Taryn's Entry

Okay, this is Taryn. And I had fun today. First I went to pet supermarket to get my mom some cat food and the cashier hit on me!! Mom says that was why he was super nice (because they are never that nice to her. Yay! I'm special). Then I turned in some applications. So now the fun begins. It was a fairly good weather day outside, not too hot, but not too cold. So I took my camera outside to take pictures. There weren't any ticks around so that was a plus. I have to say my favorite picture is of my shadow with my hands behind my head, well actually I ws holding the camera and making it look like I had my hands behind my head. Cool right? Anyways I used 5 rolls of film taking pictures today. I only have one left now :( but I had fun :)

Is it Even Possible to Overuse the TGIF Title?

It's been a crazy week. I don't know why exactly. But it feels like it has been. I was a substitute teacher both days preschool was open this week, in different classrooms. That takes up alot more energy. Especially yesterday in the class with all boys. This was funny: I was really dragging - that snow day in the middle, as lovely as it was, really put me off my stride - so when I finished one Diet Dr. Pepper, I went straight to my lunchbox and popped open another one. We'd already had a discussion about what I was drinking. Whose moms also drink it, Coke or Diet Coke, or if their mom says soda isn't good for you, etc. You know 4 yr olds, they notice everything you do, but I figured they would think Diet Dr Pepper #2 was still #1, and just go on with the business of playing and not watching my every move. Nope. One little boy says, in that high pitched voice that carries really well, "another one?! you're having TWO?!!" I chuckled and replied that indeed I was. He goes right over to my lunch box, peers inside and shouts incredulously when he spots another can waiting in the wings, "THREE?!?! You have THREE?!" So of course everyone has to come over to see such a wildly outrageous phenomena. I gave them the eyebrow, snatched my lunch and precious Diet Dr Pepper away from prying eyes and fingers and said, "yes, that's what it takes to keep this smile on my face!" I wonder what they'll tell their moms!

They've been studying the Artic, and we read the Emperor's Egg and so for the rest of the day, since the class is all guys, I told them they were like the penguins and had to keep an imaginary egg safe...that meant no running, bumping into each other, etc., and everywhere they went the egg had to go with them. If you knew this class you would understand the extreme unlikelihood of them not bouncing off each other or headlocking one another right in the middle of some normal activity for no reason whatsoever. The near artic temps made our imaginary egg keeping day seem pretty realistic in my opinion! I loved it when they kept telling me, "Ms. Chrissie, my egg's safe!" and when I needed to remind them to take it down a notch I'd just ask if they were about to crack their egg. It worked like a charm. I can just hear the moms next week though going, "What's the deal with the egg?!" At the end of the day we got to watch part of Happy Feet. I had to keep shushing them because I hadn't seen it before and I wanted to hear it! The best part of the day though was when one little boy was leaving with his mom, he ran back and gave me a great big hug and said "I love you Ms. Chrissie".

I'm off to meet a friend for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. She's my grits-mentor, so I'll see if I'm putting in the right ratio of creamer to syrup and watch her every move. What a great way to start a TGIF.

It Was Enough!

Last night I declared it a snow day. Gib and Mariah went to bed knowing that they would not be going to school regardless of what the district decided. It appeared that the district was leaning toward starting school and then closing it mid-day, which I've learned from past experience can be a nightmare here....icy roads, frantic parents, buses drivers afraid to take a hill so they drop your kids off at another school only you don't know where because the phones don't work. That was so much fun that 7 years later I still remember my vow not to send my kids ever again if it was freezing rain and snow in the forecast for mid-day. Despite The Bubble Effect!

At 5:30 a.m. the district called cancelling school! Yay! I don't have to send notes saying my kids missed school because I declared my own snow day! That would have been kinda funny though.

Now we are off to take my mom to the airport. She's going to sunny Florida for a week to say with her brother and his wife in the hoppin' Villages retirement community. Mike works from home today, so we are grabbing lunch on the way home. The roads look fine by the way, so no worries. Just wet. The kids probably could have gone to school. We live for the irony here!

Will It Be Enough?

The forecast calls for freezing rain from 4 am to 7 am...will it be enough to cancel school? that might be a stretch, BUT, if I were a betting gal, and I am, AND it actually hits The Bubble, I predict we have a 2 hr late start.

I'm supposed to sub for one of the Pre-K teachers tomorrow. That will throw the whole day outta whack, so I'm actually torn. Then there's the worry about my girls driving should the district not cancel but there IS a patch of ice on the way to high school.

And on that comforting note, I will go to bed and see what 4 am brings. At least I don't have long to wait.

Indy's Entry: A Poem

Five Ways to Procrastinate
By Indy Coombs

There are so many ways to procrastinate
I can hardly name them all.
So before homework starts,
How ‘bout a phone call?

What began as a “Hey, How are you?”
Has now lasted three hours.
When you say goodbye, your stomach screams
“What is there to devour?!”

So a bite to eat sounds good
Those chips and dip taste great.
And right when they’re almost gone
You realize a text message awaits!

Important conversations begin
And thumbs go clicking away.
But soon your eyelids start to droop
And a nap is needed today.

After hours of dreamless sleep
Homework must begin.
You sit in front of the computer
But Facebook will always win.

No Bacon in Macon

After a delightful 5 hr road trip during which Indy and I discovered we could talk nonstop and didn't even listen to any of the new cd's she bought, we arrived in Macon around midnight. We left home about 2 hrs later than planned, so it was kind of a late night considering we had an important morning ahead. When I went to set my cell phone alarm, I decided to just cut a corner and use one of the 4 a.m. alarms that help me get me and the kids off on our 4 different morning shifts - seminary, middle, elementary and work. I moved 7:25 to 7:00 a.m. and went to sleep at 1 am Georgia time.

I woke up alot during the night, kept checking the clock, and then the next thing I knew, I woke up with that sinking feeling that it was waaaay too late...7:40!!!! We jumped out of bed and groggily tried to hustle getting ready for Indy's scholarship interview and college tour. The original plan was to leave the hotel at 8:15. I could have done it, but Indy had to be interview ready and that wasn't going to happen. So we were trying for 8:35. The registration and breakfast went from 8:00-9:00 a.m, so we figured as long as we got there by 8:50 we'd be ok. No breakfast for us but that's OK, we don't usually eat breakfast, but we were looking forward to the hotel's Continental spread...that's the best part about staying there! I checked my phone to see what happened. Did I sleep through it? No....I FORGOT to switch it from Mon-Fri to Sat & Sun alarm! Argh!!!! How aggravating.

We didn't leave until 8:50 and it was an 11 minute drive which we made in about 10. Indy spotted the hall where the Dean's Welcome was scheduled for 9:00 and we parked on the street right in front of it and ran through the rain inside. I figured I'd deal with the parking ticket later. Luckily, that wasn't a problem.

Now I have to say that even though we left a little late, Indy looked gorgeous and very professional. I would have liked her to looked gorgeous and very professional 10 minutes sooner, but since it was my fault, I could hardly complain. One of the college admissions students told us to sit in the back just as the guy was saying "welcome to mercer" and she went off to get our registration packet and interview time. Whew. What a bummer way to start an important day. But it could have been sooo much worse.

Indy's interview time was both a blessing and a curse. It was in the last time slot at 11:45. Campus tours began on the hour at 11:00 and took an hour, so squeezing a tour in first was out. Lunch began at 11:30 so that was out. Meanwhile, it was pouring rain and cold, so we didn't feel much like walking around on our own. We ended up going to the car for awhile, love those leather heated seats!, and then we walked to where the tours started but there wasn't really anywhere to hang out, so we went to where Indy's interview was to take place, in oh....45 minutes. It was really uncomfortable in the ugly hallway with chairs lined up and nervous students, so we opted to stand outside under the overhang, and check people out as they came and went. We chatted with the friendly ones and had silent conversations about the unfriendly ones. We got some good info about the school from one of the student admissions guys who was passing by and stopped to talk with us for awhile.

Indy's interview went off with flying colors...just like we knew it would. She was not nervous at all. She was actually disappointed to learn from another interviewee that his interview only lasted 25 minutes. She wanted more time. That's where the crappy time slot turned out to be a good one. Because she was the last one, the guy was in no hurry and she got a longer interview and they had more time to talk. He loved her of course and said he hoped to see her in the Fall. Let's hope this equals more scholarship money. I am very curious to see how much more scholarship is added to the pkg offered as a result of the Scholarship Competition weekend.

While Indy was doing her thing, I spoke with about 4 students on the admissions team, the admissions counselor in charge of the event, and 3 professors! I was a busy mom. Indy said she could hear me at times and knew I was working it in the hall. The funny thing is, I think I knew the exact moment Indy could hear me because I thought, I betcha Indy can hear me. And then I heard her laughing a minute or so later, and was I happy it was going so well, and I toned it down a little in the gabfest that was going on in the hallway with me and the student admissions people, and 3 professors. One was the chemistry professor, so I spoke about Taryn thinking of a possible major in chemistry (where the goal is actually not to blow things up!) and another was a professor that would be a mentor to Indy if she goes there as a pre-professional student. Coincidence that our paths crossed? I don't believe so. The interview time was horrible for the rest of the day's events but good for the actual interview.

Between the rough start in the morning, the pouring rain (which thankfully stopped after the interview), that awkward interview time which barely allowed us enough time for lunch and then to race over for the last tour of the day, I totally forgot to take pictures. We were sent on a dorm tour which was wrong, we should have gone on a campus tour first. Anyway, when we went on the dorm tour I remembered I had a camera. Indy finds it embarrassing so I was hiding it and snapping off shots and stashing it as quickly as I could. It's not like I could go, "Indy, stand next to the plam trees and smile!". So you can only see her in this first one. She is to the left, unfortunately, that palm tree is in the way of seeing all of her cute outfit.
I am so mad at myself for not remembering to take one before we left though! The dorms are tolerable verging on being a deal-breaker by the way. The upperclassmen apartments may make surviving the first year worth it.



When we got back, surprise, surprise, we had missed the last campus tour. The student admissions people, sadly recognizing us by now, took pity on us and guess what?! We got a Golf Cart Campus Tour - the only one of the day! We were freezing, but at least we didn't have to walk for an hour! So I got in a few more pictures, but again, with Indy sitting next to me shivering, there aren't any of her. But hey....Here's Mercer!

The statue is of university founder Jesse Mercer
Tradition is to touch his head as you walk by on your way to exams or an event where a little extra luck might come in handy

As soon as our special golf cart tour was over, we stopped inside Admissions. We introduced ourselves to Indy's admissions counselor and then went back to the car. We drove to a closer spot by the UC, and changed for the road trip home. We were wiped out and got to listen to the cd's she bought this time around.

Stupid Bubble

There was no lovely blanket of snow.

There was no ringing phone with a message of "do not go"

Oh, it was cold!

And there were flakes!

But staying up past midnight

Was a BIG mistake!!!

Yeah, it was a long day. You know when I can type that like it was water dripping off my fingers that I have hit the giddy stage. We didn't get out of school today in case you didn't figure that out from my nifty little poem there. One of the teacher's knew I was really hoping we would though, and she greeted me at 9:00 a.m. with a Route 44 Diet Coke, so that kind of made up for it...almost.

And, if you had seen me reading stories with my funny voices and funny faces at 9:30 a.m., you would have realized that my giddy stage wasn't really all that far around the corner. I was so busy at preschool today I never even left my building!

When the Inauguration was taking place, I graciously called out "Democrats Unite!" and let the other teachers go into one of the Pre-K room's that had a live feed going on. Meanwhile, I hung out with their kids and Ms. Jane during their recess time -which today could more accurately be called Aerobic Workout Hour Carrying Live Weights of 35 lbs!

Then at 12:45 p.m. when Pre-K has Ms. Jane for her amazing indoor winter recess playtime, I got to do even more fun things again! I tell you, I will sleep well tonight. But I have to admit, Total Giddiness was reached when I did the belly crawl though a preschooler's legs to unfreeze them during this game of freeze tag. Basically, the rules are: if you're tagged by the person who is it, you have to freeze with your arms and legs spread out, until a friend crawls through your legs. Well, I just thought I'd help out! I'm a friend!!

The other teachers couldn't believe it. The preschooler who saw me drop and dive toward his feet couldn't believe it. His eyes got sooo big, I had a huge smile on my face as I successfully slithered though without knocking him over and unfroze him! Then three more lined up behind him and I had visions of a boot camp drill. Then, for some reason, when Ms. Jane put a twist on the game, she assigned me the duty of instructing the Joker and the Penguin's during the MANY rounds of the Batman Freeze Game (the secret Batman and Robin were the only ones who could rescue & unfreeze friends then). So while I was helping them hide their eyes, I taught them to go "Mwa-ha-ha!" while they froze kids. What a hoot.

Ms. Jane worked us OUT for a good hour! She comes on Tuesdays from 10-2 and does organized recess activities for all the kids. She has amazing ideas and games...so many things you can do with beach balls, cones, pool noodles, etc., that I would have never thought of. She's a gal after my own heart. When the other teachers said we were peas in a pod I thought it was a great compliment.

So, had to go to school, but I ended up having a great day anyway. And now I will sit in front of my heater and not move another muscle. Until I have to get Mariah from Girl Scouts. And maybe go shopping with Indy for her interview outfit this weekend. Yeah except for that...I'm not moving! And I'm definitely not staying up til midnite certain the school district will close again because of snow....that missed us, in our Bubble of No Trouble.

Big Bang Monday

Today's agenda was pretty darn full. A 9:30 a.m. appt for Gib at the eye dr, followed by a chiropractor appt. After getting our necks adjusted, aaahhh we needed that, we heard and responded to the call of grits at Cracker Barrel. We even collected Mike for the Grits Run since he really loves them. Gib didn't get grits, he got bacon, eggs and french toast. He's a growing boy. A Midwestern friend of mine taught me the best way to eat grits - you put in half a thingy of coffee creamer, a pat of butter, and some maple syrup. Wow - who knew?! It only tastes super yummy at Cracker Barrel though, so if you don't have one, you're totally out of luck...sorry! And apparently, when it's 32 degrees outside and trying to snow, everyone goes to Cracker Barrel. I don't know why.

And then Jo Ann came over to watch all the episodes I've been saving for her on the dvr of The Big Bang Theory! I think we watched 5 - it was alot of fun! Thanks for bringing lunch Jo Ann! Mariah and JoAnn's kids played upstairs and we paid virtually no attention to them at all while we watched TV. Gib checked on Aimee Mei for us when things got way too quiet and found her on his drums. She loves them. It was great!

Taryn dropped off her applications. But first she needed a little bang trim. We've been trying to catch Indy for this because she does hers all the time and I really felt this was a task better suited to a sister. But push came to shove and things were approaching Scary Taryn stage, so...I had to take the scissors into my own hands. I give me a 5+....sorry, T, it's a 5 out of 10. They are a little too straight and yet there are a couple spots that make me want to try to fix it, but I know better. My grandma did that to me and it took MONTHS to recover from. Tell Lori, our stylist, I'm sorry.

We are praying for snow or some ice to cancel school tomorrow. Gib and I feel a tad cheated that we had to wake up at 8:15 this morning on our day off. We could use a 5 day weekend. They are predicting snow tonight at 9 pm so, it is always possible in our county. But, see here's the thing you can't forget. We live in The Bubble of No Trouble. Most stuff misses us or our temps just hover above freezing and nothing sticks. But we have faith in our school district's tendency to cancel school if there is the slightest possible chance of a lawsuit or a patch of ice anywhere in the county.

Not Very Busy

And that's the way I like it! Mike and I ran errands this morning. Then this afternoon we went with Taryn to collect a bunch of applications for her to work on completing to turn in on Monday. Taryn's not busy enough either. Since she decided not to try out for the Spring Musical, she has time for a job. She's dropped off a couple applications here and there but we haven't pursued anything with serious intent. Well, now we're gonna get serious. I figure if she starts now, she'll have a good chance of having a job lined up before summer. Hopefully it won't take that long at all, and she might get hired right away which would be great! She's looking for 1) Location - a mile or so from the house 2) Good atmosphere/environment 3) It's Warm inside. Taryn does not want to be in food prep, or a store unless it's a shoe store or Pier One Imports! Come Monday afternoon, Taryn will be dropping off several applications and hopefully lining up some interviews. Wish her luck!

All Nighter

We all went to bed happy because they cancelled school for Friday morning at 9:30pm Thursday night due to extreme cold predicted for the a.m. of zero degrees. We don't get that cold here often, I think it's been 6 years since the last time. And, apparently, our children don't dress correctly for the weather (I know mine don't!) and they wait at bus stops or get dropped off outside schools and wait outside until they open (and hello! they can't possibly open them early that would be too logical!). That combined with the likely chance of a bus breaking down, kids getting frost bite, and all of the surrounding counties shutting down their schools before our county did, so I was pretty sure ours would too. So now we have a 4 day weekend! Yay!!!

So anyways, since I didn't have to get up early, I went to bed a little late. No sooner had my head hit the pillow than Mike's cell phone rang. Work problem. He never got back to bed. Poor Mike had to pull an all nighter.

About two hours after that, I woke up with another (yes another!) migraine. This is the 4th one this month. Ugh. It's not as bad as Wednesday's, but seriously? Two migraines in three days, two weeks in a row?! I've got to see my dr about upping my migraine preventative. My fellow sufferers think my dosage is too low by at least 50 mg compared to theirs - wow that is alot.

So I had an all nighter too. At least I kinda slept thru mine. I've popped about all the Midrin I can for today and called in refills for Zomig. I am just living with the ice pick in my temple, it moved out of my eyeball about an hour ago, so that was nice. I am saving the cocktail for extreme cases so I don't overuse it and end up with a Super Migraine resistant to the wonder of combining drugs for pain relief. Well, I'm off to pick up the rx's and some pizza for dinner. Don't feel like cooking and even less, don't want to smell dinner cooking.

A Gallon an Hour

Wow! I could barely believe how fast these paint guys worked!

They arrived around 8 am and were done around 3 pm

cleaned up and out the door before 4 pm.

Tomorrow we'll put the furniture back and rehang

pictures and stuff, but here's the new look!

You can see all 3 new colors in this shot

heading into the laundry rm - I was going

to tell the guys not to rehang the curtain

but they were too quick for me

This could possibly be my favorite...

good job choosing the color Taryn!

Smart kids would bring their laundry down now while

I am still loving the new room!

Suze Orman was on The Oprah Show, and is promoting her new book "Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan" by offering it as a free PDF on Oprah’s site. Here is the download link. Free download expires on 1/15.

Calvin & Hobbes on "Bailouts"

A very simple explanation:

Bagels & Paint Samples

Bagels, paint decisions, and toss in a little football, a night out, and from reading the previous posts, you'll know that was how our anniversary weekend was spent! But seeing is believing, so here goes!

Everything Onion Bagel with Salt Bagel front and center
where it belongs...just look at all that salt!
From samples to gallons

They say the grass is greener on the other side but what greener side do we prefer? The darker one on the right - Ryegrass.

We have so many areas that the light affects,

there are actually both colors of green on

this corner, and you can't even tell.

On the left we have Ryegrass Green

and on the right is Lea Green
And here's where our real problems began...
can you see the tiny smidge of Copper Penny at the top, under the Autumn Sun we tried after Coppy Penny was a big kathunk?

We couldn't tell if it was the olive green background, the new green for the living room or what, but the orange is not working no matter what we tried. So we stopped trying.

Moving to the kitchen. This was an easier fix.

Here's the Burnt Umber. Or is it called Brown Umber? I am getting confused.

And finally, the laundry room. Here's a shot that shows

the funky flooring challange. You can see the Umber in the background that we

painted on top of.

We will all be glad to say good by to the yellow. It is a true Southern color, but I'm just not a that much of a yellow fan to want so much of it, plus it has been on the walls for about 10 yrs and it was starting to look it. I am excited for the new changes tomorrow!

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 22nd anniversary. We went out to dinner Friday night so we could watch football for our anniversary. That's when you know you've married your true love...you both want to watch the playoff games together on your anniversary! My mom gave us a gift certificate to Bonefish Grill. I had a delicious Mahi-Mahi and Mike had some kind of cajun-rubbed steak. Last time we went there was about 4 years ago, and Mike caught the napkin in the roll basket on fire when the tip of it got a little too close to the candle. Good thing I have those spidey senses and smelled it just as it erupted and was able to douse it with my napkin. Wow, that would have been embarrassing. I remember we were laughing so hard imagining the reaction when they found the burnt napkin!

During dinner, we analyzed things and came to the conclusion that the next fun anniversary trip probably won't happen until #25. Between getting two girls off to college and much needed home improvement projects, like the painting this year, we'll be home bound, but that's OK. It would be nice though if there was a horse track running in January nearby so we could go to the races together for our anniversary each year. We both miss those dates.

You can tell you have been married a long time when you go out afterwards and buy hubbie new work shoes and consider it a romantic evening! What can I say, it's fun just to spend time together. Saturday morning, Mike had flowers for me. Mariah made sure I saw the red roses in the arrangement. She's her father's daughter there...they both think you have to have a red rose to equal love! What sweeties!

After taking Gib to the Scout Barn for a weekend camping trip, Mike suggested we go to my favorite little corner place that I have to stay away from for my own good - Alpine Bagels. They have salt bagels...yum!! Sometimes there is so much salt on one that when I'm done eating it, I actually have little blisters inside my bottom lip. Aaaaaaahhhhh. We even brought home a couple salties and four everything onion kind. That was a treat.

Then we went to pick up the last can of sample paint. My neighbor came over and approved of our choices and I felt better because she is good at that sort of thing and just got done painting her whole house with lots of color. We use color in a big way here in the South. But you gotta be careful...that Copper Coin could turn out to be a "bad penny!". Actually, we loved the rusty idea, but it just wasn't working in our space. Don't know why exactly.

So, a bit later Taryn and I left to go to Home Depot to buy all our paint. Then we hit our friendly mom & pop used bookstore...gotta keep the little guy in business, to buy her the Twilight series. They only had Twilight in new books, nobody is bringing in their read books for resale, but that was OK by Taryn. Mike requested a copy of The Agony and The Ectasy. When I read I prefer to check my brain, or go to an exciting fantasy land. A & E sounds alot like a 12th grade reading assignment to me, but hey, I got my salt bagel, so he is working his way through the first chapter of his book. If I had started a book last night I'd be about done with it now. Taryn is probably done with the 2nd Twilight book by now. That's the way we roll!

On the way home, Taryn's friends were already at our house waiting for her to go skating, so I took off my socks and drove home barefoot so she could just hop out of the car and head out. We thought that was kinda funny. Luckily, I had on nice black dress socks she could wear with her black heels and long jeans.

I got home just in time to watch football with Mike. It was a bummer that the Titans didn't come through with a Victory. We had a great season and I hoped they might make it all the way. The Carolina game was even worse for them. I had lots of fantasy points riding on Arizona so I was happy they did so well though.

And that marks off another anniversary and the start of another year with the one I love.

Color Conundrum

It's been another comedy of errors the past couple of days - choosing paint colors in fast forward is a little stressful. Mike actually wishes I hired a designer to tell us what colors to paint, but I think we're good to go now. C'mon man! I'm working with an inch of color here!!!! My concern about a designer is they will choose something like the Copper Coin because hey, on paper it looks great, and I will doubt myself and feel like I have to do it because they said to or I wasted my money paying for an opinion I didn't use. And yes, my eyes about popped outta my head on the Copper Coin one, but better to know now than after the paint guys leave right?

So, 7 cans of sample paint later, we have our colors chosen. We have Ryegrass green for the living and dining area, Burnt Umber for the kitchen and Kensington Green which is really a blue for the laundry room. There are 7 gallons ready for the paint guys on Monday. We're not painting ourselves because of the high ceilings, too much trim work, and my shoulders still aren't up for it. Just painting the samples made it burn.

I'll go find a camera and document the crazy color patches everywhere as our "Before" shots! Can't wait to show you the "Afters"!

It's A Video World

Kay's right. We need to get in the video habit. I need to get a little camera of my own and have it with me at all times so I can capture these precious, hilarious, and yes, even the mundane moments of our life. They are changing so rapidly these days. It would have been priceless to have had it last night, that's for sure. Mariah could've taped it...Taryn and Gib were up at church, Indy was sick in bed. Actually I think we woke her. She came down right after we put the couch back and I don't think she was fully awake. Yes, I'm gonna say it, even though she'll deny it. Indy was sleepwalking. She wanted to know where the dessert was. Somebody came in her room and woke her up saying there was some dessert downstairs. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but the mouse was released and if the cats don't get dessert, we don't get dessert! That's the rule around here!! We do keep a bag of kitty treats on hand for special occasions when we want to indulge the cats and ourselves...just so you know. Poor Indy. She was not happy when she really started waking up to a)wake up and b)not have any ice cream; oh, and c)to still feel sick.

Now Taryn's coming down with it, and Mariah said her throat feels scratchy. I'm adding Zicam to my list of things to pick up while I'm out and about today. Speaking of which, I'd better get to it. Gotta hit the track at the mall for a gazillion laps for our walk, then lots of things to take care of. The most exciting is picking up some samples of that paint so I can make sure we like it...oh, before MONDAY when the painters come!! Yikes. That crept up on me.

Mouse Capades

What appeared to be a 3" cockroach came from under a door heading straight for my feet while I was sitting here at the computer. So naturally, I shrieked pretty loudly. I hate cockroaches, and I was thinking this was the scariest thing ever and I would never recover from the horror. Thankfully, in mid-shriek, before I could fully inhale for a bigger and better one, I realized it was only a little mouse. Mike jumped up from his computer desk and leaped to my side yelling "Whaaat?!?!?!" I was a little embarrassed to have to admit I screamed over a mouse that was by now under my bookshelf. Mike made me feel worse when he said, "Now that's just embarrassing!" but turns out he was talking to Diego who was sleeping on top of the sofa and let a mouse run in without even knowing it.

Pixie was the only cat outside, neglecting to come in for the dinner bell, which meant that when I opened the office door to see her sitting there with Chino, trying to look a little too innocent, I knew exactly how a mouse got in my house. Remember the kitty door I mentioned in the previous post? Well, there is one drawback to those things. We might have to make an adjustment to the Hotel California "in-only" policy at night if they are going to hunt and bring home the bacon. Usually this only happens in the summer and then I know to do a spot check of their mouths to make sure they haven't caught something they want to play with indoors. A couple months ago, Pix got by me with a baby bird. That was fun to catch inside let me tell you. I did it though. Turns out the mouse was alot harder!!! Even with three cats supposedly helping. I thought I would have a problem with a front and center seat to the killing, but after several close calls, I realized the cats were more interested in a long drawn out affair.

So, there was Mike with the business end of the feather duster trying to poke the little guy out of his hiding places and into, conveniently, Diego's mouth. Dumb Diego was trying to create a shortcut to the mouse by clawing his way through the bookshelf directly to the critter. I was trying to anticipate alternate mouse routes and line up another cat. Chino let the little guy run right through his legs. Pixie just sat back and smiled, enjoying the chaos she had created, the little she-devil. The mouse figured out his minutes were numbered and he started to climb up the back of the computer hutch. Mike left to get a tool to remove it from the wall which I didn't think was a very good idea. There's got to be a better way to get rid of a mouse and still have a house left standing when we do. I had come to the conclusion several minutes earlier that this was going to be like the bird, and we would have to catch it ourselves. So I emptied my trash and while it was quiet the mouse thought he might try under the sofa for awhile.

I thought of a brilliant idea to open the windows so he could scootch out under the 2". Noooo, that's too smart for a mouse to do. Mike returned and we pulled the couch out as fast as we could...the plan being that the mouse would run out the window or get caught by the cats, one seriously interested in catching it, one curiously crouched nearby, and another watching from the sidelines, all with tails swishing madly. Well, hilariously, there were several fake toy mice under the sofa that when we moved it, confused the cats, and the real mouse got away and went back under the sofa instead of out the window. Frustration!!!

So we pulled the sofa again. Gotta hand it to Diego, he wasn't fooled again by the fake mice. He snagged that little guy. I didn't even see it happen. Mike told me Diego had it so I looked away to miss the killing. What killing?! No, he's just gonna make it start squeaking for kicks, toss it around, throw it up in the air, and let it go. Now the mice is fighting for its little life. How sad is that?! I opened the windows wider, figuring who cares, I'll catch the cats later if they get out, surely the mouse can see that there's a way out of the house now, can't it?! So I take my trash can and Mike and I through a comedy of errors much like a tennis match go from one side of the room to the other chasing the little mouse from his computer to my computer desk, all the while running right under the open windows, dodging cats, me with the trash can and Mike with the duster. At one point I had the duster and I have to say it was a good tool to use - I was able to manuever the little guy by bopping it on the head with the feathers and it would turn away from wherever it was heading that I didn't want it to go.

Right before we caught it, the mouse made a dash right towards Mike's (ahem) inner legs - I thought it was going to run right on up...boy, did Mike move fast! That part was funny, but I knew better than to laugh too loudly at that particular moment. It's much more appropriate to do so now! Then we got lucky and Mousie ran into the trash can. I yelled at Mike to put the duster on top of it, visualizing the little guy jumping out of it. The Mouse was released outdoors. I hauled Chino-my-meat-only-comes-in-cans, back in through the open window. As soon as I locked them Diego wanted in. Repeat the same pattern with Pixie - 3 times. Everytime I opened the window she got the Feral Kitty Face again and took off. Like she was hunting in here!! Not!!! Finally, she ran like a nut in through the front door. They all had major friskies. For about 15 seconds.

The (Twitch) Latest (Twitch)

I'm working on a nagging 48 hr migraine. It hasn't laid me out yet, but it switched sides and 20 minutes ago, it took a turn for the worse and my right eye started twitching furiously. I did the famous Clint Cocktail "Snort Version" and then the twitch followed within seconds. I kinda wonder if the twitch happened because of the CC or if it's because the headache is behind that eye? I am so done with it regardless. All signs are pointing to a big one on the way - escalation at this point is not welcomed. Thankfully, I toughed it out today and haven't taken any migraine pills so I have a clean slate with which to medicate. I could really use a good shoulder massage right about now. My muscles are in lock down.

It's Girl Scout cookie order time. Not that any of you can really order, 'cause I'm pretty much not paying postage!...hmmm, unless you live in Florida, because we will be able to hand-deliver there (hint! hint!). Sadly, it hasn't stopped raining for days, and it was too cold and miserable when it wasn't raining, so we haven't hit the neighborhood. I took pity on Mariah and brought the form to work and am hitting up the parents by placing the order form next to the sign in sheets at a different classroom each day. She's picked up 16 boxes in 2 days, so maybe it's not such a bad thing after all.

Mariah wanted me to blog about Pixie. She apparently woke up to catch Pix dancing in bed. She was lying on her back and waving her paws all around up in the air. She says it was amazing and totally cute! Pixie and the other cats have been enjoying freedom, sweet freedom! Mike put in a cat door at the bottom of the stairs by the garage. So now they can go in and out to their little feline hearts' content, until evening, when we set it to "in only" and then it's like the Hotel California, and once you check in, you're in for the night.

Indy is coming down with a cold. She was supposed to serve at the restaurant tonight but luckily they didn't need her. Like who wants a sick server?! Ewww. She is ready to turn in a huge scholarship application. It's almost 20 pages long, oh and the amounts they pay out aren't chump change either. But I was referring to the amount of work and the attention to detail it required. I have really put in some hours as College Planning Admin Asst on this one. It's through the Elks Foundation. It wasn't easy to find online, and students from our state have not been represented in the winner's pool much, and our local lodge not at all, so I'm hoping a combination of demographics and a great student will garner some $$. There are 500 scholarships given out each year, starting at 1,000 and they are renewable for 4 years.

Taryn learned a funny lesson about Electricity today. If you have a lamp on, your bedroom lights on, your space heater on, and you turn on your blow dryer....you will shortly have nothing, and will have to get ready in the dark! At least she found it humorous. You gotta say that about T. She wakes up with a smile on her face. She started reading "Twilight" today at lunch - her friend gave it to her because apparently I have neglected my children by not getting the series for them. She will probably finish it in the next couple hours. Yep, all in one day. We don't see alot of T because she likes to immerse herself in whatever she's doing, and it rarely involves leaving her room!

Gib and Mike had some major renovations to take care of in the Man Cave over winter break. It now looks amazing. Some shelves had to have extra support put in as there was too much weight on them. At least it is really done now - a load of junk is now at the dump and there's no more clutter and debris littering the Man Cave! Next the guys plan to build a camping shelf area for all their Scouting gear. It will be nice to have it all in one place.

Hey - good news! The Clint Cocktail Snort-Version seems to have done the trick!!! yahoo!!!! The twitch is gone now too. Boy do I feel better.

Indy's Entry: The Opryland Hotel

I love to visit the Gaylord Opryland Hotel every winter because of their amazing Christmas lights. It’s said they use over 2 million lights for the whole thing. On some trees they string lights down to the very twig. They also create a Christmas tree off of the flag pole with pretty flower lights at the bottom. It really is beautiful to see at night.

Then on the inside there are garden-like touring areas. They have ponds, waterfalls, little rivers, a fountain show, and sooooo many different plants. It really is interesting to walk through and it is enormous. You could easily spend hours there.

Well, Joey, my friend Kristi, and I went to visit the lights before they were taken down after the holidays. It was really fun sight seeing the beautiful scenery. The night was also made better by the lack of people. I think going from 10-1 at night was a great idea… everyone was sleeping!! We had the whole place to ourselves. Of course we took a million pictures and posed for some of them. We also went to a few different places to eat and get drinks, one of which had a live band that played any requests- my favorite was “Anyway You Want It” by Journey.

Other than that and the exciting escapade of getting lost and spending thirty minutes finding the car later that night… (Whoops! Remember where you park, people.) …Joey’s stay consisted of lots of house parties and super late nights along with late mornings.