Take Our Survey and win $1000

Well, no, not really, but I thought it would get your attention. I'm needing to make several more decisions about the house and I'm feeling insecure- yeah, I guess that's the best way to describe it. I am SOOOOO indecisive about big things. I have a hard time making up my mind b/c I know it costs a lot of money and that I will have it forever, well maybe not forever but a long damn time so I better be sure it is what I want!!So, I have a few things running around in my brain and I need your input ladies!
1. Pottery Barn swears they have slipcovers for every piece of furniture and why not, when you can simply toss it in the wash. Is that true? Can you really wash them and then viola! toss it back on the couch?
2. I know stainless appliances are all the rage, but I've heard the fingerprints and streaks are pretty bad. I'm not a neat freak but I have a child and a dog and Savannah (get it, haha! I am so funny). Thoughts?
3. I am also debating chrome, stainless or bronze (deep brown/black) fixtures and door handles, etc. I think I really like the bronze, but don't want to turn around in 8 years and think, "Oh, why did I do that."
4. We are considering a central vacuum system. I had one growing up and think they are great. Primarily since we will have a lot of hardwood floors, it would be good for that. If we go with a regular upright, what do the rest of y'all use on your hardwoods? I ain't swiffering the whole house!
5. I have a red kitchen and I love it, but am afraid a big kitchen with that much red will be overwhelming. Or do I just go for khaki walls and lots of red accents?
Ok- that's all. for now. Please respond to help my indecisive brain!

Home Alone

Hey. whatcha doin'? Yeah, I'm just hanging out at home. By myself! It's kinda of an odd night. College Football is upon us and my dear hubby just had to drag himself and our not quite 3-year-old princess out to the Thursday night game. I'm not kidding. I talked to him little bit ago and he said she is tired (well, duh) but they are having fun and will probably stay for the whole game, which began at 8:00. Alrighty then. Good for you. Don't wake me up when you come in.
So I am home alone. I don't know about ya'll, but when I have free time at home, and I mean real free time- not the 25 minutes you get while Dora is on, or the hour and a half you get after kiddos are in bed- I don't know what to do with myself. I feel like if I just lay on the couch and watch a marathon of "House Hunters" I'm being wasteful. I have SO much other crap I could be doing: fold clothes, load dishwasher, download my IL pics, do my nails...I even came home today with a to-do-list. What do I end up doing? I caught up on my DVRed shows, ate half a bag of boiled peanuts, chatted on the phone, I did upload the IL pics, made MIL's birthday gift, and visited bloggie land.
Speaking of, look what I found: holy crap! Not quite what I had in mind while looking for ideas for Savannah's birthday cake. I am sure Olivia was not thrilled either, but then again just who thinks a nekid likeness of themselves giving birth to an alien is something cake-worthy??
Oh! I added some pics to the earlier post so check those out, cuz I KNOW you've have been expecting them!

Children of the Corn

Illinois was a long trip, but overall, we had a good time and I'm glad to report that teen-pregnancy and drinking did not have an effect on us this visit. We did go sing karaoke one night, but I would have done that drinking or not.
The food in this town is different (if anyone offers you bar-b-que you're really getting a sloppy joe) but good. We ate from all the required food groups: pork tenderloin, fried chicken, brats and corn. Well, actually I stayed away from all of those but the corn, but I did get some chicken oscar. Yum!
Savannah usually had an accident a day but it was really because she didn't want to stop what she was doing to go potty. She even went poop a few times by herself. I guess she figured it worked out pretty good the first time so, hey, why not try it again. She also had a blast playing with her cousins and friends. There were so many kids at the cook-out we had! However, the majority of them belonged to my BIL and a friend so they were not my problem easy to manage.

We got to see lots of friends and family. Steve' grandpa isn't doing too well so it was especially good to see him. The old guy is 86, was shot down in WWII and lost his wife 15 years ago, so he's dealt with tougher things.

This week I'm playing catch up at work from being gone so long. I hate this time of year. From about the end of August until the first of October, is the busiest time. It's like running my own little school except that I do it all myself. I have to hire staff, arrange rooms, unpack boxes, order supplies and curriculum, rank students, send out paperwork, process paperwork, enter all data into the system, keep up with bus routes, arrange parent events, lead parent events, schedule field trips, lead field trips, handle discipline, give out snack, bandage boo-boos, blah, blah, blah... And Miss whats-her-bucket big-wig wants this to be a part-timeposition next year. Yeah, right.
Anyhoo... Hope you all have had a lovely summer and mine is comming to an end. Let the hilarity ensue!

three, six, one and a half...

Three
The number of consecutive nights of drinking Steve had lined up before we even got into town. We're in Illinois this week visiting Steve's family. It's a relatively small town in the middle of a cornfield where teen-pregnancy and underage drinking are the norm. Even when Steve was in Navy bootcamp, they had to take a class on health science or whatever and in the textbook, it listed his town as #1 in the nation for drinking per capita (or something crazy like that). His parents own a tavern for crying out loud. Anyway...I'm just saying drinking is the thing to do here whether you're 14 or 94 or it's 5:00 Friday or 9:00 Sunday morning.
Six
The number of times we had to pull-over on the side of the road for Savannah to go potty during the drive here. And when I say side of the road, I mean that Steve hit the brakes and we pulled over on the shoulder so she could hand her hiney over and tinkle (or poop). She's been wearing big-girl panties and doing really well the past week and half so when she said she had to go potty, we knew she meant it. But here's the best part... One and a half
The number of hours Savannah was sleeping before we discovered what she did. When we got to my MIL's house, Savannah had just fallen asleep, so Steve gently went and laid her on grandma's bed. She started to wake up, but he told her to go back to sleep. We shut the door and didn't hear anything more so we figured she went right back to sleep. Uh , no. Steve goes down there an hour and a half later to wake her up and he says she has poop everywhere. Oh great! So I go in there and she is sleeping like a rock, but she does have poop on her ankle, on her leg and around her crotch. I look closer and she doesn't have on any panties and her shorts are on backwards! So I go look in the bathroom. Like, Goldolocks, the evidence betrays her and she is busted! There are wet and poopy panties on the floor. Poop and toilet paper in the toilet and poop on the seat. Apparently, she had to go, but didn't quite make it. But no worries- my big girl took care of it the best she could, despite being in a strage place, put her shorts on and went back to sleep!! And much like Goldilocks, she woke up alarmed to see us all standing over her laughing about what she had done!

Just for Fun...

Oh yeah- I saw this cute post on another blog...
Go here and it will tell you the #1 song for a particular date. Here's our family"Hot List":
My b-day: Philadelphia Freedom by Elton John
Steve's b-day: The Sound of Philadelphia by MFSB and Three Degrees (anybody ever heard this one, let me know!)
Savannah's b-day: We Blong Together by Mariah Carey
Our anniversary: Honey by Mariah Carey
My high school graduation: That's the Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson