You mean school has started?

Yesterday was what I like to call, "6th grade reality lesson 101." Last Thursday and Friday there wasn't much homework, if any. Monday most of it could be done in class. Tuesday there was "real" homework in most of their classes. Thus yesterday was my first real day of OTC. OTC stands for Opportunity To Complete (your homework, you big dummy). They have to spend their lunch and recess with me, finishing late work. They had lots of excuses--I left it at home; I forgot to do it; I had football practice--but the teachers don't really care. Finally, as one kid was lamenting having to spend his lunch with me he said, "I thought we'd have more time before the teachers were serious about homework. In 5th grade we got a few weeks to get used to things before they got all mad and made us turn stuff in."

First of all, I used to work with the 5th grade teachers, and I know that's not true.
Second, WELCOME TO MIDDLE SCHOOL!

I can't wait to see how many knuckleheads want to spend their lunch with me today!

Hey Mom

Tuesday

Prince: Hey Mom, there's a team dinner on Thursday at 7:00.

Me: Okay. What do you need to bring?

Prince: I'm not sure. I'll find out tomorrow.

Wednesday:

Me: So what do you need to bring?

Prince: I think some kind of salad. But probably not lettuce. And no chips.

Me: So what kind of salad do you want to take?

Prince: I don't know. Oh, and you're not invited to the dinner. No parents except the coach and the hosting family.

He walks away. Really? So this is now my deal, but I don't get to eat?

Later.

Me: How about a fruit salad?

Prince: Yeah. Those are good. Will you buy everything tomorrow after work?

Me: Yes.

Thinking to myself: Sure Honey. I'll buy it all, prepare it all, and drive you to the dinner that we aren't attending. Mother-of-the-Year nomination right there!!! What he doesn't know is that he's putting that salad together when HE gets home from school!

Drum Roll Please

Presenting a member of the Level 4 competition dance team at her dance school for the second year in a row (try-outs were Sunday)...The Princess! Congratulations and here's to a fun year with NO injuries!

Check these out!

Okay, so my friend bought a pair of these--$80 and there's a waiting list--and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Yesterday MSN ran a story on these and ALL the comments were about how great these shoes are, though there is a learning curve (kind of like learning to put in contacts) in getting the toes in the right place, and if your second toe is longer than your big toe then you might not like them, but I guess they are a great shoe for running, climbing, in water, out of water. And they come in lots of cool colors. I'm not saying I'm rushing out to buy a pair, but in case you didn't know they're out there...

Class of 2014

Every year, Beloit College puts out a list of things the current college freshman know to be "normal". I have posted the list in the past. This year I thought the list had a few interesting changes on it.

For most college freshmen starting school this fall, e-mail is passe and wearing a watch on your wrist is, well, unnecessary, according to the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014, most of whom were born in 1992.

The list was first created by the Wisconsin school in 1998 to remind professors what cultural factors have gone into shaping the lives of their students.

While e-mail was revolutionary for their parents, today's college freshmen find it terribly slow, instead choosing to use their opposable thumbs to send dozens of text messages a day on their smartphones, which they use for telling time rather than strapping on a watch and surfing the web.

Home computers have always been a part of their lives, although the ones they first played on in preschool are now in museums. The PCs and Apples of the early 1990s had hard drives with smaller capacities than today's flash drives, used monochromatic monitors and were not connected to the internet.

Check out the Beloit College Mindset List

And technology is not the only thing that has changed, either.

In the world of entertainment, Snoop Doggy Dogg is just Snoop Dogg. Ice-T is an actor who plays a New York police detective on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," instead of a rapper stirring controversy with his song "Cop Killer."

And Clint Eastwood is a sensitive Oscar-winning director, not a tough-as-nails detective known as Dirty Harry.

The Class of 2014 now has hundreds of channels to watch with nothing on, while their parents had at most a few dozen when they were growing up. Nirvana is now classic rock. And their parents' favorite TV shows have always been showing up as movies -- "The Brady Bunch," "The A-Team" and "The Addams Family."

Beethoven has always been a big drooling dog, not a classical composer. Fergie is a pop singer, not a former English princess. Barney is a purple dinosaur, not a deputy sheriff in Mayberry.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been on the Supreme Court since today's freshmen started crawling. Bill Clinton was elected president the year most of them were born.

The Iron Curtain is something they know about from history books and Czechoslovakia has never existed during their lifetimes.

In the world of sports, Bud Selig has always been the commissioner of Major League Baseball. Tiger Woods has been golfing professionally since they were 4, and Michael Jordan is better known for his underwear commercials than he is for playing basketball.

And finally to the medicine cabinet, where the Class of 2014 can find toothpaste tubes that stand on end and bandages that have always come in multiple colors."

The college class of 2014 reminds us, once again, that a generation comes and goes in the blink of our eyes, which are, like the rest of us, getting older and older," the college said in announcing this year's list.

The 2nd Day of School

I wasn't able to snap a shot of my two cuties on the first day of school because the prince had to be there about the time the princess was rolling out of bed, but I got this one on Friday. They are mighty handsome, if I do say so myself! Here's to a great year for both of them!

Maybe That's Why!

Thursday afternoon two "cool" 6th graders sauntered into my classroom. I started going over what the class was designed for when "John" says, "Why am I IN THIS CLASS?" He was clearly not happy to be there, giving me some attitude. So I told him his previous teachers had recommended it or his parents had requested it. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Did you have trouble getting your homework in on time?

John: No.

Me: Did your homework make your frustrated sometimes?

John: No.

Me: Are you absent from school a lot?

John: No.

Me: Okay, maybe you don't need this class. Work hard for the next few weeks and we'll see if we can get you out of it.

He wasn't happy, but we moved on. Eventually I asked if they had any homework.

John: No.

"Bob": Yes we do.

John: What?

Bob: Science.

John: We didn't get any in our class.

Bob pulls out the worksheet and shows it to John.

John: Yeah, we got that, but I didn't think we had to do it. I thought it was just for fun if we wanted to.

Bob: No. We have to do it and have it signed by our parents.

Me: (thinking silently to myself while trying not to roll my eyes or let out a loud sigh) MAYBE THAT'S WHY YOU'RE IN THIS CLASS!!!!

It's going to be a good year! ;)

By the way, John was absent from school on Friday!

Pep Assembly!

My apologies to Shelley, who waits daily for my posting! Blogger did not want to upload these photos today. I've been trying since 5:00 this morning! I finally had to do them one at a time, which is probably a benefit for you all because I didn't upload as many as I might have!

Yesterday the prince did his cheer/stunt thing in his first pep rally. He had a good time, and we are glad the king was able to take time off from his many royal duties to attend and snap these photos! Go Falcons!


Can you find the prince? He's actually behind the girl in the center who looks like she's holding the cheerleader up. He's the muscles--I'm not sure what they're getting ready to do here. Throw her? Stand her up? Not drop her????

Check out the Falcon. That was supposed to be his gig, but he said he liked this better because he got to be in more of the "show"! The Falcon--aka Falcoe--was only out for one song, I think.

The prince is in the back...away from this view, but the real shot here is Falcoe's new suit...complete with muscles! Click on the photo to make it bigger!

Sorry, no photos of him touching cheerleader butts this time! Maybe at Homecoming!

First Day of School

Happy First Day Of School To Both My Kids!

Normally I would post of photo of the two of them together in their "First Day Of School Outfit," but

A: It's about 5 AM, and they are both asleep, and

B: The prince has to be at school at 6 AM--when the princess is just getting up, so

C: I'll try to catch them after school.

Gotta love the first day of school. Fresh with possibilities and a clean slate! I LOVE IT!!!

Ewww...That's Gross!

Sean Connery is 80-years-old today. Eighty. The big 8-0. Eight decades. I know more than one of my loyal readers thinks he's smokin' hot. He's EIGHTY!!! That's gross!

Good One!

School doesn't start until Thursday, but today I have two "kid" stories, which both happened to kids whose parents I know. Both girls are high school students.

Student #1 (starting her Jr. year) texted her mom the other day with this message: I am trying to use my debit card, but it won't work. I think someone stole my personality.

Student #2 (starting sophomore year) just got her driver's license and can now drive without a parent in the car. Shortly after getting that license she was pulled over when a cop saw her swerving in her lane. Upon pulling her over he asked her if she had been drinking. Looking aghast, she said to him, "NO. I was picking my nose!" He cracked up laughing and and let her off with a warning!

I dare you to try that next time you are pulled over.

Back to work.

I went back to work today. The daily blog updates won't happen until later in the day now! The big news today was that our internet was down most of the day! That doesn't work well when about 1/3 of the staff was supposed to be at internet-based classes this afternoon! Not me, though. I was in regular meetings. My internet classes are tomorrow morning. I hope it's fixed because I really, really don't want to have to make up those classes!

In other school news, we were short one staff member today. Turns out she took a different job and moved to Texas. Really? You couldn't have called to let someone know? The only way that this affects me right now is that I will have to have lunch recess duty on Thursday and Friday. I HATE lunch recess duty. But I'll persevere. The kids come to school Thursday. Bring it on, Baby!

It's a Scorcher!

Yesterday we broke the 100* mark for the first--probably only--time this year. We also had a record high of 101*! It was warm. The princess danced at the fair at 4:30. So let us recap: she danced there on the busiest day of the fair and the hottest day of the year. I want to thank the genius who did the scheduling for their dance group! But it's all good. The girls did a great job, despite the heat. Then it was time for foot-long corndogs, Vikings-on-a-stick, burgers, carmel apples, and soda galore. Score one for the moms: there were also slushy margaritas!!! The kids rode rides all night long...when they weren't eatting, drinking or hitting us up for more money. We stayed until they closed the place down at midnight. I'm pretty sure I haven't done that since I was a teenager. And thanks to MB for buying the prince a ride on the slingshot! YOWZA! We grown-ups are not counting down the days until next year, but I'm pretty sure the kids are!

About the photo: Taken Tuesday at the fair. I went to Walmart and bought myself those snazzy pink sunglasses a couple of weeks ago. The were $10 bucks, but isn't beauty worth any price? I thought I was so hip and cool! Then I picked up Megan (in the white glasses) a couple of days later for a dance class I was carpooling. As she got in the car she was looking at me and giggling. "What Megan?" I asked. Still giggling she said, "Macy (her sister, in the pink glasses) has a pair just like that and I have a white pair." Yep, I'm hip like that! Just like all the 7-year-olds. But here we are, having our photo taken for all the world to see that I am DOWN WITH THE 2nd GRADERS!

Moobs

I'm pretty sure this story is PG enough to go on the blog! Sorry if I offend anyone.

True Story:


I was driving the princess to dance the other day and saw 3 ladies taking a walk, one of them pushing a baby stroller. As I got closer I realized the "lady" pushing the stroller was really a MAN!!! But he had huge man-boobs (moobs) so from a distance, I thought he was a she! Yikes! You know you've got big moobs when, from a distance, you look like "one of the girls"!

By the way, spellcheck doesn't recognize "moobs"! :)

Sisties!

Mariah and Ariana!

It's Fair Week!

It's Fair week. The prince bought a value pass that gets him in daily and to all the night shows. He's seen the Scorpions, Hinder, Finger 11, motocross, and a rodeo. He's also done the rides several night. He still has to get up at 5:30 for cheer practice everyday so he's rather fond of naps this week!

The princess danced at the fair on Tuesday. It was buddy night! Not a good night to be at the fair. Two for one gate admission and ride passes made it impossible to get into the parking area, let alone park! But we managed with 10 minutes to spare! She dances again Saturday afternoon. It's only supposed to be 95*!!! She went last night with a dance friend and they stayed until the last ride closed at midnight. She's still sleeping. She gets to ride again Saturday night. The fair leaves town Sunday, and I am off to school Monday...as it should be!

And that concludes our summer!

The dance hadn't started yet, but something was funny.

This was part of The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

Footloose--a little tap for your enjoyment!

Halo--I thought this was a pretty cool shot!

How to move a shed...

As the prince and I were driving home this morning, we noticed a crane in our neighborhood. Upon further inspection we saw this. Our neighbor has built a new house 2 lots down from his current house that he and his family are moving into it--their dream house. This beautiful shed/garage/playhouse/mansion is being moved to the new property! The king was wishing he could stay home from work today to watch. I haven't heard any load crashes yet so I think it's all going according to plan!

August Facts

According to my mom--and who doesn't trust their mother?

AN INTERESTING FACT ABOUT AUGUST 2010.

This year, August has 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays, 5 Tuesdays, all in one month.

It happens once in 823 years.

I probably will miss it next time!

That Doesn't Look Like "Mowing the Lawn"

The prince and princess went over to mow Grandma's lawn yesterday. Hmmm...that looks more like the shed roof. They cut some branches for Grandma while they were at it. Such nice grandchildren, but you've gotta wonder if they would still do it with a smile on their faces if she didn't pay them! :) I'm pretty sure they would...they're kind of sweet on her.

For Shelley--Updated

It's not that I don't have a post for today, but Blogger is not cooperating in uploading the photo for it. I'll keep trying, but this might be all you get today!

**See below: that's where today's post has finally landed.

Workin' At the Car Wash

It's a good idea to search the web now and again for photos of your kids. I found this one on the school cheer website...my kid, workin' at the fundraiser car wash back in June. But he doesn't really LOOK like he's working. Supervising, maybe?

Back to Vegas, Baby!

I don't know if you can read this blurry sign, but this photo was taken in front of Treasure Island in Las Vegas. Apparently there's a margarita bar I was not aware of. Between that and the fact that Allegiant Air is running $40 ROUND TRIP from here to Vegas through October, it only seems natural that I go back to Vegas. Of course, I don't even have $40 for the plane ticket, let alone Margarita money, so I'm NOT going to Vegas...but I'm thinking I really, really need to get a summer job next year in case this opportunity presents itself again!

Dance Workshop

The princess spent this past week at a dance-intensive-workshop. That's a fancy name for "dance camp." She had a great time. She learned a lot from professional dancers brought in from Phoenix, California, and Washington (I think) in the areas of jazz, ballet, hip hop, contemporary, and modern. What's the difference between contemporary and modern, you ask? According to one of the instructors, if she made it up that day, it's contemporary! :)

Monday was the hardest day. They were all so sore by the end of the day. But by the end of the week, the princess had started skipping one class to attend a higher level class she liked more. I don't know if the director knew this was going on, but no one seemed to really mind so...

Friday afternoon they did a quick "show" to show-off the combos they had learned. Here are a few photos. As usual, my camera doesn't do well in gyms, or with moving targets, so excuse the quality of the photos.

Ballet is not her favorite!

She's growing out her bangs!

Work it!

Show me some strut!

Surprise!

With the help of lots of friends, I was able to pull off a surprise birthday party for our favorite princess, Mary Beth! We had a lot of fun last night playing "Name that 1980's Tune" and "How well do you know Mary Beth?" Oh yes, and there were margaritas. Yum! My thanks to all the ladies how helped me pull this off. She was very surprised. And Mary Beth, we still will do dinner at Dos Machos!


The cake says, "Happy Birthday To The Most Beautiful Princess of Them All."

Happy birthday, my friend.

What's next on our list?

Last night a friend emailed to say that she had just gotten caught up on the blog and, "Could you be any busier?" That's kind of funny because she didn't know how busy I was yesterday or that I was planning to blog it today. So yes, Jeanette, I could be busier.

Yesterday morning at a glance:

5:30-WAKE UP
5:50-Take the prince to cheer
6:10-7:45-Drink coffee, check email, do blog entry, check to-do list, get banking stuff ready, make sure princess is up and has breakfast and all her dance stuff and her lunch stuff ready...
7:45-Back to the highschool, princess is with me too, pick up prince, stop by MB's to pick up two other riders, head to dance camp
8:20-Drop dancers off at camp, and head to the dermatologist's office with a stop at McDonald's on the way for the prince who would love an Egg McMuffin.

Here is where the day gets a little wacky as it's only 8:30. We are in the center of town. He has his appointment at 9:30, also in the center of town. It's not enough time to go home, and there aren't many places open that I'm in need of at this time. Not one to sip his O.J., we decide to head to the doctor's so are there 35 minutes EARLY...you know, to that place that often keeps you waiting...

9:30-Get in to see the doctor, right on time. She prescribes some medicine for the prince so off we go to Walmart, with a stop at the bank, which takes about 15 minutes. Who knew it would take that long to let the machine count $13 in change!
10:50-The Walmart pharmacy gal says, "That'll be about 45 minutes." Really? More waiting? So we wonder around, spend way more time in the electronics department than is my nature, and then pick up a few groceries and socks and underwear for the prince--school's about to start, and nothing says "first day of school" like new undies!
11:15-Decide to check and see if maybe the prescription is filled. It is! Yippee! Run home to drop off groceries.
11:35-Still with prince, head to Subway because I've promised the princess I will bring her lunch. Head back to center of town.
11:55-Arrive at dance camp and get to watch the last few minutes of a hip-hop session. The dance teacher is filming the combo they just learned, and she chooses several kids from the princess's studio (the princess included) to be in the video. Sweet.
12:10-Leave studio and head to Hastings...because the prince has to have new guitar strings, and we're sort of in the neighborhood, and I didn't think of that at 8:30 when we were trying to kill time, and they might have even been open then...maybe even open 24 hours?
12:12-Phone rings, "you gave me the wrong sandwich." Really? Great! "We'll be right there."
12:15-Drop off correct sandwich and head to Hastings.
12:40-Done at Hastings. Me: Where should we go to eat these sandwiches? Prince: Home? Me: O.K.
1:05-Get home and finally eat our now warmish sandwiches. Ewww...

So yes, I could be busier. The afternoon was not hectic in that way. I did not have to leave the house again. We all ate dinner together. I got to watch Big Brother. And today won't be quite as crazy. I look at it as practice for when I go back to work and the kids go back to school in a couple of week! :) A couple of weeks? Make that one week for me and a week and a half for them! Yikes!

The good thing in all this driving here, there, and yonder is that the prince did the driving, got lots of good practice in busy morning traffic, and logged about one hour and 45 minutes of driving yesterday! Yes, you heard me right, much of the morning was spend IN THE CAR!!!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I just read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for one of my book clubs. I debated between giving it 2 or 3 stars. I ended up giving it 2 stars, but I do want to recommend that you read it. It is a pretty good book. It is the first in a series of 3, and I will definitely read the other 2. The author passed away shortly after writing #3 so there will be no more of them. Here is why I gave it two stars instead of three stars:

1. It is set in Sweden with references to places in Europe that I had never heard of. Many names/places in Sweden start with an "H" apparently, as I had a hard time keeping track of people and places initially.

2. To that end, he really has about 5 story lines going on all at once (though some are put on the back-burner for a time) so initially it was hard to keep track of the various people/places/stories going on. It got better after about the second or third "chapter." (He doesn't really use chapters...just time periods.) I'm not sure that a couple of the story lines were even necessary except that I'm guessing they are the set up for the following books.

3. There was some graphic physical/sexual abuse in it. I've read worse, but as I get older I just don't like it. I'm pretty sure he could have toned it down a bit and still got his point across.

So there you have it. Go get it. Read it, and let me know what you think of it.

Batter Up!

Last week Andy got his call up to the big leagues! He was chosen to throw out the first pitch at an Ogden Raptors game. As a sports lovin' freak, you can just imagine how excited he was! Shelley wasn't able to be real close for the photos, but you can tell this was a pretty big deal. And I have wonder, where are the crowds??? Our ballpark isn't this big but was full all three nights we were there. Maybe they were all at the hot dog stand!

Getting some last-minute advice on the perfect pitch! He was worried he couldn't get it over the plate, so they moved him up a bit.

And the pitch is GOOD!

Just another day at the office...he's keeping his composure pretty well here, but inside he was doing backflips and giving himself high-fives! You're the bomb, Andy!

Camp--Updated

The princess was off to dance camp yesterday at about 8:30 (think band camp only cooler). She came home exhausted and limping because her feet hurt at 4:30. Today she's there until 5:00! Will she survive this week?

The prince was off to cheer practice at 6:00 AM today. I'm going to need a lot of coffee. Hopefully time will coordinate properly, and he'll get done in time for me to pick him up, run him home, load her up, carpool with two other girls, and get them all to dance camp during 8:00 traffic ON TIME! It could happen...

It didn't happen. The prince had to catch a ride home with another cheer mom! Maybe tomorrow...

Fifty-fifty

At the baseball game on Saturday night, the prince met some of his cheerleader friends the minute we hit the gate. Turns out they were working a fund-raiser and quickly enlisted the prince's help. He was wearing blue when we left him, but the next time we saw him, he'd snagged a nifty Mustang's polo.

This was a fifty-fifty raffle where the winning ticket holder splits the pot with the booster club. They raised over $300 for a trip some of the cheerleaders are taking to perform at the Holiday Bowl this winter. (The prince can go too, if he can come up with $1500 by September--I think NOT. They've been working on this trip for over a year so he'll be sitting this one out!)

I'm not sure I'll be able to get the photos lined up as it's not really wanting to cooperate, but in order they are the 50/50 group--including the regular 50/50 guy because kids can't take money (it's gambling), the prince selling to Grandpa--though Grandpa's sort of cut out of the photo, the group walking down the stairs, clapping, and yelling, "FIFTY-FIFTY"--use your imagination, and a few loyal supporters!

Happy Birthday Mary Beth!

Hey MB! Edward and I want to wish you a happy birthday!