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??

Stranger things have happened...

but offhand, I can't think of one. I've seen snow. Twice. This week. Here in the South. Now, it was just a dusting both times, but it still counts.
The first was in the mountains this weekend. We had gone up with my cousin and his family. When we woke up Sunday morning, it was coming down and accumulated a little bit on the porch.
The second time was today. My friend called last night and told me that my school district had already cnaceled school for today. What? I hadn't seen the news. Yep, because they were calling for possibly 1-3 inches. Yeah, go ahead and laugh if you like but a. Trust me: the people around here are not used to it and it will freak them out and cause wrecks so it's just as well we all stay home, and b. I didn't have to go to work today beacause of it. Enough said. Here is Savannah all decked out. No, she isn't a KISS fan. She's trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue.
A sneak-preview of the new house with a light blanket of snow.

I'm not sure what she was doing here. Just excited to be out in it, I think.

Let's just hope that we stay above freezing tonight or we start this all over again tomorrow.

YAGBTS

Wondering waht YAGBTS means? Go here.

So we were at the flea market Saturday...I know what you're thinking, "What the hell were ya'll doing there?"

1. We love a good bargain: n. something you don't need at a price you can't resist.

2. We like antiques and old things (a.k.a. junk)

3. The entertaiment value is unbelievable! We saw culture (half of the market were hispanics selling produce or Spanish music), wildlife (dogs and chickens), history ("they haven't made this kind of glass since the factory shut down during the depression.") and art ("yes, ma'm I hand-painted those roses on the T-shirts"). But we had never seen what we happened upon next.

+ =

a fun ride for the kiddos! Only costs a quarter! No sh*t! They had empty plastic bottles taped to the horse with packing tape. You're supposed to put a quarter in the bottle and then enjoy the ride. I am not kidding. Kinda gives new meaning to the term "quarterhorse."

Gorgeous, gorgeous!

I didn't have the time or patience to upload umpteen thousand gorgeous pics from this weekend so I just chose 3 favorites. We did a little tail-gateing Saturday morning and then we were off to the mountains. My parents have a place about 2 hours away for here and that's where we headed. It was so beautiful! The leaves were just amazing! And how about this view!?! That afternoon Savannah, mama and I took a walk down the road and collected leaves. Savannah thought each leaf was gorgeous and derserved to be chosen.

After a big breakfast Sunday, we decided to go....pick apples? no...hike in the woods? nope... go canoeing? unh-uh...pan for gold? not this time. We decided to go to the flea market! Which leads me to my next post...

Ghost Town - Part II

We went to the mountains this weekend and back to Ghost Town. You may recall we went back in July. Because everything still wasn't up and running, they gave everyone a free pass to come back...so we came back! We stayed at the mountain house Friday night and got up Saturday and headed to Maggie Valley. The weather was gorgeous and the lines weren't as long as they were this summer. Savannah and my niece Grace had a great time - until the "shoot out." Savannah didn't like the noise. But they did get their picture taken with one of the "outlaws."

Here we all are in front of the mountain house. Daddy is 95% done remodeling this place. It's quite amazing considering he did almost all the work himself.

Somehow, the girls thought it was really funny to waddle like ducks, except these ducks don't say, "quack, quack." Look closely and you'll see they say, "crack, crack." They should be saying "No" to crack, crack.

Stay tuned for a house update this week...

Baby, I'd be lost without you!

I'm back! As I mentioned before, Steve's mom was in town last week so that kept us busy. We all stayed in the mountains at my parents' place a few days then came back here. We went to the zoo and had pictures made of Savannah. Then we went back to the mountains at the end of the week. On Friday, my parents, brother and niece joined us at the mountain house. We got up the next morning and went to Ghost Town in the Sky. It's a small theme park situated on the top of a mountain. Originally opened in the 60's, it closed in 2002, but is back open for business. Now, if you are older than 20 and from the Southeast, I'm guessing you may have been here as a kid. We sure did and therefore my dad has been excited for all of us to go since it re-opened last summer. A little disappointing since some of the rides were not open, but the girls had a good time and we made a day of it. They even got the whole Indian "set" for a souvenirs (feather headdress, tomahawk, and drum - ironically made in Taiwan).

Today I've just been playing catchup and I DIDN'T EVEN LEAVE THE HOUSE. I know, amazing, right?!

Oh yes! I also spent the car ride home Sunday planning a eulogy in my head that I, thankfully, did not need. We thought we lost Savannah's beloved baby. Those of you that know us, know baby. She even made it in the Christmas card pic this year! Anyway, she did not make it to the mountain house so we figured she fell out at one of our stops. We called and looked, but no baby. We got home Sunday and Savannah asked for baby. Steve sat her down and told her that baby was lost and we probably wouldn't see her anymore. So what does she do? She starts calling, "baby! where are you baby?" Heartbreaking...but as we were leaving later in the day, I decided to look in Steve's office in the garage. There she was on the chair! Whew! Has anyone else lost a lovey? What did you do? Hopefully we won't have to do that again anytime soon!

Terrible Two's? You betcha!

So it's been a week off of work and we have been busy! Tuesday, I had drinks with my pal Cupcake, Wednesday we signed the contract for our house, Thursday we went to the outdoor concert (previous post), Friday we left for the mountians, Saturday we went to a fun festival in the mountains, Sunday was Father's Day and the start of VBS, Monday was the Marionette Theatre and VBS, and today has been school for Savannah and piddly stuff for me. Whew!

Speaking of that *precious* 2 year old...What in the world do some of you mommies do?!? Really, I love her to death and she is so cute and funny sometimes but I really would love to wrap her up in duct tape sometimes and suspend her from the ceiling!
She refuses to do anything I say. I could tell her to watch Dora non-stop and eat a bowl of candy and she would stand their and smirk at me or she would say, "inaminute." Putting on clothes or shoes requires the patience of a saint and last time I checked, I wasn't one. She's been known to hit me for any reason or no reason at all. Yesterday she hurled the remore at my temple and it hurt so much I cried! Lately she's been whiny and prone to crying for no real reason. For example, she wanted to go outside. We went outside. She wandered around for about 2 minutes and then whined she wanted to go inside. Oh- and I haven't even mentioned that she doesn't like to nap anymore. I try to put her down, but she'll usually come out of her room about 6 times in 20 minutes. Then I either A)give up and let her out B) really insist she stay in her room and she spends the next 30 minutes destroying it C) drive her around in which she's asleep 2 miles down the road or D)insist that she stays in her room but she still comes out every 5 minutes which does nothing but exhaust me and waste the next half hour. And I do dicipline her. It varies between counting to 3, spanking her legs and occasionally time-out. Anybody have some advice? Support? Margaritas?

On the positive side: she can be very polite saying "please" and "thank you", she's gotten better about using the potty and isn't a total Daddy's girl... all the time.

Hap-bir-day!

So, last week was my birthday. The morning started off with this conversation:
We had just sat down for breakfast and Savannah asks me to get her something.
me: "Mama just sat down and it's my birthday so you'll have to wait."
Savannah: "Where's your birthday? where's your cake?"
Me: "I don't know. I don't have one."
Savannah: "Mason will be here inaminute and he'll bring you a cake. OK?....and we'll wear a party hat." (Mason is our nephew 800+ miles away)
The rest of the day was nothing too exciting. In fact, it was kind of annoying. The kids at school were particularly wound up and I had to call 3 parents. At one point, some kids were guessing how old I was. One kid said "30" and I told them "higher." So one girl guesses 70. I said, "Tiana, do I Look like I'm 70?!?" And she said yes.
It took me forever to get out of work for various reasons and then when I finally did, I got stuck behind a tractor for a few miles (the joys of living in the rural South).
Later that evening, Steve and I went out to eat and had to take Savannah with us. Not a big deal, but dinner out at a nice restaurant is a little less enjoyable when you have to constantly remind your 2 1/2 year old dining companion not to crawl on top of the booth and that anything that has fallen on the floor is "yucky."
We spent the weekend in the mountains at my parents' place. Friday night the 3 of us were there with my parents. It was a nice, relaxing evening. Saturday, we cruised around nearby towns and just did a little sight-seeing. Saturday, my parents went back home and took Savannah with them. So...me and Steve hit the local bar that evening. Very interesting. In a nutshell, this place is apparently the watering hole of choice for the locals. Some of which haven't been outside of this mountain town since the 70's as indicated by their hairdos. But there was some live music and we enjoyed a few beers and the atmosphere.
P.S. "Hap-bir-day" is an old inside joke from high school. Holla back if you know what I'm talking about...

Wordless Wednesday

slacker spring break

Well, here it is, the last 2 days of spring break. It's been good but rather uneventful.
Easter weekend was nice and we spent time with friends and family (see previous posts). Monday we didn't do anything except we went to the movies that night with friends to see "Enchanted", which is really cute. Tuesday it was cold so that was a bust. Since there wasn't a whole lot going on and Steve and I had just had a big fight, I decided to go to the mountains with my parents for a few days. They have a place just over the SC border, south of Hendersonville, NC. They have spent the past year or so "flipping" it. It's not 100% finished yet, but getting there.
Anyway, we went up Wednesday afternoon. It was nice, a little boring, a little tiring, but I had the time so why not? I say tiring b/c the cabin isn't exactly child-proof nor equipped with cable (ie. no Dora or Mickey Mouse on demand) so I had to entertain Savannah a good bit. But she slept like a champ in her little sleeping bag so that counts for a lot.
We went "to town" once for dinner and another time we had a picnic by the lake. (I love this shot and the silly look on everyone's face!)Mostly, we just took little walks and cleaned up in the cabin while Papa worked on the cabinets and trim work. We came back on Friday afternoon just in time for the cold front. yea.
Today, I did some house stuff and a little yard stuff. Tomorrow is church and Monday is back to work! Like I said, it was nice, but I feel like I wasted half my break. I had intented to go to the zoo, get Savannah a haircut, get the dog a haircut, weed all my flowers, go shopping, etc... I know, I know... "boo hoo." you say. Spring break is, afterall a break not everyone gets so I do appreciate that.

Wordless Wednesday