winner, winner...

remember yesterday when i said that cee would wet herself if we won? well, guess what...

oh yeah! we won the bake-off!!! 1st place for little miss and a trophy to add to her collection. she was beside herself! and the pie auctioned for $160 smack-a-roos!! i didn't have my camera with me, so i'm gonna have to improvise on the pics. if only you could see her face...

i do think it's worth adding that this is her 2nd trophy. the first one was for catching the biggest catfish at a local contest a few years ago. woo hoo!!

p.s. - i am happy to report to you that she did not wet herself when we found out she won. :) whew!

5-16-10 update:
thanks to my new camera, i finally have a pic of cee & her trophy...

coaching and baking

i have never coached before. i played 2 games of soccer when i was five, and i quit because i did not like getting kicked in the shins (my team was aptly named 'the bruisers'). i wonder if my mom didn't buy shin guards or if they just didn't make them back in the day...

so with those notches of experience under my belt, today i coached jay's soccer team. i loved it!! it was pure entertainment to watch the kids interact, not interact, and do stunts on the field. the team i coached was 'the sidekicks', made up of 4-5 year olds. thankfully, they all had shin guards.

there was one little boy on the opposing team who, to be honest with you, was exactly the size of my back pocket and it took all of my will power to not stick him in that pocket and bring him home with me. a) he was adorable, b) he did headstands for 75% of the game, and c) he sprawled flat on the grass for the remaining 25% of the game. coolest little guy ever. it did not matter if he was head-standing or sprawling, he was pretty much giggling the entire time.

cee totally rocked it today - i was so proud of her!! she hustled, stayed focused, almost made a goal, and only did five cartwheels through the entire game. woo hoo!!

cee and i just finished baking cherry pies. there is a bake off at a local event tomorrow, and she really wanted to participate. this project was lots of fun. she handled all of the lattice work, and i handled the sharp knives. she cooked the cherry filling, and i poured the bubbly liquid into the crusts. one of our pies will be judged and the other will be auctioned (God bless the lucky soul who gets ours).

i had a momentary flashback to a long-repressed memory...i made a cherry pie when i was 10, and according to my mom, it was 'the most beautiful pie ever'. it was for a bake sale to raise money for something super fun, and right as i carried it from the counter to the oven...

splat...

it burst into a sticky mess, and so did i.

today's baking extravaganza was semi-therapeutic. i had cee make 'labels' for the pie covers just to make sure we had the taste appeal and the emotional appeal. wish us luck tomorrow...she would wet herself if we got a trophy for our efforts!!



peace, love, goals, and pies...

lucky

i am so lucky to have amazing friends who remind me that glee is tomorrow!!

there was no school today, so i spent my day with my darlings. thing one is getting sick, and thing two has decided that obeying is merely a suggestion. needless to say, i was ready to pull my hair out by about nine this morning (we woke up at eight).

'don't look at me.'

'i'm not looking at you.'

'i'm glad you're not looking at me.'

'i'm *not* looking at you, i'm looking at the window by you.'

'mom!! she's looking at the window on my side!!!'

'no i'm not!'

'yes you are!'

'mom, she's yelling at me.' (stuffs fingers in ears to avert the alleged yelling)

'mom, she's making it up. this is what it sounds like when i yell at you!'

'no i'm not making it up!' (she is magically able to respond appropriately even though her ears are still plugged by her fingers)

'yes you are.'

and i interject the classic mom phrase that all moms hate to utter: 'don't. make. me. pull. this. car. over.'

(tears - from all three of us)

yeah.

annoying, huh?

and by the way, whoever invented that phrase was not familiar with the rule about not ending sentences in prepositions, but i did not realize that until just now...

would i have really pulled the car over slowly to the shoulder of the highway? i'm 99% sure i wouldn't have done this. what is the bite in this threat, anyway? what would be so terribly bad about a mom pulling a car over to the side of the road? would a mom really hop out of the car and stop the trouble as speeding cars whizzed by, threatening her life with their sheer speed? would she quickly put on her super mom cape and save the day? would she put up red flags (mine might have been white today) to flag down reinforcements?

i honestly have no idea what it is about this phrase that is so powerful, but i do know that this empty threat has mistakenly put fear into many a child for many decades. i'm not one to question something like this: if it ain't broke....

don't fix it. :)

because i am partially brain dead due to the nonsense that was my day *and* because my subconsciousness actually thought today was sunday, my frown has just turned upside down in a very big way...tomorrow is not monday, it's tuesday.

that. means. gleeee!!!

gleeeeeeee = very happy momma

woo hoo!!!

you'd think i'd be happy about a four-day work week. truth be told, i can't even see four days ahead of myself right now. but i can definitely see an entertaining night of song, dance, and unexplainably insane humor in my very near future (23 hours, but who's counting?).

good night - sweet dreams are mine, all mine.

thanks, jtfb, for the reminder. muah!

peace, show tunes, and empty threats.

mine.

what's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine. :)

joking. but seriously...

i decided today (thanks to the sage advice of my dear mom) to crack my mom whip and reclaim my bedroom. please don't mistake my motivations. i love having the girls close to me whenever it's possible, but i would be lying if i said that they've worn out their welcome in my room. they've decided that their rooms are mere storage spaces, and my room has become the place where we all sleep.

we are in the process of rearranging right now, and i am very excited that they are happy about this project. i hope their excitement carries over to tonight and the nights to come.

i moved both of their beds into one room, and the other room is soon to be their play room. they are so psyched...they want to move their art table in, they are working on a sign-in sheet for visitors (yes, i realize this is a little over-board), and they are designating specific areas for the nursery, the stuffed animal zoo, the art area, the homework area, and more.

pictures coming soon...

wish us luck!

every letter makes a sound...

...and c- says /k/. c- c- caterpillar! c- c- corduroy!

that's what i'm listening to right now. yes, it is twenty minutes past their bedtime. yes, i am super tired. and yes, i am an old woman for requiring an average of 8 hours of sleep per night.

and no, i cannot find any reason in my heart to tell them to put their books away and stop reading right now. their voices are so sweet. cee teaches jay, she praises her, prompts her, and encourages her. jay's smile gets bigger with each new page she turns. i absolutely love this on so many different levels.

it was a complete eric carle kind of day in jay's class that included making cutouts of caterpillars. we couldn't resist, so we are winding down our night by reading 'the very hungry caterpillar'.

cee has corduroy on deck for our last story. i love corduroy. his fuzzy little self and those cute green overalls with the missing button have had me enamoured with him since the first time i heard the story forever ago. he's the sweetest, most loveable bear ever (no offense to winnie)...



my girls are the sweetest non-bear things ever. i would do anything in the world for them. their smiles, giggles, hugs, love and happiness are absolutely priceless to me.

i could probably spend a little more time right now to find a creative way to weave in a mastercard commerical with that one. but instead i am going to read a story about a cute little bear to my cute little cubs, and then i'm gonna call it a night.

peace.

image can be found at amazon.com and bn.com...

good morning, sunshine

late admit slip of the week...

student name: tawny d.
date: 4/12/2010
time: 11:47 am
reason for being late: i slept in.

a.) dude.
b.) school starts at 8:15. on. the. dot.
c.) you missed the entire morning...
d.) but you made it just in time for lunch.
e.) glad you're here.

i seriously cannot remember the last time i slept past 9 am. trust me - i tried really hard to remember, and i simply cannot.

kids...gotta love 'em.

on a side-note, this is the same child who decided - with a friend - to dye her hair black. they bought one kit of hair color. this means they only had 2 gloves. in the spirit of unconditional friendship, they decided that they'd each get one glove.

the next day they both came to school with one black hand.

it was one of the most stellar examples of true friendship that i have ever seen.

ever.

speaking of sleeping in, i am up way, way, way past my bedtime. i'm just about to saw some logs.

i think i had something else to say, and i am pretty sure that it was really good.

my brain has turned to tired, sleepy mush.

good night.

glee

definition: jubilant delight or joy; great merriment or delight, often caused by someone's misfortune; part of a song scored for three or more usually male and unaccompanied voices that was popular in the 18th century; a movement that regained unprecedented mass popularity in the fall of 2009 courtesy of fox's hit tv series that has been deemed (despite strong objection from the ringling brothers) by many as 'the greatest show on earth'.

have you ever had completely, ridiculously unrealistic expectations for something? i have.

but not tonight. tonight, every ounce of my off-the-charts expectations are 100% founded and warranted.

it's the season premiere of gleeeeeeeeeeeee and i am absolutely beside myself.

i have been waiting for this since december 9, 2009 at approximately 9:01 pm central standard time.

brace yourselves, it is going to be fabulous.

(it has to be)


peace, love & lots of glee...

update @ 9:29 pm -
dear diary - glee did not disappoint. the end.

yard art

when i turned into my neighborhood this afternoon, something immediately caught my eye. i am sure most of you have either had neighbors or heard about neighbors who keep tacky things in their yard. do they do it as a prank? do they really think it looks artsy? or is there a chance someone else left their artistic mark on that person's yard?

well, i got 'mystery yard-arted' today.

some of my favorite pranks include sticking hundreds of plastic forks in peoples' yards (clear forks work best)...switching politcal campaign signs (especially when you switch a democrat sign with a republican sign)...stealing christmas yard decorations (i prefer snowmen)...putting plastic flamingoes in yards...and the list goes on.

i have, of course, never actually done any of the above, but it sure would have been fun twenty years ago. i have been very tempted to switch political signs, and that is definitely one that is still doable.

i did tp my fair share of houses in the small town where i grew up and escaped immediately after graduating from high school.

well, today i came home to discover a tv in my yard.

yup, you heard me.

a tv.

see?



you thought i was kidding, huh?

if the tv actually worked and there was actually a plug at the far edge of my yard, then i would have thought that the would-be-artist had been quite considerate in their placement of the tv. i could have just sat on my porch and watched it from afar.

when i noticed a silverish blackish tv blob in my yard, my first thought was, 'bull. someone broke into my house, tried to steal my tv, and gave up because it was too heavy.'

i also wondered if maybe someone told them 't.p. the house on the corner!' and instead they heard it as 't.v. the house on the corner!'

you can imagine how relieved i felt when i walked into my house and saw that my tv had not moved even an inch.

i wonder if there are tv removal service people. i have no idea how i am supposed to move this bulky monster from my yard by myself. and i don't like to ask for help. what to do, what to do....

so the mystery remains. i had to take pictures, because that's what keeps me entertained.

can you imagine what my neighbors think about me? all they really know is that i am a recently divorced single mom who doesn't mingle much with the neighborhood folk. and they know that whenever i find weird things in my yard, i take pictures. they probably have this impression of me as a weirdo, dorky, photo-taking, crazed, sun-a-phobic lunatic.

i realize that their thoughts about me might be justifiably sound. especially after reading what i just typed.

but, whatever.

and that's the way my weekend started. i hope lots more interesting and mysterious adventures are in store for me.

ahhh - ask and ye shall receive. cee just opened the door to let hank in. he completely destroyed my new hand-me-down pool chair (for the pool i don't have). when i say completely, i mean completely.



so yeah...i am looking forward to many more surprises this weekend!

tomorrow i am getting my soccer mom game face on...i can't wait.

have a great weekend, watch out for roaming yard art, and protect your outdoor furnishings.

peace.

p.s. - my sweet neighbor just came by. he asked if i knew anything about the tv in my yard, and after i told him a very believable story about how i had no idea how it got there and why i needed to take pictures of it, he sighed (awkwardly) and told me that the tv had been there all day and that he would load it up in his truck tonight and take it to a dump for me. ahhhh - a neighbor angel. i am so, so lucky!!!

p.s.s. - i am trying to convince myself that i don't live in the ghetto. evidence is not proving to be in my favor. :(

my friends...

...are simply amazing. i am blessed.

today i got my first 'drive-by hugging' ever. it was fabulous. i haven't seen my friend robin in ages (okay - a couple of months, which literally seems like eons) even though she seriously lives about 2 miles away from me. when i was leaving the day care this morning, she parked her car right behind me, jumped out, ran over to me, hugged me and said, 'i miss you!!!', ran back to her car, hopped in, and drove off.

it. made. my. day.

she is a teeny ball of fire...all 5 foot 1 of her. we must set a tentative wine date - muy stat!! :)

my best friends from college are equally amazing. there are six of us, and we get together at least once a year. this has been going on for 12 years...that's a long time in my book. this year i can't make our reunion. i am sick about it, and i am going to miss seeing them so badly. i think i am the first one that has ever had to back out, and my biggest fear is that this is going to be the unravelling of our annual trip...i hope i am wrong.

we went from crazy, goofy, single college girls (except jill, who is our always-and-forever mother hen and reminds us to get our 'stuff' together as often as necessary) to married with children...whit and meg both had their first babies in 2009, and now we are all mommas. jill had her 2nd in november. carrie has three, and tabs has two. they are my people. my fabric. my go-to's. i can't wait until we can get all of our little ones together for a 'gumbo ya-ya' type of weekend.

they are really and truly the best.

isn't it crazy how time works with dear friends? a month can pass...a season can pass...a year can pass...but when that time passes between good friends, you can pick up just like you never missed a beat. that's one thing i really love about those girls.

my incredible school friends will take up an entirely new post. they have kept me afloat for the last four years in ways they will never, ever, ever know. they are my red bull, my lighter fluid, my comic relief, my therapists, my sounding walls, the wind in my sails, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. we all willingly take a ride on the boat of insanity almost every single day, and if we didn't get to laugh together, we would all cry together. :) (in a happy way, of course)

from chats in the hallways to bowling to trivia to tennis and....oh, wait. more on those tremendously lovely, talented, and amazing people in a future post!!! i ♥ them all. a whole real lot.

jay is in waco for the week, and cee and i are eating up every single moment of our time.

right now we are watching twilight. i am very sorry to inform you that cee has just gone 'team jacob'. she's defending jacob like she has known about werewolves all of her life.

(sigh)

i still love her, though.

alright - that's all i have for now.

six days til glee....

the most interesting man...

...barely alive.

editor's note: this actually happened on thursday, but i didn't want to post it on thursday lest someone think it was merely a piece of april fool's trickery. this is nonfiction (that means true). spoiler alert: this isn't your standard 'happy easter' warm fuzzies post. :)

yup. i had an encounter with him today.

i dropped cee off at school at 7 on the nose this morning. then i made my way to the convenience store for my first morning dose of caffeine. that's where i saw him...he was in front of me in the checkout line.

he was 'weathered' to say the least. even though the sun wasn't out, he was indoors, and we were not in west hollywood, he had his sunglasses on. he had on one of those black-with-orange-flames harley bandanas (reminecent of hulk hogan), a cozy looking plaid flannel, and some well loved jeans. i totally forgot to look at his shoes.

he offered to let me go first, but i declined. a.) i wasn't in a hurry (thankfully), and b.) i honestly didn't think he would take very long.

he plopped a 6 pack of budweiser tall boys onto the counter.

sweet. everyone needs a six pack at 7 am (just as everyone needs their first diet coke at 7 am).

the cashier said, 'that'll be $7.33.'

the most interesting man barely alive took a crown royal bag out of his pocket. it was filled with change. a couple of rolls of nickels, rolls of pennies, and lots of loose change.

i sighed - this was going to take a bit longer than i thought.

as t.m.i.m.b.a. started emptying his coins onto the counter, the cashier started counting them. and counting them. and counting them. there were lots of pennies.

i was trying not to cast judgement, but it wasn't easy. here's where it gets really good. he took a hankie out of his pocket (the same one where the crown bag was) and proceeded to cough into it. when he pulled the hankie away from his face, it was filled with bloody, coughed up nastiness.

gross. right?

that has to be some sort of public safety hazard, but mr. beer-at-7-in-the-morning probably wasn't concerned with that.

the clerk looked up at him with a slightly concerned, furrowed brow.

i swear you won't believe what happened next.

t.m.i.m.b.a. said, 'i'll take a pack of marlboro reds, too.'

whoa. huh?

this is when i decided i was very glad that i didn't take him up on his offer for me to go first. just think - i would have missed this entire episode!

the cashier grabbed the pack of cigs, placed it on the counter, and readjusted the total to $13 something. his brow and look of concern didn't budge.

coins continued to spill from the crown royal bag, the cashier continued counting, and i started looking around for the hidden camera.

there wasn't one (and if there was, it was well hidden).

the cashier finally finished counting, nodded to t.m.i.m.b.a. to show that he had collected his due amount, and closed the register.

t.m.i.m.b.a. looked at me and said, 'i'm sorry that took so long, m'am.'

i grinned and told him it was no big deal.

he had no idea how awesome it was for me to witness this. i counted my blessings. i knew it was going to be a great day.

just before he turned to leave the store, he said, 'excuse me, dear.'

he grabbed a couple of those tiny paper bags - brown koozies or whatever they're called.

i paid for my diet coke, went to my car, and i waited for him to drive away. once i saw that he was headed in the complete opposite direction as me, i pulled out of the parking lot, thanked God that my kids were safe (aka not on the roads), and headed on my merry way to work.

moments like these are priceless to me. humanity is such a mystery...a catalyst for so many questions...lots to chomp on.

one of the many questions that tromped through my head was, 'does he have a death wish?' because if he does, i wonder if paying for a gallon of gas and then ingesting it directly into his body would have been a more cost-effective means of achieving his goal. yes, these are the sick and demented kinds of thoughts that go through my head sometimes (far more often than i would like to admit).

that's all i've got for now, but keep your shades on - your future's a bright one.

peace.

egg season

every year i forget how much fun it is to dye easter eggs. i have always loved it, and it is infinitely more fun to share the vinegar-scented experience with the girls. cee finally knows what to do and how to do it, and for jay it is still a brand new project. we did several this week, and i really do want to go buy more eggs and dye kits tomorrow. it's near the top of my to-do list.

the girls are so ready for easter this year. jay is more than a little concerned that hank is going to gobble up the bunny whenever he comes to our yard to hide eggs. i never had this worry as a child, and i feel bad for her. therefore, hank will be snoozing in his crate tomorrow night to eliminate any temptation he might have to devour the bunny.

here are a few of my favorite photos from the egg coloring fun...


their faces were so sweet and intense while they waited for their eggs to turn the right shade...


the final product always makes me happy!


i am taking the girls to a new church sunday. i am nervous about it. i can't quite pinpoint why, but i think it has a lot to do with how much i loved the church we were at until the recent modification to their childcare philosophies. change is never easy, and i know we will be fine. we will find a church that makes us feel comfy and happy...it might take some time, but i think it will be worth the investment.

i hope you all enjoy your easter weekend...peace.