Still

This past Friday Hubs and I celebrated 16 years of marriage.

I still love him just as much as the day we said "I do". Happy Anniversary Hubs.

September 11th

I will never forget September 11th.

I remember as a child always hearing my parents and grandparents say they remember exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing when John F Kennedy was shot or when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. And they talked about their feelings when the news came in. 

I will always remember where I was and exactly and what I was doing when the news came in on September 11th. I will remember feeling that came with such tragic news that riveted not only me but our nation to the TV. 

I will always remember that first phone call from my loved ones who lived in New York telling me they were OK. I will remember the photos, the stories and the images that were portrayed over the next months. I will always remember the feeling of patriotism that seems to explode at the seams from everyone. United we stood.

But I will also remember the those who died. Our first responders who put their own lives on the line to help. The others who helped those in need and thought nothing of themselves.

God bless the victims and their families.

2977, a number I will never forget.

 I will always remember.

A Stellar Night

Last night was just one of those nights where everything just fell into place. 

We got home from school. The kids did homework and Hubs helped them. I cooked dinner. Yes I know hell might have frozen over. Anyone who has been around here for a while knows that Hubs does 90% of the cooking. Not because I can't cook but because he likes to cook. Who am I to mess with a good thing? 

I did some laundry and then I took my exam for one of my classes. I don't know why the instructor gave us a review sheet because most of the questions didn't even have anything to do with what was on that page. However, I'm not going to gripe because I made a 90, so I'll leave it at that. 

Oh, because of the 90 I have given myself permission to take the night off from reading for this class and the other class I am taking. 
 
And there you have it. A stellar week night at our house. 

Peace out!

 

Coconut Fudge Ice Cream

So while sitting at the dining room table for most of the weekend studying for my Poly Sci course I decided I needed a little encouragement. 

After eating this I'm not quite sure which will be the death of me first, Poly Sci or this. 

If you've never tried this flavor from Blue Bell, run or drive since it's still 127 degrees here in Texas to the nearest grocery store and buy it. 

It is one of the best flavors they have come out with. It's ice cream with shredded pieces of coconut layered all through out with multiple swirls of chocolate fudge. It's like eating a frozen Almond Joy candy bar with out the almonds. 

It is at this very moment I feel for the people who live up North or really any where that Blue Bell is not sold. There is absolutely no comparison. Ben & Jerry's does not even come close. Neither does Dryer's. 

Blue Bell is the bomb!

The Great Book Debacle of Fall 2013

I'm just gonna say it, this new school year is kicking my butt. Not the kids schedule but mine. I just can't seem to grasp it all. And I know it sounds like I'm whining about going to school. Truly I'm not, I'm just having a hard time adjusting to the new schedule. One of my classes is double the work since it is only 8 weeks long instead of the normal 15 weeks. And even thought the teacher is the same from last semester, the format of the class is completely different and I thought it would be the same, so this is frustrating thing for me because I really liked the other format. 

Another butt kicker was the purchase of one of my books. I have decided renting books was the best option for me. 1.) I would never need the book again so why should I try and store it in my attic or try and resell it for .50 cents. 2.) Renting is much cheaper than purchasing even a used book these days. Here's an example. A book for one of my classes goes something like this:

Purchase New = $158.00

Purchase Used = $118.00

Rent New = $87.00

Rent Used = $70.00

Now that information is from the books store on campus and that is provided there is a used copy of the edition you need. This particular class did not have a used edition as the professor changed and upgrade to a new edition this semester. So I had to rent a book at the rent new price.

I walk into the bookstore and the clerk asks if I need help. I tell him what courses I'm taking and he leads me over to the books I need. One of the books has two different books to chose from, one for on campus students and one for online students. The clerk asks me if I'm on campus or online. I tell him online and he hands me the book I supposedly need. 

My class started on Tuesday and on Tuesday night I begin to look at my course work. As I'm looking at my assignments, I realize the clerk gave me the wrong book. Can you say frustrating! 

So Wednesday I take the book back to the bookstore along with the following:

the CD's that go with my book

the receipt

the course enrollment verification

the course syllabus 

I walk up to the counter and tell the clerk that another clerk gave me the wrong book and I need to exchange it. She tells me she has to get the manager. The manager comes over and says this is the correct book. I tell her no it's not and then show her all of my documents. She then asks if I am part of the AP program. I tell her yes. And here is where things go wrong, very wrong.

The manager then tells me, very rudely, I should have told the clerk I was part of the AP program. A little stunned by her abruptness I tell her the clerk should have asked if I was on campus, online, or AP. She just looks at me and repeats herself as if I didn't hear her the first time. So I figure I'll repeat what I said. This happens about three times. And then she says well you opened the book and accessed the CD's because the shrink wrap is off. I tell her well it was only when I took the shrink wrap off that I noticed I had the wrong edition. Again she tells me I should have told the clerk I was AP. I then tell her I think we have established that, but I need to exchange this book for the correct one. It was then she told me the book I needed was out of stock. I tell her then I need a refund. She finally got so frustrated that I wasn't caving to her rudeness she looked right at me and said this...

"Well you always seem to have trouble when you come in here, so I'm just going to go ahead and give you a refund to resolved your problem."

Whoa, what a minute. TROUBLE? Seriously? OK at that moment I saw red. I was so dang mad! 

I take a deep breath and I mean deep and I tell her I have never had trouble before and this was the first time there has ever been an issue and she clearly has me mixed up with someone else. I tell her the last time I came in the clerk right behind her waited on me and I was very nice, and she could ask her. To which the clerk smiled and nodded yes that I was nice. 

So the now extremely rude manager is mad and asks for my credit card that the books were purchased on. So I had her my financial aid card and she begins to process my refund. After she process the refund she realizes that I had a coupon that would no longer be valid because I was returning on of the books. She says she needs my card back to charge me the $15.00 from my coupon. She tries to swipe the card but because it is my financial aid there isn't any money on the card to access, it was all used to pay for my classes and the books I needed. 

The manager then tells me she needs another card. I tell her I don't have another card, this is the only card I have. She says then she needs $15.00 cash. I tell her I do not have $15.00 cash. She says you don't have another card? Again, I tell her no I do not. Truth was I did have another card, I had two, but it was her mistake and I wasn't giving her my credit card. She looks at my receipt and realizes that I have an employee discount on the receipt and asks me for a phone number because when credit posts back to my financial aid card she would need to charge me the $15.00. So I gave her my office phone number. And the whole time I'm thinking go ahead call and I'll think about answering my phone. Oh I know in the end I'll answer because it's the right thing to do but dang it, I just want to let it ring. I can tell you this, after her rudeness, I won't be calling her, she will need to call me to correct the problem.

She then smiles at me and while handing me all of my receipts she says I guess we all make mistakes. I reply well I guess you do. To which she just stares at me. 

I thank the other clerk who helped me the last time I went in there and walked out. And I can tell you this, I won't be going back. 

After all of that and many emails back and forth to Hubs. We ended up renting my book on Amazon for my kindle for only $13.00 and we purchased the five disc CD set that goes with my class on Ebay for $30.00. So I ended up getting my book/CD's for $43.00. Yep $43.00 total. I for sure won't be going back to the bookstore.  

But what I'm most surprised about was my ability to stay calm and not go completely bezerk on the manager. I guess some things come with age because I can certainly tell you my twenty something year old self would not have been so nice and she would have said somethings she shouldn't have. I'm sure I did my grandmother proud, because she was a firm believer that if you didn't have anything nice to say then don't say it at all.

A Labor Day weekend full of relaxing

We took a spur of the moment trip to the lake this weekend and had a blast!

R2 was able to bring his best friend, J, and my sister in law and her family were able to come up as well. 

As per the norm when we are at the lake there was entirely to much food, multiple trips down the red neck waterslide, and hours and hours of tubing, skiing, and swimming in the lake. 

I really hated to see the weekend come to an end. It was truly a great time with with family and friends.

R2 and his best friend getting wet

R2 at the bottom of the slide

J jumping onto the slide

My niece and nephew racing

R2 and J racing

 

R2 and J getting ready to tube

 

Looks like we've made it

Well by the time the three of you are reading this it will be Friday. This means we have made it through the first week of school. And I might add by the skin of our teeth, what ever that phrase means. But what I do know is that this is a three day weekend. And that means no getting up at the butt crack of dawn on Monday and getting ready for the school day.

The first week of school is always rough. The alarm clock screams in my ears at 5:00AM, making sure a good breakfast is served, lunches that were made the night before end up in the backpacks, everyone adjusting to a new schedule and homework is completed and ready to be turned in and all that is just for me. Just kidding it's for the kids too. 

One of the courses I'm taking this semester is the second half to one I took last semester. I made an A in the last semester but for some reason I'm having a hard time getting motivated and the course work load is doubled so that may be a reason. However I had two quizzes to take this week and I made an 80 on one and a 90 on the other. Sadly they were optional and will not have affect on my overall grade for the course. What I'm really wanting to say to the professor is why have an optional quiz. If you are going to take the time to write the quiz, post it online and let a grade be assigned, then why not just take the dang grade. That was 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back.  But my grandmother always said if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. Sorry grandma.

But on a good note, my work is done until Sunday, when the next quiz is posted (and yes this one is optional too) along with a discussion board forum. 

So until then, I'm outta here. I'm off for some fun in the sun with my boys. Y'all have a good one. 

First day of school 2013 is in the books

Well the first day of school actually went off with out a hitch.

The boys woke up in a good mood, ate breakfast, picked up their backpacks and got in the car, early I might add. 

I dropped off R1 and as we were pulling away from the curb, R2 rolls down the window and yells at him to have a great day and he loves him. And R1 didn't even hear him. 

As we road down the street to R2's school he told me that I could just drop him off in the drop off line and there was no need for me to get out of the car. I quickly corrected him and told that I would get out of the car and walk him in every first day of school until he started Jr. High School so he just better get used to it. 

Anyway we walked into R2's home room and his teach met us at the door. We love his homeroom teacher. He had her in first grade and she moved up this year. We are both totally excited! She told him to hang his backpack on the back of any seat where he wanted to sit. So he walked over to a chair and put his stuff down and then announced he was going to the gym where all third graders go in the morning. He gave me a quick hug and was gone. His teacher and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. And then I left to go to work.

I left work early and made my way back to the school to pick up R2. And promptly at 3:10 he came out of the building and got in my car and asked me for something to eat. Then we headed over to R1's school to pick him up. He saw me pull up into the pick up lane and got in my car and the promptly asked me for something to eat. I think the theme here was they were starving. So we headed home where they each got a snack. 

Right after dinner we hanging out and talking at the table and R2 tells me that he doesn't like school and doesn't want to go back. When I asked why he said that third grade was to much work. I hate to break it to him but it only gets worse from here out. 

So I day one of the 2013-2014 school year is done and apparently according to R2 so are all the other days. 

Oh the things going on here and running around in my head

So where do I start? The things going on around here or the things running around in my brain. I think I'll start with what's going on. 

Friday afternoon we hit the grocery store, all four of us. And one hour later we walked out a $361.00 poorer. The only part of that trip that did not involve food was the new binder R1 found, thank goodness, it was thirteen dollars. Tide laundry detergent because it's cheaper at HEB than at Target, toilet paper and paper towels. So $40.00 of that $361.00 were either school supplies or house staples. And lets be honest, $321.00 on food for one week, that's right, one week is crazy! I guess that's what happens when you let everything run out and it's the weekend before school starts. 

We spent the better part of Saturday shopping for new tennis shoes for both boys. Football cleats for R1, how that boy went from a size 8.5 last year to a 10.5 this year I'll never know. A few new shirts for Hubs, and a pair of nude flats for me. But before the shopping trip took place I went to breakfast with the girls and then went for pedicures. 

This is my new favorite color.

It's what I had my toes done in on Saturday. And yes, it's that shiny.

Any way back to the things that are running around in my head. Tomorrow is first day of school. The boys backpacks are packed and ready. Lunches are made and ready to be put in their backpacks tomorrow. Clothes are laid out and ready to be put on. 

I'm ready for school too. My books are purchased and sitting on the table waiting to be read. Hubs is ready too. 

So now I pray that my boys, all three of them have an amazing school year. I pray they are kept safe each and every day. I pray for strength for each teacher as they guide not only my boys but all of the other children into the future. And I am praying for an awesome school year for all. 

Pitch Perfect

One of our favorite movies right now is Pitch Perfect. We've only seen it about 27, 652 times.

If you haven't seen it, you should. Run right now, go rent it, down load it, or whatever you do to watch movies. 

I'm waiting.........

There are some awesome quotes from this movie. Such as...

 
Bumper: I have a feeling we should kiss. Is that a good feeling or an incorrect feeling?
Fat Amy: Well... sometimes I have the feeling I can do crystal meth, but then I think, mmm... better not. 

Fat Amy: You guys are gonna get pitch-slapped so hard, your man boobs are gonna concave.  

Beca: You must really sweep your girlfriend off her feet.
Jesse: Oh, I don't have a girlfriend.
Beca: What? You have juice pouches and Rocky. 


Aubrey: As you can see, Kori is not here. Last night, she was Treble-boned. She has been disinvited from the Bellas.
Beca: That oath was serious?
Aubrey: Dixie Chicks serious! 

Summer cold

So if the title of this post isn’t one of the biggest conundrums of the south I don’t know what it is. Hmmm it’s always a lovely 127º here in Southeast Texas in the middle of August. 

NOT! 

Anyway a few weeks ago I on Monday I started coughing. Like the kind of cough that lingers all day and makes you feel as if you have been smoking for 20 years only you don't smoke. 

I went home after work and literally washed my face, brushed my teeth and crawled into bed. I left Hubs to deal with all manner of cooking, cleaning, and making sure the boys basically taken care of. I coughed so much through the night I ended up in the doctor’s office the next day. Where they promptly gave me two shots, collected my co-pay and sent me on my way. 

By Wednesday my chest had begun to hurt. Like so much hurt, I thought I was having a heart attack only I wasn't having a heart attack. I like to do what I call giving the medicine time to work thing because really I didn't want to go back to the doctors office, so I toughed it out. 

But by Thursday my tough girl antics had worn off and I was getting a chest X-ray and a prescription for some antibiotics. Now those antibiotics were supposed to make me feel better, however the bottle read something along the lines of "may cause dizziness" Yeah well it was more than that. It knocked me into what I thought was the next week. They made my head so fuzzy I couldn't even pick it up off the pillow or the room began to spin. I would like to say the antibiotic induced coma I went into where I slept for 2 days was blissful, only it wasn't. To be honest those few days were a bit hazy. I really don't remember anything other than the sleep induced fog I was in. 

However, I'm better now and the spinning room and chest pains have all gone away, the only thing that has decided to hang around it the lovely drainage cough that will be here until sometime in September. 

Ahhh the joys of a summer cold.

So long summer, you will be missed

Well it's the last week of summer here and I really had planned on blogging more since we were all out of school but to be honest, the lazy days just kinda took over. 

Don't get me wrong we were busy with our normal summer things, like VBS and multiple visit to the dentist, and trips to the lake, church camp, grandparent camp and back to school shopping but other than that I just spent some great time with my people.

We went shopping a few weekends ago for back to school clothes for the boys and Hubs. He is moving from the elementary school teaching position he has had for the past 17 years to the high school to be the technology coordinator. He's excited and I'm excited for him.  Anyway, the boys got some great stuff and they should be set until at least Christmas, I hope. 

And not only are boys beginning school again, I am as well. Y'all know I went back the past year was good considering I hadn't taken a class in almost thirteen years. This semester I decided to load up and take two courses instead of just one. One of them is the second have of a class I took last semester. It's pretty reading and writing intensive so we will see how this all plays out with the other class I'm taking.

With the start of school come football season. R1 has been practicing most of the summer and his first game is in a few weeks. I'm ready to cheer him on and to take some pictures with the new camera I bought over Christmas. It takes awesome pictures. 

And with that I'll leave with a few pictures of our summer. 

 

 

One of the best days ever!

This was one of the best days not only in my life but in R2's life as well. It will be a day he will always remember. 

 

Ouch!

Just a warning, no blood or guts but this video is not for the faint of heart.

Sweet Summer Days

Sorry I haven't been here much but we have been enjoying our summer days. 

This past week R1 had summer camp for a week and while he was gone, R2 had grandparent camp. This left Hubs and I with a situation that hardly every happens, no children. We never seem to, for lack of a better term, get rid of both kids at the same time. So anyway, we were without the boys for few days. We had big plans to go to Houston and do some shopping and a few other things. But when the first day was upon us, I changed my mind and decided staying home and relaxing sounded better. 

I have to say while I missed the boys it was a great few days. I don't think we even turned on the TV. I can honestly say it was a Nickelodeon and Family Chanel free few days. 

On Friday, R1 came home from camp and when we picked him up, we literally came back home for all of five minutes and loaded up Cookie, our dog, and the our luggage and left for the lake. R1 wasn't all that excited to realize he wouldn't be able to sleep in his bed for another three days. You know after you've been gone for any length of time there is nothing better than returning and being able to sleep in your own comfy bed. 

Never the less we headed up to the lake for a few days of fun in the sun. R2 was so excited to see us and couldn't run into my arms fast enough. 

We spent the next three days swimming, fishing, riding around in the golf cart, and eating way to much food.

So now we are home, at little sun burned, freshly bathed, and watching the DVD Wreck It Ralph because while we were gone, a nice thunderstorm came through and knocked out our satellite dish. So Hubs called them and they will be out sometime tomorrow between noon and five o'clock. Because nothing says efficiency like "We go to lunch from twelve to one and oh we can be there in a five hour time frame." 

But at least we get to sleep in our own nice comfy beds.

Astroworld

Growing up in Houston I remember every summer and I do mean every summer my family would go to Astroworld. I also remember as I grew into my teen years I would want to go so much my parents finally purchased me a season pass. My group of friends and I all had them. My parents would give me twenty dollars and one of our parents would drop us off when the gates opened at 10:00am and then another would pick us up at 5:00pm. That was back in the day when 1. You could purchase more than two beverages and one hot dog at an amusement park for less than twenty dollars and 2. Parents didn’t have to worry about someone taking off with their child when they dropped them off for several hours of roller coaster riding. 

As a grown adult I still had a love that place and went several times. I couldn’t wait to bring my boys. I knew they would have just as much fun riding in the first and the last car of the Texas Cyclone as I did. 

But then in 2005 the park closed and it felt like a piece of me had died. I never did get to take my boys to Astroworld. They would never get to experience The Rainbo Bakery, where they served mini loaves of fresh baked bread with honey. No Texas Cyclone, Alpine Sleigh Ride, Excalibur, XLR-8, Greezed Lightnin, The Gun Slinger, Sky Screamer, The Viper, The Bamboo Chute, Thunder River, The River of No Return, 610 Limited Train, and so many more. 

But alas, a new day is dawning in the amusement park world, Grand Texas Theme Park is in the works and I am HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! 

Happy 13th Birthday R1!

Thirteen years ago today at 12:32 I became a mother. R1 was born and my life was changed forever. 

I have loved every minute of being his mom and I am so thankful God chose me to be his mother. I have enjoyed watching him grow into the man he will one day become. I pray for God to navigate him down the streets to manhood. To always be his compas.  

Happy 13 Birthday R1! I love you more than you will ever know.

 

Happy July 4th

I hope everyone has a wonderful day with great food, family and friends!

Summertime In Full Effect

Yep, it's been almost a month since I last blogged. I was really hoping that with school out for all of us that I would blog more. Clearly this hasn't happened. 

As soon as school was out the boys began what I call the round of the camps. Baseball camp, basketball camp, grandparent camp, reading camp, well not reading camp but R2 has tutoring once a week to make sure he doesn't fall behind during summer due to his Dyslexia. R1 also had a few trips with the youth department at church not to mention he has summer work outs for football season every day. 

Then somewhere in all of that my sweet friend Beth lost her mother. She had been sick and it was to be expected but that still doesn't lessen the hurt from the loss. Beth had been running back and forth about the last two weeks of school to her childhood home, an hour away. And once school let out she pretty much stayed there for another 2 1/2 weeks. When her mother took a turn for the worst I began sending her daily text messages with bible verses about faith, love, healing, encouragement, hope and strength. More often than not the verse I had chosen for her that day was just what she needed to get her through. And while the passing of her mother has been hard we both know that she is with her Lord, Jesus Christ and she is healed and we will see her once again. Also her sister in law and I decided that she needed to just relax when she finally came home so we cleaned her house. Her husband was in on the secret and she had no idea. Beth text me the day she got home. She said she cried when she walked in the door and saw the house. 

There is a funny story that goes some where in that last paragraph but I'm going to make it a post all it's own. 

R1 was supposed to go on the first of two mission trips with our youth to Mission Arlington, but he came down with a viral infection and was running a 103.0 fever. The day before they were supposed to leave I took him to the doctor and when the doctor checked him out, he wasn't running a fever. However I still wasn't comfortable sending him five hours away in case he had a relapse. And thank goodness my mother's intuition kicked in because sure enough, around 9pm he began running fever again. No mission trip for him. He wasn't to happy with me but he got over it when he found out the room that boys group was staying in did not have any A/C. 

So as you can see we've been very busy with summer activities and I hope all of you are having a great summer too!

The best Friday of the school year

We made it! Finally the last day of the school year.

This week has been a crazy one filled with school parties, awards programs, talent shows, roof camp outs and field trips.

Speaking of roof camp outs, Hubs and Coach J always make a bet with their students if they score 95% or better on the science part of whatever name the state has chosen to call the stanardized test, this year it was STARR, they would sleep on the roof of the school for one night. So for the past four years during the last week of school Hubs and Coach J have camped out on the roof. So Wednesday I put this message on Facebook,

Those 5th graders did it again and rocked the STARR science test! So Coach K and Coach J are sleeping on the roof TONIGHT! Come by and say hello, take a picture, bring them a snack, or honk when you drive by. This will be the last year for Coach K to sleep on the roof as he is moving to the High School next year. So lets make this year a memorable one.

And was it ever memorable. Beginning at 6:30pm the coaches began their ascent to the roof to get set up for the night. The boys and I went to make sure they got up on the roof and didn't need anything. We stayed for about an hour because people kept coming by to visit and bring them snacks, drinks, and a few Dairy Queen Blizzards. I called Hubs around 10:00pm to tell him good night and he said that they had so much snack food they could stay up there for about three days. The students love it when these two camp out on the roof. There were so many pictures of them on Facebook from everyone that stopped by.  This was the best turn out by far.

Here they are going up.

Here they are setting up the tent and their chairs

 The redneck dumbwaiter.

This was much easier than climbing up and down the ladder.

When I brought the boys to school the next morning, they were still up there. They stay up there so the kids can see them and make a big deal about them coming down. Hubs said that people kept coming by until around 9:30 or so and that the police had stopped several times to check on them. The first time they stopped to see if wasn't senior high school students pulling a prank. Hubs told them they were almost seniors but of a different nature and that all of this was legit and everything was fine. Hubs said they also got a wake up honk at 2AM.

I love that my husband, other teachers, and even the entire school district do things like this all the time. It really shows they support the kids and really do care about them.

I guess it's safe to say I'm now the mother of an 8th grader, a 3rd grader, and the wife of the technology coordinator at the high school.

So here's to summer time!