Hello Reading, I've missed you.

I spent most of today (when I wasn't finishing my Chrsitmas cards--still have lots of extras if anyone wants one--,taking the girls sledding, visiting with MB, proof reading the prince's paper, or running the princess to dance) reading. I haven't done much of that lately, as you can see by my book list. So my new year's resolution, that I might put into place before January 1, is to spend less time playing on the computer and more time reading. My nightstand is about to topple over from all the books waiting to be read. And I'm sorry Shelley, but that just might mean I won't blog daily! Gasp! On the upside, you'd also not need to send me a daily gift on Farmtown, because I might give that up too. Nothing has been decided for sure, but I must say, it was a nice day away from the lap top. Now...back to a good book.

Poor Prince

Too bad for the prince. He had to get up for school today while the princess and I slept in. I did wake up at 6:30 convinced the prince had overslept--he was to leave the house at 5:45, and I hadn't heard him. But I got up and checked, and he was gone. Good boy not even waking up his mom! I went back to bed! Ahhh....let the vacation begin.

Tis The Season

Tis the season to lose a few brain cells--and I don't mean through spiked eggnog.

The king and I spent a couple of hours yesterday tearing the house apart, looking for the photo Christmas cards I bought a couple of weeks ago. I had them at work earlier in the week, trying to address them (it didn't happen). I was sure I'd brought them home because the address book was back in its place. But the cards???? No where. I knew, knowing me, that I had stashed them somewhere to get them off the counter and they would be on top of wherever they were. But the king didn't believe that so he really went through drawers, cupboards, closets...

Eventually I decided I must have left them at work so we headed to school to search from them.

No luck.

Back to tearing the house apart. Finally he asked, "How much did they cost?"
"Fifteen dollars." (Gotta love Costco.)
"Well," he said, "Just order more."

So I did.

Soon after that I opened a desk drawer (same drawer I had searched several times) to look for an envelope, and guess what I found? Yep. The darn cards!!! Under a piece of paper.

Though I called Costco, it was too late to cancel the order. So...when you get our card, if you just love it and want a duplicate, let me know. I have plenty!

On the up side, my closet is now neat and organized!

Holiday Tips

Yesterday was a sugar-lover's dream come true at work. And what the teachers didn't bring in, the students did, so when I got these tips in an email yesterday, it seemed like the perfect time to share them!

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.


2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It will soon be Christmas!


3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.


4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.


5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?


6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.


7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.


8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?


9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, please, have some standards!

10. One final tip: Wear sweat pants/loose-fitting clothing. If you are leaving the party and you can walk without help from a construction forklift, "you haven't been paying attention, people!" Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.


Someone I work with says, "Wear your buffet pants!"


Happy Holidays!

Awwww

Mariah and Isaiah!

Mail!

Yesterday we had TWO packages on our doorstep. One was gifts for the prince and princess, and then there was this box of delicious goodness from Harry and David. SWEET!

More Silly Student Answers

Love this one!

This is something the prince would do!

Genius!

Love this one too!

And this one too!!!

I hate this kid!

And that's all folks!

Possible reasons some teachers drink.

HILARIOUS!!!!

LOVE THIS KID!

DUH!

It's Here!

The prince's driver's license arrived yesterday. It is so different from our. Where ours are read horizontally, his is read vertically. His photo is on there twice. There are tons of hieroglyphics that make it really hard to read. It expires on his 21st birthday, when he'll get a horizontal card. Things has sure changed since I was his age, and I'm sure they are much harder to duplicate now too...not that I ever did that.

Homonym

Homonyms: Two words that sound the same but mean different things.

For example, the teacher says, "It's catch-up day."

The student writes in his planner, "Ketchup day".

True story. I just read it in his planner.

Holiday Concert

Last night the princess had her holiday choir concert. It was GREAT! Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade band and choir made for much holiday merriment. (I'm not sure why this is underlined, but I can't seem to fix it!)

This is the seventh grade choir.

They are small, but they are mighty.

At the end of the evening he combined all 3 choirs

for a nice rendition of "Little Drummer Boy."

I love that song.

44*

It was 44* when I drove to work this morning. Slush and water all over the place. Let the melting continue!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

On Friday the prince and princess hauled all the Christmas stuff up from the basement. As hard as it might be to believe, we actually have less stuff with each passing year, as I try to get rid of something each year. Not sure what it'll be this year though. We've whittled it down pretty well.

The stockings are hung, the nutcrackers are up on top of the kitchen cabinets (the prince put them up there...even though they've not gone up there since the first year we lived here), and the princess decorated almost the entire tree by herself. I do have two bags full of ornaments the kids made when they were very young that are just to "precious" (read UGLY) to go on the tree. The princess didn't know why they were in the bags so she put all the ugly--I mean precious--ornaments on the tree this year. If you live in town you should come take a look. It's a beauty!

I'm very thankful for the help of my sweet little elves this year. Gifts are wrapped, boxes are put away, and we're ready to revel in the season.

Jury Deliberations

Deliberations start this afternoon for the trial the king has been attending all week. He thinks he might be made jury foreman, and he is quite excited by this prospect. I hope his dream comes true!

Day Off!

I took today off. Let the Christmas wrapping begin!

That's More Like It

Only 14 kids in OTC today!

I love this girl!

Yesterday she was making a beautiful picture that she was trying to decide if she should send to me or to her other aunt (her mother's and my sister SHELLEY). Finally she said to her mother, "I'll send it to the queen because she's a bathing beauty."

Now, if that ain't the truth!!!! I love Ariana. When I texted Shelley to say, "Neener, neener, and where does she get this stuff?" Shelley's response was quick, "FROM HER MOTHER! She's just like her."

We love them both. And from now on, I'd like to be referred to as "Her Royal Majesty, the Bathing Beauty."

That Darn Frosty!

"Right in the middle of the produce aisle, Frosty gets caught picking his nose!"

Licensed Driver!

Excuse the almost closed eyes (it's hard to tell what the photo looks like on the little cell phone screen), but here is the prince at about 4:30 yesterday, new license in hand! He passed his test! It was a worrisome few days. Other kids from his class had already taken the test this week, and one of them had failed. There is still lots of snow out there. We drove by a girl taking the test and trying to parallel park in a snowbank. But it all went fine (he did bump the curb parking, but she still passed him), and he'll be driving to school today all by himself. He might need to get up a little early to scrape his windows. Those of us who park in the garage don't have to worry about that!

44

Forty-four is my new record for OTC (Opportunity To Complete--your homework, you big dummy!) My previous record was 32. I have 27 desks in my room. You do the math!

They were sitting on the floor. Some of them were in there only to finish a test, so I was nice and let them go when they were done. Eventually I got down to about 30, and then boy were those kids not very happy when they heard that they weren't going to be let go when they finished their work like the other kids had been!

We'll see what today brings.

R.I.P Halo

I stole that title from the princess. She used it as her Facebook status update the other day. On Sunday the princess and the rest of the studio danced at a holiday event. The girls all did a great job. When the princess and the other ladies did Halo, the dance director announced that this was the last time we'd see it. She is retiring the song. It's a beautiful piece, but I'm a little glad to be moving on. The princess is really glad to be moving on! Good job, ladies!

Jury Duty

Not me this time. The king. And he was chosen for the 5 day civil suit. But he loves this stuff so he will have a good week!

Polar Plunge

Yesterday about 10 people from our school took the "Polar Plunge"! Brrr....It's a fundraiser for Special Olympics, and there were over 100 plungers yesterday. We cheered them on, and the prince even thinks he might like to get some cheerleaders together next year to do it too, since they do a camp each year for those kids. We will cheer him on!!

Barb and Christy.

I work with them.

They look cute dressed up like lions!

Special divers and firemen cutting out ice to make a spot for the divers.

I read that it was 18* outside,

and the water was in the 20*,

but you wouldn't know it to look at them when they got out!

Cheer section!

More cheerers.
There's always someone not looking at the camera!

Our school group right before going down to the lake.

The plunge!

I'm so proud of them!

Stolen Photos

Stolen from other peoples' Facebook accounts:

photos of my children

The princess in a spring dance photo I did not purchase. I now have a copy.

Nice group shot from "Pack the Place In Pink" that I wish was larger.

Happy Saturday!

Cheer Dance Off, Um, I Mean Dinner

I am pleased to announce that the cheer dinner appears to have been a hit on all fronts. The prince and crew ate all the pasta (lots of sauce left over), the last of the ladies didn't leave until after 9:00, there was much laughter, screaming, DANCING, loud music, and merriment. And best of all, NOTHING was spilled on the carpet! Phew!

I believe only one person was missing from the dinner. That's a good turn-out, and I counted, there are 23 of them.

They all went downstairs to dance, and when I came around the corner, I saw this. Why some of them left their cell phones on the desk is a mystery to me, but I thought it was funny.

We offered to have them put their coats on the bed. They all declined. Cheerleaders are kind of weird.

Funniest conversation I heard all night:

Cheerleader: Prince, I like your window treatments.

Prince: My what?

Cheerleader: Your window treatments.

Prince: I don't know what that is.

Cheerleader: Umm...those things (as she points to them).

Prince: The drapes?

Cheerleader: Drapes?

This went on for about 30 seconds. Too funny. I call them curtains.

Where did you come from?

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago. It's the pot on my front porch. That there was still a little green foliage was weird enough since it hasn't had water since September, but what was really weird was the bloom (center, right). Too weird. It's all dead now (since the snow and frigid temps), but it sure hung in there a long time. Yesterday a friend posted on her site that she found a lizard--still alive--in her garage. Yep, go ahead and insert the theme to The Twilight Zone now.

Happy Birthday Jeanette!

Should I repost the photos of you eating pop rocks? I'll spare you! Eat some chocolate, though, and think of me, thinking of you! Happy Birthday BFF!

Team Dinner

The conversation went like this:

Monday:

Prince: There's a team dinner Thursday at Jessica's.

Me: What do you need to bring?

Prince: I will find out tomorrow and let you know.

Tuesday:

Me: What do you need to take to the dinner at Jessica's?

Prince: Dessert.

Me: Great. We have a box of brownies in the cupboard. Make them Wednesday so they are ready for Thursday.

Prince: OK.

Later Tuesday:

Prince: Jessica's mom just bailed. Can we do the dinner at our house?

Me: REALLY??? What is being served (besides brownies)?

Prince: Spaghetti

Me: GREAT!

In my head I'm thinking that A: Spaghetti is easy. B: The king might not be able to deal with all that red sauce possible falling on his carpet.

Luckily the king is still with us today--no stroke or heart attack when his blood pressure spiked at the news, and we'll be squeezing 30+ cheerleaders into our kitchen/living room area tomorrow night. Someone's going to have to clean the bathroom before that though!

STUCK!!!

It took 2 weeks of snow, but it finally happened. I got stuck this morning coming out of Mary Beth's driveway. Luckily she, Christian, and the princess were able to push me out. I'm starting to hate winter. Monday, when I was hoping for a snow day, 40 school buses in town got stuck. FORTY! Enough already.

Snow Fun

As much as I dislike our road conditions of late and the fact that is was minus 3* when I left for work yesterday, the snow isn't all bad. There is fun to be had if you can venture out and bundle up!


The prince and princess spent the night with Grandma Friday night and did some shoveling for her on Saturday. Such nice children.

I'm pretty sure someone helped Andy with this cool snow fort!

Maybe it was this guy! Marty, you're a great dad!