We are home from FL

We had a great time! Thanksgiving was great. Aunt Nez outdid herself with the food. Debbie dropped the whole platter of turkey on the kitchen floor during clean up. It was hilarious!! Oh heck!! I just remembered that I brought a whole pumpkin pie back to Mom's and I left it there!! Man!!!

Mom and I went shopping on Friday. No, we were not one of the crazy people up at the crack of dawn to be the first ones there. We left the house at around 9:30am and didn't have to fight all the crazy people. It was crowded, but nothing major. We found DVDs at Target for $3.96. DVDs like all the Harry Potters, Must Love Dogs, The Notebook, Spiderman 2, and Batman Returns.

Between the 2 of us we bought 7 pairs of shoes! I bought her 3 pairs for Christmas. She bought me 1 pair and I bought Ari a new pair. Then I bought myself 2 pairs!! LOL Just couldn't pass up the great deals really. I bought $65+ shoes for less than $20. Ari's were normally $35+ and I got them for $12.99. Mom got some great deals on designer clothes too. I have to say that if you have a Ross Store and have never been you really need to go. You have to look through some stuff, but you can find great deals. Mom got Levi jeans for $3.00. She bought my nephews some really nice t-shirt like shirts for less than $2. You will spend a lot of time weeding through clothes so I don't recommend that you take kids, but you can find some great deals.

We got stuck on the south side of Atlanta on the trip home for about 2 hours. Traffic was horrible, but it will be worse today so I'm glad we came home yesterday. At the sign that said 40 miles to Atlanta we were going at a crawl and stayed that way until about 15 miles outside of downtown. I've never seen it that bad. It took us almost 12 hours to get home and it really should have only taken us about 9.

Anyway, I'm glad to be home. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

What were you doing at 1:30am this morning?

I was sitting in my recliner while the apartment maintenance man cut into my ceiling trying to find a leak in a pipe that had wet my entire hallway. I went to bed at 11pm and there was no leak that I heard. Michael started to bed at 1:00am and the floor was soaked. Luckily, he found the leak pretty quickly, but he had to go into the upstairs apartment to fix it through their floor. Yep, he had to wake them up. All 3 kids slept through the entire thing! How? I have no idea. He was cutting my ceiling right outside of Joshua's and Ari's rooms. I just knew they were going to wake up and be up for a long time. I'm glad they didn't.

The good things:
1. We were able to get it taken care of quickly.
2. No money out of our pockets so no stress for us.
3. The apartment people will call the carpet people to come in and clean up.
4. The apartment people will call the drywall people to fix the ceiling.
5. If it killed my dryer the apartment people are responsible for replacing/fixing it.

The bad:
1. I was up from 1:30am-3:00am after an exhausting trip home from FL.
2. The kids were up at 6am.
3. I can't get to my washer and dryer to do laundry until the carpet people come extract the water.
4. The kids keep walking through the hallway getting their socks wet.
5. Did I mention that I was up at 6am?

Ever wonder why you don't see very many professional pics of my kids?

I thought it was difficult to get one kid to cooperate for pictures. Try getting two of them to both smile and look at the camera.............at the same time!! These are our attempts at pictures for this year's Christmas cards. We did get a couple really cute ones that we will use, but definitely not the ones I wanted. I'm guessing I have to wait a few more years before I get really good Christmas pictures. I do like that their personalities shine through in these pictures though.

I've made a decision.

I'm not going to call it a "resolution" because I have a tendency to break those. The coming year is going to be all about me. At least in a small part. I am going to lose weight and get into better shape. The weight part is easy to figure out. I just have to change my eating habits (yeah, easier said than done, but I'm determined). The only thing I have to figure out is how to get into better shape. I admit it, I'm lazy. Exercise is not my favorite thing even though I feel so much better after I do it. I would love to join a gym or the YMCA, but we can't afford to do that right now. It would motivate me to go if I were paying money to do it. Not to mention those places usually have childcare. I could use the apartment complex gym, but they don't provide childcare. I don't think it's a very good idea to have my two munchkins in there while I'm trying to workout. I guess I could do it at home with DVDs. That doesn't sound really appealing to me either though. I do better in a group. Walking doesn't seem to help much. I was doing that all last Spring at school and it just didn't seem to make a difference. *SIGH* This is not going to be easy, but I really need to figure it out. I WANT to do this. I NEED to do this. I want to feel better about myself.

Think she might be a Daddy's Girl?

Ari is standing at the front door saying, "Daddy, where are you?" She is trying to unlock and open the door. Poor baby misses her daddy when he has to work.

No UGA football today. Whatever will I do?

My Dawgs have a much needed Saturday off. Poor guys have played 11 straight weeks. They really do need this break. Hopefully they will all get healed and recharged and be ready for Tech next week. We just can't lose to the bugs. That would be worse than losing to Vandy for me. LOL

I'm hearing rumors that the Music City Bowl is looking like where we are going. This may be a sucky bowl according to most, but hey, it works for me! It means that I will get to go. Although we haven't had much luck in this bowl game. The last time we were in Nashville for a bowl game we lost to Boston College. Yes, I was there. It was horrible!

I may take Joshua to his first UGA game if they do come to Nashville. It's not Athens, but he will have fun anyway. I'll take him to Athens next year, maybe. He wanted to go this year when I took Christian to his first one. I just wasn't sure how he would do being 3 and having such a short attention span. He can watch an entire movie and sometimes twice so maybe he will be fine at a football game. The thing I worry about for a bowl game is that it is going to be cold!

GOOOOOOOO DAWGS!!!! Squish those bugs!!

Sesame Street Live

The kids had a blast!! Looking at their faces was too much fun. Before the show Big Bird made an announcement. As soon as Joshua heard it his little face just lit up and he got the biggest smile on his face. He said, "Momma!!! It's Big Bird!!" When the characters came out the kids were amazed. Ari points to the stage and says, "Look Momma!" She kept saying that throughout the show. LOL They both clapped and danced. At one point Joshua was yelling like you would do at a football game. It was so funny!!

They were both so tired they could hardly keep their eyes open, but they did great. Ari was asleep on the way, but both stayed awake on the way home. I was amazed by that.

Michael's work didn't let him off work when they were supposed to so the kids and I had to drive downtown by ourselves. The only problem there was that I had to walk both of them around downtown with all the traffic. I would have preferred to be able to carry them, but I couldn't do that alone. We met Granddad and went on in. Michael came in about 15-20 minutes into the show.

Elmo was the most popular with last night's crowd. I'm guessing that he is the most popular with most crowds. LOL

Anyway, it was lots of fun for the kids. I'm glad we went.

Yay!!! Emmitt won!!!

Go Emmitt........go Emmitt..........go Emmitt!!

How sad is my life that this really makes my night? ROFL

What work of art describes you?

Here is mine. I described my mood as "reflective."

You Are Best Described By...

From the Lake, No. 1 by Georgia O'Keeffe

What Famous Work of Art Are You?

Thanks for the link Stephanie.

Taco night. Always a hit.

Yep, my very picky kids will actually eat their weight in tacos. LOL They may not eat much else, but I can always count on them to stuff themselves on taco night. Unfortunately, we can't have those every night.

They will also eat spaghetti and I've learned to puree vegetables to put in the sauce. This is the only way they will eat them.

I'm not sure what I am doing wrong here, but neither of my kids will eat much of anything. It's not like I never exposed them to veggies and such. They were both great eaters when they were tiny. There were very few baby foods they wouldn't eat. Now, however, I'm lucky if they eat anything good for them. Well, they WILL eat any fruit you put in front of them and yogurt.........they like yogurt. They may or may not eat chicken nuggets (depends on their mood I guess) and they like french fries. Pizza is another hit or miss food. Luckily, neither are really into sweets like cake, cookies, and such. They will eat them, but not in huge quantities and not often.

One of my problems is that I can't get them to even TRY things. Not even one little bitty bite. It drives me nuts. I know if they would try some other foods they would like them. How did/do you get your kids to eat better? I need help here!!!

Why yes, we do live in Music City!

Figures

Okay, the one UGA game I DON'T watch (I went to see The Lion King instead) and apparently we played pretty well. That just figures. Lucky for me CSS will be replaying the game on Tuesday. You know I will be watching it. I did text message my cousin who goes to Auburn to find out the score before the play started, but she never responded. I guess I know why now. LOL

I'm happy that we won, but it kinda ticks me off too. I mean really, just think about it. We play lousy and lose to the likes of Vandy and Kentucky and then beat the #5 team in the nation. What the heck is up with that? Where has today's team been hiding?

Either way..................GOOOOO DAWGS!!!!!

Oh AND Tennessee lost today!! WOOHOO!!!!! What a great day!! LOL

Wow!

That's about all I can say! We were able to go see The Lion King today (thanks Vickie) and it was absolutely amazing!! I got chills as the first notes of the opening song began. I even got teary eyed a couple times during the show. It followed the movie pretty closely, but there were also scenes that were not in the movie. I'm so glad we were able to go. If you get the opportunity to go I recommend that you go. It's fantastic!

It was nice to dress up too. I don't get that chance very often. I even wore my hair down! Michael appreciated that. LOL

The kids had a great time with their cousins, Sydney and Sarah. Luckily they were well behaved. My kids. I had no worries about their cousins. LOL Joshua cried when we got home because he wanted to go back and play with the girls. I guess we will have to plan more opportunities for them to play together. Again, thanks Vickie for coming to our rescue.

How pathetic are we?

We need friends. Michael was given FREE tickets to the Lion King today. We are trying to find a babysitter so we can go. Right now we aren't having much luck. The person I usually call isn't answering her phone and she doesn't have an answering machine. I believe I will buy her one!! She is really the only friend I am comfortable asking to babysit. I have other friends, but I don't think I'd be comfortable asking any of them to babysit for me especially last minute. UGH!!! We may not be able to go!!! Did I mention that these tickets are FREE?!

We really are pathetic!!!!

My Georgia Girl

I've come to the realization that I haven't blogged about my first baby in a very long time. My 50 pound baby! She has finally gotten that bulldog laziness that you hear about. We were beginning to wonder. She still has her energetic moments, but mostly she lies around, moving only when one of the kids get too close. LOL Poor thing doesn't get much peace with the kids around. I think her favorite part of the evening is when they go to bed. She will come out from behind my recliner, jump on the couch (using one of the pillows as her own), and go back to sleep. I sure do love my Georgia Girl!!

Whew!!

Emmitt made it to the finals!! Yay!! Yes, I'm talking about Dancing with the Stars.

Man, that was stressful. I really didn't want to watch the show tonight. LOL Yeah, I realize I'm a little pathetic. LOL This is the first season I've watched and it is all because of Emmitt. He really is a great dancer. Next week should be interesting though. He and Mario (Lopez) are both fabulous. I'll be voting for E though.

My UGA thoughts of the week

I've been reading an awful lot of opinions about the Dawgs today so I decided to add my own. I've heard a lot of criticism about Coach Richt being Head Coach as well as calling the offensive plays. They seem to think he needs to hire an Offensive Coordinator. To me this is neither here nor there. We are going to question play calling regardless of who is calling the plays. That is just the nature of a fan. It doesn't matter WHO calls the plays if the wide receivers or tight ends can't catch the ball or if the running back or quarterback fumble it. We have to learn how to hold onto the ball before any calls by Coach Richt or an official Coordinator are going to be effective. Until that happens I will hold my opinion on whether Coach needs to make a change.

I pretty much agree with everyone else on the whole Defense thing and the kicking game. They both suck and need major work. Anyone know a kicker who needs a scholarship? We are in need of one. Our kicking game is a joke. I can't even watch when we have to kick a field goal or a PAT and I always say a quick prayer (that usually goes unanswered). A change definitely needs to be made there.

All that said, I love my Dawgs and will be bleeding red and black until the end of time. Living in the land of Orange makes me appreciate my red and black all the more. LOL

World's Worst Mom

Yep, that's me. At least today or this week. I feel like all I've done today is yell at my kids. I'm not sure if it is the steroids the doctor shot me with on Thursday affecting my mood or if they are just trying my patience today in general. Whatever the reason, I'm feeling incredibly guilty about it. I just want to sit down and cry. It is only 6:00pm and I'm contemplating putting them to bed already. Is that just horrible of me? Poor Joshua has spent a good amount of time in time out today and Ari has spent a lot of time crying because of things he has done to her.

*SIGH* I just hope I feel better tomorrow and we have a better day.



On a brighter note~ LSU just scored a touchdown to go ahead of UT with 9 seconds left in the game. At least one football game is going the way I wanted today.

Yep, over did it today.

I woke up this morning feeling so much better than I have all week. So, what do I do? I clean house and go grocery shopping all before picking the kids up from daycare. Now I am hurting. The problem is that I can't take the pain medication until the kids go to bed because it knocks me out or makes me loopy if I don't get to go to sleep. Can I put them to bed soon? Please? LOL

I'm so proud of my little guy!!

Not only did he stay in his bed all night (well until about 5:30am, but that is when I normally get up anyway), but he even got up in the middle of the night and went poop all by himself!!! He usually just yells for us saying he's got to pee and we have to get up with him. Not last night!! He did it all by himself!!! Also, he's been dry at night for 2 weeks now. I think we are going to try underware at night starting this weekend.

He is getting to be such a big boy!!

Give me a break!

I just have to say that I absolutely hate political commercials. The most recent one I have seen really has me rolling my eyes.

"I may not be as good looking (ummm, this is important why?), and I may not be as articulate (whatever, you are a politician), and I may not be able to make those slick commercials (again, whatever, you are a politician).............."

This really is ridiculous. Corker needs to find some other way to make his point. I'll be so glad when this election is over. It has definitely turned into a mud slinging party. I'm pretty disgusted with both sides.

Pleurisy

Ever had it? Let me just tell you that it is excruciatingly painful! I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Well, maybe one person, but I'd wish a lot worse on her. LOL I was finally diagnosed with it today. I could have gotten medicine for it on Tuesday if the stupid doctor would have listened to me, but I had to suffer for 2 more days before getting relief. I went to a different doctor today. She diagnosed me in just a few minutes. The dang CT Scan that I wrote about earlier was so not necessary. That really ticks me off. So anyway, a steroid shot and 800mg of Ibuprofen later and I'm feeling much better. I still have pain when I breathe, but at least it is bearable now.

Being sick sucks!!

So apparently the pain I was having in my upper torso was just my body's way of telling me that I was going to get sick. I woke up this morning feeling horrible. Sore throat, and a fever of 102. I've also been in the bathroom more than not today. Yeah, I know.....TMI. Sorry. I'm nauseous and in desperate need of Sprite. Michael had to go get the kids from daycare because they called to say that Joshua was throwing up. Just great!! Now not only will I have to deal with the kids as I am sick, but he is sick too. This is not going to be fun! Forget making dinner. I can't stand up long enough to do it. I'm guessing it will be chicken nuggets. If I still have this fever tomorrow I am going back to the doctor.

Oh, the pain in my chest and back is pretty much gone. I still have a little pain when I take a really deep breath, but nothing like yesterday. I can actually breathe normally with an occasional deep breath. Much better than yesterday.

I HATE NEEDLES!!!!

So, today really sucked. It started last night actually. Around 6pm my chest started hurting really badly on the right side. By 8pm my whole torso hurt every time I would take a deep breath and I had to take deep breaths because a regular breath didn't feel like it was enough. I took some Tylenol and went to bed at 8:00. I woke up at 2:30am in tears because I hurt so bad. I almost went to the ER. You know it has to be bad for me to even think about that!! Well, I got up this morning and went to work. The school nurse came and listened to my lungs and said that I should go to the doctor. I went. They did a chest x-ray and blood draw (damn if they didn't have to stick me twice!!). The x-rays came back fine. The doctor wants me to have a CT Scan to check my appendix and gall bladder. I go over to the hospital and have to drink this horrible dye. I had to drink 3 (yes 3) cups of the nasty stuff. They take me back for the scan where I have to get more dye through an IV. Now I am a major needle phobe. I hate needles!! I tell the nurses this and we laugh about it. Well, they shouldn't have laughed. They blew 2 veins in my hand before they were able to get the IV in. Yeah, I was not very happy!! Did I mention that I am a needle phobe? I was stuck 5 times today!!!! They were not getting another chance let me just tell you! Anyway, I get to go home after the scan and wait on the call from the doctor. They finally call and tell me that the scan came back negative. So, no problem with my appendix or gall bladder. They tell me that if I am still hurting in a couple days that I should come back in. Umm, so in the mean time what do I do about the pain? Suffer? Yep! They gave me nothing to ease the pain in my chest. It's not like I can just lie still or not move much to help. It hurts when I breathe for crying out loud. I can't stop doing that now can I? Doctors really irritate me.

Happy Halloween!

My little devils!

He is definitely our son!!

So, after seeing the Star Wars contingent at several different events in recent weeks and having Joshua afraid of them, Michael and I decided that we needed to introduce him to the movie. We came home from the Pumpkinfest in Franklin yesterday and put in Star Wars. I was afraid that it would scare him. It didn't. He was mesmerized. He sat through the entire movie without getting bored. When it was over he wanted to watch it again...............immediately. He has watched it several times today. He cries and whines if we don't let him watch it. He played Star Wars with his daddy today when he wasn't watching the movie. Joshua was a Stormtrooper and Daddy was Leia. LOL

I would say that we now have another Star Wars geek in the world. And, this suits us just fine!

Football sucks!!

That is all!

Dancin' a jig!!!!

JOSHUA IS COMPLETELY POTTY TRAINED!!!!!! WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!

He is dry all day. He poops on the potty (finally)! AND, he has been dry at night for the past week!! We are going to finish this bag of pull ups and then he is in underware even at bedtime!!

Now, let's just hope that I didn't jinx us!!

Captured!

Yesterday was a very busy day for the family. We started out at a comic book show where we were captured by some Imperial Stormtroopers. Joshua wanted to see them from afar, but when we got close he became a clinging vine. Ari didn't care one way or the other. She would put on her shy act, but she didn't cry or act scared.

As you can see we were captured.
Christian looks like a defiant prisoner. I guess it's the Army coming out in him! LOL


Ari just looks curious about the bounty hunter who helped bring us in. Michael was having fun though!


Joshua looks scared to be the most recent prisoner of Imperial Forces. I, however, was having a great time! Yes, we all realize that we are geeks! LOL

The next order of business on our busy day was the search for the Peter Pan costume. See the post below for details of that one.

After we got the costume we headed to Charlie Daniels Park in Mt. Juliet to attend a benefit for a friend's husband who needs a liver transplant. We spent about an hour to an hour and a half there.

When we left there we went home for dinner. After eating we got the kids dressed in their costumes to go to "Ghouls at Grassmere." We ran into the Imperial contingent there too. Joshua wasn't really happy about that! LOL We also saw some of the Rebel Forces too. Chewy and R2D2 made an appearance.

It was a fun day, but it was a long one. We got home around 9pm. The kids were exhausted. So was I. I think I was in bed by 10pm. Today is a day for relaxation and some football. I have to get some rest in before going back to my first graders tomorrow.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell (aka~Joshua and Ari)

We've had Ari's Tinkerbell costume for a couple weeks now. Joshua couldn't make up his mind what he wanted to be. He changed from a potato (umm, no idea where that came from), to a ghost, to a cat. He wouldn't let me buy any costume when we would go searching. We were trying to talk him into Peter Pan to go with Tink, but he just didn't want to do it. Yesterday we were finally able to convince him. We drove all the way out to Cool Springs to the Disney Store to get the costume. When we got there they were sold out. The sales lady says she can call the other 2 stores in Nashville and see if they had one. What? Nashville has more than 1 Disney Store? Where have I been? I had no idea. Heck, there is even one at the closest mall to me, Opry Mills. Now, I have to say that I absolutely HATE going to the any mall and Opry Mills especially. Apparently I haven't been in a very long time. The Disney Store has been there for about a year. Anyway, they have one there and hold it for us.

They look so cute!!

Hello, my name is Paige and I have an addiction.

No, it's not cigarettes. No, it's not alcohol. What is it, you ask? Books. More specifically romance novels. Mindless entertainment. A requirement for me as a working mother and wife. I need the mindlessness of a good romance. I have several authors who I just absolutely love (Jude Deveraux, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsay, Catherine Coulter, and Nora Roberts). I MUST own their books. No library for me, they have to reside on my book shelf. While this isn't the worst vice I could have, it is a vice nonetheless. I spend way too much money on books.

I read my first romance novel at the tender age of 13. It was This Calder Sky by Janet Dailey (thanks Aunt Carolyn). I still have that copy. I have since bought the whole series in hardback.

Presently I am reading Nora Roberts. I've become obsessed with her new Circle Trilogy. I've read books one and two, but the third doesn't come out until November. I'm going nuts!!!!! *SIGH* Not only that, but I just got my book club flyer and they have 4 of her trilogies each in 1 book for only $14.99 a piece. I'm dying here!! I need (okay, maybe not need) these books. I don't currently own many of Ms. Robert's books and these would take up much less shelf space (I'm running out of shelf space) being all bound together. Oh AND shipping is a flat $1.99 for an entire order!! I need help. I CANNOT buy those books!!! It is not a smart idea right now. Not to mention Christmas is coming and I can put them on my list. Ugh, but I WANT them now!!!!!!!

What is your addiction?

Well Hell!!

Season pretty much over! I could say a really really ugly word right here, but I'll keep it clean for now. At least I will try! LOL

Lose to Vandy?!! How much worse could it get? Oh wait, we still have to play the hated Gators (who lost to Auburn last night by the way!! WOOHOO for that!!) and Tech. Is losing to Vandy that bad, you ask? Ummmm, yeah! I live in Nashville for crying out loud. It was horrible to lose to UT, but to Vandy!!! Geez. Not only that, but my in-laws are Vandy fans....................oh and my wonderful husband! Blech!! Luckily they know me well enough not to even think about rubbing it in. Well, okay I'm sure they think about it, but they don't DO it. That could cause a very ugly scene and make for a very uncomfortable week or so until I get over the damn loss. LOL

I have to say that I'm really not all that surprised about this season though. I went into it feeling like we were ranked higher than we really should have been. We lost a lot of talent last year and we didn't even know who our starting QB was until about 2 weeks before the season started. Then they went 5-0 and I had high hopes. Yeah, I should have known better considering how badly we played against Colorado and Ol' Miss, but hey I'm an optimist. I try to be anyway. LOL

Oh well, we have a pretty good freshman learning the QB position and the offense so I will look to next year. Now don't think I'm not looking to the big games we have left. We can still play spoiler to many teams. I'm guessing though that I have to pull for Auburn as SEC Champs. I just can't bring myself to pull for the hated Gators or Vols. Not going to happen. I NEVER EVER pull for either of those teams. My fellow UGA fans/friends will pull for them in bowl games (should always pull for the SEC in bowl games they say), but not me. I just can't do it.

*SIGH*

2 out of 3 ain't bad!

1. Dry in underware all day.....................check.
2. Poop on the potty.................................check.
3. Dry all night........................................not yet.

He is 3 and I think we are pretty much done with potty training. We will be working on staying dry all night, but he likes to have water close by at night so that may take a little while. I'm just happy that he will now poop on the potty. We've been working on this for about a year now. He refused to do it for the longest time. I'm so proud of my little guy!!

What a relaxing weekend!!

I love my annual girls' weekend. My best friends and I really only see each other once a year. Every year we go to the North Georgia Mountains and rent a cabin. We do nothing all weekend! LOL We may or may not even get out of our pjs. This weekend we did come off the mountain once to go get ice cream at Sweet Treats. It was fabulous as always. We watched movies, I read 2 books, Nat and Nicol were knitting, and the best part was just sitting around talking. I really miss doing that with my best friends.

I had a great time, but it's good to be back home with Michael and the kids. I missed them.

Here is a picture of our view.

HA!! I knew we were good!!

I just read an article about UGA players in the NFL. We are ranked 4th in the Nation with number of former players in the NFL. UGA has 39 and the only other SEC team with more is Tennessee and they have 40. Not only that, but the SEC has more active players than any other conference with 266. Congrats to UGA and to the SEC!!! I always knew we were the best!!

Ummm, yeah that's the solution.

Teachers with guns? Ummm, yeah I don't think so. How safe is it to have a gun in a classroom with 18+ children? I'm a teacher and I'm a mom. As both I think this is a very bad idea. I'm not anti-gun in any way, but I just can't see how this can be the solution to the violence we've seen in schools. The guns would be too easily accessible for the kids and how many teachers do you know who are comfortable being around/holding/shooting guns? I don't know many. I grew up with guns in the house and I'm not uncomfortable around them, but I would not want one in my child's classroom. This is just crazy. I'm sure it won't go past the "idea" stage, but still. The thought scares me heck out of me.

Hey Granddad!! When can we start my lessons?

We were at Granddad's on Saturday where Joshua took his first real interest in the many guitars that Granddad has. He strummed for awhile before asking if he could have a "little guitar." We gave the generic answer of, "We'll see." thinking that his interest would wain in the next couple days or even hours. This is usually the case with a 3 year old. Much to our surprise though he woke up Sunday morning and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Let's go get my little guitar Mommy." I heard that same thing several times throughout the day. I heard it again this morning. I had to run errands and as I was leaving he asked, "Momma, are you going to get my little guitar now?" Well, I bought him his very first guitar today. He was so excited when I got home with it. It was worth it for that excitement even if his interest diminishes quickly.

Here are a couple pictures we took this morning. Does he have the look of a rock star, or what? LOL


So, Granddad, when DO his lessons start?

Hmmm, who'da thought?

You Are 48% Pure

You're usually the typical girl or guy next door... But you also have a secret naughty side!

How Pure Are You?

Okay, I wouldn't have thought this was true, but after answering those questions................

You Are 28% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Now this one I can see! LOL

This should be fun...............NOT!!

Joshua is sleeping in underwear tonight all night for the first time. I'm completely doing away with diapers with him. I'm hoping that this will start him pooping in the potty. If he goes in his underwear it is up to him to clean himself and the underwear up. See how long he wants that job. LOL

Ari is in her toddler bed for the first time at night. She sleeps in it for naps, but has always wanted to sleep in her crib at night. I'd say she will probably end up in her crib at some point tonight.

Happy birthday to me!

Well, tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my birthday. No, I'm not going to tell you how old I am and it's not polite to ask! ;-)

Dancing With the Stars

Okay, I'll be the first to say that I absolutely HATE reality TV. But, I also have to admit that I have found ONE that I am addicted to. I LOVE Dancing With the Stars. This is the first season I've watched and I started watching it because Emmitt Smith was one of the contestants. Emmitt is my absolute favorite football player (yeah, I realize that it's weird that a huge UGA fan's favorite football player used to play for the hated Gators). A lot of people thought that he wouldn't be any good, but I knew he would. Have you ever seen him run a ball on the football field? I also used to watch him do the "Emmitt Shuffle" when he was in college! LOL He's got the moves!! Emmit is doing great and I do my part by voting each week.

I do like some of the others too. Vivica A. Fox is a wonderful dancer and I love her attitude. Sara Evans is looking more comfortable as the weeks go on and she put on a heck of a performance this week.

The show brings back a lot of great memories from college too. Instead of taking a regular PE class I opted to take ballroom dancing. I had the best time and learned a lot. I even took the class after I had satisfied my PE credits. We didn't have enough guys in the class (imagine that!) so a couple of the guys in the Ballroom Dance Society would come in to help. I was paired with one guy every time. He taught me 2 very important things: 1. If a man can lead I can dance. 2. It is always the man's fault. [Now he said that it only applied in dancing, but I prefer to apply it to everyday life! ;-) ] He used to drive me nuts though. If I even thought about looking at my feet when we were dancing he would immediately stop. He would make me look him in the eyes the whole time. This isn't usually a problem, but I was attracted to him (I had a thing for men who could dance or sing) and being the shy person that I am I had a very hard time doing that. LOL I just knew that he would be able to tell. Anyway, I had so much fun dancing and I miss it. Watching the show makes me wish I could get back into it. I was never and will never be good enough to compete, but it is great fun, not to mention good exercise.

I thought we made a breakthrough tonight.

I was wrong. Joshua is potty trained...............almost. He stays dry all day in underwear. Our problem lies in the pooping on the potty thing. He absolutely refuses to do it. I'm not sure what his hang up is at this point. He has done it a couple times, but not in a very long time. Tonight we talked about how all his friends do it and that only babies wear diapers. He said that he didn't want to be a baby, he wanted to be a big boy. I even bribed him with stickers! He was all excited to do it. We went to the potty and he sat there..........................and sat there. We were in the bathroom for about half an hour. He kept saying that he wanted to poop and he didn't want to get off the potty. Finally, I just had to give up. I put a diaper on him and within minutes I had to change him. I'm not sure what to do to get him to go on the potty. Any been there done that advice? Please share!

What are you listening to right now?

At this very moment I am sitting in my recliner watching SEC football (Florida and Kentucky) and my English Bulldog is sleeping behind me. I can hear her snoring above the sounds of football. LOL

This is a very common sound in our house. What are the most common sounds in your house?

Did I really say that I love football?

I hate football!! LOL Well not exactly, but I sure don't like close games. Today my Dawgs (ranked # 9) played Colorado (unranked). It had to be the most horrible game I've seen Georgia play in a very long time. The first 3 quarters were a disgrace. Stafford was 8 of 16 for 76 yards (I can forgive this somewhat considering he is a freshman, but this is the SEC and he needs to be ready!). We couldn't run the ball. We had 27 rushes for only 54 yards. We fumbled 3 times and lost 2 of them. Only 3 of 11 on third down? You cannot win like that. I certainly hope that they fix this before we get into the heart of our SEC schedule. We cannot expect to beat the big boys playing like we did today. Heck, we almost lost to an unranked team who had lost their last 7 games (if I remember correctly). I have to say though that we looked much better in the 4th quarter. Joe Cox came in and threw for 154 yards completing 10 of 13 passes. Our defense forced and recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass to secure the victory. Our final touchdown came with 46 seconds on the clock. Only 46 seconds people!! Do you know what that does to a heart? We only won by 1 measly point and the winning score came with 46 freakin' seconds on the clock!! I HATE games like that. Way too stressful!! At least I wasn't watching on tv. I don't know where my foam brick is and throwing anything else might break my new tv!! Michael would have been rolling his eyes too since I would have been on my knees with my head on the floor there at the end. LOL

Big sigh of relief for now. I'm sure Coach Richt will correct what went wrong today and we will come back strong next week against Ol' Miss.

2 weeks from tomorrow!

Only 14 more days and I am off on my girls' weekend. I can't wait. I need some nice, quiet, relaxing time with my best friends. My mom flies in at 7:40 am on Friday and I drive out around 9am. I'll be gone for 4 days. I've got my books all ready to go. I'm going to take some movies and I have my grocery shopping list in my head. I hope that it's cold so that the leaves will be nice. The hot tub at this cabin is actually on the screened in porch that I think is on the second level. That will be nice. It has a wood burning fireplace right beside it. *SIGH* I can't wait. If I remember to take the camera I will post pictures of the view.

New pics of the rugrats!

Is this the face of a little girl having fun or what?


Her serious face.


Joshua playing in the rocks with one of Bob the Builder's backhoes. Ari looking on wishing her brother would share.


Joshua playing with my Dad's dog, Bell. Bell loves to chase sticks and she is pretty big compared to my little guy. He wasn't scared though.


He looks so much older than 3 in this picture. My little man.

I LOVE college football!

Well, let me rephrase that. I love SEC football. I just watched a very entertaining defensive struggle between Auburn and LSU. It was very exciting and I'm just glad I'm not a fan of either team. LOL Too much stress there at the end. Now I get to watch another tough SEC match up between UT (that's Tennesse for those who don't know) and Florida. Now this is a game that I hate to watch every season just because I haven't found a way for both teams to LOSE!! Either way it is going to be a fun and exciting game to watch. SEC match ups usually are. Especially between the powerhouses of the SEC.

My Dawgs had a pretty easy game this week. We beat UAB 34-0. The game wasn't on tv, but I had the computer on watching play by play. It's not the same, but it will do. I'll watch them on CSS on Tuesday night or on Comcast On Demand if possible. We won last week too. Now that was a very sweet win. We beat the Gamecocks who are coached by the most hated coach in football, Steve Spurrier. It is always fun to beat him. He whines so badly when he loses! LOL I won't give the "I Hate Steve Spurrier and This Is Why" speech, but just know that it puts a very big smile on my face every single time he loses a football game.

Ahhhhh, football season. My favorite time of year!

GOOOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC 'EM!! WOOF WOOF WOOF (BTW~Ari and Joshua can do this cheer...............shouldn't surprise those of you who know me!)

Personality test

Okay, I was bored so I did a personality test that I found on Stefanie's blog. It is pretty accurate.

You are introverted, reserved, and quiet with a preference for solitude and solitary activities. Your socializing tends to be restricted to a few close friends. You are generally calm and composed, reacting moderately well to situations that most people would describe as stressful. A desire for tradition does not prevent you from trying new things. Your thinking is neither simple nor complex. To others you appear to be a well-educated person but not an intellectual. You have a strong interest in others' needs and well-being. You are pleasant, sympathetic, and cooperative. You are reasonably reliable, organized, and self-controlled.


My Personality

Neuroticism	28
Extraversion	7
Openness To Experience	49
Agreeableness	79
Conscientiousness	66

Find your MySpace/Xanga/Hi5 soulmate / pysch twin Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report MySpace Surveys, MySpace Codes and hi5 by Pulseware Survey Software

Counting down!

One of my fellow teachers told me today that we only have 12 more school days until our fall break!! WOOHOO!! It's hard to believe that our first 9 weeks is almost over. I'm excited though. We will have 2 weeks off and during that 2 weeks I have my girls' weekend with my 2 best friends. We rent a cabin in Blue Ridge, GA. What do we do in Blue Ridge you ask? Absolutely nothing!! And, that's the way we like it. We get there on Friday afternoon and usually meet at the grocery store. We buy everything we will need for the weekend and drive to the cabin. Once there we change into nice comfy clothes, bring out the books/movies/gossip, sit around and do nothing. We will cook chili on Saturday and watch our Dawgs play Tennessee. Well, Nat and I watch, but we make Nicol stay away from the tv. She is bad luck! LOL We usually make good use of the hot tub on Saturday night and of course the wine or whatever. On Sunday we will get dressed to go to one of the apple orchards for candy and carmel apples. When we leave there we go to the wonderful ice cream shop downtown for some of the best ice cream I've ever had. Then it's back to the cabin. We get up on Monday morning to go back to reality. This is a yearly thing for us. This will be the 3rd year we have gone to Blue Ridge. It's nice to get away for a few days with no responsibilities and to visit with my best friends. We don't get to see each other often now that we live in 3 different states. This is usually the only time we get to see each other and we all look forward to it. Only 22 days until I get to relax!! I can't wait!!

Memories

September 11, 2001 is a day I will never forget. It was my first year teaching. I was teaching 3rd grade at Roswell North Elementary in Atlanta. Our principal came over the intercom and told us that we needed to check out email immediately. This was definitely a clue that something major was going on. They never interrupted our classes to have us check our email. I remember being shocked that an airplane would be so off course that it would hit a building such at the World Trade Center. It saddened me, but I didn't think much more of it. A few minutes later she came back on and instructed us to check our email again. About the time I finished the email about the second plane other teachers were gathering in the hallway. I remember we began to understand the magnitude of what was happening. We were getting scared. All we wanted to do was go home and call our families. We couldn't do that. We had children in our classrooms who needed us. We were to keep things as normal as possible. We were not to say anything. This was a difficult thing to do. They knew something was going on with us having to check email so often and then with us gathering in the hallway. After I took my kids to their support class (P.E.) I went into the library to watch the news and find out what was happening. The first time I saw the footage of the plane hitting the second tower I thought I was watching a computer reenactment. I could not believe I was actually watching the real thing. I remember the devastation I felt when I realized it was real. The tears began. Going back to class was incredibly difficult. I just wanted to talk to my mom, dad, and brother. The rest of the day was a blur. When we were finally able to go home I cried the whole way. I remember getting home and calling my dad. He didn't really know the extent of what was going on. He worked outside without tv or radio. He had gotten a call from his wife, but having not seen it he didn't really know. He thought it was weird that the airplanes had stopped flying over his head since he was working close to the airport. He was at a loss as to how to comfort me though. I tried to call my mom, but couldn't get in touch with her which freaked me out. Come to find out my grandfather had fallen and broken his hip. I called everyone I cared about that day. I began thinking more and more about Michael as well. I had to talk to him. He was the man I loved and I had to let him know that. I watched coverage the rest of the night. When I went to bed I remember the eerie feeling of not hearing the planes flying overhead, but hearing the military jets fly over. I didn't sleep. The next morning we were back at school. I can remember the scared looks of my students that morning. I had one student come in and ask me if I saw the plane hit that building and wasn't it cool. My gut reaction was to yell, but I had to remember that he was just a young child and didn't understand what that meant. I did let him know that there was nothing cool about what happened. I made the decision right then that we were going to sit down and discuss the events of the previous day. They were so scared. I was scared. We sat around our reading corner and talked about our feelings. One of my kids said that a lot of people survived because he saw them jumping from the building to get out. I let him believe. I remember thinking how badly I wished that were true. I'm still not sure how I was able to function that day.

The emotions are as raw today as they were on that horrible day. I'm not sure if it will ever get better. As much as it changed my life it changed the lives of the families who lost loved ones even more. My thoughts and prayers go out to them on this 5th anniversary and I hope they have been able to find peace.

I'm sorry for rambling. I've never written down my thoughts from that day so I'm sure they don't flow as they should.

In Respectful Memory of Battalion Chief Richard Prunty

A 9/11 Tribute~Please visit 2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11 to read other tributes.


Husband............Father.............Friend

Battalion Chief Richard Prunty was all of the above. He was married to his wife, Susan, for 33 years. He was the father of 2 children, Lisa and Christopher. They were his first family. Chief Prunty had another family. His firefighting family. He was Battalion Chief in the Second Battalion of the New York City Fire Department. He was a firefighter for 33 years. He lived for both of his families. BC Prunty was a soft spoken man who was a real "teddy bear." He once spent a week sleeping on his daughter's floor when she was sick in college.

On the morning of September 11, 2001 he was called to duty. He entered 1 World Trade Center with his fellow firefighters. His goal was to help as many people as possible while keeping his men safe. It takes amazing people to do what they do. Brave......unselfish. He went into that building knowing the dangers, but also knowing that there were people who needed his help. This was what he did. He gave no thought to his own safety. He went in with only thoughts of helping others. When the building collapsed BC Prunty was trapped in the lobby, pinned under an I-beam. He was losing consciousness, but his last thoughts were of his family saying into his walkie-talkie, "Tell my wife and kids I love them." Battalion Chief Richard Prunty lost his life on that horrible day.

Husband.............Father............Friend................HERO

There were many heroes on September 11, 2001 and those of us left behind will never forget. I am honored to pay tribute to one of them. I hope his family has found peace.

Thank you dear Richard for your sacrifice. Rest in peace.

I'm nervous

I few weeks ago I signed up with 2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11 and I am nervous that I'm not a good enough writer to do justice to the life lost. I've been thinking about it for awhile now and I just hope that I can get my thoughts across eloquently. This is not a strength of mine. Please just know that everything I write is from the heart.

Just call us "Bug Bite Central"

My poor kids. Last week Ari had a bite on the corner of her eye. I didn't think much of it when I first saw it, but the next day it was incredibly red and much bigger. I decided to just keep an eye on it. The following day it was less red, but it was swollen on her eyelid and under her eye. Her eye was almost swollen shut. I called the doctor and Michael took her in. They tell us to put Neosporin on it. Now on Monday she got about 10 or so mosquito bites all over her. Someone please tell me how she can be outside for 3 solid days and nights and not have a single bite, but we come home and take a 15 minute walk and she is covered with them!! Crazy! She has 2 bites behind her knee and yesterday they were hard, red, knots. Today they look like bruises. I'm guessing that my sweet little girl has allergic reactions to mosquitoes. That's just great!

Not to be outdone, yesterday Joshua wakes up and comes to my room and says, "Mommy, my arm hurts." I look at it and see a small red place around his elbow that I figure is a mosquito bite so I give him some Benadryl and forget about it. We get up today and it is no longer a small place. It is HUGE!! His arm is swollen almost all the way around. It has little blisters in the center and it is hot to the touch. Now I figure it's a spider bite. I call the doctor and take him in. She says it's either a spider bite, but thankfully not a brown recluse, or the beginnings of an abscess. Ummm, okay. Now what? So, we have antibiotics and I'm supposed to watch it to make sure it doesn't get bigger or he doesn't run a fever. If those things happen I have to take him back to the doctor.

I'm sure our new doctor is thinking that I am one of those moms who takes her kids in at the slightest little thing. I swear I'm not one of those moms, but I've had both my kids in her office in the past 2 weeks for bug bites for crying out loud!! LOL I hope we are done for awhile.

New look,. Whatcha think?

So, I decided to upgrade my blog with beta. I couldn't resist the ability to customize my blog colors. The red and black represents my love for the Georgia Bulldogs. You never would have guessed that, huh?

The Crocodile Hunter gone.

It really hurt my heart when I heard about Steve Irwin's death. I remember the first time I saw him on Animal Planet. I sat with my mouth hanging open at his antics with those ferocious animals he so loved. I was hooked immediately. I watched at every opportunity. I loved his enthusiasm and his devotion to wildlife. He helped me to understand a little more about those animals that are feared by so many. He taught me things I would have never known otherwise. I will miss his unique approach to teaching. He loved all animals and it showed with everything that he did.

My heart goes out to his family. My prayers go out to Terri, Bindi, and Bob. As we go back to our lives, theirs' are forever changed.

Rest in peace dear Steve. You will be sorely missed.

Ahhh, it was good to be back in Athens!

Christian and I were able to go to the UGA v. Western Kentucky game on Saturday. We scalped the tickets. It was his first UGA game. We won 48-12. Christian is ready to go to another game already. We really did have a great time.

Joshua wanted to go with us. He kept saying that he wanted to go to the football game. I don't think I'm ready to take him yet though. Most of the games fall right in the middle of naptime and I'm scared he will get bored and want to go. I may take him next year, but more likely the year after. He would be five then and I think more able to stay focused on the game.

Athens here we come!!

Okay, actually we are going to a family reunion in Commerce, but since the reunion happens to fall on UGA's first game weekend and it is only about half an hour from Athens we are going to the game. No, I don't have tickets. We are going to try to get scalped ones. I don't want to pay too much so we may have to wait until after kick off. Doesn't matter though. At least I will be in Sanford Stadium on game day!! I'm so excited. This will be Christian's first UGA game. I can't wait for him to experience game day in Athens. It really is an amazing experience. I will never forget my first game. I had to wait until I was a freshman at UGA and I remember how excited I was. I couldn't sit still. I had to stand the entire game because of the adreneline and I was afraid I was going to fall off of the bleachers I was shaking so much. I couldn't stop. My mom swears I was watching UGA football when I was 3 year old and I've been watching ever since. One of my dreams was to go to a game and my excitement was imeasureable for my first game. I still get chills when the Dawgs run onto the field. Now I get to share that with Christian. I just hope he enjoys it as much as I do.

I found my new favorite song today!!

It is called "I Loved Her First" by Heartland. It had me in tears this morning on the way to work. Here are the lyrics..............

Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love your alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first

How could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But its still hard to give her away
I loved her first

From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first

Well, that came out of left field!

Who would have thought that the Titans would go out in search of another quarterback just 2 weeks before the start of the season? I sure didn't. They brought in Kerry Collins. Ummm, what about Billy? What about Vince? Okay, so they say that Vince will be #2, but that leaves Billy. I think I'm in shock. I never dreamed that we would have a quarterback controversy. I figured that fans would be calling for Vince to start, but I really never thought the organization would bring in another quarterback. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

One happy dog!

We have been such bad pet owners recently. Well, for a long time really. Our very social bulldog hasn't been able to do much socializing. When she was a puppy we would take her to the Bark Park in Franklin quite often. Once we had children we didn't get to go as often. Eventually we stopped going all together. This weekend we decided it was time to become good pet owners again. We packed up the kids and Georgia and went to the Dog Park at Shelby Park. It was well worth it. Georgia had so much fun. She had other dogs to play with and lots of people who gave out free scratches. She was in doggy heaven!!

Our day at the lake

No, he's not fishing. LOL I think he found every stick on the bank of Percy Priest Lake and threw them in the lake. He was having way too much fun!!


My baby girl was having fun too. She was so hot. I wish we would have been able to go for a swim. Maybe next time.

Things you wish you could say!

1. You are a selfish, egotistical, cheating, fat ass bitch. I always knew you were a bitch, but now you are proving it to the rest of the world. You don't give a damn about those kids. The only person you ever think about is yourself. Well, guess what bitch...............you will not win. Eventually you will do something so stupid that even the judges you "think" you have on your side will see you for what you really are.

Apparently I wasn't finished. Edited to say:

I forgot to add lying and manipulative. You know the so called "trailer trash" you were so fond of talking about? Well, honey, not only did you join their ranks, but you have become their queen. You know that thing called Karma? Oh wait, I forgot who I was talking to. Let me give you an overview.............

[Karma is] a sort of luck associated with virtue: if one does good or spiritually valuable acts, one deserves and can expect good luck; conversely, if one does harmful things, one can expect bad luck or unfortunate happenings. In this conception, karma is affiliated with the Neopagan law of return or Threefold Law, the idea that the beneficial or harmful effects one has on the world will return to oneself.

What this is basically saying dumbass is that what goes around comes around. You WILL get yours. I just hope that I'm around to see it so I can laugh my ass off and you better believe that I will be laughing.


2. Just go to bed already. You are not going to win this fight. We go through it every night with the same results.................you in bed sleeping.

3. Stop lying to us. We know you lie. We talk about it later. We deserve for you to be honest with us. It doesn't make you look like a better person when we know it's a lie. Give us some credit.

With the 5th anniversary of 9/11 coming up......

I've been thinking about that horrible day. I've been thinking about the innocent people who lost their lives. I've been thinking about the heroes who went into those buildings to help and never made it out. I've found a way to pay tribute to these people by honoring their lives. I have signed up at 2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11. The idea behind this site is.................

We will honor them by remembering their lives,
and not by remembering their murderers.

They are in need of more people to sign up so please visit the site and help us to remember those who lost their lives and changed ours forever.

I'd like to thank BusyMom for the link.

Teacher Rant

Okay, I understand that you think that your child is the center of the universe. Really, I understand that. I'm glad that you are so involved with his or her education. I am happy to talk to you about it at anytime..................during the day. I have to ask, though, that you do not ask me to call you in the evenings. I have a life and a family outside of my classroom. I have a planning time everyday and I usually stay at least an hour after school. If it is so important that you just have to talk to me about it please try to arrange for one of those times. I understand that you may work and it is hard to schedule things like this, but really this is your child and that should take precedence. If you don't work, I don't think there can be an excuse as to why you can't make a meeting or phone call during the day. I don't even mind if you bring younger siblings.

Oh, and when you ask me to call at a certain time please have the courtesy to not be on the phone!! I hate a busy signal!

Rant over.

Pluto not a planet?

I'm not sure how I feel about scientists now saying that Pluto is not a planet. As a teacher it really messes things up! LOL I have to teach a Space unit to my first graders and everything that I have in my unit about the planets includes Pluto....................every book, every activity, every poster, every model of the Solar System..................EVERYTHING!! It could be very expensive to get new stuff for this unit. I don't even have the time to do it slowly this year. Where we usually do our Space unit in the Spring and then take the kids on a field trip to the Adventure Science Center's Planeterium, we have to do it in the Fall this year because they are closing the Planeterium for renovations after Christmas. This means that I start teaching about Space next week!! Anyone want to donate to a good cause?

The 80s are back?

I just have one question........................Didn't these people learn ANYTHING from our fashion mistakes? While out grocery shopping today I saw a couple teenagers wearing short denim skirts with leggings. It was like stepping back in time and not pretty! What next? Leg warmers and off the shoulder shirts? Parachute pants? Looking back at some of the things we used to wear as teenagers I have to wonder what the heck we were thinking! Now the music was good, but the clothing fads were scary!!

The papers are signed!!

Finally!!! We signed the papers today at 3pm. The house is no longer ours. Now maybe the stress I've been living with for the past few months will go away. I'll be able to concentrate on my kids, both my 2 wonderful babies and my 1st graders. This has been a horrible experience that I hope I never have to endure again.

We didn't make as much as we thought we would on the house. And, when all was said and done we paid the damn real estate agents (ours and theirs) $2000 more than we actually made on the house. How screwed up is that? I'm thinking about changing jobs if I can make that kind of money on one house. If we had the extra money to keep paying rent and mortgage we would have told them to forget it and put it back on the market. Unfortunately, we didn't have that luxury. We were pretty much forced by financial circumstances to accept it. Oh well, lessons learned.

I'm just really glad that it's over.

Never again!!

I will never ever sell another house!! It is a very frustrating ordeal. We've been told that it isn't always this hard, but this has been one of the worst experiences of my life!! Two contracts have fallen through at the last minute...........like the day of closing. Today we found out that the appraisal came in $5000 less than what we are asking. Now a month ago the appraisal was at least what we were asking, if not more. The new lender wouldn't take that appraisal though. They wanted their own appraiser to do it. I swear that an appraisal is not really based on anything but the appraiser's opinion. How else would you explain such a big difference in numbers in just a month? It's all very frustrating. I'm almost to the point of never even buying another house.

*YAWN*

Going back to work is tiring. I've been back for pretty much 3 weeks with only 5 days with kids and I am completely exhausted. I guess my summertime naps did more harm than good. LOL Friday can't get here fast enough. Michael told me today that I could sleep in on Saturday. I can't wait!

As for my class....................I have a pretty good class this year. We had Parent Night last night and it went well. I have a lot of parent volunteers which is always nice. I had about 6 people sign up to be Room Mother. I guess it can't hurt to have a Room Mother Committee. LOL That should make things easier for me and for them. I'm hoping for a great year.

Should I or shouldn't I?

I've been bouncing around whether or not I should join this whole fantasy football thing. I love the game and I stay pretty informed about the players and their stats. I'm just afraid that worrying about my players' stats will take away from my enjoyment of the game as a whole. I'm also very loyal to my favorite players and would have a hard time picking others for my team. LOL I know that my favorites aren't always the best, but I would still feel disloyal if I didn't choose them. It is a dilemma. If you have any thoughts or experiences please feel free to share.

YES!!!

I can now get a different prospective about Titans games from people who know a lot more than I do!! The Titans have gotten several people to blog about the games. I will definitely be checking out what Eddie George, Drew Bennett, and Mike Keith have to say. There are others I'm sure I will check out as well, but those 3 will be weekly visits. I'm sure I will learn some very interesting things about the game.

It's football time!!!

Can you believe that football season is almost here? I'm so excited! The Titans first preseason game is one week from today!! Only 27 more days until Georgia's first game of the season!! I can't wait!!

My child cracks me up!!

Today we went downtown to meet up with my father-in-law and brother-in-law for lunch. We went to a little place called Hot Diggity Dog. When we told Joshua where we were going he asked if he could have a "cold diggity dog." I cracked up!! I love 3 year olds!

Baby Fever

*SIGH*

A good friend of mine had her baby today. She is just way too cute and it really makes me want another one. I love the sounds newborns make. I love their cries. I love to watch as they recognize a voice. I love the bond of breastfeeding. I miss all these things now that my 2 are no longer babies. Hopefully we can have our 3rd one soon. Honey?

Welcome to the world little Hallie Reece. I look forward to watching you grow.

Back to school

The summer is officially over. School starts back tomorrow. I get a whole new class of first graders. I have to remember what it's like to have them at the beginning of the year. It's really hard when they cannot do much on their own. You really forget that as the year progresses and it's a major shock at the beginning of the next year. I'm excited about the start of a new year. I'm also a little sad that the summer is over. I enjoy staying home with Joshua and Ari. Only 9 more weeks until our Fall Break though. Then I'll get 2 weeks off to rest and relax. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!! LOL

August 15, 2006

This is our latest closing date. We got another offer on the house tonight. We went to meet our agent to get the specifics. We countered and as we got home our phone was ringing. They accepted our counter offer. We should actually make more money on this one than we did the last contract. Please, dear readers, say a prayer that this one goes smoothly. I'm not sure how much more I can take.

It's official.......

The buyers were officially declined today. My agent said that there is another offer that should come in tonight. Let's hope that it is a good one and that it goes smoothly.


Oh, and the stupid tv went out today. Just what we needed.

Stress, stress, and more stress

I swear that I am NEVER EVER selling a house again!!!!!!!!! This is way beyond ridiculous. My agent called again today to tell me that we are not going to be able to close on the house tomorrow. Why is this so difficult? Now I am responsible for July and August mortgage as well as August rent on the apartment. Ummmm, yeah and we are supposed to get that kind of money where? I guess I should call my dad and ask for help, but I'm pretty sure that won't happen. He has never helped before so why should this time be any different? I'm beyond my limits of stress at this point and I have to go back to work tomorrow. This is going to be fun.

Football is almost here!!!

I'm so excited!! We have little over a month until college football starts. Georgia's first game is Sept. 2 against Western Kentucky! I can't wait!!!!

Here is the entire schedule. On these days you will find me in front of the television or the computer. LOL

My wonderful Auburn cousin, Kenan, is trying to score me tickets to the UGA/Auburn game. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Date	Opponent	Location	Time (ET)
Sat, Aug 19	Football Picture Day	Athens, Ga.	TBA
Sat, Sep 02	Western Kentucky	Athens, Ga.	TBA
Sat, Sep 09	South Carolina	at Columbia, S.C.	7:45 p.m.
Sat, Sep 16	UAB	Athens, Ga.	TBA
Sat, Sep 23	Colorado	Athens, Ga.	TBA
Sat, Sep 30	Mississippi	at Oxford, Miss.	TBA
Sat, Oct 07	Tennessee	Athens, Ga.	TBA
Sat, Oct 14	Vanderbilt (Homecoming)	Athens, Ga.	TBA
Sat, Oct 21	Mississippi State	Athens, Ga.	TBA
Sat, Oct 28	Florida	at Jacksonville, Fla.	TBA
Sat, Nov 04	Kentucky	at Lexington, Ky.	TBA
Sat, Nov 11	Auburn	at Auburn, Ala.	TBA
Sat, Nov 25	Georgia Tech	Athens, Ga.	TBA

Happy Birthday UGA VI

Today is UGA VIs birthday. He is 8 years old!!!

Latest on the house

So you may or may not know, but we have still not closed on the house. Yes, we are still stressed. I did get a call from my realtor today and it is now looking like the closing will happen on Wednesday of next week. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it actually happens. I'm not getting my hopes up at this point. I do know that it is with a different mortgage company so maybe they will have it done when they say they will. I won't believe it though until I sign the papers. I'll keep you posted.

Ari's tan lines!!

Can you see it? I know this is a really silly thing to get excited about, but I am. I have lived with incredibly fair skin my whole life and I really didn't want my kids to have to do the same thing. I'm very happy that it looks like Ari will tan pretty easily. Joshua is darker than before Florida too, although not as much. He may have a little bit harder time in the sun, but he is going to tan better than I do.