Today I learned electrical stuff

Hey, what's up, yo homey dogs? (That's "hello" to my children, in case you were wondering. They're so ghetto. And no offense intended, just in case my little joke is not P.C.)

So today I went to Tnk's house to help her with some more house-stuff. It's been a long road, but man have I enjoyed it. Tnk is all moved in to the house now, but there is still much work to be done. Today's chores included caulking the baseboards in her bedroom and changing out all of the old, yellowed, grungy electrical outlets and light switches with shiny new white ones. MAN did that make a difference! If you want to improve a room, just follow these steps: paint it; caulk the trim; change the outlets. Voila! Taj Mahal, baby.

Anyway, I learned how to change out a light switch - not just the plate, mind you; the whole wire-y thing. I felt so studly when I was done and the light actually came on! Go me. If you need help with this stuff, just let me know and I'll come over. You'll have to fly me to exotic locales like Washington and Michigan and Florida, of course, but I'll definitely come help you change your switches. Chances are, I'm cheaper than a real electrician.

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In other news, you may have noticed that my blogger friends' links have changed. I had a little fun with the names. It all started because Fish created a new blog, and I couldn't resist referencing the great Steve Burns when I linked her. Hey, don't laugh. The man behind Blue's Clues rocks - and not in a "hey, what happened to the cute green striped shirt he used to wear?" kind of way. He really does ROCK.

Anyway, Fish was the catalyst behind the fun little name changes. If you love your new nick, let me know. Evil Amy, I know you hate everything, but if you want to say something anyway, well, I can't stop you. Fire away!

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Last weekend we went to Austin for a day trip. It was so much fun! I'll blog more about it when I've got the pictures developed and I can post some here. Pictures make things so much more interesting, don't you think?

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Want to know what I think is stupid? Car dealerships who promise that if they can't beat a competitor's deal on a new car, they'll give you a car for free. Actually, I suppose the stupid one here is whoever believes that dumbass ad. Let's do the math: Car dealership either has to lower the price on a car by a few hundred (maybe thousand) dollars, or they give away a $15,000 car. Yeahhhhhhhh, that's gonna happen.

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I start school next Tuesday. I can't believe the time is here already.

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That's it for now. I'll try to get the Austin pics developed tomorrow so that I can make a uber-cool blog entry next time.

Ta ta!

De-lurk!

This is National De-Lurking week. Please post a hello in my comments section. And yes, you're allowed to say more than just "hello." But play nice, okay? ;)

The word is "definitely"

That's d-e-f-i-n-I-t-e-l-y. Not definately. Not defiantly. The first one is not a word; the second is how I act when people try to tell me it's spelled "definately."

While I'm at it...

• MOOT point.
• A Lot. Not Alot. NOT Alot.
• Voila. Not waa-lah. Not viola - which is an instrument, not an exclamation. At least not the last time I checked.
• Sincerely has a second "e." Sincerly is not a word, unless I've missed out on the sincer-ing trend. I didn't get the memo...
• Supposedly. Supposably is, as it turns out, a real word (gag). But it's almost never used correctly, so stop using it until you can use it in its correct context.
• Pregnant. Pregnate is not a word. It's stupid.
• Y'all. Y-apostrophe-all. Not ya'll. Unless you can tell me what "ya" is short for.
• Your - of or relating to you. NOT short for "you are."
• You're - "You." "Are." For cripe's sake, stop saying "Your welcome." My welcome...what? Mat?
• Too - Also. Or to an excessive degree. "I'm too tired." "I like that, too." If you say "I like that to," you're missing a word. You like it to what?
• It's means "it is." "It's the moose's hairpin."
• Its means "of or relating to it." Clarified: "The moose loves its hairpins."
• You could NOT care less. Saying you could care less is meaningless.

Most of all, though, definitely remember "definitely." My new quest in life is to rid the world of all definatelys and defiantlys. Mercy. It hurt just to type those out.

So I Google'd myself...

...and several different things came up. Most intriguing of all was this: Link to weird thing.

Anyone know what the heck that is? "Pl3ytime" (that would be me) has charts and graphs and "shares" and "B" money, oh my. But as it turns out, KatieFleck's site is worth oodles more dinero than mine. (No shocker there; I need a larger readership...how do I upload me some porn?)

Anyway. Oh, then there's Miss Doxie, who is off the charts with this B-money stuff. She's got like $72,000 B-dollars. That might be enough to buy some new elf-tights. (Inside joke; see her December posts.) Me, I've got about three grand B-bucks. Barely enough to buy a vowel.

So what does this all mean? There's a cyber donut in it for the first one to give me a decent answer. Don't laugh - cyber donuts have no calories, sugar, or fat, but they are ten times better than Krispy Kreme.

Hey, does Krispy Kreme know about B-dollars?

Three Words

Hook

'Em

Horns!

The University of Texas pulled off a fantastic comeback in the National Championship game last night against USC. UT quarterback Vince Young was un freakin' believable, although in a believable kind of way, if you're familiar with the way he works. He makes the unlikely likely.

Hmm, I'm having a hard time putting this into words. I'm still on cloud nine, so I guess my mental processes are goobered at the moment.

It was a great game. My heart was pounding the entire time, no lie. Then when Vince scored the touchdown to put UT ahead in the final seconds, I cried. Good grief, I cried over a football game. What a girl I am.

Guess I do bleed burnt orange after all.

Freaking me out to see myself staring back at me

So I'm going to post a quick howdy-do in order to get yesterday's post off the top of my screen.

Howdy-do!

How was everyone's holiday? Mine was great. We got to see several family members, and everyone got very nice gifts. P received a new sewing machine (she's 8...what was Santa thinking?), and the boys received the Lego Millenium Falcon as a joint gift from mom-in-law. It had over a thousand pieces, but somehow the boys were able to get it put together in record time. And without killing each other, if you can believe that.

Han Solo would be proud.

I received several wonderful gifts from my hubby. He took my Christmas list to heart! I received two Kelly Clarkson CDs (Yes, I am in fact 17. Shut up.). I also got some Anais Anais perfume (hubs calls it Anus Anus; ain't that funny?), some scrapbook supplies, a subscription to Rachael Ray Everyday magazine, and some essential oils to make the house smell scrumptious. Today's scent: Oh Christmas Tree. I like the pine smell around this time of year. As soon as the tree comes down, I think I'll switch over to the Christmas Memories oil. Get it? Since Christmas will be a memory? Ha, me funny.

Speaking of haha, did you guys know that Dollar Tree has Christmas stuff at half-price? Everything in the store is already just a dollar, so it seems funny to me that they'd drop it all down to fifty cents. I don't know why, but that just makes me laugh. Tuesday I laughed all the way to the bank, because the kids and I stocked up on little Christmas trees and silk poinsettia bunches and miniature light sets for fifty cents a pop. Man, I love deals.

That's about it from this little 'burb of Houston. We have no plans for New Year's Eve, darn it, so I don't foresee a cool "here's how drunk I got" post next week. But if things change and I do imbibe a bit, at least I won't freak myself out when I come here to post and find myself staring back at me. Yikes.

Little ol' me

Hey, it's me!


Yep, that's really me - in all my wavy-haired, smiley-faced glory. I'd just bought the teeniest little digital camera (five bucks on Target clearance rack - SCORE!) and was playing with it by taking pictures of, well, myself. I took about three thousand shots before I got one that I was willing to share on the Internet. Meaning: The picture looks like a version of me that *I* think I look like most of the time, and not one of the eleventy kajillion pictures that absolutely do NOT look like me. (Why oh why does smiling give you wrinkly eyes and double chins? Unfair, I say.)

So, there ya go. Howdy, world.

Hubby's Christmas gift

Well, the big one anyway. (Sorry for the crummy pics):





He's been wanting a grandfather clock for a l-o-n-g time, and I came across a great deal on one back in November. It's really nice looking, and the chimes are great, too. Best of all, it's powered by winding - no batteries. (Apparently battery-operated grandfather clocks are the root of all evil.) heh

Where's my stuff?

Like most Americans, many of my Christmas gifts were ordered through Amazon.com. I was so proud of myself - got all the stuff I wanted, got it all on sale, and got it ordered early. I've been preening around here like I'm all that with butter, because I'm ahead of the game this year!

Not so fast, kemosabe.

Day before yesterday, I got an email from Amazon which basically stated that some of my stuff had been returned to them as "undeliverable." I was like, this has GOT to be spam, because I'm all that with butter. But nope. Turns out, I'm not all that, and apparently I have no butter, as Amazon shipped all my stuff (probably my butter, too) to my OLD address.

I *know* I changed that address back in November, because my daughter's Barbie karaoke machine was shipped, via Amazon, right here to our current residence. I have since learned that what I actually changed was the shipping address, not the default address. Dude, that hurts.

So now I sit here in a panic with the rest of the free world, wondering how the heck I'm going to get all those items back in time for Christmas. I'm fairly sure that ordering online is out, because shipping prices and times are insane this week. And now the kids are out of school for Christmas, so they'll have to be with me when I go shopping. And worst of all is the fact that I will no longer be able to score such great deals - I've not seen the gift I bought for my father-in-law ANYWHERE for less than fifty bucks. (I'd ordered it for a fraction of that through Amazon.)

Everyone, hear me. Learn from my mistakes. Always check your shipping address when you order something online. And while you're at it, pass the butter, would you?

No!

Here is a list of things I do not want to do. I am, at this moment, crabby as hell; therefore it is likely I will name some things which I do actually want to do eventually.

But for now, I don't want to do these things. Not in this lifetime; not ever. I will never change my mind. Unless I do, in which case everyone is entitled to say...eh, please don't say anything. I hate "I told you so."

Onwards.

1. I do not want to go back to school in the spring.
2. I do not want my eyes examined, unless it it guaranteed I can have Lasik. Because I know I will need it. My eyesight is getting worse.
3. I do not want to cry, yet here I go.
4. I do not want to see "The Passion of the Christ." I consider myself a Christian, I know that Jesus died for my sins, and overall I am aware of his plight. No, I may not fully appreciate the intense manner in which he was killed, but it's MY decision not to see a movie about it if I choose not to. It's a movie, darnit. Come on.
5. I do not want to see another animated movie. (Unless, perhaps, it's done by Pixar, whose work I generally love.) If not wanting to pay for and sit through two-hour cartoons makes me a bad parent, well, OH MY GOSH, who died and made YOU judge?!
6. I do not want to buy a Bible for my daughter that has cartoony bugs on the cover.
7. I do not want to ... crap, I can't say that one out loud.
8. I do not want to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy unless I decide to on my own. (What's with all the forced movie-watching? Enough already.)
9. I do not want to drive a minivan all my life. (I don't know where that came from....)
10. I do not want to use four ellipses at the end of a sentence. Three is enough. Who taught me that crappy rule?
11. I do not want to wrap presents that I did not purchase.
12. I do not want to miss Evil Amy's email, but it's not in any of my inboxes.
13. I do not want to whine about my life, as it's really pretty good. But whee! Here I go. Again.
14. I do not want to sit at home with my kids all next week.
15. I do not want to make plans every day while my kids are home all next week.
16. I do not want to go to the post office next week.
17. I do not want to buy more Christmas presents.
18. I do not want to miss Saturday Night Live. So that about wraps it up.

Have a good weekend.

Chronicles of Narnia

Good movie. The battle scenes may be a tad over the top for, say, five year olds and younger, but overall I do recommend it.

It's a little long, though - about 2:20. Something to keep in mind when you're choosing a movie to see with your little ones.

Awesome cinematography. Pretty actors. Cool wardrobe! Go see it if you get a chance.

See, hubby? I did not think it sucked at all.

Too hung over to take the kids to church

We-ellll, as you have probably gleaned from the title, last weekend was a doozy. (Doozie? Doozy? Doozy.) A former co-worker of hubby's held her annual Christmas gathering, to which we were invited. There were bushels of food, and pecks of liquor. It was like, deck the halls with boughs of wine. Thank goodness, too, since I knew exactly 3.5 people at this gathering, and my shy side was coming out. I just had to drown her with four large glasses of red wine, y'all. There is no shyness allowed at holiday parties, you know. Not at the fun ones, anyway.

So at the start, there I was, being all bored and stuff. I was chatting with a very nice lady (one of the 3.5 - she's the .5). But then she got up to greet a new arrival, and I was left alone in my uncomfortable straight-backed chair. Hubby was talking to Someformercoworker, which was fine, but I was bored. Then I was offered a glass of wine, and it was like manna from heaven. Okay, not really, but at the time it sure sounded good.

Partway through my first glass of wine, a couple comes in. The wife used to work with hubby; her husband is a self-made, fairly wealthy businessman. Oh, and also an ass. When I first met him, we were standing near the hors d'oeuvres table, and I was telling him that figleaf-wrapped rice bites were not as good as they sounded (gag). Two sentences later, he's telling me, "My wife doesn't draw a paycheck anymore." After I got over my initial reaction of "Figleaf...paycheck...wha??", I started thinking, "Hey, ass, you've got two beautiful daughters that your wife takes care of (thank God they both took after HER). Let's see a little respect, 'k?"

I left at that point, but a few minutes later, I'm somehow drawn into a conversation with my hubby, the ass, his wife, and some other people outside that familiar 3.5. Ass turns to me and this exchange follows:

Ass: "Do you work?"
Ass's wife: "She has three kids; of course she works."
Pley: "Yes, I'm a stay-at-home-parent."
Ass: "Do you draw a paycheck?"
Pley (thinking he's deaf; he can't be that stupid): "I, um, share with hubby."
Ass: "But how do you earn your spending money?"
Pley (gawd, I can't stand it anymore): "In the bedroom, of course."

Then I walked away, picking up dropped jaws all around. It was freakin' awesome.

The rest of the evening was not so much fun, although the wine did help me have several conversations with fascinating people who shall remain nameless because I cannot remember their names. Or faces. Or whether they were real people or actually lampshades.

I got violently ill later that night, and vowed once again (say it with me): NO DRINKING ON AN EMPTY STOMACH! This happens to me once every five years whether I like it or not (Not). You'd think I'd have learned by now.

And thus the title of this essay. I was still ill the next morning, and we all missed church. Which is a shame, actually, because I'm sure the pastor would have loved to hear about how I earn my spending money.

Christmas list

Believe it or not, I've completed most of my Christmas shopping. Yay! I'd love to list it all here, because I got some AWESOME deals, but I can't because my entire freaking family reads this blog. Gah!

Kimmer, I'll email you what I got for hubby, cuz you're special. ;)

So today I went to Tnk's house to help her unpack some stuff. We got a LOT of kitchen stuff put away, then we put the empty boxes out for the garbageman (funny how that made the kitchen seem ten times bigger). Then we went to IHOP for lunch, and we were good girls. Sis had the fruit and yogurt plate, and I had the low-carb chicken/broccoli/salad plate. It was hard to pass up the yummy-looking burgers and stuffed French toast, especially since we were starving, so I'm especially proud of us. Yay, Tnk-n-Pl3y!

By the way, Tnk is looking all hot now. She doesn't see it, but she's definitely lost weight since she started doing police work. Beeyotch.

Kidding on the beeyotch part. I don't want a ticket. Love you, sis!

So, in honor of eating well lately, my sis-in-law and bro-in-law are bringing over chili and chocolate cake tomorrow. (Have I mentioned they're coming over to watch the UT vs. Colorado championship game? Well, they are.) I'm thinking salad is on the menu for dinner tonight. Phooey. Eating healthy stinks sometimes. Okay, it stinks ALL the time.

Back to that first paragraph - turns out I'm not as done as I'd thought. I still have to get stocking stuffers. That can be either fun or torture, depending on the recipient. I mean, I'm sure my mother-in-law loves Carmex and Altoids, but how much is Santa allowed to bring to her before she starts asking WTHeck? (She doesn't curse. Much.) She'll be all, "Where's my jewelry?", and I'll be all, "Dang, woman, I already spent $9.37 on you; WTHeck?" (I don't curse much, either. Hey, stop judging me.)

Okay, I've actually spent more than nine bucks and change on her. Just so ya know. I'm not THAT cheap. ;)

By the way, if anyone has inexpensive stocking stuffer ideas (note my careful non-usage of the word "cheap"), please post them in the comments section.

Oh, and thanks to all who said my house was purdy. I just have to admit that I completely agree with you. I feel very fortunate to live here; I just adore this place. [contented sigh]

Pondering/Wondering: What's the diff, really?

Today I am specifically wondering if I'll ever get used to one of my kids not getting off the bus as they usually do. K is staying after school this afternoon in order to participate in Karma Chamel...er, Culture Club. The school bus just came and went, and even though I *knew* K wouldn't be getting off, my heart did a little flip-flop when the bus went by without stopping.

Weird stuff, parenting.

In other news: I'm also wondering why I cannot sleep when I am hot. I mean, I canNOT sleep unless there is a chill of some sort in the air. Last night was one of those times, which is odd because it was 40 degrees outside and the heater was off. I tossed and turned until 2:00 a.m., and as a result, I have been yawning all day. In fact, here comes one now....

[YAWN!]

Better get myself another hit of hot tea. Unfortunately, it's decaf, which won't help with the yawny situation, but at least the activity of it will keep me awake.

Oh, today I scrapbooked four lousy pages. It's not that I didn't have the supplies, or that S and I gossiped too much. Nothing interesting like that. Apparently, this is what happens when you have not scrapped in eleven months - you get out of the groove. (Has anyone seen Stella? Perhaps she can help me get it back.)

Tonight P has a Girl Scout meeting, but before that, we have to drive up to the school to get K. I can't wait to hear how the Boy George meeting went. (Okay, yes, I've got to stop that. But not just yet. heehee)

One more pondering: I got another free newspaper tossed onto my lawn today. Thank you, Houston Chronicle, for giving me another free crossword puzzle to do. Now my coffee shant be lonely.

Oops, thought I was done, but this just hit me: I also wonder why the neighbors are still paying a lawn service to mow when the grass ain't growing anymore. (I hear the buzz of the mowers and blowers as I type this. Hello, it's December.) I do realize why the lawn guys are doing it (cha-ching!), but *I* sure as heck wouldn't be paying someone to pretend to cut my grass. Must be nice to have disposable income. Maybe they could dispose some my way.

And with that, I must leave you. It's time to pick up K!

Hello, strangers

Okay, okay, I'm back. I haven't actually been "gone" - just lazy about updating my blog, I suppose. Sorry.

Since this post will definitely ramble on, I have made the executive decision to post in "list" form. There may be lots of parenthetical notations and quotation marks. Bear with me.

1 - No new car; at least, not yet. The old clunker is still running, and we're still trying to decide whether we should let it putter along for another year or so, or buy a new (or used; whatever) car now. I just don't know. In any event, nothing that monumental will happen before Christmas, as I am busy spending all our money on cool stuff to stick in pretty boxes under the tree.

2 - Okay, not really spending all our money. I'm actually doing VERY well this year on gifts. I am the great deal-finder. In fact, I bought the coolest thing for hubby today! It's a - HA, hubby, like I'd let you find out that easily. Keep on dreamin'.

3 - K has decided to join Spanish Club at school. Actually, there is no "Spanish" club, per se. All the foreign languages make up one big group called Culture Club. Yes, Karma Chameleon goes through my head every time I hear that - and now it's going through YOURS, too! Bwahahaaaa! Ahem. Well, K wants to make friends (or at least one friend; how sad is that?), and he (okay, "we") figured he'd do well to get involved in something.

4 - My body image sucks. Y'all, this is serious. I am 38 years old, and for some reason, I'm not getting any younger! What the hell? I knew it was serious when I went into a dressing room today and freaking cried when I saw my reflection. That is some serious shit. So here I go - low carbing (because it's been effective before), and exercise (because I have to; certainly not because I want to). To this end, I've been riding my bike every day, and I think I've progressed out of wussy-biker stage: I no longer want to throw up after a mile.

5 - My husband rocks. He is the most amazing person I've ever met, and I do not know what I'd do without him. And to him, I apologize for using the word "shit" in this post. Twice now. Sorry sorry, hubby hubby.

6 - Here's a picture of our new house. Okay, it's only "new" to us, and we moved in five months ago. Anyway, I think it's nice and I want to share it. Well, heck, I do not know what is going on with this picture - I've been trying to post it here for an hour - you'll have to click the ugly picture below to see it; sorry.

Click me:

7 - In this house, I finally have the banisters and stair railings that I've always wanted. Last night I wrapped pine garland around them, and they look so good, if I do say so myself. Maybe one day the fact that I have banisters and stair railings will not be so very exciting. But I doubt it.

8 - Tomorrow I will be spending the morning scrapbooking with a friend of mine. I'm so happy about that. She's going to come over after she drops her little boy off at preschool, and we'll be able to chat about whatever we want because there will be no kids NOR husbands around! Woohoo! Oh, and we'll probably get some scrapbooking done, too. Maybe. Heh.

9 - It has occurred to me that this post rambles on and is not all that exciting. Tough nookies.

10 - I'm just so respectful to all my blogger fans. HA!

11 - Hubby and I have another chance to take a trip next month, but are undecided about where to go. We'd like to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico, but that probably won't work out. West coast would be ideal (because hubby's dad is giving us some frequent flier miles, and the west coast apparently uses up the fewest), but neither of us are sure if we want to visit San Francisco right now. Thoughts, dear readers?

12 - It's cold in Houston right now. (Kimmer, stop laughing at me! I'm from Texas - anything below 60 is chilly to me! LOL!) I love love love cold weather. Well, "Texas cold." I'm not sure how I'd do in Michigan right now - my heaviest coat is probably considered a windbreaker to those in colder climes. Anyway.... I mention this right now as a filler for my post because my train of thought has jumped the tracks, and as my mind wandered, the first thing it thought was "hey, my feet are cold." Thus my comment. See how nicely this paragraph came full circle? I should totally be doing NaNoWriMo.

13 - Tnk got all moved into the house. There's still a bunch of work to be done on it, but she's living there now. She's even got running water! Woohoo, welcome to the 21st century, Tnk! (I kid; I'm a kidder.) She also got a cool job as a real live police officer. Props to you AGAIN, girl! I'm so proud of you!

14 - Other sis (hereinafter known as EMT) is doing well with her new leg-therapy dude. I am so glad she found a physical therapist who was not trained at Nazi boot camp. Sis is walking very well now, and at last 100% healing is on her horizon. I know she can't wait to get back to work - and the ambulances can't wait to have her!

15 - I'm enrolled in college for the spring (at last). I'm taking an accounting class, a business class, and a physical fitness class. I am excited about getting started, and my husband is excited that I'm getting back into the swing of learnin'. Yup. I need that degree - only about 30 more classes to go! [sigh]

16 - My kids are begging me for hot chocolate, so I'd better stop here. Hey, they haven't had dinner yet, either! Chop Chop, mom!

17 - You guys have a great week, and I'll try to update more frequently in the future. At least, I definitely promise to when and if we get that new car. :)

Time time time...see what's become of me

A better question might be, "Time time time, where the heck have you gone?"

The past few weeks have been so busy that I've met myself coming and going. I absolutely cannot believe that Thanksgiving is in five days. Seriously, my brain just will not wrap around that concept. And Christmas? Fuggedaboudit. "Black Friday" sounds more like death than fun right now.

Tnk's house is coming along, although it doesn't seem quite as close to done when you consider that her moving day is next freaking Wednesday. I don't want to freak out, but I'm starting to anyway. And it's not even my house! I guess I'm just so closely involved in the process that it feels like my problem. Or perhaps these are sympathy pains I'm suffering. I mean, Tnk's got enough to worry about, so maybe if we share the worries, I'll lighten her load.

Yeah, let's go with that.

Speaking of lightening loads, you may have noticed that the NaNoWriMo icon is gone from this page. I finally realized that a snowball in Hades had a better chance of survival than I did of finishing fifty thousand words in 30 days. Thanks anyway, Katie, for hosting the pic for me. I'll shoot for next year instead. I *think* Tnk's house will be done by then. ;)

This weekend we're babysitting EMT's dog. She is the sweetest little thing, and the kids adore her. You all know what this means, don't you? Santa's bag had better have enough room for puppy chow, is all I'm saying.

Today hubby and the boys are going to the Renaissance Festival. Thankfully, P has a Girl Scout thingie that she's committed to, so I didn't have to go to RenFest. I hate RenFest; sue me. It's too far away, costs too much, walking around in mud all day sucks (apparently the fairgrounds are perpetual mud), and EVERY single time I've ever gone, it has rained. Today's forecast says "cloudy," but I'm thinking, yeah, right. That's what they always say just to lure you in. When you get there, the skies open up and the only umbrellas for sale are made of PAPER (what the hell?). Oh, and turkey legs? Overrated.

In other news, the principal of K's school called me the other day and apologized profusely for the Cody incident. He took complete blame for the whole thing. No excuses were made, and man do I respect that.

Well, gotta run take P to Scouts. Then I have to go buy a new car for hubby. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Our Saturn (his current commuter car) is eleven years old and has over 157,000 miles on it. And now the "check engine" light will not go off. Couple that with the fact that the headliner is so shot that you think you have dandruff whenever you ride in the car, and I think it's time for a new vehicle. I just hate the thought of getting back into car payments again. It's been a blissful five months. But the last thing we need is for hubby's car to break down on some crazy ass Houston freeway.

And with that, I'm out of time. Have a good weekend, all.

Here we go again

Remember last week when K saw Cody (a.k.a. "little turd") erasing other students' PowerPoint presentations? Well, now we have a whole new can of worms, smashed open and crawling all over the friggin' place.

Below is an email I sent to K's teacher this afternoon. (I grow weary of having to babysit teachers and administration....)

Mr. Jones,

When I spoke with you last week regarding the fact that K witnessed Cody erasing PowerPoint presentations, you told me that when/if K was called down to the office to tell the principal what he saw, Cody would not be there. K's coming forward would be confidential; in fact, I specifically asked you about this and you assured me that he would be protected.

Yesterday K was called down to the assistant principal's office. Then D (another witness) was called in. Then Cody. All three boys were in the office at the same time. This is completely unacceptable.

Today Cody began bullying K and calling him names such as "fag" and "tattletale." Again, this is unacceptable.

I would like know what you and/or Mr. F plan to do alleviate Cody's bullying tactics. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.

Thank you.

I can't wait to hear what they have to say.

Memoriam (sigh)

Farewell to my grandfather, who passed away yesterday. Your memory will live on through your five children, seventeen grandchildren, and countless great-grandchildren.

May you rest in peace.

Recovering

This weekend we held P's 8th birthday party here at the house. In addition to the three little girls she invited, we also had lots of family members and friends in attendance. It was crowded around here, but also very warm and cozy. I enjoyed visiting with everyone (especially playing poker with T & J & siblings - heh).

The only problem was that I didn't order enough pizza to go around. Not nearly enough. Next time I'll do better.

Two of P's friends stayed for the slumber party. I don't know why they call it a "slumber" party, because there sure wasn't much slumbering going on! The girls were up until midnight, then up again by 7:00 a.m. They had a great time - the mess in P's room is certainly proof of that. The way I see it, though, a slumber party is not a success unless it takes you at least two days to clean up afterwards.

Hmm, wonder why I don't host more slumber parties.

Today I'm heading back to Tnk's house to work on getting it shipshape so she can move into it. Our biggest project today will be installing the new kitchen cabinets. I spent Friday priming and painting the kitchen, and can't wait to see the finished product.

So - this entry is a short one because I've got to run. Y'all have a good day now, ya hear?

It's Wednesday

Today I accomplished a major feat: I went to the grocery store. I had not been in well over a week, and our list was getting rather long. So I clipped some coupons and headed to Kroger this morning. I spent $114, after saving $24.14 with coupons. That's 21.17% off my grocery bill. Can't beat that with a stick. Go, me.

After grocery shopping, I drove K to school. (Yep, I got moving early.) During the drive, K told me about a kid in his Social Studies class who has been up to no good. Apparently, each class has been working on PowerPoint presentations. This little turd has taken it upon himself to open other classes' presentations, delete the information within, and re-save the file. That really ticked me off. I asked K if he'd told the teacher, but he said he had not because he didn't want to be obvious. I told him I'd contact the teacher for him, but in the meantime he was not to hang around Turdboy. He told me not to worry, that he'd already realized that "Cody is a jerk."

I'm so proud of my kid.

I spent the rest of the day working on sis's house. Today's adventures included painting the laundry room and shopping for crown molding for the living room. Tnk's cabinets were delivered today, and they look awesome. I am getting excited about seeing the finished product. After all this work, though, Tnk and I both wish we could snap our fingers and make that happen! Don't we, Tnk?

Tonight we celebrated P's 8th birthday. Dear Lord, how did eight years go by so quickly!?! Her little "party" was a study in simplicity - she wanted Burger King for dinner because they have the new Star Wars toys. {sigh} Then she wanted dump cake for dessert, which is incredibly easy to make. Then she opened two presents - one of which was the Barbie Karaoke Cam. Man, you'd have thought she won the lottery! She was so happy. I took pictures, but I was wishing I had a video camera to capture that moment.

Maybe I'll ask for a video camera for Christmas. Then *I* can do a happy dance.