best $6.99 I have ever spent

This is what my new skirt looks like. I found on Clearance at Ross Dress For Less and it was only $6.99. I am totally in love with it. It is super fun. I have a bracelet that matches perfectly. I wore it last night to Keith's party. I just can't say enough about how much I love it!

party in the ATL

Last night, we went to a 30th birthday party for Keith. It was fun. The birthday boy would not let me photograph him, so I have no photo evidence to share. (Maybe if Meredith was able to take one, she will email it to me to post) It was a fun evening. I have literally known Keith for 1/2 of his life. I have seen him at every range of happiness and last night was a high note. It was fun watching him have such a great time at his celebration. I only wish I had taken a picture of the german chocolate cake. It was so yummy that I wish I has a piece for breakfast! Why oh why did I not bring a piece home!

la la la la la la tonight

Tonight I get to see one of my all time favorite bloggers and I can hardly wait to see her! Mere I will be there soon!

Thursday 13: thirteen things I need to do before bedtime

It is 5pm, and I have the following 13 things to do before bedtime tonight.
1) talk to my Mom (who knows where she has been hiding this week)
2) work on the class flag (yes, I know it should be done by now)
3) watch TV (my hubby can't stand a full DVR)
4) clean house (because the housekeepers come tomorrow)
5) cook dinner (build your own burger night!)
6) do the dishes (because no one else will)
7) make a letter for school begging for field trip money (hope it works)
8) pack my lunch for tomorrow (no time in the morning!)
9) check and respond to email (I have been very bad about this lately)
10) charge my Blackberry (it is SO dead!)
11) go through huge stack of mail (or just stash it somewhere out of the way)
12) find a deposit slip (tomorrow is payday!)
13) read Wicked (if there is still time)

7pm update
#4 is halfway complete
#5 is complete but only because the hubby brought home Mexican food
#10 is in the progress
#11 is completed as well

9pm update
#1 completed
#2 completed
#3 I am doing right now
#4 is almost completed (1 room left)
#6 completed
#8 completed
#9 completed

10pm update
Everything is complete except #7.
I am about to go to bed and do #13.
Here is a photo taken on my Blackberry of #2. I put the trim around the letters tonight. It is navy with silver sparkles. The kids need to finish the "E" in the morning and then it will be complete.
I don't know what happened with #3 our dvr only recorded 1/2 of Grey's Anatomy. I am so sad about this.

pics I promised-- and bad ones at that

This is the trim on the top and bottom of the flag.

This is the beginning of us making the mosaics out of fabric to spell the word "blue". We worked for about 3 hours on it this am and managed to get the B completed. We will have to step it up tomorrow if it is going to be finished by Friday. The kids are loving it!

what's craftin?

I am blogging to you from one of my favorite places in the world. I am on my screened in porch, nestled in the crook of the couch. My hubby is grilling steak and the weather is around 80 which, believe it or not is cool to us. I can hear the water trickling in the goldfish pond. I can't tell you how incredible this moment it. Oh- did I mention I am in my Pajamas? All the more fun.

I don't know what is going on with me this week- but I have been super crafty. I have mended a pair of pants. I have started a fabric gift for one of my readers, so I can't give you any of the details. Oh how I wish I could because it is something pretty spectacular. Once I finish and have given the gift, I will post pictures of it. I am proud of it already and I have only worked on it for 1 night. Another crafty something that I have been working on is making a flag for our classroom. We have an annual potluck each year and this year all of the room mom's are responsible for making each class a flag to display. The purpose is so that we can sit together as a class. Our room mom brought in some material and embellishments today. They are fabulous and I only wish I had taken pictures. I will take some tomorrow. We also purchased fabric in many shades of blue. The plan is to cut them into squares and let the children iron them on to spell out our class name. It is going to be so darn cute. I also found some blue sequin trim to loop around the flag pole. The kids are going to LOVE it. I promise- photos of the flag tomorrow!

paper organizer

I know you will be shocked to find out someone was going to throw this away. My hubby brought it home to me for the new crafting room we are planning. I love it. I have spent my evening peeling off the stickers and cleaning it up. I can hardly wait to start organizing paper in it.

Mission: Mayhem- a complete success

We had a great time at the party last night. It was fun to see the families of my coworkers and spending time together doing something other than working. The mission was a complete success and a good time was had by all. This is a picture of me and my accomplice Julie at the party. I should have turned on the flash before passing off the camera, but you get the idea. Task 1- Dessert

Here is a picture of Julie presenting the dessert. It was very funny. Of course I made brownies as well, but this was initially what we brought in. Now I must confess, these are not the original weight watcher cookies. I bought the tube kind and made them super small. They were tasty though!

Task 2- Ringtone

I do not have a photo for this because how can you take a picture of a sound. We tried this early in the party, but due to the volume in the room, no one could hear it. So, we had to put our phones in our pockets. It was so very funny. The girl who we did it for made us go and sit by her husband and act like that was our true ringtone. I am sure he thought we were crazy-and he may not be far off in that assumption. I may leave this as Julie's ringtone so I can laugh every time she calls me.

Task 3- Rearrangement

O.K. I didn't rearrange because there were so many things on the refrigerator that I don't think subtle rearrangement would have been effective. I did however add 2 items of my own and I am sure Leah will not notice them until she reads the blog. They are a magnet and a photo slide of a random picture of a chicken.

Task 4- Egg Hunt

Julie hid these eggs so expertly that no one started finding them until after she left. The eggs were filled with M&M's. One coworker even commented jokingly that she would not be inviting us to her house. I am not sure if they found all of the eggs or not. I found this task to be very amusing!

Task 5- Photo Enhancement

This was fun. We planted 3 frames pre-filled with our photos. One was in the bathroom. I would changed that picture out periodically in the night so different people would see different pictures in there.

As a bonus- I hid this in the bathroom for their daughter to find later.

Cheers to Leah for having the party and for thinking these task were as funny as we did. It is easy to see why we all have such a great time together at school. I hope that when you come to our next party that you and Stephen will think of something equally as funny to do at our house. You guys were great sports. I am glad her team won, and sorry his team lost.

We had a great time!
Leah- the hostess with the mostest.

Mission: Mayhem

Tonight, I am going to my co-workers house for a staff party. Leah (the hostess) is my co-teacher, so I am very comfortable with completing this mission at her house. Julie and I are bringing the fun!

Here is a (very old) picture of me and my accomplice- Julie. We may look innocent enough, but we are definitely in cahoots over this mission. We have 5 task to complete within the time limit of the party. Now, this is the part where we need a great sponsor, or even our own TV show to reward us with a cash prize for every task completed. Oh-well, our reward will just have to be our own entertainment and hopefully the entertainment of the others at the party.

Task 1: Dessert
I was asked to bring dessert to the party. What would be better than a batch of the mini cookies? Another funny part of this mission is that there is a tray in my classroom that I am going to get today to serve the cookies on that Leah and I had a whole conversation about how ugly it looked.

Task 2: Ringtone
One of our co-workers told me that her husband has a ring tone for when she calls of the Notorious Big song Big Poppa. She also went on to tell me that she hates ringtones and thinks they are so silly. So, we have downloaded the Big Poppa ringtone to our phones and assigned it to each other's phone numbers. We are planning to call each other throughout the party and let the ringtone play- all the while acting like we don't know it is our phone.

Task 3: Rearrange
We are hoping that Leah has stuff hanging on the refrigerator because we plan to rearrange it and we will be adding some items of our own.

Task 4: Easter Egg Hunt
We are filling up plastic Easter eggs and randomly placing them throughout her home to "find" later.

Task 5: Photo Enhancement
At scrap booking last night, we each chose a few pictures to add to Leah's decore. We are not sure if she has 4 by 6 frames, so I am borrowing some from my house. The pictures include one of Julie and me, a picture of a hippo and one of our boss. We have a few extra pictures and if she has 4 by 6 frames we may put our pictures into them.

I will report back after the party and let you all know if we accomplished our mission.

Last night

I can't remember a time when I laughed as much as I did last night. I went to scrap booking- which was probably supposed to be quiet work. My friend Julie and I got so tickled and we just laughed and laughed. Despite the fun and laughter, we both managed to complete 8 pages in our albums. For me it was a record scrap booking night. I didn't take my camera- so sorry, no pics of the fun. Stay tuned for what may be the most hysterical post of my blogging career.

Thursday 13: thirteen shows on the fall line up I am excited about

1) Heroes- This is by far my most favorite show that none of my friends watch. I love it. Can't say enough about it- but no one else seems to be as in love with it as I am.
2) How I Met Your Mother- I love laughing at this one. This show is legen... wait for it.. dary.
3) Grey's Anatomy- I did not watch this show from the start but my neighbor turned me on to it and now I am hooked.
4) Private Practice- This is a spin off from Grey's that I am excited to see.
5) The Office- I have never watched a show that was more "my sense of humor" than this one. Very sarcastic and down right funny!
6) Desperate Housewives- This is my go to Sunday night show.
7) Kitchen Nightmares- We are big Hell's Kitchen fans- so that show should be very entertaining.
8) Gossip Girl- I read in a magazine that if you are missing the OC to tune in to this.
9) Kid Nation- I think this will be cute.
10) Till Death- I think this show is extremely amusing. I enjoy the difference in the older married couple and the newly weds.
11) Jericho- again, only person I know watching it. It was even cancelled and now it is back. So, it probably is pretty bad.
12) Pushing Up Daisys- this show will either be cute or weird.
13) Big Bang Theory- I predict this show will probably be cancelled but I am going to give it a try.

my sweeties

Tonight I went to dinner with a real cutie- his name is Reid. He is only a few months old and sweet sweet sweet. After dinner, I went to see my other 2 sweeties. The one that is usually asleep... was asleep. I had fun with the one that is usually awake. He shared his M&M's and we all know how much I love those.

You know me as Sandy

I saw this on the Freckled Nest blog and thought it was cute. Enjoy readers!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Muffin Tribute
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Vanilla Snickerdoodle
3. YOUR "FLY Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
S. Gel
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Lab
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Lee Ann Birmingham
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Dansa
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")
Pink the sweet tea
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Edwin Troy
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)
breath calm M and M
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names)
Ann Dewayne
I tag...Meredith! :)

great day

Today was one of those awesome days that I want to remember when I am old. I had a great day at school. After school I went to get a manicure and pedicure with a super fun fall-y color. I got to spend time with one of my best friends doing the same. After that, we had philosophy night at my school and it went fabulously. I came home and had a yummy bagel with peanut butter. What a splendid way to spend my day!

Eden's Brithday

 

Today, I went to Eden's Egyptian Experience Birthday Party. It was a great time. The party had so many little Egyptian details that her family must have been preparing for weeks. I got to see some of my recent graduates and hear all about 1st grade. Here is a picture of me with the camel. The weather was beautiful- sunny and 80 degrees.

Operation Organization Day 1

Operation Organization has started. I have to complete this mission by Thursday, September 27th. This is because it will be the night before the housekeepers come again and they could never see this mess. I have a good system going right now. I have 5 areas in which to sort things. The areas are trash, recycling, school, belongs somewhere else, and stuff that fits into none of these catagories. I will soon add a 6th station- scrapbooking. The goal is to get this all cleaned out and to turn the guest room into a crafting room. Here is what I am up against

Brady- the anti organic

You are probably thinking Brady looks a little T.O.'ed in this picture of him. Well he is. There is no way to sugar coat this- Brady is anti- organic. This photo was taken just moments after we gave him a treat from Whole Foods.

He took the treat and ran into the living room and simply threw it on the floor.

He came back into the kitchen with a look like- are you kidding me- give me something else. This must be the way kids feel who usually get Doritos in their snack bag and then one day their mom sends carrots.

Whole Foods- a whole lot of fun

What an incredible shopping experience we had yesterday at the Whole Foods. I could have spent hours in there. We are going to have lots of yummy meals this week. I was in la la land the entire time. I didn't even know where to start. We just zig zaged the store several times. The first item in the cart was a cup of shrimp bisque, chili covered amberjack and pecan crusted talapia. We are having this tonight. Last night we had 2 different types of chicken, a greek chicken roll up and a chicken cordon blue. We even BOUGHT the dips for today since I am going to a birthday party this afternoon (stay tuned for the post on this one!). We bought chips, guacamole and a feta roasted garlic dip. For work this week I bought a dried veggie snack mix, salad, and pimento cheese. We got bagels (which we never have!) and cream cheese. I bought a piece of blueberry cornbread because I just had to know what that tasted like. It was so yummy! We also bought a ready made pizza, 2 chocolate chip cookies and some apple crisp. We bought Brady a box of dog biscuits. We also bought some stuffed pork that is stuffed with apples and cherries and mac and cheese to go with it. I am excited about that. We needed milk- and ice cream (believe me I needed it!). I am sure we bought more things, but this is all I can think of. I saw so many people there that I know as well. When we checked out they gave us 1 free canvas bag for buying groceries in next time. I am excited! I love it and I love Whole Foods!

confessions of the unorganized

In April, I attended a silent auction from my school and "won" a $40 gift card to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is as my hubby puts it "all the way on the other side of town" which in reality is about 10-15 miles from here. Anyway, said hubby suggest last night that we go to Whole Foods today and use the gift card. I was all excited until I realized that I had no earthly clue as to where I had put the card. I mean I have only had it for 5 months- it could be anywhere. It took me about an hour and a half to find the card. Guess where it was.. in the guest room closet. I swear that place is a vortex for lost items. I will be so excited the day I get it organized!

well...

Apparently there is not enough Germ-X in the world to keep me from getting sick. I had to stop at the CVS on the way home from work for some OTC sinus medication. If I am going to get sick- it is always on the weekends! I do have a positive note, the housekeepers came today, so the house is totally clean and that made me feel fabulous when I came in. I am now in my fuzzy purple PJ's and getting ready to relax and rest for the rest of the evening. My goal is to med up tonight so that I will feel all better tomorrow.

Thursday 13: 13 random pictures I snapped today

Here are 13 random pictures that I took today. I hope you all enjoy them!

This is a picture of my friend Adam. I wonder what he is burying.... evidence maybe?

This is a vase in my classroom. It is actually a vase that I painted at the pottery place.

This is the yummy yum yum snack I had today, celery with garden herb cream cheese.

This is my "Flat Stanley". Look closely and you can see where it has been mailed. Enjoy your visit!

These cute flip flops hang in my guest room. I think they are super fun.

This is the ink pen and other junk holder next to my desktop computer.

This is the movie I watched this afternoon... very interesting.

This is a very out of focus picture of Brady's favorite ball to play fetch with.
This is my Willow Tree Angel. This particular one is the angel of hope. I "feature" a different angel each month by placing it on this speaker- thus being higher than the others.

This is a silhouette of the Eiffel Tower that I made for my hubby after our trip to Paris in April.
This is my charity bank. I put money in it, and then this money can only be used for charity. I always make a wish with each coin I put in.O.K. I know that I have featured it before- but it is still so very funny to me that I snapped another picture of it today. I wish you could see it's head bobble- it is down right hysterical.

This is something in my house that I TOTALLY love!

rest in peace

Pampered Chef Mini Baker 2000-2007

Rest in peace my Pampered Chef mini baker. You have been of great service and have touched the lives... and stomachs of many. You always were helpful in making mini cakes, dips, and side dishes. You were the prefect size for so many of my baking needs. You will be greatly missed.

A great surprise

This was my surprise today from my secret pal. You all know how I LOVE pens and now I have lots of them. I needed these highlighters and the soap for my class. I must confess... I couldn't resist and I kept 1 highlighter of each color for myself. Maybe I will color coordinate my planner.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Tonight, we met the neighbors at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. It was really good. I ate so much I thought I would explode. I enjoyed the the junior sized bacon cheese burger with fried onions, mayo, ketchup and mustard, Cajun fries and of course sweet tea. Everyone agreed that it was good eats- and great atmosphere for the kids. We will definitely go back.

surrounded by sickness

I am surrounded by sickness. My hubby is sick... and I mean took off from work this afternoon sick. The kids at my school have those yucky green noses. Even Brady has been sneezing and has gunky eyes. I have lathered on so much germ x that people are assuming that I have a new perfume. I do not want to get sick!

recolonization of friendship

This weekend, I met my friend Karen in Atlanta to work on recolonizing our friendship. We had a blast. She is more fun than I even remembered. We did lots of girly things like going to the ESPN Zone and to a Braves Game. We laughed so much that my tummy hurts today like it would if I spent 10 hours doing crunches. I can hardly wait to see her again. We are already trying to think of excuses and make plans. After breakfast this morning we drove back home just in time for KICKOFF of the Patriots game. I watched 1/2 of the first quarter and fell asleep. I woke up with 2 minutes left to go in the game. They apparently played well and we got a win for the first game. I went to pick up Brady in my "game gear" which is really just a Patriots t-shirt and this man at the pet resort thought it was very amusing that we were Patriots fans and had a dog named Brady. For the record- Brady was named for 2 weeks before I realized that that is where his name came from. All is great here. I am looking forward to a fun filled week with my class. Fall is a wonderful time of the year!

things were a little crazy

There is an area in my home where things were getting a little crazy. It was to the point where it was a catch-all and no one even knew what was what. Here is a picture.

Well this afternoon I said enough is enough. I cleaned it out. There were so many things in there that simply belonged other places. I organized it all and here is a picture of the much cleaner laundry room.

Happy Birthday Meredith!

I am sure you have all realized by now that I am a big Meredith fan. Here are 27 things I love about Meredith in honor of her 27th birthday.
1) She is crafty! (no... not like the Beastie Boys song "Crafty" but with scrapbooking, card making and other crafty stuff)
2) She is very very smart.
3) She introduced me to blogging and now I am hooked!
4) She is fun fun fun!
5) She makes me laugh.
6) She is devoted to her loved ones.
7) She is generous.
8) She is delightful to be around.
9) She is a very talented writer!
10) She is very caring.
11) She is very organized.
12) She is B-E-A- utiful!
13) She takes great looking pictures.
14) She is a Christian!
15) She is witty!
16) She is very encouraging.
17) She listens (a true talent)
18) She is an awesome sister-in-law.
19) She is a thoughtful gift giver.
20) She always has a fun hairstyle and cute outfits.
21) She offers great reviews on the book she reads.
22) She is never afraid to try new things.
23) She has good taste in music.
24) She is a decorating pro!
25) She loves unconditionally.
26) She keeps us all informed.
27) She is having a birthday and deserves a great one!

the one about Julie and the cookies

Last night, we went to see our neighbors. Julie decided to make us cookies and she had a new weight watcher recipe. She worked feverishly to whip up the chocolate chip cookies. The recipe said it would make 48 cookies and that 2 cookies were 1 weight watcher point. Once the batter was prepared we were pretty sure the cookies were going to be tiny, as there was hardly any batter in the bowl.

Julie went on to read that the cookies were to be dropped in rounded 1/2 teaspoonfulls. She lovinging scooped the cookies onto the cookie sheet.

We waited 5 minutes. The cookies didn't really grow that much on the cookie sheet.

Here are the finished cookies. We put them into this Martini glass so you could have a point of reference as to how small they actually were.

Kate and the 13 things she ate on Thursday for lunch

Here is a picture of my friend Kate.

Here is a picture of the thirteen things Kate brought for lunch today.

Thursday 13: Thirteen reasons why I am so exctied about seeing Karen

1) I have not seen her in 542 days.
2) When I do see her, it is like no time has passed.
3) We just laugh and laugh and laugh.
4) We make fun of the same things.
5) We always think each other's commentary is hysterical.
6) We are going to a pool. We have never been to a pool together since our pool was stolen (is stolen the right word?) in college.
7) I want to see who has a cuter haircut- her or her son.
8) When I am with Karen I feel 20 again.
9) We can blog together- while we are together.
10) When I am with Karen even a silly old baseball game seems like a great idea.
11) Breakfast in bed- or better yet ROOM SERVICE!
12) I am excited to get out of town!
13) I know she will bring her famous Cornish game hens stuffed with pizza rolls and cheese sticks.

Where has the week gone?

It is already Wednesday and the list of things I had hoped to accomplish this week is untouched. Of course, I did a lot of things for school last night... but as for tonight, I am just procrastinating. I need to be working on the never ending project of cleaning off the desk. However, right in the middle of the desk is this computer and the so many things on the internet just waiting for me to look at. I have certain websites I check daily and they suck me into a timewarp. Today, my brother-in-law emailed me and I spent a few minutes just exchanging witty banter with him. It was after the last eamil that I realized that just maybe I was a website people were checking and felt guilty for being a slacker. So, dear readers.. my apologies to you for my lack of service this week. I will try to do better. Stay tuned to a super fun Thursday 13 tomorrow!

Things I accomplished on Labor Day

1) weeded the yard (front, back, sides and all flower beds)
2) picked up all "poo" in the yard so it could be mowed by the resident lawn technician.
3) swept sand in the patio crevices
4) showered
5) laundry
6) made more signs for the dog
7) took my hubby out for lunch
8) hung up more signs
9) played with the dogs
10) discussed upcoming vacation with Karen and assigned all work to someone else
11) read Meredith's and Stephanie's Blogs
12) googled to see how much a drafting table cost
13) made a grocery list
14) went to the store
15) unloaded the dishwasher
16) loaded the dishwasher
17) swept kitchen floor
18) found Dallas's mom and dad
19) sent her home
20) cook a gourmet dinner of frozen pizza
21) wrote thank you notes that are LONG overdue

Meet Dallas

This is Dallas. She lives about a half mile from our house. She is an outdoor dog. Her owners are very glad that we have her and had given up hope. They are however mad that the vet didn't recognize her since their daughter used to work there and took her to work every day. She is a 3 years old English Lab and dug out from under her fence in the storm. They found her collar. Kudos to the signs for helping us find her mom and dad. Her dad is even taking the signs down! She just got picked up. Brady will miss her, but he will sleep well tonight.

when did my blog become the doggie daily?

I am sorry for my dear readers that do not enjoy the dog postings-- but this is the major happening in my home at the moment. We put 25 more signs up today. Still no calls. Someone (I am assuming based on past evidence-BRADY) destroyed one of the cheap dog bowl. I have been potty training all day and no accidents since this AM.
Now we are trying to figure out what to do next. We are starting to think that no body is out there looking for this sweet girl. Also, we need to think of something to call her other than new dog.

*** after I typed this post, I discovered that the other cheap bowl was distroyed too.