Dances

E's middle school Valentine Dance is coming up. We spent Saturday afternoon in Kennesaw looking for the perfect dress. She is not going with a date. She is going with a group of friends and then they will go out to eat as a group. So why are we looking for a perfect dress? My daughter is 4'11" and weighs 83 lbs. She is basically the smallest one in her class. Which is good for cheerleading when they need to lift her high in the air. It is not good when all your friends shop at the 'chic' shops and nothing there will fit you. We go to the mall and go into Charlotte Russe where she finds this cute dress...only see above. The smallest size doesn't fit her. We go to several other stores in the mall and she can't find a dress she loves. Oh...I can't wait until she is in high school and we can shop for prom dresses. Finally, it is decided that she loves the first dress and we will just have it altered. Luckily, it wasn't that expensive, because if MawMaw can't alter it, the cost of having it altered might do me in. Now she is begging for fake nails (a big no no in cheerleading/tumbling ~ she would have to have them put on Friday night and taken off by Monday afternoon) and having her hair done. Can we say WHAT???? Sometimes it wears me out. Then I take a picture of this:

And I want to give her the world!

Prices!

This week is crazy. Z has had wrestling practice everyday. E had a private tumbling lesson on Monday, cheerleading practice on Wednesday and she is cheering two basketball games this afternoon. I only see C in the mornings for about 15 minutes before he leaves for school, and then about 30 minutes in the afternoon before he goes to work.

I went to the grocery store after dropping the kids off at school. I am shocked at the price of groceries! And I use coupons and comparison shop too! We used to eat out 3-4 times a week. I was also shocked at our credit card bill last month and saw how much we spent eating out. Granted, we did go to Gatlinburg, but still, it was ridiculous how much we spent on eating out. So, we are eating at home and I am looking for easy, economical recipes. The phone man has high BP, so I am looking for heart healthy recipes too. Today, I have a batch of chex mix in the oven (figure the kidlets can snack on that instead of cookies) and I am using my friend Rachel's recipe to make some homemade gatorade type drink mix. E made homemade brownies last night. From scratch. We are usually so busy, I buy the premade ones at Sams or we use a box mix. These are good, but a little more cake like than we like. Anyone have a good brownie recipe to share?

Snow? No

We got snow flurries (with some real flakes thrown in) last night. E was getting text messages from her friends all night about the possibility of school closing today. Not quite ~ it wasn't cold enough for it to stick. It is cold and windy today though.

Z's wrestling match for tonight was canceled. The other schools had pulled out for some reason. He has practice after school and then we will get to spend a nice evening at home.

Circuit City is closing. I am sad that so many stores are closing around here. Goody's closed and it is rumored that our mall is going to close too. Pretty soon, I'll have to drive to Atlanta to shop. On the plus side, we got an excellent deal on a new camcorder and tv at Circuit City on Sunday. I need to shop for a new table to put the tv on. For some reason, hubby doesn't want to mount it on the wall.

Why?

E had a basketball game this morning...or I should say she cheered at a basketball game. She has never played, but she enjoys cheering her friends on. The girls played a team that is undefeated. They've already played them once and lost, but this time they got beat reallybad. I mean really, really bad. 53 points bad. Now my question is: Why would a coach do that? These girls are 11, 12, 13 years old. There is no logical reason to run the score up that much. He kept at least 3 starters in the whole game. Even when our coach put in the younger girls, he kept his 3 year starters in. What was he trying to prove? And Why? Our coach cried. I hope the other coach is able to sleep well tonight. Let me just say, the sun doesn't always shine on the same sleeping dog, so when it is his turn to have someone else run the score up, he shouldn't complain. Oh, and our boys won by 5 points in a very close, competitive game.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

It is a brisk 10 degrees outside ~ with a wind advisory until noon. And it is not supposed to get get above freezing today. Did someone forget I live in the deep south? A place of heat and humidity. A place where I do not need to own a jacket or coat. Did someone forget that? Luckily, Z and E do not have any after school activities going on today. Z was especially glad to not have to run today. C doesn't have classes today either so I am glad he is not having to walk across campus in this cold.

I am spending today inside. I will continue to work on E's room so we can get it ready to paint. It is a bittersweet moment. We are totally redoing her room to make it more of a teenagers room. No more Hello Kitty. No more rainbows. No more pink fluff. She boxed up so many things that defined her being a little girl. Bittersweet. I know she is growing up, but she'll always be my baby.

Runaway!

I have not felt like doing anything these past couple of days.

I had a horrible day on Sunday...my dog (who is like my child) was missing for 3 hours. We have a pasture behind our house and I guess she decided that she needed to check it out! The guys in our family had gone to the movies. I called my parents and they came over to help me look for her. I cried my eyes out for 2 of those 3 hours. It probably didn't help that I had just finished reading Marley and Me. After it had gotten dark, Z went outside and called for her and she just bounced right up acting like she had been there all along.

Then I got some bad news that effected E. I won't go into detail, but she is not doing competitive cheerleading anymore. I will say, the coaches at that gym are jerks. At first she was ecstatic as she had been begging us to let her quit. Now, she goes from not caring to being sad. And that breaks my heart. She is still cheering at her school and that is what she truly enjoys anyway.

Evacuation!

Yesterday, it rained all day...and by rain, I mean 5" in about 5 hours. I think we broke a record. My poor dog was afraid to go out.


16 or so months ago, we were worried we would run out of water ~ our state was in a severe drought. We were praying for rain. Prayers were answered and we did not run out water, and it has been damp/wet ever since. Now I am praying for sunshine. Sometimes, I can't be satisfied.

Z had a wrestling match after school and E had her all star cheerleading team practice. I took E to Meema and Grandpa's so they could take her to practice and I went to the wrestling match. E's practice got canceled. She practices in a metal gym. It was a good call. Back to the wrestling match...We had to evacuate the gym for a tornado warning. C wrestled 5 years, and this is Z's 5th year wrestling. I have spent a lot of time in a gym with stinky guys. And I have washed a lot of smelly guy things. I have never had to evacuate a gym before. The one time I forget my camera...Anyway, after an hour sitting in the hall of the school, they let us continue the match. I would like to say our team won, but I would be lying.

Taxi, taxi

Last day of winter break...and I have spent it playing taxi with the kids. E spent the night with a friend last night, so I picked up her and the friend and took them to the mall. Z went too and got a haircut. The referee at his last match told him he had to have a haircut before he could wrestle again. We grabbed some lunch while we were out and then came home for a few minutes before I took Z to the high school for wrestling practice. E's friend has basketball practice at 5:00, so I will drop her off at the middle school when I pick Z up. E has a tumbling lesson at 8:00.

I do love carting my kids and their friends around though! I get to overhear the best conversations and get a glimpse of my kids' lives outside of home.

I have mixed feelings about winter break being over...I love the laid back feeling of not having a real schedule, but I know the kids are getting bored. I also need to get a few things done and it is harder when everyone is here.

Follow the instructions

Sometimes it helps to follow the instructions...E's phone had a button pop off. I spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone with AT&T and the Palm people. Finally, after threatening to leave AT&T (even though they sign hubby's paycheck), I was under the impression that they would send her a new phone. I saw the follow up email in my in box and last night decided to read it. I had to send her phone in for repair. Oh. I would rather be shot in the head than have to go to the post office. Anyway, this morning I take myself to the post office and mail her phone to the repair guys. It wasn't as bad as I remember...maybe because it is yucky outside and no one in their right mind would be out today. Luckily, C got a new phone for Christmas, so E is using his old phone until hers is repaired.

Let's begin...

Several of my friends have blogs, so I thought I would join in on the fun. I have been reading blogs for several months and love how you get a glimpse into someone else's world. My life is pretty basic...I am mainly a SAHM who works long term sub jobs (maternity leaves, illnesses, etc) for our local school system on an as needed basis. This works out well for me, as hubby works out of town and his job requires a lot of overtime. We have 3 wonderful kids ~ who can be trying at times, but are really our pride and joys! Our home is also shared with 4 cats and 1 dog.