Some Unique Gift Ideas

My husband receives the "Think Geek" catalog in the mail.  We had a good time flipping through it and laughing at their cleverness.  Last year they had the "Tauntaun" sleeping bag that I wrote about
but I especially like these 2 items this year.

I found these for the kids. 

My daughter would really LOVE this hoodie.  I might have to add some $ to her Christmas budget.

This is the Iron Man chest light.  It clips to any shirt, lights up, and makes noises!  Fun!

New Family Photo

I'm in charge of the church Christmas party this year.  I choose to do an "ugly sweater" theme.  I'm so excited!  This weekend I worked on my family's sweaters so we could take this family photo.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  I just love Chuck's resigned look.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Charlie wasn't feeling cooperative today.

Problems with Costumes

You might remember that I had carefully planned my children's costumes, a gnome, and Medusa.  Well the Medusa head piece was sold out, so we found another.  And that one was only available in November which might as well be NEVER.
I had been testing Charlie for the gnome costume by putting hats on him hoping he'll leave them alone.  No luck.  He would have looked like a Scandinavian child with an odd choice of belt without the gnome hat and beard.
Moving forward with 2nd choices.  Luckily my mother gave Katherine a dragon costume for her birthday.  This is because Katherine spends most of her time in "character".  She was completely happy spending Halloween as a dragon instead of Medusa.  She didn't care for the headpiece so much and refused to wear it Halloween night.  Here she is at school getting ready for the costume parade.

Charlie spent his Halloween as Dracula.  I bought his costume from Wal-mart but just used the cape.  I thought his church suit looked better than the cheap elastic bottomed pants.  Chuck found the perfect pacifier on-line.  I love it!

I'm so disappointed in my photo taking this time.  I really didn't have a good photo of either kid in costume.  Pathetic.

Free!?

I did something stupid this week.  I was reading one of my favorite blogs and she mentioned a free 8x10 photo canvas from a certain company.  Great!  I went right to the website and picked a photo of Katherine and my Dad from her birthday flight.  It's going to make a great Christmas gift for him.
The ordering went so fast or I just wasn't paying attention but I didn't know how much the shipping and handling was going to be.  In fact I never found out until they sent a confirmation email to me several minutes after I had ordered.  14.95!!!????  I realize that this is a good price for a canvas but it was far from free.
Oh well.  It is done.  Isn't this a great photo though.

A Color Personality Quiz

I've been following a blog called How About Orange, that is full of fun "time wasters".  I just took one her quizs called "What's Your Color Personality".  My results said I'm yellow.  I like that.  It said kind things about me.  What's your color?!

The Answer to a Serious Question

Okay I went back to Sonic and had a small talk with an assistant manager.  She verified that tips are welcome as a nice gesture but employees are certainly not to ask for them.  Tips are also given at the drive-thru as well.  As for the refills?  Yes, Sonic does give free refills.
My thoughts on Sonic after all this drama:
I'd rather eat better food for the same price at our local Mexican restaurants who also have free refills and work just as hard or harder for their tips.  No time to sit?  I'll go to any other drive-thru.

Serious Question

We had an unpleasant visit to our local Sonic recently.  I had some coupons which was why we went in the first place.  While ordering the worker became confused so came out to the car to clarify.  We gave him our card for payment and the coupons.  Several minutes later he came back with our food and to return our card and the coupons.  He stated he'd just let us keep the coupons.  Okay, whatever.

This same guy came back to our car minutes later and actually asked for a tip.  He had "talked" to his manager and expected a tip or the coupons back.  Chuck explained that it isn't written on the menu that tips are expected but he could have the coupons back.  This jerk continued to argue so Chuck firmly pointed out, if he was expecting a tip then he should do a better job with the order since it was missing tots and napkins.  Then he left.

We continued to sit eating our meal and he came back for a 3rd time!  He wanted to know if we wanted refills.  Chuck then accused him of pandering for a tip.  Since when does Sonic do refills?!  If we expected a refill we wouldn't have ordered the Route 44 size!  He finally left for good and we took off.  Chuck then tells me he had the feeling the kid wanted our drinks so he could do something to them.  Once this was said I knew it to be true. 

I'm going to speak with the manager tomorrow about this situation.  If I'm expected to tip then I want to know about it.  I'll tell you how it goes.  Just wondering, do you tip at Sonic? 

Same Dress Tuesdays

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting as much lately.  It is due to my on going quest for weight loss.  I joined Weight Watcher's several weeks ago and have immersed myself into counting points, edamame, fiber, water, and walking.  Not very exciting to read about and all very time consuming.
I go to my Weight Watcher's meeting each week in the same dress so I can get an accurate reading on the scale.  What's funny is I don't care for this dress as it's not particularly flattering.  I picked it because it was the lightest item in my closet.  I feel weird wearing the same thing week after week so I try to change it up a bit, but really who am I kidding.
Our leader shared a story about a woman who lost 80 pounds but stubbornly wore the same striped shirt and khaki pant each week.  In fact she ran into this woman at a church event but didn't recognize her out of her striped weight watcher uniform.  I haven't made up my mind if this story is inspirational or not.

Here are some photos of the past few weeks. 

Am I really this busty?!  They look bigger than my head.

Uhhmmm, not really loving this look as it makes me look enormous.

You may catch me after these meetings at Hobby Lobby or Publix with my dear friend Cyndi who courageously attends wearing whatever she wants. 

Funny Site

If you receive Pottery Barn's catalog on a regular basis you will recognize many of the photos shared on this site, Catalog Living.  The woman behind it has created fictional character's that live in the photos and what they may be saying to each other.  These are two of my favorites:

Elaine wasn’t about to let some hot flashes get in the way of balancing the checkbook with the abacus.

Gary, I just can’t believe that after months of research that’s the chair you chose.

4th Of July Photo Surprise

We've been going to our local town's fireworks show for a few years now.  This time we were asked by some local radio dj's, J.T. and LeeAnn from Mix 103, for our picture.  How flattering!  I think it was that festive headband of mine that invited attention.  Here we are on their website...http://www.mix103.com/photos/?album_id=26.

Funny Twilight Video

I saw this video last week on some other blog and I've been singing the tune ever since.  It must be passed along.

Monet Anyone?

One of my favorite classes in college was Art Appreciation.  I also had a class for teaching art to children, great fun!  Anyway, I've been patiently waiting for our oldest child to be able to do some fun things with art.  Last week we tried an exercise from ArtProjectsForKids.  It was creating your own water lily garden inspired by the artist Monet.
I was telling my husband that the results were not what I expected because I had purposely not shown her Monet's original because I wanted her to use her own imagination. His answer "Well we can't have a copy of Monet can we?!"

Lesson learned.

An Exciting Day

I had a great day! It began by thrifting with some friends. I only bought an old fall issue of Southern Living and an adorable bow tie for Charlie but it was fun nonetheless.

After picking Katherine up from school we went to a friends house who has chickens! We drove up and a mule, a donkey, and a cow moved close to the fence to say "hello". I wish we had brought something for them to eat. They were so curious to see what we were up to.
Walking towards the backyard I could hear the chickens gabbing amongst themselves. There was quite a crowd of them! I was enchanted with this particular rooster.


He started crowing right away when we showed up. He was the smallest of the roosters that I saw but he tried very hard to convince us otherwise. I could hear what sounded like quite a large rooster off in the distance and this little guy would answer back as loud as he could but end up chocking and coughing at the end of his efforts. Very funny!


Katherine spotted some eggs in the nesting boxes. Three beautifully colored eggs! I found several tiny eggs that were so delicate that a couple of them broke under my clumsy fingers.



We were also invited to harvest whatever was ready in their garden. I'm afraid to say that I failed to identify most of what was growing there. I clipped some lettuce to take home and left the rest alone. Look at what a gorgeous green color it was.


Let me share my new found chicken knowledge with you. A chicken can lay an egg almost every day and never see a rooster. The rooster fertilizes the eggs. I did not remember these facts until my mother mentioned that the roosters were loose and to be prepared when I crack my eggs open. I'm a bit nervous about them now but Katherine is quite anxious to boil them and eat 'em. Mom also mentioned she doubts that these tiny eggs came from a chicken. I don't suppose we should eat those.

My great day ended with a delicious bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with freshly picked blackberries blended into a sauce. Wow.

Purchasing a Swimsuit?

I haven't purchased a swimsuit in several years. My current fave no longer fits due to my weight loss and the suit I wore before that "fits" but is no longer flattering. We're going to the beach in less than two weeks and this chore cannot be put off any longer.

Mom and I were off to Ross and TJMaxx in search for "the one". I took the camera along to document this in the hopes that some designer will see the agony a regular woman goes through and do something about it. And I wanted to entertain you and myself.

Here is suit #1. It's not horrible but the legs are not cut high enough for someone with large thighs.

Suit #2. This is better with the extra fabric around the middle and the top was more supportive but again the legs are not cut high enough. And it's black. I do not want to bear another smothering summer absorbing extra heat in a black suit. Why do people think that anyone who wears a size 14+ must want to wear black?! It doesn't slim anything, NO ONE IS FOOLED.

Suit #3. I don't think this one requires any explanation. Moving on.

Suit #4. The pattern here is S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D in unflattering areas. And who came up with those flimsy strings to keep the top up? Absurd.

Suit #5. The Miracle Suit underperformed. The bust area ended well below my chest. As you can see I'm starting to lose my patience with this.

Suit #6. This skirted two piece get up was just silly. It made me feel like what the English refer to as a "tart".

Suit #7. I really liked this one and I could have overlooked the fact that it was black. I cannot overlook the price tag, $142.00. I'm not kidding.

We left empty handed today.

MIA

I have been missing in action on my blog for a few weeks now. I just downloaded our latest pictures and can see why. We've been Easter egg hunting (4 times), had company, had a birthday, been working in the yard, and I hosted a swap party. The weather warmed up and sent us buzzing!

I let Katherine pick out the egg dying kit this year. She chose a Tye dye kit that came with glitter. The kit decorated a total of 7 sticky eggs. The dye never dried and it was impossible to glitter the entire egg beautifully. We're going to skip purchasing anymore kits and just go with the good old-fashioned food color and vinegar method.

I also had a wonderful birthday. Chuck and Katherine made me a birthday cake and decorated it. It was quite delicious and a lovely shade of blue. Why yes! I have lost weight, thank you for noticing! I must say this dieting business has also butted in on my blogging. I just don't have the brainpower by the end of most evenings to write. I thought eating things that were good for you was supposed to be energizing.

The Regrettable Tattoos

My fake tattoos from last weekend are still very much here. I layered 3 large ones together on my forearm for a costume. Regular soap didn't do a thing. Baby oil with lots of scrubbing only resulted in weird colored flakes atop a stinging red arm.

I have been successfully hiding my arm all week until last night. I was at a church function and it was spotted poking out from under my sweater. The tattoos were unveiled and I was showered with well meaning advice on how to get it off. A few of the suggestions: A Mr. Clean Eraser, Comet, make-up remover, Goo Gone, a cut onion, and rubbing alcohol. I tried several of these but the best one was the rubbing alcohol. It is not a quick fix but it got the flakes off and most of the second tattoo after much scrubbing with a washcloth, a Q-tip or cotton ball wasn't rough enough. I don't for see myself wearing anymore of these tattoos.

Our '80's Costumes

I had a hard time coming up with something at the thrift store that was offensive enough and was my size for the costume party. I did run across the most amazing shiny mauve jumpsuit with enormous shoulder pads but alas, it was very small. An '80's wedding gown could not be found! I did come home with a pair of black aviator glasses. Chuck tried them on and the likeness to George Michael was remarkable! I tried to convince him to let me wear his awesome Karate Kid costume and he go as George, but it was a no-go.
That got my mind going. I could go as a man, Mr. Miyagi, Rambo, Mr. T?
No, none of those was right but Axl Rose is! What an easy costume, jeans, ratty t-shirt, flannel shirt, boots, some tattoos, bandanna, aviator glasses. I already have the hair. The tattoos were tricky. The only place I could think of with large tattoos was a coin machine at our local Mexican restaurant. I bought three. I'm sure Axl's ink are not Marvel Comic's superheros but they'll do.

Here's a great photo of Axl back in the day. Sadly, he has messed with plastic surgery and lost his manliness.


Here we are ready to party! I had a full length photo but it made me look fat so-delete.

'80's Birthday Party!

I'm so excited to be invited to an '80's costume party! I was not a teenager during the 1980's but I was a pre-teen. Of course I had permed hair with a bang and it was tri-colored thanks to Sun-In. One of my favorite Christmas presents was a butane curling iron that I would use after P.E. to pump up those bangs to the max, good times.

This is my cousin and I (I'm on the right) in my aunt's wigs. My aunt worked at a hair salon during that time and managed to melt her hair off. She bought several wigs until it grew back. I was in love with these wigs. I appreciate whoever played along that day by taking us to the mall. We thought we were hot stuff but looking back I'm sure they had second thoughts about being seen with us.

I'm off to a thrift store in the morning for a costume!

Last Minute Dr. Suess Costume

I hate missing a memo from school. Somehow I managed to lose the sheet explaining Dr. Seuss week. I had one day to come up with a character costume for Friday's parade. We already own a lion costume so I glued and toothpicked fake apples to a head band to represent the book, "Ten Apples Up On Top". Of course my daughter pointed out that it's not a lion it's a tiger with 10 apples up on top. It's close enough and I think it turned out pretty good. Here's me seeing if the headband was able to hold up.

And here's the naughty child that was supposed to be asleep already.