Rainy Days and Sundays

My morning started off smoothly. Everyone was home, everyone was going to church to hear Alex play in the band, everyone was happy.

Until…we actually got to church. Then a certain second grader’s behavior took a nosedive. Sigh. Kind of set the tone for the day.

So when daddy left to drive Katie back to collge, I decided to make my escape as well.

All the way to the grocery store. Yippee.

I left the girls with Alex and his girlfriend and drove as slowly as I could to the store.

Got to relish those moments, you know.

I was a good shopper and did not veer from my list this time. I even used coupons. Yay me!

But as I was checking out, I realized it was pouring rain. I knew it was coming. I had just hoped to beat it home.

Rats.

Loaded the van, returned the cart, and drove my wet self home.

And I got home to this……



Say what?

I kept watching and saw more….






Cheap entertainment which didn’t require any fire (which usually happens with Alex).

And it put this certain child



in a better mood.

At least until she was told to help clean up….

The Great Diet Coke Experiment

Six months ago, I was loving my diet coke.

Six months ago, I was loving the caffeine.

Six months ago, I had increased blood pressure, blurry vision, headaches, dizziness, head fog, and other unexplained issues.

So six months ago, I did some research to see if it all was connected.

Turns out, some artificial sweeteners can have negative effects on certain people.

Lucky me. Guess I was one of those “certain” people.

Sigh.

I gave up diet drinks for about two months. That’s all I could handle. Then slowly, diet drinks began to enter my life again. And you know what?

I had the same medical issues.

You’d think I’d learn, huh?

Once again, I ditched the splenda and tossed in caffeine for good measure.

So I have been caffeine and artificial sweetener free for four months.

And my blood pressure has decreased back to the normal zone.

Methinks perhaps artificial sweeteners are not the best thing for our bodies.

Or at least mine.

Oh, and the added bonus? I have lost my craving for sweets.

Strange how things are linked together, huh?

Party in 2010!

Well, Anna Grace turned seven on August 9. Today is September 18. We just now had her birthday party.

Can you say…..”You are a lame mom?”

I know, I know.

But when your birthday falls on the first day of school and mom is a teacher, parties tend to get postponed.

So today, six weeks late (ahem), we held The Birthday Party.

Heaven help me.

We chose, because we are crazy, to have a party at home. That meant we had to clean up and prepare for customers.
(aka….company. thank my little people for that phrase)

When it’s 92 degrees outside, what do you do?

Thanks to some great friends, The Boyfriend’s parents, we were able to get a bouncy house from their side business to help keep the short people occupied.



Toss in arts and crafts,



cupcakes,



presents,



water balloons from Alex and Julie,



and the kids had a great time.

But the best thing about today???

The girls jumped to their hearts content.

And fell asleep within three minutes of hitting the pillow.

Now that is my kind of party!

New Blog Design

Well, I decided to have the blog redone. After all, it's been two years! Check out the work by Big House, Little Room.

Football Time is Here!

The football season has started once again which makes a certain daddy in this house pretty happy. He doesn’t care if it’s college or pro…..he just likes football.

Neither of us attended a major university so has no particular loyalty to a team.

Except….when it involves Penn State. You see, PSU is the closest major football university to where we graduated.

So yesterday brought a match up between Penn State and Alabama.

And I heard this from the daddy….

"We ARE Penn State!"



And this from Anna Grace….

"Roll Tide!"



And this from Abby….

"Go Rednecks!"

Hmmm….maybe we’ve been in the south too long!

Men and Instructions

Our wonderful gas grill has kicked the bucket, so to speak. It’s still standing on our patio but refuses to light up.

What a contrary piece of equipment.

So, until we order the necessary parts to make the grill happy once again, we have resorted to using charcoal instead.

Now, the charcoal grill has only been used when certain people went camping.

Note to readers: I was NOT one of those certain people who went camping.

And no one has been camping in several years. But we were determined to make it work.

For the past few weeks, dinner has gone wonderfully. We had grilled food so all was right in the world.

Last night, it was Alex’s turn to grill steaks for us. But Dave had to be at church for a meeting until almost 7.

Dad thought ahead and got the charcoal in the grill ready to light before leaving for church. You see, neither Alex nor I have ever done that before.

The plan was to have dinner ready when dad got home.

That was the plan.

About thirty minutes after he left, Alex went out to light the grill. And nothing happened.

He and I both tried for twenty minutes. Nothing. No spark, no fire, no nothing.

We finally gave up.

Turns out, once you put charcoal in the grill, you are supposed to light it immediately. It is the first instruction on the charcoal bag.

An instruction that a certain male neglected to read.

“Hey, I was just trying to be helpful!”

True, but next time….read the directions!

What to do, what to do?

Visit the zoo, that’s what to do.

Along with everyone else in the Atlanta area. Geesh.

It was standing room only today at the zoo. Oh wait. It’s always standing room only. But you get the idea. It was packed…..like sardines.

Guess we weren’t the only ones with the bright idea to spend the holiday at the zoo.

After seeing the obligatory animals,






we moved on to the ones I won’t see.....

Me. Birds. Flying over my head? No thank you.



Crawling through tunnels? I don't think so.



Despite the crowds and heat of the day, the little monkeys had a great day.



Whoops, not those monkeys!

These monkeys….





But the best viewing of the day…….the dreaded “boga instructor”. Notice there is not a picture of the snake. I didn’t look. But had to prove I was there.

Who Is In Your Bed?

Take a moment and look around your bed. Is someone special there?

Someone who has been with you for years? Someone you cannot sleep without?

Hey now. I don’t mean that! Get your mind back on track. This is a family friendly blog.

I’m talking about a special friend who may be furry and stuffed. A friend who has been drug through the mud, tossed in the washing machine due to the aforementioned mud, cuddled, cried upon, thrown up on, yet is still the best listener.

Jamaica Elmo has been with us now since, well, Jamaica.



He’s been to China and back,



eaten many meals,



traveled all over,


and is still going strong.

He’s a little worse for wear, a little ratty, but a lot loved.



Wonder how much longer he’ll be around?