Adventures with Zoe and Memories of my Sweet Grandmother...

Two ToTAlly unrelated subjects...

First, my sweet grandmother Ethel (GiGi's mom)... Grandma Ethel had 7 children, which equates to a zillion grandchildren - but she NEVER missed a dance recital, baseball game, wrestling match or school play... And for the girls, she always brought a bouquet of flowers. As she got older, and limited her driving, instead of florist bouquets, the girls got freshly cut bouquets from her garden. They always smelled sweeter than the store bought kind. I'll never forget how special I felt knowing that Grandma Ethel would be waiting at the end of the performance with a big hug and a bouquet of flowers.

Yesterday we went to GiGi's house because naturally Morgan had to tell GiGi about EVERY minute of First Grade! I was instantly back in high school at the end of a chorus performance when I saw Morgan, Avery and GiGi go to the backyard to cut flower for their teachers. M&A were so excited about bringing flowers to school today. I'm so happy they will have wonderful memories about flower bouquets from their GiGi's garden.

trust me - I tried to snag that headband out of Avery's hair...

And now, sweet Zoe...everyone that knows Avery knows that she eats, sleeps and lives dogs. She wants dog purses, dogs on her clothes, dogs monogrammed on her backpack... So my friend Paula is looking for a home for her dog Zoe - perfect! I tell the girls that we need to "puppysit" for Miss Paula's dog Zoe. Let's just try out this dog thing before we commit...

So I pick up Zoe from Paula's house and she IS sweet and precious. I picked the girls up from school with Zoe in the car (don't start calling the Humane Society - I left the A/C on full blast). OMG - they were beyond excited when they got to the car. That excitement lasted for a full 15 minutes after we got home. The next 15 minutes, they fought over who could touch her, and after that, they pretty much forgot she was there.... So poor Zoe was left to hang out with me - and I don't think laundry and dishes are her idea of fun...

Have no worries about precious little Zoe. There are eight other families wanting to adopt Zoe. I'm sure she will make another family very happy - unfortunately she would have caused this mother to take more medication.... Happy trails Zoe!

First grade - here we come...

And by WE - I mean Morgan...

Morgan's teacher's name is Ms. Flood - how appropriate for some Katrina transplants!

And here is the "very cool 1st grader SLING backpack"

then there's Avery - you can just never get enough of that booty shake...

I'm thinking the college savings fund can be directed to Morgan - Avery looks like she's headed for Plank road...

So let me tell you what happened this morning... I was sleeping in Morgan's bed and I must have had a dream that Shane came into the room to wake us up. So I wake Morgan up with a big song and dance about her first day as a first grader and she's excited and we walk downstairs and I glance at the clock - twice. Did it really say 5:45??? So I go into our bedroom - Shane and Avery are dead to the world and I gently ask Shane, "Did you just come wake me up". You can imagine the look on his face and thoughts of having me committed running through his head...

So I think that proves that although at night there are times when my eyes are closed, my mind never sleeps...

I am officially the old lady in the parking lot...

who loses her car - oh yeah - that was me - yesterday in the Walmart parking lot. Me and the girls were laughing so hard at ME losing the car that of course other people joined in. I was trying the unlock button (at M & A's suggestion), but hearing nothing. Then a kind women - who was laughing hysterically WITH me suggests that I hit the panic button - perfect - but alas - apparently I'm too far away, because no alarm. So now, the laughing people leave and we continue to wander around aimlessly for a little while longer until I find the car 3 aisles over - so now I am tying a rainbow colored ribbon to my antenna (wait - do I have an antenna) - do they make "the clapper" for your car???

I should have known going into Walmart that it just wasn't going to be pretty when I told the girls, "Please behave, Mommy is getting tired" and Morgan said, "and annoyed?" She's pretty damned smart...

Do you remember how I said before that I LOVE school supply shopping? Well, I've decided I loved it only before my children actually NEEDED school supplies. I mean where did all the construction paper go? Seriously, Walmart, Target, Walgreens and Big Lots - NONE. I saw some awhile ago at the Dollar Store, but I didn't buy it because the supply list says "Not Bound and separated by color". So I was afraid of tearing the paper if I ripped it out of the pad and then having a Mortified Morgan at school.

So what do I do? Call my mom who is in New Orleans - as if no one in New Orleans is looking for construction paper - but I was desperate. Luckily she had just been to Office Depot day and they had construction paper - Bingo! So off to Office Depot we go. I'm talking to Morgan in the store about how we need to find construction paper and a harried mom (like myself) points to the back and says, but it's a 300 pack and it's like $9. I look at her, smile, and tell her I would pay $100 right now for frazzlin construction paper! She gives me that smile, knowing exactly how I feel.

So we bought the 300 pack for the art teacher and we found an Unbound normal size pack that Morgan is now separating into colors on the den floor.

Here's another thing - every crayon has to have her name on it? Seriously? Who made that rule? Someone who needs medication! But Lucy printed out pages of labels with Morgan's name and we just finished labeling the crayons, markers and glue sticks (giant ones NOT regular size).

Why doesn't my school's Parent's Organization offer a school supply kit? I would pay double, triple even - and I'm cheap. But I am over the hunt for construction paper, the Avery #11096 plastic insertable two pocket dividers AND a washcloth.

Do you know what else we purchased this weekend? Two portable DVD players. This seems normal, right? It would be if it weren't a "replacement" for the $2,000 DVD's that are in the headrests of the Ironman's car. So not only do M&A each have a princess/tinkerbell TV/DVD in her room, now they each have a portable DVD player that they are watching IN THEIR room! This is disturbing to me mostly because I don't watch TV. I find it completely unecessary. And the playroom/Man Room now has TWO Tv's - Ugh. When Shane asked me if I wanted a TV in my scrap room I looked at him like he had grown a second head. Hello - married almost 12 years??? Do I watch TV? And the one rule I have stuck to in those 12 years - no TV in our bedroom. The LAST think I want to hear as I go to sleep or wake up is CNN or Survival Man - because if the Shane had his way, there would only be three stations - CNN, Discovery and ESPN. It's bad enough when we are in a hotel that I go to sleep and wake up to the TV - that's enough!

So my new Girl's Loft scrapbook Kit arrived yesterday and now I'm going to tear it open and touch all of the fabulous goodies. I haven't even scrapbooked with any of last months goodies. They make me happy just looking at them.

One last thing - Big sale at Scrapbook and Co Monday and Tuesday - check out the blog:
www.scrapbookandcompany.blogspot.com

Laugh out oud today -- even if it's at yourself wandering around a parking lot!

Busy Week...

I'll post pics soon, but I took the girls to the Children's Museum, made 5 kits for Scrapbook and Co, solved tax crises (that really is the plural, I check Websters), continued to organize my scrap room, yelled at the health insurance company, didn't get a pedicure - but desperately need one, took a photography class, finished the fifth book in the Catherine Coulter FBI series and started the sixth one, made about 5 hundred lists and only crossed off about half of the items....

OK - that's enough about my mundane week - heading out to Scrapbook and Co this morning - the New To You Sale is going to be HUGE!!!! I filled four 8 foot tables of stuff last night, and there was still more "treasures" to go out - with more stuff coming in this morning. Plus my new kits are going out this morning. So throw your clothes on and get to the store!

Check www.scrapbookandcompany.blogspot.com to see my new $11 kits.

oh, and laugh out loud this weekend!

A new blog is born...

Scrapbook and Co has a brand new blog!!!!!

www.scrapbookandcompany.blogspot.com

and Denise clearly was not thinking straight when she gave me access to post ANYTHING I want!!!!! So bookmark the site and stay tuned - just how much havoc can I cause???

Oh - almost forgot, as soon as we get the comment section open, leave a comment this week for a chance to win some FABULOUS Thickers - seriously - how did any of us do a layout before Thickers were invented???

All About Me Class Update...

Back to the original purpose of this blog - scrapbook layouts...

If you missed the "Circle of Friends" class, here is my layout. I tried to take some closeup pics, just comment if you having any problems....

e-harmony for couples?

Ok, so almost everyday I get e-mails from E-Harmony or Match.com promising that they have found my perfect mate. I often wonder if the Ironman has put my name on these lists in a passive aggressive attempt of telling me he wants out. But then I remember the Ironman doesn't do passive aggresive, he's too mellow for that. Any problem can be worked out with an insane workout, remember?

So, I guess I just lucked out and have all this ridiculous spam from match making sites. But here's where my wheels started turning...

Since we moved to BR from NOLA, we haven't made "couple" friends. I've made wonderful scrapbooking friends, Shane has made male friends at work, but we have yet to find a group of couples to hang out with. With all of our previous employers, we instantly found a group of friends - couples and singles - but we also worked for places that were filled with young childless newly married or single professionals. Now, I work with Ashley and Lucy - kind of limits my social interaction and the Ironman's office has this strange dynamic where work and play don't mix.

Me and the Ironman were discussing this over a few too many fancy drinks at Bonefish Grill last night. Thats when I came up with the idea with "e-harmony for couples" and I don't mean "swingers", I just mean people who want to hang out with other people. Singles, couples, doesn't matter, but a mix of people with the same interests.

So feel free to run with the idea, you don't even have to give me any of the credit, just find me some "matches"... Maybe a few less Mojitos next time....