#wordless Wednesday

Waiting For Sunday! True Blood is Back!

Ready for Beach Reads? Grab "The Goddess" by Robyn Grady

Finally Summer is here, and that means the time is ripe for spending an afternoon in the sun with a good summer read.  The Goddess by Robyn Grady from Entangled Publishing is a perfect book to lose yourself in on a sunny afternoon.  Robyn give us a plucky American girl with an adventurous spirit named Helene who happens to meet a Prince on a beautiful Greek Isle. Throw in some well-rounded secondary characters and a bit of magic courtesy of an ancient statue and you have an engaging read. 

I great enjoyed both Helene and Darius, they weren't fools in love, they were adults who considered the consequences of their actions.  Darius is a Prince in the modern world on a small island and has centuries of tradition to consider and Helene is an outsider.  It was fun to watch them experience each other and to open up to love. 

Robyn Grady adds a story within the story, which at first I was not a fan of, but as the book continued I found the second story a great mirroring of how the romance of Helene and Darius would have turned out had they met in less 'enlightened' times.

If you've had a hard winter, and are ready to escape, throw on your shades, grab The Goddess and hit the beach!

Click here to read and excerpt and order the book.


Disclosure: I received a free e-version of the book.  All the opinions are mine.

Here comes the sun

Flower watch Spring 2013!

Where Be My Honey Bee?

Wordless Wednesday ! Happy May Day!

No Alternative by William Dickerson Book Review and Giveaway!

I stumbled across the No Alternative Blog Tour on Facebook. I have not reviewed a book for quite sometime and I have fond memories of 1994, so I asked to be part of the book tour.

 Coming into the story with no preconceived ideas, only knowing that Kurt Cobain's suicide would feature prominently, I was curious and hesitant. Suicide is such an enormously verboten topic, I don't know that many of us like to poke a stick at it, much less read about it. So I took a deep breath and dove into the story and read and waited for the inevitable shoe to drop. And it did, and with the darkness of that death, came awakening.

No Alternative;, is rooted in the depression and disassociation felt by all its characters and it is through the inevitable suicide of one, that everyone around that character is transformed and infused with life.

William Dickerson's story begins in a documentary style.  A staccato sharing of this time, the 1990s and this music, grunge. Throughout the book we are reminded of what was: the 1980s, what is: 1994 and what will be: 2012 and beyond.  This  time shifting throughout the book by our omniscient  narrator was a writing technique that I felt worked and I greatly enjoyed. 

The protagonist of No Alternative is Thomas Harrison and intelligent and average suburban 17 year-old who idolized Kurt Cobain. The book begins several months after Kurt Cobain's suicide, after a time of mourning, Thomas is ready to submerge himself in music and decides to start a band. The story moves forward from there and we are introduced to Thomas's younger sister Bridget, his parents and his band mates.  Each character is isolated from others, living behind the mask of what they think the world would prefer them to be.  It is a pleasure to read how those barriers breakdown and see these people washed clean of their perceptions.

 Below you can find an excerpt from the book. I am thrilled that the excerpt provided to me focuses on Thomas's sister Bridget. Bridget is compelling, Bridge is a force and as I read on through the book, I wanted more Bridget, I wanted to pen Mr. Dickerson quick note asking him to start work on a follow-up novel of Bridget.Take a moment, read the except, and run over to Amazon and get this book. You'll thank me.
 

Bridget is parked in art class, surrounded by her classmates at their individual easels. Ms. Sheehan, her skinny, exceedingly longhaired, Earth-mother of a teacher, makes her rounds from student to student. She stops behind Bridget, eyeballing her canvas. While others concentrate on drawing bowls of luscious fruit, glistening and ripe, Bridget touches up an image of fruit, apples and such, impaled on several razor-sharp meat hooks. Ms. Sheehan surveys the depiction with interest, “Do you think you’ll ever actually follow the assignment, Bridget?” Bridget adds some luster to those metallic hooks, “Not likely.”“I do kind of like it.”“It needs more blood,” Bridget observes.“Of course.”Sheehan shakes her head, but has to smile, as she continues along to another student. Bridget places her pencils down, closing her eyes, and exhales. Bridget exhales for the therapeutic value of the act.Bridget has been prescribed anti-depressant medications, many different medications, a bounty of medications, medications as plentiful as Baskin & Robbins ice cream flavors, medications in all shapes and colors, in colors much more numerous than the colors of the rainbow, medications in quantities nearly equal to the many languages of the human race, a tower of Babel of medications and she has been on this laundry list of medications since she was eight years old. What childhood malady could have justified this salad bar of meds being visited on Bridget? Sure, a casual observer with an eye for analysis might have detected her lack of motivation on the soccer field at an early age, like the way she’d shy away from the ball whenever it was kicked anywhere near her, or noticed her brittle temper, like the time she smashed all the windows on the garage door with a hockey stick. An ever-increasing percentage of the medical community views these childhood failures as justification for testing new wonder drugs on innocent children. Bridget suffers much, there’s no doubt about it and most of all from a debilitating anxiety. The bone-chilling anxiety that accompanies her while being forced to give classroom presentations. The gastrointestinal stomach ailments that she swears are there, but no doctor can officially confirm. The anxiety of her compulsive drawing and erasing, drawing and erasing. Bridget suffers.Just breath. In. And then out. The phenomenon of syncing one’s breathing with another’s is seldom discussed, but is a considerable fear held among the anxiety-ridden. It’s something Bridget obsesses over: the idea of someone other than herself controlling her breathing. It is simultaneously smothering and freeing. During an anxiety attack, breathing becomes front and center, you can actually convince yourself to stop breathing if you’re anxious enough. Or so you think. But it’s what you think that matters. It matters enough to actually cause you physical pain and discomfort. And that’s a problem. Inevitably, nobody thinks you’re crazier than you think you are.In an attempt to combat her anxiety while giving a presentation on earthquake preparedness – an endeavor not worth the chalk when you live in the northeastern quadrant of the country, but an assignment is an assignment, and who knows what part of the country one will abscond to when free to abscond – Bridget focused on her classmates around her. She attempted to picture them in their underwear, a ridiculous cliché, but one that had worked for her in the past. It didn’t work this time. She couldn’t picture anything. No boxers, no panties, no edible thongs, no pierced labia or Prince Alberts; just her breathing – And the sound of other people breathing. Bridget became deaf to her own rhythm as her classmates began breathing in the same tempo. At least that’s what she thought was happening. In actuality, it was Amanda Welsh, and only Amanda Welsh, overweight by acceptable Westchester standards, with dimples the size of pomegranate seeds and the crease of her belly pinching the plaid of her uniform with every exhale. Her breathing eclipsed that of her peers, thunderous sound waves created at a distinctly lower frequency and emitted from the inner depths of her flesh. She was like a bag of bagpipes squeezing itself.Bridget could hear nothing but her breathing; in fact, she honed in on it, on the wheeze of air passing through a crowded windpipe.Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.Like the equalizing knob on her stereo, Bridget’s brain shut off the treble and turned up the bass, louder, louder, louder; all the way to the max. Every word out of her mouth was garbled, as if she was speaking underwater. The only frequencies allowed into her ear canals were those from the bagpipes. As a result, she adjusted her breathing to mimic those of the bagpipes, because if she didn’t begin and end her breath at the precise moment the bagpipes did, she would cease breathing. And, of course, die. The bagpipes were her assisted breathing machine: at this very moment, standing before her class, every movement, every word, every breath, being judged by her peers, her teacher, the loiterers in the hallway passing by, and her breathing was regulated by a bag of human bagpipes. She was a stock car stuck in its groove, unable to change lanes. Then she stopped. Breathing.Either the overweight girl she was listening to stopped breathing, or Bridget mercifully broke free of her often unforgiving burden. Either way, the end result was the same: Bridget’s knees buckled, her legs collapsing underneath her, and the side of her head smashed into the corner of her teacher’s steel desk. She was knocked instantly into blissful unconsciousness. She likes this moment the best.

Spring Finally #WordlessWednesday

Spring, Finally!  I've missed you so!

Amelia is giving me dirty looks

Amelia is giving me dirty looks. We are at the vet's office and she doesn't like it one bit.

I figure this is for two reasons. One there was a stool sample taken by the vet tech, I can only assume that is highly unpleasant for beast or man.

Secondly, she is rightly upset that I have not gotten her groomed and she looks like a ragamuffin .

Tales from the Backseat

First day of Spring Break arrived with the weather I've been waiting on all winter. Sunny, seventies, and silly. Well the kids were silly anyway.

The minds of middle schoolers.

In the car on the way to golf lessons. Bryce (5th grader) says to Will (3rd Grader):

"Hey Will, wanna hear a story about the birds and the bees?"

Bryce doesn't wait for Will to respond. "The birds ate the bees, end of story."  Cue peels of laughter from Bryce.

*****

Patrick, 7th Grade says to me: "Hey Ma, I forgot to tell you we dissected a frog last week at school."

Me, trying to make sure and sound blasé, considering Patrick middle name is Squeamish. "Interesting Patrick, how did it go?"

Patrick responding with great enthusiasm, "It was gross and super cool at the same time."

****
"You know people judge other people on what they wear, like people get picked on cause they aren't wearing what's in and who cares what people wear. It's stupid, that's like bullying."  Patrick said.

Bryce then chimes in "As the great author Dr. Suess  said: 'Why fit in, when you can stand out.'

****
Surprisingly, Anna was in the car but didn't contribute to these conversations, she must have been asleep.

To end today's insight into the Middle School Boy, here is Bryce with his Face Mug.  Thanks to an endowment all the Art Students at Hayesville Middle and High School were able to make and take these fun mugs.  The artist behind the mugs is  Rob Withrow if you click the link you'll be taken to his website.  Fun Stuff!  He does Face Mug Parties, so it's like a Tastefully Simple party but you make your own mug!

Mmmm popcorn

Just past April Fools. If I had a dollar for every email I got today with "no fooling" in the title, I'd have ordered a pizza tonight.

But I didn't, so late tonight after 7 hours of customer service calls, I rummaged around and came up with popcorn for my dinner.

Not just any old popcorn, not microwave popcorn. Tastefully Simple popcorn. I made it on the stove using Roasted Garlic Infused Oil. Then I took it one step further and mixed dry Roasted Onion warm dip mix into melted butter and tossed the popcorn .

Served in our serving bowl. Yum. Next time I will try Basalmic and Basil Dipping Oil and Parmesan cheese !

Growing up is more hills and valleys than a climb up Mt. Everest

I always thought the maturing of youngsters into teens would be inevitable march forward and onward from the days where a little one will hold your hand ---and fast forward to the door slamming teen. 

Reality has proven to be different, yesterday the boys were being pre-teens, wanting to stay up late and play video games.  Oh the end is near, pimples are minutes away.

This morning, all three kids packed their backpacks and grabbed wooden swords to go outside and have an adventure in the woods.

Childhood isn't a straight climb after all, thank goodness.

Can you see that Patrick's hand is green? Kid thought he'd wash his hands and it would wash right off. --Not so much.

They are ridiculously excited for some egg hunting tomorrow.  I didn't have much cash for Baskets or Eggs, so I made 'Easter Coupons'.  Today I hyped the exciting and awesome Easter Coupons to the kiddos.

Hey Kids, instead of hunting for eggs filled with boring candy, we are going to have eggs filled with special prize tickets!  You can each get 4 eggs.  And one of them is filled with, wait for it, a "get out of trouble free pass!"

They started jumping up and down with excitement.  Patrick asked: "Are there three of those?" 
No, just one.  Bryce said: "I totally have to get that one, I'm the best egg finder."  Then Anna chimmed in, "No, no you're not."

And so it went.

 Easter Pics from 2009.

It's just as well

It's just as well that the weather is still stuck on January auto repeat , I really don't have any cute springy clothes to wear.

I don't have any extra funds to purchase springy clothes either and furthermore this cold weather has me awfully afraid to make the switch to lightweight clothes.

Hope springs eternal and hopefully you can see the buds ready to burst into life on this tree.

Okay I'm back

Pretty nice that the old internet keeps my blog up even though I haven't written in ages and ages. How have you been?  When we last spoke, I did not have my current second job.  When we last spoke I was running the coffeeshop.

Then I found a work from home position taking customer service calls in the evening.  Coffee in the AM, Phone calls in the PM = very little time for the family, and let time for the blog.

Not that I didn't have gobs of blogging ideas, I just managed to avoid finding the time to write them down. That's my story and excuses.

Fast forward to now, it's nearly spring and I'm ready to rebalance my life a bit.  Tastefully Simple, heretofore, virtually unknown in the Hayesville NC area is starting to pick up as I talk with people and get to know them enough that they'll let me into their homes to do a taste-testing party.

Of course, once they try the products, they fall in love! Plus we have a lovely batch of new products that I have been playing with this month.

At present I have two new favorite things. 
1. The Borgias on Showtime, my new favorite show. It stars Jeremy Irons as the worst Pope ever and it is based very loosely on historic record.

And 2. Dill Pickle Dip

Oh so good.  Even young Patrick a pickle purist can't resist it.

RECIPE: BEST TUNA MELT EVER
Take one packet mix it with 1 cup light mayo and 1 cup sour cream.  Then divide it into 2 seperate bowls. Use one bowl as a veggie dip.
 Take the other cup and add 2 cans of tuna, 1 cup diced celery and 1/2 a cup of sliced scallions.
 Mix and put in to pita halves (should make 4-6 halves)
 Top the dill pickle tuna salad with a slice of cheese and pop in an oven at 350 for about 10 minutes .

Enjoy the best Tuna Melt you have ever had.

Forgot to share contest to win a years supply of groceries! Crock-Pot® Seasoning Mixes

I forgot to share a link in my slow cooker stew post that could be your ticket to a years supply of groceries. How nice would that be, groceries are such a major part of our household bills, ah definitely right after mortgage or rent!
Here is the link to enter.  And excited slow cooker fact: did you know you can make corn on the cob in the Crock-Pot?  Neither did I!  But I now know how and I'm going to share it with you:

Wrap 4 ears of shucked corn individually in fiol. Place in a 4 quart Crock-Pot cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4!

Crock-Pot® Seasoning Mixes: Thx Crock-Pot® 4 my free #CrockPotMixes - Enter for a chance to win a years supply of groceries http://on.fb.me/WKSHgP *Thanks again to Smiley 360 for the free sample of the Crock-Pot seasoning!

Enter the contest! I hope you win!

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go!  Are you traveling to your turkey? Or are the turkeys traveling to you?

 

The time has arrived...

Can you even believe that Thankgiving is next week?  Me either, but it is!  Now I love a good thankgiving feast almost as much as I love Christmas Vacation. 


In fact, right now I have a turkey breast slathered in Roasted Garlic Infused Oil and Rustic Herb Seasoning slow cooking away for my Taste-Test Tuesday at the Cafe.  This turkey is going to be nice and juicy unlike poor Catherine's overdone bird. 

Such fun to cook when you have time during the holiday season. The crock pot really can be the busy cook's bff.  Because I am the proud owner of a real Crock Pot, thanks to my mom who picked up this bad boy at a rummage sale for me, I was invited to participate in a Smiley 360 mission for Crock Pot's new seasoning mixes. 

Saturday I tried out the Beef Stew Slow Cooker Mix. Here is what I did:
1. 2 lbs chuck roast cut into cubes.
2. 5 cups veggies of my choice chopped.  I did a couple of cups of portabella mushrooms, cup of celery, potatoes and onion.
3. 1 1/3 cups water, wisk in the dry mix and pour over the veggies and meat in the crock pot.  Then cook on low for 8 hours.

I did this overnight, so Tom woke up to enjoy some fresh hearty stew. 

Reviews:
Me=Super easy.
Tom- he would have liked more flavor
Kids-they loved the meat and the potatoes.
Yes I know adding the mushrooms was going out on a bit of a limb...but they were on clearance and I like mushrooms in a beef stew!

Overall, definitely worth doing again!
Disclosure: I rec'd a free packet of the stew mix to try out and agreed to blog about how we used it. All my opinions are my own!

Good luck Anna!

Anna is running for 3rd Grade Class President and the election is tomorrow. She says it's so scary because you may get picked or someone else may get picked. So wish her luck!

Recently Anna wrote a story about a dragon:

"This is a fire dragon. It would be my guardian. I would love it with all my heart. It would drive me to school every day. It would make my lunch everyday. If anyone would try to hurt me, she would hurt them. She would lay eggs and I would help her take care of them.

It would be the best dragon in the world. Her name is Anabell. She is very big. She is very smart. She has a Job as a nurse for dragons while I'm at school.
Then when my Mom or Dad comes home she would hide and I would be sleeping.

#Wordless Wednesday Punkin chunkin

This weekend Anna wanted to pose with the Punkin Chunkin Machines. Here are the pics!

Who says there are many many great opportunities out there?

(sarcasm alert ahead)

I don't know why people say they can't find a job, why I get emails ALL the time with great offers!  They find my info online at monster.com and they contact me with such great jobs!  It's so great that these wonderful legitimate opportunities are out there for people. So many people have been looking for months and months to find a job, it's great that wonderful employers are offering quality work.

Look at this great offer a minimum of $700 per week!  And I get excited when I get a bonus check from Tastefully Simple for $630 for a whole month! Clearly I need to get on board and snag this position.

Dear Customer,

Join us and be part of a growing family of nearly 100,000 people with their eyes on the future and we are glad to announce our decision to fill the position of a Microsoft Agent. Please note that the job is not office-based, which means applicants can work at home. The job is both part- and full-time. In order to be eligible for the said vacancy, have a continuous and unlimited access to the Internet. EARN the minimum of $700 per week.

Apply Now

Thank you for being a valued Microsoft Agent.

Sincerely,

Trail Mix settles on a Halloween Costume

Anna wants to be Medusa for Halloween! I love it! Tthis costume choice was all her idea and so much better than a lame old super inappropriate type costume such as Target or Walmart has lining their shelves. Holy run on sentence Batman! You know what I mean, though I am sure.

Yesterday we found her dress, at a yard sale. I did not notice it at the time, but on further inspection the dress has built in leggings. Total bonus!

Around here due to the rural nature and mountain roads, Halloween trick or treating is done on the town square and businesses set up booths and hand out candy to the kids. I could set up a booth... But I'm not going to, I want to enjoy this holiday with my almost not kids anymore kids.

Smiley 360 Missions to share with you! Woolite® COMPLETE Friends Mission

I'm a member of Smiley360 which gives social media people such as myself the opportunity to try new products, share our opinions and often share discounts or giveaways! To that end, I offer today a little survey from Woolite Complete and the chance to win $200!

Woolite® COMPLETE Friends Mission: Take a brief survey from Smiley360 and enter 4 a chance to win a $200 gift card! Take the survey at http://smiley360.com/943687.cfm *Please remember the FTC requires you to mention that you received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360 when sharing.

And for fun here is a silly picture of Mr. P and Trail Mix outside Golftopia.

Roctober is here! Let the Holidays Begin!

Oh it's all a big fun downward slide into the holidays now!  I'm thrilled, this is the most wonderful time of the year for all of us Tastefully Simple consultants throughout the land!  I'm busy, busy busy! I'll be at the Blairsville Sorghum Fest and the Hayesville Pumkin Chunkin this month.

 Additionally I'll be doing some home taste-testings and my monthly Taste Test Tuesday on 10/30 at the Cafe Touche in Hayesville.  Busy times mean more meal planning. 

When you are the busiest is when meal planning can save you the most time and money! I've got some great recipes I found in Food Network Magazine, TSrecipes.com  and in the coupon section of the paper. I'll be heading out to the store tonight with my pocket full of coupons!  One recipe I'll be trying is here:

Easy Lasagna Rolls:

2 tbsps Mama Mia Marinara
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes.

Mix the above and simmer for 15 minutes while doing the below listed steps.

Then:
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
15 oz Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup chopped spinach
Salt and pepper to taste or better yet: Seasoned Salt
Pinch of basil, parsley and nutmeg
12 lasagna noodles cooked
Basil (for garnish)
Grated Cheese

Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl, combine cheeses and spinach; season with Seasoned Salt. Add basil, parsley and nutmeg, blend well.

Lay lasagna noodle flat on a cutting board. Place 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture on the end closest to you. Carefully roll half way, flatten a little with a gentle pat and then continue to roll to the end. Repeat this with the remainder of the cheese mixture and pasta.

Place 3 rolls on a dish, microwave on high for 1- 1/2 minutes. Repeat with the remainder of the rolls. Pour sauce over each roll and garnish with parsley and cheese. Serve with a green salad.

THE SITS GIRL CHALLENGE DAY 2, Pictures!

Today's Fall into Blogging Challenge is to share fall pictures from your neck of the woods. So I am going to share pics from Hayesville, NC and our old hood, Chi-Town.

The kids October 2009

 

October 2011 view of our old backyard

Football=Fall 2012

Picture from this morning taken from the parking lot of a church. This church is right on the lake, gotta love that!

 

And this is a picture from the Chamber of Commerce Website. Lake Chatuge in all it's fall glory.

Falling Back into Blogging, School Memories

Today is the first day in the weeklong blogging event run by The SITS girls. I'm happy to participate in this fun challenge. Today we have a writing prompt centered around school memories. 

This is a bit problematic for me, as it turns out I am not one of those people who remembers much about their school days. I am one of those people that looks at a picture posted on facebook and thinks:

"Wow, obviously that is me in that picture, and yet I have no recollection of this occassion at all."

Here is a prime example, I was either a freshman or a sophomore.  I am in the picture, I recognize who I am with, and I don't remember this day at all.

 So which camp are you in when it comes to the good old days?  Do you remember your HS locker number? When you lost your tooth in 3rd grade at school?  What school lunches were like in JR High?

Or is it all a blur with a few notable moments?

Is it Smokey Mountains or Smoky Mountains?

I know all I would need to do is google and I could know the possibly definitive answer to that very question. I'm not going to google.

 I wanted to actually write that last sentence as: I'm not going to though. However, we all know that is a dangling dangle of a sentence ending, so I restrained myself.

It was chilly last night, maybe as low as the high 40s and I swear the leaves changed a bit overnight.  So it appears that right on time, Fall has arrived. Excellent!, I say.  I also say, no hurry to turn on the heat, let's enjoy some sweater weather and throw another blanket on the bed if you are cold.  Better yet, take one of my dogs, they warm up a bed.

Thinking of blankets and cool temps reminds me of socks.  This in turn, makes me think of my boys and their always dingy white socks.  That last thought leads me to a coupon I have coming to me via Vocalpoint.   You could get a coupon for the new Vivid White from Tide too, if you were my facebook friend.  Click here if you'd like to do that, and if you already are, just check my page for the coupon link.  OH I have high hopes that this will help my laundry! I'll keep you posted on the results!

#Wordless Wednesday

Here in my too lazy to get out of the car pic showing why they are called the Smokey Mountains.

A letter from Bryce to his family

Date: November 1492

Dear Family:
Life aboard a ship is hard. The food is awful. It's hardtack and we have no fresh food. Good thing I brought my own food. I think I have scurvy from the lack of fresh food.
So I brought spices. If the captain finds the food he will use cat o nine tail which is a whip with glass on the end. My duty is to fire the cannon. My quarters (room) isn't very nice.
Love
Bryce H

Good Smells, Good Smells.

As you know, I'm a bzzagent.  That means that I take lots of surveys and share my opinions on a variety of different products and sometimes I qualify for freebies!  Recently I qualified for a campaign for Glade  Expressions.  This was very exciting, because with 3 kids 2 dogs and an old cat. Wait, let's not forget The Man, he can be smelly too!  Well with all of them, I need multiple smell enhancers.  For example, right now we have a Scenty Wax Scenter going right now up in the family room, I'm burning a candle downstairs and each bathroom has a spray at the ready.

Clearly, I know the need for air purification options.  I also have learned the hard way, that generic gets you a whole lot of nothing.  So I go for name brand products for the day to day and pretty party-plan products for my special occasions. Good thing, Glade gets me.  Glade offers a nice variety of seasonally scented products, and they aren't skimpy with the coupons! 

In conjunction with the current Glade Bzz I got a pack of high value coupons to share as well as a couple of free coupons for me to try the new Glade Expressions.  I went to my local Ingles Market and I got the refillable  Glade Expressions Mist. This is the pretty refillable fancy spray.

I have to say in all honesty, I was super, super surprised on how long the scent lingered with just a small spray.  It's a great value.  I purchased the Cotton and Italian Mandarin scent.  It was lovely, I forgot we had smell kids and pets for a few hours.  You can't put a price tag on that kind of bliss!

Why do I TGIF?

Tis Friday.  Wahoo! Do you have exciting plans?

Today I was thinking it really makes no sense that I'm excited it's Friday.

Why is that Victoria?

Well on one hand I am excited, I perceive myself as having relaxing free time on Saturdays and Sundays.


 On the other hand, the reality is I work on the weekends.  Now when I say work, I don't mean cleaning the house, though I *really* need to do that too. 

What I am talking about is a typical weekend for me:

FRI:
1. After work go to bank, pick up kids and deliver Tastefully Simple order.
2. Watch Nephew (unless his Nina and PawPaw are doing it).  Watching the B man is fun, if only we could bottle up that boys energy!
3. Take calls in my basement home office for a special call center project.
SAT:
More call center calls in the basement
Sat night take Anna and her cousin to a piano concert.  Technically maybe you say, that doesn't sound like work, that sounds like some quality cultural time.  Right I get that, the only reason it's not relaxing for me is I have to leave the house and can't wear PJs.
SUN:
Morning call center calls in the basement.
In the afternoon I am going over to a large retail store to do a merchandising audit. Then I'll need to file the report.

Well now I'm feeling a bit tired. Busy weekend ahead for me. I'm going to hold on to one thought, a little ray of sunshine in a busy/busy/busy life. 

I get to sleep in tomorrow.
Yes!

3rd Grade Spelling Word Sentences and an Ice Cream Bar Sweepstakes.

Anna H.

1. I can't believe next year I will be in fourth grade.
2. I left Illinois to come here.
3. I said can you please help me get up when I fell.
4. I have many shoes.
5. I am very good at back bends.
6. I've been and seen a shelter.
7. Being three is easy.
8. I leave school at 3:00pm.
9. Ms. Bettis is my teacher and she is between nice and country.
10. I have went to the sea.

Magnum Ice Cream - Belgian Chocolate Covered Ice Cream Bars

#WordlessWednesday!

Cooking. Beef/Chicken Toasted Sesame Stirfry  w/pea pods, a sliced orange pepper, onion and mushrooms.  Easy Peasy Courtesy of the Tastefully Simple Fix It Fast Collection! 

I had a fairly productive day.  I did work out, I didn't eat junk food and I got out my latest client newsletter!  Do you get my newsletter?  Click here to be added to my list!

Dance Moms Hayesville

Have you seen Dance Moms? It's a ' reality show' about seriously crazy moms and their kids who love to dance. Most of the show features the dance instructor and the moms yelling at each other.

Anna loves the show. She loves it so much she wanted to take dance classes. So here I am sitting outside the class, with some other moms as well as , the father of Shelly the dance instructor.

Why am I sitting out here when I could be at the grocery store or better yet at working out at the Rec Center?

Well as you may recall Anna has been having major school anxiety. I made a deal with her that I would stay here, just like the Dance Moms if she went to school all week. I figured this was a much better deal than money or treat bribery.

As for the moms here? So far everyone is getting along--haha. Kidding aside, well, they are talking about pet squirrels. Apparently, The pet squirrels are a species from Australia and make great pets.

See, it's true, you do learn something new everyday!.

#Wordless Wednesday

This is Mothra the giant moth that was stuck in a spiders web by our back door. I took the pic and then we took a broom handle and freed the moth from the spider's web. You can see a bit of the web on the bottom south quadrant of the pic.

Tastefully Tuesday? Tuesday Tidbits

As you know, I'm not good with creating catchy post titles.  I wanted to blog today, and I'm feeling kinda random, so that doesn't help much with the title creation. It's Tuesday is maybe the post title I should have used.

In any case, I'm a bit worn out mentally lately. This is due to Anna.

(Anna on the hay ride at the Crane Creek Vineyard Tomato Fest--where we didn't see any tomatoes but we, tom and I, drank some good wine.)

 

 

Okay so back to the Anna issue.  The girl has developed a major school anxiety.  She makes herself upset enough to throw up every morning. Today she cried her way into staying home.  I was at a Tri-State Business Women's meeting, so she was with The Man. When I finished my meeting I went home, and after much crying by Anna and much cajoling by me she went to school.  Albeit two and a half hours late, but she did go to school.  I imagine now you have a few questions:

1. Is she being bullied?

2. Is she sick?

3. Is she struggling with the work?

 

No. no bully.  I'm fairly well-versed in bullies due to Patrick and Bryce having dealt with them in previous school years.  She sits with three other kids and likes all of them. Kaitlyn is her 'best friend' and she has a crush on the little boy that sits next to her.  She likes the school lunches and when we were there last night for the Teacher Open House she ran off and played on the playground with some other girls and didn't want to go home.

 

Is she sick?  It's possible. However, she isn't crying and saying her stomach hurts on Saturday or Sunday mornings, only school days. That is why I've concluded that it's anxiety, not a virus. The Man still thinks a virus is a possibility.

 

 

The workload seems fine, she isn't crying about the work.  This morning she said:

 

1. She misses me.

2. She is afraid that I or her dad might die during the day while she is at school.

3. She is afraid that someone will break into our house and steal our dogs.

 

Sounds like some general anxiety, don't you agree? In any case, mornings are tough right now. I'm a bit at a loss on what to do, I thought it would have gotten better by now since it is the third week of school. Additionally, yesterday Patrick was all upset about going to school. On the bright side,  I am used to his dislike of school and his constant efforts to 'get' to stay home 'sick'.  Anna was the one who loved school. Now, not so much.

 

This means that next Tuesday I may have a real struggle on my hands.  Who wants to go back to their job after a 3 day weekend? No one. Most kids feel the same way about school.