Windy City

Travis and I leave today for a school board conference in Chicago. (That sounds like a really dull weekend, doesn't it? Trust me, it is anything but dull!) I am sort of looking forward to it but it needs to be one day shorter for my taste. Anyway, it's supposed to be COLD (I mean really cold!) so I have brought lots of activities to keep me busy in the room. I think it will be nice to read books and magazines, and do some busy work without any interuptions. How I wish I had a laptop so I could spend 3 days in the blog vortex! I have a few places where I want to shop, but for the most part I'm staying in this year.
Parker reminded me last night that a few years ago he totally conned me out of going on this trip. I had forgotten about that. This year they seem just fine with it. That is definitely a plus!

I just added this picture because it is sooooo cute. It's actually a bag! I love owls right now--very trendy! I can't remember where I saw this, but I will add a link when I do. I want to give credit where credit is due!

Plan B Turkeys

When my turkey cake balls turn out looking yucky, one of these is my back-up plan. Probably the Oreos and peanut butter cups because I always welcome an excuse to bring Oreos and peanut butter cups into my house! (Don't the turkeys look like they are pleading "Please don't eat me!!!!")

Teacher Gift Star

*If you are visiting from Just a Girl , #107. treyandlucy gives a really nice tutorial on how to make a star just like this one only using Christmas papers and photos. It's adorable! I think I will be making one of those for myself!


Each year, McGaughey School has a different theme. Last year it was, "Put Your Best Foot Forward" and we did all sorts of wellness type stuff including keeping track of how many miles each child walked over the course of the year. This year it's "McGaughey's Shining Stars" so I have run with the star theme. You know I love stars! I made this GIANT tin star for Parker's teacher. I think it must be at least 30 inches across--maybe more. This was one of her birthday presents from the class and she hung it from the ceiling above her desk. It looks so cute and colorful in her room and the kids love it too.
I got the star at Gordman's for $5.99 and I had tons of paper here at home. I just Mod Podged it onto the star, lettered it and put the kids pictures on with glue. Honestly, pretty easy stuff!

Gobble, Gobble!

I am so totally going to try this next week! This lady has the most adorable ideas! I can't wait to see what she does with Christmas stuff!!!!!!!


***Per Jenna's request. Check out this blog to get the "how-to" BAKERELLA
I will be using a peanut M&M for the face, little red Christmas tree sprinkles for the gobbley-hangy-chin thing and probably a tiny bit of black food coloring and a toothpick for the details and I'm still searching for the beak but I think a mini orange M&M cut in half will work just fine. (Yes, I tried it. You can cut a mini M&M in half). Oh, and I don't think mine will be on a stick, they will just sit down so they don't need any pretzel legs.

Just sad

My heart is so heavy today. Two guys (24 years old) were killed yesterday in the very early morning when the car they were riding in flipped and hit a house. The driver was drunk. She is in jail. The other passenger is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Travis just played golf with these guys a month ago. One of them is a Mt. Zion kid. I believe he was the oldest of 3 brothers--a former state golf champion. I hate that in one stupid moment, so many lives are changed forever. I hate that this kind of thing happens every day to someone out there. As a parent, I can't help thinking about what it must be like to get that phone call about your child. So sad. So, if you are the praying type, please say a prayer for the Yelovich and Samuelson families today because they definitely need all the prayers they can get.

And on another sad note, our local librarian, Jennie Alexander died last week. She was only fifty. Travis' Aunt Shelly is a librarian and used to work with Jennie. Every time we would go to the library, Jennie would always remember that Parker and Jack are Shelly's nephews. I love it when people make the time and effort to remember something like that. She will definitely be missed.

Check this out!

I am completely addicted to blogging. Not to writing on my blog, silly! To reading other people's blogs. I get so many great ideas from blogs. On every subject imaginable--although my favorite is definitely crafting. One of the super smart bloggerS out there is having a "party" and she has invited people to link their best craft ideas on her blog. I have slowly been working my way through the list and there is some great gift ideas out there. Check it out here: JUST A GIRL

I'm in mourning

My beloved Elliptical machine is broken. Not fixable. I'm sort of kidding but I did cry. It is one of the main reasons I was able to lose 40 pounds. It's been there for me 6 days a week for the past 8 months. I very much enjoyed using it. If they were $50, I would just go buy a new one but they definitely aren't. Bummer. So, now I'm trying to decide if I should just try to make do with Excercise TV on On-Demand, or bite the bullet and buy a new machine. And, if I buy a new one, should I wait until January when all that kind of stuff is on sale? Decisions, decisions.....

Sushi, anyone?

My boys are obsessed with sushi. They certainly have never eaten it. I don't even know if they've ever seen it. I'm thinking they must have talked about it on iCarly or something. Anyway, I saw some candy sushi on a blog last night and we made some today. This is sooooooooo very, very easy!!! It even tastes as good as it looks!

Here's the how to:
-pre-made Rice Krispie Treats
-gelly Orange Slices
-Swedish Fish
-Fruit roll-ups (I bought several boxes in order to have enough green ones but you don't actually need too many because you are cutting them into strips.)

For the Swedish fish sushi, I just cut the krispie treat in half, put the fish on top and wrapped it with a strip of fruit roll-up.
For the Orange slice sushi, I flattened out the krispie treat just with my fingers, sliced the tip off of two orange slices, laid them next to each other on the krispie treat, and started rolling as carefully and tightly as I could. Then I cut it in half and wrapped it with fruit roll-up.
Easy, peasy and adorable. I even added the chop-sticks and "sliced ginger" (sliced orange slices) for effect.
If I were really with-it, I would have added some chocolate syrup in a tiny little bowl as soy sauce.
BTW, I did try to find some cheap little square sushi plates, but couldn't find any. It's times like this that I really wish we had a World Market or Bed, Bath and Beyond in Mt. Zion!!!

Trick-or-Treat

My little vampire and gladiator. I would say they are cute, but that probably isn't the right word for a vampire or a gladiator. How about fierce? Or deadly? Of course, they had a blast and came home with TONS of candy which they gorged themselves on. I'm fine with that. In fact, I let them eat pretty much whatever they want for a few days and then they seem to completely be over the candy and forget it's even there. I'm having a hard time resisting the chocolate. I will be spending a lot of time working out this next week to make up for my indulgences!

Girls Weekend

My high school friends and I met in Carbondale this past weekend for our girl's weekend. Heather, Carmin and Michelle live in Nashville, Laura lives in Bloomington and Sherri and I are Mt. Zion so Carbondale was a nice half-way point. We arrived at about 11:30 on Saturday, went to eat Mexican, went shopping, back to the hotel for freshening up, then to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, then back to the hotel to hang out until 2:00 a.m. (or 1:00 a.m. because of the time change) I love these girls so much. I have been friends with them for 24 years and I still think they are awesome. We laugh so much and we all still have so very much in common. We all have many of the same struggles and joys. I realized that although we do tell many of the same stories every time we get together, our perspective changes through the years--especially now that some of us have teenagers. I never get tired of hearing the same stories and I think we would all agree that we all thought we had heard everything there was to know about each other's high school experience, however, we discovered something new this weekend! Heather told us something new and it is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. I am not going to share the story because if she kept it quiet for this long, I don't think she wants me telling it on the internet but just trust me, it is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. So, the moral of this story is....good friends are a rare find and I am very blessed to have these women in my life. And, just when you think you know everything about them, they might just surprise you! Just in case you might think that I am overzealous in my love for these gals, check out MICHELLE'S BLOG because she said it better than I could!

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!

One day I googled "friendship bracelet" and came across a bracelet with a poem that talks about how each color represents some different aspect of friendship. I thought the bracelet was very ugly, but I figured I could come up with something better. So, I tried my hand at jewelry making and this is the result. My girlfriends and I had an "All Girl Getaway" and I gave these to each of them. I think they turned out pretty nice.

Halloween Party

Jack had his Halloween party at school which is always fun and crazy with a bunch of hooligans running around.

Actually, it's an apple orchard....

We went to the Okaw Valley Orchard last Thursday on a very beautiful fall day. There really isn't all that much to do by this time of year because the apples have all been picked but they LOVE to play on the cool playground they have. Mamaw and Buddy came with us, of course. For the last few years Jack has called it the "apple patch" which is just so cute. This year I told him we were going to the "apple patch" and he said, "Actually, it's an apple ORCHARD." Well, it was cute while it lasted.

Trick-or-Trunk rant

Forgive me, but I've always thought that Trick-or-Trunk was pretty lame. Why, you ask? I guess I dont understand the purpose. Is it to be safer? I'm just thinking that most places that have a trick-or-trunk are pretty safe anyway. (I haven't seen too many trick-or-trunks advertised in downtown Decatur.) I guess I'm just an overprotective parent because I will NEVER let my kids go trick-or-treating without me and if they want to pitch a fit about it, I guess they will just stay home. ANYWAY, all my griping aside, THIS makes me want to try trick or trunking. Just imagine how crazy I could go with this. I LOVE IT!!!! I might decorate my van next year and just leave it in my driveway to hand out candy!



(Click on the word THIS in the paragraph above to see more pictures.)

Photo Op Idea

I came across the most wonderful blog (linked from another blog)and I have been getting an overload of great Halloween ideas. I thought this would be perfect for Jack's preschool Halloween party. It just uses one of those cardboard display board from Hobby Lobby (which was 4.99 originally but I used a 40% off coupon)and then painted with acyrlic paint (which I already have in abundance.) The possibilities are endless with this! Think of all the cute scenes that could be done. Anyway, this is the one I saw on the blog.

This is my version (I changed the witched hair):

And this is what it looks like with a couple of little spooks in it:
I am thrilled with how it turned out (and so is my little helper, Jack.) This wasn't hard because the picture is very simplistic. If it were super realistic, I couldn't have done it. Well, I could have done it, but it wouldn't have looked good. For any of you who might not consider yourself crafty, you might be surprised at how easy some of this stuff is! I swear!

Jack-O-Lanterns

This is about as creative as we go with the pumpkins. We spotted the skull shaped pumpkin and had to have it and it turned out great. It was Jack's idea to paint the round one white and make it a ghost.
We tried the whack-a-pumpkin where you pound golf tees into the pumpkin. I would call it a failure. The holes it leaves aren't large enough for the light to shine through and when you thin out the rind, the pumpkin breaks when you pound the tees in. However, it was a fun little experiment I guess.

Finally

I finally made a scrapbook page of one of my own children! And it felt wonderful and I can't wait to do more.

School Picture

Well, it's better than last years, but it still isn't the true Parker. He always does that droopy eye thing in posed pictures. I don't know what that's about. Oh well. I think he is adorable and definitely looks older than a 1st grader. Where did my baby go!? He also brought home his report card yesterday. This is the first time they receive letter grades. I try not to brag on my kids but this may be my last opportunity to say this so.....Parker got all A's. Like I said, I'm not counting on straight A's the rest of his life so I'm going to enjoy it while I can!

While we were down..............

Jack was the leader at preschool. Here he is leading the class in the pledge. I have recorded his version which includes "under God, undercover invisible....."

We picked pumpkins at Buddy's Great Pumpkin Patch. We came home with 28 pumpkins and there were still a lot there that Mamaw and Buddy brought home later. It doesn't look like it, but Stella barrelled right into the muddy, weedy, buggy mess and picked pumpkins with the boys.





Jack said, "Look Mommy! Bunk kids!" CUTE!!!!!!!

The real Great Pumpkin Patch.


Jack's class went to the Decatur Fire Station for a field trip. He really loved it in spite of what it looks like in the picture!


Jack's class went to the Great Pumpkin Patch. Here is Jack and Bella trying to keep warm.

And, Parker took a trip the the dentist for a cleaning.

That pretty much sums it up!

How Cute!!

I love this idea! We have tons (over 30) pumpkins so we are able to try some creative stuff this year. This pumpkin was made by letting a little kid pound golf tees into a hollowed out pumpkin. Just give them a few tees and a rubber mallot. Obviously this could turn into a disaster so I would recommend supervision. I am going to try this with the guys tomorrow. I'll post "real" pictures if it turns out. AND if I can find our photo software to put back onto the computer. Maybe I will also find our printer software and every other thing that is currently missing including a word processing program. :-)
On the WW front, I achieved my Lifetime status tonight. This means that I have kept my goal weight for 6 weeks and I no longer EVER have to pay to register at WW and I only have to pay for a meeting if my weight goes 2 lbs. over my goal. (Which is pretty likely considering my favorite eating holiday is fast approaching THANKSGIVING!!!!)

CRASH!@#&*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the worst case scenario came true for us--our computer crashed. Of course we don't have an external hard drive. (Does anyone really get one until their computer crashes?) Anyway, we lost tons of stuff. I don't even know the magnitude of what is gone because, well, it's gone. I did NOT lose pictures--THANK GOD!!! I do back them up on disks and onto an archival website. And yes, I did cry when I found out it crashed. Then I remembered that in the overall scheme of things, this is pretty small compared to what many folks deal with.
Soooooo, very soon I will have a real post with pictures and update you on our little lives!
Oh, we were able to have a new hard drive installed into our computer so we didn't have to buy a new one or anything. It's just that we don't have ANYTHING on this one so it's like starting over from scratch.

We are DOWN

Just in case you are someone who might e-mail me, we have no computer right now. Ever since the flood, our computer wasn't functioning well and then it just stopped altogether. Hopefully it hasn't crashed and just need some techno TLC. So, don't e-mail me if it's urgent because I have to come to the library to get online. What a dork.

Cleaning instead of Blogging

I know how I hate it when I keep checking a blog and it hasn't been updated in forever so I thought I would just let it be known that I don't plan on blogging for a bit. No problems or anything--I just need to focus on other stuff. Like:
-finding a way to eliminate the disgusting wet carpet smell that remains in our basement even though the wet carpet is gone. (Now we have lovely bare concrete.)
-figuring out to do with all the stuff in boxes and tubs that were hastily thrown in when the flood started.
-cleaning out my garage
-cleaning
-cleaning
-cleaning
I'm terrible at cleaning.

The Great Flood

We felt a little like old Noah today as we helplessly watched the heavens pour. First our gargage flooded which is totally normal when it rains. Then parts of garage that have never gotten wet started to get water. Then we noticed a hole in our foundation wall (very small--like the size of a pencil eraser) but it was spouting water like a faucet. Travis made a quick trip to Ace Hardware and had it patched up in no time but it wasn't soon enough to prevent some pretty major flooding in our basement. Jack was walking around and said, "Why is it so wet over here!?" and that's when we noticed that half our basement carpet was soaked. YUCK! I guess our basement remodel will be happening a little sooner than planned--like a few years sooner. Oh well, we could be in Texas. Nothing a bunch of money won't fix. Sigh.

A WW success story

Whoo Hoo!!!!! I met my WW goal last night! I'm very pleased but remember that I have another lower goal in mind. I wanted to set my "official" goal somewhere where I truly thought I could maintain. Now I want to see if I can go 5 pounds lower. If I can't keep my weight there, then I will be satisfied with the WW goal. Just so you know, WW tells you an acceptable weight range for your height and age. My range is between 109 and 130. I am toward the high end of my range and I would like to be right smack in the middle. I don't know why I don't just say what my weight is? What am I hiding at this point?? Well, when I started WW on March 19th, I weighed 161.8 lbs. Now I weigh 125 lbs. and I would like to weigh 120 lbs. We shall see if that happens! I also have to thank my friend Dawn again because without her, I never would have joined in the first place! THANKS DAWN!!!
I keep thinking I will post some before and after pics, but I don't really have any before shots because I never wanted to have my picture taken!

A striking resemblance

I vaguely remember that when Chicken Little first came out, Parker wanted to be Chicken Little for Halloween. So I sent Tracy on a mission to find a shirt that looked like Chicken Little's. However, by the time we found one, Parker had lost interest so the shirt was never worn. Then along came someone who actually does look like Chicken Little! I broke out the shirt today and just had to crack up at the resemblence. Is it just me or does Jack just keep getting cuter!?

Read this

Here is a nice little story about being a mom. I have to try hard not to be one of the moms giving the disapproving looks. I have pretty high standards when it comes to "appropriate" behavior. That is not to say that my children (and me) do not act completely inappropriately at some times!
Jack fussed a little when I left preschool today but I peeled him off me and he was fine. When I picked him up he had a lot to say about everything they did. It is amazing how much they grow up between the 3's class and the 4's class! Physically and mentally!

Jack goes Back

This boy goes back to preschool tomorrow. I am looking forward to 2 hours of quiet 3 days each week. Actually, Jack is just great while Parker is at school. He has always entertained himself and he's super affectionate and sweet lately. Love that kid!
Parker confessed that he loves school and first grade. He blurted it out but recanted about an hour later.
I try to make it a point not to discuss politics because I don't think any good comes of it. People who feel strongly one way or the other cannot be persuaded to change their opinion so political discussions always sound more like fights to me. I am very, very middle of the road. Call me a right-wing liberal or a left-wing conservative. Either way, my views lie right in the middle of the road which always makes voting a bit of a challenge. This year it is pretty hard to keep my views to myself but I'm trying!