It's Too Early For This!

It is not even 8:00 yet and this day sucks. We already lost power once. We have no water in the entire house. I have my first final today. (Finals week doesn't start until the 10th, but this class has TWO final exams...TWO!) My check engine light came on. I have to call the dentist to schedule a cleaning. And I have to call the clinic on post to schedule my yearly.

I'd like to think there's something to be happy about b/c Brian bought me a fancy new road bike so that we could go riding together, but the damn thing came without any pedals. I guess you don't get pedals when you spend $!!!! on a bicycle.

Yeah, it's going to be one of those days!

Wordless Wednesday -- My Sky

Yummy!

Yesterday the boys wanted belgian waffles for dinner. I obliged, but didn't feel like eating waffles and was too lazy to cook anything else. Instead I opened a bag of Blue Aztec Chips and made a dish of Fiesta Party Dip. I am telling you ... heaven on earth! You have got to try this. I promise this is not a shameless plug to help my sister-in-law Lisa get more business. This is a yummy, yummy treat that rivals a good margarita without the alcohol and it's side effects. So, head on over to Tastefully Simple and buy yourself an early Christmas gifts. It'll be worth it, I promise!

Sew, Cook, Clean, Sew

That was my Thanksgiving day. 12 hours of it anyway. We have a tablecloth that we only use on Thanksgiving. Each year after dinner we sign it with a fabric pen. Then I use embroidery floss to make the signatures permanent. Each year gets a different color and I sew the city, state, and year along the edge of the tablecloth in the matching color. Last year on Thanksgiving Day we were moving. We spent the entire day packing the truck. (Then we went to Fire Mountain for dinner.)

The next day hubby left for Texas and the boys and I were in an empty house just waiting for our closing date to approach. I sewed the tablecloth and packed it to go to NY to visit family. We decided to have another Thanksgiving dinner while we were in NY. My tablecloth was signed and packed just in time to make the long trip to Texas. (Thank goodness it wasn't in the car top carrier that was stolen in Houston!) I had plenty of time to sew the signatures from our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner, but I never did it. I thought about it several times over the last few weeks but I never actually did it. So on Thursday morning I sewed the signatures from 2006, washed it, dried it, put it on the table, we ate, signed it, and I sat down to sew it right away. Now I can't decide if I should do that again next year (sew it right after dinner), or give myself a year off and sew it on Thanksgiving morning 2009. Anyway, here are some pictures of our past years' signatures. This is probably my favorite holiday decoration of all time.

Topsey

On Wednesday we went to Tospey Exotic Ranch & Drive Thru Safari. We found this place when we were stationed at Fort Hood during the late 90's and it's been a favorite family outing ever since. It's not a bad drive (just a few hours) and is a fun way to spend the afternoon. They have a petting zoo and all kinds of animals that will stick their heads right into your car window for a handful of food.

I don't mind the horses, zebras, goats, llamas, rams, buffalo, deer, antelope, donkeys, or long horn cattle. It's the ostriches that scare the heck out of me. Oh, and the emus. There is just something creepy about the way they look at you with those huge eyes just before they stick their long neck all the way into your car to peck one morsel of food out of your hand at warp speed. When I see them coming I roll up my window. This time around I was brave enough to take a video of the rest of my family being tortured by the ostrich.

Albert the camel was always the most entertaining animal at the ranch. He would follow us around the entire route, eating at least 5 of the 10 bags of food we had. Sadly, he not with us any more.

RIP ALBERT

Puppy Fever

My mom and I share a weakness for cute little animals. If my hubby and I were settled in our forever home I'd probably bring home a puppy or kitten a couple of times a year. If you've been reading my mom's comments over the last couple of days you might be confused. They don't have anything to do with the postings. They are all about ...

These beautiful baby girls are from Penelope's breeder. They have the same mommy as PJ does and a different daddy. Here's their mom, Alison:

And here is their dad, Toby:

This is PJ's dad, Joshua:

Aren't they adorable? And oh-so-hard to resist? Mom wants the little liver colored one and I'd take the black one. That is, if anyone has an extra $1800 they want to spend on us for Christmas!

Christmas Giveaway

Lisa is soooo into this blogging thing. She knows way more than I do and her blog is always so creative. She has a new post today about a Christmas Giveaway at one of her favorite blogs, 5 Minutes for Mom. I have a little extra time today so I am going to enter a couple of the drawings. Why do I have extra time, you ask? Because the boys have the entire week off from school and their dad is home with them. This morning while I was in class he cleaned the house, washed the dishes and finished the laundry. Then he took the boys out to play football and ride bikes. Now they are cleaning the garage. I have homework to do, but I am allowing myself a little break and enjoying the free time. Ok, anyway ... so I have gotten a little off the subject. Most of the stuff is baby stuff so I am not going to just go on their site and enter every little thing. But I am going to enter a couple of them. And who knows?!? ... maybe I'll win. The last time Lisa did one of these things on her blog she won three prizes and had 208 people sign up to win the prize she offered!

So, if you want to enter the contest, or if you want to look so you can have a tiny inkling of a clue about what all of this means, click HERE.

Are We There Yet?

Are we even half way there yet? I'm not. I am at 45 miles .... 55 to go. Looking at the calendar, we are a little more than half way through the challenge. These people need to send a comment so we can see how everyone is doing. Don't give up yet! This is still do-able. Just think how good you'll feel when you can say you walked 100 miles.

The Science Fair

The Science Fair was last week at the boys' school. The 2nd graders complete projects as a class, but were not judged like the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders are. The teachers encourage them to do something extra at home with their families. My younger redneck in training's class did an experiment to find out what size battery would make the best electromagnet. Our boy was the only kid in his class that did anything extra at home.

Our older redneck in training's experiment was about recycling. He recycled computer paper and newspaper then tested them to judge which one was more durable. His recycled paper looked great, his display board was awesome, his newspaper tree was a great touch, and the free papers he handed out only helped his case ;)

He was judged by three different judges throughout the morning. They looked at his recycled paper, his display, his journal, and asked him various questions about his experiment.

There were several different categories. His project was in the Earth Science category. He won 1st place -- "Best in Category"

They have already started trying to figure out what to do next year. Both boys will be judged next year and our soon-to-be 6th grader will be eligible to go to a district competition. So they'll need to come up with good ideas! If anyone has any ideas feel free to send them our way.

November!

I was just adding pictures to my computer from my camera when I realized it is November! I have been putting pictures into my October folder all month. For 18 days! How did this happen?!? I am either too busy or exhibiting signs of early Alzheimer's. Sadly I think it may be a combination of both. UGH!!

My Tolerance

Or should I say my lack of tolerance? My friend Mandy used to tease me about how low my tolerance for alcohol is. But more than tease me, she did her best to help me conquer this particular problem. Every chance we got (you know, kids' birthday parties, trick-or-treating, etc) we'd throw back a few and work on my problem. She's a true friend!

Well, we've been here in Texas almost a year now. And my problem is back. One time in August we had a few people over and I had two margaritas. Two. I didn't get out of bed until 4:00 the next afternoon.

It has been a heck of a couple of weeks with my projects and the boys projects and we have been very busy. Last night was the end of it. My learning centers were presented last week and their science fair is today. So I asked my darling husband to drop me off and pick me up at the spouse's dinner I went to so that I could enjoy a margarita. I had two. The magic number. After I mentioned something about sneaking alcohol into the Battalion Christmas Party (in front of the colonel's wife by the way) Jennifer started kicking me under the table.

Mandy, what are you going to do about this? Start packing! And you know what kind of packing I mean.

My Learning Centers

I had to create 8 learning centers for one of my classes. I had to think up the ideas, write the lesson plans, and make the centers. On Wednesday we displayed our centers at the college. I am so glad that assignment is behind me. Only 5 weeks to go in the semester!

Wordless Wednesday --Science Fair Project

Classifieds

This ad was in the FOUND section of the classifieds in my local paper. I could not make this stuff up if I tried.

FOUND OCT 28th, 2007 in the 1900 blk. of E. 21st.
One Holstein Bull calf.
Call Animal Services at 657-4225

Before and After

Penelope desperately needed a good grooming. We have been to a groomer here and I was pleased enough with the job they did, but I needed to go to Abilene today so I decided to call Amy Green, PJ's breeder to ask if she could groom her. They live in Tuscola which is on the way to Abilene. Amy came to my rescue today and made PJ look gorgeous again. Here are before and after pictures:

PS. Go here to see PJ's half-brother, Grant. He is so adorable! I met him today and would have taken him home if I had the time to care for another puppy. He was soooooooooooooo sweet!

Trick-or-Treat