Karma

Karma can really come back and bite a girl in the butt sometimes. Today I started getting a soar throat and feel like I might have a low grade fever. I am thinking it's because of the Nyquil. I would rather have a headache!

What Do You Think of This?

My dear friend Mandy is constantly trying to convince us to move back to NC. She sends me interesting news articles as her ammunition (no pun intended) for her cause. This is the most interesting one yet. I'd love to hear your opinion about this:

Teachers at a tiny Texas country school packed a gun along with their lesson plans when classes started this week.

The isolated, 110-student school near the border with Oklahoma is thought to be the first in the United States to allow guns in the classroom.

School officials say arming teachers is the only way to protect the old brick schoolhouse, which sits 30 minutes from the nearest police station.

"How do you stop the angry person without enough sense?" said Superintendent David Thweatt of the Harrold Independent School District.

"It's not going to take very long for it to be a total massacre."

But critics say the risks of having guns around children far outweigh the potential threat of a crazed gunman.

"Which risk is more likely: that someone is going to accidentally set off a gun in class and God forbid hit a student, or someone will come in off the highway and start a random shooting spree?" said Doug Pennington, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

While random shootings grab headlines, they are extremely rare, Pennington said, adding that fewer than one percent of school-age homicide victims are killed on school grounds or on the way to and from school.

Pennington questioned whether teachers were adequately trained to respond in a crisis situation and said the school would be better off with a security guard -- the only people technically allowed to carry guns in Texas schools.

Thweatt would not say which teachers were armed or how many but said they all received adequate training.

Harrold's school board decided last October to allow its employees to carry concealed handguns on campus when the 2008-09 school year began on Monday.

Mass murders at schools, college campuses, shopping malls and churches have claimed scores of lives across the United States in recent years.

Some, like Harrold's superintendent, blame the violence on federal legislation enacted in 1995 that made such areas "gun-free zones."

"That's the place people could go if they are feeling crazy or mad at the world and get a big body count," Thweatt told AFP.

Thweatt says he studied the issue for two years while he filled his school with more than 100,000 dollars in state-of-the-art security systems.

But even with the new keyless entry, camera system, lock-down buttons and classroom telephones, Thweatt said he still could not have prevented a mass murder like the one in an Amish one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania in 2006 that left five girls dead.

It also would not have been enough to deter the deranged student at Virginia Tech University, who killed 32 people and wounded 23 in 2007.

"They were like fish in a barrel," Thweatt said.

The Harrold policy requires that each teacher who carries a gun be approved by its school board, earn a concealed carry license, and complete training in crisis management and hostage situations.

Guns must be worn -- not locked in a safe -- and loaded with ammunition designed to blast into powder instead of ricocheting through the hallways.

The decision to arm teachers isn't a far-fetched idea for this ranching community, said Bridget Knight, who lives in nearby Vernon.

"For Harrold, it makes total sense."

Its windswept fields are ranch country, she said, where guns are a mainstay -- if not to stop a madman, then to shoot a snake, a wild hog, a wild dog or coyote that might run onto the playground.

Even Harrold children are raised to handle guns, said Lee Anderson of nearby Wichita Falls, Texas.

"Most high school seniors been huntin' on their own since the age of 12," he said. Many eventually join the rodeo circuit or work in the oil fields.

"These are country people. They grow up with guns. It's nothing unusual."

Still, that doesn't make guns fit for the classroom, said Kristina Tirloni of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association.

She called the policy "extreme."

Adding security guard to a teacher's duties is "a lot of responsibility for someone who already has a lot of responsibility in the classroom," she said.

While a handful of colleges and universities allow people
with permits to carry guns on campus, "as far as we are aware this is the first policy of its kind at the elementary or high school level," Pennington said.

Addictions Anonymous

I love this stuff. Last winter I spent two straight months sick and always had it in my medicine cabinet. I wasn't buying those pansy ass 6 ounce bottles from the grocery store either. I was buying the double pack of gallon jugs from Sam's Club. Today I came home from school with a killer headache. My migraine meds dulled the pain somewhat, but it never went away so much that I felt 100% again. I would usually reach for the Tylenol PM in a situation like this, but apparently my Tylenol PM addiction has left me with an empty bottle. I was digging through my medicine cabinet for something else to take and I found my leftover supply of Nyquil from last winter. 20 mL later and I am already looking forward to a night of being blissfully unaware of anything and everything, including my headache. I really think I could get addicted to Nyquil. And that's not even a funny thing to joke about ... Brian has a brother that used to drink Nyquil to get drunk and by the time he was 25 his voice sounded like a 90 year old woman who had been smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. I think I am safe though ... he was drinking the whole gallon jug and I only sip enough to help me sleep. And 99% of the time I take it when I am really sick. Excuses, excuses! Hi, my name is Amy, and it has been 20 minutes since my last drink.

Wordless Wednesday -- Boy's Best Friend

My Coping Mechanism

Here's Chase with all of his necessary gear for Beginner Band. Notice the no shirt thing ... this was taken the day before school started and for some reason my boys don't wear shirts in the summer at all any more. It has gotten so bad that they will just get in the car without shirts even if we have to go to public places. And I don't even notice! One time we were going to the grocery store and I had to make Chase wait in the car because we got all the way there before we realized he didn't have a shirt on. But wait, this post was supposed to be about band, not a belated thankyouLudwigsenfamilyforgettingmyboysintothishabit post.



Here are the books and the metronome. That thing is tiny, but boy is it loud. And it doesn't turn off. We have to take the batteries out to make it shut up!

Here is the "bell kit" Yes, it is a xylophone to those of you that don't know any better. But trust me, I am becoming well versed in the whole percussion subject! I am also becoming well versed in the money spending category too, but we won't talk about that because it is too early in the morning for tequila.

This is a practice pad. It is not loud at all. It is so quiet I would go so far as to call the sound it makes music to my ears.


This is not a practice pad. It is a snare drum. A very, very, very loud snare drum. Which Chase's band director so nicely allowed him to keep at home for practice. 30 minutes of practice. Seven days a week.


Here is the assortment of mallets he needs to make noise music with. They weren't cheap either!


And this, my friends, is my coping mechanism. This is how I deal with the cost and the noise. It is so so so so good and so so so so worth it! Lisa isn't selling Tastefully Simple any more, but when this is all gone I will find a new consultant because I can't make it through Beginner Band without this!

First Day of School!

Mini Me

I guess I should say Mini Him.
As in, Mini Brian.

Because I would never really do this much exercise in one day.
But for some reason my two Brians think it is fun to swim, bike, and run in a triathlon. For fun. Without any prizes at the end ... just because that is what they like to do on a Sunday morning.

Here's Chase coming in from his swim. He had just gotten to the point where he could touch the sand again. He ran in from there.


In his "transition area"


Starting out on the 3 mile bike.


Coming in from the 1 mile run.

Am I the only one who thinks this looks like too much work?

It's That Time of Year Again

It's time to buy all of the things I need to send my kids to school. Public School. Free, public school. I do not know how much I spent on the school supplies, but I do know that I spent $20 on Chase's band fee, $5 on his school shirt, $40 to start a lunch account for him, $40 to start a lunch account for Kenny, and $25 on a school t-shirt and school sweatshirt for Kenny. Now I know that not all of this is absolutely necessary. And we've never bought school lunch before so this $80 is a new expense, but I am feeling a little broke and they haven't even left the house yet.

My Brother

This is my brother, Toby. In front of the helicoptor that he knows how to fly. All by himself. And not on a video game either ... in real life. In the air. Alone. Yup, that's him.

This is my brother with his wife. She is absolutely the best friend and sister I ever could have asked for. He didn't let me choose his wife, but I am thinking about pretending he did. Because I would have chosen her.


This is my brother being pinned with his flight wings by his son Austin while his daughter Ashlyn looks on. At least I think they are called flight wings. I don't know much about the world of helicoptors. Or flying. I just know that I am really proud of him.


Here's Toby and his gorgeous kids. I just love them!


And here's me with Toby. Reminding the entire world that I was born first. Even if he can fly helicoptors. All by himself. And not on a video game either ... in real life. In the air. Alone. Yup, that's him.

(P.S. Lisa, Thanks for letting me steal all of your photos!)

Reading, reading, reading ....

Last weekend I was searching online for more scholarships when I came across one for $10,000! It is the Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged Scholarship. All I have to do is read this book, answer an essay question, and hope for the best. The catch? This book! I usually read books that I call my "mindless entertainment" They are fun and engaging and I am not at all smarter when I am done with them. This book is almost 1100 pages of stuff that is incredibly intellectual. Here's the description from amazon.com:

Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex.
Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels.
Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.

This morning I finished part one (there are three parts). Believe it or not I am learning some things and thinking in ways that would most definitely make my father drop dead out of amazement and shock. Now, I am in no way fooling myself into thinking that I am going to win the $10,000 prize. I am sure there are some extremely nerdy intelligent people out there who will not only write a better essay than I will, but also have a much better understanding of the book. But ... there are 49 scholarships being given in all. And eight of them are for $1000 or more! I have until September 17th to read the rest of the book and write my essay. Wish me luck!

Animal Cracker Cleavage

One of the blogs I like to read is called Blogtations. Each week there are new quotes from all over the blogosphere that have me rolling on the floor laughing. (If I were cooler and younger I'd say rotflmao). Today there are a couple of quotes regarding the embarrassing experience of losing things down in your shirt. Things like animal crackers and old fish. So I thought I'd share my embarrassing things down your shirt story here on my blog for your entertainment. You all know that I went back to college full time last fall. Well, one day as I was walking across campus to my science class I felt something fall from a tree right into my shirt. Now you have to understand that being a 33 year old college student puts you into a strange walk the line between young and old position. It would be ridiculous for me to try to befriend the 18 year old kids who were always hung over, yet I didn't want to become the grandma sitting in the front seat with her hand constantly waiving in the air begging for attention. So as I walked into the building I sure wasn't going to stuff my hand into my shirt to look for a little leaf or whatever it was that fell into my shirt. I figured it would keep for an hour and 15 minutes and that I could go to the bathroom to fish it out after class. That worked until my whatever it was starting biting me! It was a fire ant. What the hell was a fire ant doing up in the branches of an oak tree 30 feet off the ground? I lost any cool points I may have earned that day because 18 year old hungover kids and hand waiving grandmas watch out .... that sucker was getting out of there whether I looked "cool" or not!!!

Underwater

Chase and Kenny invited two of Chase's friends over to go to the Rec Camp pool on Thursday. I wanted to read a book in peace so I gave them an underwater camera and told them to get lost! Here are the results:





Not too bad for a couple of amateurs, huh?

Searching

I am sitting here searching for something very yummy and easy to make for a late lunch/early dinner. It's been raining for two days and I am bored. Any ideas? I am thinking about trying the Mexican Lasagna on Pioneer Woman's site, but the recipe given is way too huge and I am too lazy to figure it out for our family. Ideas anyone?

Plans ... What Plans?!?

Those of you who know us know that our plans (and I use that term loosely) are constantly changing. Remember last week when Brian called to ask about an assignment to Fort Bragg? And remember that he found out that he was on assignment to Germany? Today he was put on a different assignment. He'll be leaving for Fort Riley, Kansas on October 12th for a short train-up. Then he goes to Iraq for 12 months. I am not exactly sure when he leaves for Iraq yet. I thought it would be early December, but he is thinking it might be early January. We should find out next week. I'll keep you updated.

Mine, All Mine!

See this paint chipping off from my front bumper? The first week I had my car I accidentally parked it in the garage on top of a little too close to Brian's workout bench. I cut a small hole in the bumper which I hid for about 3 years with a front end cover. When we moved here I had to get a front plate (NC doesn't have them, TX does), remove the front end cover, and the paint around the hole started chipping.


See this chip in my windshield? That happened last month when Brian and I went to San Antonio for our anniversary weekend. I don't even know when exactly it happened. It may have been when I was all stressed out because the battery decided to give out in the parking lot of Outdoor World and Brian had to pop the clutch to get the car started so that we could drive to Walmart to buy a new battery. Then we bought a wrench. Then we stood in the 102-degree parking lot so that Brian could install the new battery. That was fun.

See these two dings in the passenger side door? I didn't even know they existed until 5 minutes ago when I went outside to take the other two pictures. No idea how long they've been there. Maybe just since this afternoon at the mall?

I really love my chips, dings, and peeling paint. Do you want to know why? It is because they are mine. 100% mine. Because we paid off my car today!!! Yippee!!!

Is it a Sign?

I sit down on the sofa to watch the Olympics with my family. They all start acting like something smells bad. Brian asks if I am using nail polish remover. And I am simply sitting there sipping a margarita. Does that mean it is too strong? Because it didn't taste too strong to me!

Sorry Lisa

The almighty and wondrous woman behind the curtain (aka Jennifer and my password) couldn't fix my blogroll problem. I don't know what the issue is since you changed your blog address the same day I changed mine. (And mine works on Jennifer's blogroll.) So we have a little tweaking to do to try to figure it out. She thinks it might have something to do with your template. Are you using the same template as you were using before the big name change? And did you decide on Southern Comfort? I think it is my favorite.

Jennifer, Help Me! (again)

Jennifer has a really cute blog. She always has very entertaining stories -- stories about her real life that leave the rest of us rolling around laughing until our sides ache. Beyond her funny postings, she always has cool stuff on her blog. See my little map over to the right that tells me who is visiting my blog? I stole that from her. And this new layout? Yup, stole that too. Not only do I steal all of her good ideas, but then I email her and beg her to help me tweak them enough to get rid of the extra sidebars and advertisements that always come with the free templates and layouts. I used to convince Brian to buy a UFC fight, we'd buy alcohol and chips and throw all the kids in the back yard, and then I'd coax her over to my computer to help me. Now she's moved to Georgia and she's too far away for that. And she has this great thing on the side of her blog that tells you when other people have updated their blogs. I stole it. It will save me a great deal of time because every time I am bored I sit and methodically go through my favorites/bookmarks to check and see if anyone has updated. But I am having a problem. About 5 months ago Lisa changed her blog address. For some strange reason I can't get blogger to accept her new address. Every time I put it in and save the changes it goes back to the old address (which no longer exists) I can't invite her over to watch a fight, get her drunk, then get her to help me. So this time I thought that instead of emailing Jennifer I would beg her out here in the great big world wide web to help me out. So, what do you say? You already know my password (because you help me so much). And I am sure you don't mind me stealing all of your stuff, right? They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That must be what's going on here, right? I am really classy like that. And don't forget ... I'm classy like this too:

P.S. If you choose to accept this assignment, Lisa's new blog address is http://homesweethomealabama.blogspot.com/ This message will not self destruct. Ever. It will sit here until you help me.

Last Night's Dinner

Another Pioneer Woman recipe ... It's called Not Your Granny's Mac & Cheese. It is so good. It is the ultimate comfort food. You need to go and make it right now!

Wordless Wednesday -- Just Hanging Around

Not Camera Shy

Camera Shy

We went to the beach tonight to play frisbee with the boys. Kenny decided he was camera shy and attempted to block my lens every time I tried to take a picture of him. I guess we can all see who was faster. (ahem, that would be me!)

Two Weeks

We have two weeks before the new school year begins. I just finished my summer classes on Thursday so this is basically my only chance to do everything I like to do as a stay at home mom. I love being a SAHM. Since Thursday I have prepared more meals for my family than I made all summer long. The boys are going into PBJ & Pizza withdrawals! But they are enjoying the cookies and homemade cinnamon rolls :) Brian has enjoyed the lasagna and chicken quesadillas. Tonight I am making this:

It's from The Pioneer Woman Cooks! If you've never tried any of her recipes you are really missing out. This sandwich is easy to make and delicious. Her chicken spaghetti is yummy! And her apple dumpings are simple but sinfully good. They are so easy to make that I sit in a chair and tell Kenny what to do from start to finish. Actually, I cut the apples, but he does everything else.

So if you are trying to squeeze in a couple of homemade meals for your family between now and when the craziness begins again check out The Pioneer Woman Cooks! That's where I'll be.

While I Was Out ...

I went out to run a couple of errands and left the boys home alone with Brian and a camera. This is what I found when I got home ... one kid on the roof and the other kid mowing the lawn. That doesn't seem very fair, does it?

Friday's Feast ?

I don't know what's going on with the Friday's Feast website but it hasn't been updated since July 11th. So I guess it's done. I am sure you are all as disappointed as I am. I'll try my best to spew lots of uninteresting things about my life all by myself in my upcoming postings.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can ...

My treadmill has helped tremendously with my 400 mile goal. It's early August and I am already up to almost 300 miles. Like every other woman I know, I sometimes feel a little discouraged about my weight. A year ago I weighed in at 123. I am going to put myself out there (because that's what all of the diet & fitness experts say to do) and tell the entire blogging world that I am up to 131.5 pounds right now. Yesterday I was talking to Jennifer and I told her that I thought I was near 135 so I was surprisingly pleased when I weighed myself this morning (and that was after breakfast!) And I am thinking that not very many people read this blog anyway so I am not really putting myself out there too much! Anyway, I feel stuck. I like weighing around 125. 120 would be nice, but I let go of that when I let go of my 20's. I run, I walk, I eat about 1/4 of what I ate 10 years ago. What gives?

I'll tell you what gives. I am not obsessing about it. I feel good when I get on my treadmill and run or go outside and walk. My clothes fit ok. And another thing ... there is this girl that I see almost every time I go walking. I call her the running anorexic. The first time I saw her I went home and asked Brian, "Do you think an anorexic girl would run?!?" because I was so surprised to see her. She is young -- maybe about 20 years old. She is thin -- her legs are about as big around as Kenny's. And she is slow -- she shuffles like an old man. I saw her in the grocery store last week. She was wearing her big baggy running clothes that Brian & I could probably use as a camping tent, her eyes were lifeless and dark, and she was buying one banana and a bag of baby carrots. I guess 131.5 pounds isn't so bad after all. I guess I can deal with that.

Now I need to go fix myself a margarita and not think at all about how many calories are in it.

The Steel Eel

Can you see them?

Isn't it obvious? They are right here:

Another Trip to San Antonio

Last weekend we decided to take the boys to San Antonio. We spent the afternoon and evening at the Alamo and along the Riverwalk.







We had a really nice dinner at a small place right on the riverwalk that was a little expensive, but worth the splurge. When it was all said & done, the best $1 we spent all weekend was on this fake electric chair that we put them in. They were so funny I was trying not to roll around on the sidewalk clutching my side in fits of laughter.