July Phone Dump

Well here are the pictures that have been hanging out in my phone that I needed to do something with...I mean share!

 

I am always up for a dumb , quirky photo op. But after you take the picture be sure to get the pizza off the car roof before you head home or you will feel foolish when you have to head back in and order another Pizza Pizza after you just bought one (or is it two since its Pizza Pizza?)....just saying!  Thank you nice Little Caesar Manager for not charging us for our stupidity. Incidentally, I thought the manager was hot...but my kids assured me he was just old!  Sometimes I hate them!

 

 

This little guy joined us for our barbecue after our tubing trip down the river.  He did not like being woken up, showed his little teeth and hissed at me a bit while I took his picture.  And this Mr. Bat is why bats get a bad rep.

 

 

This guy and a bunch of his friends are hanging out in my garden.  I sent my friend a message asking her if she new what the heck he was.  I said he looked like a tiny little tortoise.  Then I Googled him and obviously others thought the same thing.  He is called a Tortoise beetle.

 

I made these with the local 6th grade class.  They are tie dyes using Sharpie markers.  Just color on the shirts, then spray with rubbing alcohol and watch the colors spread out.  The kids loved them...a definite crowd pleaser.  I got a whole pack of off brand permanent markers at Family Dollar for like $1.90.  Cheap and easy project!

This is just one of the many things I love about my kids... they are never in a hurry to grow up and always ready for fun!

And this is the easy cheesy watercolor spurt monsters we are making at the library next week.  Just put a puddle of liquid watercolor paint on some smooth paper and quickly puff air through a straw at it.  Then add faces, arms and legs.  We were going to make marbled paper....then we read the directions and tried it.....ahhhhh I think not.... way too hard!  No one needs to work that hard during the summer...lol!

 

I am always snapping pictures of books I see at work that I wanna read.  This one, Detroit: An American Autopsy, sounds right up my alley.  I love non-fiction.  However, the dust jacket says it is a story of the decline of Detroit that has a humorous side.   Well, that sounds intriguing!

Well, this is the first time I linked up for the phone photo dump with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom and it was fun.  Maybe you will see more phone photo dumps in the future.







So What Wednesday...

So my cousin's blog, Ramblings of a Suburban Mom, links up to this cool blog, Life After I Dew, and tells everyone all the dumb stuff she does.  It's Called "So What Wednesdays"  or something like that.  Hey I  do plenty of dumb stuff.  So I thought I better link up.

So here it goes.  SO WHAT IF....

• ...I only write in my blog like once a month...ok .... maybe even less then that.
• ...if I told my youngest daughter  I was really excited to go to her band performance and then when she asked me last night for details on when we were leaving etc.  I had no idea what she was talking about.
• ...I make fun of all the stupid shows my teenagers watch and then catch myself deeply engrossed them...like "Pretty Little Liars", "Glee", "The Following"etc.  I will not go on...too embarrassing.
• ...if every night this week I set my alarm to get up early to go running and then slept in.
• ...if I made nachos using pork rinds because they have zero carbs
• ...if I never listen listen to voicemail messages and I just call back and say "Hey what did you want?"
• ...if I stop at the grocery store every night on the way home from work because I can never make a commitment to a dinner in the morning because it is sooo far ahead of time.
• ...I didn't eat any Easter candy during the actual holiday because I was dieting and now that it is 75% off I am just packing it away!

What the Weekend Brought

So this was a GREAT weekend, even though it involved no basketball. I mean none....zero.  We didn't even go to the gym, which is extremely unusual.  So what did we do?  Well, the "big kids", which I have been calling my two oldest daughters since the birth of my youngest, went to Winter Homecoming.  It was very exciting to see them get ready, see their excitement and hear the stories of their evening when they returned home.

 

 

The little kids and I went sledding.  I hadn't gone sledding yet this year.  It was the absolute perfect weekend for sledding.  It was wintry out, with a light snow and sort of mild out...almost actually warm.  We went to our friends' house and tested out their new front yard which has an awesome hill in it.  (You just have to be a little careful not to hit the trees on the way down, which wasn't too difficult.)  Then just before we went in we finished it off with a snow fight.  Snow fights are pretty much dumb.  The object is to get snow all over someone and totally freeze or drench them.  How do you know when the snow fight is done?  Well, when someone gets ticked off and screams, cries or gives up.  Well the kids teamed up on me and I got ticked off relatively quickly since my face and hat was packed with snow.  So in the house I headed for hot chocolate.  And what is the best kind of hot chocolate you ask?  Ahhhh, the kind someone else makes for you.  The hot chocolate and having it made for me where great treats.  And you may be thinking where is the picture of sledding?  Well, their is none.  No chance...I look awful in sledding attire.  Snowpants are just not flattering.  And lets just say I am not a hat person.  Maybe next time I will get a picture of the kids.  But you will definitely not see one of me.  You have a better chance seeing a picture of me in my swim suit.  (Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration....cuz there is no chance of that happening...ever!)

 

We also watched movies this weekend...ParaNorman and Battleship.  They were both pretty good.  I would, however, add Battleship on to my list of favorites...although I would put it down at the bottom.  The movie wasn't Oscar worthy but was a good time.  So currently my list of favorite movies would include:

Star Wars

ET

Goonies

Ghost

Toy Story

Super 8

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer (probably the dumbest premise for a movie ever ...yet it was still pretty darn good.  I don't think I need to mention my fascination with Lincoln again, do I?)

Stand by Me

Sandlot

Battleship

*And just as a disclaimer, although some of the movies appear on my favorites list, I have recently watched them again and thought, what the heck that was not so amazing.  I think a movie can make a mark on your life because it was amazing the first time you saw it or because you had such good company or memories when you saw it.  I recently re-watched ET and it was not as amazing as when I originally saw it in the theatre.  I can remember being mesmerized by that movie.  Unfortunately, like 30 years later I did not get that same feeling.  Bummer!

Ellen and I also went to the Fitness Center.  I am making an attempt to get buff.  I know it is a pipe dream, but at least I am trying.  And lastly, we broke out the Othello game.  Do you remember that game?  With the black and white disks that you flip over.  I taught everyone how to play and then they all whipped me.  I didn't win one darn game.  It appears I am a gifted instructor...lol!!!

So what did you and your family do this weekend?  What movies would appear on your favorites list?

 

 

 



Just thinking...

• So I was over at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom, reading my cousin's blog.  When I found that she has added some adult content.  Well.... really just some trashy subscription box reviews and some interesting discussion about the Bachelor, who is now claiming he is a sort of "born again" virgin.  Of course I had to immediately comment on her blog about this.  Then I realized there is a lot to say on this topic.  First, of all, the absolute obvious...ah that is one thing you definitely can't undo.  Once you have done IT....ahhhhh...you have done IT.  Isn't that the whole point?  You are a virgin until you are not one....then you are not anymore.  It's not like you are 6 years old and you whiffed the ball in baseball and shot out "do over".  Ah nope this is one thing then once you have done IT...it's done.  This topic recently came up on Grey's Anatomy.  One of the characters got all frisky, did it and then wished she hadn't.  And decided she want a "do-over".  So she told everyone she was re-virginating.  Ahhhh....I do believe this term / concept is one that slutty people have made up to make themselves feel good about themselves again. 
• Don't you hate it when you text someone and it takes forever for them to respond?  And you are like what the heck... just reply already.  Then you realize you didn't hit the send button. 
• Today I had a mind boggling experience while toilet paper shopping.  Yes, today was the kind of day where toilet paper could blow my mind.  Sad but true.  Whatever happened to a normal size roll of toilet paper?  You know the size when you were a kid?  Like you went to the store and bought toilet paper.  The roll was just normal size and your only choice was how many to get.  Now the regular size roll seems wimpy and tiny.  (Did they just look bigger years ago because I was a little kid?  I don't think so. Something happened to the standard size roll....it has shrunk.)  Now there are regular rolls, Mega rolls, double rolls and triple rolls.  And each is a different multiple of the standard roll or the double roll.  And of course each brand calls their large size something different and also sells different pack size, making it virtually impossible to compare prices.  Ugh!  I have no idea what is the cheapest or the best bargain.  I think the USDA or the FDA needs to step in and regulate this!
• I am a bit of a history / biography buff.  I watched "Killing Lincoln" on the National Geographic Channel the other day.  Everyone was telling me how the "Killing Lincoln" book had so much new information they hadn't heard before.  So I was guessing that the TV show with the same name would be all new and interesting.  That would be a big fat NOT!  Turns out same guy still killed him, he was part of same conspiracy, he was shot dead 12 days later and they still hung everyone else involved. Yep, same old news! (OMG!  I forgot to put in a spolier alert.  Sorry, if you had that dvr-ed!) I am not sure what I was expecting.  It was still interesting.  Even though it was nothing new.  And yup if it comes on again and there isn't anything else riveting on...I will probably watch it again.  Why?  I only wish I new.  I guess maybe I need to read the book. 
• I am planning a trip to France this summer.  The whole international cell phone issue annoys me.  I have an iPhone 4. I was falsely lead to believe that an iPhone is amazing and can do anything.  However, this is just not so because it will not work in France apparently.  Neither will any of the kids Blackberries.  What the FLIP?  I have the option of renting an international ready phone and paying ridiculous rates per minute and for each text, and then adding in an additional fee for data.  Ahhhh, seriously?!  I am a pretty connected person.  How can our wonderful technology suck so bad as soon as I leave the country?  Let's just say that service is far from being global.
• I have this giant chick Easter decoration.  I mean the chick is giant...he's like 2 feet tall. He has big chick feet and I think a cracked in half egg shell for pants and he is yellow and furry.  He is definitely scary!  (He's way too creepy for the front room. And beside the dog barks at him.)  So this year I decided I would put him outside by the front door.   So I did.  Then it snowed some more!  Now it is a creepy snow covered chick.  I apologize to anyone, with small children, who may visit my home.  Creepy chick is standing guard at the front door....BEWARE!  Nothing says welcome spring or celebates the resurrection of Christ as a giant snow covered chick! 

Recent Ponderings

.....I was reading my cousin's blog, Ramblings of a Suburban Mom, and for some reason clicked on her link to my own blog.  Apparently I do not even know how old my own children are.  Child #4 is not 11.  Well not until April anyway.  At what point did I forget the ages of my own children?  I can remember people asking how old the baby is and would spot off..."6 months and 3 days".  What happened?  Now I can barely remember the correct number of years.

.....How come I always just want a little bit of time to relax?  Then when I actually get some of this elusive free time....I have no idea what to do with myself or I just fritter it away. I am afraid I suck at free time. 

.....Summer is coming again.  As the Florida Spring Break trip nears, my thoughts turn to swimsuits, once again.  UGH!  My least favorite thing to do on this earth is to shop for a swimsuit.  I did it last year with the kids help.  It was horrid.  They kept screaming at me to just come out of the dressing room and show them.  "It couldn't be that bad."  Ahhh... yeh... it was.  If I can't squeeze everything into the suit...let's just face it...there is no way I am opening the door.  And this may be silly but I have a size threshold.  There is a size in my head.  And I just won't buy anything bigger than that size.  It doesn't really matter that I may actually wear a bigger size, then the mental size threshold that I will not cross.  I bought a swim suit last year.  It works.  But seriously, I don't look great in it.  If anyone knows a place to buy a swimsuit that fits a tall person with a generous cup size please fill me in.  Oh, and here are a few other criteria I have - I am cheap (I won't spend a ton of money) and it can't look like some middle aged person or granny should be wearing it.  The size threshold and my shopping criteria have pretty much made swimsuit purchasing a personal hell.

.....People keep asking me if I am ever going to sell any of my honey from my bee hives.  Well, probably not because if I charged what I would have to...to make a profit...it would cost about a zillion dollars.  Beekeeping for me is apparently a hobby, not a business.  Maybe someday I will be better at it.  Maybe not.  Until then the few limited jars of honey are gifts for family and friends.

.....Is it possible to house train a Yorkie who weighs less than 5lbs?  I am beginning to think not.  I would appreciate some cooperation here MAGGIE!

.....I recently did a liquid cleanse diet thingy.  It was very difficult not to eat solid food for 3 days.  And why do people think that you will spend 3 days in the bathroom with intestinal issues?  Folks its a liquid diet!  Your intestines are pretty much on vacation! (And p.s. if you liquefy a beet and add it to anything...it pretty much makes it completely unpalatable.  Just an FYI.)

.....I have started to punch a speed bag in hopes of firming up my "bat wing" arms.  I have finally got the coordination thing down and can hit the bag repeatedly pretty quickly.  OK buff arms....I am waiting.  Where are you?  Anytime now!

Well, that's what I have been pondering.  How about you?

Mischievious Elves on the Shelves

 

This year right around December 1st as usual Pedro, our elf showed up on the shelf in the living room.  Much to his dismay another elf had already arrived.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday my kids decided to put up our Christmas tree and haul out the decorations. (I used  to be a control freak about the holiday decorations and liked to do it all myself.  So that everything was just so.  Well, that has feeling has passed.  If anyone offers to haul out the decorations and put them up.  Well go for it.) After digging through the several boxes in the basement Hailey came up with what she thought we needed.  We had decided to go light this year.  So we would have less hassle and less to put away later.  In one of the boxes she found an old vintage elf, that I have had since I was a kid.  Hailey decided to free the little guy and bring him up stairs. (He is the one with green clothes in the pictures.)  After a few posts about the old green elf on facebook.  Someone commented that he was a cool "vintage" elf.  Shortly thereafter, Vinny, was named.

 

All was going well in those few days of bliss that Vinny was the only elf living at the Haas Weaver house.  Until December 1st, when Pedro, arrived.  I believe that Vinny was initially happy about the arrival of Pedro.  Heck he had a new friend to share the shelf with. But it is really hard to tell what Vinny was thinking...he is pretty quiet.  For that matter so is Pedro.  But we soon realized exactly how Pedro felt.  Every so often when we awoke we would find that Pedro had dome something devious to poor sweet Vinny.  I know....Pedro does not seem to have the Christmas spirit.  It seems as though he has thrown the whole "and good will to all" thing right out the window.

 

So every morning the kids and I wake up to see what evil thing Pedro has done to Vinny. Did I mention my kids are 18,16, 13, and 11 years old?  Some of the things are quite evil and not at all in the Christmas spirit. My teenagers have enjoyed the elves this year.  However, it is quite hard not to go and help poor Vinny.  But you can't touch the elves.  Geez everyone knows that rule...even tough we don't read the book anymore!

 

We are not to sure what will happen between Pedro and Vinny as the Christmas season goes on.  But



it has been a lot of fun watching their antics.  And just a little FYI... I did notice at Meijer's the other day, in their Christmas section where they have the bins of stocking stuffers, that they had elves. Just in case you have a house with teenagers and need to liven the elf on the shelf thing up a bit.  I almost even bought a few.  It was a little sad seeing them in the bin...all up side down...go every which way.  But then I put them back.  I really wanted to save them.  But then I realized...two elves is as much as one house can tolerate!

So what has your elf or elves been up to?  Share your elf stories and traditions with us!

Organizational Issues

I have had another recent rash of losing things.  I have recently lost my debit card.  This is pretty much my life line.  It connects me to the world. Without the debit card I was financially crippled for like 5 business days.  I was devastated.  I almost couldn't shop on line during this time.  Luckily a family member, who would probably like to remain anonymous due to the stupidity of their generosity, gave me their credit number.  Let's just call him "Dad".  In this time I did try and limit my purchases.  I only bought one item on line and paid for our Freep Marathon registration.  And now "Dad" keeps asking when he is going to get paid for these charges.  Hmmm....the nerve of him.

I also lost my keys....like permanent lost, not misplaced lost and I will find you later.  Nope those suckers are gone....completely gone for good lost.  These two recent incidents have got me thinking.  I may not be a very organized person.  I know.... hard to believe....Me disorganize.  I juggle 4 kids, a full time job and coach basketball almost year round.  I manage to be successful at work, do a pretty good job coaching, and have never lost a kid.  Well, never permanently lost ....gone for good lost.  But yet some of my personal affairs seem to be quite the mess.  I realize that I need to be more organized but I just don't seem to have the time to do it.  I realize this may be a bit of a catch 22.  If I was more organized I would have more time. 

Let me describe the my personal organizational "problem areas":

1. My wallet - I just cram everything in there cuz I need everything.  I don't really like carrying a purse.  So I gotta have everything in my wallet.  I really would be all set if I could keep my wallet in my back pocket.  However, I have been advised that only men and lesbians keep their wallets in the back pockets...Darn....I am neither.  (And who makes up these rules?) Secondly the weight of said ginormous wallet makes my pants drop to what my children declare is an unacceptable range.
2. My purse - I hate the purse.  If I do carry one I usually end up forgetting it somewhere.  But since I have convinced myself that it is an occasional necessity I have one.  It has a whole wad of junk in it...from medicine to keys to a bunch of misc paperwork.  I usually spend too much time searching through it for something that I don't actually find.
3. My filing system...aka the 1980's Trapper Keeper.  I have all of my important paperwork in here.  I tried a filing cabinet but that isn't easily movable.  Sometimes I just need all the important stuff with me.  Thus the Trapper Keeper... it goes anywhere.
4. My art table - It is basically a great work space with just a bunch of art junk heaped on it.  It is usually full and there is no actual "space".  (My kids are partly / mostly responsible for this mess.)  I need to organize the art supplies and have a nice area for art display.
5. My car - My car is pretty much my catch all.  If I can't find something it is probably in the car.  I keep everything in there - extra clothes for kids, gym bag, purse, wallet, trapper Keeper and anything else that feels important or I don't have the time to put away. My two youngest kids are major contributors to the mess that occurs inside the car.

So these are the major problem areas or at least the ones that I feel I really need to fix and could maybe actually fix if I had some sort of plan.  I won't even begin to discuss my office, the kitchen counters, or the mismatched sock basket. Let's not bite off more than we can chew. 

So how do I get these things organized?  Yes, this is a plea for help.  I need ideas! And I need a good easy system.  I have cleaned and put everything away and it stays like that for maybe an hour and then it begins to spiral back to a level of insanity.  While you think of ideas to make over my life maybe I should describe a little more of what exactly we are dealing with. 

I am slightly forgetful.  OK that may be a bit understated.  I am hugely forgetful.  I leave myself sticky notes everywhere, I set my iPhone alarm all of the time to remind me to do things before it is too late and I email myself reminder messages.  Once I get in a routine or comfortable with something...I am a bit slow to make any changes.  Example - before I recently grew out my hair I had had the same haircut since college.  I have shoes and when they wear out I go and buy the same kind again.  I have had the same kind of shoes for the last decade.  Hey, they are nice shoes!  They work and their purchase requires little to no thought.  I have zero time.  I get up early and get home late.  On the weekends if I am not at a sporting event I spend pretty much the entire weekend trying to keep our household just a notch or two above disaster. I may do some yard work and gardening, catch up on the laundry and enlist the kids to do a few things around the house.  Then presto the weekend is over and it all starts again.  I usually have almost no money.  Pretty much every cent that comes in goes out.

So your solutions need to be cheap or free.  They need to be "mentally" easy.  If it requires too much thought it's not gonna happen or I will probably just forget about it.  They shouldn't require too much time to implement.  But on an up note...if your organizational strategy works for me and I actually start doing it...it may be something that sticks with me for decades to come! Ok blogger friends bring on the suggestions.