Meet the teacher

Tonight we get to meet the boys' teachers. And I'm supposed to be there in some capacity as the Room Parent Coorindator. Yeah, we'll see how that goes.
We're going camping tomorrow!! Must go get a spare tire for the trailer and pick up the last few items we need to take with us. Need to stop at the library too because two of the books that I reserved have arrived. Hopefully I'll get to read them while we're out in the woods with nothing better to do. I also want to go to Ulta.
Monday is the first day of school - 3rd grade and 1st grade!! Can you believe it? I think we have most of the supplies they need. We'll have to see what Randy's teacher is requiring him to have. Time goes by so fast!! Must enjoy every minute of it while it's here. Well I should start enjoying it right now.
Oh, and I should let you know -- I never made the crab rangoons, nut cups or anything else that day!
Yesterday I did make meatball soup. Today we're going to make banana nut muffins again because we have three mushy bananas yet again!

Children are weird

But I love them anyway...

It was hilarious!

Thank goodness nobody saw me, except the boys - I gave myself a scary, ridiculous Afro yesterday. It was so funny I couldn't stop laughing! I even considered taking a picture, but then I reconsidered - no need for eternal humiliation with the documentation of such a thing. I put a bunch of twist in my hair, rolled them up and pinned them -- I took the pins out when my hair dried and holy cow!! My head grew by about 12 inches - my hair was nappy and crazy and huge!!! I had to wet it down and even then it was still crazy!!

Jeff got the boys a new game yesterday -- those kids are glued to their laptops!! Thanks dad. (Yes, that was sarcastic.)

I started and finished the book "Manhunting" by Jennifer Crusie, yesterday. It was funny! A light, quick read. I really liked it.

Today the day started out slow, which I liked. And it really hasn't picked up yet - I like that too. We went to Food City and bought veggies and greens. I hate cilantro! It nauseates me. But piggy likes it and it is one of the ingredients in pico de gallo, which I plan to make - so we can chow down on it with some chippos. I'm also thinking about making some crab rangoons - without the crab, but I'm feeling a bit lazy. Also thinking of making "nut cups" or vanilla cake. But I may just sit in front of the computer for the rest of the day. I'll let you know if any of that stuff gets made.

Oh the horror!! And the smell.....P-U!!!!!!!!

Let me start off with the good parts of the day. We woke up, everything was peaceful, and uneventful. Only had a tiny bit of cat yak to clean up. We had some breakfast, played on our computers for a while, then we went bowling. We met up with Amy, Jacob, Andrew, Michele, Grace, Brooke, Lisa, Colin and Genevieve. Of course I forgot to take the camera!! The kids bowled for an hour and I talked for an hour! We went home to have some lunch... each one of us ate something different. Keith had rice krispies with cinnamon, Randy had soup and I had grilled cheese with muenster cheese - beats the pants off boring old Kraft American cheese!!
I know, I know... get to the horror and the stink. I'm getting there.
After we ate, we made our ritual trip to WalMart. We managed to spend way more money than I intended, but we got some yummy stuff. When we got home, I started putting the groceries away and that's when it happened! What happened? The dang jar of minced garlic jumped out of the fridge, tried to make a run for it, but it didn't get very far before it exploded on the floor!!!! Glass everywhere! Stink galore!! Let me tell you how much fun it was to clean all that up ---- on second thought, I'll just let you use your imagination. On the plus side, the kitchen floor is clean now and so are the bathroom, laundry room and family room floors.
Anyway, off to make some potato salad, polish kielbasi and some veggies!

Over ripe bananas?

Not anymore, we turned them into banana nut muffins! Which have been declared delicious, by famous critic, Randy Rubins. If those muffins please him, they'll please anyone! See, I could be selling these at my cafe - if I had one. It might even be called the Keen Bean!!! But it's not going to happen here... The gears in my head are turning, but they haven't ground out a solution yet.
We made it to the library and got some new books. We even got the Smellement washed at the car wash. We were also lucky enough to sit in a bunch of traffic courtesy of all the dang construction around these parts! We got Wendy's for lunch, but I can't say it was yummy and I have to say that their Iced Coffee is disgusting!!! At least the hazelnut flavor is... don't know about the others. We didn't make it to WalMart and I'm not going to attempt it later. The only place we're off to is Mama's to give them some banana nut muffins.

The weekend...

Saturday night Jeff made Caprese Mezza Luna for dinner!! As done by Rachel Ray on Friday's episode. Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil & flour tortillas - pretty good, but next time, I'll skip the tortilla.
Sunday someone came by to look at the hot dog cart, but it's still in the garage for now. We went to TGI Fridays for dinner that night. Those fried green beans are the best!
Jeff has packed all the camping gear in the trailer - we're almost set to go. All we need to do is figure out what food we're taking and pack up our clothes.
Monday was another PTSA meeting. I guess I've figured out what I'll be doing as the Room Parent Coordinator and I'm keeping it very simple. The boys went to Mama's while I was at the meeting and of course they only decided to swim minutes before I got there to pick to them up.
We went to WalMart - I'm sick of that place - there is always something that we need to buy from there. I went there to return something but I left the dang thing at home!!! We returned the Bee Movie to the video store and rented Superhero Movie. It was pretty goofy. We made more cookies yesterday - the same kind as the other day and again we only got 39!
I guess we'll be going back to WalMart again. We are also going to the library today. We have a few books to return because I can't get into reading them!!!!

Friday's highlights

We went to Walmart today and got a few school supplies and uniforms. The boys each had a few dollars that they were very happy to spend on some new little airplanes. Don't ask me which ones, I can't keep them straight. Then we went to Old Navy - I got three shirts for me and two uniform shirts for Randy. Then we went to Mama's house and had lunch with her. After lunch we went swimming - the boys and I, that is. We played some baseball and got very pruney! When we got home, there wasn't much to do, or much that I felt like doing. The boys got on their computers. And I watched the Food Network for a while - didn't make dinner though. Jeff went out with the guys, so the boys and I got our own food. Randy and Keith had McDonald's and I had Panda Express. Going to watch some more tv!

The Trailer Fiasco

Not that I want everyone to know how much of moron I can be, but I'll tell it anyway.
I was supposed to take the trailer to motor vehicle for inspection and registration. I was afraid of driving it into their parking lot and what-not. Turns out we had the most pleasant and fastest every experience at motor vehicle. And I had no problems maneuvering around in the parking lot or while driving. It was once we got home and I needed to detach the trailer from the hitch.... that's where it all went wrong!!! I ended up bending a part of it, not getting it detached and getting unbelievably frustrated and angry and hot and annoyed --- to the point where my 8 year old felt the needed to come over, pat my back and tell me "there, there". My dad came by to pick up the boys in the afternoon and he wanted to check out the damage that I created. I wanted to tell him what Jeff told me to do, to get the trailer detached and like magic - the dang thing did what I tried to get it do a hundred times before!!! UGH! At least Jeff was able to fix it and now I'll know what I'm supposed to do.
Off to the stores today... Randy needs new uniforms, they both need school supplies and I want to hit up Old Navy!

Cookies!!

We made some sugar cookies today, using our cookie press

and they are yummy!

Who knew homemade cookies were so much better than store bought?

The recipe said that it made 40 cookies - they lied, we only got 39,

but there are 7 less than that already!

That's how we know they're yummy!

HOMER - YOU BETTER HURRY HOME IF YOU HOPE TO GET ANY!!!

Here's the recipe----

By Peggy Trowbridge Filippone

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened but not melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Food coloring, optional
Sugar sprinkles or other decoration, optional

Preparation:Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and baking powder until combined. Add egg yolk & vanilla, beating to combine. Gradually beat in flour until the mixture is too thick for the mixer.* Finish mixing in the flour with a wooden spoon, if need be, adding any optional food coloring. Press dough through a cookie press on to an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies 7 to 8 minutes. Cool before icing or decorating. For best results, do not chill the cookie dough. When pressing shaped cookies, hold the cookie press vertical to the cookie sheet. Yield: 40 cookies

*Just a note... in case you try this recipe, the mixer didn't work for me at all -- I used a wooden spoon to mix from start to finish. :-)

A bit of ambition...

For some reason I actually felt ambitious about making dinner last night! We had spinach manicotti - I did not make the pasta or the sauce from scratch, but I did the rest, which ended up making a pile of dishes to clean up afterwards. A pot to boil the pasta, a cutting board and knife, a pan for the garlic and spinach, a bowl to mix the cheeses, basil, eggs, etc., a dish to put it all in and stick it in the oven and a baking sheet for the garlic breadsticks and then finally all the dishes we ate out of. It's a good thing we have a dishwasher, but I did have to wash a lot of the stuff by hand. It was worth it though. Everybody ate it and nobody complained! And today's gourmet meal for the boys is going to be "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese". Jeff and I are having leftovers.
I met the PTSA ladies today at the Paradise Bakery for a meeting --- ahhhhh!! That means it's almost back to school time!! No!!! I don't want the summer break to end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did have my usual yummy ham and cheese croissant w/yummy mustard. That part was very good, but now I have some work to do. I am the Room Parent Coordinator and I have yet to figure out what that means exactly -- I was told that it can be whatever I want it to be, so I have some thinking to do! I was asked to be a room parent last year and waited all year to find out what that meant - LOL! Oh well, we'll see how it goes.
Coffee time!

We're ready for camping!

Jeff bought a trailer - which he has finished working on (with Randy and Keith's help). He put the wood on, hooked up the lights, and did what he needed to do on the hitch. It looks like a little red wagon. Now we can haul half the house with us when we go. We are going to Houston Mesa Campground near Payson, the first weekend of August.
I don't want summer break to end!! School is going to start ten minutes earlier this year - yuck! We still have to buy new uniforms for Randy. And we have to wait until meet the teacher night to find out what we'll need to buy as far as supplies and things that the teachers will ask for, for the classrooms. And lunch is going up by 50 cents this year!
Last night we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner - that reminds me, I should check to see if we won the RV -- I'll do that later. I'm sure we're not that lucky. The last set of lottery tickets I bought didn't even have one matching number!!!
Going grocery shopping today - Piggy is almost out of vittles. The poor guy has only been getting Romaine lettuce for the past few days. And the kitties are out of vittles completely!!!! They might eat the dog food!
I better get started, the day is ticking away.

One less tooth...

We were eating Subway sandwiches for dinner last night. Randy took a bite of his second half of turkey and cheese and said that his tooth was loose. He stopped eating because it bothered him. He went to go play on the computer and only a few minutes later, he came over to us with a tooth in his hand!! Top, left side of the two front teeth. No pictures right now... The toothfairy showed up and left a dollar! Homer has made pancakes and is yelling at me to go eat some. I should go.

It's wet out!

It actually rained last night and it's still drizzling. The sun isn't blazing and it isn't 100 degrees. It's weird. I don't like it. It's a little humid out there --- humidity? I've forgotten what that was.
Yesterday we stayed home and inside all day except when we walked down the block to get the mail - I think that was yesterday when we got the mail - who knows... we don't check the mail everyday anyway. There usually isn't anything worth while in it.
Keith and Randy's rooms are clean -- top to bottom! (Well maybe not all the way from the top - I didn't turn the ceiling fans off to clean them - will have to do that next time.) It took me hours to clean those two rooms. The boys have way too much stuff!!!!!!!!!
What's for dinner? I know it's a little early to start thinking about it. Actually, it's Friday.... I don't really have to make dinner. Jeff is going out for his ritual boys night out dinner. So the boys and I can have whatever we want. That makes it easier.
We need eggs and lottery tickets!!!
I finished reading Poisoned Tarts - it was a mystery - lady P.I. It was pretty good. Much better than Killer Knots. Different authors but similar story and lead characters. I recommend reading G.A. McKevett's books. I'm going to have to read her others.

Yesterday was Tuesday

We went to Fry's and bought a few things (of course we got some lottery tickets!). We played on our computers. We had popcorn for lunch. Then we went to the Goodwin's house, so the boys could play with Jacob and Andrew and I could chat with (and complain to) Amy. We finally saw their puppy "Puppers" - cute little doggie, who looks like she has highlights! I didn't take a picture of the doggie - but I did get one of the kids.

When we got home from Amy's, the boys decided they wanted scrambled eggs - a bit of a screwed up food day! I had some brie and apples and crackers!

Before dinner we went to Mama's house and the boys did some swimming. We ended up having dinner at Mama's house --- steak two nights in a row! And we were going to have hot dogs and tater tots for dinner!! (We'll be having hot dogs tonight!) When we got home, Jeff was already here! We fed him some leftover steak from the night before. Hmmmmm.... Steak. And that's all folks, except for a couple more pics....

Dinner tonight...

Bourbon Beef Flat Iron Steaks -- they were so good! Along with mashed taters and french cut green beans. We ate an hour ago and I still can't stop thinking about how yummy the food was. We also had apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. I'm all by myself at the moment... well it feels like it -- Jeff is asleep on the couch and so is Henry. Ginger and Max are asleep on two of the kitchen chairs. Ace is asleep on his bed and the boys are upstairs playing - soon to be showering. What should I do? I think I'll make some coffee, put on some comfy clothes and read my book - or maybe I should start to write one. I think I'll just read one.

The fun doesn't stop.

Well maybe it stopped a little when I went to work. Friday Jeff was off -- we met some friends at the Buckeye Pool -- Michele, Paul & the girls and Amy & her boys.

Randy went off the high dive a couple million times. Jeff tried it a few times too - diving and cannon balling. I figured I should try the high dive as well - but I went the Randy way, just jumping off, going straight down like a pencil. Keith was having a good time jumping off the lower diving board. He made a friend - an "older woman" - I'm not sure how old she was, but she and Keith were almost glued together. (And he's only 5!)

Jeff and I attempted to do some flips off the lower diving board - nothing too graceful, but it was fun. And of course I FORGOT the camera!!!!!!!!!!!!

Instead of making dinner, we went to the Macaroni Grill. One of my favorite things - going out to eat!!

Saturday was super fun - after work of course!

We went to Michele and Paul's for swimming, hanging with friends and grilled pizzas!!!!

You can see pictures of the boys in the pool and two of the pizzas on her blog... http://www.mrednorb.blogspot.com/

Michele slaved away during the day making the pizza dough and then she let us each make our own pizzas --- on the grill!!!

Jeff cleaned up the garage - he was actually able to park his little car in the garage!

Sunday Jeff and the boys went out and bought a trailer for us to use for camping. We won't have to borrow my dad's truck anymore to go camping! We'll be able to load the trailer with our unbelievable amount of camping gear!

We are going camping the first weekend of August - just before school starts.

I have to check into putting Ace in the PetSmart Hotel - I hear it's great. Speaking of dogface, we took him to the dog park this morning. Poor guy doesn't get out much, since it's so darn hot!

The grass was all wet and muddy so Ace was a dirty mess, but he seemed to enjoy it. We gave him a shower when we got home, so he now smells pretty and looks clean.

I better go, the day's wasting away!

Ahhh.....

I got my massage today. It was very nice, too bad they can't last all day long.

The boys were at Mama's, swimming right after breakfast.

For lunch we went to Taco Bell and their air conditioning was not working!!!! Ugh!!

It was horrible! The temperature was probably about 100 degrees while we were there, so what am I complaining about?

We went to the movies after lunch. We saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium -- it was good, but why the heck do they have to make movies sad? Stupid sad movies!

We followed Papa home. He was exiting I10 onto Bullard while we were waiting at that red light! We had to hurry home though because Keith needed to use the restroom - very badly!

It's 2:49 and Homer is home! How nice - let the long weekend start. Except for me, I have to work Saturday and Sunday.
Did you know that the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton is closing down??? September 1st!!! I have to go there before then!!!!!!! 280 miles away -- I want to go tomorrow!

Woo Hoo!

This week is going by quick! Yesterday we met Michele and the girls at IKEA. The kids walked around with us instead of staying in the kids area. Each one of them got a new blanket. I got two glass canisters - for flour and sugar. I'm not sure what Michele got other than a clothes dryer, bamboo plant and vase. I'm not very observant and I have a really bad memory! I wanted to get lots of other things, but since I haven't won the lottery yet, I didn't get anything else. We had lunch at IKEA - Randy and I had Swedish meatballs, as usual and Keith had his usual.... hot dog - no surprise there. Michele only had salad and the girls had pb&j.
Jeff went in to work for 2am, so he was home by the time we got home from IKEA. We dragged him along with us to Mama's for a little swimming. After splashing around for a while we went home and then it was off to the dentist for Keith. Turns out that a piece of his back, bottom molar was chipped off - which they previously did a filling on - they sealed it for him and so far so good -- no more pain!!
This morning we went to the library, where the boys received their next two prizes - which were book lights and Suns basketballs. I just inflated the balls, thank goodness for the air compressor - wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise. Now "Steve Nash" and "Amare Stoudemire" are going nuts in the house. At least the Suns won -- according to Keith.
After the library, I took the hippie brothers in to work and gave them haircuts. Of course they got lollipops, we swept up a ton of hair that fell from their heads and then we were off again. This time we headed home, so we could pet Ace and get my bathing suit and leave yet again. We went to Mama's to swim. Today Mama actually got in the pool with us - first time this summer!
Anyu got me a food processor on Monday - I should figure out what to do with it and use it to aid my soup making. That's what we're having for dinner tonight... meatball soup. And I better get on it!

Sunday, etc...

Jeff took the boys, along with Frank and his boys to see the movie Wall E. They all liked it! Actually Frank and his boys saw it on Friday, but they liked it so much they went again with my boys.

Saturday and Sunday I was pretty busy at work. Saturday was really slow in general for everyone, but I had a lot of requests. Sunday was better for everyone! The best part about working this weekend was that we were able to close exactly at 6 (on Sat.) and 5 (on Sun.) - that usually doesn't happen.

Yesterday the boys and I went for an early swim at Mama's and then came home and had movie day. We watched Cars and Flushed Away. We had popcorn and pretty much ate all day long. Then we went back to Mama's for some more swimming. After dinner, we watched Ratatouille.

Today we are going to meet Michele and the girls at IKEA! I can't wait! I love IKEA!! Then at 3:30, Keith will visit the dentist (again) because he teeth are bothering him. Not fun! I even had to go out one night after trying to put him to bed, to get Ambesol because it was bothering him so much. Anyway, I hope the dentist fixes him up!

Tomorrow we don't have anything planned, but we will have to go to the library at some point because my book is due back -- I guess I could renew it, but I'm finished with it!

Thursday morning I'm going to get a massage... ahhhh! massage - I like those almost as much as I like IKEA! Thursday afternoon we'll be going to the Free movie at the Palm Valley Cinema! Free -- isn't that amazing? Every week during the summer they show a kids' movie for FREE! All you have to do is just show up!! I guess they make enough money from the $4 dollar drinks!!! We are going to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

Friday we'll be going to the Buckeye Pool and this time I'm going to take the camera!! And since Friday is the 4th of July, I figure we'll see some fireworks later in the evening.
Happy 4th of July!!!