Six Months

We have been in this house for a little over six months now.  We are really enjoying it, I especially love my new tub, but there are some disappointments (keep reading, Nana). 

First, even though we threw away what felt like would have filled up a PODS when we moved, we still have alot of junk.  If you don't believe me, just come look at our garage.  How many times have we cleaned out that garage, threw stuff away, just to have it fill up again?  What is happening here???

Second, my kids aren't keeping their "new" rooms as clean as they promised.  At first, like the first day, they kept their rooms tidy, but now we are right back into the struggle.  "Respect your stuff or I'm throwing everything in here away!"  Please tell me I'm not the only mother to ever utter those passionate yet untrue words....

Third, this house eats things just like our old one did.   In the other house, we had this ongoing joke about our couch being the "portal."  Once things got sucked into the cushions, it went into this portal of unknown, and we would never see the thing again.  I was hoping the portal of disappearance had been left behind, but no such luck.  For example, just this week I wanted to find a certain book to take to preschool with me.  It was a book Poptart had bought at Borders, and one of the reasons I encouraged her to buy it was for the fact that I knew it would go well with our Health & Nutrition unit at preschool.  We read that book several times here at home.  However, Tuesday morning when I went to retrieve the book out of Poptart's room, it was nowhere to be found.  Not in Poptart's room, not in Gogurt's room, not in my room.  I looked everywhere.  I know that book exists, and I know it was in this house just a few days ago, but I am afraid it has fallen victim to the portal-and we will never see it again.  (and no, Ellie didn't eat it).    This isn't the only time I can remember not being able to find a book when I needed it.  Once in the old house, Gogurt came home from school excited to tell me that he had told his teacher he had a book about George Washington he could bring to share with the class during their study of  the U.S.A.   No problem, I just saw that book on your bookshelf, so I'll go get it and stick it in your backpack.  The book wasn't on the bookshelf.  We tore the house apart, we never found the G.W. book. 

Instances like this are so very frustrating to me, then add the little things that seem to happen here on a daily basis, and it's almost cause for insanity. 

Little things like always having to search for Scotch tape.  It's never where its supposed to be. 

Neither are fingernail clippers. 

And scissors.  Oh, goodness, the scissors.   I bought several pair of scissors to put in every room of this house to have handy, and now I go from room-to-room opening all the drawers and still find no scissors.  (I want to be like Nana, she always knew where her scissors were in this house.)  I, on the other hand, never know where any of my 3 pair of scissors are!  I remember my mother having this certain pair of scissors.  I'm sure she still has them, and I'm sure if I walked into her house right now, I would know the exact drawer to find them.  With that said, I can also remember as a child being threatened with my life if I borrowed "Momma's good scissors" and didn't return them to the drawer immediately. 

And what about sharpened pencils?  When homework time comes around, why do we always have to search for a sharpened pencil?  I say sharpened because we have DOZENS of unsharpened pencils, but very, very few sharpened pencils.  If we finally decide to give up on finding a sharpened pencil, then the hunt is on for a pencil sharpener.  And yes, I have sharpened pencils with a knife before over my kitchen sink.  Haven't you? 

I was really hopeful that all these annoying habits would stay at our old house, but no, they have followed us.  That can only mean one thing.....it's the people in the house, not the house itself. 

The house itself is wonderful - have I mentioned my tub? 

Every now and then the kids will say they miss their old house, I think we all do a little bit, but we are definitely enjoying making new memories at this house. 

I just wish one of those new memories would be always knowing where my scissors are. 

The Mindset List for the Class of 2015

If you've been on Yahoo today, you might have seen this, but in case you haven't, read this and try not to feel too old! 



The Mindset List for the Class of 2015 (entering college freshmen)



1.There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.
2.Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.
4.The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.
5.There have always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S. Navy ships.
6.They “swipe” cards, not merchandise.
7.As they’ve grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.
8.Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter.
9.“Don’t touch that dial!”….what dial?
10.American tax forms have always been available in Spanish.
12.Amazon has never been just a river in South America.
13.Refer to LBJ, and they might assume you're talking about LeBron James.
14.All their lives, Whitney Houston has always been declaring “I Will Always Love You.”
15.O.J. Simpson has always been looking for the killers of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
16.Women have never been too old to have children.
18.Jim Carrey has always been bigger than a pet detective.
24.“Yadda, yadda, yadda” has always come in handy to make long stories short.
25.Video games have always had ratings.
28.Jimmy Carter has always been a smiling elderly man who shows up on TV to promote fair elections and disaster relief.
30.Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!
56.They’ve always wanted to be like Shaq or Kobe: Michael Who?
57.They’ve often broken up with their significant others via texting, Facebook, or MySpace.
63.They won’t go near a retailer that lacks a website.
65.When they were 3, their parents may have battled other parents in toy stores to buy them a Tickle Me Elmo while they lasted.
74.“PC” has come to mean Personal Computer, not Political Correctness.




Copyright© 2011 Beloit College


Mindset List is a registered trademark


For list in its entirety, visit http://www.beloit.edu/mindset

Well, I've done it again.  I've let entirely too many days go by without posting.  Here comes the old excuse... wait for it....i'm back in school. 

Every single year when I meet my new "batch" of kids, I think *what a breeze this year is gonna be!*.  Then the kids start loosening up with each other, with me, and before long, I'm wondering what happened to those sweet little 4-year-olds I started the year off with. 

But, I think this year will be different.  Really.   Seriously!   I have possibly the sweetest little group of girls ever created, and my 2 boys seem to be very, very low on the "rowdy scale."  Okay people, this is totally doable!  And if find out in a few weeks that these kids have totally snookered me into believing I'm the luckiest teacher ever, I'll let you know. 

Fifth grade is off with a bang for Gogurt.  Reading project (due tomorrow), science project (due next Friday) and homework every night.  We had "the talk" last night (umm, not that talk), the responsibility talk.  The "I'm-not-going-to-remind-you-every-night-that-your-project-is-due-in-2-days" talk.   We reminded him he is in 5th grade now, it's NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY to remind him to do his homework/projects.  Tough love so to speak.  We'll see how it goes.....

First grade is suiting Poptart just fine.  The reports I get from Poptart about school are to tell me who she saw where.  "I saw Gogurt in the cafeteria, and I saw Tyler coming out of music, and I saw Allyssa on the playground"  and on and on and on. 

I am very, very thankful to such a good start to our school year. 

Speaking of starting a school year, Hannah is officially, officially, a Bulldog.  Official meaning finally attending classes.  Oh, how I miss those days!  (Not the going-to-class part, but the finally-on-my-own part).  Be good Hannah, and I'm waiting to see you here at your favorite aunt's blog.  Check in every now and then wouldya?  BTW, don't forget we'll be up there September 24th for the football game!!!

Have a good one!

More, Better Wedding Photos

Brad scanned a few wedding pictures into the computer and I wanted to share them with you!  The picture of a picture I did this morning was, in all fairness, pretty pathetic. 

BTW, I got roses, a Dr. Pepper, and some M&M's from my hubby today....I won't tell you which one of those three items I was most excited about receiving, but I bet you can guess!

Onto the pictures:



Hannah and Rebekah, seems like just yesterday they were this age!  Now they are both beautiful young ladies!






This is our wedding party, good-looking group, eh?  Funny thing, Brad and I are not married in this picture.  This was before the ceremony. 







During the 15-minute ceremony.  No kidding, 15 minutes long. 

 


Now, we are married, can't you tell by the smiles?  This is one of our favorite photos from our weddding.  Could be because I thought my cake was phenomonal.  Almost didn't have flowers on it though because the florist forget all the flowers for the cake and the cake table.  She had to go all the way back into town and get them. 

Now, I promise not to bore you with any more wedding photographs (until next year!)



14 Years Ago.....

There was a wedding! 

(This is a picture of a picture so my apologies for the quality.)

Brad told me "Happy Anniversary" this morning, but at 6:07 a.m. I seem to have difficulty speaking, so this is my "Happy Anniversary" to him. 

And to all of you who were involved in our wedding, thanks for being part of that day.  Let's look at the picture and see who has changed the most :)

Back To School We Go!

My wish for this school year - that every morning would be as easy as the first morning was!  The kids were up and getting dressed before I even walked into their rooms!  I know we can chalk this first morning up to adrenaline, but I can wish can't I?  Before long we'll be pushing the limits on how late we can sleep, rushing around to find shoes, and running out the door short of breath. 

I return to preschool tomorrow, not to teach, just for teacher's meetings, cleaning out rooms, etc.  I can't say I'm as excited as my kids are about going back to school, but I can say I'm excited about receiving that paycheck we miss so dearly during the summer months!

Have a great day,

Amy

Disaster Averted - Miracles Do Happen

This is our dog Ellie. 

She is approximately 10 months old,  and she resides in our backyard.  The kids and I love to be outside on the backporch which doubles as Ellie's homeplace.  We eat snacks out there, we read out there, we talk on the phone out there, etc. 


In Ellie's defense, she doesn't know the difference between a chew toy we bought and left on the porch for her on purpose and the book we accidentally left out there. 

This is what Ellie can do to a book:

Gogurt bought this book with some hard-earned money and although he had read it several times, he was upset nonetheless.  Upset with Ellie, with himself, with his sister who for some reason caught the brunt of his frustration.  (It could have been her yelling out the back door, "Be quiet, I can hear you ALL THE WAY in here!) Not quite the sympathy he was looking for I guess. 

Fast forward to late last night. Sarah and I were watching Freaky Friday on ABC Family.  Gogurt didn't want to watch it with us, and he couldn't play the Wii or computer so he decided to go outside with Ellie (maybe to offer forgiveness?) 

He came in looking like he saw a ghost.  "Ellie has puppy!!!" he yelled.  I'm sure we were all imaging what Ellie had done earlier in the day to the book.  Oh, God help us-Ellie has puppy. 

This puppy:

Poptart has slept with puppy every night since she got him from Santa when she was about 18 months old.  Puppy has been a part of our family, and if something ever happened to him I think we would all cry. 

When I heard Ellie had puppy, I imagined the worst - his head ripped off, his 4 legs strewn over the 4 corners of our yard, and that tail that Poptart rubs chewed to bits. 


I got from the couch to the backyard in 0.3 seconds and thankfully was glad to see puppy all in one piece, for now.  We had to get puppy out of Ellie's grips.  And of course, Ellie thought it was all a game so she was running like lightning past Gogurt and me. 

Poptart came to the backdoor but looked like she was going to faint, so I told her to go back inside and Gogurt and I would take care of it.  Please God, let me get this stuffed dog out of this real dog's mouth.  My daughter's mental state depends on it!

It all happened so fast, but Ellie finally dropped puppy and after screaming, "Get it, get it, get it" Gogurt pounced on it like a lion hunting its prey.  I'm not embarassed to say I sat Indian-style on my backporch holding puppy to my chest rocking back and forth chanting, "Thank you, Lord." 

When I entered the house, puppy in tow, Poptart was curled up in the fetal position on the couch crying.  I can't tell you the relief I felt when I was able to hand her puppy, still all in one piece.  A little wet, but in one piece. 

She was so emotionally drained, she declared there was no way she could sleep by herself.  I laid her down beside her daddy and she went sound asleep with puppy right there beside her. 

(We are still unsure how puppy ever got out there in the first place.  Poptart is very careful about not taking puppy outside, so that part is a mystery)

After the rescue, I was still on an adrenaline rush and wasn't quite ready to lie down yet.  That's when the second miracle of the night happened. 

Gogurt and I went back outside and stayed up for the next hour talking, at first about the disaster that almost had happened right before our eyes, and then discussing everything from school to friends to girls.  We talked, laughed, and had the absolute best time together we've had in a very, very long time. 

Are these miracles equal to the water-to-wine or crossing-the-sea-on-dry-land miracles?  Nah, probably not.  But to me and my family, they sure did feel like it. 
  

I Can't Wait to Get Old So I Can.....

Today is election day in Mississippi - a very big election day.  We vote on everything from Governor to our local sheriff.  For months we have enjoyed, some would say endured, political ads on the radio, the TV, and yesterday alone I received seven robocalls reminding me to vote and telling me who to vote for. 

More than the advertisements on our media outlets, the road signs have become almost humorous.  They are everywhere.  But the one that takes the cake in our neck of the woods was the really tall deer stand that had "VOTE FOR JAY" printed in huge letters down the front.  The first time we saw it, we didn't know who Jay was or what Jay was even running for, but his creative signage prompted us to come home and look him up.  In that case, the road sign, or should I say the deer-stand sign worked! 

I haven't been out yet this morning, but I can only imagine the signs that popped up last night near our local library where we vote.  There will be people sitting in lawn chairs holding an umbrella to shade the sun with one hand and a political sign in the other.  Of course, they have to stay a certain number of feet away from the door, and at our particularly polling place, this has never been a problem. 

I love to vote, and  I love to take my kids with me to watch me vote.  It's just so American.  

What will be even more American is when I am old enough to work at the polling booth myself.  (I haven't checked to see if there is an official age requirement, but everybody I've ever seen working at our precinct is at least 65 years old).  When my kids are grown and gone and I have nothing else to do, I'm going to work for the polls.  I'll sit at the table and find your name in the book.  By then we will probably have Voter ID so I'll have to check your ID as well.  I won't ask you who you are voting for, but I will thank you for voting.  I can't wait!

A Backstage Pass

Last night when I was blogging about the fair, it was late and at that moment I didn't know where my camera was and didn't want to go looking for it. 

This morning I have a picture to share with you. 

But first let me tell you a little about how it came about:

On Monday night of the fair, the Miss Neshoba County Pageant is held.  Just so happens, one of Hannah's good friends won. 

On Friday night of the fair, John Michael Montgomery performed.  Now, I was one of JMM's biggest fans back in the early/mid 90s.  I even had a poster of him on my wall.  My sister remembered my infatuation with him and between Hannah and her mother, they arranged for Miss Neshoba County to take me backstage after the concert to meet JMM. 

Yes, JMM has gotten older but then again so have I.  No, his concert wasn't like I remembered it being in Starkville in the 90s, but still, meeting the man was pretty cool. 

Thanks Sewanna and Hannah for remembering me and setting up this little meet & greet through Jordan.  I'll never forget it!