Life In a Small Town

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2012-02-01T01:00:00.001-05:00

1. It's that most wonderful time of the year...tax season! Do you complete your own returns or farm that job out to the professionals?

CH takes care of that by taking to somebody else to do it for us. Less stressful that way.

2. This next question comes from Kansas Bob...he posed it in his response to something I asked in an earlier Wednesday post and I asked him if I could add it to the Hodgepodge some day. Today's the day....

Which do you think has changed you more-love or pain?

Pain. No pain, no gain, right? When I look back at the pains in my life, I definitely think that those events helped me grow into the person I am.

3. Tangerine Tango has been named color of the year for 2012. Your thoughts? Would I find this color anywhere in your house? How about in your closet? If not, will you be adding this color to your life in some way in 2012? If you're not sure what tangerine tango looks like click here.

You definitely won't be seeing me wear that color...I'm a winter, and that's NOT a winter color! We have some orange in our house (we do live in "Big Orange Country"!), but not tangerine tango.

4. Are you a collector? What do you collect and does it get admired, used, and/or dusted regularly?

I don't really collect anything, but I have started buying a Christmas Ornament when we go on vacations.

5. February is National Heart Month...besides a green salad what is one tasty heart healthy dish you like to prepare?

Grilled chicken with pasta, mushrooms, and broccoli.

6. When was the last time you had car trouble?

Earlier in the year. I guess this counts as "car trouble": I heard an awful squealing while I was driving, but it would stop when I stopped. It turned out my car was telling me that I needed new brakes.

7. Have you been more demanding on yourself lately or less? Is that a good trend?

Less. And it's not a good thing.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Last year we have snow every time we turned around. This year: nada, zilch, NONE. What is up with this:

I really, really hope our "Spring Break" isn't spent shoveling snow.

Post it Tuesday!

2012-01-31T01:00:00.001-05:00

Apparently the person who was hosting Post It Tuesdays has made her blog private, so I can't give her credit for starting this! Oh, well!

Paula Deen...I'm Not

2012-01-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

This is going to surprise y'all, but sometimes I get in a rut. (I see the shock on your faces!) I try to keep a calendar with what we're having for dinner on the side of the frig. This was in response to being tired of answering the question, "What's for supper?" 15 million times a day. The calendar can be seen as soon as anyone comes up the stairs into the kitchen, which is the way we all come in the house. The only confusion comes when the plan has to be changed due to activities, or just if what is planned doesn't seem "right" for the weather or for that night.

There are times when I just don't feel like sitting down and planning out our suppers, 2 weeks at a time. I get tired of fixing the same thing month after month. So, I switch over to denial mode: if I don't plan, I'll magically come up with something to fix. It takes a lot of time to research new recipes on the internet, and then it takes courage to actually fix them because it may or may not taste as good as it looks, or as good as I think it sounds, so there's always a backup plan to order take out.
I took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and found some recipes that looked great...and every one of them turned out great!
On Mondays I try to fix something in the crockpot since I get home later than the rest of the week. (The following pictures are not mine; I took them off of their respective websites.)
On the schedule was:

Five-Spice Steak Strips

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/07/five-spice-steak-strips-crockpot-recipe.html

We had this over rice, and I used a London Broil that had been marinated over night. One word of advice: the Chinese 5 spice was cheaper in the oriental section of the grocery store instead of the spice aisle. It was really good; I'll definitely be making this again!

Italian Pot Roast

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/italian-pot-roast-10000002012828/

CH & YS actually liked this better than I did. My local Kroger is undergoing a major update, so the frozen foods are at a minimum. I substituted mini ravioli for the tortellini, and had to use yellow squash for the zucchini. (Not real sure why Kroger didn't have zucchini.) CH said that the gravy/sauce was better when he had it for leftovers on Tuesday. I'll be making this one again, too.

Chicken-and-Wild Rice Casserole

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-wild-rice-casserole-50400000117969/

This was amazing! The only downside was that it made an awful lot for just 3 people, so next time I'll cut the recipe in half. I like to have leftovers to take to work with me, but this was just a tad bit ridiculous! This was my favorite new recipe of the month!

This picture IS mine:

Chicken Milanese

This dish was quick to make: about 30 minutes. Racheal Ray would be proud! I didn't have lemon juice to toss the arugula with, and key lime juice just didn't go with it, so I tossed a little bit of Italian Dressing with it, and it turned out great. CH didn't really care for the arugula, so next time I may just use some spinach. I have to admit, I'm not a real big fan of the "stems" on the arugula, either.

To top off the weekend, I made some "Sugared Peanuts" on Saturday:

A bit time consuming, but they turned out great! My FIL brought some Alabama Peanuts to us earlier in the month when he was passing through. This batch just barely put a dent in the bag he brought up, so I'm going to get some peanut oil so I can make some roasted peanuts. Another batch of sugar peanuts may be in the future, too!
Some of you mentioned that you'd like to have the recipe for what I called "Eggnog French Toast", but it's actually called "Holiday Morning French Toast". You can find the recipe HERE.
(This picture is mine!)

Do you have any good recipes that you've tried lately?

Friday Fragments

2012-01-27T05:30:00.000-05:00

Mrs. 4444 describes Friday Fragments this way:
"Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard."

~ Wow! It's already Friday! Only 6 more weeks until Spring Break!

~ What's with this weather? Where's the snow??? It's been almost 20 years since the big blizzard of '93...and the weather was very much like it's been this winter. HMMMM...

~ One of my students said something hilarious yesterday, but, I didn't write it down so I can't tell you about it. I've gotta start writing stuff down!

~ Here are a couple of FB statuses from some friends who live in the small county:

*So I just saw a guy on a couch with his dog riding in the bed of a truck...WOW!!!

* SOOO...........wanted to go to mall this afternoon. Car would not start. Call my son to come jump me off. He could not get his truck pulled up beside my car so in 20degree weather with no coat and only a short sleeve shirt on son for 15 maybe 20 minutes pushes the front of the car then the back. Over and over again. Only to find my car did not need to be jumped. I never put the car in park when i got home from work therefore it would not start while in drive. NOT a very happy son!!!!

~ My friend, Patty at Reasons for Chocolate, just gave birth to a 7'15" little girl! If you get a chance, please hop over and tell her congratulations!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2012-01-25T05:26:00.000-05:00

1. The NFL playoffs were held this past weekend and this year's Superbowl lineup will feature The New York Giants versus The New England Patriots. How do you define 'patriot'?

A Patriot is someone who loves his country. Even when it feels like it's going down the tubes.

2. What's something in your life right now that feels like a 'giant'?

Honestly, I can't think of anything. The "fog" is lifting, and I'm getting back to my normal self!

3. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think back to being 18?

Starting college. I was soooo ready to move on...I was at the college just a few weeks after graduating from high school.

4. Coconut-mashed potatoes-vanilla ice cream-mayonnaise...which white food would be the hardest to give up?

I don't eat any of those things very often, so it wouldn't be hard to give up any of them!

5. Describe an incident or a day you remember as the coldest you've ever experienced?

When I was a junior in high school, the AFS had a short term exchange with Mayo HS in Rochester, Mn. In February. I don't think I was warm for 1 second that whole week! How do you Yankees do it?

6. You're hosting a brunch...what's your favorite dish to prepare and serve?

Overnight Eggnog French Toast. Fix it the night before, and the day of, just pop it in the oven.

7. How do you combat negative thinking?

The first thing I do is make sure I'm on a schedule. If the negativity is coming from another person, I distance myself. If it's coming from within, I get my prayer life in order and try really, really hard to look at the positives in my life. Oh, and I may write a blog post to accentuate the positive!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Yesterday at school, I was talking with a group of 4th graders about the Chinese New Year. I told them that the Chinese invented fireworks, and one of my students said, "The Chinese invented a LOT of stuff! Every time I turn over a toy, it says 'Made in China'! "

Hooray for Hollywood!

2012-01-24T05:39:00.000-05:00

Has anybody else noticed that there have been some good movies playing? There are a few good ones coming out, too. Over Christmas, MS & I saw "Breaking Dawn, Part 1". I resisted seeing any of the Twilight movies until the first one was on tv on Halloween night. Now I'm hooked. I'm going to have to read the books since people are saying that as good as the movies are, the books are better.
We also saw "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows". Thought provoking, and every bit as good as the first one. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law work together magnificently. This part is as perfect for Downey as much as Iron Man is.
Sunday, CH & I had a "day date" and went to see "Red Tails". I have to admit, it wasn't on the top of my list to see, with it being a "war movie" and all. Man, am I glad I didn't miss it. It was so worth going to see! On the drive home, CH said, "I can't believe you cried during a war movie!" I looked the movie up online to get some background (after I saw it), and read that George Lucas financially backed the movie himself because no one thought that a movie with an all black cast was marketable. I was completely floored by that: this isn't the 60's! Definitely worth going to see, even if your tv isn't always on "The Military Channel"!
I've heard that "Beauty and the Beast 3D" is really good. I just wish I had a niece that was young enough to want to go and see it! I may have to go in by myself, or would that be too creepy?
I've also heard that "We Bought a Zoo" is actually worth seeing, too, but I thought I would wait for that one until it comes out on DVD. "Contraband" sounds intriguing, too.
Coming out in March is "The Hunger Games". After reading the book, I can't wait for this movie to come out! It's gotta be good! I told y'all already that I couldn't put the book down.
"One for the Money" comes out at the end of this month. If you've never read Janet Evanovich, you're really missing out on something. I literally LOL when I read those books! Grandma is a HOOT! Lulu, too. I've gotta be honest: When I heard that Katherine Hiegl was playing the part of Stephanie Plum, it turned me off. That is NOT who I imagined playing that part. When I read the books, I saw somebody like Daniela Ruah, the girl who plays in NCIS: LA. For Ranger, I imagined somebody like Dewayne Johnson (The Rock)...he would've been PERFECT for that role. I'm not sure who I saw for Morelli, but it wasn't the guy that's playing the part. When I saw the trailer, it looked like mom and grandma are the same age. I definitely saw Betty White playing the part of Grandma. Maybe they tried to get her but she as too busy!
I got another surprise in the mail: a $50 gift card from the cable company! I was a little hesitant because I figured there was a catch somewhere. I checked it out online, there didn't appear to be any strings attached. There were a bunch of different coupons to choose from,so we decided to get one from Fandango so we could get some free movies. AND, the theater is now offering a bucket of popcorn for $3.50: you purchase the bucket full of popcorn, then save the bucket and bring it back for refills.
Have you seen any movies lately that definitely need to be seen? Or, are there any coming up that are must sees?

Positively Positive

2012-01-23T01:00:00.001-05:00

I realized that most of my posts since before Christmas have been a little on the negative side, so I'm looking at the positives that are going on in my life:

* We only have to complete 1 FAFSA this year since OS graduates in May. Hip hip, hooray! :)

* I just found out that a coworker's dog "may" be pregnant, and the timing will be just about right for us to have a new family member!

* YS has started getting information on colleges in the mail, although he's already narrowed his choice to 2 or 3. 2 of them are out of state, so those may be knocked out of the running depending on how much financial aid he gets.

* I'm looking into book clubs in the area, but I'm having a hard time finding one. One of my sisters is involved with the library, so I'm going to see if she has any insights.

* I'm still thinking about a crochet class at Michaels. Who knows? Maybe this will be the one crafty thing I'm good at!

* We love to watch "Big Bang Theory"! The episode from a couple of weeks ago made us laugh harder than we've laughed at something on tv in a long time:

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Friday Fragments

2012-01-20T01:00:00.003-05:00

~ Have you seen Cindy Crawford's daughter in the new Versace ad? That child is 10 years old and looks like she's at least 17 in the picture. If you haven't seen it, click HERE. Unbelievable.

~ Wednesday as I was leaving school, I was behind an elderly gentleman who was very slow in navigating the curves. Well, I say very slow when he was going just under the speed limit. I was in no hurry, so I patiently drove behind him, making sure to keep a respectable distance. Then, this other guy who appeared to be in his 30's, comes up behind me and is following a little too closely. Like that was going to make me go faster when there was another car in front of me. What logic!!! Anyway, the guy behind me decides to pass both of us. When there are solid lines. Did I mention the road has curves in it? He took off, passed both of us, then swerved in front of the old guy and put on his brakes. I'm fairly certain the guy in front of me panicked just a tiny bit. Me? I was holding my breath as he was passing because, well, the road is curvy ad the shoulder on that road is nonexistent. I had a vision of a car coming the other way. Luckily for all of us there wasn't. Glad our guardian angels were watching over us.

~ Does anybody else think it's a little strange that when a candidate drops out they're saying he "suspended his campaign"? I guess that's more "politically correct"...ha, ha!

~ I have a major birthday coming up in a couple of months. A couple of days ago, I got a card in the mail: the return address was my own address, and the card wasn't signed. But, oh, what was in the card: a $15 Starbucks Card! I'm pretty sure I know who sent the card because I recognized the handwriting. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident that I know who it is. I just love surprises!

Not Living up to the Hype

2012-01-19T05:34:00.000-05:00

I have a new therapy gadget. It's suppose to do wonderful things for me and make my work easier. So far, it's pretty much just taken up a bunch of time. Not necessarily while I have children in my room; it's the "extra" time.
Yesterday I was ready to throw the thing across the room. I had just about had it. This was not making my life easier.
Now that you're on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what this gadget is: it's an iPad. I seriously don't get all the apple hoopla. The kids think it's really neat, and there are some neat things on it, but honestly, I prefer my Android Tablet. The battery lasts just about the same, and I haven't had the problems with programs just shutting down like I do on the iPad. The best thing: my tablet was about 1/4 of the price of an iPad. And the kids think it's just as neat.
We have an app on the iPad that has picture cards on it. In theory, it's a pretty neat app: you enter a child's name, choose what sound they're working on, choose the words they're going to work on; then they say the word and I click the check or the "x". It's suppose to keep track of the data and tell me their percentage at the end of the session. Then, it's suppose to save that data so I can use it as a comparison. We're also suppose to have the capability of e-mailing the data to ourselves so we can print it out. Notice I said "suppose to". Here are the problems:
1) You can't e-mail the data if the wifi doesn't work any in the school except the library.
2) When I add a student, the app closes.
3) When I close out the session, it doesn't save the data if the student is working on the sentence level, and,
4) Yesterday, every time I tried to swipe the screen for the next picture, the app closed and didn't save the data.
So, I went back to the old-fashioned way: I got the picture cards out of my box and we used them. I took data the way I normally do: with a pencil and labels. I sent a couple of messages to the developers, but haven't heard any kind of reply.
I really, really hate to be a complainer, but I'm wondering if the money spent on all this technology is really worth it? Nothing, and I mean NOTHING can replace good, old fashioned interactions!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2012-01-18T06:01:00.000-05:00

It's Wednesday already! Time for the Hodgepodge!

1. A new Miss America was crowned on Saturday night-did you watch? If you were a contestant what would your talent be?

No, I don't watch the pageants. My talent would be playing the flute, but I'd have to practice on it quite a bit since I haven't played in years!

2. Do you have houseplants? Real or fake?

We have a fake ficus tree. I brought in a couple of plants from outside when it got cold...they managed to survive for a whole year! In fact, this is the 2nd winter they've been inside. Fingers crossed that I remember to water them!

3. When you were in school did you speak up or were you more of the hide your face, avoid eye contact, and pray the teacher didn't call on you type of student?

It depended on the subject. Math & Science: I prayed. English: My hand was up all the time!

4. Next Monday marks the Chinese New Year...what do you order when someone suggests Chinese food?

My favorite is sweet & sour sauce, but I also like sesame chicken. Love crab rangoon, and the "cat on a stick" (the chicken that has a skewer...I don't know the correct name for it!).

5. How would you define a miracle? What would it take for you to consider something a miracle?

There are miracles happening every day, if we just pay attention we'd see them. It's a miracle when a student finally gets a sound or a concept we've been working on. It's a miracle when I didn't leave work when I normally do, only to find there was an accident about the same time I would've been going through the intersection. Every time you think "What a coincidence" think again.

6. What's your favorite Disney song? If you're stuck you'll find a list here.

Well, gee...since I just read Joyce's post about going to see Beauty and the Beast 3D, I have the theme song running through my head. Then I checked the website she directed us to: 574 songs? There have definitely been some amazing songs through the years, but I can't get B & the B out of my head now.

7. I should have _____________ yesterday.

I honestly can't think of a thing. Yesterday was a good day: I went to work, came home, played a little, fixed dinner, went to a meeting, played/read a little, then went to sleep.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We've had big news in the big city close to here. Extreme Home Makeover has been in town for the past week and a half. One of the teachers I work with helped over the weekend, and it was very interesting to hear what she had to say. Apparently there were a couple of people there who were only there for their "star power". It's going to be interesting to see how they come across when the show airs next Thanksgiving.

Post it Tuesday

2012-01-17T05:27:00.001-05:00

I'm trying something different today, because I'm being lazy and don't have a whole coherent post in my head!

Game Crazy

2012-01-16T07:10:00.000-05:00

I had a more productive weekend than last: the laundry is done, and the house is semi-clean. I've had to wrestle my laptop away from CH: he's found some tank game to play, and he's determined to beat the 12 year olds he's playing with! Apparently my laptop is faster than his, so he's been using mine. It must be a good game: he usually doesn't get into playing computer/xbox games. YS has some flannel pj bottoms that he spends a lot of his time in when he's home; we call them his "gaming gear". CH hasn't gotten to that point yet...~~when~~ if he does, I'll start worrying about him and will pull the plug on using my laptop!

I game CH a stern warning about eating/drinking around the computer. It went something like this: DO.NOT. EAT/DRINK. AROUND. MY. LAPTOP. PERIOD. He bought an external hard drive so we can back up our laptops from time to time. He thinks his is on its last leg, so backing up will be a wise thing for him to do before it "up and dies" on him!

I think I'm finally getting the hang of Words with Friends. Someone (not naming any names, but you know who you are!) doubles my score every time. A quick google search on "how to win at Words with Friends" gave me some much-needed tips, so at this moment she's only beating me by about 40 points, and the game is almost over. Oh, and I've given up cheating. :) I still like "Hanging with Friends" better, so if you play WWF and want to try something a little different, check out "Hanging" and look me up.

I've got to mention the Packers' game. What in the world was going on? Those guys couldn't catch a pass if their lives depended on it. Eli was ON; he was amazing. Here's the dilemma: Who do I cheer for now? I guess I'll cheer for whoever the Patriots play!

Have a good Monday!

Friday Fragments

2012-01-13T06:30:00.000-05:00

~ Last week, I posted about my failed caramels turning into success by using it as a syrup over pound cake/ice cream. Saturday, I ran across this quote:
                                                          "For every failure, there's an alternative
                                                           course of action. You just have to find it.
                                                           When you come to a roadblock,
                                                           take a detour."
                                                            - Mary Kay Ash

~ I saw this clip on FB the other day:

~ We had snow in the forecast for today. We just knew this was the one. So, what are we getting out of it? A 1-hour delay. Which does me no good: my first person on Fridays is at 9:00, so it's cutting into my planning/testing time.

~ I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed about not getting a snow day: we have Monday off. I do love my job (especially during June/July)!

~ I'm reading "The Hunger Games", and I'm having a hard time putting it down. I found the trilogy for free in the android marketplace. They also had the Sookie Stackhouse series, and a Nicholas Sparks series: all for free!

Linking up with Mrs. 4444 today!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2012-01-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

Hump day. That means it's Hodgepodge time! Linking up with From This Side of the Pond.

1. Lake Superior University has once again published a list of words/phrases they think should be banished from the Queen's English in 2012-

amazing, baby bump, shared sacrifice, occupy, blowback, man cave, the new normal, pet parent, win the future, trickeration, ginormous, and thank you in advance.

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Go here to read more about how the words are chosen.

I'm going to go with "blowback". What does that even mean? I don't know, but it sounds kind of nasty.

2. Are you easily embarrassed?

When I was younger, I was easily embarrassed. It takes a lot more to embarrass me now, but sometimes my face gives it away.

3. What is your go-to snack?

If we're talking healthy, I'd say popcorn. That's healthy, right? If we're talking junk, I say chocolate.

4. Have you ever been to Washington D.C.? If not do you have any desire to go? What site/attraction would you most want to see in that city? If you have been, what's your favorite site/attraction?

I've been fortunate to have visited DC several times. There's such a feeling of power when you're there. I like the Korean War Memorial (a must-see at dusk), but I think my absolute favorite is Artlington Cemetery, especially the Tomb of the Unknowns and the Lee House. There are spectacular views from there!

5. sit ups-planks-lunges-squats...which do you hate the least?

I'd say squats because of my knees. There's no way I could do any with my knees!

6. What's a small act of kindness you were shown that you've never forgotten?

The only thing that comes to mind was when I was little, we were in Texas visiting family, and one of my cousins said something to me about my hairy legs. I went to my mom and told her I wanted to start shaving, and my Aunt C asked if one of her girls said something to me. I adored her girls, and didn't want to get them in trouble. My Great Aunt F proceeded to talk about how she never shaved her legs (think German from waaaay back!) and her legs were really smooth. To this day I can see all of us in the kitchen, having this conversation.

7. Have you ever been a blood donor?

I donated blood just before Christmas for our School Resource Officer who has leukemia. We had a drive at the school, and I was very happy that I wasn't one of the rejects. Apparently my school is full of them!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I just heard that a fairly large percentage of Republicans said they wished there was another candidate. I have to admit, I'm one of them. I have no idea who to vote for, and it's starting to get ugly...already. The one candidate I really liked made some ridiculous mistakes/statements, so it looks like he's going to be out of it before too much longer. Honestly, I think the country is going to hell in a hand-basket.

Tagged!

2012-01-10T05:40:00.000-05:00

Marti tagged me on a post on her blog.  This is a fun way to get acquainted, so play along.
Post these rules. 
You must post 11 random things yourself.
Answer the ques­tions the tag­ger set for you in their post.
Cre­ate 11 new ques­tions for the peo­ple you tag to answer.
Go to their blog and tell them that you've tagged them.
 No stuff in the tag­ging sec­tion about ‘you are tagged if you are  read­ing this.’ Blah blah blah, you legit­i­mately have to tag 11 peeps!
And the questions for Marti's 11 tag-ees:

1. Where do you like to vacation

The last two "real" vacations I've had, I've been fortunate enough to go to Denmark and London. So...I'll say Europe. I could definitely live there! If I can't go to Europe, I'll say Charleston. Or Hilton Head.

2. Do you have pets

Oh, yes! I have 2 "girls": Ally (a miniature schnauzer) and Pepper (a Jack Russell mix). Pepper is my shadow...I don't know what I'd do without my girls.

3. What is your favorite color

Blue. Without a doubt. Just about any shade of blue will do!

4. How many are in your family

I have CH, and 3 boys who are 23, 19, and 17. I also still have both parents living, 5 sisters, and 4 brothers.

5. What is your least favorite thing to do

Housework

6. What is your most favorite thing to do

I love to read, watch movies, and I used to love to play tennis, but I've had to put down my racket for good.

7. If money were no object what would you like to do when you retire

I would move to Europe (at least for a year) and just travel all through the continent. Maybe I wouldn't even "move" there, I would just spend a year traveling.

8. What is your favorite season

Fall. I love the cooler weather, the leaves changing colors, and the smell of fall.

9. What book are you currently reading

I'm currently reading a freebie from Amazon: A Hearth in Candlewood

10.What time do you go to bed, get up in the morning

I get up around 5:15 or 5:30 during the week, and try to go to bed around 10:00.

11.How long have you been blogging.

This February it will be 2 years since I started blogging! It's been great meeting new people, and reconnecting with some others. It's also been great getting to know my sister again.

My 11 Random Things:
1. I love Pink (the singer).
2. I'm hooked on Hanging with Friends.
3. The Holiday is my favorite movie.
4. I knew my husband for 8 months when we got married.
5. I played the bass flute in flute choir when I was in college
6. I'm a "brother" in Phi Mu Alpha (National Music Fraternity).
7. Sometimes I eat popcorn for dinner...if I'm the only one home.
8. I'm left-handed
9. I'm 5'9"
10. I've never worn high heels (I recognize my clumsiness!)
11. As an adult, the longest I've lived in one house is 9 years (when we lived in SC).

Here are my questions to 11 lucky people:
1. Who is your favorite singer/music group?
2. Do you have a favorite game to play on the computer/tablet/iPad/iPod? If so, what is it?
3. What is your favorite movie?
4. How long did you know your spouse when you got married? If you're not married, what is the longest you have seen someone?
5. Were you involved in music in high school/college?
6. What special group were you involved in during high school/college?
7. When you're all alone, what do you like to eat for dinner?
8. Left or right handed?
9. How tall are you?
10. What is your favorite pair of shoes?
11. How long have you lived in your house/apartment/condo?

And the lucky 11 people:

Sweet Tea Reasons for Chocolate Frat Pack + Me A View from a Hill
Mi Chiamo Candace Just Breathe For Love of Cupcakes Karen's Korner
The Road Home Crooked Lines Janie Fox Talks

Not one of the 11? I heard that deep sigh! If you're one of the 11 and don't do this kind of thing...no worries!

What to Do, What to BLOG?

2012-01-09T05:38:00.000-05:00

I waited to write a post for today until Java had her "Meet Me On Monday" questions up. I checked this morning only to find this:
"Stay Tuned
Coming Soon!
The all NEW Never Growing Old Blog!"

Here I am: 5:30 a.m. on a Monday with nothing clever to say. Shocking, I know. And we had such an exciting weekend, too. Showtime was free this weekend, so I was a couch potato after I realized that Dexter: Season 6 was on. I missed watching Season 5, but I was able to pretty much keep up. If you watch Dexter, could you please fill me in on what happened to his wife's children and why they don't live with him? That's pretty much the only question I have about what I missed.

See....I told you the weekend was exciting. OS went back to school on Saturday so he could work until classes start back up. MS starts classes on Wednesday, and YS went back to school last Thursday. So, it looks like things are back to semi-normal around here.

I did some reading and laundry over the weekend. My FIL spent the night with us on Friday; he was on his way up to visit my BIL and watch the National Championship Game with him. My BIL is a Bama alum, and a HUGE fan. This will be just about the only time you'll hear me say:
ROOOOOLL TIDE!

First Friday Fragments 2012

2012-01-05T21:40:00.001-05:00

Friday Fragments is a good way to write quick thoughts when there just isn't enough for a whole post. Mrs. 4444 describes it this way:

"Friday Fragments are bits and pieces of your week that are usually brief; too short for a stand-alone post, but too good to discard. Collect humorous observations, "Heard" items, and other small gems (hint: a notebook is helpful :) and put them together in a Friday Fragments post. Then leave a link to your Friday Fragments post with Linky Tools and link back to my main page in your post (please)."

~ Friday ALREADY? 1 week down, 8 more to go until Spring Break! Although it's still winter when we have it. Make sense, huh?

~ I wanted to do something fun (and cheap) with my students to make it through this week before we really got back into the grind. Here's what we did:

I got the idea from my nephew's wife, then I found it on Pinterest.

~ Isn't it amazing what you can find on Pinterest? It's like a whole new world!

~ We had some flurries Monday night, but that was about it:

Not much, huh? And it was all gone when I went to work in the morning.

~ Wednesday night apparently was rough on CH & me: I woke up around 2:00 having pulled a muscle in my neck when I turned over. It hurt so much that I got up and put an ice pack on it. Then, when I was leaving, CH accused me of hitting him in the leg with a baseball. (Apparently he was still asleep.) I must've pulled that muscle throwing the baseball to him.

~ We upgraded our cable and now get the Military Channel. Oh joy of joys. *sarcasm* CH is in heaven.

~Downton Abbey has a new season starting on Sunday on PBS. If you liked "Upstairs, Downstairs", you'll like Downton Abbey.

~ Today is Epiphany: the official end of the Christmas season. If I had decorated this year, the house would be "De-Christmased" this weekend.

From Failure Comes Success

2012-01-05T02:00:00.001-05:00

Don't you just love when a failure turns into something good? A couple of days ago, I decided to try out a recipe I ran across: Salted Whiskey Caramels, using Jack Daniels Honey Whiskey. I could do this: I've made candy before, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out the recipe. Everything went fine, until the whole "add cream mixture. Beating with whisk, cook until thermometer reads 248°F." The thermometer read 220...and 220...and 220. Why wasn't the stupid thing moving? After a few minutes of watching and waiting and whisking, I decided enough was enough. My thermometer must not be working correctly. I took a chance, and poured the caramels into the pan.
The result: A nice caramel syrup that's absolutely YUM-O over pound cake. Aaaand, will be really good over vanilla ice cream. Or, maybe that Spiced Pumpkin Pecan ice cream that's hanging around in the freezer!
Who could ask for anything more?

First 2012 Hodgepodge

2012-01-04T05:49:00.000-05:00

Joyce has more questions for us this week. Honestly, I don't know how she keeps coming up with them and not duplicate them. It's easy to play along: Visit From This Side of the Pond, copy and paste the questions into your blog, and answer. Oh, and don't forget to link up!

1. What are three words you would use to describe your 2011?

Terrible, No-good, very-bad. (if you hyphenate, it counts as 1 word, right?)

2. Do you like shrimp? What's your favorite way to have it prepared?

I LOVE shrimp! It doesn't matter how it's prepared.

3. Is your house de-Christmased? If so when did you tackle that job? If not, when will the decorations come down?

Yes. Moving along...

4. Do you like to watch scary movies?

No. I'm fine while I'm watching it, but then my imagination goes wild and I'm scared silly.

5. ice skating~sledding~skiing~snowboarding~of the four listed which wintertime activity do you most enjoy?

Sledding. I've never snowboarded. I've only gone skiing a couple of times. The first time was in Rochester, Mn. during an AFS Short-term Exchange with Mayo High School. I don't think any of us had ever been skiing before, or maybe just a couple of kids had. There was this one boy who immediately went onto the intermediate slope (it was his 1st time). We would watch him ski a little, then fall down; then ski a little, then fall down. By the end of the day he was skiing all the way down.

6. Did you have a childhood hideout? Describe it.

There was a place in the back of the yard that I loved to go. It was under a tree, and there must've been some brush around it. It was like a little cave. Now, when I look out at my parents' backyard, I'm amazed at how big I thought that backyard was!

7. What's a place or space that motivates you?

Church motivates me to be a better person, especially the Adoration Chapel. Honestly...there's nothing like sitting quietly in front of Jesus, being still and listening.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I really, really need/want a snow day. Because Christmas Break wasn't long enough to sit in front of the tv and watch movies.

It's All Over

2012-01-03T02:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas Break is now officially over. For me, anyway. YS still has a couple of days before he goes back, and OS & MS still have another week.

Luckily, today we have an Administration Day, which means the kids actually have an extra day off. It also means that it's almost like an extra day for the faculty: It's a laid-back kind of day. I like having this day to myself: being able to get myself geared back up for seeing those smiling little faces, and (more importantly) knowing what the heck we're going to do that first day. I detest starting the day without a plan. I think I do a much better job when I go in knowing just what I want to do that first day back. I'm definitely not a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of girl.

It's not going to help that it's going to be cold today...only up to around 35 degrees, if it gets that warm. A Starbucks run is definitely in the plans, especially since I don't have to be at school until 8:00 (instead of the usual 7:30 when the kids are there).

So now we have the following to look forward to: Snow Days (please, please!), Spring Break (although it's technically still winter when we have break), and the end of the school year. It's all downhill from here!

Splashing into the New Year

2012-01-01T21:37:00.001-05:00

2012 by Simone Ciliberti

I originally titled this post "Ringing into the New Year", but decided "Splashing" was a better description.CH, MS, YS, & I drove a little ways from here to enjoy a resort with an indoor water park.
We thought that we might not be able to get into our room until 4:00, so we figured we'd have to hang out in the waterpark until then. But, our room was ready when we got there, so we were able to get somewhat settled in. The resort was beautifully decorated for Christmas:

When we got into our room, this was waiting for us:

The boys were excited to be there:

We changed into our bathing suits, jumped on the shuttle, and headed to the waterpark.

Even though the waterpark wasn't as big I was expecting, it was fun.

The big attraction at this waterpark (from the outside):

This photo of Wilderness at the Smokies Resort is courtesy of TripAdvisor
Oh. Yes. I. Did. I may have been screaming the whole time (the first time, anyway!), but I did it. And I liked it! There's a big drop before you go into the "cone", and once you're in the cone you go side to side. Like, halfway up the sides. At least halfway. And you feel like you're about to tip over. (Hence, the screaming. Both times I rode.)
MS & I rode a couple of the slides that were more twisty, with MS trying to tip it as we went into the curves. The result was me getting dizzy, especially on the 2nd slide that's dark inside. When we got to the bottom, I finally got off of the tube, but was still dizzy. I didn't realize I was right at the steps, and I stubbed my foot, just under my toes. Then, CH & I went into the wave pool, where he accidentally kicked me in my shin. Surprisingly I don't have a bruise.
YS did real well on the boogie board (or whatever you call it):

He was the only one who had to stop because he had been on it for his allotted time. Most of the people we watched fell off of it or were going over to the side. 2 times of messing up was all you got.

MS decided to try to "surf":

That was attempt #1. He did a little better the 2nd try:

There was also an indoor/outdoor hot tub, which would have been really nice except for the children that were playing in it. I saw one little girl who was red from staying in so long. Really, what are some parents thinking by letting their small children get in there and stay so long?

We stayed for a few hours, then went back to the room, changed, and went to a New Year's Eve buffet at one of the restaurants. Not too impressive, but we ate until we were stuffed. Then we went back to the room and rested up. The park closed at 9:00, then reopened at 10:00. YS was really excited when we walked in after 10:00:

At 12:00, there was a balloon drop:

It was a totally different way to spend New Year's Eve, but it was fun. MS said it was the most fun he could've had, given the circumstances (that he was with us and not his friends)!

And so begins another year. I'm glad to see 2011 go. I'm ready to take 2012 as it comes!

What are you Doing New Year's Eve?

2011-12-31T07:29:00.000-05:00

I ran across this last night while checking out twitter. I like this just about as much as I like the Barry Manilow version. (Yes, I said Barry Manilow. Don't judge.) This version is Zooey Deschanel (of "New Girl", "Failure to Launch", and "Elf" fame) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (of "500 Days of Summer", "Third Rock From the Sun", and "GI Joe" fame).

So...what are you doing New Year's Eve?
HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you in 2012!

Last Friday Fragments 2011

2011-12-29T22:14:00.001-05:00

Time for "Friday Fragments" with Mrs. 4444!
~ The church was absolutely beautiful for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. We have a new choir director this year, and he did an excellent job with making the Mass feel extra special. The past few years have just felt like a mass in the middle of the night. Here are a few pictures of the church:

You'll have to imagine the trees in the lower left picture being lit. They have lights on them, and are absolutely gorgeous. I took the pictures Monday right before Adoration, so the lights were off.

~ Last night ended up being a "Southern-Themed" night. We went out to eat, then we were going to go see "Sherlock Holmes", but decided to just go home. CH & I ended up watching "The Help" followed by "Sweet Home Alabama". I think I cried more during "The Help" this time.

~ I found a recipe for Eggnog Rum Cake and decided to try it out, especially since I didn't do any baking before Christmas. The recipe didn't explicitly say whether or not to use the eggs that are on the directions on the cake box, but if you make it, put the eggs in. I took a chance and put them in, and it came out perfectly. For the icing, I made my own using 1/3 cup softened butter, 3 cups of sifted powered sugar, 1 1/4 cups of eggnog, and 1/4 cup of dark rum. After I mixed that up, I ended up adding equal parts of eggnog and rum until it was the consistency I wanted. At first I was going to make a glaze to drizzle over the cake, but decided against it at the last minute. The finished product:

I think I may have put just a little bit too much rum in the icing, but then again, is there such a thing as too much rum? I didn't think so.

~ The boys got me this bracelet for Christmas:

I was a little concerned when I opened up the box, because I have rather large wrists, but they were smart and got the biggest bracelet they could. And, it's just a little bit big (in that it slides a bit), but that's the way I like them. The charms have some significance. On the left is a bear: We've always called YS "YS Bear". The middle charm is a stone for OS, my nature boy. And the charm on the right is a bunny for MS, my "Snuggle Bunny". And, since it's a charm bracelet, CH and the boys won't have to think real hard about what to get me for birthdays, anniversaries, and Christmases.

~ CH also got me this:

Now I can cook like the Southern Queen, y'all!

When we were in Heathrow for our last meal in England, our server was wearing the most incredible perfume. She told me what it was, and we looked at it in the airport, but couldn't get someone to wait on us, so we didn't buy it. I looked around town for it but couldn't find it. A few weeks ago we were in Ross Dress for Less; I happened to glance at the perfumes, and there it was. So I got that, too

~ I'll catch y'all next year! I hope everybody has a safe NYE!

Thankful Thursday #1

2011-12-29T08:51:00.000-05:00

My friend Rebecca at The Road Home hosts "Thankful Thursday". Rebecca is an incredible woman and blog author who just happens to love WVU football. If you have a minute, go visit and join in! As I think back over the past week, I realize that I have a lot to be thankful for.

~ I'm thankful that I have a husband who hasn't given up on me. Even though I know I'm hard to live with sometimes, he has stuck with me for 27 years. He has been very patient with me, and has helped me grow into the woman I am.

~ I'm thankful for my boys. Even though they're hard-headed (they get that honestly, though!), I'm so very thankful that I was able to have 3 healthy boys.

~ I'm so very thankful that I still have my parents with me. My mom just celebrated her 82nd birthday, and my dad is 86. They're both in relatively good health, still live in the same house where we grew up, and are still independent.

~ I'm very grateful that I found the blogging community. Even though I've never met most of you in person, the words of encouragement are so much appreciated. And the honesty! Y'all aren't afraid to tell it to me like it is, which really helps me out when I need it!

So, there's my first installment of Thankful Thursday. Head over to The Road Home to meet Rebecca and join!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-12-28T08:39:00.001-05:00

Time to get back into the swing of things with the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Here are the Q&A's fro this week:

1. Share something you loved about your Christmas Day.

I loved the talk that OS & I had. It was a grown up conversation, and we were both very honest about our feelings.

2. You get to put five items in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years, what items would you choose and why?

1. Something from apple, 'cause in 100 years they're not going to believe how primitive we were in 2011!

2. HD tv (see #1)

3. Laptop (see #1 again)

4. Paula Deen book (because I love her, even with all of her flaws)

5. NCIS dvds just because the cast is the most awesome thing ever.

(Yes, I realize how superficial these things are, but I'm in one of those moods to not be thinking too deeply!)

3. What do you like on a cracker?

Peanut butter. Or cheese. OR, Harry & David has this relish stuff that you pour over cream cheese to serve, then spread that on crackers. Very good stuff!

4. Do you make resolutions at the start of a new year? How'd that work out for you this past year?

Nah; the times that I did I didn't keep them.

5. What's a song or song lyric you'll associate with 2011?

I've thought and thought about this one, and I just can't come up with something. (Party pooper)

6. How will you ring in the new year?

We're planning on being together with MS & YS. Looks like it'll just be the 4 of us.

7. What is something you look forward to in 2012?

OS graduating from college and hopefully getting a job.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

MS, YS, & I enjoyed a couple of nights of watching a movie. We watched Bridesmaids Christmas night, and, I have to say, it was funnier the 2nd time; I thought it was hilarious the first time I was it! The next night we watched "The Departed". MS has declared it his favorite movie...for right now anyway. I enjoyed watching "Eclipse" last night, and I have "The Help" waiting to be watched. I love to watch movies this time of year!

Head over to Joyce's to join in; don't forget to link up!

What I learned this Christmas

2011-12-26T15:32:00.001-05:00

If you came here looking for some feel-good, happy memories of our Christmas weekend, now is your time to move on to another blog. There's your warning!
Here's what I learned this Christmas:

~ Our boys are growing up and becoming independent with their own ideas about things...just as we brought them up to do. And I need to get used to it and move on.

~ Even though they may not admit it right now, the boys do care about traditions. When I called everybody to the table on Christmas Eve for pizza, MS said, "Is this our Christmas Eve Dinner?" Ummmm....yes. Yes it is. OS even made the comment that he couldn't believe we didn't have a Christmas Tree up. (Well, technically we
one up, but I took it down on the 23rd for a private reason.) MS also asked about the candy that I usually make. I made one batch of Tx. Millionaires for our next door neighbors (who supply me with pecans!), a small batch of Chocolate Covered Cherries for YS, and a batch of Red Velvet Truffles (for YS and our neighbors).

~ The Chocolate Covered Cherries were different than I usually make. My usual recipe calls for powered fondant, and I didn't have any. I didn't feel like driving up to the north part of the big city just for a bag of it, so I looked for a different recipe. I ended up mixing up a couple of different recipes (See, Candace, I can do it!). For the filling, I used 1 cup of powered sugar, and an even mix of Bailey's and the juice from the jar of cherries. Excellent! There was some left over, which will be great over vanilla ice cream or pound cake.

~ We were hoping to go to the Keys for a vacation...one last family vacation before OS graduates and (hopefully) gets a job. Turns out none of them wanted to go, even though they had plenty of opportunities to tell us in the past few weeks. Instead of a vacation, OS went back to the mountain to hopefully make some money at his new job as a ski/snowboard instructor, MS wants to visit friends for New Years in another state, and YS is just happy being a homebody.

~ Babies and Midnight Mass don't go together. Not when there were 4 other masses that they could've gone to. I'm all for tradition, but we never went to Midnight Mass when the boys were small. It would've been different if the parents of the crying babies had taken them out at the first peep, but they didn't. The Mass was beautiful, the church was gorgeous, the music was great. It would've been perfect if it hadn't been for those crying babies! (Yes, I realize that Jesus was a baby, and the season is all about him, but His parents didn't have the choice of 4 other masses!)

~One good thing came out of the weekend: OS & I had a good heart-to-heart talk on Christmas. I am proud of the man he's becoming. His dreams aren't what I would have expected from him when he was little, but he knows what he wants and is going after it. He had a really good semester in school, grade-wise; only 1 more to go! I'm envious of him: He has the confidence in himself to want to move out west by himself (or possibly with a friend...I'm not sure if he's planning on going with someone or not), get a job, and live out there. I don't know if I could've ever even thought about doing that when I was his age.

~ Next year I'll go back to decorating the house, and will fix a Christmas Eve dinner. We may not all be able to be together next year, but the boys are growing up and becoming independent...just as we raised them to be. And I need to get over it and move on.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-24T16:28:00.000-05:00

Here's wishing you and yours a very merry and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I'll catch back up with everybody after the New Year!

Picture taken from.whereistheoutrage.net

Also, Happy Birthday to my mother. When I was growing up, she was my best friend. I love you, mama!
(Wish I could post a picture of her on here, but I did find a clip of her birthday celebration from a couple of years ago You can see MS in the kitchen with 2 of his cousins. I have no idea where the rest of us were!)

FRIED!

2011-12-20T16:22:00.000-05:00

I need to take a bit of a break. I had my laptop open, but it was off. I thought the top to my water bottle was on tight, but it was just covered up. You know what I'm getting ready to say: A little bit of water splashed onto my keyboard. I wiped off the keyboard, put the hairdryer on cool and tried to dry it off. Later that evening, I noticed a couple of keys weren't working. So, I took the battery out, turned the laptop upside down, and went to bed. This morning, the laptop wouldn't even turn on. CH worked on it for a bit, then declared it dead. Looks like Santa's bringing me a new laptop for Christmas. The good news is that my data should all still be there, which is a good thing because I'm terrible at backing up things like, oh, say, pictures. I put all of our London pictures on a cd, so, yay me for getting that done. Then there are other things like: my checkbook that I didn't back up in a while. That's what I get for being so stinkin' lazy and not getting up to get the flash drive.
Lesson learned: close the laptop when not in use and keep it away from liquids.
Hope to be back very, very soon!

More Catch-up

2011-12-19T14:12:00.003-05:00

I just realized (at 1:54 pm) that the weekend is over, and I haven't caught up with Susan's photo challenge! Guess I'd better get off my keester and get going!
Day 17: Under the mistletoe
My sister volunteered to host a get-together for the fam on Saturday. Everybody brought a light snack, and we munched and visited. I knew she'd have mistletoe in her doorway:

One of my brothers took this picture of his sisters (minus the oldest):

Before anyone says (or thinks!) anything: Yes, I wear that sweater a lot during the holidays, especially (it seems) when I have my picture taken. And, before anybody says or thinks anything else: I am the youngest by 18 months (to the day) in that picture. We missed my oldest sister on Saturday. :(

Day 18: Cup of Cheer
I had to make some Buttered Rum-Spiced Cider so I could take this picture:

It was really, really yummy! You can find the recipe HERE.

I'll have to do more catching up tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Fragments

2011-12-16T01:00:00.001-05:00

Linking up with Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time!
~ Last week (or maybe the week before), Joyce asked about having guests over the holidays. I didn't think we were going to have any, but MS brought home a guest:

So much for my "no rodents in the house" rule. Pepper checks the room about 10 times/day to see if it's still there.

~ Sunday, the company CH works for had their Christmas Party. They rotate between an adult party and a family party; this year was the family party. We had lunch at a restaurant on the river, then a train ride in a coal train. There was a painted bear right before we boarded, and there were decorations in all of the little nooks & crannies:

~ On Monday & Tuesday, my students made these cute little candy canes while they were working on their targets:

I can't take the credit for the idea, although I can't believe I didn't think of this myself!

~ Wednesday, I saw this as I was walking into school:

Cute, huh? One of my students came to Speech with this:

~ One of my students told me that I was the best Speech Teacher in the whole world. He should know...he's had 3 of them and he's only in 1st grade! I told him that was the best Christmas Present I could ever ask for.

~ Yesterday was the blood drive for our SRO who is undergoing treatments for leukemia. We have a lot of rejects at one of my schools, thankfully I wasn't one of them! And, as an added bonus, we were given a choice to decline the t-shirt and donate 9 meals to Second Harvest Food Bank instead! So, the SRO and the community wins!

~Today's prompt for Susan's Photo Challenge is "Hippopotamus". Let me just say this: I have an awesome group of teachers that I work with. Teachers who don't question why your asking if they have hippos, they just give you not one, but three:

Mission accomplished!

Silver Bells

2011-12-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

Day 15 of Susan's Photo Challenge is Silver Bells. This one really stressed me out. I had NO idea it was going to be so hard to find those dadgum bells! I've been looking for them all month long! I found red bells, green bells, gold bells, but no silver bells. I thought I'd be clever and count these:

Get it? The bells of the horns? Yeah, I know it's lame, but it was the best I could do...or so I thought. Tuesday I walked into my room at school and glanced up at a wreath I have hanging on the wall:

Can you see it at the top of the wreath? There are 2 little silver bells!

I have no idea how I missed them all that time! My boys (and CH) would be quick to point out that I'm not the most observant person!

It still isn't too late to join in! Here's the link to The List.

Dashing to the Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-12-14T01:00:00.003-05:00

1. Do you put Christmas decorations in every room of your house? If not every room, what rooms do you decorate?

I usually do a little something in most of the rooms. Since I'm on strike this year, I have very little decorated. I used to have a little tree in each of the boys' rooms, but they weren't too "into" it, so I stopped doing that. I have a really sad little tree that I put up in the "man cave" that has the boys' hand-made ornaments on it, but it was just one more thing down there, so I wasn't planning on doing it this year anyway.

2. If you could visit one of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) which one would you choose and why?

Well, I've been to Denmark and spent a day in Sweden, but not in the winter. I have a Norwegian "brother" who was our exchange student when I was in 7th grade. I hope to get back to Denmark at some point and maybe venture into Norway.

3. What does the word faith mean to you?

Belief.

4. You can go back to your childhood for one day...what day and age would you choose?

I don't remember just one day from my childhood. If I have to pick (and I can see Joyce nodding her head and saying "yes, you HAVE to pick!"), I would say a day when we were on vacation in Texas seeing family. Those were some awesomely good times! Hot times, but still good!

(This is us minus the 3 oldest, circa 1973-maybe)

5. When did you last have 'punch'? If it's not too much trouble share your favorite punch recipe.

At my husband's cousin's 20th wedding anniversary over the summer. It was REALLY good punch! I don't have a punch recipe; I've never made it. I do, however, have a picture of CH's family (the ones that were there, anyway):

6. Do you fill stockings at your house? Are stockings opened before or after the bigger gifts?

Again, I usually do. I usually try to find little things to put in them, but they always get a pair of high quality, wool socks in them. The boys get into them while they're waiting on everybody to gather.

7. What takes your breath away?

I was looking at pictures the other day to put on pinterest, when I came across this picture:

The picture is of the "Trinitatis Church" in Copenhagen. It's right next to the Round Tower; in fact, while you're walking up the circular ramp in the Round Tower, if you look in a window, you can see the inside of it. I remember my first look...it took my breath away. We went inside:

These pictures just don't do it justice!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Today's prompt for the 25 December Daily Photos is "A decked hall". Sadly, my halls aren't decked out, but I've been sharing my schools' halls with you this month. Today I took some more pictures of my "mountain school":

The Auditorium:

One of the Kindergarten Rooms

The Hallway outside of the Kindergarten Rooms

The Cafeteria

The Hallway between 2 of the 2nd grade classrooms

One of the 3rd Grade Doors

Reindeer

2011-12-13T01:00:00.001-05:00

We're halfway through Susan's Photo Challenge! Here is a reindeer that one of the Kindergarten Classes made:

I have reindeer on my calendar in one of my rooms:

AND, I saw this cute tie in the mall a couple of weeks ago:

Gosh, now that I look at it, I'm not 100% sure it really IS a reindeer! It looks kind of like Scooby Doo, doesn't it?
I have this cute little reindeer that one of my SILs gave me a LONG time ago:

There were some little reindeer included in this Christmas Train I picked up from somewhere for a really good price. I figured all little boys need to have some kind of Christmas Train! The only problem I've had with it is that I've never found that "perfect place" for it.

Susan has 12 more items on "The List", so check it out and join in!

Photo Challenge Catch-up

2011-12-12T05:28:00.000-05:00

Since I didn't post over the weekend, I figured I'd better get caught up with Susan's December photo challenge.
Day 10: Away in a Manger
This is a necklace that I have. It's one of my favorite Christmas necklaces:

I also took a picture of the alcove at church. The whole manger scene isn't set up yet; Baby Jesus won't be put in until Christmas Eve Mass:

Here's my manger scene from last year. YS did a little decorating this year, so it looks a bit different:

I saw this manger scene as I was riding down the road. Growing up, our next door neighbor had one that she used to put out every year. It wasn't nearly this nice, but I was able to smile at the memory.

While I was on the lookout for a manger scene, I was so surprised that I couldn't find one outside of a church. Do you have one outside of yours?

Day 11: Ribbons and Bows
I have to admit: I didn't think ahead on this one. I snapped this picture of a tree in the restaurant where CH's company had the Christmas Party:

It came out blurry (like you couldn't tell!), but you can see the ribbons on it. And, here's a picture of my wreath:

Last but not least: Day 12
Something Sticky
This wasn't sticky when I took a picture of it, but once the little girl starting licking it, it was!

CH stopped this little girl who was going back to her seat after visiting Santa at the company Christmas Party. The grownups across the aisle looked really funny at me, until I told them what I was doing.
We're almost halfway through the Photo Challenge, but you can still join in the fun! Visit This Day! for the list and start snapping!

SANTA!

2011-12-09T05:27:00.001-05:00

Here we are on Day 9 of Susan's Photo Challenge. I have a lot of Santas, most of them ornaments that were given to me. My favorite Santa is one that my MIL gave us:

When you turn it on, the snow flies and it plays "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Y'all know that I have to show off some artwork from school! The Kindergarteners at one of my schools have been as busy as little elves this past week:

The First Graders have been a little busy, too:

This is one part of "Elf" that makes me laugh every time I see it:

Visit Susan's to play along. Tomorrow's prompt: Away in a Manger.
Today I'm also playing along with Follow Friday 40 and over at Never Growing Old

Day 8: Stamped & Addressed Cards

2011-12-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, this one was a little tough for me because I don't send cards. Call me a Grinch or a Scrooge, I just think it's a waste of time & money. Plus, a lot of the people I would send cards to never reciprocated, so I would end up feeling like the friendship was one-sided and then get upset about it. (Man, that sounds like I have some major issues!) Bottom line: I just don't think it's worth it.
I took a picture of the 3 cards I've received so far, and one of them was from the manager at Starbucks!

The kids at school were BONKERS yesterday. With the combination of the weather and being close to Christmas, they were completely out of control. We had rain all day, it was very gloomy outside, and then the temperature fell. BINGO. Whoever thinks that the barometric pressure doesn't affect kids like the full moon needs to spend a day like yesterday in a school. Surely it can only go up hill from here. Only 5 1/2 days 'til break.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-12-07T01:00:00.000-05:00

1. Will you be hosting any house guests between now and the end of December? Does that thought make you happy or crazy? Do you do anything special for your guests to make them feel at home? How long should a house guest stay?

No, we won't be hosting anyone. My family was always a firm believer in staying home for Christmas; I'm not sure how much CH's family traveled during the holidays.

2. Walter Elias Disney was born this week (December 5) back in 1905 ...what's your all time favorite Disney movie? Here's a list in case you're struggling...and yes, you have to pick one.

Old movie: The Jungle Book

Holiday movie: The Santa Claus

Newer movie: The Princess Diaries

3. What was the last thing you purchased that you realized was a mistake after the fact?

I honestly can't think of anything that I have buyer's remorse about. I used to be an "impulse shopper", but now I'll carry it around in the buggy for a while and make sure I really want to spend money on it.

4. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done online?

I usually do very little online.

5. Amaryllis-snowdrop-poinsettia...your favorite winter blossom?

Poinsettia. To me, nothing says winter or Christmas like a red poinsettia.

6. What is one thing on your personal Christmas wish list? I think we all want peace on earth so let's make this answer an actual item.

CH has been asking me what I want, and I honestly don't have anything I want.

7. If you could only use one word today what would it be?

"Rainy". I'm writing this on Tuesday night, and it's been really rainy here today. Warm, and rainy. There's a cold front coming through tomorrow, and we may see some of the white stuff falling Wed. afternoon. Here's what it looked like outside of my room at school Tues.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm actually going to have a couple of thoughts here:

1. YS had his Christmas Concert Monday night. The band is sounding better and better every year.

He participated in Tuba Christmas on Saturday. I would LOVE to get him to NYC next year for it. It's definitely worth an hour of your time to sit and listen to these musicians play for the sake of loving to play. Tuba Christmas is a world-wide event. To see when/where one is in your area, check out this site: TUBA CHRISTMAS

2. The photo challenge for today is "A wreath with a red bow". Here are a couple of wreaths above a couple of the Kindergarten Classrooms at one of my schools:

C'mon, y'all! It's not too late to get started with Susan's photo challenge, and it's not necessary to have a "big girl camera"! The list is here.

Day 6: A Candy Cane or 5

2011-12-06T05:46:00.000-05:00

Day 6 of the photo challenge is " A Candy Cane or 5". I searched high and low at school on Monday for a stinkin' candy cane. Plenty of Santas and Reindeer, but no cutesy art projects with candy canes. No real ones, either, for that matter. I noticed these Christmas Trees outside of a Second Grade Classroom:

Do you see what's on the trees? Not one, but FIVE candy canes!!! Here's the writing that went with them:

Sweet, huh?
It's still not too late to join in the fun with Susan at This Day! The link to the list is here. Susan assured me that it's not necessary to go in the order she has listed, but since it's listed in order, I have to do it that way! OCD? Yep, that would be me...maybe just a touch!

Days 4 & 5 of the Christmas Photo Challenge

2011-12-04T20:09:00.000-05:00

Today's item is "Presents wrapped under the tree". YS needed to get another pair of black slacks and a few other things, so CH, YS, & I headed out to town. I hadn't bought the first present when we left, so I took my camera along "just in case". We went to Arby's for lunch, and here's what I saw:

YS got what he needed, and we headed home. I found something for each of the boys, and CH bought something that I had been looking for since we left London. I wrapped the boys' purchases, and mine, then put them under our tree:

A few people commented that they wanted to see our tree. So....here it is:

YS did a pretty decent job, especially since it was his first time. I put some of the ornaments on, but decided not to stress out and put all of them on. I also made a couple of decorations that I had seen in some different places:

Day 5 is "something warm and tasty". What else would I have besides something from Starbucks?

Starbucks is having their "12 Days of Gifting" with a special each day. Friday was a special on the 1 lb. bag of Christmas Blend Coffee. Who knew that if you used your gold card you got a free tall drink of your choice when you bought a bag of coffee? Sunday was a special on a mug; I chose the white one in the picture. The DC mug was a gift last year from my SIL.
I used part of my gift card for today's purchase. My drink of choice today was a Gingerbread Latte, my usual during Christmas.
As I was taking a picture of the few gifts we have under the tree, I had to snap a picture of Ally, my little princess:

Come on, y'all! It's not to late to join Susan and her photo challenge!

O Tannenbaum

2011-12-03T16:38:00.001-05:00

Today's picture prompt from Susan is "THE Christmas Tree". As of right this minute, YS (God love him) is putting up the tree. So, I took a couple of pictures of trees that I saw today. YS participated in Tuba Christmas, then we went to the big town for lunch and to go to a new sporting goods store. When we were leaving from lunch we saw a tree lot:

And, someone had just bought their tree(s):

The Tuba Christmas Participants played this song:
(the audio isn't that great because I used my cheapo camera to video it!)

After going to Susan's to link up, I saw the title for her post and had to laugh...we have the same title again! I promise I didn't copy her today!

Makin' a List

2011-12-02T16:56:00.000-05:00

I thought I was being clever with my post title, until I went over the Susan's blog and saw her title, which is exactly the same. No, I will not change it, and yes, that's probably where I got the idea!
Susan has provided a list of 25 items to find and submit a picture. I have a cheap, cheap, cheap point & shoot, so don't use not having a decent camera as an excuse not to play along!
Today's item: "A List". I'm pretty organized at work, but I don't really make lists. The only list I usually make is my grocery list. I use my calendar to make notes of things I need to do, but I just don't make lists.
I looked around school, and didn't see any hanging on the walls. I talked to a kindergarten teacher, and she said they don't do lists for Santa anymore since the paper has stopped printing them. What to do? I went to the librarian and asked if she had any lists. She gave me the funniest look; I told her I thought I'd just throw it out there and see what she came up with. She had plenty of lists, but none pertaining to Christmas. So, she pulled up a list of Christmas books on the computer:

That's not cheating, is it? :)
Come join in the madness...you know you want to! Link up with Susan at This Day!

Friday Fragments

2011-12-02T01:00:00.000-05:00

~ Has anybody tried this:

Oh.My. It's really good over pumpkin pie; even pecan pie.

~ Think I go to Starbucks too much? The manager gave me this when I went in on Tues. afternoon:

~ On Monday, Mr. Principal was doing the announcements, and he let everybody know that some bear cubs were seen on the school property over the weekend. (This was not my "mountain" school. This school isn't in town, but still isn't in the mountains.) Since it was a nasty, rainy day, there was no danger to anybody since everybody was staying inside. It's quite a problem this year: the bears are coming down looking for food.

~ When I was going home after getting the girls' food from the vet on Wed., I noticed that the mountains were all white. I pulled into a neighborhood to get a good picture, turned on my camera, and...nothing. The batteries were dead. I tried everything to get just a little juice, but, no go. They were beautiful, and the snow was gone yesterday. So, you'll just have to use your imagination and pretend that this picture was from Wed. and not last year:

Visit Mrs. 4444 and see how everybody's week was!

Day 1: Something Red

2011-12-01T19:48:00.000-05:00

Susan at This Day! is hosting a fun activity in December. It's kind of a scavenger hunt of sorts: She's listed 25 things; those of us who are playing take a picture and post it to our blog. I'm not sure how I'm going to get some of the items on the list, but I'll just have to be creative!
As I wandered around the halls at school today, I was looking for something red. I have a student who isn't in school yet; I only see him once a month and today was his day. He had a nice little gift for me, and it was RED! HOORAY! Here it is:

The boy knows how to give a perfect gift, no?

Go visit Susan and see what everybody else came up with it. Feel free to join in and play, if you want. The list can be found here. If you don't know Susan, it's worth your time to take a visit. She's a Harley-riding, Jesus-loving woman who is always on the go!

Strike!

2011-12-01T05:48:00.000-05:00

I had a good laugh on Monday night when I turned on Lifetime and saw this movie was on : On Strike for Christmas. I fell asleep during the movie, but what I saw depicted exactly how I felt.

Holidays are never what I expect them to be, especially now that the 2 oldest boys are in college. I always thought that when they reached this age, we would do more things together during the holidays. Can anyone say "Dream World"? Definitely not my reality. I was really hoping that we would have one night together. Playing a game, watching a movie, or watching a football game.
Wed. night we went out for dinner, then the 2 oldest were off to visit friends. Even Thanksgiving night they went to friends' houses. My initial hope was that we could all go for a hike together, as a family. But, CH wanted to go for a motorcycle ride, MS & YS didn't want to go, and OS slept late. By the time he got up, I was headed out to the Yankee Candle Shop to see what they had. So, he & a friend went hiking instead.
I don't think the boys realize how hard I work to make the holidays special for them, so they'll have memories and traditions to pass down to their kids. Maybe, being boys, they just don't care and/or it just isn't important to them. I guess we'll see this year, because I'm going on strike. I had plans to put up the Christmas decorations over the weekend, but because of the attitudes, I rethought that. In fact, I'm not going to go out of my way to do anything. If they want it done, they can do it themselves.
I've threatened that in the past, but didn't follow through because I didn't think it was fair to YS, but, now that he's 17, I think he can handle it.
I shed some tears this weekend in the privacy of my bedroom, and I'm just tired of feeling this way. Maybe my family has always been this way and I just hoped that it would change as the boys got older. I told the boys last year that all they had to do was tell us what they wanted to do as a family and we would do it. Did I hear any suggestions? Nope; not a one. We are a family of 5 who have 5 different interests. Guess I should just get over it and realize that this is how we are.

I'm not looking for sympathy; I just wanted to get this off of my chest and feel better about everything. It won't be too much longer and they'll have families of their own and won't be spending any holidays with us.

So...do you have the "dream family" and spend a lot of time together during the holidays, or does everybody do their own thing?

Wednesday Hodgepodge #55

2011-11-30T05:24:00.000-05:00

1. Do you send Christmas cards? If so about how many will you send this year? How do you display the cards you receive? Or don't you? (gasp!)

I don't send out Christmas cards. Call me crazy, but any kind of greeting cards seem like a big waste of money. When someone asks me for my address around this time of year, I make sure they know that I don't send them out. I usually display the cards we get around the door frame of the living room, but it won't be happening this year. See tomorrow's post to find out why! (Don't you just hate teasers?)

2. When do kids become adults?

Oh, geez! I hope somebody has the answer to this question, because I have a 23 year old who isn't there yet! And, there are times that I still feel like a kid and not an adult.

3. Does your 'beauty regimen' change with the seasons?

Nope.

4. What's something you like to eat that might cause another person to turn up their nose?

Peanut butter and celery is the only thing that comes to mind right away. I'm sure I'll think of a different answer in a couple of days!

5. Gloves or mittens?

Mittens, although I don't own any, I much prefer them if I'm going to be in the cold for a long time.

6. What's the longest queue you've ever been in? Was it worth it? Queue=line but doesn't queue sound nicer?

It would have had to have been at Disneyworld, and, yes, it was worth it.

7. Besides Christmas, what is one thing you are looking forward to in the month of December?

Advent. (See yesterday's post) Oh, and Christmas break.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

There has been so much talk about the Catholic Church changing some of the words to the Mass lately. We finally switched completely over last Sunday, and I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about. Little things have changed here and there, but nothing real drastic. I've heard/read several priests commenting that it will make all of us actually think about we're saying. Now there's a novel idea! I am a bit peeved that we had to change some of the music, especially to the Lamb of God. Our choir sang this beautiful arrangement: acapella with beautiful harmony...it brought me to tears. Now they're having to sing some arrangement that goes along with the other music, and it stinks. I want my "Lamb of God" back!

Advent 2011

2011-11-28T20:46:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday was the 1st day of Advent 2011. I love this time of year in the Catholic Church. We wait in the dark for the coming of our Savior, as a baby. (Just got a flash of Ricky Bobby praying, "Dear Lord Baby Jesus"!) I remember being so excited to eat supper so that we could light the Advent wreath each night. (Even though that meant one of my brothers trying to blow out the candle when it wasn't his turn. There were plenty of arguments and tears - and tattling - during those nights, too!) Lighting the pink candle was super exciting, because that meant that Advent was halfway over, and we were that much closer to Christmas!
Father Christian had this video on his blog, and I wanted to share it with you.

Does your family do anything special for others during Advent/the holidays?

Meet Me on Monday

2011-11-27T21:15:00.000-05:00

Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!

Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!

Java will add a linky so we can follow who participates and get to know them better!! Be sure to link the POST and not just your whole blog!!

Questions:

1. I really need to clean my _________?
Java, you started off with a hard one! I just cleaned like crazy a couple of weekends ago, so I don't know of anything in my house that just needs to be cleaned.
2. What food makes you think of Christmas?
Homemade candy. My mom used to make a bunch of it. After we got older, we would bring tins home and fill them up. Mom would put all of the candy out on the kitchen table, and we would fill them up with what we wanted. Then, we each got a collection of recipes for Christmas with a surprise: she was going to stop making anything.
3. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?
29. Because that's how old I tell people I am, anyway! :-)
4. What was your first paying job?
The basketroom at the swimming pool. I babysit a few times before that, but I have to admit I wasn't a very good one...I didn't enjoy it very much.
5. Have you read the Twilight series?
Ha! I just saw the first movie on Halloween. I've heard that the books are really good...maybe I'll get around to it. I've also heard that the "Sookie Stackhouse" books are good...and geared more toward adults.

Friday Fragments

2011-11-24T22:06:00.000-05:00

~ Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. It was just CH, the boys, and myself for dinner. My parents came up the street to eat with us. This was the year for my side of the family to be with our in-laws, but since a family member just had some major surgery, we stayed home. Here's a picture of my parents right after dinner:

~ Thanksgiving Dinner turned out great...except for the ham. Guess I left it in the oven too long, but on the bright side: the turkey was really good. I found a recipe for cooking the turkey breast in the slow cooker, so I opted to cook it that way to free up my oven. When I got a new oven a few years ago, we debated getting a double oven but decided to just get a single. I don't really need a double oven...except during the holidays. Somehow it all worked today and it was timed perfectly...except for the ham, but that was totally my fault.

~ My Christmas decorations are going up this weekend. I don't think I've ever put them up quite so early. Before we moved to Tn., we had real trees so I didn't want to decorate too early and have the tree die before Christmas. Then, once we moved, it was still football season until the first weekend of December. This year, football is over and there's no reason not to go ahead and put it up.

~ I think it's very sad that last night was the last time Texas and Texas A&M will play football. I thought for sure this rivalry would continue even though A&M will be in the SEC. A&M has such great traditions surrounding this game. Don't know what I'm going to do if A&M plays UT (THE UT, not Univ. of Tx.!)...I guess it won't matter to me who wins.

~ We have a chance of rain/snow mix Sunday night into Monday. The high on Monday is only suppose to be 45. And...the heat in my room isn't working. Guess I'll be a nomad on Monday and work in a different room. Should be great fun. Last winter it was broken, and it took them until almost the Spring to get it fixed. It got old real quick.

Linking up with Mrs. 4444!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2011-11-24T07:09:00.000-05:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thankful for the Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-11-23T19:52:00.000-05:00

Joyce has taken time out of her busy week to come up with some new questions for us! Feel free to join in by clicking on the above button, copying the questions and providing your answers!

1. Let's start with something controversial...dressing or stuffing? What's it called at your house and what's included in your recipe...cornbread? oysters? sausage? chestnuts?

Dressing. Southern style with cornbread.

2. Who do you sometimes compare yourself to?

I try very hard not to compare myself to anybody. I spent a good part of my youth doing that, and I'm comfortable being me at this time in my life!

3. When were you last inside an airport?

Oh, goodie! An easy one! It was on 8 Oct., when we came back from London.

4. What is one side dish that absolutely must be included in a turkey dinner?

Sweet potato casserole.

5. What Christmas song do you dread hearing?

Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton. That song just rubs me the wrong way for some reason.

6. If someone approaches you and asks for money do you give it to them? Do you drop money 'in a tin cup' that belongs to a person on the street? Do you have a specific charity you support during the holiday season and/or year round?

I don't know that I've ever had anyone come up to me and ask for money. And, we don't have people sitting on the corner in the Small Town with tin cups! I try to give to various charities through out the year, especially my church.

7. Share a favorite Thanksgiving memory. If you live in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving share a favorite memory associated with food.

The year: 1987. The place: NYC. I was the guard instructor for Dalton (Ga.) High School, and we went to the Macy's Parade. Here's a clip:

I wrote about this last year, but all the memories came flooding back in the past few days. One of my college friend's daughter left yesterday morning because her high school band is going to the Macy's Parade. I told her that was something she'd remember her whole life.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I've gone to the grocery store & package store, made the pies, and have given the girls their baths. On the agenda today: Take Pepper to the vet for her shots, work out, make the cornbread for the dressing, and wait for the boys to come home! It's nice having the day off so I can enjoy tomorrow!

Best Kind of Weekend

2011-11-22T06:06:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was the best kind! I feel rested and ready to go for this very short week. CH was out of town so it was just YS & me; Friday night I had the house completely to myself since YS was at the football game. I turned on the tv to the Hallmark Channel and watched those sappy Christmas movies all weekend. I think I'm getting into the Holiday Spirit after watching those! When the movies got too ridiculous, I cleaned the house. I had neglected my housekeeping duties for too long; it felt great to have the house all clean and all of the laundry done. I didn't even watch any football this weekend; that's rare for a fall weekend.
Friday night the Small Town lost a heartbreaker. I listened to the game on the internet radio...well, I thought I did, anyway. There was 2 minutes left in the game, and we were about to score to put the game out of reach. The announcer said that the sweep had worked for us the whole half, so he expected that play to be a sweep. It was 4th down and 8 to go, and we went for it: on a play other than the sweep. So, the other team ended up taking over at around the 40 yard line. This other team is a really good passing team; it didn't take them long to go down the field and score, putting them up by 3. At that point, there was about a minute to play, so I figured it was over and turned the radio off. When I was the score in the paper the next day, I thought they had made a mistake because it had the other team winning by 1 point. In overtime. The Small Town made a field goal in the last seconds of the game to tie the score; each team made a touchdown in overtime, but the Small Town's extra point was blocked. The kicking game has been a problem all year. This team just didn't seem the same as in year's past; it was almost as if they expected it to be handed to them, or they just didn't really care, or something. I was talking to a football mom a few weeks ago, and she made the comment that this group of boys are the first ones that didn't play all the way from peewee together. Obviously it made a difference. So, the high school football season comes to a close for us. YS said that's the proudest he's ever been to say he's from Small Town High.
Sooo...all the laundry got done (but none on Friday night because the washing machine is in the basement and I was alone AND I'm such a "scaredy cat" when it comes to dark basements!) and the house is clean. AND, I learned how to play Words with Friends and Hanging with Friends, along with downloading Angry Birds Rio. On top of that, I finished a free Kindle book that was just heartbreaking. Oh! And I was able to catch up on reading some blogs, which turned out to be a good thing because I had completely forgotten to bake something for the CCW bake sale for church! My friend, Patty, had a quick recipe for Pumpkin Muffins. Her daughter made them for the Women's Guild Bake Sale at their church. I posted the recipe on Facebook, and it was the talk of the school yesterday! Thanks, Patty &Sally!
Sunday afternoon, MS came home for some tomato soup & grilled cheese sandwiches, and he brought a couple of pledges home with him. It's "Hell Week" for them, and he was nice enough to bring them home for showers, food, and a nap. CH said he talked to him yesterday, and MS told him they were going to the cafeteria to eat: Since it's Hell Week, the pledges had to give the brothers their meal cards so they could eat off of them! Those poor boys! The 2 that came over appeared to be in good spirits, though. Tonight is their initiation, so they'll officially be "brothers" before they start finals in 2 weeks.
CH got home around 7:00, just in time to relax a few minutes before dinner.
How was your weekend?

Meet Me on Monday

2011-11-20T21:34:00.000-05:00

Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!

Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!

Java will add a linky so we can follow who participates and get to know them better!! Be sure to link the POST and not just your whole blog!!

Questions:

1. I wish I had more time to _________?
Read more.
2. What is your favorite kind of soup?
Taco Soup. When I get soup at Olive Garden, I always get their minestrone. YUM!
3. Where will you eat Thanksgiving dinner?
At my house. This is my side of the family's "off year" (the year to be with in-laws), but we decided to stay home and have a nice, quiet Thanksgiving at home. It will be a little strange this year: This is the first Thanksgiving weekend in 8 years when we won't have a high school football game to go to. Yes, the Small Town High School lost on Friday by 1 point in overtime.
4. What is your favorite time of day?
Afternoon. Say, around 3:00 when I get to leave work! In the summer it's early morning, before everybody gets up and I have the house to myself.
5. Did you start Christmas shopping yet?
No. I've thought about what to get my MIL and SIL on my husband's side. I don't think we're planning on doing a whole lot of gift-giving this year with the boys. And, with my side of the family, we don't do gifts. It's too much of a hassle; it's more fun to just get together and eat!

Friday Fragments

2011-11-17T20:16:00.000-05:00

Mrs. 4444 gives us the opportunity to wrap up the week in short little snippets, then go and catch up with everybody else!

~ CH bought me a new tablet last weekend. We saw a Vizio Tablet that was on sale, so we went for it. It's an Android. No offense to you iPad/iPhone lovers, but it burns me up that one company can corner the market on something so cool. I refuse to spend my own money on buying an apple product for myself. (We won't discuss the iPhone that I bought OS for his birthday, so don't go there.)

~ I've found the joys of Words with Friends and Hanging with Friends. I'm just learning, so during my first game with WWF I got my butt handed to me. Then I got smart and found some "helper" sites online. Yeah, I'm cheating, but, so what? It's only 'til I get the hang of it, and it's with people I don't know, so it's like practicing, right? I would never cheat with somebody I know!

~ The stomach bug is gone. YAY! It was rough, let me tell you. I went back to work on Thurs. to find the principal and the nurse out, leaving the secretary by herself in the office. She had been out on Wed. with the bug. Being the good friend I am, I shared my Ginger ale and peanut butter crackers with her, and we made it through the day.

~ Aunt Flo decided to make her appearance yesterday. Guess it could've been worse...she could've come knockin' a couple of days earlier to make me totally and completely miserable. (TMI?)

~ The Small Town High School's football team is still in the playoffs. They beat the #1 team in our quadrant 48-0 last Friday. Tonight they play the team who was beat us for #1 in our district. The other school has been playing football for 6 or 7 years, and this was the first time they beat us. We've knocked them out of the playoffs for the past 5 or 6 years, so we'll see how it goes tonight.

~ Is everybody ready for Thanksgiving? I haven't even started to think about it. Guess I'll need to do that in the next day or two, huh?

Don't forget to head over to Mrs. 4444 and see how everybody's week was!

New Year Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-11-16T01:10:00.000-05:00

Can you believe we've been doing the Hodgepodge for a year already? And, Joyce doesn't appear to be running out of new questions for us!

1. What song reminds you of a specific time in your life and what is it about that song that makes you remember?

Just about any song from the late 60's, early 70's takes me back to the community swimming pool, which was the local hangout during the summer when I was growing up. People would have blankets laid out in the grass, and their radios blaring. Not a whole lot has changed at the pool since I was little, except for the remodeling of the concessions/changing rooms. Good times!

2. What's something you've given up on?

Purchasing a flute. I honestly just don't have the time to get started on that.

3. What's something you'll never give up on?

My kids. Even though there are times I just want to throw my hands up, I know that they're good boys with ambitions that may not be what we want them to do, but we raised them to be independent and go after what they want.

4. If you had to cook something from scratch in the next hour what would it be?

Crepes. It's time to go to the grocery store, so I have NO meat in the house right now!

5. Have you started Christmas shopping? Decorating? Listening to Christmas music?

Absolutely not. I have a strict policy not to decorate or listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. That's usually when I start my Christmas shopping, too.

6. What do you know about your parent's wedding?

I know that they had a full-blown mass wedding with a sit down lunch at the reception. My mom's brother married them, and one of my dad's sisters was a bridesmaid. One of mom's sisters was the matron of honor, and one of my cousins was the ringbearer. When we had their 50th wedding anniversary, the only person from her side of the wedding party who wasn't here was her sister. Without looking at pictures, I'm not sure who was on my dad's side of the wedding party. I'm pretty sure one of his brothers was the best man, but I'm not sure who else was in the wedding.

7. I can't believe I ___________________.

Actually got to go to Wimbledon! I never in a million years thought I would ever get to tour the centre.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

The nasty stomach bug has made its presence known in our house. CH had it Sunday night, and I got it Monday night. My stomach hasn't hurt like that in an awful long time. Yesterday was the worst day this week this could've happened: I had to call a parent at 6:45 a.m. to let him know that I wasn't going to be at work, so I would have to reschedule his 7:45 meeting. He told me that he had to get off of work an hour early to come, so that made me feel awful, but there was NO way I could've even made it to the school. I was suppose to work the basketball gate at one of my schools that evening, so the secretary said she'd find somebody to either work for me or switch with me. On top of all of this, I have bus duty this week. I found somebody to take my place (for a price, though!) so I'm out of school again since my stomach is still very queasy.

I'm not sure what the deal is this year: I usually am able to avoid the stomach bugs going around, and only have 1 cold during the winter, but this year I already have had 2 colds and this stomach thing. Guess I need to stock up on Airborn and make sure I take it.

Hope the bug has missed your house, 'cause this isn't fun at all.

Link up with Joyce and see how everybody else answered!

In the News

2011-11-14T19:28:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a post like this in a while, but a couple of stories in the papers (1 local, 1 from the big city) need to be shared! So, here we have News in/around the Small Town Area:

1) In a town about an hour away from here (and smaller than the Small Town), a woman stabbed her 1st cousin with a pair of scissors because she wanted a relationship, and didn't want to be a "booty call". Yes, I said "1st cousin". At the end of the article, it is reported that the woman had consumed 1/4 bottle of Everclear, and he had consumed 1/2 of the bottle. In his mugshot, he has a couple of bandaids on his face. This town makes the Small Town seem very metropolitan!

2) A woman from a mountain area in the county was arrested for stealing some jeans from Sears; she was seen leaving the store with 3 pairs of jeans in her pocketbook. She got caught because she reported her car stolen from WalMart the next day. She left the car running because she was having problems with the starter, and she reported that it was almost out of gas and the brakes weren't working properly. To top it off, the license plate was for a different car because she borrowed the plate from a friend.

You can't fix stupid, people.

Meet Me on Monday

2011-11-13T21:47:00.000-05:00

Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!

Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!

Java will add a linky so we can follow who participates and get to know them better!! Be sure to link the POST and not just your whole blog!!

Questions:

1. Does your family/friends know about your blog?
Yes, they do. There are times when I wish they didn't, 'cause I'd really like to cut loose sometimes!
2. What is your favorite card game?
I haven't played cards with adults in YEARS. I always liked a good game of "Slap Jack" when I was younger!
3. What do you wear to bed?
I wear a tank top thingy and panties. I may get in bed with pj pants, but they don't last very long these nights.
4. What is your favorite kind of French Fry?
Plain. With a side of honey mustard.
5. What is your usual bed time?
Usually around 10:00. Sometimes it's a bit earlier, but I try to get in bed by 10:00.

TSMSS: When Love Takes You In

2011-11-12T09:13:00.000-05:00

Wow. I can't believe I haven't participated in this since July! This is a video that a friend shared on FB. Her son and daughter-in-law just adopted a little boy from Uganda; it was a long, drawn out process, but they finally got to bring their son home. I have another friend whose daughter & SIL (she babysat our boys when we were in SC) have made the decision to adopt a little girl from the USA; they already have 2 boys, and after a lot of soul searching, decided not to adopt internationally, but to stay close to home. Since adoption isn't cheap, she is photographing families to raise money to bring their little girl home. So, if you're in the Charlotte area and need a family photo, look her up! (Sorry for that shameless plug!)
And, of course, I have a friend, Patty, who adopted a little boy from Korea. I haven't met him in person, but that boy already has my heart!

Friday Fragments

2011-11-11T06:20:00.002-05:00

~ Tonight may or may not be the Small Town's last football game. If it is, this will be the shortest season in 8 years.

~ YS is ready for football to be over so they can get started with the concert music.

~ Plans for after school today: workout, go home, take shower, put on jammies, and curl up on the couch. Looks like a good night for the first "The Family Stone" viewing of the year.

~ Sad news: The School Resource Officer (SRO) at one of my schools got some bad news this week: his cancer has returned. He went yesterday to get his port. It's not looking too good. He's a wonderful SRO: the kids LOVE him, and he's very involved with the faculty. Prayers are welcome.

~ As I headed up to my "mountain school" yesterday morning, I was able to take in the colors on the mountains. It seems like they're hanging around longer than usual this year, and they are absolutely gorgeous. I'd better get up to the parkway/cove this weekend to get some good pictures.

~ MS' high school friend/teammate who kicked during UT's game last week is traveling to Arkansas with the team this weekend. He probably won't get in the game, but at least they're not leaving him behind!

~ We had quite a dilemma yesterday: YS wanted to go the game store for the midnight release of some new game. It was a school night, so we had to make a decision. Being the good parent I am, I totally left it up to CH to decide. The game has already been paid for, and apparently the store was having some party leading up to the release. It's beyond me how anybody could spend 4 hours in a video store. Yes, he got to go. :) And, he was up at 5:45 this morning to get a round in before school.

~ I went to a workshop last Monday; there were only 6 people there, and 4 of us are from the same school system. We got some great ideas, and were able to interact with the speaker and pick her brain on some stuff. I love going to workshops that get you fired up about your job!

~ It's going to be pretty cold here...what's it like where you are?

**Linking up with Mrs. 4444 (Friday Fragments) and Java (Follow Friday 40 and Over).

Don't forget to thank a Veteran today! We wouldn't enjoy the freedom we have without them!

Unbelievable Story

2011-11-08T06:01:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, the Big Orange had their homecoming game. The 1st string kicker was hurt, so the 2nd string kicker started warming up, only to pull a muscle during warm-ups. The coaching staff ended up calling the 3rd string kicker, who was on the couch watching football games. They called, but the kicker didn't answer. They called back, but the call dropped due to poor reception. They called again, and the kicker went outside to get the call. (All of this happened 50 minutes before the game was suppose to start.) They told him that they were sending a policeman to get him to the stadium.
As he's getting in the car, he calls his parents and tells them he's getting into the cop car, but then he ended the phone call. Can you imagine what was going through the parents' minds at that point?
He made it to the game on time, made 3 extra points and 1 field goal, and was handed the game ball. What makes this story even funnier is that he graduated with MS! He was the kicker for the football team until the 2nd playoff game of their junior year, when he chose soccer over football. We're still chuckling today about the whole story.

Meet Me on Monday: It's back!

2011-11-07T06:33:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've participated in this one, so I thought I'd link back up today! (Especially since I'm too lazy to write my own post today!)

Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!

Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!

Java will add a linky so we can follow who participates and get to know them better!! Be sure to link the POST and not just your whole blog!!

Questions:

1. Are you excited for the holidays or are you dreading them?
I'm looking forward to having all of the boys home, at least for a little while. Since the boys are older and prefer money, Santa doesn't bring as much stuff which eases up on the workload a bit!
2. Do you hit the snooze button or get right up?
I usually have to get right up, since the girls know that when it goes off it's time for them to go outside and do their business. This includes smelling all of the smells from overnight animals in the yard.
3. Do you still have your tonsils?
Yes. I was suppose to have them out in jr. high, but just didn't have time for it. It's really strange, but I rarely get strep/tonsillitis.
4. What was the last piece of candy that you ate?
Hmmmm...it could've been a Twix, Milk Dud, or Butterfinger. (Left over Halloween candy.)
5. Do you shop at thrift stores?
No. I know people who have found great things there, but I just haven't had time to get in there and dig around. On the radio a couple of days ago, I heard the phrase "Dig Store". It's another name for a thrift store, since you have to get int here and "dig" around! I've never heard that phrase before, but it fits, doesn't it?

Have some fun and go visit Java...she's a pretty fun girl!

Friday Fragments

2011-11-04T08:12:00.001-04:00

Linking up with Mrs. 4444 today!
~ Pumpkin Pie PopTarts. 'Nuff said.

~ Pumpkin Spice Latte to go along with the poptarts = What more could you ask for?

~ Starbucks is donating the first $5,000,000 (yep, that's 6 zeros) to an organization that helps small business owners in the USA get on their feet to keep jobs in the USA. Donate $5 and get a wristband. I got mine this morning; have you gotten yours yet?

~ It's the last home game for Small Town High: the first week of playoffs. For the first time in 8 years, we aren't the top seed. In fact, we're the #4 seed in our quadrant. A win tonight means we travel a couple of hours next week to face #1...as long as #1 wins tonight. Should #1 lose, we'll have another home game, which is very doubtful! Looks like we'll have a Thanksgiving weekend without high school football this year.

~ Meetings are slowing down at work...which means I can take a HUGE breath. October is such a busy month. Sayonara, October!

~ I'm loving the colors this fall. I thought they might be kind of dull because we had such a dry summer, but Mother Nature is not disappointing!

~ We finally have a weekend (besides tonight) with nothing on the calendar. There should be some good football games on tv tomorrow, so you'll know where to find me!

~ Hope everybody has a most excellent weekend!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-11-01T19:26:00.002-04:00

More great questions for us to answer, courtesy of Joyce! To play along, click on the above button, copy & paste the questions, answer them (DUUUH!), and don't forget to link up!

1. Who taught you how to cook?

No one, really. I'm self-taught! Mom taught me things like how to boil water, but I kind of had to learn by myself after I got married. It really isn't hard...as long as you can follow directions.

2. Have you been told you think too much? Are too much of a perfectionist? Are too sensitive? Were they right?
Think too much? NEVER. Perfectionist? Nope. Too sensitive? Yep! When I was younger, I used to be extremely sensitive. As I've gotten older, I've realized that it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks: It's more important to be comfortable with who you are instead of worrying what anyone else thinks of you.
3. As a child did you have a favorite blanket or toy? Tell about it.

I don't remember having a favorite. toy. I didn't have a favorite blanket, either, but I did have a thumb, which I sucked until I was pretty old.

4. What 'institution' do you have the most faith in?

Religion...get it: "faith" and "religion"? Honestly...if you don't have faith in religion, you can't have faith in anything else.

5. Chrysanthemums-pansies-burning bush-ornamental cabbage...your favorite in an autumn garden?

To me, nothing says "fall" like mums!

6. What superpower do the kids in your neighborhood seem to posses?

We have a couple of young boys right behind us, but we don't see them very often. They do like to jump on their trampoline, though.

7. Are you a fan of the cranberry?

Uh....no. Unless it's in muffins.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

As I was going down the stairs to get a group of students today, I saw this view:

I ran back to the room to get my camera (okay, I actually walked because you're not suppose to run in the school!) and went into one of the Kindergarten classes to get a better picture (because taking a picture for my blog is more important than working with kids on their /r/!!!):

Guess it was worth going to work today after all!

The Best Laid Plans

2011-11-01T06:13:00.000-04:00

If you read Auburnchick's blog, you may be having a sense of deju vu. I was flabbergasted when I read her post on Oct. 30. That post had the exact same title as mine is today, only I drafted this post and titled it on the 29th. Weird.

Small Town High's band competition was Saturday. Everyone was asked to bring something for the bake sale and something for the director's area (where they can "get away from it all" and get something to eat). Friday was cold and rainy. I decided not to go to the football game since it was away and, well, since it was cold and rainy! (I'm loving that I have a choice since YS doesn't play football!)
Here's how I pictured my Friday night:
I planned to go home after helping set up for the contest, clean the kitchen, and then start baking. Just me & the tv. Watching the football game. Nice & quiet.
Now, here's what actually happened:
When I was at the high school setting up, MS called and said he was bringing some friends over for tomato soup & grilled cheese sandwiches. What time was I going to be home?
There went my nice quiet night out the window. I ran by the store and grabbed some cans of tomato soup, cheese slices, bread, and butter. Then I went home and emptied the dishwasher, and started the cornbread for Mexican Trifle Bowl. I had started on Pumpkin Crisp when MS & 3 friends came in.
I put everything on hold, and got them fed. They hung around for a while (until MS took a shower), then headed back up to the university.
That's when I finally got my peace & quiet. I cut the brownies for the bake sale and put them in sandwich bags, then realized I didn't think I had quite enough, so I made another batch and put it in the oven. Then, I looked at the Pumpkin Crisp and couldn't remember if I had sprayed the pan. Good thing I planned on making one for us: I made another one and popped it into the oven when the brownies were done. I had a few minutes before CH would be home from the game, so I popped a movie in. Yes, it was "The Holiday". YS came in and said, "The Holiday again?" It won't be too much longer and "The Family Stone" will be watched over and over.
It wasn't quite the night I expected, but it was nice to stay in and bake while the rain was coming down and the air was cold.

Weekend of Festivities

2011-10-31T06:37:00.000-04:00

What a weekend! My Friday School always has a costume parade before Halloween, but only for the Kindergarten children. All of the other grades line the halls and clap as they come by. Here are a few pictures:

Friday was cold and rainy, so I opted out of the football game. I spent the evening baking for the band competition we hosted on Saturday. (More on that tomorrow.) This was the first time that the school we played has ever beat the Small Town. After winning the state championship for 7 years in a row, it looks like the reign is over. This is a different team: I don't know if they've just become complacent, don't care, or don't have the talent as in the past. I guess all good things must come to an end! It would be nice to not have to make decisions about Thanksgiving based on a high school football game.
Saturday was our band competition. We had 20 bands compete, and things went pretty smoothly. We had planned on setting up tables on Friday night, but since it was raining had to wait until Saturday morning to do that. Things were pretty hairy Saturday morning, but somehow everything came together. We stayed pretty busy once things got rolling.
Sunday we were invited to a Halloween Party. YS is friends with their oldest. They have a party every year for the kids, and the kids usually go trick or treating, but since today is Halloween and it's a school night, they thought it would be more enjoyable to have it on Sunday evening instead. The kids had a lot of fun:

(That's YS on the ground)

They played a game where everyone tied a balloon around their ankle, then they would try to pop each other's balloons. This was my favorite costume of the night:

My contribution to the treat table:

I saw them at the band competition last weekend, and thought they were really cute. They are just Nutter Butter Cookies dipped in white chocolate with mini chocolate chips for the eyes. Really easy!
Tonight will be just another night. We don't get trick or treaters because we live on a busy road, so it should be a relatively quiet night. Tomorrow will be interesting though; hopefully the kids will be off of their sugar high!
Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

Friday Fragments

2011-10-28T05:49:00.000-04:00

Linking up with Mrs. 4444 and Friday Fragments!

~ This week was Red Ribbon Week. I read several posts yesterday from "Proud Mommy Moments" that mentioned what their kids' schools did this past week. One of my schools didn't do a whole lot; I think they opted more for a couple of breast cancer awareness things, but the other school really got into it. We have a great SRO (School Resource Officer) who fits right in with the staff. He organized all of the events. Tuesday was "Character Day". One of the 3rd Grade Teachers dressed up as "The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly". This teacher is AWESOME. This is her first year at our school, and she not only fits right in, but makes things more fun.

~ Have I mentioned how glad I'll be when October is over? Having jury duty the week after fall break really made me put a crunch on my IEP meetings, since I couldn't schedule anything that week. I was suppose to have 10 meetings last week...that would be one at 7:15 a.m. and another at 3:00 p.m. every day. A couple of parents requested changes, so that spared me a little bit.

~ If I can just get through this weekend, things will calm down. Small Town High's band has our band competition on Saturday. This, along with the home game concessions, is our big fundraiser. Luckily the game tonight is away, so we'll be able to get some things set up this afternoon; we won't have to be at the school quite so early tomorrow. 20 bands have signed up; the competition starts at 1:00, and awards are given at 7:30.

~ When does the time change? Surely it must be soon. I don't like driving to work when it's pitch dark.

~ Anybody else watching "Revenge"? I almost made it through the whole episode last night, but I'm pretty sure I dozed off during part of it. I'm going to have to see what I missed on the internet.

~ Check out my new slippers:

Not only are they cute, but very comfy!

Hope everybody had a wonderful week!

Proud Mommy Moments

2011-10-26T20:41:00.001-04:00

I noticed 'Proud Mommy Moments" through a FB feed. I'd seen it before, but thought, "What in the world would I have to write about? My boys are all older." I decided to see what it was all about, and I think I can do this! Kmama & Emmy Mom have set this up for us. You can write about something you're proud of, or something you could die of embarrassment of...all because of your little (or big) darlings! And, you don't have to be a mom to participate!

On Sunday, MS brought 3 of his fraternity brothers to the house for dinner. During dinner, the boys' conversation turned to talking about their brothers who have "hot" moms. MS mentioned that one of the boys couldn't bring his mom to the house because she was just too hot, and all the boys would be hitting on her. The conversation was just hilarious, listening to them talk about some of the moms.
On Tuesday, MS went out to dinner with us. I told him that I wanted to apologize to him. He asked why, and I reminded him of the "hot mom" conversation that took place on Sunday. I told him I was sorry nobody could talk about his mom that way. He told me not to put myself down like that, and he said that I was the most beautiful mom in the world.
And that's why he has my heart...and was my favorite at that moment!

Link up with KMama to participate or just to see what everybody is bragging about/hanging their heads about!

Fab 50 Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-10-26T06:14:00.000-04:00

Wow. Have we really been doing this for almost a year already? Where does the time go?
Thanks, Joyce, for effortless coming up with questions for us every week!

1. What gives you goosebumps?

There are so many things that give me goosebumps: Hearing a high school marching band playing a song, listening to a story that is just incredible, or relaying an incident that was just weird.

2. Halloween-are you a lover or a hater? Okay, that sounds harsh...Halloween-yay or nay?

Yay if it's like it was when we were growing up. Nay now that it's different. I think it's so sad that the kids today don't get to experience real trick-or-treating: Going around to neighborhood houses and getting a stash of candy, whether you knew the person or not.

3. Can you respect someone you do not trust, and can you trust someone you do not respect?

I think it's possible to respect someone you don't trust, but I don't think you can trust someone you don't respect. (Where the heck did this question come from???) : =)

4. Apples or oranges? Yes, you have to choose.

Oranges. Especially in the winter.

5. What is something you wish was in your town? (shop, restaurant, attraction, etc)

Wild Wing Cafe. (That's for you, Karen!) I really love that restaurant. It's not real far from my house, but we don't get out there very often. It's hard to justify driving 20 minutes to eat wings when there are restaurants in the small town.

6. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer?

I have a couple of those ice things you put in your lunch box to keep the food cold.

7. Are you at all superstitious?

Not really. But, when the Braves were playing in the World Series in 1991, I think everybody was following the same ritual during every game.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Look what I saw as I came in the door the other day:

I don't know if Pepper (my jack russell mix) was trying to hide the food from Ally , or what was going on! Usually Ally will nudge the rug over the food (I guess to hide it from Pepper), so I'm not sure if it was maybe Ally hiding the food from Pepper. I would've loved to have had a "nanny cam" that day!

Last week, I met one of my favorite blogging buddies in real life! We've been trying to meet ever since I started blogging; she's one of the first blogs that I started reading, and she was one of my first followers. It was great! Nothing weird or awkward while we sat in Shoneys and ate dessert! (Thanks for dessert, Karen!) The picture is courtesy of Karen & her hubby:

Great Weekend

2011-10-24T21:23:00.001-04:00

I don't know about y'all, but October is a busy time in our house. It seems like we have something every weekend. We were gone the first 2 weekends to London, then the next weekend CH had a class, YS went to Oktoberfest, and I went to MS' fraternity family day. This past weekend, YS had a band competition near the university where OS is at school. I went up early (since it was OS' birthday) to spend some time with him. Being on that campus with the leaves changing brought back some great memories. I love that campus in the fall. Really beautiful!

When I got there, we went by an intramural football game that OS' fraternity was playing. No climbing on roofs for me this weekend! After that, we went to get a phone for him, followed by lunch. He took me into his dorm to see his room, and I was pleasantly surprised. The dorm has been renovated, and it looks pretty good. He and his roommate have loft beds (basically just a top bunk), so they have room under the bed for a desk. OS has enough room to have a love seat. It looked a lot better than when I was a student there, that's for sure!
After that, I drove to my sister's house, who lives nearby. We chatted for a while, then we drove over the stadium where YS was participating in a marching band competition. The venue was really neat:

The contest was called "Music in the Castle". The stadium is on the National Register of Historic Places. It opened in 1936 (doesn't sound so old after my London posts, does it?), and was built as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
One of the highlights of the day: I met up with a friend of mine from college. We lived across the hall from each other as freshmen (although I really didn't remember this...I thought we lived down the hall from each other). We lost touch our sophomore year, but reconnected during our junior (or maybe senior) year. She ended up being a little sister for the same fraternity that I was, AND, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have met CH. We kept up through the years, but hadn't seen each other since graduation. (We're not going to talk about how long ago that was!) Her daughter's high school band was playing as exhibition. It was just like old times...those years just melted away and it was like we had seen each other often. I got my sister to take a picture of us, and my friend made me promise not to put it on FB (I kept my promise), but my sister told her that I'd post it on my blog. My friend didn't say not to, so here it is:

The Small Town's band came in 2nd out of 3 bands in their class. I'm not sure how they divided up the classes, because I think we were the smallest or next to smallest band that was there. The band that came in first did a "gimicky" show. The band didn't play a whole lot; they had a fiddle, oboe, and guitar hooked up to speakers. When the band did play, you could barely hear them because the speaker was up so loud. Weird.
The band that my friend's daughter is in was HUGE. They had almost as many guard members as we have in the whole band. And the sound that came from them was amazing. That was the best band I've seen in a LONG time; maybe even ever. If you catch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year, you might catch a glimpse of them.
After the contest, my sister & I went back to her house to thaw out. Sunday morning we went to IHOP, and then to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. LOVE that store! I could spend hours in that store. I was going to go back by the university to pick up a bin from OS, but he said he decided to keep it. So, I headed back down the road.
All in all, a great weekend!

London: Half Day and Final Thoughts

2011-10-20T21:28:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning we woke up and wanted to do some last minute things. On our way to the bus stop, we went by a church that we had walked by just about every day. As we walked by, I said something about wishing it was open so we could see inside. Weeeeell, it was OPEN! And, it did not disappoint:

We took the bus to the Marble Arch to see where Tyburn Tree was:

I didn't know what Tyburn Tree was until the Big Bus Guide clued me in: This is where the public hangings took place. Before the person was hung, they would be taken down the street in a wagon, and were allowed to stop at a pub for one last pint. This is where the saying "One for the Road" came from.
Then, we walked over to the Marble Arch to get a picture of the Jelly Family Sculpture. Next to the sculpture is a fountain that gets cleaned every morning.

From there, we went by Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park one last time. I think CH really liked that area. Unfortunately, it was Saturday and things don't get jumping there until Sunday.

We walked through part of Hyde Park, then took a bus up to the Italian Gardens in Kensington Gardens. We didn't get to see much, because the gardens are undergoing some (what looked to be) major renovations. We just sat on a bench and took London in.

We saw some unusual/cute water fountains that we hadn't seen before:

We saw a plaque to William Forsyth, who developed the Forsythia. You learn something new every day!

As we walked back to the hotel one last time, I took some pictures of the sights in "our" neighborhood.

My last picture from England:

We had a newer plane going back to DC. The seats seemed to be larger, so we were glad we didn't spend the extra money to upgrade to the "more legroom" section of the plane. There was a very sweet older English lady sitting next to me; she was going to DC to visit one of her daughters. One of the movies I watched was "Bridesmaids". If you've seen that movie, you know how it starts: there's a pretty risque scene at the very beginning. I know my face was red, and I was hoping that the woman didn't look over at my screen until that section was over!

Going through security in DC was a breeze...almost. I didn't realize what was going on: they were scanning every other person, so stupid me just walked right on through the scanner. The lady gave me directions, so I stood there with my arms above my head, and heard a beeping. I walked on through, and she asked me if I had anything in my front pocket. No, I knew that I didn't because I had taken out some change that I had. Anything in my back pocket? No, I answered, as I felt my back pocket and realized that I had forgotten to take my Oyster Card (magnetic tube/bus ticket) out. So, that resulted in a little pat down of my right leg. After that, everything was smooth sailing. YS met us at the airport to take us home.

Final thoughts:

I felt very safe in all areas we went to, except King's Cross. The tube was an easy way to get around; the buses were more difficult. I definitely think being able to use the DC metro prepared us for the tube. I think if we had a bus route, we would've done much better and would've saved some time. I feel like we walked all over London!

Even though I had requested 2nd floor or higher, the basement room we had was great. Everybody we met was so polite; I don't think we encountered one rude person the whole time we were there. We had people on the bus asking us where we were trying to go (after hearing our "discussion" about which stop to get off) and offering advice.

There were several times we winced as we watched someone turning into traffic. I could definitely live there, as long as I didn't have to drive in London. I really hope that we can get back someday and see more of the UK.

Thank you for taking the time to read our London adventures. It was an amazing trip; I still can't believe I actually saw so many things I had only read about or had seen on tv/in the movies.

Thank you for bearing with me as I relive my vacation!

London Day 6

2011-10-19T23:19:00.001-04:00

This was our last full day in London. :( We started out at Harrods. It was so big, I had no idea where to turn! But it was so beautiful. I don't know how many pictures I took of the area around the escalators!

I had read somewhere that Harrods is the place to get souvenirs. That would be a big fat NO. As we were looking for the gift shop, we had to cross the art gallery. We stopped and talked to the lady that was working, to see if we could take a picture. She said that if there was a piece that we found interesting, we could take one. So, this is the piece I chose:

The artist is Lorenzo Quinn, son of actor Anthony Quinn. We also saw one of his pieces in Mayfair as we were looking for a bus. All of the pieces were absolutely gorgeous. And, if we had £87,000 to spare, we might have considered buying it!
We made our way to the Christmas Shop:

All I bought there was a Christmas Ornament. Even the cash registers were beautiful:

As we were leaving that department, I stopped one of the workers and asked her what we needed to make sure we saw before we left the store. She suggested the restaurant on the ground floor (which we had seen when we came in):

She also recommended the pet shop and the Georgian Restaurant. We went by the Chocolate Bar, but it was CLOSED. I couldn't believe it. I really wanted to go in there. We had to go through the "French Laundry" on the way to the Georgian.

The Georgian: Oh my goodness was it beautiful!

We saw a show on the television that night that was kind of a nicer version of "Hell's Kitchen. It looked like it had been filmed at that restaurant.
After we left Harrods, we made our way to Lambeth to the Imperial War Museum. We saw a place to eat that was actually in a church. As in, we ate sandwiches where they have services.

The Imperial War Museum was a bit out of the way, but it was in a quieter part of London. We saw a cool door in the sidewalk (I'm sure there was a story there), a good view of the London Eye, and a pub called "The Horse", which just happens to be the Small Town's Fight Song.

CH was in heaven. He saw a tank that he had never seen before. There was a wonderful Holocaust Exhibit, but I only made it around half-way through before I started tearing up. The Museum was really awesome with the exhibits they had. You could walk through a foxhole and sit through an air raid. There were a few school groups visiting that day, so it was pretty noisy, but definitely a must-see.
After the museum we went to Twinings Tea Shop on the Strand. If you don't know, the shop has been owned by the same family for 250 years. Seriously, y'all...that's longer than the USA has been a country. It smelled wonderful in that shop! I bought a couple of boxes of tea for a couple of coworkers that I eat lunch with, and then I bought a big box and a smaller box for us.

We hurried out of there so we could see the Horse Guard Inspection. Queen Victoria came through the gate to find none of the guards at their post; they were all drunk on ale. So, she ordered that for the next 100 years, there would be an inspection every day at 4:00. The 100 years ended about 30 years ago, but the tradition continues. It was a lot less crowded than seeing the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham (which we didn't go to), and probably a lot less stuffy. Before the horses went in, they were standing at their place. There's a sign that warned that the horses may bite, but there was a woman who had her picture taken right next to the horse. He turned his head and almost got a chunk out of her. After she moved, a young woman went up to have her picture taken, and almost had her foot stomped on. Of course I had to go up there, but I didn't get too close. CH got there just as the horse was going in for inspection:

The horses were beautiful. Check out one of the horse's tongue:

It stayed like that the whole time! And, the one closest to us had just about had enough:

Here are a couple more pictures from the inspection:

We were on a quest to find a church that was very different looking from the other churches. I could have sworn that the church was on the Strand, it sat back from the other buildings, and it was red brick with white "stripes" on it. As it turns out, we were in the right area, but not the right street. We never did find the church I was looking for (which is Westminster Cathedral), but we did happen upon St. James's Church. It was a nice surprise. There was a market going on outside of the church:

Inside, the church was gorgeous:

As you can see in the first picture, there was a pianist practicing when we walked in. It was so nice to just sit and enjoy the music, and get away from the noise and the hustle and bustle from outside. Several people (including a couple of homeless people) were taking advantage of the solitude. While we were in there, I noticed that my bag from Twinings was torn. I took a quick inventory, and didn't think anything was missing. When we got home and I was unpacking, I realized that I had lost the small box of tea that I had bought for us. At least it was the least expensive thing!

From there, we headed to Chinatown. I had only seen a Chinatown (in DC) from the car, so I wanted to walk through it and experience it. We were going to meet our friends (the ones who took us around Surrey), but they weren't able to make it. So, we wandered around for a bit. I think I was expecting more; I was expecting it to be bigger. CH found a buffet for £4.90. The buffet was small, definitely not what we're used to. There was just a few things on a round table, but it was good. The manager/owner/maitre d' (whatever this man was!) was exceptionally nice to us.

From there, we headed to the tube to ride out to King's Cross. On the way, we saw Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, M&M's World London, and the theater where James Earl Jones & Vanessa Redgrave are acting in "Driving Miss Daisy".

The reason for our quest to King's Cross was to see the Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. It took us a few minutes and a bit of wandering around to find it, since it's actually outside and not in the actual station.

I also wanted to see St. Pancras Station. I wish we had gone during the day, because the building just looked amazing. We got there around 7:00 on Friday, so there were a lot of crowds and policemen. This was the only place I didn't feel real safe. We saw more policemen in that area than we had the rest of the week put together. My pictures of St. Pancras didn't turn out because of the darkness. :(

As we were leaving, CH saw this plaque in the tube station:

There were a couple of girls from the big city next to us who were on that train when the bomb went off. CH just happened to see it as we were waiting for the train.

When we were checking the map to make sure we knew where we were going, a lady asked us if we were from London. We said no, and the lady asked us how to get to a certain station. CH explained how to read the map to her, and then a young man asked how to get to another station. It just happened to be the same station we were going to, so he followed us to the train.

We got back to the area of our hotel, got some souvenirs for the boys, and then called it a night. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-10-18T20:38:00.001-04:00

If you're looking for my London post, click here.

1. How do you typically react in a sudden, extreme, pressure-filled crisis? Would we want you nearby in an emergency?

Hmmm...probably not. I guess it would depend on what it is. If it involved blood or other bodily fluid, a big, definite NO.

2. Caramel apple-caramel sundae-caramel corn-caramel macchiato...of the four, which carmel treat would you choose?

Caramel Macchiato.

3. Is there such a thing as destiny? Explain.

I think God has a plan for your life, but it's up to you to choose to follow it.

4. What's your favorite piece of furniture? I'm referring to something currently in your possession as opposed to something on your wish list.

My bed. I LOVE my bed. Especially on cold winter nights when I have the down comforter over me.

5. Wednesday night marks the start of the 2011 Baseball World Series. Did you know? Do you care? Will you be watching? Ever been to a professional baseball game? If you're not an American do you find the title 'World Series' annoying or amusing?

I had no idea. I seem to remember hearing that the Cardinals and the Rangers are playing...is that right? Obviously I don't care. Baseball is the most boring sport in the world to me. I went to a Braves' game once, back before they won the Series in the 90's. That was exciting; we were living an hour north of Atlanta, and everybody had Braves' Fever! There was an awful lot of coffee drunk that week at school!

6. A sound that takes me back to my childhood is____________.

Children playing outside in the summer. That takes me back to playing Hide 'N Seek, Kick the Can, and Roly Bats. The kids in the neighborhood would come to our house and play.

7. On average, once you've linked your hodgepodge post to mine how many other participant blogs do you visit? Do you ever come back to the Hodgepodge later in the day or even the day after to read posts?

I try to read as many as I can, but there are "regulars" that I always read; probably around 10. I always try to get to the ones who read my post and commented.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

MS' fraternity had family day last Saturday before the football game. CH was taking a class, so he couldn't go. YS was in Helen, Ga. for Oktoberfest with the German Class. I hold the title of being the only mom to get up on the roof, only to have to get down about 20 minutes later when the police came by! (As I was climbing down, I thought, "This could be bad"...good thing it wasn't!) It was nice to meet his "brothers", but I was a bit surprised that there weren't more parents there. Only 2 local parents (counting myself) were there, and there was a family from Md., and 2 from Ohio that were there. It was a beautiful day, and the boys were all very sweet and respectful. I stayed until about 30 minutes before the game, then I headed home. I was able to miss most of the traffic this way, and watch the game on tv.

London Day 5

2011-10-18T19:07:00.001-04:00

Looking for the Hodgepodge? Click here.

Getting on the train to Wimbledon was easy. What wasn't so easy was trying to figure out where to get off the train. I had a book that said to get off at the Southfields Station, but there were a couple of stops after that: Wimbledon Park and Wimbledon. Luckily, there was a very sweet young lady on the train with us who was very helpful. She advised that we get off at Southfields unless we wanted to do quite a bit of walking. Here's what we saw when we came out of the station:

I was already excited, but this just bumped it up a notch!
We had about a 15 minute walk from the station to the gate. CH didn't really care about going on the tour, so he left me at the gate while he strolled around the area. This was the view walking to Wimbledon:

And then I saw it:

The tennis mecca. I couldn't believe I was actually there. I watched Wimbledon ever since I was little and dreamed of one day seeing it. While I was waiting for the tour to begin, I met a really nice Australian family who were on the last leg of a European tour. How much could that cost for Australians? And how do they have the money to do that with 3 kids?
I just stood outside of the museum and took it all in.

I had some time before the tour was to begin. When I signed up for the tour, they recommended getting there 30 minutes before the tour was to start. So, I spent a little bit of time in the museum. Here was my favorite picture from the museum:

When the tour started and the guide started talking, I have to admit: I had a couple of tears in my eyes. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be walking on that hallowed ground.
First, we went to Court 1.

Notice the electric fence in the lower right corner picture. They put the fence up in the off season to keep the foxes from doing their business on the court at night.
Then, we were on our way to Henman Hill. If you know anything about Wimbledon, you know that this is where they have the huge screen so that the people who are able to get into the park, but can't get tickets (or can't afford them!) can watch what's going on. This hill is packed with people watching the matches. The guide said that one year she was on the hill, and there were some people who had tickets on Centre Court who preferred to be there instead. The atmosphere is really something.
Before we actually got to go up the hill, we had time for a photo op:

Then, we got to go up on Henman Hill.

The apartment building in the background is situated so that there's no "freebie views" onto the courts. Amazing, but true!
Fortunately, it was a clear day, so we had some nice views:

Henman Hill was the one place we were allowed to get on the grass:

Then we were on to the Press Centre:

We got to go by Court 18, where the longest match in Wimbledon History was played:

It only costs £100 a year to be a member, but you have to have the recommendation of 3 current members, and you have to be an excellent tennis player. I'm not sure what constitutes an excellent player; I would assume that you have to have a certain rating. The members' lounge:

We got to see the "Green Board" on the way to Centre Court. The Green Board lists all of the champions:

Then, on to Centre Court. (Cue the angels singing here) The Royal Box with the door that the players come through:

The score board from this year's finals will stay up until next year's tournament.

And, the ever popular retractable roof that suspends play for 45 minutes to an hour when they have to close the roof during a match:

After the tour, I walked back up to the train station, found CH, and we went to the Army Museum. It wasn't very big, but it was interesting. No pictures allowed in the museum, though. It was a bit out of the way and not crowded at all. I learned quite a bit about the British Army and the wars that they had participated in.
Then, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Man, oh MAN, I wish I could've taken pictures in there! Breathtaking. We were there for part of Evensong. One of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had.
We took a walk on the Wibbly Wobbly Bridge. It was pretty wobbly that evening because of the wind. The sights were gorgeous, though:

We took a walk along the bank of the Thames, also called the "Queen's Walk" (although our friend said that people don't really call it that!). We saw the reconstructed Globe Theater, a really cool skateboard area (it was cool that the graffiti was confined only to that area), and some awesome sand sculptures.

We walked over the Hungerford Bridge and found an Italian Restaurant across the street from where we ended up. Great Calzones, although the restaurant was pretty tight; they had a lot of tables in a small area. Then, we walked (and walked, and walked) until we found Buckingham Palace. I was surprised at how close you could get to it, and that the gates were opened. (Obviously the Queen wasn't there...guess she forgot we were stopping by!)

We walked back through Trafalgar Square, and CH noticed that the door to St. Martin in the Fields was open. There was a concert going on, but we were able to peek through the door. Beautiful.

So, we had another full day and saw some things that I didn't think I would EVER see.

London Day 4

2011-10-17T22:03:00.000-04:00

Technically, we weren't in London for our 4th day. We took the tube to Waterloo Station and then got on a rail to meet some friends in Surrey. CH had met this couple during the summer of 2010 out in Colorado; they just got back home a few weeks ago from riding around the world on a motorcycle.
We didn't have any problem finding the right train and boarding...in fact, we made it just in time so that we didn't have to wait.

Approximately 30 minutes later, we were in Woking:

CH & I had a discussion about whether or not you could use the Oyster card on the rail. I didn't think you could, CH thought you could. Guess what? You can't; not to Woking, anyway. They allowed us to buy tickets-both ways- once we got there, which actually saved us a little bit of money since by the time we got there it wasn't rush hour.
Our first stop: Shere, Surrey. We walked down into the village; this was one of the first houses we saw:

Look just above CH's head, on the gutter pipe. I thought this was really cool:

As we walked down the street a little ways, we came across this building:

The building used to be a firehouse; now it houses public bathrooms.
If you're a fan of the movie "The Holiday", you'll be familiar with Shere. Parts of the movie were filmed there. I went back and watched the movie again, and noticed more of the village than I originally thought were in there. The most memorable site was the pub The White Horse:

The inside was charming. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the fireplace (which was beautiful, by the way) because there were people sitting in front of it. Just think: I touched the same door that Jude Law touched!
We walked across the way to St. James' Church. The church dates back to 1190. Some of the tombstones were so worn that you couldn't read anything on them. By the way...this church can also be seen in the movie (as well as Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason)!

The minister was there, so we had an opportunity to talk to him for a little bit, until a school group came in. If you look closely, you can see where the rope for the bell has worn down the stone:

Another cool thing in the church: This is a bronze Madonna and Child that was dug up by a dog in 1880.

Here are some pictures of the inside of the church:

Here are a few pictures of the village of Shere:

And some of the houses in the village (if you look closely in The Holiday, you'll see them in the background):

We did some driving around Surrey after that, and had lunch in a pub near our friends' house. In the movie "The Holiday", there's a scene where Cameron Diaz is driving down a narrow road when she meets a car and a truck. We lived that scene. Seriously. I looked at Jane and asked if John was going to be able to get through. He did. I don't know how, but he did.
As an added unexpected bonus, they took us by Waverly Abbey, near Farnham. This Abbey was the first Cistercian Abbey in England, and was founded in 1128. King Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey in 1536.

The buildings that are still standing were amazing.

We even managed to use the timer on the camera and get a group picture:

I made the comment that Waverly Abbey was better than seeing Stonehenge, and our friend mentioned that it was a lot less crowded, too. The Abbey is in the middle of a cow pasture, so we had to watch where we stepped. It was a great find, and we really appreciated our friends taking us out there.
Before we left, CH called to me to walk back to the river (turns out it is the River Wey), and we saw some remnants from WWII:

According to Wikipedia, " It was said that the large open space, formed by the curve of the river on one side and the lake on the other, was intended to be a "tank killing ground" for any German army intending to outflank London's defences."
At the entrance of the Abbey, there are a couple of "pill boxes" (brick gun emplacements):

After driving around a bit more, we ended up at our friend's house. It was a beautiful house that was built around 1825. Her garden was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I didn't even think about taking a picture of it before it got dark. While we were at their house, we had our only good rain the whole time we were there. By the time we left to go back to the train, the rain had stopped.
This was our "late night out". We got back to our room around midnight. On the way back to the hotel, we had our only incident when we thought someone might try to pickpocket us. The road in front of our hotel wasn't very well lit, and there was a guy who was following me awfully close. CH told me to hold up a minute in front of a department store, so I stopped and commented on the light in the store. The guy went on ahead of us, but he looked back a few times.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures from our outing to Surrey. It was unbelievably beautiful. Just like the movies.

London Day 3

2011-10-16T22:29:00.001-04:00

Tues. morning we took the hop on/hop off bus to the Tower of London. On the way, we saw this really cool photo op:

We spent about 3 hours wandering around the grounds of the Tower. Something I didn't know: The Yeomen Warders (aka: Beefeaters) actually live on the grounds. No way could I do that, not with everything that happened within those walls. We even overheard a little girl (she was around 3 or 4, I would guess) say, "I don't like this place." There was just something in the air there that something bad happened there.

It was pretty cool to see the actual spot where the beheadings took place:

When you hear about the history and watch movies or read books, you're led to believe that there were beheadings every day. But, the reality is that there were only 7 beheadings in the Tower Green.

Even more cooler was seeing the etchings on the wall where the prisoners were held. Amazing that they're still there, after all these years:

We saw the crown jewels, but, to be perfectly honest, they were just a bit disappointing. When we were in Denmark, we were able to go into the vault to see the crown jewels as well as a lot of other "bling". And, you could take pictures. Here....no. And, the only things that were in there were the crowns and some sceptors. There wasn't that much, either. Disappointing.
We learned that there always has to be 6 ravens in the Tower, or else the monarchy will fall. So...there are actually 8 right now, and their wings are clipped.

Also on the grounds are the remains of a Roman wall. When you're there, you tend to forget that the Romans once occupied part of what is now London.

And then there's Traitors Gate. It was so eerie, imagining those people who came through that gate not knowing what their destiny was.

And, of course we took advantage of a great photo op:

We went by All Hallows By the Tower. This was the church where Thomas More's body was taken after he was beheaded, where William Penn was baptised, and where John Quincy Adams was married. It was bombed during WWII; only the tower and walls remained. While walking into the crypt, part of the floor was a Roman street. It was an amazing building:

After we left, we took the boat down the Thames to stroll by Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We weren't able to go into the Abbey or to St. Margaret's, but just walking around the site was amazing.

From there we walked up to Trafalgar Square. On the way, we ate at Lord Moon of the Mall. This pub was recommended by a friend's husband, who is British. It was the least inexpensive pub food we had while we were there, and it was the best. Joyce told me to make sure to try the Sticky Toffee Pudding: SPOT ON! Oh my goodness was it good!

I don't know why, but Trafalgar Square was one of my favorite places. We didn't have time to go into the National Gallery, and I only got to peek into St. Martin in the Fields. We did go down into the crypt of the church, which has been turned into a cafe. I was a bit disappointed to learn that all of the bodies that were buried there are no longer there.

We had a good time just sitting on the steps of the church and people watching.
Some of the sights from Day 3:

London Day 2

2011-10-14T05:48:00.000-04:00

We were up and at 'em early on Monday. Our mission: To buy passes for the Hop On/Hop Off Bus. We walked to Kensington Gardens and figured out how to get one of the rental bikes from the rental bike station. It's a self-serve docking station where you put in your credit card, and you can "borrow" a bike for either 24 hours (£1) or 7 days (£5). It took us about 20 minutes to figure out how to use it; you have to put your credit card in twice to get the code to get the bike out of the docking station. We finally got our bikes, and we rode through Kensington Gardens and followed the outside of the gardens to Hyde Park. We got this treat as we were riding:

We even got adventurous and rode the bikes on the road for a short while. We found another docking station and parked the bikes, then walked to a Big Bus Stop just up the street from their office. Come to find out, you can buy passes at any of the Big Bus Stops as long as there is an attendant. And, there was a stop not far from our hotel. Oh well; if we had gone to that one, we may not be able to say that we rode bikes through Kensington Gardens!

We hopped on the bus and enjoyed our first view of Parliament. What an impressive sight! Such a beautiful building and HUGE. Pictures just don't do it justice. This was my first look at Parliament:

My first impression of the Tower of London: It was so surreal to see the Tower and think about everything that happened there.

The Tower Bridge wasn't what I was expecting. For some reason, I had no idea that the bridge's detail was blue.

We hopped on the city cruise boat that went along with the Big Bus, and headed up the Thames toward Greenwich. This is the view of Greenwich from the river:

We toodled around Greenwich and saw some beautiful sights:

When we got there, we had to walk through a university area to get to the Museum, Queen's House, and Observatory. CH asked one of the security guards to recommend a pub, so he suggested this one:

I loved how the pubs have flowers outside of them. So quaint & cozy!

We walked across the street to the Queen's House. Renovations were going on with the exterior, and there wasn't much inside. So, on we went to the Observatory. Once we got up the hill, we saw the Prime Meridian Line. There was a charge to go inside and actually straddle the line. I didn't think it was worth paying just to stand on a line in the concrete, so I just took a picture of it through the gate:

We walked back down the hill and visited the Maritime Museum. Or, rather, CH visited it, and I sat down and waited on him!

That night, we went to the Ace Cafe. Interesting history: It opened in 1938 as a roadside cafe, but it's proximity to a new "highway" brought in motorcycles. An onsite gas station was then built, only to be heavily damaged by bombing during WWII. When it reopened in 1949, it boasted "state of the art" equipment. The cafe closed down in 1969, after playing a role in the 1963 movie "The Leather Boys". It has since reopened, and apparently, is the mecca for motorcyclists.

Let me back up just a minute. I had pinned the Ace Cafe on our google map, and it didn't look like it was very close to where we were staying. CH thought it was close by. I told him that I didn't think he realized how expensive a cab ride out there was going to be, but that was how he wanted to get out there. Interesting ride out there: the cabbie's father and brother had gone out there before, and, since his gps wasn't working, he called them for directions. CH ended up using his gps to tell the cabbie where to go, and we had a nice little £25 cab ride. We sat down, had something to eat (best grilled cheese sandwich EVER!), CH took a look at the bikes and talked to someone for a while, and then we walked to a nearby train station and made our way back to the hotel. Next time we'll know to take the train!

Here is a collage of the sights during our second day:

London, Getting There & Day 1

2011-10-12T21:44:00.000-04:00

Click on any of the pictures for a better view!
The trip over the big pond was uneventful. We had an older plane flying from DC to Heathrow, so the seats were a little tight. I was a little perturbed that the movies hadn't switched over to October; they were showing some movies that I wanted to see, but they hadn't switched over yet. Bummer.
We took the Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington Station, then a quick ride in a black taxi to our hotel. I was amazed at how much room was actually in those little vehicles.
We had a very easy check in at the hotel. After reading the reviews of the hotel online, I requested a room on at least the 2nd floor. The reviews said to not get a room on the "lower ground", i.e., basement. Guess where our room was? Yep, basement. When I told the guy that I had requested a 2nd floor or higher room, he said that I could check back in the morning to see if there were any rooms available. They sent us down a maze to the basement, down to our room. Our room was tucked away in what seemed like a corner of the building. I had a concern about the bed being a "double bed". CH & I are not little people, and I had visions of us trying to get on a twin bed to sleep. Luckily, the bed was actually like 2 twin beds pushed together, so we had plenty of room. Our room also had a small kitchen with a refrigerator, stove with 2 eyes, microwave, and an electric hot pot. The room was clean and cozy. There was a fouton kind of couch in the room as well, which could have been taken out to give you more walking room. Still, it was good for 2 people.
The bathroom was small, but who needs a big bathroom when you're only in the room to sleep & shower?

Sunday was our first full day in London. We had already decided we were just going to stay close to the hotel, and explore that area. The first thing we did was find the Catholic Church, which just happened to be not far from our hotel. Guess what was right across the street from the church?

We had some time, so we popped into Starbucks before we went to Mass. We found out a piece of history of the church: The church didn't start out as a Catholic Church. I don't know the year, but the church was put up for sale. A priest showed interest in buying it, but was turned away because he was Catholic. They ended up auctioning the building, and the priest showed up without his collar to bid on it. And, he won.

During Mass, Communion was interesting. Here, we queu in a nice, orderly fashion, according to pews. It was a complete free-for-all. Everybody jumped up and made their way to the altar. And, only the Body of Christ was presented. I missed the Homily because my latte kicked in and I had to go back to Starbucks to use the "facilities". I made it back just as the Priest was finishing up.
After Mass, we walked down the street to Kensington Gardens. Disney was having some kind of princess event, so there were a lot of little girls wearing tiaras and princess dresses. The temperature was around 80 degrees, so there were people everywhere enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. We walked by the Round Pond where there were a couple of model sailboats sailing in the water. We saw the Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace, but the Palace itself was closed except for one exhibit. We left that area of the park just before some parade started.

We were getting hungry, so we started looking for someplace to eat. Apparently there isn't a pub on every corner. We walked, and walked, and walked, until we came to this magnificent building:

Turns out it is the Museum of Natural History! BONUS! We went in, found lunch, and saw some cool stuff. After we spent quite a while in there, we walked back up to Hyde Park. And, we walked all through Hyde Park. That is one big park, let me tell you. We found Princess Diana's "Fountain", which wasn't really a fountain at all, but a large, oval stream bed. There were so many people there, that we couldn't even see the actually bed. We walked around the Serpentine. The swimming area was "closed", but there were people climbing over locked gates to get in to swim. We continued on through Hyde Park, took a rest under a tree, then made our way to "Speaker's Corner". We were surprised that, even though there were a lot of people there, and one of the speakers was having a spirited go at it, it was orderly.

We walked out of the park and went to our first pub: Bayswater Arms, which was close to our hotel.

I had my first fish & chips, which didn't impress me at all. I don't know if it was just where we ate, but the breading on the fish had no taste at all. I told CH that I needed to go to the kitchen and tell them about cornmeal and seasoning, but he said that they came up with the dish to begin with. Whatever.

That pretty much concluded Day 1. Lots of walking; not quite the "relaxing" day that we expected to have for our first day! We saw something very interesting, though:

There was a couple sitting in the window, getting a "fish pedicure". I don't think I could sit there and let fish suck on my feet. Very interesting, indeed!

Come back tomorrow for Day 2!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-10-12T05:43:00.000-04:00

Time to get my butt in gear after my break and start blogging again! Here are the questions Joyce has for us this week:

1. Have you ever been 'asked' to report for jury duty? Were you chosen to serve? If not, were you happy or disappointed?

Why, Joyce, what a GREAT question! (ha, ha!) I did my civic duty yesterday, for the 3rd time in 3 different states. In Ga., I was part of a jury for a drug trial. In SC, it was a murder trial, and I was the only female juror. Yesterday was my lucky day: I wasn't chosen, and I was relieved.

The trial was only suppose to last a couple of hours and it started this afternoon. AND, it's the only case on the docket this week, so my duty is done.

2. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very), how mechanically inclined are you? Give an example to back up your answer.

3, but only after someone shows me how to do it. I have no examples...my mind is still on vacation!

3. Beets-cabbage-cauliflower-butternut squash....of the four, which is your favorite fall vegetable?

Raw cauliflower.

4. What do you recommend to overcome self-pity?

Do something I like, watch a movie.

5. Do you enjoy classical music?

I love classical music. My high school band director (even though I only had him until my freshman year...I don't claim his replacement!) brought classical music to life for us. He would tell us stories about when the pieces were composed when we were learning to play them.

6. October is National Book Month...what's on your reading list this month?

Right now I'm reading "Rescue" by Anita Shreve. I'm just about halfway through it.

7. What is your idea of 'cute'?

Another great question! Last week, CH & I went to London for a week. The first couple of days we were there, we walked down to the "hop on, hop off" bus early---around 8:00 a.m. The little kids wearing their uniforms with their jackets and hats, riding their scooters or walking with their "mums": Too stinkin' cute! I wanted to get a picture (just of their backs, of course), but by the time I thought it, it was too late.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

London was just AMAZING! The tube was easy to figure out, and a friend had lent us her atlas of London's streets and tube stations, which was a life-saver. I didn't take my laptop, but I did write notes at the end of each day. We packed our days full of site-seeing, and walked a lot. I'm planning on taking each day and writing one post about it, hopefully starting tomorrow. I've spent the last 3 days going through my 1,000 pictures, but the pictures just don't do it justice. It was just incredible. So, if you want a whirl-wind tour of London, come on back!

Friday Fragments

2011-09-30T01:00:00.002-04:00

~It's FRIDAY! Not only that, but it's payday AND the last day before Fall Break! YIPPEE!!!

~ Texas A&M is now part of the SEC. If someone could explain to me how Tx. is even considered to be in the southeast, I'd appreciate it. Maybe they're allowed in because College Station could be considered to be in the SE part of the state? My Aggie blood runs pure & true (my daddy, uncles, cousins, BIL are all alum), but I have a hard team considering Tx. in the South. (Hope my aunt isn't reading this, 'cause I think she'd disown me with that statement!) Welcome to the SEC, Aggies.

~Wednesday night, MS called and asked if he could bring 4 friends to dinner. I had just gotten home from the grocery store with the ingredients for spaghetti. After that call, I went back to the store and got more. College kids are so funny: they all thanked me and said it was delicious. Guess they haven't had Prego in a long time, huh?

~ YS is finishing his 1st week of Fall Break. He has one more. And he frequently lets me know that he has more time off than I.

~ Speaking of Fall Break: I'll be taking the week off for some R&R, so I'll catch y'all next week.

~ Got this in an e-mail from one of my sisters and I've been holding onto it for a "special occasion":

Nothing screams WEEKEND better than underpants on your head.... Rock On! It is Friday!!!!

Lovin' my job

2011-09-29T01:00:00.000-04:00

I love my job. I really, really do. The kids make me laugh...most of the time.
Last week, I told one of my second graders that I needed to call his dad because he is ready to "graduate". (In technical speech terms, it's a "dismissal".) He looked a little puzzled about this, so I explained that it meant that he had done so well with his sounds, that he wouldn't need to come back to speech. I guess I didn't make it clear that he had to come until his dad agreed and signed the dismissal papers. When I went to his classroom on Tuesday, his teacher called the rest of the group to the door. This little boy looked at his teacher, so she went over to him. I could see that he was telling her something, so she looked and asked if he was suppose to come, because he said that he "retired"!
Yep, my job would be just about perfect if I could just stay in my schools and do my job.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

2011-09-27T20:19:00.000-04:00

1. It is officially fall here in North America...I realize not everyone who participates in the Hodgepodge lives in North America but if you do, what's your favorite memory of Summer 2011? If you'renot in North America, what's your favorite memory of the season just ending on your side of the world?

My favorite memory is going to daily mass with my parents. One of the boys asked me why I went, and I told him that it was a way to spend some extra special time with my parents. They're not going to be around forever, you know.

2. Your favorite nut? You know I mean the edible kind, right?

I love pecans to put in recipes, but to eat "straight": pistachios.

3. What activity puts your sense of balance to the test?

I cheated on this one. I read and answered the rest of the questions and came up with: roller skating! (See #6)

4. How would you describe your sense of humor?

Weird. If you've been reading my posts for a while, I think you'll understand!

5. September 28th is National Ask a Stupid Question Day...what's your stupid question?

Why do dogs get mad when you blow in their faces, but they'll stick their heads out of car window when it's moving?

6. Roller skates~hula hoop~jump rope...which activity would you most enjoy? Yes, you have to choose.

It used to be roller skates, but I guess I just don't trust my balance any more. (See #3!) Jump roping is just too much trouble, so I'll say: hula hoop! Anybody remember the Bozo shows? I was actually on the local Bozo show doing the hula hoop. I think the friend who took me with her actually won. She was good at everything she tried. (#selfproclaimedmeangirlinhighschool)

7. What's your most sentimental possession?

I don't get overly attached to things, but if I had to pick something, I would say a "Stations of the Cross" plaque that was my maternal grandmother's.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

It took me several hours, but I think I got my FB page cleaned up. I "unfriended" some people who were really just acquaintances in high school, and "unliked" most of the pages. I felt like I was missing catching up with some people because of all of the "junk". Next on the agenda: twitter.

Join in the fun at Joyce's!

Somebody

2011-09-26T13:02:00.000-04:00

~ Somebody had his 17th birthday on Saturday.
~ Somebody spent the day at a band competition.
~ Somebody ditched his parents (who were waiting to take him out for his birthday dinner) and went to Sonic with his friends. (CH & I ended up jumping on the motorcycle and meeting friends for dinner.)
~ Somebody made up for it by choosing to go to Ginghas Grill yesterday for his dinner. (It was a great choice!)

I can't believe YS is already 17! He began life as a bouncing 10-pound baby boy and has grown into a 6'4" young man. We're extremely proud of the man he's becoming: He's caring, kind, considerate (most of the time), responsible, and handsome (if I do say so myself!). Now, about the "cleaning up his room" part...!!!!