my work hours were 1:00-5:00 because after I got Savannah dressed and took her to school, I did some shopping. I went over to the mall for a specific item, only to find out they don't carry it at that store. Grrr! This may be SC, but it's not like I went to some tiny store in the middle of nowhere!
Anyway... After shopping I had a 11:15 doctor's appointment that lasted an hour. Went to school, dealt with 80some kids, picked up Savannah and came home. Steve flops on the couch with her as I cook dinner. I had a new recipe I was excited about. OK- I wasn't EXCITED about it, but I thought it sounded good. It was easy enough to prepare and took just long enough for Steve to take a nap.
Dinner's ready! We sit down to eat. I ask Steve what he thinks (mistake!). He says it's OK. Actually, half way through eating, he dumps what's left on his plate onto mine. "I don't like it," he says. Heats up some lefts overs, puts is plate on the counter and goes to finish watching TV.
UGH!!! Why do I even bother! He doesn't help, he doesn't like it and doesn't clean up!!! Do your honey's cook? Do they clean? Or can you empathize?

Halloween pics

Some Halloween photos...

Oldie but Goodie

Reposted from Oct. 24, 2008...
In case you hadn't noticed, I like putting the little quizes at the bottom of my page. Most of them are kinda fun. Wasn't that the best part about all those teen magazines when you were in high school? "What's your dating style?" "Does he really like you?" "Are you ready to go all the way?!" ha!I took took the featured quiz, "What Should You be for Halloween," three times and each time I got a dumb-ass response: "Candy Corn," "A rabbit dressed as a pumpkin," and "a bumble-bee." Hello? Not unless you're six! So, I decided to do my own costume quiz. Leave a comment answering the questions below by Sunday night or so(I'm not picky)and I'll post next week what I think you should be, including a photo. What do you think?
1. What is your drink of choice?
a. wine
b. beer
c. cocktail
d. water
e. Coke

2. What are you afraid of?
a. the dark
b. the boogie man
c. being fired
d. nothing
e. your checkbook balance the day before payday.

3. What super power would you most like to have?
a. ability to fly
b. ability to run super fast
c. being immortal
d. looking super hot in a leotard
e. being able to help people

4. People have told you you look like
a. their favorite movie actress
b. you know how to have a good time
c. you are younger than you are
d. their mother in law
e. a mug shot from the Post Office

5. Your dream house would be
a. a cozy cottage in the mountains
b. a contemporary loft in the city
c. a sprawling farm out in the country
d. a casual beach bungalow
e. paid for
It's not science, people, it's just some crap I made up for fun! So answer the damn questions already!

YAGBTS- "ask you a flavor"

I coordinate a school-based program for a rural, public school district. People wonder what's wrong with the world and why so much violence in schools and why so many schools fail...it's because these are these kind of dumbass people who are raising kids these days... (this is all TRUE)

Top 5 student names
5 Adozzhiante (uh-dozz-ee-an-tay)
4 Remedee (remedy)
3 Tyineriah (tie-near-ee-uh)
2 Amarina (uh-mar-ee-ana....actually a pretty name, but not spelled that way- missing a vowel)
1 Meosphia (muh-sof-ee-uh) and it's a boy!

An actual email I got this week. Names changed to protect the stupid innocent...
hi
this is jane grandmpther; can i ask you a flavor do you no jane teaches name and email address please let me no ok
&n bsp; sign june doe

Even crazier...
There were parents waiting in the car line one day and they had 2 babies with them. "Oh hey," I said, " I know this is your grandbaby, but who's that?" "That's my niece," the mom said. "Oh, what's her name?" I asked. They looked at each other blankly. Neither one knew!...after thinking for a few minutes they remembered. Her name is Honesty.

And the BEST of all...
Due to behavior problems, and NOT a physical disability, we have 2 kids who are required to ride the special needs bus. In my program, we do not have the funding to pay for this, but the special ed dept. has so much $ they can pay for an entire bus and driver to run a special route to take just those kids home!! While this is only for a few days, the alternative is to PAY the parent to come pick up their own child because we can't accommodate them!!!

YAGBTS- White Trash

What the heck is YAGBTS? Go here.
So ya'll know we moved in our new house this summer. I gotta tell you- one of the BEST parts is that we live next to my parents. I know, it could be scary, but really, it's a good thing. Even Steve will tell you that. But one of the BEST parts about that is Daddy takes off our trash.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with such rural traditions, we have to load up our own trash and recyclables and take them to the nearest collection station. You could pay out the wa-zoo and have the big garbage truck come by, but we don't want that bill.
When I was a kid, we just had a burn barrel. Stay with me...we took all our trash, put it in a big metal drum out back and burnt it. Sounds crazy, but I was about 10 before I realized that not everyone did this. The dump (as we call the trash collection place) was where you took things that did not fit into the burn barrel and occasionally scored something to take home. No lie. I remember getting a table from the dump that I used for years and years. I finally took it to Goodwill this summer when we moved.
Now, the dump is closely monitored and you have to play by the rules. No scavenging and no putting any and everything into the trash compactor. They have little stations for everything from magazines to colored glass.
So as I was saying, Daddy comes and gets our trash about once a week which is great, in my opinion, because Steve absolutely sucks at taking off the trash. If left up to him, once a month is perfectly acceptable. But then he has the nerve to be offended that Daddy takes over this job for him. He should be glad b/c that's one less thing for me to gripe about and one less thing for him to do. If he wants to get offended, he needs to hang out in the garage when the trash has NOT been taken out for a month.

Hostess with the Mostess...anxiety attacks

Is it November yet? Seriously, while this time of year is filled with so many good things...it's filled with SO many good things, and work things, and social things, and travel things, and church things....AGH!!!
We are having our real house warming party this week and I'm a little overwhelmed. I don't "entertain" well. A few friends and a six-pack. OK. No problem. More than 5 friends and a planned menu? OMG! I have to do this and this and buy food and Oh, I don't have anymore trash bags and NO!! Don't eat that! It's for the party! Savannah go brush your teeth for the 10th time! What stinks? Ugh! The dog never got a bath. I think I liked the square tray better. Do we have a bottle opener? Steve? STEVE! Hey! Will you take a shower already?!? People will be here in 20 minutes and I still have to put out some ice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dinner of Champions

We all know the breakfast of champions is Wheaties...or beer, depending on how you roll, but I , my friends, just had the dinner of champions:
some boiled peanuts, a Mike's Hard Lemonade and a cup of ice cream left-over from Savannah's birthday party the other week.
I know, it's sounds kinda yuck, but really it was a suiting end to my work week. I've been back to work since August, but It was my first week at work with the kids - all 80 of them- and I'm beat!

Mmmms and Ahhhs

We had a nice weekend. We headed to Charleston for a friend's birthday and while we were going, we decided to stay the night and play "tourist" a little while. We hit the beach on Sullivan's Island for a brief sunset stroll. It was simply gorgeous...except for the &h*%#$ mosquito's!!! Afterwards, we head to "The Wreck" for dinner. This is the most plain-jane, no frills place I've eaten at, and it's one of the best. Shrimp and scallops followed by heavenly Key Lime Pie! Mmmmm...

Here is Savannah out on the dock by the restaurant. Ahh! Nothing like a trip to Chuck-town to restore the soul!

Labor Day

What started out as a perfectly lovely day took a nose dive and now I'm here trying to find some redemption or sympathy...whichever comes first. Me and the hubs had a big fight and now I'm trying to cool off.
Why do they have to be such A-holes???

Smart Girl

It was Savannah's first day of pre-school today. Steve and I walked her in, said our goodbyes and we left. No problem! She did very well! So I asked her later, "What was your favorite part?"
"Nap time."

e"harmony"

So I was recruitted by one of my BFFs to help her come up with a "headline" for her online dating profile. She wanted something kinda cute and witty but didn't know where to start. She said that another friend usually chooses song lyrics. That got me thinking.
Here are songs/lyrics that would NOT be a good choice for a dating profile:
"Away ran the children to hide in their beds, for fear that the devil would chop off their heads" Rob Zombie-Call of the Zombie
"U can look but U can't touch" Jump Little Children-U Can Look But U Can't Touch
"That's not my name, that's not my name, that's not my name, that's not my name" The Ting Tings- That's Not my Name
"I got a brand new attitude and I'm gonna wear it tonight. I wanna get in trouble, I wanna start a fight." Pink-So What
"When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell" All american Rejects-Gives You Hell
"Shawty wanna thug, bottles in da club, Shawty wanna hump, You know I like to touch your lovely lady lumps" Lil Wayne-Lollipop
(and my favorite)
"Let's have some fun, this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" Lady Gaga- Disco Stick

Welcome to our new home!

Hey! How are you? Glad you could stop by our little virtual-housewarming party! Did you have any trouble finding us? Oh, good. You knew to look for the rock. Grab a drink and let me show you around...
Yes, the grass is still patchy, but it's coming along nicely. We're going to hold off on landscaping until the fall when it's cooler.
The bookshelves in the living room are still a little "busy" but I think I put together some nice displays of family photos and items I had. I love my print above the fireplace. Can you believe the whole thing only cost me $100?!

Here's the kitchen. I'm happy with how it turned out. We have so much space now! But look, I told Steve to move his junk off the counter!

And here's our dining area. I never wanted a formal dining room. Here's the made over table and chairs I got off of Craigslist for $100!

Here's our bedroom. I still want to get something to put on the walls, but I don't know what just yet. This is the only "brand new" furniture we bought.

I've only taken time to use the big tub once so far, but I will use it! Notice the lack of mirrors...I STILL haven't found what I am looking for! We may just have them made at this point.

Here is Savannah's room. She loves to sit and play in here (thank goodness!) Her furniture was bought second-hand as well.

The hall/kids' bathroom. The ceilings throughout are 10', except for the living room which is 12'.

Oh, don't look in the guest room/craft room! That's the room that still needs a lot of attention!

Here is the FROG: aka the man-room. Yes, Steve HAD to HAVE a huge screen and his weights up there!

Here's my favorite place: sitting on the back porch at night. So peaceful! It's needs a little decorating, but I'll get there eventually.

Here's the damn, pain in the ass pool. It's been a hassle from day one, but at least we can use it now. Of course, it's raining today so we'll just have to admire it from the porch.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for coming! Ya'll come back now!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Kermit says it's not easy being green. Maybe so, but sometimes it ain't easy being a girl. Don't get me wrong. I don't wish I were a guy or anything like that, but who hasn't envied a guy every now and then?
They avoid nasty bathrooms and porta-potties don't frighten them. They can pee standing up! Need to be somewhere in 10 minutes? No problem. Guys just take a quick shower and throw on deodorant and clothes. Want to go hang out with the guys? They just call up a buddy on the phone. Wife's got the kids and his friend is already at the bar. No problem! Not to mention other monthly "joys" women experience.
But the one that really kills me is going swimming. Guys just take off their shirt. Done. In the water doing cannonballs! Girls? Ha! It involves 2 major tragedies: swim wear and hair removal.
1. Swim wear. No woman enjoys picking out a bathing suit. They're expensive and it takes forever to find one that's flattering. We realize that most men could care less, but it's not really about what the man thinks. It's about what we think. We need to look decent enough to go out in public wearing 1/10th of the clothes we normally wear and even then, we think that shirt makes us look 6 months pregnant! Got a big hiney? You need to find a skirt. Got big boobs? Need to have underwire. Got a flabby belly? Need to get a tankini. The striped one? No, the color's all wrong. What about the halter? It's too short. Maybe the one with the belt? Too expensive. And so on and so on and so on...
2. Hair removal. Guys can go without shaving any part of their body for days and it would be totally acceptable. Girls, on the other hand, show up somewhere without having shaved their legs in 2 days and suddenly we're Euro-hippies. Puh-lease. There's also the regular shaving of the arm pits and for some people, their bikini area. This cannot be done in 2 minutes with success; therefore we can't throw caution to the wind and hop in the pool. No, for me, it requires waxing. Expensive and painful waxing. You all saw "40 Year Old Virgin," right? Ok, so maybe it isn't "Kelly Clarkson" bad, but it's not pleasant. If you're lucky, the technician knows what she's doing and it goes by quickly. I once had a 45 minute session. No shit. It was awful.
And yet, we go through this summer after summer. Kermit may not have liked being green, but he was acceptably naked and didn't have a lick of hair.

P.S. I finally added a few pics to this Paris post if you're interested.

You're Invited

You are cordially invited to a housewarming party!

At this blog

on Saturday, August 15

at noon EST

YAGBTS - Ben the Builder

Contrary to popular belief, building our house was not horrible and we did not once contemplate divorce because of it (the moving in part is another story). Overall, it went pretty well. We got along with our builder great! Sure, there was a misunderstanding or two, but no biggie. Just how well do we like our builder? Here he is with his #2 in charge, cozied up on the back porch with Savannah. With a beer in his hand. On a Wednesday afternoon.
Yep, that's how a good ole' boy rolls.

Let's make a deal

Ya'll know I love a good bargain and I got 2 for you this week. AND pictures! I know, pull yourself up off the floor already so you can see!
Saturday we were in the mountains and stopped at this new thrift store that benefits the local hospice program. Love that. The hospice ladies that cared for my grandaddy were awesome! Anyway... I got a Gap bag that was monogrammed (except it wasn't my monogram so I had to pick out 2 of the 3 letters. I don't recommend this but it is possible), a pair of Born shoes, a pair Italian nude sandals, and a little milk glass bowl to go with my collection. all for $7! Deal!

I told ya'll I shopped the big consignment sale last night. While I didn't find a super-duper deal or a "must have," I did get 2 pair of shoes, a pack of onsies (gift), 2 movies, 1 CD, 1 coat, 11 tops, 12 pants/jeans, 4 dresses and 1 pair of socks. Most were name brand like Gymboree or Old Navy. all that for $155! Deal!
Add in a few basic pieces from Tar-jay and Walmart and Miss Savannah is all set for the fall!
P.S.- I use Blogger. Can anyone tell me how to write a post and then schedule it to publish later??

Excuses, excuses

I can relate to Austin Powers. I need some mojo. For putting away the last of the little crap and for blogging.
As I mentioned before, most of the stuff has been put away in the new house, but other stuff lingers. Like garlic bread. Like pregnancy pounds. Like Halloween candy. Maybe I'll have a bloggie housewarming party soon to show you around the place. You're all invited. That's the least I can do seeing as how many of you have been with me since we started building. Look for your invites soon.
I feel like I've lost my blogging groove. Being busy was an excuse, but it really only gets worse now that school is starting and I go back to work. As much as I have made fun of Facebook, it achieves the same purpose: see what other people are up to and share some of your own moments, if desired, and I don't have to write a while post. Just don't take any of those damn quizzes!!
PS- I'm shopping tonight at the big children's consignment sale and I am very excited! Not only am I staff this year, but that means I get to be first to shop! Whoo-hoo!

I know, I suck

Yes, I have been MIA lately. Yes, I have not had much interest in blogging. Yes, I failed to provide pictures. Yes, it has taken me 4 days to come up with a winner. I suck.
Moving on...the house is coming along nicely. There are less than 5 boxes sitting around and most of the stuff has been put away. Still don't have pictures on the walls and I STILL haven't found suitable bathroom mirrors, but I'm happy with the progress. Good thing, because I go back to work in about 3 weeks. Blah!
Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway. Yep, all 4 of you! I knew the designer tampon case would scare some of you away...Anyhoo...the big winner is Rebecca Jo! Yay! Just send me your contact/address and I'll send you your prizes! (if you want to be anonymous, just leave it in a comment on any older post).

Paris Wrap-up and a Give-away

OK- I know most of you don't care at this point or don't even remember that I went to Paris a few weeks ago but I hate to quit just short of the end so here is the abbreviated ending...
An American in Paris: Parts V and VI
Part V: Boobs and Balls
After two days of gorgeous weather, it was rainy and cool on Monday. That was fine b/c we had planned to spend all day at the Louvre. Once a grand palace, it now houses priceless works of art and ancient artifacts.
We started with the sculptures on the lower levels, worked our way through the Mesopotamian pieces and then the Egyptian exhibits. That was probably my favorite. It was amazing to see the mummies and coffins up close. Some of the colors were still so vibrant. There were necklaces and other finite jewelry still intact.
Paintings of all size, subject and medium lined the walls. I couldn't believe there wasn't anymore security than there was. You could just reach out and touch most things if you wanted to. The only piece that was "protected" was the Mona Lisa. There was always a large crowd in front and she was behind special glass and was roped off. All the others were seemingly just hanging on the wall.
As exquisite as some of the works were, I was also surprised at the sheer number of boobs and balls. Yeah, I said it. We all know that classic art celebrates the human form, whatever, but some were downright weird.

(even in ancient times, men were facinated by thier penis)

(yes, that's a snake she's holding to her boob)

(At the right angle, it looks like the girl is pinching the other nipple. I told ya. Weird.)

Other significant works include the Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi, furnishings of Napoleon, and paintings by Manet.
"Veni, vedi, vichi"-we came, we saw, we were outta there by 3:3o. Great way to spend a rainy day in Paris.
Part VI: Sortie
On that first day in Paris by myself, I learned one word very quickly: Sortie. It means "exit." It was all over the subway, airport and various places. Tuesday had come and it was our day to "sortie". We loaded up our luggage, grabbed one last sweet roll for the train and got to the airport. Luckily, the wait for this flight did not include long lines and misinformation. It included coffee, TV, swanky bathrooms and all you can eat snacks in the frequent flyer lounge. Our flight home was uneventful,but nonetheless, it was good to be home!!
I mentioned something a while back about a giveaway. It's not very exciting- I didn't get to do as much shopping as I would have liked- but I have a Paris key chain and 2 "moving" gifts up for grabs. Since packing/unpacking, I have discovered a few items to pass along: a Lolita Music-tini martini glass and a Lolly Lu "designer" tampon case. Weird, I know. Just leave me a comment by midnight on Thursday night (7/23) and a winner will be chosen at random.

Randomness

-I totally understand while some species eat their young. Savannah is killing me these past few days. Helen Keller listened better than she does.
-We were in IL on the 4th of July. It was 65 degrees and raining. Sucked!!
-We have well-water, not city water, and it smells like rotten eggs lately.
-I am sick of unpacking. Advice noted, Slacker Mama. I'm gonna need some Red Bull or something to finish up and get motivated.
-I think I lost weight from all the moving/sweating/no time to snack. But I don't recommend it.
-Does anybody know where I can get a pair of traditional, white mirrors, about 29"x33" for less than $120?? Apparently they don't exist.
-One of my favorite things about the new house is my central vacuum system. Love it. It sucks.,too...in a good way.
-I am now a staff member for one of our local children's consignment sales (seasonal job on the side).
-Out of the blue my 2-year-old niece says, "Dexter (our dog) stinks. He smells like doo-doo."
-Oreo cakesters are pretty damn good.
-I freakin' cried during "Horton Hears a Who" this morning at the free summer movie.
-We already have our first overnight house guest arriving tomorrow...not MY idea...
-I told myself I was not going to visit bloggieland tonight, but then Savannah wouldn't go to bed so I figured the night was shot anyway.

I'm back!

Just thought I would take a second to come up for air and say "hello" to my bloggie friends. I'm good. The new house is good. Our 4th of July was so-so. The new pool is not so good. Moving is going slow, but good. Or rather, the unpacking is slow but good. My stuff has the potential of being there for the next 40+ years so I want to make sure I put it in the right spot!
I'll finish up the Paris trip too, but for now I just wanted to say, "Hey!"