School Stuff...

So...I guess that studying paid off.
Got my test back last night in my Tuesday night class.
Got a 92.
And, one question was thrown out because 100% of the class missed it...so, a 92 was the highest you could make.

That's right.
I rocked it.
I owned it.
I spanked it's ass & sent it to bed early!
What's up?

Anywho...moving on.
I have a "rough draft" for a paper due tomorrow night in my Thursday class.
We have a paper that is worth 70% of our final grade.
Being the little smarty-pants-priss that I can be...I wanted to do it the first week, get it graded, and if I got an A, I fully intended to not return to class. Ultimately, I hoped to end with a C in there, and call it a day. But...Teacher wasn't having it, and they have this "you have to actually GO to class to pass"-policy. So, it wouldn't have worked out anyway....
[hey, that's a Ben Harper lyric..."it wouldn't have worked out anyway...and now it's just another loney day hey-eh..."]

So...that whole "rough draft" thing. Um, I haven't started.
Looks like I'll be having HOMEWORK for dinner... that means I don't get to hang out with my buddy (Baby Gage) too much this evening. That's super-sucky for me.

Bad Mommy! Bad!

So...maybe I'm not the best mommy in the world.
It's okay...I never claimed to be.

My husband routinely tells me that I shouldn't be teaching Baby Gage this or that...

Like....

Letting him stand on the counter-top to get his own sippy & lid.

He likes to get it himself.
Hello Mr.Independence.

Of course I am RIGHT THERE, so he's not going to fall, or if he does--I'm literally right there to catch him.

It's not like I put him up on the counter & leave the kitchen.



And....how does my husband think I reach things on the top shelf of the cabinets?
I'm five feet tall....almost.
If I want something up there, I jump up on the cabinet, stand up, and get it.
Then I jump down.

So...maybe I shouldn't be giving him any ideas just yet...you know, about scaling the kitchen cabinets....but he likes it, and it works for us...
I'll just have to make it an "occasionally" kind of treat.

Saturday Defined.

THRILL


Thrill:
1 a : to cause to experience a sudden sharp feeling of excitement b : to cause to have a shivering or tingling sensation
2 : to cause to vibrate or tremble perceptibly
intransitive verb
1 : to move or pass so as to cause a sudden wave of emotion
2 : to become thrilled : a : to experience a sudden sharp excitement b : TINGLE, THROB
3 : TREMBLE, VIBRATE
- thrill noun
- thrill·ing·ly /'thri-li[ng]-lE/ adverb

CONTENTED


Contented:
: feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation

THIRSTY


Thirsty:
1 a : feeling thirst b : deficient in moisture : PARCHED c : highly absorbent
2 : having a strong desire : AVID
- thirst·i·ness /-stE-n&s/ noun

JOY


Joy:
1 a : the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : DELIGHT b : the expression or exhibition of such emotion : GAIETY
2 : a state of happiness or felicity : BLISS
3 : a source or cause of delight

Today...

I think I'm ready to not work full time.
I don't know. I mean, I love my job. I love some things about my job...you know, every job has it's own set of BS that you don't want to deal with...and certainly I run into those who just want to use & abuse the system.
But on the whole...I like where I work & I like my job.

But.

My little boy is just so much fun.
90% of the time.
And guess what---I'm missing it.

Mornings are getting harder & harder when I have to leave him & he cries & screams for me not to leave. He wraps his whole body around my leg. He pinches my clothes & skin with his tiny fingers trying to get me to just hold him. He runs to the door & pulls my hand as hard as he can trying to lead me back in the house.
It is just heartbreaking.

He's growing so fast, and I'm missing it.
He's so much fun, and I'm missing it.

I had 4 days at home with him when he was sick. He wasn't a perfect little angel. It wasn't all rainbows & sunshine...but at the end of the day---he didn't feel good, and I was the one that he wanted. Me. Momma, Mama, Mamasita, Mommy, Mom. Me. And it is just the best feeling in the world.

And I'm missing it.

My Camellia...

So, at home, I just love my Camellia bush.

This year, it was COVERED in flowers, and they are starting to fall off now.
I figured I should gets some pics before all of the flowers wither.

Gage's New Shirts...

Okay.....I'm just such a sucker for these sassy kids shirts.
I can't seem to stop myself from buying these little smarty-pants tees!

Movie Reviews...

"The Grudge 2"....why do I do this to myself?
I am suuuuuch a weeeeeanie when it comes to scary movies, but I love the adrenaline rush. Anyway, we watched this over the weekend. It's a goofy scary movie that scares my pants off!

"Little Miss Sunshine"....um, I'm going to need my own copy of this movie. So Funny. Totally Loved it.
Loved it.

17 Months.

Baby Gage is 17 months old today.

17 months ago, I gave birth to a little boy.
At this time of day 17 months ago, he was less than 1/2 a day old!

Then....

[yes, I know I look terrible in that picture, but oh well.]

And now...he's sooooo big!

Snowboarding...

So...we bought the plane tickets today.
Going to Salt Lake City & Sundance,Utah.
I can't wait.

I'm going SNOWBOARDING!

And....really, I'm kind of a tag-along on my husband's business trip...so while he's busy with this mult-day conference, I'll be tearing up the slopes (I hope)!

Is there cross country skiing up there? I might like to go out & do that for a half-day activity...I'll have to check into that.

Random fact: I've flown into Salt Lake City at least a dozen times. I've never been outside of the airport!

Gage's New Shirts...

Love them...Love them....

Happy Birthday Susan!

Susan's Birthday is today!

Happy Birthday!


...and just so you know...you'll ALWAYS BE OLDER THAN ME!

SafeNow...

Ginger, my friend, found this website...and OMG! It's so funny!!!!
www.safenow.org
The wording on the website: "The US government has a new website, http://www.ready.gov. It's another attempt at scare mongering in the style of the old "duck and cover" advice after WWII.

The fun thing is that these pictures are so ambiguous they could mean anything! Here are a few interpretations."


Here's the one I find the funniest....

If you've become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that.


If you have set yourself on fire, do not run.


If a door is closed, karate chop it open.

...oh, funny stuff.

RF is bringing the Inchworm Back!

Okay...so I went to the Parents magazine webpage, and I see a picture for the Inchworm...which I TOTALLY LOVED AS A KID & NOW MY KID HAS TO HAVE ONE! [we might need 2...i'm not tooooooo big to ride it am I????]

Anyway...I clicked on the picture, and it read, "Radio Flyer" underneath.
So I dash over to radioflyer.com. Cant find it anywhere!
Called their 1-800#, and spoke with Customer Service.

I am pleased to announce: in Autumn, before Christmas, they will be re-releasing the Inchworm.

I'll have 2 please. One for me, and one for Baby Gage.
Thank you very much.

Diaper Cake Time...

Last week, they had a shower up here for my boss. It was a "GrandMom Shower" since her 1st grandbaby is due this week.

Well...I certainly planned to attend, but ended up at home with a sick baby.
So, here's the diaper cake that I made & gave to my boss...


The ribbon is green with little bright colored bikinis on it. It's so cute!

And...I found this diaper cake online...I think it's just awesome. Maybe for the next shower I attend, I'll branch out & try to make one like this...

www.lilbabycakes.com

And...of course, I have to include the one that I had at Baby Gage's shower...it was soooooooo cute & matched our nursery decor!


Fun stuff.
:)

School...

So, what do I get if I go all through grad school and keep my 4.0 GPA?
What?
Will they pay off my undergrad student loans?
Will they give me a new car?
What?
What will they give me that will be worth it to bust my a$$ for the next...however long it takes me to finish?
What I ask!!!! What????????

I've been up since 4:47 this morning.
Woke up just panicked b/c I had a dream that I went to my "Tuesday Night Class", and we had a test, and I forgot...and therefore had not studied. This Tuesday night professor has tough tests. We were allowed to bring a "helping guide" (cheat sheet) that was a 3x5 inch notecard.
Bet you a$$ that reading my notecard almost required the use of a magnifying glass.
Anyway...I was completely ill-prepared in my dream & just hysterical & worried about the test that he was going to hand out. As he was passing out the tests....I woke up and felt like I couldn't breathe.

Then it dawned on me...my bladder was full.
Went to tinkle...
Returned to bed...
5:05; alarm went off. Time to get up.

School, man.
I have a group presentation coming up in my Tuesday class, and an individual project due in my Thursday class. The project is worth 70% of my grade. I seriously wanted to turn it in early, see if she'd grade it, and if I got an A....just not go for the rest of the semester & take a C. But...alas, it wouldn't work that way. ATTENDANCE is so important here.... Welcome to Grad School. If you miss more than 2 classes---your grade is lowered by one whole letter.
That's super sucky.
I'd like to just do my work, take the tests, turn in the projects, and call it a day!
Oh---and I want an A in every class...I just don't want to have to attend class.

4.0....I'm working my TAIL off to keep it!

Megan's Wedding...

Here's my dress....

Only...mine is black with a black sash...

Took it yesterday afternoon for alterations.
Have to get it hemmed...

Got my fabulous black shoes for the wedding!
(Thanks for letting me borrow them, Mom!)

I *think* we've decided which hotel to stay at...it's on the RiverFront in Savannah. That will be awesome.

I can't wait for May!

Sporks & Stroons.

I love the spork.
The spoon-fork combination is ingenious in my mind.
Like MacGyver himself created the perfect eating utensil.

So...I usually only see the spork at fast food locations, and it's usually white plastic.

I was telling my husband the other night, that I really enjoy the spork, and would seriously buy a set of 12 if I found them in stainless.

Well, I found them!
I have yet to purchase them, but I did at least find them.
And I love them.

Along with the spork...I love the straw-spoon combination that you get with a Slurpy or Icee. What are those called?
straw-spoons?
spaws?
stroons?

I like "stroons" the best.

Mother's Day...

www.t-shirthumor.com

Um...here's what I want for Mother's Day.


Yup. I think it's funny.
So...I want that.

I am a hateful, hateful, person.

I am a hateful, hateful person.
I'm going to post this, and then you will all know the truth about me.
The truth is: At times, I have very little patience for others.
The truth is: I can be very judgemental. (I wouldn't say that I'm this way by nature, but I can be this way.)

It's all so very awful.


The following....is a typed version of my "vent" during my Tuesday night class.
Scene: I'm sitting in the front row, just as any over-achieving Grad school student would do! (duh.) The whole class has been divided into groups for weeks. We each have to give a class-long (2 hours, 50 minutes) presentation to teach the class about a particular therapy. I don't go for a few more weeks (thank goodness!) So, we had our 1st in class presentation last night. And....I'm sure Karma is going to kick my a$$ for these thoughts that I've had...

"What is she saying? What the hell is a "chirren"? Do I have that/it/those/some? Is she talking about "churros"...the deliciously fried pastry that is coated in cinnamon & sugar. I want churros. I love churros....the "purrents & the chirren"...OH! SHE MEANS 'CHILDREN'...WTF? Is she too lazy to annunciate? I can understand a lot of what she says, but she doesn't seem to open & close her mouth to form the shapes & mouth movements to make words. She's TOO LAZY to TALK!

OMG! I can't stand it. The word is 'boundary'. Not Bon-DAIRY.

Did that other girl just say "ethnic family"? What the hell does that look like? If you want to say 'minorities', then just say it. We all have an ethnicity, so we would all be 'ethnic families'...That's my opinion anyway.

Back to the speaker about "chirren"...."I don't really know if this is right or not, but I'm going to say it anyway." REALLY? REALLY? Did you just incorporate that last sentence into your group presentation---which is graded?

With regards to research...."Some people said..." Seriously--if I conducted a study, had it published, and you're going to "cite" it, (yes, that term was used very loosely), then I would want you to use my F'in name.

No....no....I just heard one of them say, "I reckon..."

I can't do this anymore."

Our Dog: Free to a Good Home.

Meet Eddie (for those who have not met him in person, or at the very least seen his picture here...oh, and pardon my near-cankles in the picture. I was waaaaaaaaay preggo when it was taken...)

We simply must give him away...
Why?
Because apparently we are terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad parents.
We paid for Eddie to have life-saving surgery which unfortunately involved the removal of his testicles among other necrotic doggie-parts.
We made this decision with complete disregard to his self-esteem.

Testicles: gone.
Nut-sack: shriveled.
How can he possibly feel like "He-Da-Man" with no nut-sack?
Oh, if only we'd known about....

NEUTICLES!
www.neuticles.com
The testicular implantations for pets.

Meet the creator of Neuticles. His name is Greg A. Miller, and with him is Buck the Bloodhound.
Now that's a man with too much time on his hands!


....but where's my MILLION DOLLAR IDEA?

Bird-balls?
Cat-balls?
Ugh....

Texas: Mandate for HPV Vaccine...

Well, for those who don't live in Texas...you may not know about this news...
Our Governor wants it to be mandated that all school age girls get the new HPV vaccine. There's a HUGE debate going on about this.

"Texas House Public Health Committee Monday ended a daylong hearing without a vote on Governor Perry's executive order to make schoolgirls age 11 and 12 have the HPV vaccine, effective Aug. 2008."....from www.foodconsumer.org

Certainly there is much criticism about this.

And of course...I have an opinion.
I'm all for anything that would prevent my dtr (future tense, since I only have a son right now!) from getting cervical cancer.
But...I don't want the government telling me that I must give that to my child.
And, what are the long term effects of this vaccine? Don't really know that yet, do we? And, my child is almost a year & a half. If I were to have a little girl who is turning 11 next year, I'd probably be paying WAAAAAY more attention to this because it would be my "here & now." For me, I have at least 11 years before I ever have to think about this.
Other parents are concerned that they will now have to give the talk about "the birds & the bees" before they or their child was ready for it. Well...I gotta say...11 & 12 year olds of normal developmental stages are in 5th, 6th, & 7th grade. Certainly by 7th grade you should be having that discussion anyway! In the school district where I grew up---there was no sex ed class. We had a video in the 5th grade about starting your period. All the girls had to watch it while the boys got to go out and play on the playground. (that seemed fair....) Other than the video, we touched on this stuff in Health class (usually taught by a football coach...). So, the parents NEED to be having these talks at home. Chances are, it will begin before they are in the 5th, 6th, or 7th grades.

So...I don't think parents should be forced into this. But, I think it should be readily available, and AFFORDABLE for those who want it.

That's my $0.02 for the day.

TEN YEARS OLD!

Went to Allen's birthday party over the weekend.
Can you believe he's ten years old already?

Birthday party was at the Skateplex...
How long has it been since I went roller skating??? YEARS.
Seriously---it was soooo much fun!

Loaded up the car...picked up my sister & Trystan & they rode with us to Tyler.

Allen's cake...


Trystan at the skating rink...


This picture is probably a little hard to make out...that would be Baby Gage...on his very own dance floor! (I mean, skating rink)


And...it was Daddy's 1st time on skates.
First time ever. Can you believe that?

(how cute is that shirt, I ask you? I think it's cute...)

Memma & Gage, watching the skaters...


"Mario, whatcha doing???"


Opening gifts...


"But I DON'T WANT TO SIT STILL!"


And then we went home to Memma & PawPaw's house.
Daddy, Gage, & Trystan playing...


Tiffany & Trystan


Allen & Me (in his mega-cool shirt from Body Worlds...why yes, that is a rabbit with no skin on it....yuck!)


And...somebody was getting tired!


Long day. It was good though!

"Let Them Eat Cake!"

So, have I posted much about what a wonderful cake maker my mom is?

Well, she is.

She makes FABULOUS cakes.

Went to her house this past weekend....there was a Valentine's Cake for us, and a...another cake that I can't quite remember the name, but I think she said a Pecan Pie Cake, or Pecan Creme Cake...I dunno. It was beautiful though!


(How cute is that cake? And...it was strawberry...my favorite!)



And here's something else. The cake plate from the strawberry cake...well, she bought it as a gift for someone else...but liked it so much she decided to keep it. How bad is that???!!! Um...I'm guilty of that too.
And, I can't blame her. It's a cute little cake plate & you can change out the ribbon for a variety of occasions....

:)

Mail...

"...it makes me wanna wag my tail; when it comes, I want to yell 'MAIL!'"
(name that cartoon....)

Anyway....
My post is a spinoff from Talia's post (http://accordingtotalia.blogspot.com)

Mail.
She had a pretty nasty papercut story.
I told her that I can top it.

And here we go...

In high school, I did an internship with a doctor...he used to mail out these little containers for the old people to BRING in their TEENY-TINY sample of stool.

....an elderly person SHIT on the CARD, jammed it into an envelope & mailed it to us.

"Hey intern...go get the mail."
"What smells like shit?"
"OMG! IT IS SHIT!"

Yup. That was my life.

Hmmm...

What shall Gage be when he gets older?

...maybe this GAME from www.boardgamegeek.com will help him decide.
Apparently, he only has a few options...




Hmmm...6 whole options...however will he decide?

Sweet Noel is on her way!

(Okay, that's a quote from Erin's baby shower invitation...)

My friend Erin is having her baby today!


Apparently she didn't quite feel right this morning. Called the doc...went in....water broke in the office & she was dilated to a 6.

How in the world is this fair? Baby #1 is supposed to be a hard delivery!
sounds like hers is easy-breezy! so not fair!

...but, it's good, and hopefully everything will be super easy-breezy for her!

Noel will be born today!
:)

When In Rome....

Or...rather, when in France, do as the French do!

Meredith (http://poppyinprovence.blogspot.com) shared this...

It's a speedo vending machine. Have you ever seen such a thing?



Okay. I just HAD to share this.
I was culturally educated today about something French.