Wouldn't want to keep you in suspense...

Care of that fancy schmancy Blackberry I finally bought.... oh, and I need to bleach my teeth - now that I've said it - you can't!

Haircut Update...

The verdict is in.... Ya' ain't missin' a damned thing...

Evidently I am the only one who thought my appearance had made a drastic change for the better. M&A (who comment daily on how my butt is getting more "jiggly") haven't noticed. And Ironman was home for an hour last night before I mentioned the haircut (of course I had already told him earlier in the day). He looked at me and said, "Yeah, I can tell from the back, it's more choppy" - or something like that.

So anyway, all the voices in my head are in agreement that the haircut is an improvement - and hey - when I get all of them to agree - that's impressive - except for that one that keeps telling me it would look better if I lost twenty pounds - but I just keep stuffing Twinkies in her mouth!

Hope you are laughin' out loud this weekend!

Popular Randomness???

So a friend's twenty something coworker scolded me today for not updating my blog. It seems she enjoys the pure randomness of my thoughts. The layouts bore her - and I always think the the posts without layouts are the snoozers...

Anyway, before I tell you about my "Carol Brady" day, I have to say to that cute little twenty something - Go OUT!!! Have a Snakebite or a Hoegaarden in my honor at the Bulldog. Make "sexy" eyes at some guy and have him buy the second round. Laugh at his stupid jokes. Play pool. Don't do laundry or dishes when you get home. Pick up late night Taco Bell. Fall into bed in your clothes knowing that you'll make it to work in the morning - you've been doing this for years! And while you are doing that, I will have a smile on my face because you are checking my blog in the morning for the latest stream of consciousness writing...

So, back to my life (snoozer)... for the last three mornings, I have made the coffee, taken a shower, put on makeup, fixed my hair and then looked in the mirror only to see Carol Brady staring back at me. How did this cute haircut become Carol Brady all of a sudden?? What's a girl to do? Well, make a change, of course!

I walked into Salon Bella Vita where Rebecca is amazing. I was waiting for her when she got to work - just sitting there with the sad pathetic Carol Brady hair - of course she had that deer in headlights look thinking - did I double book? Once I explained the Carol Bradiness she knew an intervention was in order. She told me to come back at noon and we would get "snazzy".

So by 2 o'clock I had a new do - NOT Carol Bradyish. Feelin' better - I wouldn't go so far as "snazzy", but BIG improvement over this morning. If M&A can manage a picture I'll post one - seriously I don't know when Ironman is coming home. It's been just us girls for a few days.

Ok - no sign of the Ironman, so you'll have to wait for the new haircut - oh, I know - you can hardly stand it... Just go to sleep early, that's what I do when something exciting is happening the next day...

Layouts from Lake Charles...

10 women in a house filled with scrapbook supplies for a four day weekend - bliss... Here are the layouts I've done so far... Some pics aren't great, but I wanted to get them posted before I got home and faced reality....

A little social commentary...

Very much a diversion from my norm... Not even sure this is social commentary - what is it exactly? I don't even read the editorial section of the newspaper, and if it isn't reported on the Disney Channel, then it just didn't happen... So here goes...

Remember how the Ironman was called for federal jury duty? He was probably sworn to secrecy, but he told me a few things that I found interesting. First is purely an observation - no political/social comment at all...

3 "Brown" Women (as Avery calls the "Brown" Nick in her class when she is trying to differentiate from the Nick with "white hair") were asked to state name, address, blah, blah and race. An elderly woman responded "Negro", a 40ish woman said "Black" and a 30ish woman said "African American". Going no where with that, but I thought it was interesting.

Now here is where I ramble a little about our legal system. From what little I remember from Civics in high school, in a court of law, we are supposed to be judged by a jury of our peers.

So instead of incriminating the Ironman, I will put myself in the position as the defendant in the case. Let's pretend (as awful as it would be), I was sued for malpractice. Let's say I took a very aggressive position on a client's tax return - of which the client was aware. But when the IRS disagreed, I got slapped with a lawsuit from my client (this has never happened to me personally, so I better not be jinxing it).

If my case had been in the court room the day Shane was there, every single possible juror with ANY knowledge whatsoever about taxes would have been dismissed. Leaving only jurors who probably had never filed his own taxes, nor even looked at the return once prepared.

Now explain to me - how is this a jury of my peers? How can someone without any tax knowledge understand the intricacies of the tax code enough to render a guilty or innocent decision. The same would be true for me in a medical malpractice suit. How could I with any confidence whatsoever understand a medical malpractice suit? The most I know about medicine is that I better take mine! Certainly I would be a terrible choice for a juror in such a case.

I'm sure tons of lawyers can explain this to me, and probably will, but it struck me as odd. I've never once considered it before - normally my thoughts don't run that deep, but just this once they did, so of course, I shared...

Lastly, on a side note, Ashley's husband had a car wreck yesterday. This morning on the way to school, Avery and Morgan noticed some tape on the back of his car. Collin has a snazzy rental now and when we passed their house tonight, Avery asked, "Did Uncle Collin get a different car because he didn't want people to ask him why he had tape on his car?" They make me laugh out loud everyday!

What a beautiful Monday morning...

The birds were chirping, I was feeding the squirrels out of the palm of my hand, Bambi had come up to the porch for a sip of water.....

Right....So it really goes like this....

The Ironman has federal jury duty this week. I am envisioning a month long sequester while I rapidly decline into a complete mental breakdown (stop your laughing - I'm not there yet!). So I prep him on all of the correct answers: My father is a police officer, the attorney is my wife's client, I believe everyone is guilty until proven innocent, I believe in corporal punishment.... Ironman doesn't even hear me - he has his own agenda...

Knowing that it's Computer Bus day for Avery - the MOST important day of the week (besides water day, toy day and Tumble Time day), we have to get to school for 8:30. Although I don't function well at that time of morning, by 8:20, we were packed in the car ready for school. The car, on the other hand, had other plans. The battery was dead. I mean dead...

Since we live in the compound, it's generally easy to find a car to borrow. I call GiGi who arrives within minutes with her car. I bring the girls to school and then come home and call Toyota Roadside Assistance. Feeling pretty good about myself now because I am handling the situation solo. An hour and a half later, my car is purring and I am heading to Walmart for a little battery check.

While they are checking the battery I cruise the school supply aisle - because seriously, school supplies are the coolest. And scoring them at the cheapest price is even better - I am school supply Sunday ad reading machine this time of year - I digress....

So they page me, inform me that I need a battery, they don't have the battery, and they parked my car against the fence. Fine by me. I ask them to write down the type of battery I need (patting myself on back here) and then I ask, "Will my car start again?" I receive a very confident, "Yes, ma'am". Feeling as if I have gathered all of the pertinent info I continue shopping (I LOVE school supplies), check out and head to my car. You know what happens next.... Dead... Dead car... The same man who confidently told me it would start spent 20 minutes and 4 different chargy things trying to get it started. I am sweating - profusely - even Secret Clinical is no match for the heat.

The car finally starts and the Ironman calls. He got released from jury duty. Apparently he WAS listening to my suggestions. He informs me that my battery is only a year old and he bought it from Auto Zone and its probably still under warranty. Everyone try to remember that this "adventure" began at 8:20am and it was now 12:40. Auto Zone sounded like a perfect plan to me, but I had one little question - where was the Auto Zone battery receipt? I had diligently looked through every receipt in the glove compartment for such a document - but none was to be found. It seems THAT one didn't make it into the maintenance envelope....

So now, it's 2:30, I'm sitting at my desk with the not so fresh feeling, hoping the new Auto Zone battery works when I leave and waiting for Calgon to come take me away....

Complete Randomness....

Which is so totally natural in my life....

I have "House ADD" - that is a medical term that I have created, or maybe it was created for me. But it is proven. Shane and I will celebrate our 12th anniversary in november (I hear the collective, ahhh). We have lived in 5 houses. There was North Turnbull, Rose Garden, Camp Street, Wade and then the big move to Dutchtown. Here is the problem....

Before this last move, we bought and sold a house nearly every two years (which was NEVER Shane's idea - but he is a VERY tolerant man). Do the math, married 12 years, 5 houses - I am ready for a move....

Well, we bought a lot last year in preparation, but we have decided to stay in our house. I like our house and truthfully I don't know if my perfectionism issues could handle creating a house from the ground up. So.......

We must purge. I can't handle STUFF! Here is where you can help. Who knows of an organization that helps women gets clothed for professional job settings? There was "Dress for Success" in NOLA, but I can't find one here. Morgan's school is getting the art supplies. Goodwill is getting boxes weekly and friends are getting the girls clothes.

Shane has already announced that he does not need a purge. He already lives "lean" - OK Ironman - I'll leave you alone - for now....

So in "the purge" we were cleaning out a closet last night and Morgan started looking at Shane's high school year book. Naturally being from NOLA, he went to an all boy Catholic school. Morgan was amazed that there weren't any girls. Apparently she mulled over that all night (Lord help her, she'll be on my drugs too soon), because on the way to camp this morning, she announced, "I want to go to a high school with only girls, and if I go to a high school with boys, I'm not going to play with them". Well, hallelujah! About the not playing with boys part - I can delay the "birds and bees" talk.

Now, about the all girls school part... How much is "The Academy"? Quite a bit more than Dutchtown High, so I bet start a high school fund, along with the college fund, the wedding fund, the retirement fund, the Christmas fund, the new car fund.....

Better go take my morning scripts....

Paper, stickers, stamps - how they make me so happy!

I have been impatiently awaiting the first ever Girl's Loft kit - and It's HERE!!!!

All the papers are doubled sided. The embellishments are awesome and perfect for layering! Can't wait to play with these new goodies!

I also got to play with the Glitz Girls this morning for a layout class - it's so nice to TAKE a class every now and then - but I was THAT student - I forgot my paper trimmer! Luckily, Tammy had one to lend. The Glitz Girls taught one page layouts, and with the extra embellies, I was able to create 2nd pages for two of the layouts. I ran out of time for the third one, but I'll get to it.

The Glitz Girls may possibly have ME beat on layering embellishments - so of course, I was in love! In the first l/o, we used the Swiss Dot cardstock from Bazzill - I hadn't seen it - it was a cool way to give your backdrop some interest. And did they create this entire line for Avery pictures???

Knowing me, I'll have to mat the scalloped white paper on something before putting it in an album, but I just loved the stamping and the rubons on this next layout.



I'll be using this for our recent weekend in NOLA - I only took 400 pictures!

To totally switch gears, I'll be doing a Make'n Take on Saturday at Scrapbook and Co. from 10-12 using the new Zing embossing powders. Everything we use (acrylic stamps, acrylic blocks, ink, embossing gun, funnell, powders, etc) will be 10% off. If you have seen the product, and have been curious, stop by and let me show you how it works - you'll be hooked!

Also, on Saturday, I'm rolling out the July $11 kits. I have three created so far with "Social Butterfly" and "Away We Go" on their way. Here are the three that are packaged and ready:

Off to get a haircut! I don't think the shaggy dog look has come back in style!

Dinner's finished...

Add three hot dogs to a large can of baked beans - heat and serve - delicious - DONE!

Now for the important things - blogging, scrapbooking, laundry...

I blogged about our NOLA weekend, but now I actually have some pictures to post...

Since Morgan aspires either to be a cashier or a waitress, she gained valuable experience at the "cafe" in the train museum - we are so proud...

Here's Avery eyeing up her very first Short Stop Shrimp poboy, starting with the pickles first, of course

Morgan found a perfect spot for the Roman CandyMan taffy - through the space left from that lost tooth

The next day, we were off to the Insectarium - don't even ask me when Avery started crossing her legs...

Now really - what is too young for your first Superior Margarita??? Just kidding, it was Coke, I think...

Morgan LOVED bowling. Avery was thankful for Daddy's help.

But even better than bowling, Morgan was the hula hoop champ!

So this was our weekend in a nutshell. We had a great time playing tourists in NOLA. And since the girls are TERRIBLY bored, we are now going to feed the ducks on GiGi's golf cart - it's been at least 4 minutes since the girls had my undivided attention. When is Shane coming home???

Quick update from NOLA

We took that "Vacation in your Backyard" one step further and went to our OLD backyard....

We settled into my uncle's empty townhouse (which I must mention is amazing, and the girls are fascinated by the three floors - single ladies????)

Yesterday we went to Rivertown and the girls LOVED the Train Museum and the Mardi Gras museum. The surprise hit was that they could actually climb onto a float. A little history here... The other day Morgan was looking at a scrapbook from 2006, and saw a layout from the Train Museum and has been talking about it since. Kind of neat that our scrapbooks created a new adventure! (OK- it was only neat for me!)

After Rivertown, we had Short Stop Po-Boys - the BEST po-boys and coincidentally where Mommy and Daddy's romance started in 1990. The girls even had a taste of taffy from the Roman Candy Man.

Next stop was to buy the big loaf of Bunny bread (only the best for the ducks at Lafreniere). The ducks got fed as well as the giant turtles and just as we were running out of bread a LARGE herd of ducks came running after us! We led them to another family fully stocked with bread ans the escaped in the knick of time! We left the park before the fireworks - two reasons - bugs and fireworks = loud scary noises!

After a dose of Benadryl (oops, I mean "warm milk") and a quiet art project, the girls were off to sleep. Great first day!

Today we are heading to the Insectarium, riding a streetcar, bowling at Rock'n'Bowl and who knows what else???

Sorry no pics, I didn't bring my picture download doohicky! More laughs to come!