For those who haven't seen it yet

As I've said, I love Jennifer Lawrence. She's one of my best friends in my head. :)

I took this pic...

... at lunch today.

Just as I was about to peel this banana for one of my little boys, I noticed this sticker.



When did they start putting nutrition labels on bananas?

ZERO FAT
ZERO SODIUM

Duh. It's a banana.

Gotta talk Bachelor again, sorry!

Remember my prediction of Catherine being in the final 2?

I knew when Shay said in her blog that she saw Catherine who "at that point had no idea who I was", Catherine was gonna make it to the end.

I should've been a detective. I'd have given Nancy Drew (and all other fictional detectives) a run for her money.

But now I've gotta say--

CATHERINE??!!! REALLY??!!!

What am I missing here, ladies? Is she anything like Sean? I don't see it. And her family is weird too.

But given the choices he had left, AshLee (my fave from the beginning until recently) had to go if he wasn't gonna choose her in the end. She just had lots of issues. I wish she could've moved past them. But no.

And when he called both Catherine and Lindsay a best friend type AND that he could picture marrying them but never said that about AshLee, the writing was on the wall.

I think it's safe to say he's gonna choose Lindsay. I like her. I think she's probably the best fit for him.

If by some crazy star alignment/full moon/bad-Thai-food-making-his-brain-not-function shocking twist he picks Catherine, I'm NEVER watching this stupid show again. Ever!

Or at the very least, I'll ban it for a season. ;)

Final prediction--

The letter he gets at the finale is going to be from AshLee. That's my bet. She said nothing to him when she left. I think she needed to process and get everything out on paper. I think they want to make us think that it's from one of the final 2, but I don't buy it. She just needed time to choose her words carefully. I don't blame her.

The Style Up .com

Mom went to a women's conference this weekend. I was feeling terrible on Friday and Saturday or else I'd have gone too.  The weekend was geared towards moms.
In between featured speakers, they had breakout sessions. These sessions were about everything from dealing with issues facing kids today to fashion.  My mom went to a fashion session and sent me links to all the blogs and websites. :)
One of the sites is thestyleup.com.   Once you sign up for free and get an account, you take a quick two question survey: What is your style? What is your zip code?
Then the next day the site sends you an email with the weather in your city and a suggested outfit. If you like the outfit, they even attach links to sites where you can buy similar pieces.
You rate the outfit as to how much you like it so that the website knows if it's on the right track aligning with your style.
Today it suggested a navy trench, white button down blouse, jeans, and tall boots like Jennifer Aniston was wearing. Then it linked me to Nordstrom where a navy trench was on sale.
It's pretty awesome. You might want to check it out. :)

Let's talk Oscars

Maybe I'm in a better mood tonight than I was the night I watched the Grammys.

Maybe I like movie stars more than musicians... although they're arguably just as strange and narcissistic.

Maybe I like the gowns and the formality of the Oscars over the Grammys.

But for whatever reason, I liked this show.

The main reason I liked the Oscars this year: There was an overall young feeling to the night.


RED CARPET.

I loved the young faces like Jennifer Lawrence, Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain. They looked beautiful. They looked 20/early 30 something. With so many young girls nominated, the red carpet felt formal but less stuffy than years past.

I could do an entire post just about gowns... but I won't.


SETH MACFARLANE.

Ok, I wasn't thrilled with the choice to make him the host. At all. But I have to say that he's part of the reason I think the night felt young to me. He's a guy that my parents have never heard of but I know well. His jokes were a little wacky and off color but that's who he is. And I have to admit that I laughed out loud a few times.


MUSICALS.

I love musicals!!!! I thought the tributes to the musicals were great. Jennifer Hudson is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. And I don't know about you but those clips of her in "Dreamgirls" really emphasized for me how much weight she's lost. WOW!

I love "Les Miserables". I love it on stage and bawled like a baby watching it on screen.

"Chicago" is still one of my favorite musicals-turned-movie.


MOVIES.

I need to see so many of the movies. Ok, ok. I need to see all of the movies except Les Mis. So pathetic, right?

The next time Jason goes to Meridian I may have to have a marathon movie night. "Silver Linings Playbook" followed by "Argo". Then "Lincoln" followed by "Zero Dark Thirty", "Amour", and "Life of Pi".

I can probably fit all of those in in one night; don't ya think?


FAVORITE HOT MESS MOMENT.

I loved Kristen Stewart limping out on stage with her hair looking like it hadn't seen a brush in days and a big bruise on her left arm. She couldn't help the limp, but everything else? C'mon.


FAVORITE NO - SHOW.

Leonardo DiCaprio. Not because I like him all that much. I just think it's hilarious that he can never be bothered to show up to these things. I can't remember the last time I saw him at the Oscars. I think someone's throwing himself a pity party because he's never won one.

To be fair, though, in the last 10 years, he's only been nominated twice. It DOES seem he's been snubbed quite a bit.


FAVORITE FEMALE SPEECH.

Jennifer Lawrence. She didn't say anything incredible; I just loved her reaction to the win. She looked sincerely shocked.

I'd feel bad for her that she tripped except that she can handle it... and did handle it well. I love her. I love that you can't ever guess what she's gonna say. She seems like somebody I'd be friends with and laugh will all the time.


FAVORITE MALE SPEECH.

Ben Affleck. He made me cry. Maybe the sunburn is making me delirious and emotional. But I thought he was so sincere. And I think he's one of the most likable guys in Hollywood since he married Jenn Garner and had kids.

I've almost completely forgotten about the Bennifer mess he used to be. Almost.


FAVORITE BACKGROUND FOLKS.

The people standing behind Michelle Obama. One couldn't stop blinking. One never blinked. One couldn't decide if she should smile. One couldn't stop smiling. It was mesmerizing.

:)

........

I really enjoyed the night. Until next year, Oscars.

My girls and me

Watching the Oscars together in my bed.

As you can see, not a stitch of makeup on **yikes!** and mission accomplished on the sunburn. **woo hoo!!** :)


.........

A review of the Oscars to come. I promise it won't be a grumpy review like my take on the Grammys.

Helloooo, sun!

This shot of white legs and seemingly HUGE thighs can only mean one thing:

Never take a picture from this angle. Horribly unflattering.

And it means one other thing:

It's sunny today, and the way the weather's been lately this may be the last mild sunny day for a week. So my goal is to get burned enough to give me color all week long.

I don't tan well. So a good burn is the best I can hope for.

My arms are already tender to the touch. My mission seems to be off to a great start. ;)

Growing up

Sarah's been studying me for the last several months. The way I look, the way I act, the way I talk... it's unnerving. It's as if she's taking notes on what it means to be "grown up".

This afternoon she excitedly took a seat beside me outside. She had been jumping on the trampoline and was barefoot.

She said, "Ya know those white things you get on the sides of your feet?"

"Yes, those are calluses."

"I think I'm getting them too! :) If you have them and I'm getting them, it must mean I'm growing up. YAY!!"



Oh brother.

Did you know?

For a while I've been toying with the idea of doing this "Did you know" post.

I feel like I'm pretty good about sharing things about my life to the point of being ridiculous. From this blog, you can learn that I have a 12 degree curve in my spine... my pinky toe nails REFUSE to grow... and I never learned how to dive.

You may know that I was born in Tennessee, get my red hair from my great grandmother on my Mom's side of the family, and have an intense fear of knives that I'm forced to work through every night when I make dinner.


But as I was sitting in church this morning, I was thinking, "How many people know things about me that matter? Do I spend most of my time talking about stupid stuff?"

I decided a long time ago that this blog was going to be filled with the mundane things of life. I'm not trying to solve the world's problems on here or anything. If I've ever said something on my blog that has made you stop and take a deep introspective look into your life, it was PURELY by accident. ;)

I may post things that I'm learning through Bible study or whatever but that's honestly not intended to make YOU think... I'm typing it out so it becomes ingrained in my head and heart.

Anyway... I decided to bullet point some things that you may or may not know about me that are of more substance than the fact that I'm STILL waiting for my side swept bangs to grow out. Grrr. Don't cut bangs, girls. It's a mistake.

These are some of the things that make me who I am.

DID YOU KNOW---

~ that I was raised in a Christian home. I went to church every Sunday morning and on Sunday and Wednesday nights.


~ that my mom sat in a ratty green bathrobe (Sorry, Mom, but you know it was ratty.) every morning with a small yellow notepad and would ask how she could pray for me that day. She'd write down every test I had or any problems I was having at school and pray over me.


~ that I asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 6 years old. Some people think that's too young, but I think when you're raised the way I was, believing in Jesus and what He did on the cross and that you need Him to go to Heaven is just natural. Why wouldn't I accept it as truth?

I've spent the rest of my life to date growing and learning and rebelling and coming back to what I know to be true. But I've never questioned my salvation.


~ that, as I remember it, I wasn't allowed to listen to secular music when I was a little kid other than the Oldies station. Because of that, to this day, I know almost every word to the hits from the 50s and 60s. ;)


~that I was not allowed to watch a rated R movie until I went to college.


~ that I've always wanted to be a mom and a teacher. For as long as I can remember.


~ that I had a teacher in high school tell me that I should pick a different career. LOL. What uplifting advice... from a teacher!


~ that before I got pregnant with Sarah, I journaled and prayed, asking God for kids. I have to go back to that journal sometimes when the kids are driving me nuts and remember that they are an answer to my prayers.


~ that for every pregnancy I had a group of older women (not MUCH older but at least 10 - 15 years older than me) sit with me and pray for Jason and me and the baby I was carrying. For each pregnancy I wrote down the prayers that these women prayed as best I could remember them. Can I tell you that it is AMAZING how these prayers have been answered? Specific things about their personalities, I know are a result of those prayers.


~ that Jason and I have been to marriage counseling.


~ that I spent a year and a half in group counseling.


~ that God used both of those times to really give me a love of counseling. I love having someone to pour my heart out to, who will give me wise advice and direction. I love having honest conversations that bring things to light.

I had a great friend joke with me when I told her I wanted to get my Master's in counseling that I was kinda like the President of The Hair Club for Men who says, "Not only am I the president, I'm also a client." :)

And I am. I have no issue with telling anyone that I've sought counseling, and I need mentors. I'm a huge believer that if you need help with parenting, dealing with grief, in your marriage, in your career, with your self esteem, then get help navigating through it and figuring out what you need to do. There's no shame in that.


~ that, when I taught, in May every year I wrote letters to each of my students. I would tell them how much I loved them and the specific things I saw in them that were an encouragement to me or to their classmates. It was my favorite thing to do each year.

I doubt anyone can tell you a lesson I taught that stuck out in their minds. I'm not really sure that instructing was ever something I was great at. But I did love my kids, and I've gotten emails from Moms telling me that they kept the letter I wrote to their child. :)

Probably should've seen then that my heart was bent more towards counseling than teaching.


~ that I love paperwork!! I do. I LOVE filling out forms. It's weird, I know. My mom used to let me fill out all of the doctor's forms in the waiting rooms as a kid. It made me happy. :) Even Jason will hand over forms to me with a smile, knowing that I can't wait to get out my black pen and complete them.


~ that I think that love of paperwork is gonna help me when I get a job as a counselor. I'm not naive. I know that I'm not going to be spending all of my days hugging kids and telling them that I care. I will be filling out mountains of paperwork. And part of me secretly looks forward to it.

I'm sick. I get it.


~ that I miss church less than 5 times a year. I don't always want to go. When I want to skip, I hate that I have people who will check on me and ask why I wasn't there. But that accountability keeps me going. Even though I'd love to tell you that I go out of some passion for going, that's not always the case. Sometimes I go because I feel like it's what I need to do because it's Sunday. It's a discipline for me, and when I'm faithful to go, I feel like I'm blessed for being there.


~ that we tithe 10% of our income each month. Jason is VERY good about that. I was better about it when I was single. I gave 10% of my income to Breakaway Ministries in College Station. When we were newly married, I pushed to make tithing a priority.

But I gotta tell you... once we had three kids and are on one income, I had a HARD time with giving away 10% of Jason's paycheck every month. It made me sick sometimes. It's still rough for me some months.

Jason really took over and will not let us miss a payment to the church. He makes sure that's the first check he writes. I'm thankful that he does it because I'm too weak to do it. But Jason will tell you that every bonus he gets or every time what appears to be a major car repair ends up being a minor one, he believes it's a blessing from God because we tithe.

I need to be more consistent in tithing from my pay check. Even though it's haaaarrrrd [whine, whine] I believe it's the right thing to do.


~ that I seem to wrestle with the same things over and over again. As soon as I think I've mastered something... like my insecurity... something will happen that will make it rear its ugly head again. Sometimes I wonder if God will continue to give me the same tests until I can pass them. Even though I may never ace the test, I'm sure He wants me to continue to improve my score.


Aaand there you have it.

Or as Jason would say, "And Bob's your uncle." An expression I had never heard until we were married. Have you heard it? It means "There you have it." Use it some time and let me know if people look at you like you're crazy. Jason swears it's a common phrase. Methinks it's not as common as he thinks it is. ;)

My next post will be back to the usual style. Thanks for letting me share a few things about me with a little more depth. I don't want us to be friends for years and yet the only thing you know about me is that I have leg skin sewn in between my fingers that I have to shave periodically.

Although that IS an interesting story. ;)

Field trip

I took the day off to go on a field trip with Sarah. Ironically, the field trip was to Frisco Safety Town which is about 3 minutes from my work.

I had never been to Safety Town and thought it was really very cool. The kids learned all about fire safety. For example all smoke detectors need to be working. Parents shouldn't just knock them loose with a broom when they're beeping in the middle of the night, leaving them hanging from the ceiling.

Oops.



We'll fix this soon I'm sure. ;)

I even learned a few things. Did you know there's a difference between a fire truck and a fire engine??

An engine is a fire truck with water and hoses... equipment to put out a fire. A fire truck has ladders, no water and is used for rescue.

Interesting, huh? Well it was interesting when the fireman said it.

Safety Town has a house set up inside this building where the kids can see what fire damage looks like and practice the things they've just learned about how to get out of a house safely.

The class went into a bedroom and had to practice climbing out of a window and down a little 3 ft roof. We ALL had to go out the window. I ended up hitting my back on the frame that held the screen and tripped on the roof. Graceful. That's me.

I LOVED being with 2nd graders again. I was amazed at how well behaved they were. They were able to read a lot of the slides. They asked good questions. It was even further confirmation that I want to get back to teaching the older kids.

Sarah wanted to sit by me and hold my hand. I was surprised and glad she wanted to claim me and wasn't embarrassed that I was there. I'm sure those days of pretending she has no idea who I am will be here before I know it.

After Safety Town, we were supposed to go to a park for lunch and recess, but it's muddy here so that was canceled. The kids went back to school, and I had a few hours off before I had to pick up Caroline.

AWESOME!! :)

Get Well Soon

We had EIGHT kids out today. We only have 19 sutdents. EIGHT out. Percentage-wise... that's a lot!!

And it was wonderful. Not gonna lie.

But we have kids out with everything from pink eye to pneumonia. And that's not so wonderful.

One little boy is actually at Children's with pneumonia and RSV. He was admitted on Tuesday and will likely be there until Saturday at least. :(

I stopped by the hospital to let him know we're praying for him. On behalf of the class, I brought him some Legos, a Veggie Tales DVD, a balloon, and a card.

(Robyn and I considered bringing him a coloring book, but this little one does NOT like coloring. He's our "two scribbles, 'Is this good enough?'" kid.)

We asked the 11 students we had today to sign his get well card.

As we watched them write their names, Robyn and I couldn't stop laughing at our kids. (Not in front of them of course.) The ones who know how to write their names did crazy things when they signed the card. One wrote her name in a circle. One wrote every letter of her name in whatever order she wanted to.



Check out the name in green at the top. The one that looks like the number 1, followed by the Greek letter Gamma, then an F, B, E. That would be "Emily".

This card makes us look like the WORST teachers ever. Thanks to Dylan, Pierce and a few others for writing legibly. If it weren't for them, it would appear that we've taught nothing this year. ;)

More quick Bachelor talk

I'm REALLY starting to wonder now if Catherine makes it to the final two.
And if she does, then it'll be Lindsay and her.  I like AshLee...although she seems to have more than a little baggage.
Catherine is beautiful but I can't picture Sean hanging out at her mom's house with the kids. Her sisters said she's moody and only stays in relationships as long as they're fun. She needs to go.
Honestly Lindsey was not my favorite but at this point I guess she's the front runner.
And Des needs to hit her brother!! But let's be honest... even without crazy brother, Des's parents were hippy dippy trippy.  Do you really want to drop your kids off with the nut jobs that live in teepees?  In the words of Kevin from "Home Alone", "I don't think so." And yes, they were sweet but I think that's because they were either stoned or too simple minded to be mean.
If you watched last night, you know what I'm sayin'.
I'll be watching Sean tell all tonight. Can't wait. :)

Jack got a Transformers toy in his Happy Meal. It shoots an arrow or a spear or some type of projectile.

He was aiming it at me and shot me in the toe. He said he was aiming for my the big part of my foot and missed.

Then he said, "So next time I'll just aim for your belly... because it's the biggest part of your body and I'm sure not to miss."

Thanks.

Rude.

Triple D and HSN/QVC

I've blogged about home shopping channels before.
I love them. I'm hardly ever tempted to buy anything, but I truly enjoy listening to the people talk incessantly about the products they're pushing. Everything that comes out of their mouths is happy and positive. And I'm amazed by the fact that there's never a lack of things to say.
That's why I like Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network. Guy Fieri, the host, is kind of a dork, BUT I love that nothing but good things can come from his visit.
He's not there to expose your problems. He's not there to make you look bad.
He's there to plug your small business, give it national exposure, and rave about the food.
Anytime I can't sleep, I watch these shows. They don't rile me up or get me frustrated.
I love falling asleep to no drama happiness. :)

Bachelor talk

Ok so really quickly...

I started following Bachelor Sean's sister's blog. It's in my list over there. Mix and Match Family. She's friends with a couple of my friends so I don't feel like it's completely pathetic stalking, only slightly pathetic stalking.

Anyway...

She did a Q&A about the St Croix episode. She mentioned that she saw Catherine out and about and that "At this point... Catherine had no idea who I was."

Hmmm...

Does that mean at some point Catherine WILL know who Shay is? Does she make it to the final 2?

I wonder...

Sarah's drawings

I found these drawings Sarah made.

What would you guess these are???





They're drawings of different hairstyles she wants to try on Stella, her American Girl doll.

And she named the styles.



Strap of cuteness. Ponytail with glory. Glory of cuteness.

I love it!!

What did you think these were drawings of?? Somehow I doubt "ponytails" was at the top of your list. ;)

Valentines

Jack wanted to give candy to his friends, not a card.

Well let me back up... Jack wanted to give flowers to the girls in his class and couldn't decide what to give the boys. Not real flowers, silk flowers so they'd never die. He did that last year on a random day for the preschool girls in his class. I steered him away from that plan.

So then he looked into giving chocolate roses to the girls and Sour Patch Kids to the boys. His logic was that the Sour Patch Kids look like boys so that's what the guys should get.

We couldn't find chocolate roses at Kroger. So we spent-- no lie-- AT LEAST the next 10 minutes trying to compromise between spending $50 on heart shaped boxes of candy for all the girls and miscellaneous things for the boys and a $3 box of Spongebob cards.

Our compromise: He will give each friend a small bag of candy tomorrow.

So that brings us to today.

I told him he needed to write "From: Jack" on every bag.

You should've heard him groan. It was like I told him to copy the Declaration of Independence 44 times.

"Uggghhh. Will you at least write 'From', Mom? That's a lot of writing." [to be read in a whiny voice in your head]

And because I'm a pushover and don't always use teachable moments like I should, I said I'd help him out.

Interestingly, though, the boy who grumbled about writing "From" on each of the bags was creative with his name.

There's the standard "Jack". He even added hearts to the bottom.




Then there's the bubble letter "Jack".



There's "Jack" written in dashes.



And apparently-- context clues taken into consideration-- these dots spell "Jack". Plus an added "Be Mine" at the bottom. Fingers crossed he's paying attention and doesn't give this to a boy tomorrow.



This is just a small sampling of his work.

Even though I wrote the "From"... and put the candy in the bags... I appreciate his effort to make his name a little extra special. ;)

Kindergarten A to Z

Here we go! I got better sleep last night. It's raining and gloomy here, but I'm gonna have a great day!

{{cheesy smile}}

I technically don't have time to be blogging this morning. Caroline still isn't awake. I need to fix her lunch and mine. Tt's 7:45. And we need to leave by 8:10.

But when I'm late to work this morning, I'll be sure to only blame myself. ;)

Last night was the Kindergarten choir performance. They didn't have a performance when Sarah was in Kindergarten. So this was fun and different.

Of course they always stick a General PTA Meeting at the beginning of these shows. Last night's lasted a whopping half hour. The audience was restless!!! And the kids were getting fidgety too.

There's no way to jazz up a PTA meeting. Plain and simple. But I would like to suggest that we don't need every item on each slide read aloud to us. Trusting that we can read for ourselves might be a time saver. Just sayin'.

Jack was the capital letter V.

The little girl wearing the U is the second smartest kid in Jack's class. ;) She's pretty competitive with him, but they're good buddies.

This little boy wearing Z is our neighbor. Jack and he have been together since preschool. This is one of the only times I've ever seen him not wearing a uniform. No lie-- I think I've seen him out of uniform 4 times in his entire life. He's a huge Texas Rangers fan and he wears the baseball pants, shirts, socks up to his knees, and cleats EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. It's pretty cute. :)

Jack had a line. He said, "You say you're not consonants. Why that's absurd! Dear W, you start the very word 'word'." :)

I have a video of it of course but can't get it to upload. And I have no time to figure it out... as was discussed in paragraph #2 above. ;)

And this is my last pic. It makes my heart happy. Our neighbor, Jenna, sat by Caroline to watch the show. Her big brother has been Jack's friend since they were 2 years old. But I've never gotten Jenna and Caroline together. They'll start Kindergarten at the same time, and it makes me so happy that she sat by Caroline and talked to her. I have a lot of Mommy Guilt over bringing Caroline to a Frisco preschool where none of the friends she's making will end up at her neighborhood school. This was a little reassurance that she will have friends in no time at Barksdale, and I don't need too worry.

I saw something the other day that said, "Behind every good kid is a mother who's sure she's screwing everything up." :) So true. And appropriate with this pic since I was literally sitting behind Caroline.

But this reminded me that everything works out. So I need to relax!

A happier post

Ok so my Grammy post bordered on being hostile. Sorry about that. I shouldn't blog when I'm sleep deprived.
So now I'm sitting here, trying to think of something funny to write about to make up for my grumpiness in my previous post.
And I got nothin'.
I promise...next post... no griping.
At least I'll try really hard. :)

The Grammys

I didn't watch most of it. To be honest, I forgot it was on, and I had already decided that I didn't care. I usually like most of the performances, but I couldn't care less who wins "Best Album".

Generally speaking, what I dislike about the Grammys, is that musicians are weird.

They dress weird... I guess because they're uber creative... or maybe it's just because they're stoned.

I also don't like how divisive music can be. Maybe divisive is a strong word, but I'm sticking with it.

In one corner-- You've got the people who listen to the radio and know what's popular and what's not... like me. But I can't necessarily name every artist and tell you what songs they sing. It took me forever to remember how to pronounce "Gotye".

In the other corner-- You've got the people who go to every music festival known to man. They love music so much that they'll sleep in tents and not shower just to hear an awesome live show at 3 AM in a field. According to them, anything mainstream is not real music, and they wouldn't be caught dead listening to the radio. They only listen to obscure songs and are proud that they're better than those of us who have conformed to pop culture.

If an artist that I like happens to win an award, I'm always reminded by my much cooler friends that no well-known artist ever deserves to win. The "true" musicians are always overlooked. Blah blah blah. They hate the Grammys as much as I do, but for different reasons.


Well, much to my dismay and largely because I couldn't find anything else on (I don't watch "The Walking Dead" on AMC.) I ended up watching about 30 minutes of the Grammys last night. I know I could've turned off the TV, but I didn't... Hush.

Here's what I disliked about what I saw...

I love Taylor Swift's songs; they make me laugh. But I still stand by my opinion that she's got too much money to look like she does. Her hair looked terrible last night. I think it's time to grow out the bangs. She's pretty; don't misunderstand me. But not "I can get any guy I want" pretty. And yet somehow she manages to date everyone. And I never enjoy watching her perform. I think she wants to be a rock star, but she's not. The hair flipping and dancing around with her guitar don't work for her. I know I'm throwing out a lot of petty jabs. I guess I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is, but she bothers me. And in the half hour I watched, they showed her 4 times.

I love Carrie Underwood. I hate that they made her do those dumb visual effects on her dress. It was cheesy and distracting.

Frank Ocean. What am I missing here, people? He's bizarre. That was the dumbest song I've ever heard. I'm at a loss. I want to understand. Maybe I'm not cool enough to get it.

I missed Justin Timberlake's performance. :( Of all the things I wanted to see, I can't believe I missed it. I'll be googling it later to see if I can find it. :)


Like I said, I didn't see a lot of it. I'm sure I missed some great moments I would've loved. But those are my thoughts....

Clearly, I'm not choosing a good attitude this morning. I'll work on being happier... later. ;)

The suction on this toothbrush's suction cup is great!

Would've never known if Caroline hadn't stuck it to our stairs today.

It turns out it's been there all day. Awesome.

Jack, yelling to me from the kitchen: Does Caroline still wear her butterfly rainboots?

Me: Yeah, I think so. Why?

Jack: Because she's thirsty.

Me: What does that have to do with her rainboots?

Jack: I can't reach the cups and I was thinking I could fill up her boot.



While I appreciate that he's "helping" her, I don't think drinking from an old shoe would be an option if he couldn't reach the cups to get himself a drink.

The "highlight" of her morning

Finding the hidden pictures in a Highlights magazine = the best part

I'm pretty sure that, with Caroline's help, Jason was able to find them all.

;)

BREAKING NEWS:

The standoff in Alabama is over!!! The boy is safe. The suspect is dead.

I told you I've been obsessively monitoring this story.

THANK GOD!!!!! :)

HALLELUJAH!!

We thought we had foundation problems, but after two inspections, it turns out we don't have enough damage to warrant piers!!

WHEW!!

Instead we're going with an irrigation system to keep our foundation at a constant moisture level. This will actually gradually fix what slight shifting has happened AND will prevent further shifting/settling. Not only is it a fraction of what piers would have cost, but we also escape the stigma of a house that had foundation work done.

We don't have to disclose any foundation problems when we sell this house one day. And an underground foundation irrigation system actually increases the value of our house. :)

We are so relieved... We were worried we may owe as much as $12K for this work, and I was wondering where the heck that was gonna come from.

The situation in Alabama

This has nothing to do with my family but has been on my mind almost nonstop.

I am so bothered by the hostage situation in Alabama; I've woken up in the middle of the night. It's the first thing I check when I log on to my computer. I just want to read that it's over.

A child with special needs and ADHD, being forced to stay in a 6' by 8' bunker.

I hate when I read quotes like, "It doesn't appear that Dykes' intention is to harm the child." No. Only traumatize him by shooting his bus driver and then abducting him. Otherwise, no harm intended at all.

I can't imagine what his parents are going through... to be able to see where your child is but unable to help him or get to him. The thought turns my stomach.

A Kindergarten boy chosen at random. It hits way too close to home.

Every day it just keeps going on. Every day I hope he'll have compassion on this boy and let him go. And every day it continues.

I want this to end soon... and end well.

Rosy red

Sarah was picked to be the Student of the Week this week. We made a poster with pics of her. She had fun decorating it with stickers and made bubble letters that read "SARAH BETH" at the top. She loved it...

.... Then she remembered that she'd have to get up in front of the class and show it. The panic set in.

Bless her sweet heart. She turns red and gets very quiet when she's put on the spot. It can be when I introduce her to someone if she wasn't expecting to be introduced. It can be when she's unexpectedly called on in class. It can be a presentation that she knows is coming, but all eyes are on her.

Seventh grade is when the blushing started for me. I remember going from an outgoing kid to the one who would pray to not be called on to read out loud in front of the class. Middle school was when I became self-conscious and didn't want all eyes on me. It breaks my heart that she feels that way in 2nd grade.

It also breaks my heart because I can empathetically feel what she's describing. I know the feeling when your cheeks and forehead are so hot. You wish you could sweat but you're not sweaty... just feels like your face is on fire. I was jealous of the kids who hands shook or palms sweat. That can be hidden. When your forehead, cheeks, ears, and neck are the color of a tomato, it's kinda hard to play that off.

She must've mentioned to me at least 5 different times how she turns red when she has to talk in front of people. When we glued down a pic of her at her dance recital, she was surprised that her face wasn't red then. I told her I never blushed when I was dancing either. There's something about not standing still and being surrounded by your friends that makes taking center stage more comfortable.

She practiced sharing her poster to an imaginary audience in my bedroom. That makes me so sad. It's her poster with pics of her. Most kids LOVE talking about themselves and sharing things from home. And she's so nervous about it, she felt the need to practice what she would say. :(

I told her all she had to say, while pointing,is "This is me as a baby. These are my birthdays. This is my family. This is what I do for fun." And then sit down. She doesn't have to talk forever.

I prayed that she wouldn't be nervous this morning. I prayed that she wouldn't turn red, but if she did, that her classmates would be kind to her. There's nothing worse than people asking, "Why does she do that?" or "Look how red she is. That's weird."

I'd have given her tips on how to combat it, but I'm still hit or miss on when I'll turn cherry red too.

Hopefully everything went well, and she enjoyed being the star this morning. I guess I'll find out in a couple of hours.

100th day project

Jack and I made this 100-eyed monster shirt for the 100th day of school on Wednesday.

The Kindergarten teachers sent home a note asking that the kids dress up for the 100th day, wearing 100 of something. It's optional... but you know in Kindergarten that really means "You don't have to do it, but all the good moms will make sure their kids dress up. And we'll make a mental note of who the good moms are."

I stole this idea from Pinterest, and he seems excited that the wiggly eyes move. I'm excited that it's done. :)

Super Bowl Saturday

Today I'm making dessert for tomorrow.

I headed back to The Pioneer Woman's website and searched for some of her favorite recipes. Tomorrow we're having chips and homemade salsa, sliders (Sloppy Joe sliders for the kids and I forget what the other one is called. I'm too lazy to look it up. Spicy Whiskey sliders?? IDK. Whiskey is in the title, though, for sure. ;) )

I was looking for a dessert that reminded me of football, and as I was browsing through her options, she has a cake called "Pig Cake". Pig... pigskin.... football. It's a loose connection but it worked for me.

As I was reading the recipe, I realized that it's essentially the Mandarin Orange cake my mom makes. But Mom's is a three layer undertaking that never turns out well for me. My dad, however, won a church cake contest with it once in Corsicana. The first and last time I ever remember Dad baking.

Pig Cake is a sheet cake. THAT I can handle! It's really yummy in the summer. It's a yellow cake mix with mandarin oranges. Crushed pineapple and whipped cream with a little vanilla pudding makes the frosting. You refrigerate it so it tastes refreshing... almost like you're doing something good for your body when you eat 3 pieces. :)

I should wait and post a pic once we cut into it, but I have no patience for that.

I'm working on not complaining as much... not on being more patient. ;)

The only one who will eat this with me is Jack. Maybe Caroline. But Jack LOVES Mandarin Orange cake so I'm counting on him to put this cake away before it goes bad.

For the rest of my family, I made a version of the Hershey Kiss cookies. This time I put refrigerated cookie dough in mini muffin tins, baked the dough for 7 minutes, pulled them out of the oven, and stuck candy in the middle.

They turned out pretty ugly. I sliced some of the dough too thin. I didn't spray some muffin cups enough with Pam. But they're yummy!!

As Jack told me, "Don't worry, Mom. It doesn't matter if it's ugly. It only matters if it's tasty."

And that's exactly why desserts don't stress me out... unless it's a holiday dessert or people are coming over. If desserts turn out badly, who cares?

Now if I mess up those sliders tomorrow, I'm gonna cry.


Recipes:

Pig Cake

Cookie Dough and Candy

Quit your belly-achin'

I'm doing a Bible study by James MacDonald called "Lord, Change my Attitude".

It's a 10 week study. One week we learn about a bad attitude we're all guilty of; then the next week we learn to replace that bad attitude with a good one.

This week we're focusing on complaining.

The definition we're using for complaining is "to express dissatisfaction with a circumstance which is not wrong and about which I'm not doing anything to correct."

Breaking that down...

If I'm talking about the weather and how it's always so cold on the days I have recess duty, then I'm complaining. There's nothing wrong with cold weather. I may not like it, but it's not wrong when it's cold in February.

If I feel like Jason should be doing more around the house but I just gripe about him behind his back instead of going to him, then I'm complaining. I'm not doing anything to correct it if all I do is talk about him to my friends.

James made the point that praying about an issue does qualify as "doing something about it". So if you talk to God about the way you feel, even if it's a long discussion about how unfair you think things are, that is NOT complaining. That's an honest prayer.

The passage in the Bible that we studied was when the Israelites were wandering in the desert and ALL they did was grumble and complain. God parted the Red Sea and protected and guided them (hello, miraculous!)... but they got thirsty (waahhh) and grumbled against Moses and God. So God gave them water-- FROM A ROCK no less-- (another miracle)... but then they complained they were hungry. So He rained manna from heaven... but then they complained that they had no meat. On and on it went. And we read how many times the Bible said that God's anger burned because of their complaints.

James made the point that God hates complaining... especially when we complain about our lot in life. He hates when we forget how kind He's been to us in the past. It hurts Him when our hearts are hard and we treat Him like He's forgotten us. He is always working through our cirumstances.

James also said that so often we complain about things in our lives that are results of choices WE made. We chose the person we married. We chose to have kids. We chose to work at the job where we work. Stop complaining about it!

I'm so guilty of this!!! I don't want to lose my sarcastic sense of humor, but I have been trying to more aware of my complaining spirit.

On Tuesday, I was REALLY deliberate and aware of my grumbling.

I put on my school Tshirt that I have to wear EVERY SINGLE TUESDAY and thought to myself, "I hate this stupid thing. It looks so ugly. I get so sick of wearing the same thing every week."

Then God hit me with "Is it wrong that you have to wear a Tshirt to work, or are you complaining?"

I immediately CHOSE to change my attitude and said, "Thank you, God, that I don't have to think about what I'm gonna wear today. I realize that the reason I don't like it is that it's not cute. Sorry for being vain."

Then I got in the car and drove to work. I was running late and I got behind EVERY SLOW PERSON in North Texas. I swear I did. And I was getting frustrated and grumbling to myself again.

But I stopped and said, "I realize that I should've left early. I'm pressed for time because I took too long getting ready this morning. It's my fault. Please help me get to work on time, God."

And I was on time, miraculously.

As cheesy as it might sound, it made a huge difference to reject an attitude of "woe is me!" and take on an attitude of thankfulness and acknowledgment that I'm not a victim. Sometimes my bad situations are from bad choices I made.

I was running late, not because of the traffic, but because I sat to watch the news that morning. I didn't have time to sit. Bad choice. How can I curse the fact that the roads weren't clear enough for me to go 80 mph?

I make $614 a month because I chose to sign a contract with a school that can only afford to pay me $614 a month. My choice. If I hate it, I can find a new job.

I work with kids that can't read or write and need help wiping their bottoms because I chose to work at a preschool. That goes with the territory. Sometimes it's not fun. But what did I expect when the kids I work with are 4 yrs old? And who says that every moment of work is supposed to be fun?

I'm praying that I continue to be more aware when I want to grumble and complain. My life is really good. I've been VERY blessed.

I have a job. I have an amazing family. We're healthy. We're all at least reasonably smart. ;)

He definitely sees me and hears my prayers. It's mind-blowing.

I'm making an effort to choose to focus on the blessings rather than treat God like His kindness to me isn't enough. I don't want to be a bratty kid that wants more. I want to be satisfied and incredibly grateful with what He's already done.

I think that's an attitude He chooses to bless.